Runaway 2: Dream of the Turtle Strategy Walkthrough

Courtesy
of CDV

* This guide
may not be reprinted at any other site without the written permission
of CDV and/or Just Adventure.

Chapter
1: TRAPPED IN THE JUNGLE

A plane crash.
A horrible way to die. My thoughts flashed through my brain like lightning,
coursing and raging and carrying my memories of life in a chaotic
stew of uncertainty and fear. My stomach dropped and my heart went
to my throat, but that’s the last thing I remembered –
I blacked out just as the plane hit the crumpled green coating of
jungle below.

I awoke slowly, the sun
moved in the sky, making me think it was hours since the landing.
A quick check made sure all appendages (and the plumbing!) assured
me that neither was I paralyzed, nor were my family prospects threatened.
(Hey, it’s the little things that you gotta grab onto to maintain
sanity.)

I looked for Otto, but
he was gone; the jerk left me here in the plane. Guess I could give
him the benefit of the doubt, but being left alone in a dead plane
swallowed by a thick endless wad of green wasn’t exactly my
idea of a security blanket. Nor was the thought of being bitten or
eaten or swallowed by multi-legged beasties – if there’s
one thing I can tell you now, Brian ain’t gonna be the main
course on anyone’s menu.

I climbed out, a little
sore but mobile at least, and remembered I had a couple of bottles
of water and a few other odds and ends that may help, but found my
bag was missing. Great. Not only was Otto gone, but probably a thief
as well.

The clearing I’m
in is fairly wide, but the jungle pretty much impassable. Judging
from the crumpled frame of the plane, it’s like we went nose-first
into a sidewalk. The damn vines were thicker than my torso and impossible
to push through in one direction, but in the other there’s a
pool of murky brown material…and it ain’t horse leavings,
although it smells just as bad. A tiny little creature notices me
and disappears over some of the surrounding real estate, somewhere
over a rise in the ground where the jungle seems to fade like a bad
haircut.

Figuring the plane isn’t
headed anywhere for the next few minutes, I followed the creature
– it looked like a lemur. The surrounding jungle was impassable,
and the little critter headed off in a direction that looked like
the only way out, anyway. Scouting out the terrain ahead might not
be a bad idea before trying to loot the plane.

Into a new clearing I went;
there was a wide stretch of quicksand ahead, making that an impossible
path. The lemur flew up the side of a rock, then jumped through some
sturdy-looking vines to a higher elevation that seemed passable. From
down here, though, I couldn’t tell what was going on, so I tried
to climb the rock. No dice, the damn thing was too smooth.

Sighing, I left the lemur
to its own devices and headed back to the plane to search it.

The Plane, Boss, The Plane

There’s not too many
hiding places here for junk; in fact there’s a lot of it littered
about, but not much of it would be helpful to me in a jungle. God
knows where or when I’d make it to civilization, so I passed
on some of the more luxurious items.

The cockpit was as good
a place to start as any. After messing with some of the levers, I
could see that the front cargo compartment popped open. I raced out
to happily loot it, but it closed before I got to it. Of course. Going
back and repeating the same procedure – maybe I didn’t
move fast enough – yielded the same results. Since crazy is
pretty much doing the same thing over and over and expecting the same
results, I decided that wasn’t worth my efforts any longer.
I’d need to use something on the lever to make it stay –
and that something had to be in the plane, somewhere.

Once that little problem
was dealt with, the front cargo bay had a few treasures. One included
some water and some kind of metal tool, as well as a sticky spray
of some sort. Also, a gift from the heavens floated down to the ground;
it was a possession of Otto’s. He wouldn’t need it any
more – at least, he wasn’t here to claim it, so why not
– I shoved it into my pocket.

Interesting stuff, this
sticky spray. Maybe I could use it in a strategic area to make that
rock less of an obstacle.

Getting to the top of the
rock was the least of my problems, though; the stupid little lemur
(or genius, depending on your point of view I guess) kicked me right
off when I tried to cross to the ledge. Little jerk. I’d need
something to deal with him, and beating him senseless with a metal
tool wasn’t an option (even if it seemed like the best idea
at the time). Back to the plane – maybe I missed something.

Since I’d scoured
the front of the plane, the back needed my attention.

There, I found crates and
crates of…toy puppies. Wonderful. Maybe if they had some kind
of lemur-eliminating Kung-Fu mode…but no, alas, they do not.
Well, maybe it would at least make the thing go away.

I put the dog down near
the rock, and out comes the fuzzy nightmare. He sniffed around the
dog, but wasn’t interested, and made sure it didn’t live
its electronic life much longer.

I went back to the plane,
murder in my mind, but finally remembered those silly commercials
that went along with the dog. They were supposed to pee on things.
Yeah, great gimmick. But maybe that would entertain the base-minded
little lemur, so I got another puppy, and filled it with the only
liquid I had on hand. Going back to the rock, the puppy does his thing,
and the lemur does his thing…again. Strike two.

With nothing else to do
but head back to the plane, I absently grabbed another dog toy, and
searched the rest of the plane. In the cockpit, there was a small
compartment I had missed earlier, with a bottle of whiskey (good ol’
Otto, a beacon of flying integrity). There were also a set of binoculars.
I grabbed both, then an evil thought came to mind. The dog toy was
filled with firewater. Little jerk of a lemur was going to have a
heck of a hangover.

Sure enough, that did the
trick – the thing lapped it up and promptly fell asleep. I almost
left it there, but in one of my moments of weak-heartedness, I realized
the jungle would probably tear the thing to pieces the moment it was
out of my sight, so I picked it up. It was very small and easy to
carry. I just prayed it wouldn’t wake up at a wrong moment.

This time, without a foul-tempered
walking rodent to stop me, I easily made the climb across to the ledge.
Finally. But of course, that would hardly be the end of my troubles
– ahead was a nice, long, rickety, and thoroughly too-high rope
bridge. It looked like it might have been in use during Roman times,
and gingerly testing one of the boards made me realize there was no
way it would take my weight. I’d need something to help me cross
it.

Going back to the clearing,
I remembered Otto’s license falling from the heavens (and hopefully
Otto was up there from wherever it came from…or maybe a bit
south of that). Although, before I could investigate that, I saw something
in the quicksand near the edge…Otto’s goggles. I grabbed
them, then headed back for the plane.

Back there again, I glanced
up in the trees, and thought I saw something but wasn’t quite
sure. I pulled out the binoculars, careful not to disturb my new evil
friend sleeping off a bender, and looked up. Sure enough, it was Otto’s
bag. At least, I remember him having it slung over his shoulder. It
might have something in it, but how to get it down?

Hmm. Maybe a spear? No,
the metal bar was too heavy. A branch, then? Maybe some kind of sling?
If I did that, I’d need a stick in a ‘Y’ shape,
and a stretchable band of some kind…the only stretchy stuff
I had was the band on Otto’s goggles, but there was nothing
to cut them with…but maybe in the plane there was something
that would work that would slice through the material.

My makeshift device works;
a pebble is launched after some trial and error at the bag, knocking
it to the ground. Of course, it’s empty, except for (double
of course) a broken plastic key. Just the size and shape to fit the
compartment just inside the door. Naturally.

Well, it IS plastic. Maybe
fire, or some kind of heat, would melt it into one piece again. But
how to get heat without fire? There’s no lighters to be found,
nor flint or anything else. Except…maybe the glass from the
goggles? Maybe a sunbeam itself? It is pretty hot out…

Nope, that didn’t
work either, and neither did the sunbeam. Now what?

Back to the plane again.
There’s bound to be something laying around that can concentrate
some light on this key…and eventually, I did find something.

But a clean weld it ain’t.
It won’t fit in the keyhole like this. So something is needed
to scrape it off. Something I’ve already found to this point.

Finally, the key fits.
And my reward is…something that I can strap on that will let
me cross the bridge of death.

And if you think this was
the end of our problems, you have to think again. I find something
very unexpected down the road, but as crazy at it is, maybe there’s
somebody there that can help me…

Chapter 2: SURFIN’ MALA

It’s…a military
camp. Here, in the middle of a rugged, desolate island. Looks like
Army soldiers…but who’s Army?

The checkpoint was across
open ground, so it was unlikely I’d get to sneak up on them.
That was a good thing – you never want to sneak up on anyone
heavily armed. When I got to within shouting range, sure enough, every
barrel was pointed right at me. It was all I could do to not…well,
nevermind. Suffice it to say I was scared.

Anyway, after a few tense
seconds went by and no bullets flew, I ventured a question: had they
heard of Gina? Or could I enter the camp and find someone who might
know of her whereabouts? They didn’t want to let me in, but
eventually my golden tongue managed to overcome my deathly fear and
they decided to take me to their leader, a colonel.

I waited outside while
Leslie, the Colonel’s secretary announces my presence to him.
They exchange a few words, which might be of value later. Finally,
I’m admitted to see the Colonel, by the name of Kordsmeier.
Further, he tells me the island is under martial law and has been
for the past three days. The entire population has been evacuated,
except for a few souls, but a ship is due to come pick up the last
of them. The colonel says we’ll be leaving the island on it.
.

Finally, I leave the base,
and I come to two conclusions: one, that the Colonel seemed a bit
dodgy and might actually be holding Gina hostage, and it would be
up to me to find her. Two, that there’s no point in even trying
to find Gina without having a plan for escaping the island. So, the
conclusion for now is to explore.

After a long walk, I got
to Luana Beach, where there is a bar. On top of that, it is open.
This must have been one of the important infrastructure businesses
that the island could not do without until the last evacuation takes
place.

Regardless, I go in and
talk to the bartender, Lokelani. He’s very surprised to see
me, since all land, air, and sea communications have been cut off
by the Colonel and his men.

A. THE PHOTO SESSION

Shaping the Plan

From our conversation,
this is what Lokelani lets me in on:

• Lokelani talks a lot
  about ex’s, but eventually lets on as to whom is still on
  the island: herself, a couple of her friends, and a strange monk
  that appeared under a veil of mystery last night.
• I asked her about her
  friends, Kai and Knife; she tells me they live in Alaula Creek and
  further explains how to get there. Her information activated an
  incon on my general map.
• Lokelani told me also
  that she used to work as a make-up artist in Hollywood. She has
  a computer program that allows her to create a face from only two
  bits of information: a picture of the actor, and one of the character.
• There is a building
  called the Seafood Kahuna and Visitor’s Center, which is impossible
  to get into as it is wired to God’s armpits by the military;
  any entry would set off dozens of alarms and send heavily-armed
  men running. However, she does say that the basement entrance is
  not currently wired.

Sounds like an invitation
to me!

I head over to the Seafood
Kahuna, with little else to do at the moment. There, I spot a soldier
and a hummer behind the building. He jumps mightily to conclusions,
figuring out that I’m a military policeman on an undercover
mission. Who am I to tell him otherwise? This seems like a great opportunity
to get him to get me into the camp, but no dice – he won’t
go for it, and I can’t push the issue unless I make him suspicious.

O’Connor is his name,
and he’s not a terribly bright lad. He does try, though, and
goes on and on about working with trees, saying he’s an expert
climber. I encourage him to show off his skills, but he has no rope
to do so.

Actually, he’s waiting
for another individual, a Professor Pgnon, to take him to the camp.
Asking him about Pignon yields O’Connor showing me a picture
of the Professor, which is stuck inside a book. Do you see what’s
coming next, possibly?

The picture might be useful
to Lokelani, insofar as her computer program is concerned. That might
give me access to the camp.

However, I need to get
into the basement first. The door to that might not be wired according
to Lokelani, but of course the thing is locked up with padlocks and
a thick board. Figures.

Opening the Basement

Here’s a summary
of a breaking and entering:

• There is a hook with
  a metal cable attached to it hanging from the hut where the strange
  monk rests. Pulling the cable shows that it is tied to some tree
  roots under the hut. Nope, this can’t ever be easy…
• Getting it out might
  be tricky, as it’s tied fairly tightly. What would be the
  best way to untie a metal cable? Probably some kind of lubricant.
  Lo and behold, there’s a container of butter beside the basement
  door. How fortunate.
• Spreading the butter
  over the end of the cable that’s snagged up, it becomes very
  easy to untie it.
• The hook end of the
  cable I put where the board is.
• I set myself and pull
  on the cable as hard as I can, but there’s no way I’m
  strong enough to break this board.
• Now what? Well, O’Connor
  is still hanging around, which gives me an idea. I find a piece
  of rope in Alaula Cove, to the left of Knife and Kai’s hut.
• I give O’Connor
  the rope and ask him once more to climb the tree, which he gladly
  does.
• While he is up the
  tree, I borrow his Hummer, tying the metal cable to the rear of
  the huge vehicle, pulling it right off the door. Quickly, I drove
  the Hummer back and parked it right where it was, and O’Connor
  is none the wiser.

With the board broken,
I opened the basement doors.

A Picture of Me

Here’s how to get
my picture:

• There is a tourist photo
  booth on Luana Beach, but it of course it does not work. That would
  be too easy.
• Lokelani tells me that
  it’s not broken, just turned off. To switch it on, I should
  go to the basement to find a fuse.
• I locate the fuse box
  in the basement and pull the lever to bring power to the booth.
  We go to the fuse board in the basement and we pull up the lever
  that brings power to the photo booth. If the amperage exceeds 30,
  though, the power in the area will automatically be cut, so I need
  to watch it. Lokelani will complain if her refrigerators go offline,
  and we won’t be able to leave until she’s got power
  again.
• When I return to the
  photo booth, it’s turned on. However, we need special kinds
  of coins to use it, and I’m dead broke.
• When I asked Lokelani
  about this, she tells me she doesn’t have any either, but
  says there’s some under the photo booth’s platform.
• The platform is so low,
  we can’t get to the coins; I need something small that can
  get under there. Looks like it’s time for my sleeping friend
  to earn his keep! Putting the little demon of a lemur under there,
  he manages to grab the coin, but won’t hand it over…unless
  he gets a cold beer.
• Lokelani seems the most
  logical person to ask for one, but she is a bit angry with me, because
  she thinks I don’t listen to her (I’m shocked). We tell
  her that’s not true, but she won’t hear it. She’ll
  decides to test me, and asks some questions about her ex-boyfriends;
  the prize if we know the right answers will be a cold beer.
• The names which form
  the answers to her questions are connected together. That is, beginning
  with the first answer, “Milo,” the last syllable of
  an answer is the first one of the next.
• Having won the beer,
  I give it to lemur, who gets instantly drunk and embraces me. We
  take the coin from him and place both he and the coin in my pocket.
• I insert the coin in
  the photo booth panel and take a photo of myself.

Professor Pignon’s
Picture

Getting the Professor’s
picture is pretty easy:

• O’Connor loves
  to climb, so I indulge him once again by asking him to climb; when
  he takes off, I grab the photo of the Professor from the book.

Something…weird…will
happen when I give both pictures to Lokelani, so it would be a good
idea to concentrate first on finding a way to escape from the island.

B. THE MATTER
OF HIGHTAILING IT

Knife’s Motorboat
and the Bronco

Lokelani had told me that
Knife has a motorboat. It could be the way off the island, but he
of course will not give it to me. He’s upset as there are no
good surfing waves in the area, and says he needs the boat to look
for good waves off of other beaches. He went on to explain more than
I’d ever care to know about surfing, including the fact that
surfing is easy – it’s all about balance and a good sense
of anticipation.

Talking with Lokelani about
the Luana Beach’s bronco, I come to the conclusion that it has
been broken-down for a long time. (The last one to use it, she says,
was one of her ex-boyfriends, who used to say that surfing was easy,
merely a question of balance and anticipation sense). Sounds somewhat
familiar. I can create a plan now: by fixing the bronco, maybe Knife
will be able to practice surfing on it, and lend me his motorboat.

I talk to Knife about the
idea, and he agrees.

I enter the bronco, but
its too broken-down, so I’ll need some help. I won’t find
it until we solve the mystery that surrounds Luana Beach’s strange
monk.

The Monk

I go to the monk’s
hut to talk to him, but he seems to be not entirely with it, merely
moving his head ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when I ask him
questions. I need a better way of communicating with him, and it’s
up to me to locate this.

I remember that there’s
a tiny blackboard with a chalk on Lokelani’s bar. Going back
there, she’s nice enough to give it to me.

Giving this to the monk,
he accepts it and can now write some answers for me.

He writes that he is actually
no monk, but that he is here pursuing a mission. After telling us
that it’s been a long time since he last used his vocal organ,
the chalk runs out, so I cannot talk to him anymore until I find another
one.

O’Connor is still
around, but he has no chalk. However, he does know how to make some:
mix talcum powder with glue, and let it dry.

Where to get some glue,
or something glue-like? Looking around, I spot something near O’Connor
that probably will work: something oozing from a tree.

Lokelani has no more chalk,
unfortunately, but I notice a cigar case and grab it from an ashtray
on the floor.

By Knife’s hut is
a talcum powder tin, which might prove useful.

We put some talcum powder
in the cigar case, and then use it to get a bit of resin from the
tree. I wait a bit and voila, I have homemade chalk.

I give it to the monk,
but get an eyeful of nonsense (including, among other fine points,
that he knows telepathy). He uses an insubstantial sentence that rings
a bell, though. In that moment I realize he is Joshua, the awkward
scientist from the first installment of Runaway, who disappeared in
a halo of light when he was trying to communicate with some Trantor
planet. He doesn’t remember me, so I have to refresh his memory.

Once he knows who I am,
he tells me he is on a mission for planet Trantor: he must find Professor
Simon and give him a message. He is waiting for the evacuation ship.

He is very good at fixing
broken machinery, so I ask him to fix the Bronco. After making me
swear that I will help him in return, he agrees to help me.

Fixing the Bronco

Joshua first goes into
the Bronco to examine it; he tells me he needs some lubricant and
a 10-gauge wrench. For lubricant, I still have some butter, and as
for a tool, there’s a tool box somewhere near the dock of Alaula
Cove, so that’s covered.

Giving both items to Joshua,
the Bronco gets fixed. However, the corresponding lever in the basement
must be up. If it is not, I’ll have to go over there and throw
it so the Bronco will start.

Once it’s fixed,
I go and tell Knife, who is delighted; the boat is mine.

A Temporarily Dead
Parrot

With one thing less to
deal with, I go back to Lokelani to give her both pictures. She asks
me to take care of Aolani, her parrot, while she goes to her hut to
scan the pictures onto her computer. When she leaves, I realize that
I’m extremely thirsty, and start looking for a beer in the bar.
Once I say “beer” the little devil lemur escapes from
my pocket, making such a fuss that Aolani gets scared and flies away
to O’Connor’s palm tree. Of course, Lokelani comes back
just in time to see the whole thing, and gets mightily angry. There
will be no make-up as long as Aolani is gone, so my immediate path
is obvious.

This should be easy –
O’Connor is a tree-climber, so he can go grab the bird. Haven’t
I learned my lesson yet? When I go ask O’Connor, he agrees,
and I am relieved. But then, O’Connor pulls out a gun and shoots
the bird, who falls to the ground.

There’s no blood,
though; the bullet did not hit the bird. Instead, it looks like it’s
had a heart attack from fright. Can’t blame the poor thing,
given the excitement it’s had in a short period of time.

I head over to Alaula Creek
where Kai, of a great kahuna kin, tells me that Aolani is not completely
dead, but only temporarily. His grandfather had a name for himself
as a chicken re-animator. What are the odds? I ask Kai to try this
trick on Aolani. He agrees to do it, but says he needs his grandpa’s
sorcerer book, which must be inside his ceremonial hut…wherever
that is, because Kai doesn’t remember. Well, maybe in the north-eastern
part of the island.

That’s kind of vague.
The island is large, and exploring by foot through impenetrable jungle
is a pointless endeavor (not to mention not terribly exciting!). A
crazy thought comes to mind: something that the Colonel had mentioned
the last time I was at the military base. They said they had a satellite
that could keep track of every location on the island; I wonder if
this could be used to find the hut I’m looking for. Back at
the military checkpoint, I ask the soldiers if I can see Colonel Kordsmeier
again. They have no issue with that, so I find myself back being announced
by Leslie. While the secretary is gone, though, I note that the handwriting
in his book is very similar to mine, so I write a little message in
there, something along the lines of “locate hut in the northeast
part of the island.” I hope that this will order someone to
find the exact spot I’m looking for.

Once I talk to Kordsmeier,
I tell the checkpoint soldier that I want to see the Colonel once
again. Maybe a strange request, but he suspects nothing. This time,
waiting outside the tent, I overhear Leslie giving a puzzled Kordsmeier
the coordinates of the ceremonial hut. I write them down in a piece
of paper.

Knowing that the coordinates
are of no use by themselves to me, I ask O’Connor for a GPS.
The guy used to have one, but someone stole it. Knife had told me
that his son, an expert thief, had been abusing O’Connor, so…

I enter Knife and Kai’s
hut. There is Koala, Knife’s son, playing with a console that
looks just like O’Connor’s GPS. He won’t give it
to me. How can I possibly effect a trade to this demon-spawn of a
child?

Demon. That should be a
good clue.

I try to offer the little
lemur in exchange, bracing myself for failure. Instead, the kid goes
nuts, tossing the GPS out the window and eagerly taking the lemur.
Good riddance to him; glad I kept him around as I figured he might
come in handy, the furry little drunken beast. I go outside and grab
the GPS unit.

Entering the hut’s
coordinates in yields the location of Kai’s grandfather’s
hut. When I tell Kai of this good news, another problem rears its
head: Koala has been using Kai’s artificial leg to model a sand
turtle, and there’s no trace of where the leg can be now. Obviously,
if there’s no leg, there’s no way Kai can get to the ceremonial
hut.

I’ll need some kind
of detector to help me locate this missing leg. Searching around the
Seafood Kahuna, as well as near or under it, will yield something
to assist me in this.

Turning the metal detector
on over the sand turtle yields the location of Kai’s leg very
quickly. Giving it to him, he accompanies me to his grandpa’s
hut. However, fate once again frowns on me, as the Grimarium, the
sorcery book, is missing.

He tells me that the Grimarium’s
cover is metallic, and that Hawaiian sorcerers enjoy being buried
with their Grimariums. Sounds like this might be a grisly task, but
I go ahead and activate the metal detector in the cemetery near the
hut to locate a tomb were both sorcerer and Grimarium rest in peace.

Finding it and getting
to it are two different matters, however. I can’t dig with my
bare hands down that far, so I’ll need a tool. In the hut is
something that will help with this, something concave and hard. Using
this tool, I’m able to access the tomb.

I take the Grimarium from
the grave and give it to Kai, who brings Aolani back to life. I then
can take the parrot to Lokelani, who forgives me, takes me to her
hut and… well, the important thing is that I exit her place
looking like Professor Pignon. I introduce myself (well, my new self)
to O’Connor, who takes me to the military camp in his Hummer.

Chapter
3: SIMPLER THAN AN AMEBA

When I get to the military
camp, Kordsmeier asks for Pignon (that is, for me), and although he
doesn’t recognize me, my face is not completely unknown to him.
He says I must get to work immediately and open the Ameba, whatever
that may be. He wants fast results, and will keep an eye on me. Great.
His second-in-command, Chapman, walks me to some ruins excavated inside
a hill close to the camp and into a huge room previously used by archaeologists.
He gives me a briefcase with a CIA2 logo and shows me a computer with
Professor Simon’s notes on the Ameba.

When Chapman leaves me
alone, I try leaving the room by the same way that I got in, via the
door to the right. I’m hoping I can slip out and search the
camp for Gina, but Kordsmeier’s spying on my via a security
camera. His voice booms from a loudspeaker, informing me that I’m
not allowed to leave the room.

If I try to leave by the
left door, Kordsmeier will think I’ve opened the Ameba, so he’ll
threaten me with his coming and checking it. I’d much prefer
to not have him near me again – he might see through my disguise
– so that’s not the best of ideas.

If I climb the metal ladder
and remain too long on the scaffolding, Kordsmeier will tell me off
again, and I will have to go back down. The camera is infuriating…and
should be my new focus.

A Camera Trick

I’ve got to find
a way to defeat that camera! The solution must be around here somewhere,
so I examine everything. Some wooden boxes beside the left door yields
something called a SocketCam, the ultimate handycam, so advanced that
can edit material by itself, and even make loops of its recorded video
files. You thinking what I’m thinking?

I’ll need some kind
of binding material, and find it on the left part of the scaffolding
by the door mat.

I place the SocketCam over
the surveillance cam under the scaffolding, and then bind them with
the material I found. This way, I will record myself working at the
table and then loop the results. Then I disconnect the security camera
and connect the SocketCam, so the image Kordsmeier sees will be a
false one. Now I’ll be able to wander outside the room and look
for Gina.

The Ameba

At the back of the scaffolding,
there’s an elevator platform that seems to rise to the head
of a big statue…but there’s no key to turn it on.

Beyond the left door there’s
a huge crystal cube with some kind of bowling ball inside. If this
is the famous Ameba, what’s the fuss all about?

I go through the right
door, and get to a small room with a statue of the illustrious Chicken
God. There’s a door at the back, but some soldiers dressed in
black block the way.

When I leave the Chicken
God room by the right-side door, I’m able to exit the ruins.
There, sitting on his Hummer and talking on his radio is our old friend
O’Connor. He advises me to not move another step, because other
soldiers would see us and probably report to Kordsmeier. Soon, he
gives me an envelope that Lokelani has brought to the camp.

Inside is a strange ring
and something from Lokelani, telling me the ring is Pignon’s
and that it could be useful.

The ring has the same CIA2
logo as the briefcase, and after careful observation it seems that
the ring will open the briefcase somehow. Once this is done, inside
the case is found a set of sunglasses, a transparent card, a weird
soft-crystal glove, and a neuralizer.

In the Ameba room, the
cube has a slot; the card looks like it might interact with this.
Sticking it in, the card is swallowed and not returned; the cube disappears,
and the bowling ball is accessible. However, it is too heavy for me
to pick up!

Grinding my teeth, I’m
at a loss as to what to do next. The only thing I can do now is possibly
talk with O’Connor, who isn’t as stupid as we thought.
He knows I’m the same guy from Luana Beach, though he does keep
thinking we are part of the Intelligence Service. More power to him.
Even more, he is convinced we are his examiner, because he has applied
for an Intelligence Service test.

We don’t want him
to betray us accidentally, do we? The neuralizer might work somehow
on him. Somehow, though, this piece of equipment was built according
to the lowest-cost government contractor, and breaks instantly. The
only thing I can do at this point is trust the guy not to squeal on
me.

The neuralizer dropped
some parts on the ground when it broke; it might be a good idea to
pick them up.

Heading back to the bowling
ball, I look at it and let my mind wander. Three holes peek from the
ball’s surface; three marbles from the neuralizer are in my
pocket. Hmm, why not, stranger things have occurred on this island…so
far. I insert the three marbles into the three holes of the bowling
ball. Instantly, it floats, and a hand shape appears on its surface.
Trembling slightly, I put my hand there…but nothing happens.

Wait…don’t
I have something I can put on my hand? The glove, right. I wear that
then try again, and the weirdest thing happens…two black-hole-like
things appear. Putting my hand through one of them (I can’t
resist, I love touching things to see what they do), and strangely
my hand disappears into the one hole and comes out the other one.

Even though Simon’s
note from the computer have been a bit tough for me (if I’ve
even bothered to read it yet, that is), now’s the time to study
it. After a long time reading, I have an idea of how the Ameba functions.
Apart form what we’ve already done, we must think of a solid
place while we hold our gloved hand on the bowling ball, and one of
the black holes will travel there. Then by entering the other hole,
I will be transported there.

So I do it: take my gloved
hand, place it on the bowling ball, and face the black hole. Then,
thinking about Alaula Cove, where Joshua should be waiting for us,
and one of the holes disappears. Swallowing hard, I step through the
other one, and I’m suddenly at Alaula Cove.

Joshua is there, angry
because Koala and the lemur won’t let him play paddle ball.

Joshua says nothing else
of interest to me, so I turn to leave him to fume and return to the
Ameba room. The great thing now is that I’ve found a way to
escape, ready to use when I find Gina.

The Elevating Platform

There’s no way to
do anything else right now, so I go back to Alaula Cove, where Joshua
is trying to extract the paddle from the demon lemur’s mouth
with dentist tools. I really don’t need to see this, so I take
a walk through the ruins while I wait for Joshua to finish. I head
back to the Ameba room again, and then back to Joshua, where hopefully
this little scene has played itself out.

Sure enough, he’s
done; the tools seem kind of cool, so I ask him if I could have them.
He tosses them over, but when I catch them, I realize the glove on
my hand is now ruined, as is the black hole exit.

The dentist’s tools
are fine-pointed, and might have a use picking a certain keyhole in
a certain platform. With that, it switches on and we’re elevated
up to the head of the statue.

Tarantula

The statue’s mouth
is hollow. I climb to it and enter a dark room. There’s a skeleton
trapped under an enormous rock ball, adding a certain amount of ambiance
to the room. Not to mention Feng Shui, as in, I’m about to feng
shui my pants.

The skeleton has a bag,
and being the intrepid looter I am, I grab it and paw through it.
Sure enough, there’s a flask of Stenchazol, the stinking snake-frightener
for real adventurers.

The skeleton also has a
cool hat, but there’s a giant spider sleeping under it. I replace
the hat quickly, not willing to mess with something the size of a
dinner plate with fangs.

A dark corridor extends
to my right, so I trek down it. Soon, a rift in the rock is found,
through which light spills. And, voices are heard.

Closer to the rift, I can
see the Tiki Temple. There are soldiers dressed in black everywhere.
I hear the voices of the ones who blocked my way in the Chicken God
room, so both rooms must be connected.

A woman in red is talking
with Colonel Kordsmeier. She’s called Tarantula (must be a big
hit at the clubs) and says she’s shot the parachute girl over
the lake: Gina. That’s rather disturbing, but Gina’s a
tough girl, and I cannot accept her as being dead. Not after all this.
And it seems crazy but…if Joshua is right and the Ameba aliens
from planet Trantor are under the lake (God that sounds crazy, don’t
ever repeat what I just said), maybe they have rescued Gina. My only
chance then to see her would be to go with Joshua to see Professor
Simon, the only one who seems to know anything about them. My objective
has changed, but my luck has not: no glove, no escape.

Tarantula keeps talking.
Her lovely pets (hairy spiders, of course), are so hungry that one
of them has run away. It seems that they only eat rotten meat, so
rotten that it stinks. Lovely!

There’s a glove inside
a box near Tarantula, quite similar to the one I’ve broken.
Maybe I could use it to reopen the Ameba, but I can’t get it
with Tarantula standing right there.

There’s a super-strong
plastic bag on a table on the right side of the central room. This
might make a good “pet” carrier, so I snag it, then get
the spider under the hat into it.

Next, there’s the
flask of Stenchazol flask to be opened with the rest of the dentist
tools.

I look through the rift,
looking at all the objects and going through all the text choices
possible. Then I try to throw Adelina through the rift.

Leaving the flask in a
crack through the doorway of the Chicken God room, I’ve noted
that the stink is almost instantly repulsive. Setting the nasty little
spider free through the rift, it starts running for the stink. Tarantula
follows it outside the temple, and that’s my cue to steal the
glove.

After I’ve run back
to the safety of the rift, I see Kordsmeier entering the Temple. He’s
outraged because the real Pignon is in the camp, so Tarantula and
some soldiers go with him to the central room to… well, to do
unpleasant things to me. I look at the central room from the interior
of the statue’s mouth and now, they are in my way to the Ameba.

Running Away, Finally

The skeleton under the
big ball has a whip in his hand. (Seems familiar…poor guy.)
I need it more than he does right now.

A crazy idea forms: hitching
the whip on one of the statue’s earrings, jumping to the Ameba
door, and then escaping to Alaula Cove. But the ground is so full
of guards that I’d never get to touch it. That is, alive.

I need another addition
to this plan. I take Tarantula’s walkie-talkie from her table
in the Temple. Now, I stick to the whip-on-earring plan, and…

First I call O’Connor
via the walkie-talkie. I tell him to go to the central room and say
that the false Pignon is in the lake. O’Connor, such a pal,
does it, and Tarantula, the Colonel, and the guards exit the room.
I go all Tarzan on my way down to the Ameba and go to Alaula Cove,
and then escape in Knife’s motorboat with Joshua. Tarantula
has seen me and almost gets me. Almost.

Chapter 4: HE WHO KNOWS DOES NOT SPEAK

After traveling to Alanka
and wandering through its snowy plains, I arrive at Simon’s
house with a more than hungry Joshua. I ring the intercom at the mansion’s
entrance, and a recorded voice asks me for a password. Joshua knows
it, but he’s been eating a lot of berries from a nearby bush.
It couldn’t be any other way: he loses his memory and is instantly
dizzy before he can tell me the password. I carry him to a shelter
by a lake so he can rest. The only thing I can do now is go outside
and look for a solution to this situation: I need the password.

Looking For a Cure

I meet Wazowski on a hill.
He’s dressed up as a polar bear, except for the head; he’s
spent his life investigating this animal. He tells me that the only
way to recover from the berry effect is to eat raw salmon.

I persuade Joshua to eat
raw salmon, but he, always so logical, won’t have it except
as sushi. Sushi in Alaska?

Wazowski tells me about
Archibald, a weird and frowning cook who appeared by Wazowski’s
house once and was singing Christmas carols on the balcony. By the
way, his house is the tower on the left of Simon’s mansion.

I get the guitar from the
tower and play Jingle Bells on the balcony. Archibald appears and
throws a bottle of bleach at me, and I go down to speak with him.

Archibald agrees to prepare
some sushi for us if we give him all our money in advance. I have
$1,000 in my wallet, so I can proudly buy the most expensive sushi
on Earth. Additionally, I must provide him with some cooking tools
(chopsticks and a mat for rolling makisushi) and the ingredients (seaweed
and salmon) he lacks.

Sushi for Dummies

Instead of seaweed, I
get a leaf from the plant near Wazowski. I hope he won’t know
the difference, because otherwise there’s no seaweed to find.

In place of the rolling
mat, I need some kind of other mat…luckily there’s one
hanging on the tower’s balcony door.

I get a log from the shelter
(both in and out) or the tower. Any of the three locations works.

I make the chopsticks by
cutting the log with the axe outside of the tower (I don’t actually
get the axe, just use the log with it).

I ask Wazowski for a fishing
rod, but he does not have one. However, he tells me how bears make
a hole in the frozen river, and then fish with their paws. The best
thing is that we are currently in the middle of the salmon season.

The Chain Saw

Best way to cut through
ice? A chain saw! I can find one in the tower. Of course, it doesn’t
have any gas, and any fuel that does go into it needs to be a mixture
of oil and gasoline.

Oil is pretty easy to find
– there’s an oilcan in the shelter. Also inside the shelter
is a gas can, but once again, my luck holds: no gas!

Guess I’ll have to
do the next best thing: steal it. To do this, I need to siphon it.
I get a plastic tube from the tower balcony. Using the gas can, I
take some gas from the pick-up truck outside the shelter.

After putting gas into
the can, I put oil in there as well, and then put the mixture into
the chainsaw.

It starts easily, and soon
make short work of the frozen river, but just a moment later a bear
appears and proclaims itself the sole owner of the hole. He starts
fishing salmon with his paws, but give me none. I won’t be able
to get my own salmon until I get rid of the bear.

Wazowski’s
New Head

Wazowski told me that
when he gets a head for his bear costume, he’ll perform with
one of his homemade bear essences and then will try infiltrating into
the bear community. Or, better for me, if I get him the bear head,
he’ll help me make that ice hole mine once again.

There’s a huge cuddly
moose on the back of the pick-up. Fortunately, it’s not real,
so I can cut its head off without having to worry about any lawsuits
or paint being thrown on me. The horns are removed, too. But a brown
moose head looks nothing like a polar bear’s, does it? We need
to bleach this fur out and whiten it.

Remember when Archibald
threw a bleach bottle in our face? Now’s the time to get it,
back in the tower balcony. Using it, the moose looks a lot more like
a polar bear, although it still ain’t perfect. Whoever’s
going to wear it isn’t going to be able to see out of it very
well.

I’ll need something
to carve out a vision-slot, so I grab a knife from the shelter to
do just that.

Finally, I present the
head to Wazowski. He is so happy that to him, it seems like a polar
bear’s.

I convince him to put the
head on and again go to the bear on the river. He douses himself in
bear essence and goes down to the river, but the bear takes offense
to him.

I get a ‘female bear
in heat pheromones’ perfume from the tower. This might make
the bear more agreeable. Going back to Wazowski, I exchanged his old
fragrance with the new one, and I suggest he go back down to the bear.

I manage to persuade him
to go and greet our bear. This time, the bear mistakes him for a female
in heat and… well, Mother Nature does the rest. They disappear
among the trees, so happy together. Now that the hole in the ice is
free, I can fish for the needed salmon. However, putting my hand into
ice-cold water doesn’t seem like a great idea, so I have to
find another way of imitating the fishing-bear technique.

A Bear Fishing
Class

First, I need a long stick.
There’s a hockey stick in the tower that should do the trick
just fine. However, it’s so smooth that fishing with it is pointless,
as salmon glide right over it.

Wait, I almost forgot:
one of Wazowski’s bear paws had fallen off into the middle of
the frozen river. Grabbing it, I combine the two objects and create
a very odd fishing pole. Now catching salmon is as easy as pie.

I call Archibald with the
whistle (using it from where he had appeared before) and give him
all he asked for: the calendar, the homemade chopsticks, the Alaska
terrestrial seaweed, and the salmon.

I persuade him to take
the sushi to the shelter, and he does so quickly. When Joshua eats
it, he remembers the password and gets so happy that he starts jumping
on the frozen lake. The end result is predictable. Life is unfair.
Now I must rescue Joshua from the lake, not only because he hasn’t
given me the password yet, but also because he is a friend. In a manner
of speaking, at least.

Water-Skiing

An idea comes to me while
examining the winch on the pick-up: human fishing. It only works,
though, when the pick-up’s engine is turned on…so what
does that mean? The pick-up won’t start.

Opening the pick-up’s
hood, the first thing I notice is that there’s no rod to keep
the hood open, so I can’t examine exactly what might be wrong
with it.

The hockey stick, however,
makes an excellent impromptu garage accessory. After examining the
engine, I notice there’s no spark plug. The chainsaw must have
its own spark plug, since it’s driven by an engine. I think.
So, I take it out of the chainsaw, using the knife as screwdriver.

In goes the spark plug
to the pick-up’s engine, and it starts right up. What a coincidence.
The winch then works, thankfully.

I get Joshua out of the
lake with the winch. At Simon’s mansion, Joshua gives the correct
password and we get in. Simon talks and talks and talks (and talks)
about the Trantorians: they come regularly to the Earth to get animals
for their intergalactic zoo, and it is CIA2 that provides them those
specimens in exchange for new technology. Joshua gives Simon the message
that he’s been talking about the last three chapters, a kind
of telepathic recording where Alpha, the Trantorian chief, asks Simon
for help. A traitor has stolen their energy stone – without
which they can hardly breathe – and given it to Kordsmeier,
who asks for advanced hyper-destructive weapons as ransom. The only
solution, Alpha says, is to find another energy stone, one buried
in the city of Palenque. But the most interesting thing is that they
have rescued Gina: she is badly hurt and they are trying to preserve
her life, bur she won’t last long without the energy stone.

I must hurry. With the
unconscious collaboration of Joshua, I remember our friend Sushi is
millionaire, so she can help us a lot. I chat with her via the Internet
on Simon’s computer and, when she agrees to help us, a shooting
occurs courtesy of Tarantula. Simon is hurt, but he tells us not to
think of him but instead to concentrate on the mission, and escape
in his snow mobile. And that’s exactly what I do.

Chapter 5: SHIPPED TO THE PAST

I wake up in a luxurious
stateroom of a yacht in the middle of the ocean. Though I remember
how I escaped from Alaska and arrived to San Diego in order to meet
Sushi, I have no idea of what happened later, or how I came to this
ship. Moreover, my head aches horribly, and I feel so tired that I
almost faint after getting out of the stateroom, into a hall decorated
with Jules Verne story items.

Trying to Remember

I enter a strange round
elevator to the left of the Neptune Suite that carries me to the upper
stateroom, where I meet my friend Sushi, owner of the Douglas Corporation
emporium. She controls the ship by means of her computers –
she’s an experienced hacker, so no problem. My confusion is
no surprise to her although, she says, I must ask Rutger (a friend
who happens to be in the ship) in order to know its cause.

I confirm with her the
last things I remember: during my long electronic conversation in
Simon’s house, that we agreed to meet at the San Diego docks
in order to sail from there. Our destination was Palenque, the Aztec
city where Alpha, the Trantorian leader, told us to search for a trantonite.
But Sushi is not a girl used to waiting, so she went to Palenque and
located the tomb where the alien stone is supposed to be…only
to discover that the tomb was robbed some five centuries ago by a
Spanish pirate called Íñigo de Malantúnez.

It was rumored that his
galleon’s prow shone as if by magic, and that he was invincible
thanks to some object that he had obtained in his younger days. Sushi
has identified that object as the trantonite and, traveling to the
Archivo de Indias de Sevilla, discovered the exact day and route on
which Malntunez’s ship, the Orion, was sunk. She has established
some approximate coordinates for the Orion and has told Rutger and
Saturno (another friend) to go there whenever Brian gets to San Diego,
where her ship, the Douglas III, is docked. She arrived on the ship
this very morning, via a helicopter.

Concerning the search of
the trantonite, she tells me that everything is solved. When the ship
arrives at the indicated coordinates, she will use a powerful sonar
to give away possible locations of the sunken galleon. We won’t
have to dive to those places, because she has employed Dean Grassick
(history’s greatest adventurer) to do that job. There’s
only one problem: the search can last for weeks, and neither the Trantorians
nor Gina have that much time. So, we decide to look for a way to find
the Orion galleon and the trantonite in time.

Exiting left of Sushi’s
room I find Rutger, who tells me the reason for my amnesia: when I
arrived in San Diego with Joshua, it was a long time since I had last
slept, so our good Jamaican friend put a homemade sleep-inducing additive
in my drink. I’ve slept for many hours, but amnesia is one of
its secondary effects. I see Rutger has the telepathic helmet that
Joshua built, that I gave to Saturno (in the first Runaway) and that
he has lost in a bet with Rutger. Since that bet, both friends are
not on speaking terms.

The Neutrines Detector

I go back to the Verne-like
room and enter the Neptune Suite via the central door. There my friend
Saturno is working in a strange robot that he calls a mini-sub: it
will dive with Dean Grassick, lighting his way and sending video signals
to Sushi’s computers. Joshua, who is wandering about the ship,
has explained everything about Trantor and the trantonite to Saturno
– he’s even told him that it gives off neutrines.

Saturno helps me to reach
a conclusion: if we could build a neutrines detector we would be able
to know the exact place of the trantonite. In order to do so, we need:
a) the telepathic helmet; b) to fill a water tank with potable water
(that is easy, he says, because there is one in the ship’s warehouse,
though now it’s filled with sea water) which runs in the ship’s
pipes (potable); and c) the central pages of a scientific magazine,
an article where the steps to build a neutrine detector are explained.
Saturno had lent that magazine to Camille, Dean Grassick’s helper,
so she must have that article.

The Telepathic
Helmet

Saturno gives me a most
disagreeable message to relay to Rutger. In order to end the quarrel
between them both, I must transform that message (and four more, coming
one way or the other) into something pleasant. When I do it, Rutger
gives me the telepathic helmet.

The Fresh Water
Tank

To the right of Verne’s
room there is a door protected by a password that I do not know. I
ask Sushi for it and get to a dark corridor, where I find a girl named
Camille sitting on the stairs. When I start chatting with her, a Cuban
voice comes from downstairs, calling for her, and she leaves in a
hurry. Being me, I go after her and find her holding a video-camera,
focusing on Dean Grassik, the Cuban adventurer, who tries desperately
to record the introductory part of his TV documentary-series, but
he always forgets his lines.

Back to the dark corridor,
I see an emergency water tap. Just above this, a fire hose and an
axe are inside cabinets. Breaking the glass might be fun, but why
be destructive when Sushi can give me the key to open them? Why, indeed.

Sushi gives me the key,
no questions or quests asked. (She had another one, but has given
it to Joshua, who wanted it). When I go to the dark corridor with
the key, both axe and hose have disappeared. Should’ve broken
it, I guess, but I’m not surprised by these turns of events.

At the back of the sea-lock
room there’s another room, a small one with diving gear, and
a box on a small table. I obtain one diving tube from it, and then
another one for luck.

I enter the door at the
back of the dark corridor and find myself in the ship’s cargo
hold. There’s the water tank – with salt water. There’s
a valve wheel to empty it, so I do so.

I try to open the door
that leads to cargo hold 2, but it is broken I need something to prop
it with, so I find something near Rutger that should do the trick.
It keeps the door open nicely, so I am able to grab a beautiful bag
of cable ties.

Next, I talk to Camille
again. She has brought a couple of bottles of wine to Dean, but he
doesn’t want them.

I continue to talk to Camille
to ask her what has happened to the article from Saturno’s magazine,
BricoScience Illustrated: Dean has it, and is using it to wrap his
lunch.

I get another plastic tube
then join our two diving tubes with a cable tie. If the result was
just a bit longer…

I get eight more tubes
from the box at the back of the room, and ite them all with cable
ties. Now I have a homemade hose. I could try to fill the tank in
the cargo hold with fresh water, and then drain the tank, but prefer
not to fill it yet. I will wait until I’ve have everything needed
for the neutrine detector.

BricoScience Illustrated

Next time I go the dark
corridor, Camille gives me the two bottles of wine. I talk with Dean
and, yes, he will give me the article when he’s had his lunch,
but not before. And he won’t eat his lunch until he’s
finished the recording for the TV show. He has that horrible memory,
so it could take a long time. If he only had a teleprompter…

Sounds like a job for…me.
I take a marker from Saturno’s table. Next, I ask him for his
sketch book, but no, he must fill the last page of this one before
he’ll begin another one. He could fill it with designs for one
of his inventions, but he has none in mind. Well, he wants to invent
something to help people eat slower, but he can’t think of anything
worthy.

I decide to keep them in
our stateroom. We open one of them (just for a sip) and… Well,
when I wake up with a strong headache, they’re empty. There
are some uninteresting gardening tools near Rutger. He insists that
I must take a heavy-looking bag of sand, so I do it.

An absurd idea (aren’t
they all, though) comes to me: I fill one of the bottles with sand.
Then, I join both bottles with cable ties. Ta-da, I’ve built
a makeshift hourglass!

The Neptune Suite has a
statue of the Greek god of the same name. Since he won’t need
it, I take his trident. I then combine the hourglass and trident:
I’ve now invented the clock-fork. I show it to Saturno, and
he is so pleased with it that takes his notebook and draws a few sketches,
thereby giving me a new notebook.

I show the notebook to
Dean, and tell him that I will write his lines in it so it can be
used as a teleprompter. I help him with the recording and he then
eats his lunch, giving me the article we wanted. I then talk to Saturno
and Rutger until I obtain the helmet.

Detecting Neutrines

With everything ready
to build a neutrine detector, Saturno helps me to fill the tank. Then
I disassemble the telepathic helmet and distribute its aerials around
the tank. Sushi turns the lights off and we see the neutrines coming
form a certain direction. I tell Sushi to head in that direction,
until the neutrines come from directly below us.

First immersions
(automatic)

Dean says he won’t
dive on the galleon because in fact he’s no adventurer but just
an actor who plays one on TV. So I will do it, of course. I dive,
find the galleon, and put a localizer on it so Sushi can create a
3D image and help in our search for the trantonite, guiding by means
of radio waves.

The most probable thing,
Sushi says, is that the trantonite is hidden in a sphere in a statue
on the prow. I dive there, but the sphere is so dirty that I cannot
open it to see what’s inside.

More Diving

Saturno has forgotten
his toolbox under the cargo hold stairs. I take a saw from it. I then
cut a piece from the broom that’s holding the door open.

When I try to get out of
the warehouse, the door does not respond to the password and does
not open.

Optional: I call Sushi
by the interphone next to the cargo hold 2 door. She says that Joshua
has dismantled all the ship’s security codes and that she will
need some time to fix them. I won’t wait, of course.

I open the hatch on deck
by pushing a red button (behind a cover) just to the right of the
tank. I then climb to the tank ladder, then to the tank, and then
out of the cargo hold. I walk to Rutger’s place. When I next
visit Sushi, she tells me she’s fixed the passwords, and that
Joshua has gone to the warehouse and left the hatches on deck open.

I tell Sushi we will dive
again. I will use the end of the broom to clean the sphere but, once
I do so, we see there’s no sign of the trantonite there. Sushi
thinks that maybe Malantúnez, the pirate, hid it in his cabin.
So, once again, I dive on the galleon and discover that I can’t
open the cabin’s door.

When I’m once again
in Sushi’s ship, she tells me that Joshua has been opening boxes
in warehouse 2 with a crowbar. I head down there and see the broom
has disappeared, so I cannot enter cargo hold 2 where the crowbar
is. The stairs to the tank aren’t there, either.

I try to open the door
to cargo hold 2 again, then open the hatch on deck.

Optional: I go to Rutger’s
and cross the deck until I get to the hatch of the cargo hold, but
there’s no way to jump to cargo hold 2 because it’s full
of nails and metal.

I go to see Saturno, who
is working on some electro-magnets and ask him for them, which he
then gives me. (That was easy.) I then go to the cargo hold and, with
the help of the electro-magnets, climb the cargo hold’s wall
to the deck, and then descend with them to cargo hold 2, where I take
the crowbar. The things I do…

The Last Dive

I open Malantúnez’s
cabin door with the crowbar, then enter…and something heavy
falls on me, making my world go black.

Chapter
6: THE HIDDEN BEACON OF AVERNUS

Introduction

After passing out in Malantúnez’s
cabin, I wake up in the Orion’s dungeon on the day it was sunk,
March 6th, 1564. My name is Brushian Bharscough, captain of the English
ship, Interfector. Obviously, I am dreaming, but it seems so real…

An enormous pirate named
Hungry Hound leads me to the captain’s cabin, where I am tied
up. Malantúnez, proud of himself, suspects I am his enemy,
but I tell him I actually want to join his crew. Then, he is called
to deck, because a strange unidentified object has appeared some miles
behind the Orion. He goes, but leaves the pirate, Russian Dog, guarding
outside the cabin.

I have to focus on my objectives:
first, I will break the shackles. Then, I will search for and find
the Hidden Beacon of Avernus, the glittering magical object that makes
Malantunez invincible. Finally, I will look for a boat to escape,
go to the Interceptor, and command its battle against the Orion.

Out of our Chains

Camille de LeBouvier,
a young lady in a pirate costume, is sitting nearby, with shackles
on her legs, too. She is the prisoner who writes Malantúnez’s
memoirs. I talk to her, and seems clear that she will help me escape
the Orion.

I see a dagger close by.
However, I cannot get it, because I have a painful sore in my back,
and besides, the doctor has forbidden us the use of sword-like weapons.
But the dagger is so bad in need of a sharpening that it can hardly
be considered a weapon…it must surely be a letter opener. Thus,
we can get it.

Examining the shackles,
I use the dagger/letter opener on them. There’s a nail in a
post near Camille. I try to remove it with the letter opener, but
I am too far away to do anything.

I throw the letter opener
to Camille (don’t worry, I’m not nearly a good enough
knife-thrower to impale her), who removes the nail and throws it back
to me.

Next, I take a heavy paperweight.
I use the nail in the shackles and, after hammering a few times, they
open. I do the same with Camille’s, who agrees to wait for me
to find the Beacon. She says it must be either in the cabin (because
Malantunez throws everybody but the parrot out of it whenever he is
going to take it) or in the Treasure Room, that is guarded by a powerful
pirate called Demon Dog. By the way, I look in the cabin’s terrace
and find a boat tied at the stern. So, the only thing left for me
is to find the Beacon.

Feathered Dog

Optional: I ask the parrot,
Feathered Dog (who oddly reminds us of Aolani, Lokelani’s cockatoo),
where the Beacon is, but he only answers with nonsense. It was a long
shot, what the heck.

Back to the terrace, I
see a bottle hanging from a string. There are a couple of pirates
talking some distance above me, but they can’t see me. They
are eating so many sunflower seeds that the husks falling all over
the terrace. Soon they become thirsty and want some grog; they pull
up the hanging bottle, only to find that it is empty. They quit eating
seeds immediately. One of them thinks that the hanging bottle is magical
(the merchant who sold it to him said so) and that it will eventually
refill itself.

I look in the pile of seed
shells, and find three whole seeds. I give the three seeds to Feathered
Dog and ask him for the Beacon hideaway. He starts telling me of Malantúnez’s
trip to Hell, the place where he supposedly found the Beacon. But
once the seeds are consumed, the parrot stops talking.

Russian Dog

Optional: I get out of
the cabin by the right-side door. There, standing in the corridor
before me, is Russian Dog, who I quickly persuade that I was never
shackled. Even so, he won’t let me wander around the ship, and
he forces me to get back in the cabin.

Inside the cabin I find
a Seven-Tailed Dragon tongue within a glass jar. Although it is completely
disgusting, I get it anyway.

I tie both ends of the
dragon tongue to the grate on the corridor’s door. I have now
built a catapult. I launch the paperweight with the catapult, and
it strikes Russian Dog, who falls unconscious. I untie the dragon
tongue, to prevent anyone from discovering my action.

Greasy Dog

After turning a corner
in the corridor, I find Greasy Dog, the pirate in charge of the crew’s
grog (only one bottle per pirate every day). I tell him that Malantúnez
has signed me on as crew, and he believes me.

I ask him for some grog,
but he won’t give it to me until I show him a Complete-Lack-of-Ethics
Pirate Certificate. The worst thing is that, in order to get that
certificate, I must pass three tests: 1) an exam about historical
rogues; 2) prove my ability to steal and rob and; 3) commit an Act
of Extreme Cruelty. Ah, and I must find a blank form for the certificate,
of which he has run out.

First Test: Historical
Rogues

I ask Greasy Dog to give
me to the Historical Rogues’ test.

1st question: Who was the
cook in Captain’s Flint crew? Answer: Long John Silver.

2nd question: Which was
Captain’s Blood job before he became a pirate? Answer: doctor.

3rd question: How did Captain
Swallow escape the first time that Captain Babossa abandoned him in
a desert island? Answer: inventing turtle-surf.

4th question: Henry Wobblins,
Diego el Cojuelo, Jean-David L’Éclopé, and Joao
de Passoromo, one-legged pirates, had 8 ½ days to cover the
distance from Pea Hill to the Caribbean Express line stop. They had
only one wooden leg for the four of them, they decided that first
two of them would go to the stop (one with the wooden leg, the other
hanging on him), then one of them would came back with the wooden
leg, and then two more would go to the stop… and repeat the
same till all four were in the stop. Each couple wold take as much
time in walking the distance as the slower of both: Wobblins could
cover it in 1/2 day, Cojuelo in 1, L’Éclopé in
2.5 and Passoromo in 5. How did they achieve it?

There are two correct solutions
to the problem. One is: first, Wobblins and Cojuelo go to the stop,
and Wobblins comes back. Second, L’Éclopé and
Passoromo go, and Cojuelo comes back, picks Wobblins up, and they
arrive to the stop in due time.

Greasy Dog congratulates
me: I’ve passed the test.

Second test: Rob
& Steal

There’s a door in
the corridor with hole near the knob. A menacing sword tries to kill
me every time I approach it.

I take a look through the
right-hand window in the terrace: its cornice is hanging from only
one nail.

Helped by our letter opener,
I remove the nail and take the cornice. The wood is cork-like.

When I am in front of the
sword-guarded door, I nail the cornice to the sword, and then pull.
A loud noise is heard, and the sword appears no more. I open the door
and find the ferocious pirate Demon Dog (so similar to the little
demon lemur). I take him prisoner. I have entered the Treasure Room,
that, in accordance to its name, is full of treasures.

I take a golden figure
from the treasure, but can take no more because my pirate-level is
not high enough.

I give the golden figure
to Greasy Dog, as proof of my ability to rob and steal.

Third test: An
Act of Extreme Cruelty

I look at the barrel outside
of the treasure room and try to put Demon Dog in the water inside
of it.

I open the Box of Useless
Things close to Greasy Dog, from which I take a piece of soap. I then
throw the soap to a water barrel in the corridor, and wash Demon Dog
in the barrel.

I show what I’ve
done to Demon Dog to Greasy Dog. Washing a pirate is the most barbaric
of cruel acts to be committed on a pirate, so I have passed the third
test.

Grog, Grog, Grog,
the Bottle of Grog

I open the cabinet in the
captain’s cabin. It’s full of certificate forms, and take
one of Complete-Lack-of-Ethics Pirate Certificate. I give it to Greasy
Dog, who completes it with my name and gives it back to me.

I get an empty bottle from
the captain’s cabin and give it to Greasy Dog, who fills the
bottle with grog for me.

The Magical Bottle

After picking up the paper
weight from under the stairway in the corridor, I mount the cornice
back in its place below the window.

Back in the Treasure Room,
my self-esteem is so high, thanks to the new certificate, that I get
a bit more of the treasure. In fact, I steal it all. Doing so reveals
a tin funnel underneath it all; I take it as well.

Using the funnel, I pour
the grog from the bottle into the hanging one, thanks to the funnel.
When the pirates above see that the bottle is full of grog, they start
eating seeds again.

I go into the cabin and
then come back out onto the terrace.

The Hidden Beacon
from Avernus

I look for additional whole
seeds in the growing pile of shells, and find five of them.

I give all five seeds to
Feathered Dog, who then tells us the story of the complete trip of
Malantúnez to Hell. I relive that trip moving the world globe
right and left: starting from Spain, then right to Upper India/China,
left to Terranova/Newfoundland, and finally right to Greece.

Bye-Bye, Cruel
World

While I make the last moves
on the globe, I hear noises coming from the deck: the Interfector
is attacking the Orion. Meanwhile, the Beacon comes out from the map.
I take it, but get frightened when it starts glowing, and throw it
back. It falls into a Ming Spittoon. Malantúnez comes into
the room, sees that there’s no Beacon in the globe, and cuts
our head off with his sword. Our head flies to Camille’s hands,
who…

Grand Finale

…wakes me up in the
Douglas III diving room. I had fainted inside the Orion, but she has
rescued me.

Joshua appears with a strange
parabolic-disguise, saying that he knows where the trantonite is.
Before he can tell me, I remember the dream: the trantonite is inside
a Ming Spittoon in Malantunez’s cabin.

I dive for the last time
and find the trantonite. When I go back to Sushi’s ship, my
friends are so happy we’ve got it that they want to celebrate
and have a party. They guess that the worst part is over. They say
returning the stone to the Trantorians will be so, so, so easy …

But I know better. There’s
a whole army waiting for us, watching over the lake where the Trantorian
spaceship rests. There are cameras, mercenaries, Kordsmeier, Tarantula
and, last but not least, a Trantorian traitor, maybe the most dangerous
creature on Earth.

Someone speaks Gina’s
name. As I hear it, our morale crumbles. We will never be able to
do it. There’s no chance of us saving her. And then…