(set: $linkA to false)
(set: $forest to false)
(set: $shore to false)
(set: $boulder to false)
After numerous sleepless nights, it’s finally complete. The probe to explore Planet Odin has finished development and will be sent in a few days. It is your design after all.
(link: "What would you like to name it?")[{
(set: $linkA to true)
(set: $name to (prompt: "what would you like to name it?", ""))
(if: $name is "")[(set: $name to "asdffda")]
[(goto: "landing")]
|clue)[This text was hidden when the passage ''$name'' is first shown.]
{(if: $name is not "")[
[(goto: "landing")]
(show: ?clue)
(stop:)
]}
[[Go right->landing]]
}]
You stare at the pixels on the screen with intense intent. It’s been a few years since ''$name'' was launched into space and now, it is finally going to land. 5 seconds. 10 seconds. ''$name'' has stabilized and successfully landed.
[[LOOK AROUND->Landed on planet]]Odin is much more beautiful from the ground than it is from the sky. Its amethyst colored skies and azure colored terrain are straight out of a child’s imagination. You can’t help but wish you were there in person, as wind blows, making what appears to be grass bend to its direction.
“Is that… plantlife?” your associate, Dr. Jones, asks, “There are heavy implications of life on this planet if it really is.”
After a complete 360 scan, Jones tells you to zoom in onto the horizon. After the camera does its magic, you spot what is undeniably sentient macrofauna a few meters behind you, staring at the spacecraft you arrived in.
[[APPROACH IT->Node 4]](set: $linkA to false)
''$name'' slowly moves forward, careful not to startle the thing. It walks with 2 arms and 1 leg, green glowing eyes focused on ''$name'' cautiously.
“This is incredible. We haven’t been on the planet for a minute yet and we’ve already found life.” mutters Jones,
(link: "“This, this thing- what would you like to call it?” ")[{
(set: $linkA to true)
(set: $cow to (prompt: "“This, this thing- what would you like to call it?” ", ""))
(if: $cow is "")[(set: $cow to "asdffda")]
[(goto: "cow3")]
[[Go right->cow3]]
}]
At the top of the mountain, you get a better look at the sky, which has turned fuschia since your initial arrival. Furthermore, this height lets you get a better view of the layout around you. To your east, a forest. To your west, an ocean.
[[Go EAST->Forest]]
[[GO WEST->Shore]]
|extra)[[[EXPLORE THE FIELDS AHEAD->Boulders]]]
(if: $forest and $shore)[
(show: ?extra)
]
''$name'' approaches what appears to be a blue forest. If these plant-like organisms produce energy through photosynthesis similar to that of Earth organisms, such plants, of course, would have blue pigments to best absorb the amethyst colored wavelengths of light coming from the sky.
[[ENTER FOREST->ip vines]](set: $linkA to false)
As the image of the fields render with greater detail, you begin to notice that the boulders appear to be very similar to one another: round and smooth.
(link: "What would you like to call these structures?")[{
(set: $linkA to true)
(set: $hipo to (prompt: "What would you like to call these structures?", ""))
(if: $hipo is "")[(set: $hipo to "asdffda")]
[(goto: "Hippo")]
[[Go right->Hippo]]
}]
(set: $linkA to false)
As ''$name'' approaches the shore, you get a better look at the black ocean. The waves are calming, moving at a relatively slow pace. ''$name''’s sensor goes off. You pan your camera to your right and spot a creature that would call this habitat its home. Limbless, it crawls about at around 1 foot tall, eyeing ''$name'' with its black beady eyes. It carries a brick shaped object on its back as if it were a shell.
(link: "What would you like to call it?")[{
(set: $linkA to true)
(set: $snail to (prompt: "What would you like to call it?", ""))
(if: $snail is "")[(set: $snail to "asdffda")]
[(goto: "snaily")]
[[Go right->snaily]]
}]
(set: $linkA to false)
You attempt communicative gestures as the ''$snail'' reacts to them, but does not communicate back in any way. After a few moments, it simply crawls towards the ocean until fully submerged.
“Well that was uneventful,” says Jones, as he sighs.
You decide to scan the composition of the sand, when suddenly a large gray shape jumps out from the ocean for a short moment. You pan the camera towards the ocean to try and get a better look. The shape emerges, holding the ''$snail''. With a better look on the shape, it appears to be sentient life. Three beady eyes, similar to the ''$snail'', spikes along its sides, and three fin like limbs adorn the creature’s body.
“Is it me or is the ''$snail'' riding that- that thing?” asks Jones.
(link: "“What even is this?”")[{
(set: $linkA to true)
(set: $whale to (prompt: "“What even is this?”", ""))
(if: $whale is "")[(set: $whale to "asdffda")]
[(goto: "whaleyfrick")]
[[Go right->whaleyfrick]]
}]
The ''$snail'' makes a few gestures and tugs on the back of the ''$whale''. The ''$whale'' howls and submerges back into the black.
“Fascinating,” Jones declares, “Well, we have the data required to analyze the composition of our samples of sand and water. Let’s head back to the mountain.”
(set: $shore to true)
[[HEAD BACK TO THE MOUNTAIN->MountainTop]]From a closer distance, ''$hipo'' appears to be gray fleshy masses with a diameter of at least 4 meters; all of them are located next to large tree-like organisms. With no apparent presence of any limbs or other notable features, ''$hipo'' seems to parasitically draw nutrients from these trees.
You see a river shoreline nearby.
[[TRAVEL TO RIVER SHORE->whale2]]There appears to be less ''$hipo'' in this region. You soon notice ''$whale'' crawling out of the river and approaching a nearby ''$hipo''.
[[APPROACH ''$hipo''->vines]]''$whale'' opens its mouth-like protrusion and attaches onto the ''$hipo'', beginning to swallow it as a whole. It is truly a sight to see a 4 meter wide sphere of flesh disappearing at an instant. ''$hipo'' seems to truly lack any real limbs to defend against anything. It is questionable as to how ''$hipo'' are able to survive in this ecosystem.
Suddenly, you see ''$vine'' crawling out from the tree that ''$hipo'' was attached to, then puncturing holes onto ''$whale'' until it gives up on consuming ''$hipo'' and returns back to the river.
[[RETURN TO MOUNTAINTOP->MountainNew]]The vines cover the probe’s vision sensors. Nothing can be seen or observed. You soon notice that the connection got lost, as if ''$vine'' knowingly destroyed the transmitter. The journey ends here.
(set: $linkA to false)
What seemed to be a forest of trees appears to be a field of towering rocks completely covered in blue vines. These vines seem to grow very rapidly; so rapidly that its growth is very visible. Although fascinating, these appear to be the only macroscopic organisms seen in this area.
(set: $forest to true)
(link: "What would you like to call it?")[{
(set: $linkA to true)
(set: $vine to (prompt: "What would you like to call it?", ""))
(if: $vine is "")[(set: $vine to "asdffda")]
[(goto: "newvine")]
[[RETURN TO MOUNTAINTOP->newvine]]
}]The probe returned to the mountaintop, and it appears to be covered in ''$vine'' that was not present before. It is as if ''$vine'' knew that the probe will return to this spot, and that they were waiting for it. ''$vine'' begins to crawl toward you from all directions. Your probe is much faster than them, but there are no openings for escape. Nothing can be done but to simply stay and observe the behaviors of ''$vine'''s.
[[CONTINUE->End]]You use ''$name''’s various communicative functions to try to interact with ''$cow''. However, all of your efforts are in vain as ''$cow'' simply just keeps staring.
“Well, I suppose it may simply just not be intelligent life,” concludes Jones, “Well, we have to keep moving forward. There’s no way the ''$cow'' are the only sentient life on this planet; let’s keep looking.”
[[MOVE ALONG THE GRASSLAND AHEAD->rabbit1]](set: $linkA to false)
The grassland ahead is peaceful. All of the plantlife and existence of other sentient life gives you hope of endless possibilities. Colonization. Interaction with existing life. Suddenly, your thought gets interrupted by movement in the peripheral of your eye. Perhaps the ''$cow'' followed you? You turn and get a closer look as it moves towards you. Not quite the ''$cow''. It slowly inches up towards you on its five tiny legs with a fluffy purple coat and three cute square… things coming from what appears to be its face.
(link: "“Unbelievable, a different species,” exclaims Jones, “What exactly is this?”")[{
(set: $linkA to true)
(set: $rabbit to (prompt: "“Unbelievable, a different species,” exclaims Jones, “What exactly is this?”", ""))
(if: $rabbit is "")[(set: $rabbit to "asdffda")]
[(goto: "rabbit2")]
[[Go right->rabbit2]]
}]
As you study the ''$rabbit'', the ''$cow'' from before finally catches up to you. You’re not quite sure exactly as to why its following you, but being able to see the ''$rabbit'' and ''$cow'' at the same time allows you to compare them. You turn around to greet the ''$cow'' when the ''$rabbit'' leaps out from behind you and lands onto the ''$cow'' with claws you didn’t notice before.
The scene is a bloodbath as the ''$rabbit'' aims for the ''$cow''’s green eyes that greeted you upon your arrival. As green turns into blood red, the ''$rabbit'' feasts upon the carnage that it has created until all that’s left of the ''$cow'' is a violent biology lesson.
“My god!! What the hell?” yells Jones.
[[RUN TOWARDS THE MOUNTAIN-ESQUE STRUCTURE IN THE DISTANCE->mountainintro]]“I think it’s gone,” says Jones, “Thank god we sent a probe- can you imagine what that thing could’ve done to an astronaut?”
You breathe a sigh of relief.
As you get closer to the structure, ''$name''’s sensors are able to confirm that the it is indeed a mountain. Scaling it is nothing ''$name'' can’t handle. After all, you designed it.
[[SCALE THE MOUNTAIN->MountainTop]]The ''$vine'' wiggle around ''$name'', feeling its composition.
“Interesting, try some gestures,” says Jones, stroking his goatee.
''$name'' goes through its communicative gestures as the vines react to each one vividly.
“It appears that the ''$vine'' seem to understand us to some degree at the very least,” Jones declares.
With immense growth, the ''$vine'''s get bigger and bigger, to the point where ''$name'' looks suffocated in comparison to them.
With a nervous look, Jones starts sweating, “Okay, maybe we’ll come back to these later…”
[[RETURN TO MOUNTAINTOP->MountainTop]]