Walkthrough: The Crystal Key

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The Crystal Key

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1. Navigating World 1

NOTE: There is no double-clicking in this game, only single-clicking.
If you click during an internode movie, you will be taken directly to the end of that movie. Please be patient while the game loads.
You are seated in the cockpit of your crashed hypership.
Pan around to look behind you.
Click to go to the airlock door.
Put your hand on the top of the wheel and click.
Click to go into the airlock, and then exit through the open door to your left.
You are outside on the Arkonian Gatehouse world; look behind you to see your crashed ship.
Turn back to the view you had when you first exited the ship.
There's a path ahead in the distance; click to follow it.
You are at the gatehouse door; click on the handle to open it.
Pause slightly while the gatehouse loads!
You are in the main room of the gatehouse.
From where you're standing, go to your right to view a hanging tapestry that contains a clue.
Or go straight ahead to an old wooden table.
Or go through the doorway ahead and to the left.
Or go through the doorway ahead and to the right.
Click to go through the door on your left.
There's an urn at one end; click to go there.
One of the scrolls can be picked up--mouse down on the scroll.
When it stops, mouse down on the scroll again to continue the movie.
Now you're looking at an empty urn.
Move the mouse to the bottom of the game window and click to go backwards.
Click on the backpack to display inventory.
You should see the scroll once the backpack tips over.
Click on the pack to zip it back up.
Now, at the other end of this room is a torch on the wall. Go to it.
Click on its end--it'll move and opens a secret door in one of the columns.
Go to the column.
Mouse down to pick up the books inside.
Once the books are finished coming up, they will all show up in your inventory next time you tip the pack over.
Go out the door to the main room.
You'll end up at the front door; turn around to face the wooden table; click to go to the table.
Once there, tip your pack over.
Click on the scroll in your inventory to pick it up (it'll start pulsing to signify that it's selected).
Click on the table, then click on the shaft of sunlight once you're there (clue from the picture on the tapestry).
The scroll will fall onto the table.
Invisible ink begins to appear!
Click to get a closer view--notice the symbols on the margin of the scroll.
Move your cursor over to the right until it turns into a back arrow--click to go back.
Now go into the other side room that you haven't yet explored.
Turn to your right and go towards the torch at the end of the room.
To your left is a stairway leading down--follow it.
Once at the bottom, turn to your left. You'll notice a depression in the wall ahead and to the left--looks like it could be a secret door--but it's sealed up!
Go back upstairs, and go to the middle of the room.
Ahead and to your right is a small bookshelf on the wall--go to it.
This bookshelf was outlined in invisible ink on the scroll--it must be special.
Also in invisible ink were four symbols. You notice that each of the books in your inventory has a symbol on its cover--four of them correspond to the symbols on the scroll.
Put the books on the shelf in the same order as the symbols on the scroll (this corresponds to the first book, the second book, the third book, and the fifth book in your inventory from left to right).
To do this, click on the first book in your inventory so that it begins to pulse (this means you have it in your hand). Then click on the shelf--the book will fly onto the shelf. Then do the same for the second book in your inventory, etc.
If you put the wrong book on the shelf by mistake, just click on the shelf with nothing in your hand (i.e. no inventory items pulsing)--the last book on the shelf will come off and will return to your inventory. But watch out! When the book returns to your inventory, it occupies the first vacant inventory position, so it may no longer be in the position it was when you first picked it up from the secret drawer.
Once the books are on the shelf in the correct order, you'll hear a rumbling noise--you've opened the secret door! (Did you notice the little magnetic click each book made when it was placed on the shelf? The lock on each book is magnetically coded with its symbol--when the shelf detects the correct symbol sequence, it triggers the secret door downstairs.)
Go back downstairs.
The secret door is open--click to go down the secret stairs--you are in the portal room--ahead is the portal and off to the right is some kind of console.
Go to the console--there's a book and some controls. Click on the small joystick on the right--a prerecorded hologram appears--it's the last entry in the diary of Arla, one of the Arkonians who lived at the gatehouse.
When the message is finished, click on the book to view it.
Click on the right side of the cover to open the book.
On the second page is a diagram of a box with five buttons on top, and there is some text below it.
The clue here is the lines of text. There are five lines: the first is long, the second is short, the third is short, the fourth is long, the fifth is medium. Each line corresponds to a button position. When you find this box that's depicted in the diagram, set its five buttons to High, Low, Low, High, Medium, and the box will open.
The box is located in the room you just left at the top of the secret stairs (don't get confused with the spiral stairs! The secret stairs are the straight ones you just walked down).
If you're still looking at the book, move your cursor towards the bottom of the game screen until it turns into a backwards arrow, then click.
Turn around and navigate to the secret stairs, and climb up them.
Once at the top, if you look very closely, you might be able to see a safe in the wall ahead and slightly to the right (if you can't see it, you might have to increase the brightness of your monitor). Click to go to the safe.
Click on the round handle to open the safe.
When you get in close to the safe, you will be able to drag the buttons up and down.
Configure the buttons as above (High, Low, Low, High, Medium).
The box opens; you can see the blue crystal key.
Click on the key and it goes into your inventory.
Go back down the secret stairs, and go to the portal.
To the left of the portal is the portal control panel on the wall.
Click on the panel to go to it.
Once there, tip your pack over and click on the key so it pulses.
Now, click on the keyhole in the panel.
The key enters the panel, and a destination icon appears on the screen.
This icon shows six columns, and actually represents the gatehouse world.
Since you're already on this world, you can't go to it--if you click on this icon you will hear an error buzz.
Click the right blue arrow and the icon changes to a yellow crater, which represents the desert world.
Click on this crater icon, and the portal will be activated.
At the end of this activation sequence, you will be standing in front of the portal looking into the desert world.
Click anywhere in the portal to be transported to the desert world.

2. Navigating in the Desert Colony

You are on a walled plateau, looking at a cleft in the side of a huge crater.
To your left is a small building that has been hit by laser fire.
Behind you is a break in the plateau wall flanked by weird stone totems.
Go out between the totems.
To your right, stairs lead down to the desert floor--go down them.
Ahead and to the right is a cave--looks like there's some kind of car in there.
Go to the car cave and get in the car.
Click dead ahead (when the cursor is a big arrow) to start your drive.
Note: Instead of a big arrow, your cursor may be the standard hotspot cursor: a hand with a circle.
The car starts and takes you to a desert power station.
Click on the windshield to exit the car.
Go straight ahead along the side of the building.
You are at a bend in a large horizontal pipe. Ahead and a bit to the left you'll see a long thin bar leaning up against the pipe. Click to go towards it.
The bar is now to your left. Turn and click on the bar (the hot spot is very thin).
The bar comes up and enters your inventory.
Turn to your left to go back to the bend in the pipe.
Once there, turn right and follow the pipe to the wall where it enters the main building.
The pipe enters a box just ahead and to your right. On top of the box is a small tool. Click on the tool.
The tool comes up and enters your inventory.
Turn to the left and head back towards the car.
When you are standing in front of the car, turn right 90 degrees and click to go towards the entrance to the main building (which is between the two sphinx-like legs).
Turn right to look into the building. Click the entrance opening to enter the power building.
Once inside, click on the top of the stairs to go up to the metal deck.
Ahead and to your right at the other end of the deck are three power switches.
Click to go to the power switches.
You are standing in front of the power switches.
Click on any of the switches to get closer.
Click and drag on any of the three switches--they move up and down, but always return to their original position.
You notice the switch handles are hollow. Click on the bar in your inventory so that it is pulsing. Then, click on any of the switches. The bar will come out, slide through all three handles, and will throw the three switches at once. Power is restored.
Make your way out of the power building and back to the car. Click on the car to get back into the driver's seat.
Once there click on the dashboard. The car will take you back to the car cave. If you click on the windshield instead of the dashboard, you'll find yourself out in front of the car again.
You are back in the cave, looking at the car.
Hands off, 'cause you're automatically swinging towards the front of the cave.
Your presence has been detected by Ozgar's men, and you're being kidnaped to Ozgar's mothership. After being shot with the stun gun, you come to as you are being dragged to your cell in the mothership.

3. Navigating in the Mothership

You're locked in your cell.
Click towards the diamond-shaped wall plate beside the door.
You're at the plate. Click on the tool you picked up in the desert so that it pulses.
Click on the wall plate, and the tool will come out of your inventory.
There is a switch on the tool. It is currently in the center position. It can be clicked forwards or backwards. Clicking the switch forwards brings out a torch, and clicking the switch backwards brings out a pair of snippers.
To operate the switch, you just have to click in front of it or behind it--you don't have to click and drag.
Click the switch forward so the torch comes out.
Click on one of the three rivets holding the wall plate in place.
The torch burns off the rivets and the plate swings down to reveal the locking circuitry for the cell door.
Click to get a closer look at the circuitry.
There's a circuit board, and a pinioned vertical bar a bit to the left that looks like it can slide to the right.
Grab the bar and try slowly dragging it to the right.
It will only go so far until it hits a small locking rod.
Let go of the vertical bar so that it slides back to the left on its own.
Click on the tool in your inventory.
Click on the circuit board.
The tool comes out.
Click the tool's switch backwards so the snippers come out.
Click on the small locking rod that prevented the bigger vertical bar from sliding.
The snippers go in and cut the locking rod.
You've taken a step back. Click to get closer again to the circuit board.
Once there, grab the vertical sliding bar again, and this time you are able to drag it all the way to the right (drag slowly so it can keep up with you).
Let go.
If you let go too early, the bar will slide back to the left.
If not, the bar will continue to the right, unlocking the door. You're free!
Click to go out into the hallway.
Turn right around to your left until you see a long hallway.
Click to go down the hallway.
At the end of the hallway, you can go left or right.
Go left.
When you stop, you can go straight ahead or you can sneak off to your right.
Go right.
You are facing a ladder tube.
If you click high on the ladder, you will go up. Clicking low takes you down a deck.
Go up the ladder.
You are on the top deck facing some weird yellow-lit grill.
Turn left.
Go down the hallway.
There's a long gradual ramp ahead leading to a door--go up the ramp.
You are at the door of the control room--click on the window to see Ozgar in action.
Returning from the window, turn 180 degrees and go back down the ramp.
Be careful! If you go forward, you'll be in Ozgar's way when he comes out of the control room behind you, and then you're toast.
Instead, off to your left is a small nook--click to go into the nook.
Just in time--Ozgar passes you by without seeing you.
Click ahead to follow Ozgar down the hall.
You're at the yellow grill again--click ahead and to the left to go around the left turn in the hall.
Now, you're facing another doorway--click to go towards the doorway.
You're in front of the door.
Click on the window of the door to look into Ozgar's private room.
It's time to find your way off the ship. Turn around 180 degrees and click to go back the way you came.
At the bend in the hall, click ahead and to the right to turn the corner.
The weird yellow grill should now be to your right, and the ladder tube is to your left.
Go left.
Click on the ladder to go down.
You're on the cell block again. Turn around and click low on the ladder to go down another deck.
You're on the hangar deck.
Click ahead and to the right to go right.
Next, the hallway turns left (you should see a blue pipe a bit to your right). Click ahead and to the left to go left.
You are at a junction--you can either go straight ahead or to your right. Go right.
You descend a ramp and enter an airlock through an iris door. Ahead, a second iris door opens to reveal a spaceship hangar.
Click to enter the hangar.
There's a spaceship ahead and to the right--click to go towards it.
You're standing in a levitating platform. There's a dark handle in front of you and to the right (like a slot-machine handle with a button on top). Click on the handle's knob.
The platform takes you up to the ship's doorway.
Turn around 180 degrees and click to enter the ship.
You are now looking towards the front of the ship--ahead you can see the orange-yellow lights of the cockpit.
Keep clicking forward until you are in the cockpit.
Behind you and to the right is a pair of pilot's chairs--click on them to get into one.
An instrument panel flips up in front of you. In the middle of the panel is a keypad to enter the coordinates of your next destination.
As you type (don't type yet), the numbers you type will appear in the left LED display. The numbers showing in the right LED display the coordinates of where you are currently.
Click on the keypad to get closer.
Type in the coordinates of World 1 (you know these because they were showing on the hypership cockpit dash display at the beginning of the game, when you first crash-landed on World 1).
The coordinates are 285 016 909. The keypad works just like a telephone keypad, with the same number configuration (i.e., the numbers 1, 2, and 3 are on the top row of buttons, 4, 5, 6 are on the middle row, and 7, 8, and 9 are on the lower row. Zero is beneath the lowest row, in the center the ship launches, and you're off to World 1.

4. Navigating back on World 1

Be patient as World 1 loads (you're looking at a blank screen).
You fade into a view of the control panel in its "up" position.
Click near the bottom of the picture (the cursor will change to a downward arrow) to get the panel out of your face.
You're standing in the cockpit of the ship after it has landed back on World 1.
Click to go up the ramp and down the hall to the exit.
Click out the exit to go outside and onto the platform.
Click on the handle to descend to the ground.
Click to your right--you'll travel around the original hypership and back to the very first spot you stood in when you first came to World 1.

Part 2

You're back on the plateau with the power on. Make sure you've got the battery cables from the car cave.
Go to the cave in front of you (in the right mound beside the pass to the center of the crater).
Go down the tunnel.
Go left at the bottom.
Go through the blue metal door (there's a button to the left before you go in).
You're looking into a cave.
In the bottom left of your view is a flat freight car suspended on an overhead track. It's tough to see, but the track it's on is disconnected from the main line.
So go to the platform in the upper right of your view (assuming you're still standing just inside the cave door.
Click on the switch, watch the track move, the light turns green.
Go down to the freight car.
Click the switch, enjoy the ride.
At the bottom go down the stairs.
Go insane trying to watch the stair-down movie.
At the bottom, there's a big generator to your right that you must turn on.
Click on the rung ladder to climb the generator.
At the top, all you see is two blue switches. Slowly drag one of the switches to the top all the way, then let go. If you hear a start-up sound, you did it right; if you hear a buzz, you did it wrong. Do the same to the second switch (both switches need to be thrown).
Go back down the ladder.
To your left is a diving bell.
Click to get in the bell.
Click on the control; the glass windshield will come down and off you go.
At the end, rocks will come into your inventory.
Go back up to the plateau the way you came.
Go to the lab that looks like a fifties diner.
Go into the back room.
Click on the loader (looks like a big bed pan).
When you're in front of it, select the rocks from inventory and click the loader--a rock will float into it.
Back at the switch, look down and click on the switch. Click on the round switch to start the machine.
You get a coin-like thing.
Cruise to the ponds in the center of the crater.
You can throw rocks in the ponds and hear a splash.
One of the ponds doesn't make a splash--the rock just disappears.
This pond is immediately to your left when you're standing in the sandy center part of the cone.
Throw the coin into the pond that doesn't make a splash.
The electromagnetic properties of the ore the coin is made from knocks out the fake holographic water image and reveals a rock stair going down into the pond.
At the bottom there's an imager plugged into the rock wall.
Unplug it.
Put the battery cables on the socket.
Click on the other end of the cables.
Drag the other end up to the magnetically locked door handle.
Blow the door open.
Turn around and pick up the cables again.
Go into the cave.
Go through the closed door ahead of you.
Check out the portal platform; watch the holo movie.
Head down the stairs of the platform and go straight ahead to a small V-shaped stalagmite sticking up from the ledge.
Throw the cables into the V.
Climb down the cables, across the pool to get the key piece.
Click on the piece to pick it up and insert it into your key.
Go to the portal control.
Insert key, hit right button three times 'til you see a leaf.
Click on the leaf icon.
You're in the jungle world--get ready to barf at the compression.
There's only one hot-spot. Follow it.
There are only two hot spots, one a little to the right to go forward, and one behind you to go back. Click on the one a little to the right.
Now, there's a hot spot a little to your right and another a little to your left. Click the left one to check out something you can't do anything with yet, or just click the right one to get through this as quickly as possible.
If you clicked left:
--You're near the edge of the jungle plateau
--Click to follow the ledge to the crashed enemy ship
--Go right to climb up onto the enemy ship.
--You're at the door. To your left is the light-up lock mechanism (looks like that battery-powered childhood game called Simon).
--Match the lock pattern to the pattern you saw when entering the bad ship in the mothership hangar. (Don't remember? Light the two big blue outer ring-halves.)
--Click to go back.
--The door will open to reveal the bad ship insides.
--Go left.
--Another Simon game--match it to the one you saw inside the bad ship from the hangar. (You must go back to world 1 and enter the bad ship there to look at these patterns if you have forgotten. You can get off the jungle world without having to know these patterns, so you can come back later.) Anyway, this one's the small yellow half on the left and the big blue half on the right.
--Go back to the left/right fork.
If you clicked right:
--After clicking right, you'll see a bit of a clearing ahead to the right.
--Click a little bit to the right again.
--You go into a bit of a ditch. There's a hotspot up and to your left (to your very left is the back of the crashed bad ship--you can just make out its engines). Anyway, click up and left to go to the edge of the plateau.
--Click over the small rocks in front of you to go down the slope.
--You're beside another crashed ship that you can hardly recognize--it's a good guy Arkonian ship. Click ahead to go around the ship.
--Continue going around the ship to the other side.
--The doorway has three buttons beside it that look like pepperoni slices.
--When your nose is right up against the side of the ship, pan up and left to see the slices--click on one of them to open the door.
--Go down the stairs into the shuttle bay.
--Look at the back end of the shuttle--to the right is a switch thing on the floor of the bay.
--Go to the switch and click on it--it releases the clamps holding the shuttle in place.
--Click on the shuttle's butt to open the door and go in.
--On the floor to the right is a compartment; open it and get the screwdriver.
--Sit in the chair, hit the two buttons on the right to start the engines.
--Enjoy the ride to the sunken city.
--You land on the roof of the solar building. Leave the shuttle and watch it fly away.
--Head to the green glass dome.
--Go around it to the door; enter the dome.
--Play the hologram of the governor.
--On the desk is a triangular gizmo.
--Hit the lower left triangle piece five times (what you're doing is matching the middle piece patterns to that painting that shows a blotch of green, orange, and purple).
--Click on the back button--the desk opens--click to pick up the CD (the portable portal comes with it).
--Cruise back to the solar roof.
--When you're still standing on the skywalk roof, to your left is a small platform under the reflectors, and to your right is a dark tower which houses the solar collector.
--Go to the platform (because the door to the tower isn't powered yet).
--Click on the joystick.
--Oops, too much rust--it snaps off. Lucky you grabbed that screwdriver.
--Select the screwdriver and click on the hole that used to be the joystick.
--Necessity is the mother of invention--the screwdriver is now your joystick.
--Move it right until you see the reflected concentrated light circle on the tower wall.
--Move the circle to the round collector window.
--Keep it there until you hear a power-on sound.
--Go into the dark tower.
--Beside the door you came in is a radio (it's on the floor). Pick it up.
--Go into the elevator--click the active elevator button (there's only one).
--At the bottom, click on the door to open it--you're in a monorail station.
--Jump down on the tracks and walk through the monorail tube to the next station.
--Jump up onto the platform, up the stairs, through the revolving door, across the room to the double glass door, down the stairs to the garbage compactor room.
--To your left is a platform, get up there.
--There's a neat portal control, and behind you four powered safes.
--Click on the active one.
--Click on it--it turns around to reveal a key piece behind glass.
--Take out the radio--then press the radio button until the dial starts moving.
--The dial lights up red when it gets to a frequency that used to be a broadcast station--there are five of them. The second-highest station is really annoying. Let go of the button when you're on that station and the annoying sound will loop until the glass breaks and you get the key piece.
--Put the key into the funky portal control--you now have four options: gatehouse world, desert world, jungle world, or the sun. The Arkonians used to dispose of their garbage into space near the sun.
--Go back to world 3 and go inside the bad ship wreck (it's that "if you clicked left" section above).
Make your way into the small cabin with the comm unit in it. The comm unit has four yellow symbols on its screen and a CD tray sticking out. Put the CD into the tray. The CD is the decoder disk, and it translates the four symbols for you. The symbols say "abandon ship." You now know the symbols to start an abandon ship alarm.
Use the portable portal to jump to the desert world.
Go into the fake pond and unscrew the imager from its small concrete pedestal.
Using the portable portal, punch in the coordinates for the mothership (they're the orange ones still showing on the right side of the TV tray in the bad ship cockpit on world 1. The orange ones show where you've come from; the green ones show where you've gone to (or are going to).
Make your way to the comm unit of the top deck of the mothership, just outside Ozgar's door. Plug in the imager, take a picture of the empty hall and project it from the imager.
Put down the portable portal in the hall.
Select the sun from the portable portal control unit.
Punch in the "abandon ship" code on the comm unit.
Sirens wailing, Ozgar turns and leaves his cabin to see what's going on. The hall ahead looks empty (because the imager is projecting the empty hall image) so he zooms right through it and into the sun.

You win!