Part 2: Atrus' Message

Entry 6
Where I left off


A rocket? Set like this? So high above the water? Amazing... and how did I get so high above the water? This island again continues to defy reason. A sunken ship? Giant gears? A rocket sitting on a concrete walkway? I do not know what all these things are. But I do know there are at least four switches on this island now: Ship, Gear, Observatory, Rocket.

I will continue to explore...

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Entry 7
Switches five and six

I turned around and headed away from the rocket, and started to turn for the other building, when I noticed eight stone columns with indented stands in front of them and a small fountain-looking pool in the middle.


Along with a fifth switch!


And I discovered this in the fountain pool:

A miniature sized sunken ship!

Astounding! Almost exactly the same ship, but a lot smaller! This must mean something...
Of course, at this time, I have no course of action, merely switches.

I went around to the indented stands, taking note of what they were.

I also noticed something else odd about these indentations... when I waved my hand near them to trace them, they had glowed red! I backed off, not wanting to cause anything to happen before I knew what I was doing. Of course, if this experience so far tells me anything, I'm not going to ever know what I am doing.
After finishing the symbols, I walked a few more steps away from the second building, further past the miniature sunken ship in order to investigate a stone hut I noticed while taking my tracings.



A sharp turn to the right, and...


Another switch! That makes six!

And this hut... it has a stairway in the back... I wonder where it leads.

Onward!

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Entry 8
Rocket Generators

After I descended the stairs inside of the stone hut, I found a curious door with a button that let me inside.

Upon entering the cramped... what I assumed to be a control room... I noticed ten small buttons, and immediately went to leave, but on my way out, noticed a sign.


This sign indicated that this room was a generator control room and it provided power to the Rocket. Unfortunately, I decided to ignore my own policy and started to press buttons to power up the rocket ship.

Upon reaching 99 power, the rocket gauge dropped to 0 and wouldn't rise again after that. I had destroyed my chances of powering up the rocket. Perhaps there is a reset somewhere, but I searched the control room and couldn't find it. I decided to leave and enter this by the hut... no... not hut... Tunnel... yes, Tunnel Switch, number 6. I will write again when I find another switch.
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Entry 9
The Clock Tower

It seems eerily silent now, as for the first time since my arrival, I noticed something very disturbing: I am the only creature on this very odd island. I have only the noises of the Imager, the wind, and the water to keep me company. No birds, no beasts, no people. I am alone. I also note that there is absolutely nothing on the horizon in any direction, or anything that isn't connected to the island, save the clock tower.

Ah yes, the clock tower. This thing is still confusing me.



Being the only thing I have seen so far that isn't directly part of the island, yet being so close to it, I suspect there is more here... something below the water. Perhaps it has to do with this control box.

I experimented, turning the wheels on the box...


...I moved the hands on the clock. But what time should it be? I have no way of knowing. Hopefully i'll come back here and find out soon.

However, I did notice there was yet another switch, hence I am writing this entry. that makes seven.

I will explore the rest of the island...

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Entry 10
The Cabin and Atrus' Message

EIGHT! EIGHT SWITCHES! It was eight! Atrus... Catherine, his sons... so much information... but back to the control box...

After I walked away from the control box, I noticed that there was a path in the trees to my right...


I found a cabin...
With, what I didn't know at the time, was the final switch. The eighth.

Keeping with tradition, I forgot where this one was too, so just left it however it was when I stopped flipping it.

Inside, I found a water heater, a picture of a tree, a valve wheel of some kind, and a safe. The safe had four buttons and didn't open upon a few tries, so I didn't bother. The heater wasn't lit, and the valve seemingly didn't do anything. I turned the valve a bit, but nothing happened.


I left the cabin after no discoveries, and noticed yet another side path, this time around the cabin.

I found the tallest tree on the island, in a very small stone enclosure.

Incredible, I thought, On the same island I've found a sunken ship, a holographic imager, a rocket, and a really really tall tree, not to mention the biggest gears i've ever seen.

After inspecting the tree a while longer, I double checked my count and found I had eight switches. I took another hour or two walking around the island exploring to be sure of my count. After I was relatively sure, I went back to the imager.




http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...93423&hl=en

I found from the recording that Atrus' books had been destroyed, and he blamed one of his sons, Sirrus or Achenar. His library - I assume the other building I haven't entered yet - was the one with his burned books.

I will venture to his library. I must find out what these "ages" are, what the "places of protection" are, and where Atrus, Catherine, Sirrus, and Achenar are.

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Entry 11
Meet Sirrus and Achenar

After leaving the imager and writing down Atrus' message for reference, I walked to the other building, and sure enough, it had the makings of a library, though small. Through the door, I found two paintings on either side of a book shelf, a fireplace with no wood in it, a red book and a blue book, and a map.

Sadly, it seems this is the bookshelf one of Atrus' sons destroyed. Most of the books were and still are badly damaged, burned beyond recognition. I can see panels like the one that brought me here to start with, but I cannot see any movement. The images are completely blackened. A few books have writing in them, but it is hard to read them.

The Blue Book, was Sirrus... or Achenar... I don't remember... the Red Book was the other brother. It seems as though they are stuck in the books, and not in islands like me, at least, from what I can see, it's just them, through static filled communication. They each want me to get pages colored like their books. I might also add that these pages will add to the books on their own, so long as I bring the pages in contact with the book. The brothers couldn't talk to me until I tried adding the page on my own.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...98783&hl=en
http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...33353&hl=en

They each seem to accuse the other for the destruction, and plead for their freedom. I guess I'll gather both the pages from... wait... other pages from where? Where are they? I didn't see any around here... I guess I'll find them later. For now, I will check the map, see if there's anything on the island that I didn't find on foot. I should have walked in here sooner...

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Entry 12
Tower Rotation

"If you've forgotten the access keys, remember the tower rotation"


That's what Atrus said, and that's what I've found!

Upon walking to the map, I saw it was lit up, although faintly. I noticed there were several places that I had visited, and the ones that were lit up, after a few minutes of looking at the map and my journal, were the ones that were positioned up.
When I suspected it, I toggled the observatory, and it lit up (or didn't light up) accordingly on the map. I ran at a near sprint to all the switches and lifted them up, and ran back to the map.

Success! I was overjoyed, I couldn't reach the clock tower, but everything else was on! I also couldn't believe that I had figured out the purpose of these switches. They're... wait. Turn on a light on a map? There must be more... there has to be.

There was.

I found out that if I held my hand over a spot on the map, the... what I found out is likely the tower, rotated, and locked into place on one of the spots that has a switch. It turned red, and the entire building shook, like an earthquake, yet nothing seemed affected. When I ran outside, the tower had obviously been rotated. I noticed several faint spots on it had moved. I had also regretted not mentioning this tower earlier in this log, because I simply thought of it as a lighthouse, which didn't interest me, compared to the ships.

Heh. I guess if it had been a lighthouse, the ship wouldn't be sunk...

Back on topic, I remembered Atrus mentioning access keys... to the places of protection for undamaged books... where are the access keys? Why are the paintings of the door and a hallway? There aren't any hallways here... I... are those the books?

And where should I point the tower?

There are only four places it turns red:
The Giant Gears
The Sunken Ship
The Tall Tree
The Rocket Rise

Where should I point at? I wonder if I have some change in my pockets...
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