Gateway - Sleepytime

Written by Reiko

Broadhead Journal #6: "Wow, this planet is so relaxing. Almost like a vacation. I need to fix this dike, and there’s a huge beast in the forest, and I don’t see the shield generator anywhere, but I think I’ll just take a nap first..."

The third shield generator planet (the second one I’m doing) is called Dorman. The planet is terrestrial and temperate enough that I don't need to wear a spacesuit. I land by a beautiful pond with a path around it leading toward a nearby forest.

This place is a lot nicer than the other planets I’ve been on.

Looks like my ship did some damage to the area when it landed. Oops.

On one side of the pond I find a small stone [6] and on another side a large stone. The west side is blocked by a stone dike that's been damaged; a boulder has been dislodged from it, but it's too heavy for me to put back.

Ooh, scary.

The path to the east leads deeper into the forest. From a good vantage point on the trail overlooking a clearing, I see a monstrous alien creature that looks something like a sasquatch picking berries [4]. I also find a large branch [9] and a vine [5].

For some reason, the pond makes me get sleepy really quickly. The planet name is rather appropriate (Dorman/dormir). Apparently the day on this planet is about three hours long, so it's easy to take a nice nap. Yawn...stretch...zzzz…

My nightmare is trying to communicate with me...

I sleep at the edge of the forest and have a vivid dream [6] of being in the pond and then seeing the sasquatch, who doesn't attack but looks at me with great hunger. After I wake up, I go examine him more closely and notice that his leg is injured. I think he's having trouble finding enough food. But there are a lot of berries on the other side of the pond. The problem is that they squish too easily; I can't carry them.

Very crude shelter, but it shows the beast has some intelligence.

I watch the sasquatch for awhile and notice that he goes back and forth between two openings from his clearing. He'll chase me away if I enter the same room with him, but if he's in one side, I can go in the other one. One opening leads to a cave that doesn't seem to have much in it, but the other goes into a stone shelter where I find his crude wooden bowl. I take it so I can get him some berries [12].

I go back to the berries and start picking them, but I find that the bowl has a hole in the bottom! That won't do. I plug the hole with the small stone I found and then I'm able to fill the bowl with berries [8]. I wait until the creature is in his cave and then put the bowl back in his shelter where I found it [17]. I wait until he's occupied and then go into the cave again.

This is kind of a neat cave.

This time I notice that there's a mud-encrusted outcropping with a shard of something almost within reach. I poke at it with the branch and dislodge the shard [12], which I take [11]. On the way out, I encounter the creature, who momentarily freezes at the dull glint of the shard, then seems angry that I have it. I'm able to run away from him though.

I go back to the pond and wash the shard, which becomes brilliantly beautiful [20]. Now I can freely wander around the creature's territory because any time he sees the crystal, he simply stops and stares at it. Nothing else happens, though. So I go back to the edge of the forest and sleep again.

A second intense dream.

This time I get a different dream. I feel desperation from a large group of tiny creatures in the pond, and then the same from a pale woman with black hair who points to the mud-covered wall of the creature's cave. I already found the crystal, though. I need to know what to do with it.

The woman is the crystal?

I sleep again and get a third dream. I see the pale woman again, this time hovering over the pond and morphing into the crystal. Okay, that's weird. I try dropping the crystal into the pond and sleeping again.

I'm asleep still...

This time I get a sort of waking dream, where the woman stands by a window through which I can see an ordinary scene of a girl walking a dog in the rain. I think the woman is some kind of representation of a hive mind or a group of alien creatures that are trying to tell me something, but I'm not sure what.

When I wake up, I experiment more with the creature. I find that I can tie the vine to him to form a kind of leash [16], so then I can lead him around while he stares at the crystal. I want to use his strength to fix the dike.

Uh-oh, now I've made him mad.

I lead him over there and leave him by the boulder while I get up on the dike by myself [14]. Then I throw the crystal into the pond, breaking the creature's entrancement. He gets angry and picks up the boulder [15]. Perfect. Then he throws it at me. I dodge out of the way by jumping into the pond. The boulder settles back into its place, sealing the dike again [20].

The backstory is finally explained.

I'm immediately pulled down into the pond and into another dream. The Dorman representative explains a little more about how they're a collective entity. She thanks me for my help with the dike and for not harming the beast. She explains that he's the last of an ancient race that died out from genetic defects. He's only awake for short periods to feed and otherwise mostly sleeps, soothed by the dreams they send him.

The next shield generator room.

They also know about the Heechee and bring me along an underwater passage so I can activate the shield generator. It works the same as the other one, so it's easy to activate [25].

Another dream, out of order.

I sleep one more time, just to see if the alien collective has anything else to say. Oddly enough, I get another waking dream, this time displaying a painting of a leaking flask with the cork removed, and the woman asks me to undo what I've done.

I don't understand this. I've fixed the dike and activated the shield generator. I wonder if the dreams were getting triggered too late somehow. I probably just didn't sleep enough times once I started fixing things. I don't see anything else to do here, so I return to the station and collect the second $5 million bonus.

Bonus: Death #1

I found my first way to die in this game. When there are others, I'll display them at the end of each post. If I missed any in the earlier sections of the game, let me know.

If you let the beast throw the boulder at you. (#1)

Score: 642 of 1600
Balance: $11,541,450
Status: Orion Program (green badge)
Missions: 9
Shield Generators: 2 of 4
Deaths: 1

Session Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 6 hours 30 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: There’s a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!