Part 5: The Stoneship Age
Entry 17
Desolation
They're not here.
The stone, the ship, and the lighthouse are all here, but the others Atrus talked about are all gone. Emmit, Branch, Will, there's no sign of them.
I showed up on the stern half of the ship, which seemed to be sticking out of the rock. The bow was a quarter of the way around the rock.
Off of the stern, there was a flooded stairway deeper into the back of the ship, a flooded stairway into the rock, the path to the bow, a couple of boards forming a walkway over the water to a umbrella covered set of... controls, and a board path over water to the lighthouse.
Off of the bow, there was also flooded stairway into the rock and a path that spiraled up the rock...
...to a telescope.
Not much to see there, just another reminder of the loneliness of this... age.
I find myself again wondering if I will ever see another human again. The message Atrus left is only slightly comforting, and the "presence" of Sirrus and Achenar.
With the stairways being flooded, and not wanting to touch anything quite yet, I left the set of controls alone and headed to the lighthouse
Inside, the lighthouse was flooded. I guess Atrus didn't seal this thing that well as he thought he did. Or maybe it was one of his sons that did it.
Damn it Atrus.
A lock on the door above and a key chained to the floor. If only I was strong enough to rip the key off...
Frustrated, I left the lighthouse and headed to the controls. I activated the one on the left.
I heard what sounded like a motor running, perhaps a pump, and headed back to the boat. I was going to walk to the lighthouse when the stern ship stairway caught my eye...
It was empty! The water had been pumped out, that set of controls must be pump controls!
Alas, I could not see anything down there except the faint outlines of a very fancy looking room.
I left the stern's ship room and activated the middle pump. The stairway had refilled, and the rock stairway on the stern had emptied.
I'm out of here.
Can't see anything there either. Didn't these guys have lights? The underwater ones?
I figured I may as well go back and try the last pump.
Both the stairways were filled now, so I walked over to the lighthouse...
There was a treasure chest! With a lever on the side?
The lever turned out to be a water spout or valve or something.
I decided to close the valve even though the water had all escaped, and sat down to wonder what I should do next.
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Entry 18
Tinkering
It's clear to me now that I should mess with more things. Every time I do, I solve another mystery or puzzle.
After thinking for a while, I realized that the treasure chest was now filled with air, and sealed. I filled the lighthouse back up with water, and...
All that for a hand crank and a battery pack. I think I know why the stairways are dark.
After a few minutes of turning the crank, the battery pack was full
I went back to the rock stairway on the stern side and found that it was lit!
At the bottom of the stairs, I found a door like that on the room in the ship.
This room was very well decorated. Not sure what I would call the scheme, but it's very... wooden.
To the left of the entry door, there was a bookcase.
Lots of weird stuff. Jewelry, gems, coins, dishes, and...
In the bottom drawer of the bookcase, there was a red page! I decided to wait until I'd decided which brother to help.
In the corners of the room there were these globe things...
These didn't do anything but look interesting.
The bed had nothing, but to the right of the door, there was a desk.
This desk was interesting. On the top of the desk there was this:
Odd.
Inside the desk, there were some medicine bottles and a syringe, as well as a dagger. Very disturbing.
I looked around for a while longer, then decided to leave for the other staircase since I didn't see it meet up with this one down here.
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Entry 19
A Skeleton in a Subterranean Air-Tight Chamber
I went down to the other room after refilling the battery, since it had run down a bit.
This room was also wooden, but it lacked any kind of royal looking decoration like the first bedroom had.
Right away, I noticed a skeleton on the far wall. I couldn't tell quite what it was.
To the left of the door, there was a bed with a blue page! Maybe I should help them both...
On the right side of the room, there was a projector on a dresser that had a slider. As I slid it across the bottom of the projector, the image of a rose turned into a skull, and back.
The dresser the projector was on was filled with maps.
Maps...
and more maps...
when I checked the last of the drawers, I found...
A white page?
No, the writing was much larger than the red and blue pages... and I could read it.
I took note of what this half sheet said, and set about looking for the other half in the room. The sheet had been torn in two from the looks of it, so I figured the other half must be somewhere...
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Entry 20
An Unsuccessful Hunt
I have been looking for the other half of the white sheet for what I think has been a day now, and still have not found it. Rotating the pumps around from place to place, swimming in the water for a little while, and viewing the horizon are all I have to do. There is no progress to be made in this place. I fear Atrus took with him or destroyed whatever I am supposed to find here...
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Entry 21
Damm I'm mad
It has been four days, and even as I pardon myself for mispelling a word, the symmetry of the sentence amuses me long enough to forget the time passed. I have read and reread the the journal copy I brought with me for this age. Atrus was so proud of this lighthouse... and now it's under water! Hah! Sinking! Like the rock it is on! Just like his relationship with his sons!
There must be a way out of here, back to that island I was on. I must find it. Perhaps another book.
Make another modification to this age, Atrus! Get me out of here!
The horizon continues to be empty, save the lighthouse roof, which blinks.
Nobody else is here.
I am alone.
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Entry 22
An Unintended Consequence
Anger had enveloped me. The stall in progress had consumed me. It had been a week since I discovered anything new with this place. I was abusing every single bit of this age that wouldn't break. Kicking and punching walls, spinning the crank so fast it almost hurt me, and screaming out for anybody to hear me.
Then it happened, down by the fancy bedroom. I kicked the wall on my way up, and...
A tunnel? Right here? All this time? What the hell Atrus? I wanted answers, more questions popped into my head.
I decided to crawl in.
A viewing room. A fishbowl, with a... compass of some kind? It was a gigantic version of a small direction symbol with the tersiary directions on it. It had 32 buttons going around it. I decided to press one.
That was bad timing...
I stumbled through the darkness, knowing where to step only because of my time spent here, and still missing a stair by an inch or two. When I got to the surface, I thought the battery had run out, so I ventured to the lighthouse.
Sure enough, it had run out just as I hit the button. Good thing I hit the button, or the lights wouldn't have come on.
I recharged the battery and found the alarm had shut off and the lights were back on. Perhaps they were related...
Back in the fishbowl, I tried again...
So maybe they are related. I know that battery was full when I walked away...
Perhaps I missed something...
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ENTRY 23
Speed of Light? How about a little direction?
More pondering, looking at the maps, being pensive, and thinking filled the last few hours, until I realized that there must be something I want to "point" to in the actual age.
Between 130 and 140 degrees, so 135 degrees...
32 buttons... 135 out of 360 degrees...
135/360 *32 = 12
Perhaps it's the twelfth button...
1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10...11...
...twelve.
It looks beautiful. The underwater lights have come on! Perhaps now the staircase room is lit!
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ENTRY 24
Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to
It took a little bit, but I've switched the water and opened the staircase room, but not before flipping a coin and grabbing the red page. The underwater lamps had lit up the room. It had a small staircase with a table at the bottom, in the center of the room.
After the second flight, no more there were no more stairs...
Just this table...
Again, I was at a dead end. I had no idea what to do, so I leaned on the table, and...
Scared the hell out of me, but looked really cool. It just rose out of the table, just like that.
Myst... hm...
It seemed odd, because it looked like...
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ENTRY 25
The Ceiling
When I came to after touching the image, I found myself back on Myst. Myst being the name of this mysterious island I first arrived at. The image in the book? The ceiling of the library. The red page? In my hand...
(Click it)
Suuure you didn't...
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ENTRY 26
The Other Side
Deciding to venture back for the red page and the other side of the story, I went back to the stoneship age and easily retrieved the blue page, as everything was as I left it. I quickly returned with it, and...
"I didn't do it, it was my brother!" he says. That claim sounds familiar...
In any case... they both want more pages, and they're the only ones with the whole story, so...
Where to next... maybe I'll check the bookcase for... ideas...
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