~4 minute readPlanetfall
PLANETFALL
by Steve Meretzky
INFOCOM, Inc.
55 Wheeler 51.
Cambridge, MA 02138
32K Disk $49.95
Would you like to send a post card from another planet to one of your friends? You would! Well, you'll find three of them in the Official Document File (ODF) that comes with the latest (and best) science fiction adventure from Infocom, Planetfall. These are real 11Oth-century post cards; the one from "Historic Ramos II" is my favorite (they even have old fashioned rocket ship rides there).
As you prowl through the ODF you will find out more about the Third Galactic Union (TGU). The TGU exists in the year 11,344. The TGU has the honor of being the LBG (Largest Bureaucracy in the Galaxy). You can't stand the TGU's LBG, and have decided to escape by enlisting in the Stellar Patrol (SP); you know, the one with the recruiting poster that says, "The Patrol's Looking For A Few Good Organisms.",
If you want to know more about the SP and Planetfall, I will have to get my Magnetic Briefing Disk (MBD) out of my ODF and boot it. OK, here we are in 11,344, ODF's, the TGU, LBG and 15-page income tax forms (short form). Now you find out that Planetfall was written by a person known as the "Bearded Oracle of Yonkers" (real name, Steve Meretzky) and uses the ancient, but still famous, Infocom Interlogic operating system from the 20th century. With Interlogic, you can now communicate with your computer using complete sentences and a 600 word plus vocabulary -- all text (bureaucracies like the TGU love text), no pictures.
You also discover that you are an Ensign 7th Class in the SP and that you have an official, authorized J.D. card to prove it. It will quickly become obvious that the recruiting posters that you read did not tell you everything. Ensign 7th Class is the lowest of the low. You're a deck-swabbing, brass-polishing member of the Special Assignment Task Force on board the SPS Feinstein.
Life is cruel on the Feinstein, mostly because of a certain Ensign 1st class Blather. When you meet Blather, your first impulse will be to render his molecules into a mass off disassociated atoms. Well, keep smiling at Blather; his time as a functioning group of associated molecules is short!
Shortly you find yourself plummeting towards the surface of a planet in one of the Feinstein's escape pods. Through the pods viewport, you will see the whole SPS Feinstein disassociate -- including Blather and all your shipmates. You are the sole survivor!
Well at least you won't have Blather to worry about any more. In fact, you are about to land on a water world with two small islands. Ah, dreams of a tropical paradise like Teegy 5.
Splashdown! Dreams of paradise are shattered quickly; as you climb to the top of the first island, you find yourself alone. A little exploring and you discover a large, deserted, technological complex. Where are all the people? Why aren't they here? Well, you're not discouraged -- are you? After all, you've got your official (authorized also) mop, bucket, survival kit, and of course your Towel* (towels are very important on strange planets). Night comes, and with it tiredness -- you head for the deserted dormitory you found earlier and bed down. Surely tomorrow will bring some answers (Ensigns 7th Class are notorious for being overconfident).
When you wake, you start to feel the loneliness even Blather's company would be welcome right now. You are of course hungry so you eat some of the food goo in the survival kit. You feel better after eating, but not quite up to SP standards. You decide to learn as much about your environment as possible.
Now -- The real adventure begins. You have a whole world to explore. Even though it only consists of two small islands, there is a lot to learn and a great dilemma to solve -- yours and the planet's (hint from TGU central -- the planet really is falling). You will find elevators, underground shuttles, helicopters and teleport booths. These all require official authorized access cards. Then there are some questions to answer -- Where are all the people? Did they leave? Why do you feel slightly ill?
In the course of your exploration you will find a room full of robots. One of them is "Floyd". Floyd is slightly cockeyed with a strange lopsided grin but he will prove to be as staunch and true a companion as E.T. was to Eliot. In fact Floyd is critical to your survival -- so take good care of him.
You have one immediate priority -- food. You have to eat, and the quickest way to die in the 110th-century is to starve. The second thing you will need is access cards, and Floyd can help you here when he's not reciting the first six hundred digits of Pi. Access cards will provide food and transportation seek them out. There are also computers to use (even some game tapes), alien laboratories and a library; all will provide additional clues to your dilemma. Exercise good Ensign 7th Class logic and you will be a "Hero" and save this water world from destruction. I am going to put the MDB back in your ODF you'll probably find it mixed up with the post cards.
There is one cardinal rule for people stranded on strange worlds to remember; when all seems lost always remember where your towel* is and everything will be fine.
This article appeared in
Analog Computing
May 1984
These historical, out-of-print articles and literary works have been GNUSTOed onto InvisiClues.org for academic and research purposes.
