The Dig (e)

THE DIG: A WALKTHRU
by Morgana

NOTE:  This file contains a complete solution to LucasArts' graphic 
adventure, THE DIG, and may spoil your enjoyment of the game.  Read at your 
own risk.

METHODOLOGY

This is the story of how I got through THE DIG.  I've described, as nearly 
as I can recreate it, the game that I, personally, played.  I've also 
included another possible alternative toward the endgame that I learned of 
after I finished my game, from messages posted here in the GAMERS forum, and 
then replayed to check it out and to discuss it with fellow players.  

My goal is not only to help you get through the game, but to give you
a sense of how I thought about the puzzles, what I got out of the game's 
story, and why certain things I tried worked (and others didn't).  I've 
attempted to highlight things that you learn as you play that should 
serve as clues to what might otherwise seem obscure puzzles, and have noted 
the places where I needed a hint myself and/or felt that a puzzle could have 
been more "fair."  Instead of just telling you a quick and dirty solution, 
such as "take x and use it on y" without an explanation of why, I've tried 
to give you a sense of how I came to that point through my own game 
experience -- and how (I thought) some of the things that weren't 
necessary to finish the game added to its atmosphere and exposed aspects 
of its richness.  
 
My hope is that if you're new to graphic adventures and having some trouble, 
this walkthru will not only help you through THE DIG, but will give you some 
ideas about what to try with your next game to make it more fun and less
frustrating.  If you've been playing adventures since Shep was a pup and
have pretty much breezed through THE DIG so far, I hope that this will
help you with wherever you happen to be stuck -- but will also be at 
least somewhat entertaining to read through after you finish, as you'll get a 
taste of where I was led astray.  Maybe you can even relate to some of 
my wayward follies because you waywardly followed them yourself.  Heh.

INTRODUCTION

You learn through the introductory movie that an asteroid called Attila, 
first sighted at an observatory in Borneo, is on a three-week collision 
course with Earth.  Attila is large enough to cause catastrophic damage if 
it hits; indeed, it could wipe out all life on the planet.  The Borneo 
observatory's computer predicts that the likelihood of collision is 1 in 1, 
but NASA says it's 99% (how typical).

The space shuttle, although not designed for such a mission, has been
commissioned to take Commander Boston Low (your player character)
and his crew, Ludger Brink (noted geologist and archaeologist), Maggie Robbins,
(renowned journalist and linguistic expert), Ken Borden (ace shuttle pilot), 
and Cora Miles (Congressional candidate and payload specialist (huh? am I
missing a connection here?)) to Attila prior to impact.  The plan is for the 
landing party (Boston, Brink and Maggie) to place nuclear explosive devices 
that will blast Attila into a different course, thereby saving Earth without 
destroying the asteroid.  If successful, preserving the asteroid will not 
only prevent large portions of it from entering Earth's atmosphere and 
causing damage, but -- as you soon find out -- will also allow Boston & Co. 
to do some exploring on Attila once Earth is out of danger.  As Brink lets
you know later, this is the first time any Earthlings will have had such 
an amazing chance to get up close and personal with an asteroid.

As you enter your mission, you're under pressure.  You have an
extremely important job to do.  The people of Earth are counting on you.  
You have to do it right.  My adrenaline was pumping.  Is yours?  

AT THE SHUTTLE

When the introduction is over, Boston, Maggie and Brink have exited the
space shuttle and are poised just outside it in space exploration garb.
The first thing I did was look in my inventory, mostly to get an idea of
how the interface worked.  You start out with an EXAMINE (a magnifying
glass that allows you to get a closer look at other inventory items and
on-screen hotspots), a PENULTIMATE (a communications device with a built
in video game), an ARMING KEY, and a FLASHLIGHT.  To test out the interface,
further, I EXAMINED each of the other inventory items.  I didn't learn much
of anything new except that the ARMING KEY was for the "explosives" --
presumably those I'd need to place on Attila.  

NOTE:  When I use EXAMINE in this walkthru, I am referring to using the 
magnifying glass from your inventory.  When I use any other verb (such as 
LOOK, USE, PUSH, etc.) all you need to do is click on the item.

Next I scanned for hotspots on the screen and found the following: TOOL
CHEST, ASTEROID, ROBBINS and BRINK.  Since I figured I'd need some tools
to help me with Attila, I decided to focus on the TOOL CHEST first.  I
tried to OPEN it, and Boston told me that it was called "the pig," and that 
payload specialist Miles needed to use the remote arm to release it.  Since 
she was still in the shuttle and I saw no need for a face-to-face meeting
with her given that I was so technologically well-equipped, I decided to
give her a CALL on the PENULTIMATE.  I called it up out of inventory and
selected the COMM option (the only one I used throughout the game although 
LUNAR LANDER fans may choose to use the other as well from time to time), 
then MILES.  (Now that you know how the PENULTIMATE works, I'm not going 
to repeat these steps every time to save you some download time.  Hahahaha.)

Since I was determined to get that pig, I ASKED MILES about the FLYING PIG
out of the "talk" options, and she deployed it for me.  I then LOOKED at
the FLYING PIG again, and Boston took it down to the surface of the
ASTEROID.

PLACING THE EXPLOSIVES

Once at the surface, I OPENED the FLYING PIG.  I REACHED inside the FLYING 
PIG and found:  a ZERO-G DIGGER, EXPLOSIVE UNIT ALPHA, EXPLOSIVE UNIT BETA, 
and a modest, but serviceable-looking SHOVEL.  I TOOK all of them and placed 
them in inventory (by clicking each one on the "I" icon at the bottom left of
the screen), then EXITED that screen.  (Now that you know how to place items
in inventory, I'm not going to remind you how to do it every time to save
you some download time.  Hahahahaha again.)

Now I had the explosives as well as the arming key, but I didn't yet know
where I needed to put them, and I knew I had to be accurate about it since
Brink had basically had a cow about accuracy during the intro.  So I 
decided to have a chat with him in the hopes that he'd give me an idea of
what to do.  I TALKED to BRINK, going through all the conversation options
beginning with the QUESTION MARK.  I soon learned that as with other games
I'd played, he'd keep talking about each option until he had nothing new
to say (at which point, in this game, the option greys out).  I talked him
to exhaustion on each subject, but he didn't give me any information on the
placement of the explosives.  So I turned to ROBBINS and went through the
same exercise.  Not that I expected her to know where to put them since it
wasn't her field of expertise, but it seemed the most efficient course in
my quest for some degree of thoroughness.  I wasn't disappointed, for indeed
she knew nothing about how to place the explosives -- she just wanted to
get into a zinger war with me.  But she wasn't nearly as fun to tease as
_some_ people I could name. 

My next thought was that one of the crew remaining on the shuttle must
have the information I needed, so I CALLED up BORDEN on the PENULTIMATE.
I also TALKED him to exhaustion starting with the QUESTION MARK and working
my way through all of the conversation options.  He had something puzzling
to say about Attila not giving as much gravity as expected and perhaps
being nothing but a bubble, which set me to wondering although I wasn't
sure of the comments' significance.  When I TALKED to him about the
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVE, I got the first part of my answer: I was to plant
alpha charge in quadrant 2 on a flat surface.  I made a note of this and
then decided to complete the circle and TALK MILES to death on the
PENULTIMATE.  This turned out to be a challenge since she didn't want
to stop zinging me about my comment that she had my vote.  She didn't
have any additional important information for me, though.

Having exhausted all of these options, I moved on to plant the first charge.
I headed out to SPACE and over to QUADRANT 2.  Here, I found a TARGET
SURFACE, but I was unable to plant EXPLOSIVE UNIT ALPHA there because the
ground was too rough.  Obviously, I needed to smooth it somehow first and
it looked like it just needed a pat or two with the back side of my SHOVEL.
I picked up the trusty SHOVEL to give it a try, but Boston told me I couldn't
use it because of low gravity and that we had the exact tool for the job.  
Ok, ok.  It's the ZERO-G DIGGER.  Thanks for making me feel so competent, 
boss.  I USED the ZERO-G DIGGER with the TARGET SITE, which did the trick, 
and left nothing but DIRT.  I USED EXPLOSIVE UNIT ALPHA with the DIRT, after
EXAMINING it just for good measure.

I still had another charge to place, so I CALLED up BORDEN on the
PENULTIMATE again since he'd been my answer man for the first charge.
He didn't have anything new to say about any conversation options except
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVE -- he told me to plant beta charge in quadrant 3, again
on a level surface.  After making sure I had nothing else to explore
in QUADRANT 2, I went back out to SPACE and then to QUADRANT 3.

Here I discovered a BOULDER which certainly didn't look like a level 
surface, so it was no surprise that the charge wouldn't stick.  A-hah! I
thought.  I'll be smart this time and use my specially designed tool, the
ZERO-G DIGGER.  But it didn't work!  At the risk of being told
what a dolt I was, I tried USING the SHOVEL with the BOULDER -- it worked!
And after patting herself on the back for including a shovel in the tool
chest, Miles gave me some words to live by during the cut-scene: "if you
can pick it up, take it with you, 'cause you never know when you might
need it."  I USED EXPLOSIVE UNIT BETA with the SURFACE (which was
revealed once the BOULDER was gone) and planted the second charge.

BLASTING ATTILA

At this point, I knew I'd need to arm the charges I'd just placed (why
else would I have an ARMING KEY?) but I thought it wise to confirm with
BORDEN, so I CALLED him again on the PENULTIMATE and again went through
all the conversation options.  Again, he had nothing new to say except
when I chose NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVE, and he gave me the go-ahead to arm them.

I had a few thoughts going through my head now.  Good thing there was more
than one or it might have died of loneliness.  My first thought was that
I'd learned in exploring the hotspots on the space map screen that there
was still a QUADRANT 4 I hadn't been to yet, and although it wasn't
relevant for the charges, it might reveal something of interest.  The second
was whether it mattered if I armed alpha charge before beta charge or not.
And finally, what was I supposed to do next after arming the charges?  I
decided to deal with these in order.

After making sure I hadn't missed anything to explore in QUADRANT 3, I went 
out to SPACE and then to QUADRANT 4.  This turned out to be useless, since 
there were no hotspots in QUADRANT 4.  But I would never have known if I 
hadn't tried, now would I?  So there. 

I then decided to get on with it and arm the charges, and to take them
in the order I'd placed them (seemed reasonable, although in replaying, I
found that the order doesn't matter).  I went out to SPACE
and back to QUADRANT 2.  There, I USED the ARMING KEY with EXPLOSIVE 
UNIT ALPHA.  I CALLED in to BORDEN to let him know I was
done, but this time I just SPOKE to him about the NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVE.
Beeping him turned out to be helpful, because he let me know that I had
nothing left to do but arm the explosives and return to the shuttle.

I went out to SPACE and back to QUADRANT 3, where I USED the ARMING KEY
with EXPLOSIVE UNIT BETA.  I REPORTED back to BORDEN again on the
PENULTIMATE about the NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVE, and he told me to come back to the 
shuttle.  I went out to SPACE and then to the SHUTTLE.

Back at the SHUTTLE, nothing was happening so this wasn't going to be
an automated sequence -- yet.  I decided to CALL BORDEN on the PENULTIMATE
again in case he was waiting for me to check in when I got back.  After
TALKING to him about the NUCLEAR EXPLOSIVE, we were all spirited back
into the shuttle, retreated from Attila, and nuked the living daylights
out of it.

EXPLORING ATTILA

As you learn in the following cut-scene, your mission is a success so far.
Attila is in one piece, albeit somewhat fractured.  Mission Control gives
the landing team the go-ahead to explore Attila, and after Miles sends
the pig down a tunnel to provide light, the landing team also descends into
the tunnel.  Your geologist, Brink, lets you know that the tunnel wasn't
created by the blasting: it's ancient, but not as old as the asteroid itself
and feels unnatural.  He also remarks that there are some odd projections
sticking from the inside of the tunnel.  When he stops talking, the
team is hanging out inside the tunnel waiting for you to guide them.

The screen where you find yourself shows a METALLIC PLATE and three
ODD PROJECTIONS.  It also scrolls downward to show the FLYING PIG and
upward to show EARTH.  You can even exit the tunnel completely if you
move far enough upscreen (but why would you want to when there's a tunnel
just crying out for exploration and nowhere to go back at the surface)?
I did LOOK at EARTH and heard Boston remark that it was "comforting to
know we can return home in safety."  

I then LOOKED at the METALLIC PLATE.  Boston and Brink agreed that it
couldn't be natural and that someone put it there.  There's speculation
that it might be some sort of message.  At this point, Boston comes clean
with the group and tells them that he has had secret orders all along to
look for alien presence on Attila.  He clamps down on security, extracts
promises from the landing team that they won't breach the security he 
imposed, and sends a code to Earth through Borden to notify Mission Control
of what he's found.  Then he gives the METALLIC PLATE a push and it falls
away.  All that is left is a SMALL SHAFT, which I could only OBSERVE.

I decided to talk to my crew before doing anything else.  None of them had
anything crucial to say, but it's worth doing to help fill out the story.

I next began exploring the hotspots on the screen.  LOOKING at the FLYING
PIG just told me what it was.  LOOKING at the ODD PROJECTIONS evoked
a few comments, but nothing more.  I knew I had to do something
with the ODD PROJECTIONS (because they were _there_ and also because I
needed some more area to explore) so I contemplated my inventory.  Since I
was dealing with a rock face, I first decided to try USING the ZERO-G
DIGGER on the ODD PROJECTION closest to where the SMALL SHAFT now was.
Interestingly, it worked, and revealed another METALLIC PLATE.  I put
away the ZERO-G DIGGER and PUSHED this new METALLIC PLATE.  It fell
away, just like the last one, into another SMALL SHAFT.  I could only
LOOK at this SMALL SHAFT also.

It was now clear to me that I should at least try to repeat this process
on the other two ODD PROJECTIONS.  So I USED the ZERO-G DIGGER with each
of the remaining ODD PROJECTIONS and uncovered two more METALLIC PLATES.
I PUSHED the smaller METALLIC PLATE first.  Down it went, leaving a SHAFT
behind.  Again, I could only LOOK at the SHAFT.

I had a pretty good feeling about the last METALLIC PLATE, though.  It was
large and looked like it might be a way into another area.  Sure enough,
it left behind a DARK TUNNEL when I PUSHED it.  The landing team passed
through the DARK TUNNEL when I LOOKED at it.

At the end of the DARK TUNNEL, we entered a large cubic area (the CORE)
with only one new hotspot besides the entrance to the DARK TUNNEL -- the
PEDESTAL.  The asteroid, as Brink then remarked, was hollow after all.
(Now I understood Borden's earlier comments about gravity and bubbles.)
Boston tried to contact the shuttle on the penultimate, but communications
were blocked.  

I LOOKED at the PEDESTAL and was taken to what appeared to be a puzzle
screen consisting of four PLATES and some SQUARE INDENTATIONS.  It seemed
painfully obvious that the PLATES were supposed to go in the SQUARE
INDENTATIONS.  So I picked up the bottom PLATE and USED it on the
SQUARE INDENTATIONS.  I was taken to a close-up screen of the SQUARE 
INDENTATIONS, which showed the directions TOP, BOTTOM, RIGHT and LEFT.  I 
USED the PLATE on a couple of the directions until it settled in the 
BOTTOM.  I then EXITED and TOOK the remaining three PLATES.  I placed 
them all in inventory and decided to talk to my crew before going further.  
BRINK identified the PLATES I'd picked up as the ones I'd pushed through the 
shafts in the tunnel.  And ROBBINS gave me a spoiler I didn't need -- that 
the plates could be arranged to fit the indentations.  Aside from that, 
their comments were fairly innocuous.  So I decided to move on.

I RETURNED to the SQUARE INDENTATIONS and, once back at the close-up
screen, I reached into my inventory and took out the PLATES one by one and
PLACED them in the TOP, RIGHT, and LEFT spots.  This time I tried to be a 
little less arbitrary in how I placed them -- I tried to match them to the 
spaces that they looked like they'd fit -- but since there aren't that many 
choices, it doesn't really matter whether you bother with this exercise or 
not because trial and error is pretty painless.

When the last of the PLATES was placed, a totally amazing thing happened!
Attila began to move and hyperspaced across the galaxy taking the crew 
with it!  It settles in an island-looking thing surrounded by five spires
and the next thing I know, the crew are all standing in an unfamiliar
place, with planetoid gravity and a breathable atmosphere.  After taking
off their spacesuits, the crew contemplates their predicament:  Attila was
actually a starship created by alien life forms, and they are far, far
away from home indeed.

ON THE PLANET'S SURFACE

Here again, I decided to get my crew's first impressions of the situation
before exploring myself.  Call me a cautious commander.  BRINK didn't
have much to offer except a cryptic remark that sometimes the best way
down was up and the best way up was down.  ROBBINS had even less of import
to tell me.  I couldn't reach my shuttle crew because of distance.  (Every 
time I tried to contact them later on, I had the same problem, so I've
omitted the times I tried that from the walkthru.)

I started poking around where I was.  Our SPACESUITS lay on the ground
next to me, but I couldn't take them.  Same result with our JETPACKS.  There
was a PLANT that I also couldn't pick up.  And the PLATFORM that we landed
on, with which BRINK saw similarities to ancient Peruvian masonry when I
LOOKED at it.  My other options were the SKY and a CLEARING.  I decided to
take a LOOK at the SKY first.  Above us, a LARGE MOON and a DISTANT MOON,
smaller than the LARGE MOON, orbited the planet.  I chose CANYON to exit this 
screen and moved on to the CLEARING.  At this point, Brink gave his first 
indication of challenging my authority, but Maggie jumped to my defense and 
he backed down.

From the CLEARING screen, I could see three hotspots with ?s on them.  I
went to the rightmost one at the base of what looked like a tall mound first.
Maybe there would be a way to climb up the mound and get to another area.

After discussion, however, it was clear we couldn't climb the slope.  And 
there were no hotspots in this area except my own crew; hence, nothing to
do here at the moment.  So I went back to the CLEARING to try another of
the ?s.  I made a mental note that at some point later on it might be worth
revisiting the spot I'd just left, which was now identified on the CLEARING
screen as DIRT RAMP.

I went to the next closest ? toward the top of the screen.  There were some
small rodents running around and a GRAVE here with some TUSKS sticking out
of it.  Brink noted that the animal remains seemed to have been placed as
markers of some sort.

I decided to take a closer LOOK at both the GRAVE and the TUSKS, so I LOOKED
at the GRAVE first.  Boston remarked that it looked like something was buried
there, so I decided to try digging up whatever it was.  I USED the SHOVEL
on the GRAVE, and after Brink yelled at me for being destructive, I dug until
I'd opened up the GRAVE.  The TUSKS on top of the GRAVE had fallen to the
ground, so I TOOK one (note that you can also TAKE the TUSK directly from the 
mound before digging the GRAVE if you wish).  Boston remarked that it felt as 
strong as steel.  I SHOWED it to both of my crew members by clicking it on 
them.  (Now that you know how to show things to people, I won't tell you how
to do this every time to save you still more download time.  Hahahahaha
again again.)  Maggie noted that the tip was sharp.  Brink just smarted off.  
I briefly considered that the TUSK might be used later in connection with 
something that required its strength and sharpness.

Then I noticed a JAWBONE, so I TOOK it.  When Boston picked it up, he said
that the teeth still looked strong.  When I SHOWED it to Maggie, she said 
that the teeth still looked sharp.  Brink didn't have anything valuable to 
say.  I briefly considered that the JAWBONE might be used later in 
connection with something that required its strength and sharpness.  (Cool, 
huh?  I just had to copy that last part of the sentence and paste it in 
.)

Now the only thing left to LOOK at were BONES, but I couldn't take any more
of them.  So I went back to the CLEARING to check out the last ?.  I noticed
that the place I'd just visited was now called the GRAVE on the CLEARING
screen.

The last ? had the remains of some sort of spacecraft in it toward the left,
as the game showed me automatically.  On my starting screen, I could see
part of an ENGINE, so I LOOKED at it.  Boston told me that it was hopelessly
ruined.  Since we'd moved closer to the craft while looking at the ENGINE,
I could now see two more hotspots -- another ENGINE and the WRECK itself.
I checked out the other ENGINE first, and learned that the ENGINES were 
enormous but that there was no evidence of combustion.  Brink thought 
that the ship wasn't of the same technology as the other evidence we'd 
seen so far.  LOOKING at this ENGINE had also scrolled us farther to the 
left, so I checked for a way out by walking the party to the left as far as 
I could.  There wasn't one.

The only thing left to do now was INVESTIGATE the WRECK, so I did and we went
inside.  Brink insisted on looking around, but apparently, the sight
rendered him speechless.  There was a CHEST here, and it OPENED to reveal a 
DEVICE which I took.  I SHOWED the DEVICE to my crew, but they didn't have 
much to say about it.  I put it in my inventory and from there EXAMINED it, 
but this didn't tell me anything new either.  I did notice, though, that when 
I tried to pick it up again, I USED it automatically.  It gave an indication 
to the right.  Some sort of compass?  Hmmm.  Maybe.  To early to tell.

There was also a HANGING WIRE here, and I knew from playing other games
that this could be a useful item if I could take it -- or maybe Boston
would climb it or something.  If I could take it, it might be used as
a rope to climb somewhere or to tie something to something else, or 
otherwise to connect two things together.  I didn't know yet, but it seemed
a great find.  I PULLED the WIRE -- and something really strange happened.  
A swirling light came down seemingly from nowhere, and as Brink noted, it 
formed different shapes of polyhedrons.  Then it disappeared as quickly as 
it came.

I PICKED UP the WIRE, which had fallen to the ground, and everyone agreed 
with my initial instinct that it might be useful when I SHOWED it to the
crew.  But where the swirling light had crossed, there was now something
else -- an ENGRAVED ROD.  I TOOK the ENGRAVED ROD.  Everyone was baffled by 
it when I SHOWED it to them.  How could we have missed it when we first 
walked in?  Unless the light... but no, Brink thought that was too 
ridiculous to even contemplate.

Since I'd skimmed the game booklet before playing (I generally do before 
jumping in -- no telling what good info you might find in there) and it had 
suggested examining rods, I EXAMINED the ENGRAVED ROD and found that the rod 
was engraved (duh) and had five geometric shapes.  Funny.  Brink had said 
that the swirling lights formed polyhedrons and now I had some geometric 
shapes here in solid matter.  Had the lights been trying to tell us something?

There was nothing left to do here now (unless I wanted to keep opening and
closing the chest until the next millennium), so I decided to go back to where
I'd started and assess my options.  But first, I decided to check with my
crew to see whether they had anything new to say.  I noticed when I SPOKE
to BRINK that I had a new option for the STRANGE LIGHTS.  I went through all
of the options again.  He wasn't much help except to encourage me to keep
trying to pick up everything I saw.  (He must have played a lot of adventure
games.)  ROBBINS didn't have much to offer, except to speculate that the lights
could have been alive, to which Boston said, if so it wasn't organic life.
Inorganic life?  What a concept!

We went OUTSIDE and after RECHECKING the ENGINES and learning little new,
headed back to the CLEARING.  Here, we learned that the place we'd just been
was no longer a ? but a WRECK, and that we had started from a DAIS.  Upon
returning to the DAIS, the swirling lights appeared again and seemed to be
pointing to a patch of ground to the right of the screen.  Maggie thought 
that they were trying to tell or show us something.  The group wondered aloud
whether the lights were alive, or maybe an automatic guidance system.

This made a connection in my mind.  The blue, orb-like DEVICE I'd picked
up in the WRECK also seemed to be some sort of guidance system, since it had
pointed a particular direction when I last USED it.  Before doing anything
else, I decided to USE the DEVICE again.  It was pointing behind me.  I got
the idea that perhaps it was pointing to one of the other locations in the
CLEARING that I'd been to, and since it had pointed elsewhere at the WRECK
and the DAIS, and also since I hadn't been able to do anything at the DIRT
RAMP before, I decided to try there first.

From the CLEARING, we returned to the DIRT RAMP and I USED the DEVICE here.
It pointed directly at a SMALL MOUND that hadn't been there on my first
trip through.  I USED the SHOVEL with the SMALL MOUND in the hopes that
something might be buried there, too.  I DUG a HOLE inside of which there was
a BRACELET that I TOOK.  My crew didn't have much to say about the BRACELET
when I SHOWED it to them except for one quip of Brink's, that it might be
useful as well as ornamental.  Since Boston now had the BRACELET, I decided
to see what would happen if I now USED the DEVICE.  It pointed at Boston.  
So Brink was right, it _was_ useful!  Now I knew that the DEVICE tracked the 
BRACELET, and since I'd encountered tracking devices before in adventure 
games, I suspected that at some point down the road I'd need to put the 
BRACELET somewhere and use the DEVICE to find it again.  Finding nothing 
more to do at the DIRT RAMP, I determined to carry on with my original 
idea -- to return to the DAIS, consider all of what I'd learned so far, 
and formulate a plan.

As it happened, the plan wasn't long in coming.  I TALKED through all 
conversation options with my crew, and both BRINK and ROBBINS were in favor
of taking a closer look at the area where the strange lights had hovered
when we had returned to the DAIS previously.  I didn't have any better
idea, so I obliged them.

The spot where the strange lights had seemed to point was now a new hotspot,
a SMALL HOLE, which Boston said was too small and dark to see if it led 
anywhere.  Oh, goodie!  If I could enlarge the hole, and/or illuminate it, 
maybe we'd find a passage.  I used the SHOVEL with the SMALL HOLE and Boston 
began to dig yet again (by now the game's name made a lot of sense).  He 
observed that the ground was soft, and that perhaps there was an opening 
that had been covered up by drifting soil.  Brink insisted on taking over 
the digging, and, most unfortunately, the opening gave way and he fell 
through the hole!

IN THE NEXUS: Morgie's Day 1

After this happens, you see Maggie and Boston climb down a ramp of dirt and 
rock that had formed when the SMALL HOLE collapsed.  They finally reach 
Brink.  Alas, he's dead, and Boston feels terribly guilty about that.  Maggie 
decides that it's best to split up and separately try to find clues about how 
to get home.  There wasn't anything I could do to stop her, and I was sorry 
to see her go.  Oh well, I could still talk to her on the PENULTIMATE.

With one dead crew member and one absent one, I had no choice but to explore
on my own for awhile.  Good thing there was plenty to see.  First, I put
away my trusty SHOVEL, then paid my respects to BRINK'S BODY.  I considered 
that it was unusually early in the game for him to pop off, and this planted 
the seed in my mind that perhaps some place, thing or person in the game 
would be able to bring him back to life.  After all, he was an archaeologist, 
and it was likely that I'd need his skills to understand this unusual place, 
even though he had turned out to be a haughty kind of guy.  Not to mention
that there was a picture of an area I hadn't been to yet on the game box
in which Brink appeared as well as Boston.

To the left, I saw a PLATE lying on the ground.  It looked just like one of 
the plates we'd found on Attila.  I TOOK it.  There were also some 
GLOWING PLANTS, which took energy from Boston when he TOUCHED them.  He 
remarked that they must share a common root system.

I moved on to the left, and saw a PANEL and a SEALED DOOR.  The PANEL took
me to a screen with four strange BUTTONS on it when I LOOKED at it.  They
looked like a control for the SEALED DOOR, but since I wasn't sure what to 
do with them for now, I EXITED.  Nothing happened with the SEALED DOOR when 
I gave it a PUSH.

Moving on to the left, I saw a RAMP and a DARK TUNNEL.  I decided to finish
checking out the rest of the room before exploring these.  Going left again,
I found another PANEL and another SEALED DOOR.  This PANEL, too, had
strange BUTTONS, and this SEALED DOOR was also shut tight.

Continuing my leftward trek, I found a PURPLE ENGRAVED ROD.  After TAKING it,
I EXAMINED it and found some colored geometric symbols on it.  

NOTE:  I discovered in replaying the game that the symbols appear to be set 
randomly from game to game.  In my first game, I had a red "circle," a green 
"hexagon", a blue "triangle", and a red "hexagon" on the PURPLE ENGRAVED 
ROD.  In the second game, progressing from a prior save, I had a red 
"triangle", a green "hexagon," a green "cube", and another red "triangle" 
on this same rod.  So you'll have to look carefully at your own PURPLE  
ENGRAVED ROD (as well as the others mentioned below) to distinguish the 
shapes and colors, as I don't think anything I could offer would help here.

The shapes seemed to resemble the BUTTONS on the PANELS I'd found, and 
therefore I speculated that they held a combination to the SEALED DOORS'
locks.  After noting this, I moved on.

Behind Boston, another PANEL and SEALED DOOR awaited.  I found the
characteristics of these identical to the first two I'd seen.

To the left, I saw a COLUMN.  I LOOKED at it and learned that it had smooth 
grooves on its surface, but not much more.  Continuing left, I encountered 
a fourth SEALED DOOR and PANEL, that were just like the first three.  
Finally, just before I completed the circle and found myself back at 
BRINK'S BODY, I found another SEALED DOOR.  This one did not have a PANEL 
next to it, but it did have an ALCOVE.  When I LOOKED at the ALCOVE, I found 
myself at a puzzle screen very similar to the one I had seen on Attila, with 
TOP, BOTTOM, LEFT and RIGHT slots.  Plates had worked before on a similar 
puzzle, and luckily I was carrying one.  The PLATE that I had was shaped 
just like the BOTTOM space, so I PUT it on the BOTTOM and it attached there.  
I EXITED, thinking that somehow, somewhere, I'd need to find three more 
plates.  Since there was no PANEL next to this fifth door, I made the 
working assumption that the ALCOVE was this door's control and the PLATES 
were what triggered it.

Having completed my circle, I decided to explore the other areas available to
me before attempting to figure out just how the PURPLE ENGRAVED ROD might
work with the PANELS.  I chose the RAMP first.

Upon descending the RAMP, I found myself in an eerie, hot space with a
glowing area below.  Boston figured it was the power source for the place
I was in and commented to the effect that he'd need to figure out how to
turn the power on.  (This was my first clue that I'd need to turn on the 
power.)

A LOOSE PLATE behind Boston came off when I OPENED it, and inside I found
a BLUE CRYSTAL.  I was able to TAKE the BLUE CRYSTAL, but when I did
everything became dark.  So I decided to PUT it back for the time being
so that I could see better.  Obviously, it was some form of light source,
because all became bright again when I RETURNED it to the EMPTY SLOT.

I next LOOKED down over the EDGE and saw an UNATTACHED LENS.  I had the
sense that I was supposed to get it somehow, but how was beyond me.  I tried
a few things, like USING the WIRE with the EDGE in the hopes that I could
climb down there, but nothing worked.  Probably because it was white hot
down there and I would have fried, but this didn't occur to me at the time.
Nor did I notice the other hotspots here since the UNATTACHED LENS was so
obvious, it distracted me.

Next to the EDGE I saw a CONTROL PANEL with a number of BUTTONS that I
found in a close-up screen when I LOOKED at it.  Each BUTTON caused a
colored circle to appear on a screen to the right when I PUSHED it.  This 
control reminded me of the game Mastermind, and I tried for awhile to see if 
I could win.  I didn't make any progress, but I did notice that the 
center BUTTON could only be PRESSED once in a row, while the others that 
produced colors could be PRESSED multiple times in a row.  Two of the 
BUTTONS removed the colored circles.  One removed them one at a time and the 
other removed all of them.  I USED the "remove all" BUTTON to clear my messy 
screen and EXITED.

Further to the left was a TRIANGULAR BUTTON.  Nothing happened when I PUSHED
it.  Baffled, I decided to try the DARK TUNNEL.  I went up to the NEXUS
and into the DARK TUNNEL.

I ended up in a lovely crystalline space on a sort of stone bridge.  Toward
the left, after scrolling as far as I could go, the bridge ended at a glass
house-looking thing with two hotspots for BUTTONS.  I PUSHED the nearest
BUTTON and a door opened.  I walked inside and now could see an AIRLOCK
DOOR.  I figured I'd need to close the door behind me before I could get
through to lock out unwanted air, so I PUSHED the second BUTTON and the
first door shut.  Another PUSH on this BUTTON opened the AIRLOCK DOOR and
I went through it.  (Now that you know how to operate the AIRLOCK DOOR,
which works the same in reverse, I'm not going to repeat this every time
to save you... yeah, you guessed it.)

I wound up in a circular room with six large WINDOWS around the periphery.
I LOOKED through each of the six WINDOWS and learned a bit about where I was
from Boston's remarks.  A system of tunnels passed underwater, connecting
the large, central island (the NEXUS) with other, smaller islands.  I
imagined I'd have to get into those tunnels somehow.  Through the left-hand
side WINDOWS I could see a crystalline tube, which appeared to be one of the
tunnels.  Hmm.  I wasn't sure at this point, but maybe the SEALED DOORS I'd
seen led to the tunnels.  They seemed to be the only openings available to
me in the NEXUS, so that would make sense.

The center of the room showed a GLOWING PANEL, which I decided to EXPLORE.  
This took me to a screen that showed four energized CRYSTALS, three empty 
HOLES, a CRYSTAL CLUSTER where all the crystals met, and one dark, lifeless 
CRYSTAL.  I figured I'd have to replace that dark CRYSTAL or something at 
some point, but I wasn't sure how to do it. (I later went back and tried 
every crystal I picked up in the game on it hoping to replace it, including 
the BLUE CRYSTAL from the RAMP area and the GLOWING CRYSTALS discussed below, 
to no avail.)  I tried PUTTING the PURPLE ENGRAVED ROD and the ENGRAVED ROD 
in the HOLES, but neither fit.  Not sure what to do here either, I EXITED 
and returned out through the AIRLOCK and back through the DARK TUNNEL to the 
NEXUS.

I had a couple more ideas up my sleeve before I could call myself stuck.  The
first was to try the PURPLE ENGRAVED ROD with all the PANELS.  The second
was to try a bit harder to figure out how to get that UNATTACHED LENS.  But
before I tried either one of these, I decided to BUZZ ROBBINS on the 
PENULTIMATE to see if she had any ideas.  I went through all the conversation
options with her.  In addition to some chit-chat, she told me she was busy
deciphering symbols that were all over the place where she was, and that I
might want to figure out how to turn on the lights.  (This was my second clue
that I had to turn the power on.)  She also continued trying to convince me
that the strange lights, or ghosts as we were now calling them, had been
trying to lead us down here.  Boston suggested that she continue learning the
language while he found more PLATES for the ALCOVE so that she could read
any directions as to how to use them.  I didn't realize it at the time, but
this was a rather hefty clue as to what I'd need to do at a later point in 
the game.

IN THE NEXUS:  Morgie Loses It On Day 1

After talking to Maggie, I knew that I'd have to turn the power on since
there had been two mentions of that, but I didn't make the right connection
just then.  I didn't see these clues as an indication that the game had
gone from somewhat nonlinear while we were exploring the surface, to linear
down in the NEXUS.  If I had, I would have focused on turning on the power
to the exclusion of all else.  But it was after midnight, I'd been playing
for a number of hours, and I was tired.  So I made a wrong choice here and
started focusing on the PURPLE ENGRAVED ROD.  I plugged the combination
into each PANEL by HITTING the BUTTONS until the shapes and colors matched.
I tried going from left to right and from right to left in the order they
appeared on the rod.  Then I thought:  well, there are four shapes and four
doors, so maybe each door is coded to a shape?  So I plugged in a straight
row of each shape/color to each of the panels.  I also tried to match
the order of colors with each single shape (e.g., red triangle, green 
triangle, blue triangle, red triangle since this was the color order in my 
game).  Then I tried to see a connection between the shapes of the doors,
the shapes of the panels, and the shapes on the rod.  Nothing worked and I
was close to exasperation.  I even tried USING the PURPLE ENGRAVED ROD on the
PANELS, and Boston confirmed my suspicions that it was a key of some sort.
But, he mused, is it the key to this lock?  This was something of a hint to
me that instead of being a key to _all_ doors, it was only a key to one of
them.  But for the life of me, I couldn't get _any_ of them to work.  I
resorted to EXAMINING all the SEALED DOORS and PANELS and tried to narrow
down my options by focusing on the one door that had "four bright crystals"
instead of dark ones.  Still no luck.

I finally got really bored with PUSHING BUTTONS and moving shapes around
with no success, so I went back down the RAMP to see if anything made more
sense this time around.  This time, I did notice more hotspots when I looked
over the EDGE.  In addition to the UNATTACHED LENS, there were three LENSES
and a LENS SLOT with the lens missing.  Now I saw the logic here.  I somehow 
had to get the UNATTACHED LENS into the LENS SLOT.  I was dealing with a 
broken alien machine.  Who would have thunk it.  But I still wasn't sure how 
to get from point A to point B.

I TOOK the BLUE CRYSTAL again (at least it was something I _could_ do) and
decided to have another go at the CONTROL PANEL.  This time, also, when
I PUSHED the TRIANGULAR BUTTON, nothing happened.  I PUT the BLUE CRYSTAL
back in case it was necessary to run the power, and HIT the TRIANGULAR 
BUTTON again.  Now I was cooking with something less than Crisco -- some 
bizarre-shaped thing came down out of a chute, went over the EDGE and moved 
around down near the power source.  What the heck was it doing?  Gathering 
power and taking it to the surface?  I fiddled with the CONTROL PANEL and 
the TRIANGULAR BUTTON a few more times, usually clearing my screen when I 
was done and once (apparently) leaving the colored circles there.  I was 
able to get that thing to come down another time, but the next time I mucked 
around with the CONTROL PANEL nothing happened when I PUSHED the TRIANGULAR
BUTTON.  I just didn't get it.

Tired, annoyed, and feeling quite the inadequate adventurer, I decided to
post a message to my fellow player, hercules, who was at the time at least
a day ahead of me in playing time.  We had made a pact that we wouldn't
read any hint messages to help ourselves and only start reading them after
we finished (I started reading messages about puzzles I was certain I'd
completed before I was totally finished with the game), but that I could
whine to him if I felt like it.  "Don't tell me the answer," I said
after explaining all I'd done.  I just wanted to whine, I didn't want to 
concede defeat yet.  He posted back that I should pick one puzzle to work
on because the game became linear at this point.  But which one?  I wondered.
What if I barked up the wrong engraved rod for days?  I decided to call it
a night.  Maybe the answer would come to me in a dream.

IN THE NEXUS:  Morgie's Day 2

It wasn't a dream, but it was close.  As I fell asleep, I thought about all 
that had happened and all that I'd learned.  And when I woke up, the thing
that finally stood out to me was: GET THE POWER ON.  Both Boston and Maggie
had mentioned it, so it must be important.  And since the power source was
down the RAMP, the CONTROL PANEL and TRIANGULAR BUTTON had to be the things
to use.

I'd wondered the night before how it was I'd managed to get that thing to 
come down the chute twice, and thought at first that it had something to do 
with the BLUE CRYSTAL either being in place or not.  (It turned out that the 
BLUE CRYSTAL affected only whether the TRIANGULAR BUTTON would work, not
whether the thing would come down the chute.)  Thinking about it in
the stark light of day, I had an epiphany.  What if the CONTROL PANEL and
the TRIANGULAR BUTTON were somehow connected?  They were both controls,
so that would make sense.

When I tried again, I noticed that I could make the thing come down from the
chute _every time_ without fail, so long as the BLUE CRYSTAL was in place
and there were colors appearing on the CONTROL PANEL before I PUSHED
the TRIANGULAR BUTTON.  Even one colored dot was enough to get a reaction
out of the chute, but the more dots on the CONTROL PANEL, the longer the
thing stayed down there and the more it moved around before zipping back up
the chute. 

I can't explain exactly how it came to me what I had to do here.  Having
stopped playing DUNGEON MASTER II to pick up THE DIG (I'd been waiting for
THE DIG eagerly since adventure guru Leo Drago and I first saw a demo of it 
at the winter 1994 CES), I'd recently had occasion to deal with "porter 
minions" that would pick up items for my characters, move them to a desired 
location and drop them there.  Perhaps it was this, or the way the dots 
seemed to make a difference in the way the thing moved down by the LENSES, or 
both, that made me realize that the thing from the chute was a remote control 
device with which I could MOVE the UNATTACHED LENS into the LENS SLOT, that 
the CONTROL PANEL directed its movement, and that the TRIANGULAR BUTTON 
initiated the sequence.  Now I just had to figure out which colors made the 
thing do what.  I was pretty sure just through intuition that the center 
BUTTON (which could only be pressed once in a row) was the grab/release 
mechanism and the others would make the thing move specific directions.

The simplest way to figure out what the BUTTONS did seemed to be to plug 
in a line of one color on the CONTROL PANEL, PUSH the TRIANGULAR BUTTON,
watch what happened, and then repeat with the next color.  This way I'd
be able to devise a program that would get the thing to the UNATTACHED LENS,
grab it, take it to the LENS SLOT, and drop it there.  I found through this
system that the BUTTONS did the following: purple, move left; blue, move
up; green, move right; yellow, move down.  Knowing this, I devised the
following program (I had to PUSH the TRIANGULAR BUTTON a few times as I
was putting the program together to make sure it was working right): yellow,
yellow, purple, purple, purple, purple, orange (take lens), blue, blue, blue,
blue, blue, blue, orange (drop lens).  When I had it all plugged in, I
PUSHED the TRIANGULAR BUTTON one last time, and sat back to admire my
creation as it worked just as expected.  The next time I LOOKED over the
EDGE, the power was operating normally.  Yaaaa-hooooo!

I saw no reason to keep the lights on down here, so I TOOK the BLUE CRYSTAL
and went back up to the NEXUS.  Now maybe one of the doors would finally
open.  I just had to figure out which one.

I thought it might be interesting at this point to just take a look around
and see if anything had changed now that the power was on, so I started
moving in my favorite direction (left) around the room again.  I saw that
the COLUMN now had some cool purple and white lights moving up it, so I
LOOKED closer.  A huge amount of energy now flowed along the COLUMN.  I
wondered where it was going, and I told myself that I'd go back outside
soon to see if I could find out the answer.

To the right of the COLUMN, some SPARKS came up through an energy conduit
in the floor.  The SEALED DOOR here was still shut tight, and when I EXAMINED
its PANEL, I found it corroded, and its crystal buttons dark.  Seemed as 
though I'd have to fix this problem and light up those crystals before I
could hope to get this door open.  I recalled the WIRE I had, and USED it
with the SPARKS.  Boston reminded me that I'd have to attach the jumper
cables to the dead battery first, but I couldn't find anything to attach
the WIRE to on the PANEL.  Maybe, then, this wasn't where I should use the
WIRE?  But I couldn't USE it with the next PANEL to the left or with the 
COLUMN, and it didn't look long enough to string across the entire NEXUS.  
So, taking Boston's car metaphor a bit further, perhaps I'd have to pop the 
hood on the nearest PANEL.

I happened to have an item noted for its strength and sharpness, and that
as an added benefit was shaped like a prying tool -- the TUSK.  I USED the
TUSK with the PANEL and the cover came off.  When I EXAMINED the inside of
the PANEL, I found a corroded mess that wasn't getting any power.  So I
USED the WIRE with the PANEL, and then with the SPARKS.  Et voila!  Now
the crystals were bright!

Unfortunately, I made a wrong assumption here that was the beginning of
a snowball effect into Morgie losing it on day 2.  I latched on to the concept
that the PANEL I'd just fixed had to be the one that the PURPLE ENGRAVED
ROD corresponded to.  I tried backwards, forwards, and all of my convoluted
combinations again without success.  So I moved on to the next door to the
left, and went straight for its PANEL.  Again, I had no luck.  I skipped
the next door, which had the ALCOVE next to it and went on to a third PANEL.
Again, no luck.

IN THE NEXUS:  Morgie Loses It On Day 2

Somehow, I now became hopelessly confused.  I think what happened was:  I 
left the game to get lunch and run errands, then returned to the game and
mistakenly believed that I was trying to open the one door I hadn't tried
yet, when in actuality, I was working on the third one again.  In any 
event, I tried and I tried, and I was absolutely convinced that I had tried
all four doors and my rod wouldn't work on any of them!  

I went to GAMERS hoping to bump into hercules to ask him what was going on.
But he was nowhere to be found, and I was so convinced that something was
wrong, and so sick of PUSHING BUTTONS and moving shapes with no result
again, that I grit my teeth, broke my promise to my fellow player, and
looked on the message board for a likely thread, fully prepared to avert
my eyes and hit  to get to the next message at the slightest sign
of anything that I hadn't yet experienced in the game.

I only found one message that could have applied, and it suggested that the
BLUE CRYSTAL had to be in place in the power room for the doors to work.
So I schlepped the BLUE CRYSTAL back to the EMPTY SLOT again (and _left_
it there until I had no choice but to retrieve it later in the game since
it seemed to control so many things) and tried the first door I came to
when I got back to the NEXUS.  Here I noticed, before I started banging on
the PANEL, that the SEALED DOOR was now emitting a low hum, and I (wrongly,
as it turned out) believed that that meant it was ripe for opening.  (I
discovered in replaying that three of the four doors with PANELS were 
humming, so this wasn't the clue I thought it was).  I plugged in the
combination on the PURPLE ENGRAVED ROD as it appeared there from left to 
right and the SEALED DOOR opened!  I took time out from this minor triumph
to make a mental note that left to right appeared to be the right order
in which to read the combination, in case I should come upon another similar 
one later.

Looking back now, I see that this happened to be the fourth door -- the one
I'd skipped the first time when I started wandering around the NEXUS to
see what had changed, and had in fact never tried before.  

For days thereafter, I swore up and down to hercules that the BLUE CRYSTAL
controlled the doors somehow.  He was too polite to laugh at me (a first
for him) but kept suggesting that if that were so, it would be a nonsensical
puzzle since the BLUE CRYSTAL seemed only to be a light source.  

Having just replayed this part several times, I am here to tell you:  the
BLUE CRYSTAL has _no effect_ whatsoever on whether the doors will open.
The only things you have to do to open the first door are turn on the power
in the NEXUS and find the one door that will open with the PURPLE ENGRAVED
ROD's combination.  You don't even have to use the WIRE on the other PANEL
first.  Tip:  Resist the urge to leave the game, eat lunch, and run errands, 
or otherwise do anything that might deter you from completing a systematic 
testing of each of the SEALED DOORS with PANELS until you get that damned 
door open.

ON THE MUSEUM SPIRE, PART 1

I now had another place to go after what seemed like an eternity of bumbling
around in the NEXUS, but first I wanted to check in with Maggie -- and also
to go outside again and see if I could learn more about where the energy
flowing on the COLUMN might be going.

I RANG up ROBBINS on the PENULTIMATE and told her about my discovery of
the lock combinations.  Since she had no discoveries of her own to share
with me, I went on up into the CANYON.

Here I saw that energy was now rising from the PLATFORM and forming a
GLOWING SPHERE in the SKY.  That was enough for me.  I left the CANYON 
through the SMALL HOLE and decided to see what was behind door #1 (and
whether I'd want to trade it for what was behind the curtain).

Through the OPEN DOOR, I came onto a platform of sorts, and now Maggie called
_me_ to tell me she'd found a room full of alien technology with working
machines.  But she didn't know exactly where she was and couldn't tell me
how to get there.  I got the irrepressibly clever idea to CALL her right
back on the PENULTIMATE, and when I asked her for a progress report on
deciphering the language, she gave me the thorough razzing that I so greatly
deserved.

The new area I'd come to had only one hotspot -- a ? on a pyramid shaped
stone structure.  Boston PUSHED it and a circular thing arrived in response.
I learned that instead of a ?, I now had a TRAM CALL, with the circular
thing being a TRAM.  I BOARDED the TRAM, and it rolled away through one of
those crystalline tubes I'd seen through the WINDOWS in the AIRLOCK.  
Interesting.  So the SEALED DOORS _did_ lead to those tunnels I'd seen.

Boston got out of the TRAM in a place that had a WEAKENED DOOR, a RUINED
DOOR, and a passage to the OUTSIDE.  I couldn't OPEN the WEAKENED DOOR
without help, so I made a note to try again when I met up with Maggie or
found someone else who might be able to help me.  Since I was told nothing
could OPEN the RUINED DOOR, I took this as a challenge and tried USING
the TUSK and the SHOVEL on it.  Neither worked, and I gave thanks that
the game wasn't lying to me so early in our relationship.  Then I went 
OUTSIDE.

I discovered a FOSSIL on the ground that I LOOKED at and EXAMINED.  Bones
of some creature had hardened into the rock, but I couldn't do anything
with them so I EXITED and took a walk down to the WATER.  When I arrived,
a strange animal crawled up onto a rock next to me.  Then, as I watched,
a horrible sea monster grabbed it and ate it.  Luckily the monster didn't
come after me.  When I LOOKED at the WATER, I convinced myself that swimming
in the same water as that monster was a bad idea.  (This was my first clue
that I had to get rid of the monster).

I took the PATH back up to the shore and then went UP the spire further.
In this area, I found a STRANGE DEVICE, and when I LOOKED at it, another of
those strange light ghosts appeared and swirled around it.  Boston remarked
that the last one had pointed the way to the NEXUS.  (This was my first
clue that I had to do something with the STRANGE DEVICE.)  The STRANGE
DEVICE had a PANEL on one side that I couldn't OPEN.  Below, a LENS was
attached to the rock, and I found that I could MOVE the LENS into three
different positions.  When I LOOKED again at the STRANGE DEVICE, I could
see what appeared to be its controls -- a SWITCH that made a glowing shape
appear when I PRESSED it, and a colored piece that made no sense to me.
Neither did the pictures on the left side.  I didn't have any idea what to
do here for now, so I EXITED and went through a DOOR.

The place I now entered seemed to be a museum.  I TOOK some GLOWING CRYSTALS
that were lying on the ground and EXAMINED them (there were two).  I also
TOOK a TABLET that looked like it had an alphabet on it and EXAMINED that,
too.  The TABLET had a complex picture on it that I couldn't figure out.

Above where I'd seen the TABLET, I found a DISPLAY of changing pictures.
Some of the symbols reminded me of ones I'd seen on the STRANGE DEVICE 
outside, but I wasn't sure exactly what the exhibit was telling me.  I
LOOKED at the DISPLAY (and the ones described below) several times, but
I still couldn't interpret this one fully.  Later on, I concluded that
it had something to do with how to use the STRANGE DEVICE.  Still later,
I learned that this conclusion was probably wrong, even though it had
helped me to figure out how to use the STRANGE DEVICE.  Funny how that works,
isn't it?

To the left, another DISPLAY showed a dragon-like beast going (or being
put) into a triangular shape and some other pictures in which moons figured
prominently.  Boston wondered if this DISPLAY depicted some sort of burial
chamber.  When I WATCHED the DISPLAY a second time, Boston noted that the
larger moon was being eclipsed by the smaller one.  This made me think of
the two moons I'd seen in the SKY at the DAIS, and I suspected that this
exhibit had something to do with an eclipse that had happened here on this
planet at one time.  

The DISPLAY next to the eclipse exhibit showed something breaking over what
looked to be a skeleton, and the skeleton transforming into a beast.  "Hmmm,"
was all Boston could say.  I agreed with him.

At this point, I noticed something red on a platform toward the left of
the screen -- a RED ENGRAVED ROD.  Yay!  The key to another door!  Now I
knew I wouldn't be stuck wandering around in the museum until Christmas.
I EXAMINED it, and saw four more nifty colored shapes, which made me feel
confident that it would work just as the PURPLE ENGRAVED ROD had.

On the same platform, a last DISPLAY showed some beasts putting something
into something else, and Boston quipped, "that canister sure packs a punch."
Each time I watched thereafter, he made a little-boy-like noise that
imitated an explosion.

I still had a DOOR to explore here, but before going off into the unknown,
I decided to see if anything I'd just done gave me anything new to talk 
to Maggie about.  I found when I CALLED ROBBINS on the PENULTIMATE that,
in fact, it had.  Of the TABLET, she would only tell me that it wasn't the
same set of symbols she was working with, that it seemed designed so that
strangers couldn't read it, and that she'd try again to read it when she'd
learned more.  (This was my first clue that Maggie might be able to interpret
the inscriptions on the TABLET.)  About the GLOWING CRYSTALS, Boston asked
whether Maggie believed that the dead could be raised.  Gotcha.  That was
what the DISPLAY with the skeleton and the beast was all about.  I knew now
that I'd go back to BRINK'S BODY at the first opportunity and USE the
GLOWING CRYSTALS on him.

But the DOOR beckoned and it was kind of a hike back to the NEXUS, so I 
went through the DOOR -- and met up with Maggie!  She was in a sort of
library and told me she felt close to making some breakthroughs on the
language so she didn't want to hook back up with me.  (Ok, fine.  I'd just
try to get Brink to help me with that WEAKENED DOOR if the GLOWING CRYSTALS
worked.  So there.)

I TALKED to ROBBINS again while I was there, and she told me she was
retrieving a lot of data in the LIBRARY, but wasn't sure what it all meant
yet.  I LOOKED at the three CONSOLES that appeared along the LIBRARY's walls.
They seemed to be part of a single computerized data retrieval system,
that contained data in many languages.  I couldn't think of anything else to
do here for now, so I figured I'd go back and try my luck at resurrecting
Brink.

I went back through the MUSEUM, to the OUTSIDE and DOWN the spire.  On a
whim, I went back down to the WATER, and another of my animal friends (the
last of which had become a meal for the sea monster before my horrified
eyes), a SEA CREATURE, appeared and started to feed on some plants.  I LOOKED 
at the SEA CREATURE and discovered it was kind of six-legged turtle.  I 
couldn't TAKE it, and it didn't seem to want to follow me.  It just chowed 
down for awhile, then jumped back in the water.  I noticed that it would 
return from time to time in different spots as long as I stood there, but 
anything I tried to USE with it risked frightening it, so I thought perhaps 
something might be missing that I'd need to use with it.  For now, I'd take 
the TRAM back to the NEXUS.

I felt a sense of power knowing I could open up another door if I wanted to, 
but I thought I'd save that as something to do if I got stuck again 
(hopefully that wouldn't happen, but you never know).  I marched straight 
over to BRINK'S BODY and USED the GLOWING CRYSTALS on him.  Sure enough, they 
were in fact life crystals.  Brink came back to life -- but, as he explained,
it wasn't just any old life.  He now felt more powerful and alive than ever 
before.  During this cut-scene, we let Maggie know that Brink was back.  
Everyone marvelled at how miraculous the life crystals were.  It was now 
more important than ever that we find our way back to Earth.  This discovery 
could change... everything.

ON THE MUSEUM SPIRE, PART 2

Having just been dead, Brink probably had a thing or two to say that the
average person doesn't, so I CHATTED with him.  He seemed inordinately
interested in those life crystals, claiming that Maggie could learn the
planet's language faster if she used one, and that we must find more and more
and more.  I tried showing Brink the new things I'd found since his death
and resurrection -- but Boston balked at showing him the remaining GLOWING
CRYSTAL, saying that it could be a "really bad idea."  I guessed that
Brink would have taken it, tried to use it to achieve fame and glory
when he got back home, and take all the credit for discovering it.  Boy,
was I wrong.

But at least now I had someone who might be able to help me get that
WEAKENED DOOR open.  Time to go back to the MUSEUM SPIRE.

Brink followed me back through the MUSEUM TRAM door and into the TRAM.  
When we arrived, he did help me OPEN the WEAKENED DOOR.  Inside we found a
huge basin of LIFE CRYSTALS.  A ghost appeared and gave us a signal that
Boston believed showed the crystals were dangerous.  I TOOK as many of
the LIFE CRYSTALS as I could carry despite the warning, just in case.
Unfortunately, so did Brink.  I also found a CANISTER here, so I TOOK it.  
I EXAMINED it and learned that it looked remarkably like the one that had 
"packed a punch" in the MUSEUM DISPLAY I'd seen.

We went out through the DOOR, and even Brink couldn't help me with the RUINED
DOOR.  I was starting to trust this game.  I wondered if it was married?
I started to think about friends I could set it up with ("I know this really
nice game... you'll like, you'll like").

We went OUTSIDE, but my archaeologist didn't have anything to tell me about
the FOSSIL.  Maybe he'd have an idea about what to do with the SEA CREATURE.
Fat chance.

When we went down by the WATER, sure enough, the SEA CREATURE surfaced
again.  This one must not have been as tasty as the last, because instead
of swallowing it, the sea monster spat it out.  Brink promptly disappeared
after this encounter, and I told Maggie he'd run away.  I now had a serious
suspicion that the LIFE CRYSTALS were addictive and Brink had become an
addict.

Where the SEA CREATURE had been while alive, before tempting the monster,
I found some LOOSE BONES.  When I LOOKED at them, they became a jigsaw-type
puzzle I'd have to put together.  After playing around with it unsuccessfully
a few times, it occurred to me that the FOSSIL might be helpful.  When I 
LOOKED at the FOSSIL again, I realized it was a map to the placement of
the LOOSE BONES -- but since the FOSSIL was dark and hard to see, it was 
more of a suggestion of where they could go than an outright solution.

I discovered the way to assemble the LOOSE BONES by referring to the FOSSIL.
If this puzzle is driving you crazy, you can find a step-by-step solution to
it in the same library where you found this walkthru.  The file name of the
turtle bones solution is DIGTERP.TXT.  At the time I wrote that file, an
ongoing debate was taking place in GAMERS about whether the triangular
"Micky Mouse Head" was the head or the tail of the turtle.  I was in the
minority that said it was the tail and the oval bone with holes in it was
the head.  I got so exercised about this that I actually wrote to the
LucasArts rep in GAMAPUB, and he wrote back that the triangular piece was
indeed the tail.  Since I felt so vindicated, I couldn't resist the urge
to mention it here. 

When you've got the turtle back together correctly, you'll see it as a DEAD 
CREATURE instead of LOOSE BONES.  I thought I could probably use my LIFE
CRYSTALS here, and in fact, I could.  I USED the GLOWING CRYSTALS with the
DEAD CREATURE, but the monster just picked up the poor creature and spat
it out again.  Since Boston remarked that the monster still seemed hungry,
I figured I could get it to eat the turtle again -- but I also knew I'd
have to do something else to the DEAD CREATURE first or I'd just get the
same result again.

The next time I put the LOOSE BONES together into a DEAD CREATURE, I got
lucky because I USED the CANISTER with the DEAD CREATURE.  This turned out
to be the solution -- I was supposed to get rid of the sea monster by using
an "alien explosive device."  I then used the GLOWING CRYSTALS on the DEAD
CREATURE and the next time the monster grabbed it, everything went "boom"
just like Boston had said at the end of the museum DISPLAY about the
CANISTER.

I then LOOKED at the WATER and Boston went for a little swim.  

NOTE:   If I had only EXAMINED the WATER, as I did much later when I got
stuck again and was looking for things to do, I would have learned that there
was a cave down there -- and this would have been my second clue that I
needed to get rid of the monster to make the water safe for swimming.  Then
I might have known that I should have USED the CANISTER with the DEAD 
CREATURE instead of merely guessing.  

In any event, Boston swam to the cave, and inside a CHAMBER there I found
another PLATE and an ORANGE ENGRAVED ROD.  I EXAMINED both.  Now I knew
that I was halfway to finishing with the ALCOVE and could open another
of the SEALED DOORS with PANELS in the NEXUS!

I found nothing else to look at in the cave, so I decided to CALL ROBBINS
on the PENULTIMATE.  The only new thing she had to say was to agree with
me that the life crystals might be having adverse effects on Brink -- that
they might be addictive and have side effects.

I still had one obvious thing to figure out on the MUSEUM SPIRE -- the
STRANGE DEVICE.  My plan:  to try out the STRANGE DEVICE again, then show
Maggie the new objects I'd found (which I'd neglected to do before when I
ran into her in the LIBRARY), then head back to the NEXUS, place the PLATE,
and finally, open up two more doors with the RED ENGRAVED ROD and the ORANGE
ENGRAVED ROD.

I went back to the CAVERN and through the WATER the way I had come, then to
the PATH and UP to the STRANGE DEVICE.  I EXAMINED it and learned that it
was the control panel for a light bridge.  I still couldn't figure out how
to make it work, so I went back to the MUSEUM and watched the DISPLAY above
the DOOR a few more times (this is where I decided that the DISPLAY must
be a clue to operating the STRANGE DEVICE).  I thought that I could tell 
from the DISPLAY that the crystal that lit up when I pushed the SWITCH 
was supposed to be glowing somehow, and that this might have something to do 
with the pentagonal shape to the right.

I went back to the STRANGE DEVICE, fiddled with it for awhile, and found that
I would hear tones when I changed the position of the LENS then used the 
SWITCH.  Two of the tones were the same and one was different.  So I adjusted
the LENS for the different tone and PUSHED the SWITCH.  I held the SWITCH
down until the crystal above it glowed as in the MUSEUM DISPLAY.  As I was
doing this, I noticed a line forming on the pentagonal shape to the right.
So I held the SWITCH down until the line completed forming.  When EXITED that
screen and next LOOKED at my surroundings, I found a BRIGHT LIGHT that I
could walk on.  It took me to a map screen of the island surrounded by spires.
I could walk to a CRYSTAL FORM, so I did.  I EXAMINED the CRYSTAL FORM and
learned that it was so transparent as to be almost invisible.  Since I 
couldn't find anything else to do here, I went OUT and back to the MUSEUM 
SPIRE.

NOTE on light bridges:  You'll find that you encounter a number of STRANGE
DEVICES with LENSES and PANELS, one on each spire that you travel to through
a door with a PANEL from the NEXUS.  (The spire you reach through the
ALCOVE door also has a STRANGE DEVICE with a LENS but no PANEL.)  The last
STRANGE DEVICE that I reached from one of the SEALED DOORS with PANELS in
the NEXUS and attempted to operate (on the TOMB SPIRE as discussed
below) wouldn't work until I solved another puzzle first.  For other people,
this puzzle occurred on the MAP SPIRE, and in replaying, I decided to test
the hypothesis that the last STRANGE DEVICE you try to operate (apart from the
one you reach through the SEALED DOOR with the ALCOVE) generates
this puzzle.  I had a saved game with no light bridges operational, and since
I knew I'd encountered this puzzle on the TOMB SPIRE and others had on the
MAP SPIRE (as I learned from messages on the board in GAMERS), I activated
these two light bridges first, then saved.  Then I tried the MUSEUM SPIRE's
light bridge.  No puzzle showed up.  But one did when I then went to the
UNNAMED (PLANETARIUM) SPIRE.  Starting from the same save, I went to the
PLANETARIUM SPIRE first the next time.  The puzzle appeared in the PANEL in
the STRANGE DEVICE here, even though I hadn't yet been to the MUSEUM SPIRE.
From this experiment, I conclude that the appearance of the puzzle is indeed 
random (although it might be limited to one of the last two light bridges 
you activate) -- but in my game it appeared on the TOMB SPIRE so that's the 
section of this walkthru where I'll address it.

I went through the DOOR and into the LIBRARY where I SHOWED ROBBINS all the
items I'd found since I'd gone below the planet's surface.  She agreed
that the RED ENGRAVED ROD probably also worked on a lock.  When I TALKED to
her, I could now discuss the STRANGE DEVICE with her.  After an initial
discussion about the light bridges, this option just led to Boston and Maggie
making "light" jokes at each other.  It seemed an endless and unproductive
exchange, so I didn't bother trying to exhaust this conversation option.

Since I felt like I'd pretty much exhausted what I could do on the MUSEUM
SPIRE for now, I decided to go back to the NEXUS and do what I could there
with my PLATE and two new ENGRAVED RODS.  I BOARDED the TRAM and spun off.
(I figure that by now you can find your own way back to the TRAM, no?)

BACK AT THE NEXUS

First, I decided to unload the PLATE I was carrying, so I went up to the
ALCOVE and PLACED the PLATE in the TOP.  It fit perfectly (surprise... NOT)!
Then I walked left and tried using the combination on the ORANGE ENGRAVED
ROD on the first PANEL next to a SEALED DOOR that I came to.  This turned
out to be a good choice, and after plugging in its sequence (again from
left to right) on the BUTTONS, the SEALED DOOR opened.

Just since I _could_, I decided to open a third door before moving on.  I
continued left past the MUSEUM TRAM door to the next SEALED DOOR with a PANEL.
No success here -- but as expected, the RED ENGRAVED ROD _did_ open the next
SEALED DOOR to the left when I plugged its combination into the BUTTONS on
the PANEL.  Now I had two options.  Comforting.  But I had a couple of things
I wanted to try before continuing my explorations.  As it turned out, none
of them were necessary, but I found them somewhat entertaining.

I went back out into the CANYON and LOOKED at the SKY.  As I'd suspected,
I could now see the LIGHT BRIDGE I'd just activated on the MUSEUM SPIRE 
connecting to the GLOWING SPHERE.  I expected that something similar would 
have to happen in each of the places I had yet to visit.  The potential 
symmetry here pretty much hit me over the head.

Through the CLEARING, I went to the GRAVE.  I just had to see what would
happen if I USED a GLOWING CRYSTAL on the BONES there.  At first it looked 
like it might actually work, but my excitement was short lived -- too many 
bones were missing to bring the animal back to life.  I also tried a GLOWING 
CRYSTAL on the TUSK and the JAWBONE I was carrying.  It made the TUSK 
slightly warm and the JAWBONE twitch, but nothing else happened.  I couldn't
put the TUSK or the JAWBONE back to complete the BONES, or use them with
each other, so I figured this was a dead end.  I went back to the NEXUS
to explore behind the doors I'd just opened.  (I figure you can find you
own way back to the NEXUS by now, no?)

ON THE AS YET UNNAMED (AKA PLANETARIUM) SPIRE -- WITH A SHORT DETOUR

I ENTERED the first now-opened door to the left when I got back to the NEXUS, 
where I found a similar platform and TRAM CALL to the ones I'd found past 
the door to the MUSEUM TRAM.  I BOARDED a waiting TRAM and took a ride 
through another crystalline tube.  When I disembarked, I was in an area with 
a TRAM CALL and an opening to the OUTSIDE.

I went through the OPENING and arrived at a pathway along some cliffs with
a raging ocean to the right of the screen.  I went UP the pathway to a
gorge, with a BOULDER on the FAR SIDE.  The BOULDER looked like the perfect
bridge over the gorge if only I could move it.  But I couldn't reach it,
and none of my items worked with it.  So I held my breath and prepared to
try to JUMP to the FAR SIDE.

The first time I tried this, I hit the timing wrong.  Boston ended up in
the water, swam back to the beginning of the pathway right at the outside
of the TRAM platform, then climbed up the cliff to where he'd been before
completing his trek up to the gorge.  Thinking that this had to be the
wrong approach, I went back to the NEXUS on the TRAM to try the third door
I had opened.

I didn't have much more luck with this bright idea, because the TRAM CALL
on the platform I reached through the third door was broken.  No TRAM came
when I PUSHED the TRAM CALL and Boston observed that there ought to be a
control somewhere.  I knew from this statement that I'd have to fix the
TRAM CALL somehow.  I couldn't find a control on the platform, so I thought
about where it might possibly be.  It came to me that the CRYSTALS I'd
seen through the AIRLOCK bore a striking resemblance to the overhead map
of the five spires and central island I'd seen when I hiked across the light 
bridge.  Since one of the CRYSTALS was dark and lifeless, and I'd thought
from the first time I saw it that I'd need to replace it or something of
that nature, I made the working hypothesis that the CRYSTALS were the control
and that when I was able to fix the dark CRYSTAL, the TRAM would come.

I went back down the DARK TUNNEL and through the AIRLOCK, but again, none of
my items would work with the CRYSTALS, the CRYSTAL CLUSTER or the HOLES in
the GLOWING PANEL.  Before leaving through the AIRLOCK again, I decided to
EXAMINE the GLOWING PANEL just for laughs.  Boston confirmed my suspicions
that it was indeed a control panel, albeit inoperative.

I wandered around a bit aimlessly here, not sure what to do.  I revisited
all of the places I'd been, looking for something else to solve.  Since I
had no luck at all, and since I knew there had to be something waiting for
me on the FAR SIDE as well as a way to get there, I eventually wandered
back through the second door I'd opened, took the TRAM again, and journeyed
back UP the coastline I'd visited before.

I stood on the edge of the gorge and noticed that the water came up at
fairly regular intervals -- so I decided to try to time my jump when the
water was high enough that I might be able to float across somehow.  This
second time I tried JUMPING to the FAR SIDE, Boston cruised across on a
wave like he did that sort of thing every day of his life.  (Too bad he
hadn't done it before or I'd have saved myself an hour of wandering around
looking for something else to do ).

On this side, I could reach the BOULDER unhindered.  I LOOKED at it and found
that it was loose, so I gave it a SHOVE with my SHOVEL (nothing like
a double meaning) and it fell over into the handy bridge across the gorge
I knew it was meant to be.  At least now I could get back down to the TRAM
when I wanted to.

Continuing UP, I came to an area with another LENS and STRANGE DEVICE with
a PANEL in it, as well as a PLATEAU, and, past a waterfall, a CREVICE.  Since
I'd scrolled across the screen to LOOK at the CREVICE, I went in there
first.

Here I found a BLUE ROD that I TOOK and also EXAMINED.  I knew at once from
its shape and color that this was just the thing for those HOLES back at
the GLOWING PANEL in the AIRLOCK.  I'd been looking for something shaped
like this ever since I'd first seen those HOLES (ok, you sickos out there,
get your minds out of the gutter... so mine can float by).  The CREVICE wasn't
much help though, because Boston wouldn't reach into it.  I tried a few of
my items, including the SHOVEL on it, without success.

Since I couldn't find anything else to do in the CREVICE at the moment, I
went OUTSIDE to inspect the PLATEAU.  A door shut as I approached, and Boston
said that the little rat-like beast that scurried away when the door slammed
had stolen something he was sure to want later.  I took a few steps to the
right and saw two large wheels with a HOLE in the center of the closest one,
and a POLE lying on the ground next to it.  I TOOK a ROD that was propped
against a rock, then noticed a CAVE in the rock face behind the wheels.
Boston complained about how small the opening to the CAVE was, so I decided
to try ENLARGING it with the SHOVEL.  After all, this had worked with what
had turned out to be the opening to the NEXUS.  When I used the SHOVEL with
the CAVE, Boston dug until the opening was big enough to squeeze through.

Inside the CAVE I found nothing but three CRITTER HOLES, none of which held
anything of interest for me, at least for now.  So I went back through the
OPENING and farther to the right of my screen.  I TOOK a RIB CAGE that was
lying on the ground and a COVER that appeared to belong over the PANEL next
to the DOOR here.  The PANEL was missing a part, presumably the one the
critter had taken just when I approached, so Boston told me he thought it
wouldn't make any sense to put the COVER on the PANEL when I tried to do
that.  I also TOOK a short, metal DOWEL that was lying in front of the DOOR.
The DOOR itself seemed shut tight when I LOOKED at it.

A number of HOLES lined the wall next to the PANEL.  I LOOKED at each one
and saw a lot of useless junk the critter had been collecting.  I also
noticed that LOOKING in one of these HOLES prompted the critter to come out,
have a look around, and scurry away.

I LOOKED at the POLE again.  I couldn't TAKE it, but when I LOOKED at it,
Boston moved it.  This suggested that it should go somewhere on this screen,
but maybe I'd have to do something else first.

I opened up my inventory and looked at all the things I'd just picked up.
The DOWEL seemed the right shape for the HOLE in the wheel, so I USED it 
there.  A-ha!  Now I had PIN in the center of the wheel.  I LOOKED at the
POLE again and tried USING it with the PIN.  Cool.  Now I had a HOOK.  At
this point it was fairly clear to me that I had to build something here,
but I wasn't sure just what yet.  In my bizarre mind, I saw a connection
between the RIB CAGE and the HOOK (meat hook?  who knows?) so I USED them
together and ended up with a CAGE.  Now I got the gist.  I was setting a
trap for the critter so I could get the missing door part from it.

Since I'd played MONKEY ISLAND II: LECHUCK'S REVENGE many moons ago, I was
somewhat familiar with the LucasArts theory of trap building; I'd done 
something similar in that game.  (hercules told me later that he made an
association here too, with INDIANA JONES AND THE FATE OF ATLANTIS where
a rib cage had been used as a trap also.)  I knew I'd need to set the trap
somehow, so that it would spring shut.  Something to prop up the CAGE with
would work nicely.  The ROD looked like a good bet, so I USED it with the
CAGE.  Lo and behold, I now had a TRAP!  Of course, I didn't have any bait
for the trap, but since Boston volunteered to play sheepdog, that didn't
seem necessary.  I'd just have to find the critter and herd it into the
trap somehow.

Finding the critter, as it turned out, was the easy part.  When I LOOKED
at the HOLE closest to the TRAP, the critter came out.  But I couldn't
seem to chase it into the TRAP.  It seemed to run upscreen each time I
got it to come out of the HOLE, so I'd try to get between it and the upscreen
HOLES to block its way.  Sometimes it would just go right past me, other
times it would run downscreen and if I tried to get behind the TRAP (between
the wheels) it would run right past me again into the CAVE.  I tried over
and over again, and I just couldn't get the thing into the TRAP.

I felt a whine attack coming on.  It's one thing when I have no idea what
to do.  It's quite another when I have an idea of what to do -- or even,
as in this case -- know _exactly_ what to do but can't execute.  That's
when I really want to tear my hair out, and when I'm most ready to ask for
help.  I'm always sure it's a positional thing and it's the game's fault.
It certainly couldn't be mine. ;)

I took a break to clear my head and went to GAMERS where, by some stroke of
fortune, I ran into herc just as I was ready to whine.  He told me a trick
to getting the critter into the TRAP, which I pass along to you now.  I just
replayed this part again and trapped him the very first time I tried.  It's
a piece of cake if you follow what herc said:  (1) click on the HOLE to
get the critter to come out, (2) ignore it and walk Boston directly
downscreen, (3) continue walking Boston to the left, toward the CLEARING,
but have him walk _in front of_ both the wheels instead of between them,
(4) walk Boston back toward the right _between_ the wheels.  The little
critter will walk right into your TRAP.  Poor thing.

When the TRAP had sprung, Boston wondered how he'd find the critter again
when he let him out.  This told me that I'd need to track the critter.
Remember the BRACELET?  I'd thought I'd need to use it to be able to find
something again, and this seemed just the right place.  I USED the BRACELET
with the CRITTER, and it slipped around the critter's neck.  Then I OPENED
up the TRAP and let the critter out.  I kept the RIB CAGE and the ROD since
I could TAKE them again, but I couldn't TAKE the HOOK or the PIN, so I 
left them alone and went off looking for the critter.  I'd seen him head
for the CAVE, so I decided to start there.

Once in the CAVE, I USED the DEVICE, and it helped me to locate a TRACKER
SPOT, under which Boston reasoned the critter must be located.  I USED the
SHOVEL with the TRACKER SPOT.  When I'd DUG up the TRACKER SPOT, I found
a MACHINE PART -- just the thing (hopefully) to get that DOOR open.

I went back to the DOOR and USED the MACHINE PART with the PANEL, then the
COVER with the PANEL.  Now I could PUSH the PANEL, and OPEN the DOOR.

Through the DOOR I came to a peaceful blue room.  Here I found another PLATE
(nice!  only one more to go now) and a GREEN ENGRAVED ROD (double nice!
now I could open the last SEALED DOOR with a PANEL back at the NEXUS).  The
rest of what I saw in this room completely baffled me.  First, the TWIN
SCEPTERS.  They sure looked like they belonged here somehow, yet I could
TAKE them.  Was I supposed to?  Usually, I figure if I can pick it up, I 
should take it, but here I really wasn't sure.  I bit the bullet and TOOK
them anyway.  Boston said they seemed to have an electric charge.

Second, nothing happened when I PUSHED the BUTTON that I saw here.  Nor
could I USE or do anything with the CRACK through which Boston could see 
outside.  Finally, the ceiling had a FAINT LIGHT on it.  I couldn't learn
anything about the FAINT LIGHT by EXAMINING it, and it didn't occur to me
right then to try to USE anything with it.  I felt out of ideas for now, and
I had a lot to try elsewhere.  Aside from the STRANGE DEVICE outside, I
now had a PLATE to use in the ALCOVE, another ENGRAVED ROD to open another
SEALED DOOR, and a BLUE ROD that I had a good feeling would help me out
with the TRAM controls and let me explore the other area I hadn't been
able to get to yet.  So, as usual, I decided to give my crew a BUZZ on
the PENULTIMATE before setting off on these new adventures.  But Maggie had 
nothing new to say, and Brink wasn't answering.

I went back out to the CLEARING and tried different positions for the LENS
as I had with the one on the MUSEUM SPIRE.  When I found the different tone 
(by PUSHING the SWITCH on the STRANGE DEVICE after setting the LENS to each
possible position), I PRESSED the SWITCH until the line formed on the
screen just as before and the STRANGE DEVICE had created a BRIGHT LIGHT.
I decided to travel down this light bridge, too, just to see what would
happen.  This time, when I EXAMINED the CRYSTAL FORM, Boston told me it
was hard to see anything, but he thought he could make out some kind of
shape.  After learning this, I went OUT, found my way back to the TRAM
on the spire I'd just been to, and returned to the NEXUS.

ON THE MAP SPIRE

Care to guess the first thing I did when I got back to the NEXUS?  Right.
I DUMPED the PLATE in the LEFT slot in the ALCOVE.

After taking a walk out to the CANYON to INSPECT the SKY and see my newest
LIGHT BRIDGE from a different angle, I decided to try my BLUE ROD on the
GLOWING PANEL through the DARK TUNNEL and the AIRLOCK.  As I'd guessed, the
BLUE ROD fit perfectly in the HOLE I USED it with (could have been any of
them -- it will go in any of the three HOLES).  Much to my surprise, this
activated two other SLIDING CRYSTALS.  I saved my game and experimented
for a bit with the SLIDING CRYSTALS, but I worried that I didn't have the
secret to them down yet and I didn't want to get stuck with yet another
deactivated TRAM.  So I decided to move on to the other SEALED DOOR with
PANEL that I hadn't yet opened first.  But I did notice in messing around
with the GLOWING PANEL that clicking on the bright CRYSTALS would make them 
go dark, and that if I moved the SLIDING CRYSTALS around, I could get the
last dark CRYSTAL I'd clicked on to brighten back up eventually.

Once back through the DARK TUNNEL, I headed for the SEALED DOOR I hadn't
yet OPENED.  I SET the BUTTONS on its PANEL to those shown on the GREEN
ENGRAVED ROD from left to right, and the door OPENED.

Through this door, I came upon another platform with a TRAM CALL.  The
TRAM came when I PUSHED the TRAM CALL and I rode it through yet another
crystalline tube.  I arrived at an unusual place with another TRAM CALL
and a LEDGE.  I couldn't even see Boston behind the TRAM here -- I had
to find the LEDGE by feel.

Out on the LEDGE, I saw an OPENING upscreen that I went through.  The only
thing to see here was a STRANGE FIELD of light that was "just on the edge
of existence."  I couldn't do anything with it, so I moved on.  I left
the OPENING and went next to a CAVERN.  Inside I had the options to explore
a PIT or a NEST.  I went for the PIT first.

I passed through into a cave with no new hotspots except an OPENING on the
other side, so I headed for that.  Now I was in a vine-covered atrium with
a stream running through it and a PANEL.  When I LOOKED at the PANEL, I saw
a set of BUTTONS just like the ones on the PANELS of the SEALED DOORS in
the NEXUS.  Did I need another ENGRAVED ROD here?  Hmm.  Confusion.  Yeah,
that was a good word for it.  I EXITED the screen without doing anything for
now.

I located another OPENING in this area and went through it.  There, on the
side of a cliff, I found another STRANGE DEVICE, with a corresponding LENS
and PANEL on its side.  By now I was a pro at these, so I ADJUSTED the
LENS until I heard a different tone when I PRESSED the SWITCH on the STRANGE
DEVICE, then held down the SWITCH until the line drew across the screen to
the right.  When that was done, I had a BRIGHT LIGHT coming from this STRANGE 
DEVICE.

I ventured out onto the light bridge and headed again for the CRYSTAL FORM.
This time it looked a lot different, but when I EXAMINED it I still had a 
hard time seeing inside it although I could make out some sort of shape.
I went OUT and back to the MAP SPIRE.  MAP SPIRE?  What was _that_ all about?
Obviously, I didn't know all there was to know about this place yet.

But it started to make sense when I got off of the light bridge and decided
to go back to EXPLORE the other place I hadn't been to, the NEST.  When I
LOOKED for the way out of the STRANGE DEVICE area, my only option was called
"MAP ROOM."  This took me back to the room with the PANEL that I'd wondered
if I needed another ENGRAVED ROD for.  Maybe not.  I saw no doors anywhere
that appeared to need opening.  So maybe, just maybe, I was supposed to
plug in all the combinations from the ENGRAVED RODS that I already had.  I
decided to give it a try.

When I did, I found that the PANEL generated pictures off to the side, of
a site in each of the spires I had visited (or in the case of the RED
ENGRAVED ROD, a spire I hadn't yet visited -- must have been the one with
the broken TRAM CALL).  Now I understood why this room was called the MAP
ROOM.  Interestingly, when I plugged in the code for the RED ENGRAVED ROD,
Boston saw a crypt somewhere -- with a way below it.

NOTE:  It appears that viewing the crypt in the MAP ROOM as just described
can save you a lot of trouble later.  The game apparently will not let you
down into the crypt after you've found it and set it up (described below)
unless you have reason to believe there is something down there -- which
you learn from the map.  I believe that looking at the map once is sufficient
to avoid getting stuck later at the crypt, but as noted below, I looked at
it twice.  So if you aren't able to get into the crypt after doing everything
set forth below to set it up, try looking at this map again.

After plugging in all the combinations, I decided to go see what was in the
NEST.  I went back to the PIT through a CHAMBER and into the NEST, where I
saw a spidery-looking creature crawling away to the top left of my screen.
In the NEST, I found a GRATE sealing something off, but I wasn't sure what
to do with it (and couldn't seem to do anything with it -- yet).

Here I fell down on my exploring technique.  I didn't realize until later
that there was another way out of the NEST to the right of the screen.  I'll
relate the somewhat embarrassing story of how I found this out shortly.

For now, I couldn't find anything else to do here, so I decided to give
ROBBINS another RING on the PENULTIMATE.  I now had the option to talk to her 
about the OPENING to the crypt I'd seen on the map.  She reasoned that if the 
map showed secret rooms under the crypt, they weren't meant to be secret.  
Boston agreed -- there must be a way to access them.  Brink was still out of
commission.

Since I thought (incorrectly) I'd seen all there was to see on this spire now,
I decided to go back to the NEXUS and venture through the door with the
broken TRAM.  So I left the NEST, went out over the LEDGE to the TRAM, and
back to the NEXUS.

ON THE TOMB SPIRE, PART 1

I'd have to go back through the AIRLOCK to give the GLOWING PANEL another 
try and light up the last CRYSTAL if my theory that this was the way to 
fix the TRAM was right.  Since I now had all the light bridges up on 
the other spires I'd been to, I wasn't all that concerned for the immediate 
future about accidentally rendering the other TRAMS inoperative.  I figured 
that there had to be another light bridge on the spire I was about to go 
to, and if worse came to worst, I could just use this TRAM to get between 
the NEXUS and that spire, then take the light bridges from there to 
wherever else I might want to go.  Of course, that wouldn't help me if 
and when I got the ALCOVE door open, but I'd worry about that later.

I SELECTED the dark CRYSTAL and moved the SLIDING CRYSTALS until it lit up.
I noticed that the end of the dark CRYSTAL got lighter or darker grey 
depending on how I moved the SLIDING CRYSTALS, but it wasn't until I talked
to herc later about these controls that I realized that these were the
meters by which you can tell if you're getting closer or farther away from
the correct SLIDING CRYSTAL settings.  The end of the CRYSTAL you select
to work on will become lighter grey the closer you get to the correct
settings, and darker grey the farther away you get.  As the end of the
CRYSTAL grows brighter and brighter, it will eventually light up completely
once you get the settings exactly right.

Now that all the CRYSTALS were bright, I EXITED that screen, then watched
through the WINDOW as the previously inoperative TRAM rolled through
a tube and into the station.  I went back through the AIRLOCK and the
DARK TUNNEL to the NEXUS and went through the fourth open door.

Not surprisingly, when I USED the TRAM CALL here, the TRAM now arrived to
my left.  I GOT ON the TRAM and rolled away to my newest destination.

I arrived at a SPIRE with an outdoor platform at which there was another
TRAM CALL.  I walked toward the SPIRE and continued up to a PLATEAU.  Along
the PATH, I found a STONE PLATE that was half buried.  Boston couldn't
move it using his bare hands, which signalled to me that I should try USING
the SHOVEL with the STONE PLATE.  Doing so revealed a HOLE.  The HOLE
led to something that could have been a burial chamber, according to Boston
(this was the same thing he'd said on looking at one of the DISPLAYS in the
MUSEUM).  Inside, on the wall, I saw a roughly carved HOLE.  Boston wondered
at its purpose.  The ceiling had a SHUTTER on it, and when I EXAMINED the
SHUTTER, Boston noticed that there was light seeping through it from outside.
He expressed his wish to be able to see better.

I walked around in here for a bit and discovered that when I walked across
a stone in the foreground with two crescent shapes on it, the SHUTTER OPENED.
As long as I stood on the LOOSE STONE, the SHUTTER stayed open.  When I
stepped off of it, the SHUTTER closed.  I knew I had found a puzzle that
would end up opening the TOMB, but I decided to explore the rest of the 
TOMB SPIRE before focusing on this puzzle.

Further along the PATH, I came to another STRANGE DEVICE with a PANEL and
a LENS.  I assumed it would work just as the others had.  But no.  As I
found out through trying and trying to get the line to go across the screen
to the right of the STRANGE DEVICE controls as it had on all the others, the
controls on this one were broken and had to be fixed first by doing something
inside the PANEL.  I opened the PANEL and found the (apparently randomly
appearing) puzzle I mentioned earlier.  It consisted of a number of PRISMS
and GREEN, RED and BLUE gems, with a light emanating from the SOURCE in the 
center.  I played around with the puzzle for awhile and figured out
that the goal was to MOVE the SOURCE and the PRISMS until the light  
bounced off of all the prisms and gems in a continual line, so that all were 
touched by the light and no stray beams went off into nothingness.  But it 
seemed that this might take some concentration to finish, so I decided to 
continue exploring the spire and come back to this puzzle.

I saw an ENGRAVING on the stone face across from the STRANGE DEVICE.  LOOKING
at the ENGRAVING showed the same crescent shapes I'd seen on the LOOSE
STONE in the TOMB, as well as a sort of dial that reminded me of clock
hands.  I was beginning to firm up in my mind what I thought the trick to
opening up the TOMB might be.  I was pretty sure that an eclipse of the sort
shown at the museum DISPLAY, with a larger moon being eclipsed by a smaller
one, had to happen.  It seemed to me that the light from this eclipse would
then somehow shine down through the SHUTTER into the tomb and activate
a mechanism there.  At least, that's sort of how it had worked for Indiana
Jones in one of his movies, except that in his case it was sunlight and he
had to use a staff with an amulet on the end of it to focus the light.  Still,
the connection was strong enough in my mind to convince me this was the
basic idea behind that particular puzzle.

I moved on to the right to a CAVE INTERIOR.  I saw some BAT CREATURES here,
but they were up on the ceiling and -- silly me -- I didn't think I had
anything that would "reach clear up there."  At least it wasn't the SHOVEL,
the TUSK, any of my ENGRAVED RODS or the regular ROD.  

I found Brink on a PLATFORM, and he told me he was busy and didn't have time
for me.  He was working on a RELIC, which I LOOKED at and found to be
badly deteriorated machinery.  To the left, it was a long way DOWN the
cliff.

I tried talking to BRINK, but when he _would_ talk to me about anything he
spoke in a very nasty manner to me.  So I decided to focus on the puzzle
at the STRANGE DEVICE for now.  I fiddled with the puzzle at the STRANGE
DEVICE a little longer.

But then, since it was about 10:00 p.m. and I'd been playing for most of the 
day, I thought I'd take a little rest.  I logged on to GAMERS and hung out 
there for awhile.

MORGIE LEARNS TOO MUCH 

After a bit, hercules showed up and asked me how I was doing with THE DIG.
I learned that he was still ahead of me in the game even though I'd been
playing all day long.  But not by much -- I was closing in on him.  I
mentioned that I was now working on the puzzle at the STRANGE DEVICE, which
he told me he had finished.  I related where I'd been and what I'd done.

Here's where it gets dangerous to talk to someone else who is ahead of you
in a game. 

herc told me that he was also on the TOMB SPIRE and that he'd just discovered
that if he USED his FLASHLIGHT with the BAT CREATURES, they'd fly around.
Neither of us knew it at the time, but this turned out to be the answer
to a puzzle that we'd encounter later.  We thought it was just another
interactive feature like the GLOWING PLANTS in the NEXUS.  No one's fault,
but Morgie now knew exactly what to do when she encountered that puzzle
later on.

I mentioned what I'd done on the MAP SPIRE and herc, I'm sure unintentionally,
said, "Wait... what about the falls?"  "What falls?" I asked.  This was
how I found out that I'd skipped a part on the MAP SPIRE; that there was
another way out of the NEST to the right of the screen.  Oh well, I'd better
go back there and check it out.  (Grrrr... wish I hadn't known.)  At least
I didn't feel like a total disaster because earlier he'd missed the BRACELET
and I'd told him how to find it.  

I told herc that his suggestions for getting the critter into the TRAP had
worked like a charm.  "Did you take the ROD and the RIB CAGE again?"  I
asked.  "Yes," he said, then went on to tell me that if I'd taken the ROD
I'd be "ok."  Great.  Now, although I didn't want to, I knew the ROD would
be important in a part of the game herc had already played.  I decided I'd
better log off before I learned any more than I had already.  So I made some
excuse about having to polish my silverware and went back to the game,
hoping that I'd have a brain blip and forget all I'd just learned.  It didn't
happen.

ON THE TOMB SPIRE, PART 2 -- AND TYING UP SOME LOOSE ENDS

I started again at my save on the TOMB SPIRE to work on fixing the controls
inside the PANEL on the STRANGE DEVICE.  As soon as I had arranged the
SOURCE and the PRISMS so that I had a continuous beam of light touching all
of them, as well as the RED, GREEN, and BLUE gems, with the red tinted beam
directed to the RED gem, the green tinted beam directed to the GREEN gem,
and the blue tinted beam directed to the BLUE gem, and no stray beams going
off the edge of the puzzle, I left that screen automatically and the controls
were fixed.  Now I could SET the LENS and USE the SWITCH on the STRANGE
DEVICE just as I had done with the other three, discussed above.

NOTE:  Initially, I didn't see the connection between the colored beams
of light and the colored gems.  I just got it to work without paying 
attention to the colors.  I happened to read a message on the board
from Dave Timoney that suggested that the colors had to be matched as well.
But I felt sure that the colored beams only took on their color from the
gems they hit since I hadn't noticed this before.  When I went back and 
tried this puzzle again, I found that Dave was absolutely right.  If you 
connect up all the prisms, gems and the source but don't match up the 
colors, the game won't exit the screen automatically and your device isn't 
fixed properly.  Thanks Dave!

This time when I crossed the BRIGHT LIGHT to the CRYSTAL FORM, it looked
very different.  When I EXAMINED it, I could see a door, but couldn't touch
it.

Since I now knew I'd missed something on the MAP SPIRE (ugh!) I decided to
go back there and clean up my mess.  I CROSSED over the LIGHT BRIDGE system
to the MAP SPIRE and found my way back to the NEST.

This time, I clicked the cursor on the right of the screen past the GRATE
and Boston walked farther to the right.  Sure enough, to the far right I
saw another DOOR.  It led to an open area with pathways to a FALLS SOURCE
and a BEACH.  I went to the FALLS SOURCE first.

Up here, I found another GRATE.  When I LOOKED at it, Boston walked across
a rock that redirected the water through the GRATE.  It seemed reasonable
to assume that this GRATE was connected to the one in the NEST somehow.
But I couldn't do anything else here for now, so I left to go DOWN to the
BEACH.  When Boston moved off the rock, the water returned to its normal
course.

I found nothing to see or do on the BEACH for now.  So I returned back the
way I had come, through the NEST, the PIT, and into the MAP ROOM.  Here
I decided to take another look at the map of the TOMB SPIRE before returning
there.  I plugged the combination on the RED ENGRAVED ROD into the PANEL
again.  Boston exclaimed that there was more to the crypt than he'd thought.
I then went back across the LIGHT BRIDGE to the TOMB SPIRE to start to
work on solving the crypt puzzle.

Once back in the TOMB, I thought some more about my previous theory, as well
as what I'd seen on the map of the TOMB.  The map had showed bright light
shining all through the TOMB, so I figured I should try to get some light
in there.  Maybe if I could find a way to keep the SHUTTER open, that
would help.  I decided to try to prop the LOOSE STONE with something so that
it would stay open.  I stood on the LOOSE STONE and USED the ROD with it.
This held down the stone, and the SHUTTER remained open when I stepped off
of the LOOSE STONE.  (Now I had more of an idea of where herc was in the game
after I'd last talked to him.)  But this didn't solve my light problem.
What if I could FORCE the FLASHLIGHT into the HOLE?  It didn't work, but I
did learn that there was some "energy substance" inside the HOLE.  I needed
something to put in there, something that perhaps gave off light.  The
GOLD SCEPTER and SILVER SCEPTER I had, although they gave off energy, didn't
work.

Then, in a flash (no pun intended), I realized that I'd need to use that
BLUE CRYSTAL that provided light to the power room in the NEXUS.  So I went
back to the TRAM and returned to the NEXUS to TAKE it again, then rode the
TRAM back to the TOMB SPIRE and went back into the TOMB.  Here, I USED the
BLUE CRYSTAL with the HOLE, and now I had all the light in there that I
could possibly want.  But something was still missing.  I decided to go
OUTSIDE to see whether I could come up with any ideas about the eclipse
I thought should happen, but so far hadn't.

Outside the TOMB, I noticed some DIRT I hadn't seen before.  I LOOKED at the
DIRT and Boston cleared it away.  Underneath, he found a LENS.  When I
next went back into the TOMB, I could now see a beam of light coming down
through the SHUTTER.  I felt I was close to the answer, but something was
still eluding me.

Thus began one of those frustrating forays into stuckness.  I USED the
FLASHLIGHT with the BAT CREATURES and watched them fly around like herc 
told me they would, just to have something to do.  I went back to all the 
places I'd been, tried whatever I could think of.  I stared at the SKY from 
the DAIS for awhile, waiting for an eclipse.  Maybe what I was missing was 
some information on when it would happen?  But where would I find something 
like _that_?  The LIBRARY and the MUSEUM, the obvious places, didn't shed any 
light on this.  And my crew was no help.

By process of elimination, I finally decided to focus on the areas where
I hadn't yet been able to do much of anything.  The MAP SPIRE had a few of
these -- so did the UNNAMED SPIRE.  Since I had no clue what to do, I
was going to have to use trial and error here.  I'd have to use every item
I had on every hotspot I could find in these places.  If that didn't work,
I was really in trouble.

Eventually, however, this method paid off.  In the blue room on the nameless
spire where I'd found the scepters that looked so much like they belonged
there that I had debated whether to take them, I finally USED the GOLD 
SCEPTER with the FAINT LIGHT.  How I was supposed to know to do this, I 
still have no clue, but amazingly, this activated a MOON MAP that showed a 
planet (maybe this one) and its moons.  The close-up screen showed a PLANET, 
a LARGE MOON, and a SMALL MOON, as well as the CEILING of the "dome."  (If
it had actually been shaped like a dome, or maybe had some seats for
spectators, then I could understand why I'd be expected to figure out that
it was a planetarium.  Being able to recognize an alien planetarium, much
less one that is has to be "turned on" first, is, it seems to me, a bit much
to expect from the player.)

I learned through experimentation that the GOLD SCEPTER moved both moons
around the planet, while the SILVER SCEPTER moved the SMALL MOON around the
LARGE MOON.  So maybe I had to recreate the eclipse Boston had seen in
the museum DISPLAY?

If so, I would need to position the moons so that someone looking up from
the planet would see the SMALL MOON eclipsing the LARGE MOON.  The PLANET
seemed to have light falling on it to its right side.  So I decided to MOVE
the moons into the center of this light with the GOLD SCEPTER.  That way,
the reflection of light from the planet would hit the moons and enable
someone standing on the planet to see them (I hoped).  Then I USED the
SILVER SCEPTER to line up the SMALL MOON between the PLANET and the LARGE
MOON.  After finessing the positioning slightly, I automatically exited
the screen and saw that I'd caused an eclipse, which in turn had sent light
through the LENS I'd uncovered and into the TOMB.  A STATUE had risen out
of the crypt.  Unfortunately, right after that happened and I was psyched
to run back over to the TOMB, the critter stole the door part again and
locked Boston in the PLANETARIUM.

IN THE CRYPT

First, I tried calling for help.  But I could get nothing but static on the
PENULTIMATE.  So I PUSHED the BUTTON next to the DOOR.  How simple.  The
controls still worked from the inside, and Boston was free again.

Now the obvious thing to do was to see if I could get into the crypt.  I went
out to the CLEARING and crossed the LIGHT BRIDGE to the TOMB SPIRE, noting
on my way that the previously unnamed spire was now called the PLANETARIUM
SPIRE.  How fitting.

I walked to the EDGE and over to the TOMB.  Boston wondered what caused 
the ECLIPSING MOONS to move out of their synchronous orbit.  Heh.

Inside the TOMB I got a close-up view of the STATUE I'd seen rising up during
the cut-scene.  When I LOOKED at it, Boston TOUCHED it and it crumbled to
dust.  Now I could see a hotspot for CRYPT, so I LOOKED at it.  Boston got
up on top of what turned out to be an elevator of sorts, which took him
down below the TOMB.

After descending, it seemed the only direction to go was left.  When I'd
gone left for a ways, Boston ended up in front of a DOOR with a SLOT next
to it, and two sets of BROKEN BONES in front of it.  When I LOOKED at the
DOOR, a LIFE CRYSTAL fell out of the SLOT and onto the right-hand side
set of BROKEN BONES.  This revived a nasty-looking CREATURE that blocked
the way to the DOOR.

After thinking about what I saw here, and what I had in my inventory, and
(ok, I admit it) trying a few items on the CREATURE without success, I
decided that what we might have here was a "make them fight each other"
puzzle.  I'd seen this sort of puzzle in several adventure games I'd played
before.  If I could revive the other BROKEN BONES, then maybe they'd fight,
or at least distract each other enough so that I could get to the DOOR.

I USED the GLOWING CRYSTALS with the BROKEN BONES, and as I watched, another
CREATURE rose up and then the two lunged at each other.  They fell together,
crushed by a rock, until they were nothing but DEAD GUARDS.  Just for fun,
I tried reviving the DEAD GUARDS with the GLOWING CRYSTALS.  It didn't
work.  I wondered also if they'd work with the RIB CAGE, but there wasn't
enough flesh left.

Now I was free to get close to the DOOR and SLOT, so I EXAMINED the DOOR
and learned that there had to be a key for it.  My ENGRAVED ROD might work
since I hadn't USED it yet.  I USED the ENGRAVED ROD with the SLOT and the
DOOR evaporated.  Boston remarked that this must have been where the ghost
at the WRECK wanted us to go all along.

Through the DOOR, at the end of a long WALKWAY, a PYRAMID rested.  I went
over to the PYRAMID and LOOKED at it.  Boston called Maggie at this point
and told her of what he found there -- a dead alien sealed inside the crystal
pyramid.  She was close to translating the language of the planet, but didn't
seem too keen on my attempting to get into the pyramid and to the alien
somehow.

When we finished talking, I LOOKED at the ALIEN CORPSE, the remains of a huge
creature.  Perhaps I could bring it alive with the GLOWING CRYSTALS if
I could OPEN the PYRAMID.  I decided to try the ENGRAVED ROD with the PANEL
on the PYRAMID, in case it was the key to both crypt locks.  When I USED
the ENGRAVED ROD with the PANEL, the PYRAMID dissolved.  So I USED the
GLOWING CRYSTALS with the ALIEN CORPSE and woke up the dead alien.  It
spoke to me, but I couldn't understand a word it said.  I had a lot of
conversation options to use here, but everything I asked, not surprisingly,
prompted the creature to respond in its own language.  We just weren't
understanding each other.  This was like living in a Led Zeppelin song: one
huge communication breakdown.

Wouldn't it be fortuitous if Maggie had made her major breakthrough in the
language translation right about now?  Finding nothing I could connect
with the creature on, I decided to give it a shot and give her a call.
When I stopped talking to the alien, the PYRAMID reconstructed and the alien
fell dead again.

Boston was thinking along the same lines I was, apparently, because as soon
as the alien fell dead, he called Maggie.  She had, as it turned out, just
discovered how to interpret the language -- but as she was trying to explain
to Boston what she'd learned, a vile creature attacked her and Boston lost
communication with her.  Brink wouldn't answer Boston's desperate plea on
the PENULTIMATE.

SAVING MAGGIE -- Morgie's Day 2

I knew my first priority now had to be to find and save Maggie, since she
was my only hope to be able to understand the alien.

The creature that had attacked Maggie appeared to be some form of spider.
Since I'd seen a spider-like creature in the NEST on the MAP SPIRE the first
time I went there, I figured it was a good bet that if Maggie wasn't still
in the LIBRARY, she'd been dragged off to the NEST.   

NOTE:  From now on, I'm going to assume that you're familiar enough with
your surroundings to find your way from place to place.  So my directions
throughout the rest of this walkthru will be minimal.

I went out of the CRYPT and across the LIGHT BRIDGES to the MUSEUM SPIRE
to check the LIBRARY first.  Maggie was gone.  So I ran across the LIGHT
BRIDGES again to the MAP SPIRE and went directly to the NEST.

Here I found Maggie, trapped in a web of sorts, with the hideous creature
preparing to make a meal out of her.  A lightbulb went on over my head.
If I could get up to the FALLS SOURCE and run the water through the GRATE
there, then perhaps I could get it to come through the GRATE in the NEST
and wash away this giant bug.  But when I tried that, the MONSTER blocked
my path.  Maybe a little snack would appease it so that it would let me
pass.  I tried FEEDING it items from my inventory, but I learned quickly
that this wasn't the right approach.  I decided to TALK to ROBBINS to
see whether she had any ideas.  She suggested I go find Brink because it might
take both of us to free her.  But, understandably under the circumstances,
she didn't want to talk about anything else except finding a way out of her
predicament.  Nothing else I tried here worked, so I decided to take her
advice.

But first, it was time to sleep.  It was almost 4:00 a.m. on a Saturday
night and although I hated to leave Maggie in the lurch like that, I just
couldn't keep my eyes open one second longer.  So I went to sleep, knowing
I had something definite to try when I attacked the game again the following
day.

SAVING MAGGIE -- Morgie's Day 3

When I left to go get Brink, Maggie called after me to bring help.  Geez.
Ok, ok -- have a little patience, will ya?

I went back across the LIGHT BRIDGES to the TOMB SPIRE where I'd last seen
Brink.  He was still on the PLATFORM, but this time I could see him from
the CAVE INTERIOR.  I went out to the PLATFORM to ask him for help, but
he wasn't willing to help me and kept telling me to go away.  By now,
the RELIC had turned into a contraption of some sort.  I tried talking to
Brink through all the conversation options.  He was still unwilling to help
me, but not at all unwilling to go on and on about how great the life
crystals were and how important his work on that confounded RELIC was.

I then noticed that Brink had started collecting a CRYSTAL STASH.  When I
LOOKED at it, he got very testy with me.  I got the idea that if I could 
only get a hold of that CRYSTAL STASH, he'd be putty in my hands.  There was
no question in my mind that I'd be able to bribe him into helping me if
I had his CRYSTAL STASH.  I tried to TAKE the CRYSTAL STASH again, but
it was obvious that Brink wasn't going to let me take it out from under
his nose.

I went back to the CAVERN, where I could still see Brink out on the 
PLATFORM.  I now knew immediately what to do, thanks to herc's little slip
before.  I USED the FLASHLIGHT with the BAT CREATURES and they flew down
and chased Brink away from the PLATFORM.  I ran out to the PLATFORM and
GRABBED the CRYSTAL STASH.

As expected, Brink would now follow me anywhere.  Maybe he'd talk to me too?
Nah.  He didn't have anything important to add to what he'd already told me.

We went back across the LIGHT BRIDGES to the NEST on the MAP SPIRE.  I talked
to Brink first here to see if he had a plan.  When I talked to him about the
MONSTER, he suggested that he'd distract the MONSTER while I figured out
how to get Maggie out.  Boston then walked automatically out of the NEST
through the OPENING to the right.  (Why?  Was the game afraid I wouldn't
make the connection between the two GRATES or that I wouldn't find the other
way out of the NEST?  If the latter, then I felt a little less like an
idiot for missing it the first time, but if so, then there ought to have
been more of a clue to the other exit's existence.)

I went up to the FALLS SOURCE to try to carry out my initial plan.  Besides
the GRATE, I now had a hotspot on a ROCK here.  I LOOKED at the ROCK and
Boston PUSHED it over onto the stone that controlled the water flow.  Water
now poured through the open GRATE again, and I could see it starting to
seep out of the corresponding GRATE near Maggie.

I went DOWN back into the NEST and after explaining what I'd done, I TALKED
to Brink again.  I now had an option to TALK about the GRATE.  I told him
to lure the MONSTER over by the GRATE, so that when Maggie opened it, the
water would blast the MONSTER.  Then, automatically, Maggie opened the
GRATE and the MONSTER was no more.

After that bit of drama, Brink demanded his life crystals back.  When I
tried to talk sense to him he knocked me down, took all my GLOWING
CRYSTALS (as I found by looking in my inventory) and ran off.  Maggie now
told me she believed the ghosts we'd been seeing wanted our help.  She
thought they might have left for another world and wanted us to help them
get back to this one.

I knew the next thing to do was to go back and see if Maggie could talk to
the alien in the PYRAMID, but first I thought I'd see if she had anything
more to tell me now that she wasn't so preoccupied and had finished her
automated speech.

She did tell me she now understood the language, although she wasn't fluent,
and agreed with me that we had to find a way to speak to the alien inventor.
She also said that the TABLET now made some sense to her.  The TABLET spoke
of an important thing hidden on the other side of the "hole" so that none
may enter, and gave some instructions for "pulling back this part of
entrance."  That was all that she got out of it, and it wasn't much to go
on. 

She said of the METALLIC PLATES that their shapes were significant in the
written language of the planet and were rife with symbolism in its culture.
She didn't know what they had to do with navigation, though.  

I SHOWED ROBBINS the items I'd picked up since I'd seen her last, but what
she had to say wasn't at all helpful.

Since Brink had taken all my life crystals and we'd need some to be able to
resurrect the alien again (and who knew for what else, also), I led Maggie
back across the LIGHT BRIDGES to the MUSEUM SPIRE to see whether we could
pick up more from the basin behind the previously WEAKENED and now BROKEN
DOOR.  We could; I TOOK as many as I could carry.  

We then set off again across the LIGHT BRIDGES to the TOMB SPIRE.

VISITING THE ALIEN CREATOR WITH MAGGIE

We went down into the TOMB and took the "elevator" down into the CRYPT.
At the PYRAMID, I USED the ENGRAVED ROD with the PANEL as before, and then
the GLOWING CRYSTALS with the ALIEN CORPSE.  The inventor came alive again.
Maggie clearly had to do the talking here, so when the inventor invited us
to SPEAK, she conducted the interview.

Through the amazing exchange that followed, many of the mysteries of the
planet we found ourselves on and its society became somewhat demystified.
We also got a broad-brush sense of what we should do next.

NOTE:  I'm not sure whether the inventor is male, female, or some other
gender, but because it has a deep voice, I'll call it a "he."  Sounds less
awkward somehow than it.

We learned that the alien's tomb had been hidden so that only the most clever
and persistent would find him.  (Yeah, that's us.)  The alien had chosen to
be preserved here in the pyramid as a personal penance for bringing evil 
inventions into being; he now served as a guardian, to warn those who came
in response to the probes his society had sent out.  The probes turned out
to be a mistake because although the alien's people believed they had found
the secrets to the universe, they did not know of their dangers.  The probes,
of which Attila was one, could not be recalled once sent.  The alien would
remain until the last of his mistakes had been rectified, or the life crystals
lost their power.

The alien himself had once been hailed as the greatest mind his people had
ever produced.  His inventions were thought to be good, and he believed so
himself.  For this reason, the museum honored him.  He had given his people
the power to enter another world as pure mind, but had been unable to give
them the power to return.  The other world, Spacetime Six, contained great
beauty and everlasting life, but without the ability to change, to build,
or otherwise to affect that world or any other.  Even so, the beauty of
this world was irresistible.  Only through great strength of will could
one return, and the alien's people hadn't been that strong.  So now he
called himself a bringer of misfortune, a doer who undoes, a creator who
uncreates, although he would gladly be a destroyer who undestroys.  He no
longer had a name, nor wanted a name or memory to live after him when he
finally died forever.

The inventor and his people had created the light bridges not only as a
convenience but as a way to open "The Eye" -- when all the light bridges
were complete, "The Eye" would see the three dimensions of time and the
three dimensions of space, and show beauty beyond belief.  The metal plates,
each of which had meaning, and when fitted together had a new meaning,
opened the door to beauty without boundary and trouble without end -- but
from which the mind had not the strength to return.  The TABLET spoke of
something hidden that had led to the alien's first achievement and greatest
error, the one that had condemned his people.  He didn't write the TABLET
and would not have done so.

The inventor had also invented the life crystals, which he called his second
biggest mistake -- for they created not a life, but a slave.  They restored
the cells and organs, but took away all that made life worth living.

Some of the alien's people believed that we could help them to get back
from Spacetime Six, so they had led us to him.  They were the "ghosts" we'd
seen; only the slightest physical connection to this world remained in them.
If his people could return, they could build a starship to take us home, but 
this would never happen.  He believed that were we to attempt to help his
people, we too would only become lost in Spacetime Six and never return.
He didn't seem to care whether we got home or not, because the warning
Earth would receive were we never to return was just as effective, if not more
so, than if we returned and recounted all we'd learned here.  Our wish to 
return home was a vain one, and he discouraged us from attempting it.

Thus spake the alien.  He said some other things too, and I encourage you
to listen to them to get some interesting tidbits and fill out the story,
but the above seemed to me to be the crucial points.

I listened to all of this in nothing short of wonder.  The alien is most
definitely my favorite character in this game.  After I'd absorbed what
he said, I tried to figure out how, if at all, it helped me.  The following
stood out:  If we could bring back the alien's people from Spacetime Six,
they could build a ship that would take us home.  This seemed our only hope
of returning to Earth.  But first, we'd have to get to Spacetime Six 
ourselves.  "The Eye" seemed to be the point of entry.  To get "The Eye" to 
"see," we would need to complete all of the light bridges.  This meant going 
to the one spire we hadn't found a way to and setting up a light bridge 
there.  I thought we could reach this last spire through the ALCOVE's door; 
the alien's statement that all the PLATES together would lead to beauty and
trouble seemed to confirm this.  So we'd definitely need to find another 
PLATE and open that door.

For now, the only real clue I had to go on came from the TABLET'S inscription.
Maggie hadn't been able to tell me exactly what it meant, and the alien's
statements about the TABLET puzzled me.  Since he thought the TABLET amounted
to a grave error, I felt sure he wouldn't help me with it.  The TABLET
seemed crucial to finding the last PLATE, but what it meant or how it worked 
was completely beyond me.

THE CLUE ON THE TABLET:  Morgie Loses It on Day 3

Something important was hidden on the other side of the hole so that none
may enter... and instructions for "pull[ing] back a part of entrance."
Precious little to go on.  I became dreadfully stuck here.

For about four hours, I went from location to location and back again, trying
to find an appropriate "hole" that "none could enter."  I thought perhaps
the hole might be the power source in the NEXUS and I'd have to use the
remote again, but attempts to operate it failed.  I went back to all
the locations on the surface.  I EXAMINED the CREVICE and tried all my items 
on it (from which I learned only that it had a glow emanating from it),
and the same with the CRACK in the wall of the PLANETARIUM.  I returned to
the BEACH on the MAP SPIRE and found nothing.  I revived the alien again
and spoke to him.  I tried talking to Brink again.  I tried to check out
the cave under the WATER on the MUSEUM SPIRE again, but Maggie refused to
go swimming with me.  I kept wondering if this was one of those puzzles
that I could really call myself stuck on in Leo's definition of stuck:
"you aren't really stuck unless you've been thinking about the same puzzle
for four months."

I took a break after awhile and logged on to GAMERS where I learned that 
herc was still waiting for an eclipse to happen.  Hehe.  In fairness, he 
suspected all along that he might have to make it happen, which displayed 
far greater intuition about this puzzle than I had had.  He asked whether 
he'd have to make it happen and I told him.  He also asked whether the place 
he'd have to make it happen was on the same spire as the tomb or a different 
one, so I told him that too.  I tried to make sure not to give anything
away that he didn't ask about.  At least I wasn't in any danger of learning 
what I had to do next, now that I'd vaulted into the lead.  I went back to 
the game to give it another try.

At the end of all my travels, I'd only discovered one new thing.  When I
returned to the STRANGE FIELD on the MAP SPIRE and LOOKED at it, Boston
said something different than he had the first time I'd LOOKED at it.  He
noted that the STRANGE FIELD was shimmering, which prompted Maggie to
say that it reminded her of something she'd seen or read.  I took this as
an invitation to ask her about the TABLET again, but somehow, she just
said what she'd said before about the hole.  I tried several times with
the same result.  I left and came back and tried again.  I tried all of 
what I've mentioned countless times.  Wasn't Maggie supposed to be able to 
read directions on how to use the things I'd found?  I'd been told this as a 
clue very early on, and now she, herself, was saying that the STRANGE 
FIELD reminded her of something she might have read.  Everything pointed to 
her doing something with this TABLET.  Finally, I SHOWED her the TABLET and 
she responded to me.

Oddly, the second time I played I found that all I had to do was TALK to her
about the TABLET while in the STRANGE FIELD screen.  I didn't even have to
LOOK at the STRANGE FIELD first.  This was true regardless of whether I
started from a new game, or a prior save.  I have attempted several times
to recreate the problem I had the first time through, and have been unable
to do it.  Maybe it was sunspots.  Who knows.  All I can say is that it
seems to be one of those things for which there is simply no rational
explanation.  I did install a new video card between the time I played
initially and the second go round, and I'd had some graphical glitches and
lock ups with the game using my old card that disappeared with the new one.
Maybe that had something to do with it.  But I doubt it.
                                                                        
In any event, when I got a response out of Maggie, she had a revelation:
the TABLET exactly described the STRANGE FIELD.  It all made sense to her
now.  She tinkered with the STRANGE FIELD and raised an ISLAND, seemingly
out of the river.  When I LOOKED at the ISLAND, however, I learned that it
had returned from another dimension.

Through an OPENING, we entered the bowels of the ISLAND.  The fourth metal
PLATE had been hidden here.  Actually, it was in plain view once you got  
into the ISLAND.  (I was still trying to figure out what the hole was.  
I sure didn't see anything that looked like a hole around here.)
When we'd taken the PLATE, Boston insisted that we go get Brink in case 
using the PLATE in the ALCOVE really did take us somewhere.

Back we went, toward the MAP SPIRE'S LIGHT BRIDGE, intending to look for
Brink where we'd last seen him.  But just as we entered the CAVERN, we
felt an earthquake.  Immediately after that, Brink sent an SOS over the
PENULTIMATE.  He'd been trapped near one of the LIGHT BRIDGES in a CREVICE
near a waterfall and needed our help.  I was intimately familiar with the
CREVICE on the PLANETARIUM SPIRE, having tried to do all manner of 
unspeakable things to it when I was stuck for four hours for no good reason. 
So I figured that's where he meant.  We crossed the LIGHT BRIDGES to
the PLANETARIUM SPIRE and entered the CREVICE.

BRINK'S LITTLE MISHAP

Brink had his hand stuck in the same CREVICE Boston had refused to stick
his hand in before (a moment of totally correct instinct, apparently).  Brink
had been reaching for some life crystals when the earthquake shifted the 
rock and got him stuck there.  I wanted to suggest that he just let go of 
the crystals then maybe he could get his hand out.  You know -- that old saw 
about the monkey who won't let go of the banana and can't figure out why it 
can't get its hand out of the jar?

The situation turned out to be more serious, though.  His circulation was
cut off and he couldn't get free.  He begged us to cut off his hand.  Maggie
seemed horrified at this suggestion, but Boston thought that the alternative
might be gangrene or starvation.  From the discussion, amputation appeared
to be the only solution.  We needed something sharp enough to cut through
bone.

I happened to have an item noted for its strength and sharpness, and as an
added benefit, shaped like a saw -- the JAWBONE.  I USED the JAWBONE with
Brink, and the dirty deed was done.

We invited the one-handed Brink to come with us to the ALCOVE to try the 
metal PLATE.  He resisted, but ultimately agreed to accompany us in exchange
for a promise that we'd leave him alone if our plan didn't work.

The game took us back to the ALCOVE automatically, and I USED the PLATE
with the SLOT to the RIGHT.  The PLATES changed shape, and the ALCOVE door
split open.

ON THE CATHEDRAL SPIRE

Since the PLATES hadn't taken us home right then and there, Brink stormed
off, yelling at us that he expected us to keep our end of the bargain and
leave him alone forever.  What's a Morgie to do?

I wasn't going to let this attitude stand in the way of progress, so Maggie
and I went through the OPEN DOOR onto yet another TRAM platform.  I USED
the TRAM CALL.  A TRAM arrived and we BOARDED it and took off for parts
unknown.

NOTE:  If you don't have all of the CRYSTALS in the GLOWING PANEL in the
AIRLOCK illuminated, you'll probably have to go light up the appropriate one 
first, or you might have some trouble here.  It's a good idea to light them 
all up, although I encountered some irregularities in my first game even with 
them all lit.  I finally opted for lighting all the original ones, and 
leaving the TOMB SPIRE control dark.  Now that I had a LIGHT BRIDGE, I 
didn't need to use the TOMB SPIRE tram anyway.  I could always leave that
spire for another with a working TRAM if I needed to go back to the NEXUS.

Through a fifth crystalline tube we rolled, to stop at an outdoor platform
with a TRAM CALL and a DOOR.  We went through the DOOR and came into a 
strange room.  Boston observed that he'd seen a machine like the one now
before us in one of the MUSEUM DISPLAYS.  I thought back to the DISPLAYS
I had seen and concluded that I had absolutely no idea what he was talking
about.  (Later, I realized:  the MUSEUM DISPLAY I thought related to the
LIGHT BRIDGES must have actually related to operating THE EYE.  Oh well,
whatever works. )

Boston seemed convinced that this machine embodied the inventor's greatest
invention.  Of course, at the moment, it didn't seem to be operating.

In this screen, I saw two CONSOLES and two STRANGE OBJECTS.  The STRANGE
OBJECTS just moved when I TOUCHED them.  I LOOKED at the upper CONSOLE
and discovered that a row of crystalline devices composed it.  When I LOOKED
at the lower CONSOLE, I saw that it had two EMPTY SLOTS and a GAP IN
MACHINERY.  LOOKING at the GAP IN MACHINERY clarified that a part was missing.
It LOOKED like LIFE CRYSTALS would fit perfectly in the EMPTY SLOTS.

This offer, I couldn't refuse.  I USED the GLOWING CRYSTALS with each of
the two EMPTY SLOTS to place them there.  Then I wandered around this area
for a bit.  I discovered that the screen scrolled vertically.  Undoubtedly,
I'd find more to explore if I continued upward.  But as usual, I decided
to talk to Maggie first to see whether anything we'd just been through
set her to thinking.  I noticed right away that I had a couple of new
conversation options:  one for the ALIEN DEVICE and another for the ISLAND.
What the heck.  I went through all of the options with her again.

When I got to the ALIEN DEVICE, Maggie suggested that someone sealed in
a crystal pyramid might know where the missing machine part was and what
it did.  The rest of what she had to say was either old news or nothing to
write home about.

I didn't yet know what waited above us, but now seemed as good a time as
any to go back and talk to our alien again.  We got on the TRAM and went
back to the NEXUS.

THE BOSTON LOW COURIER SERVICE or ASSORTED TRAVELS AND ERRANDS

We GOT ON the TOMB TRAM and went back to the CRYPT, then on to the PYRAMID.
When I'd USED the ENGRAVED ROD with the PANEL and the GLOWING CRYSTALS with
the ALIEN CORPSE, my translator took over again.

This time, the alien told us that the ALIEN DEVICE opened "The Eye."  "The
Eye" saw across all space and time, and where it saw, the mind could fly.
"The Eye" was a door to where the alien's people went, but the alien 
insisted that it was a one-way door and even the strongest of will could
not return.  Maggie argued that we had to try to get to the alien's people
and bring them back since that was our only chance of getting back to
Earth.  The alien scoffed at us for believing ourselves stronger than all
his people, but agreed to help us find the piece he'd hidden if we "knew
how to ask."  At this point, a conversation option for the EYE PART appeared,
so I TALKED to the ALIEN about the EYE PART.

The alien warned us again against activating "The Eye."  Then he told us
to go to the map with a message he was giving us and see what it showed us.
With that, he dropped something on the ground before us.  The rest of what
he had to say was interesting, but not crucial.

When we stopped talking, the alien gave us a final warning against
"The Eye," then dropped dead again and the PYRAMID closed around it.

I TOOK the CREATOR'S ENGRAVING from where he'd dropped it and left across
the LIGHT BRIDGES for the MAP SPIRE.

In the MAP ROOM, I EXAMINED the CREATOR'S ENGRAVING, then entered the
combination it showed on the PANEL.  The MAP showed us a picture of the
BEACH on the MAP SPIRE where we hadn't been able to do anything yet.

We hiked through the NEST and over to the BEACH.  I found the EYE PART
underneath a rock and TOOK it.  Since we couldn't get back to the CATHEDRAL
SPIRE by LIGHT BRIDGE, we went to the MAP SPIRE TRAM stop, used the TRAM
CALL, and TOOK the TRAM back to the NEXUS.

From there, we transferred for the CATHEDRAL TRAM and rolled back to that
spire.  We entered the LAB, and just as Boston was about to place the
EYE PART in the CONSOLE, Brink showed up demanding life crystals for his
"machine."  Boston took the crystals I'd placed in the CONSOLE earlier back
out of it and handed them over.  Brink departed after slinging assorted
nastiness our way, leaving us crystalless.  Maggie asked if he'd damaged
the machine part.  I checked, and I still had it.  So I did the obvious --
I USED the EYE PART with the CONSOLE and then with the GAP IN THE MACHINERY.
It clicked into place.

Now I needed two more LIFE CRYSTALS to get the thing up and running.  So
again, I did the obvious -- took the TRAM to the NEXUS, transferred for
the MUSEUM TRAM, and went back to look behind the BROKEN DOOR for more
LIFE CRYSTALS.

Brink had beat me to it.  Every last one of them was gone, leaving only an
EMPTY CRYSTAL REPOSITORY.  It seemed I couldn't avoid confronting Brink
since he was now the only known source of LIFE CRYSTALS on the planet.
Man.  I'd have to go running off across the LIGHT BRIDGES to the TOMB SPIRE
again and hope that he'd still be on that PLATFORM hovering over his
precious RELIC.

He was there, all right.  He yelled at us to get away.  He'd built a 
LIFE CRYSTAL machine, but it wasn't working yet.  Something was missing,
and he was in no mood to joke.  I tried to LOOK at the RELIC, but Brink
chased me away from it.

Why I thought he'd talk to me after this initial reception, I'll never know.
But I tried it.  The obvious thing to do in an illogical sort of way.  When
I TALKED to BRINK about the ALIEN DEVICE and our need for LIFE CRYSTALS
to make it work, he refused to give me any.  My last card was to TALK to
him about the EYE PART.  Boston took over from here -- and I really wanted
to give him a good BigBad MaMa smack for what he suggested.

Boston told Brink that he thought the missing part for Brink's machine was
that same EYE PART I'd put in the CONSOLE.  Boston and Brink finally cut
a deal -- Boston would let Brink use the EYE PART to get his LIFE CRYSTAL
machine working in exchange for half of the LIFE CRYSTALS it produced.

  Back to the CATHEDRAL SPIRE.  Time to RETRIEVE the EYE PART and
bring it back to BRINK.

TWO MACHINES, ONE EYE PART

Maggie and I went back to the SPIRE BASE and got on the TOMB TRAM, then
transferred at the NEXUS for the CATHEDRAL TRAM.  I was starting to get
really, really homesick for New York City right about now.

I TOOK the EYE PART from the CONSOLE, then decided there had to be an easier
way than all this back and forth on the TRAMS.  Maybe if I continued up
the LAB I'd find a STRANGE DEVICE that might cut down on travel time.

On the way, I stopped to LOOK at some CONTROLS that Boston said he didn't
know how to work, and to TOUCH two more STRANGE OBJECTS that moved around,
but didn't seem to do anything else.  I also LOOKED at an ALIEN DEVICE
that Boston was clueless about.

OUTSIDE I found what I'd been looking for.  Across a stone bridge to my
left, I found another STRANGE DEVICE on a ledge.  This one had a NEST in
front of it that seemed to be positioned just where its LENS ought to be.
I LOOKED at the NEST.  Boston kicked it off of the LENS with apologies to
the birds.  This LENS appeared to need no adjustment since it wouldn't
move when I PUSHED it.  All I had to do was USE the SWITCH on the STRANGE
DEVICE as I had done so many times in the past, and I had my LIGHT BRIDGE.

THE EYE had taken the place of the GLOWING SPHERE in the center of all
the LIGHT BRIDGES.  I stopped to EXAMINE it.  Boston could almost feel
the surface.  We moved on across the LIGHT BRIDGES to the TOMB SPIRE and
returned to the PLATFORM to see BRINK and his RELIC.

The RELIC, as it happened, now had a SLOT.  When I USED the EYE PART with
the SLOT, the machine started to vibrate.  Eventually, it produced a whopping
two LIFE CRYSTALS.  Boston took them, arguing that Brink's theft of all
the other LIFE CRYSTALS made these two Boston's under their deal.  Then
Boston said he was taking back the EYE PART.  Brink could either come with
us through THE EYE once it was working, or stay and take the EYE PART back
later for his machine.  I TOOK the EYE PART from the COMPLETED MACHINE.

At this, Brink flew into a rage and jumped Boston.  Just as he was about
to do Boston in, he tripped and fell over the edge of the cliff and DOWN
to his second death.

NOTE:  After this happens, you can put the EYE PART back in the SLOT again
and get more LIFE CRYSTALS.  I didn't do this in my first game, but in the
second I did so that I could try for the alternative ending I'd heard about.
Just be sure that if you do USE the EYE PART again, you remember to take it
with you when you're finished getting more crystals.  If you don't, you'll 
have to come all the way back here again to get it.

After losing Brink again, we had nothing left to do but return to the
CATHEDRAL SPIRE.  We CROSSED the LIGHT BRIDGES back and went down to the LAB.
The moment of truth had come.  We'd now see what would happen if we
tried to run the ALIEN DEVICE.  I went down to the lower CONSOLE and
INSERTED the EYE PART into the GAP IN MACHINERY.  I placed a GLOWING CRYSTAL
in each EMPTY SLOT.  The machinery started to rumble.

Since Boston still had no clue when he LOOKED at the upper CONSOLE, I 
figured that Maggie might know what to do.  After all, early on, Boston
had said that her studies might help us to read any directions we'd need
to know.

When I asked her about the ALIEN DEVICE, she told me that working the
device might be dangerous.  It could kill us, but there were no guarantees
that this would happen.  She extracted a promise from Boston that he
wouldn't try to revive her with a LIFE CRYSTAL if anything happened to her.
She assured him that she had no knowledge of any harm that would happen to
the person at the controls, then proceeded to turn on the machine.

A part of the ALIEN DEVICE was stuck, and when Maggie pried it open, she
was struck down and died.  She'd known all along that this would probably
happen.  Thanks, Mag.  But THE EYE was now restored, so it was time to move
on.

ENDING 1 (HAPPY MAGGIE) -- Morgie's Day 3

Since in my game, I hadn't used Brink's machine twice, I had no LIFE CRYSTALS
at this point.  So unless I could find more, it wouldn't be hard to keep
my promise to Maggie.  I wasn't really planning to break it anyway.

I headed for THE EYE, but when I tried to walk across the LIGHT BRIDGE,
I found my way blocked by a beast that chased me back to the spire, then
retreated.  

By now, it was again very late at night.  I was exhausted.  I tried a few
half-hearted attempts at getting rid of the beast.  I tried to FEED it
the RIB CAGE, TUSK and JAWBONE.  I tried to get back to see the alien
and ask it about this beast, but obviously I wasn't going to be able to
get across the LIGHT BRIDGE, and the TRAM controls had shorted out when
we turned on THE EYE.  I was trapped on the spire, and too bushed to
think anymore.  So I went to sleep.  I didn't feel stuck, but I did have
the sense that a fresh eye would be able to evaluate this situation more
clearly.

ENDING 1 (HAPPY MAGGIE) -- Morgie's Day 4

I noticed as soon as I came back to the game that the creature blocking my
way seemed to start chasing me from _on_ the LIGHT BRIDGE instead of from
within THE EYE.  If I was right about this, then all I'd need to do would
be to retract the LIGHT BRIDGE, and the creature should fall off of it.

I wasn't really sure how to go about this, but after trying a few things
I found that if I LOOKED at the STRANGE DEVICE and PRESSED its SWITCH, I
could make the line to the right of the screen disappear, just as I'd made
it appear.  The next thing I knew, the creature plummeted to the ground
below.  Boston seemed to think this was his last obstacle to getting to
THE EYE.  He turned out to be right, and I laughed at myself for going
to sleep the night before, just as I'd found the last puzzle in the game.

I USED the STRANGE DEVICE'S SWITCH to reset the LIGHT BRIDGE, and bravely
set off to THE EYE.  When I EXAMINED it, I saw that it was another island
floating above ground.  I WALKED into THE EYE, wondering if I'd have the
strength to return from Spacetime Six.

Through THE EYE, I encountered a PORTAL.  I ENTERED the PORTAL and saw
beauty beyond belief.  This was my final act in the game.  The ending 
sequence started after I entered the PORTAL.

Boston wisely chooses to stay close to the entrance to Spacetime Six.  An
alien speaks to him.  Here in Spacetime Six, communication occurs mind to
mind, so Boston can understand what it says.  The alien says that Boston
was as strong as they'd hoped, and that he can lead all of the lost aliens
back to life.

One by one, aliens return to Spacetime Four and pop up all over the planet.
They return to life with death, yes -- but with true life as well.

When Boston and the alien emerge through the portal, the alien speaks of
its great debt to Boston.  Boston says he just wants to go home and relate
the story of how his friends had died.  Risky as it seems, the alien
goes back into the portal and through the pathways of time, where it finds
Maggie and Brink and returns them to Boston.  Brink has aged greatly, but
is free of the effect of the life crystals.  Maggie, all smiles and hugs,
expresses her gratitude that Boston had kept his promise and not tried
to revive her when she died.

Our travellers board their crystal ship and head for home, knowing that they
have an open invitation for themselves and all humankind to return and 
visit their new friends.

ENDING 2 (ANGRY MAGGIE)

After finding myself trapped on the CATHEDRAL SPIRE as before, I USED a
GLOWING CRYSTAL on MAGGIE.  She came back to life furious with me and
threw herself off of the cliff at the upper entrance to the LAB.

I dealt with the beast on the LIGHT BRIDGE as outlined above, restored the
LIGHT BRIDGE and ENTERED THE EYE and the PORTAL.

The ending sequence progresses exactly the same as the first, with one 
exception:  when the alien brings Maggie back, she snarls at Boston, slaps 
him and says she's not sure she's happy to see him since he broke his 
promise to her.  But she backs down pretty quickly, and the remainder of the 
ending is the same happy one as before.

AFTERWARD

On the remote chance that anyone cares, I did end up finishing THE DIG 
before herc did -- but only because I went into my usual obsessive mode and
did nothing else but play until I finished.  He finished shortly after I did  
without getting stuck at all.  But then, talk about someone who has played
adventures since Shep was a pup.  (Was that Shep I?  Or Shep XIV?)  

I also liked THE DIG more than herc did, but then I'd been so looking forward to 
this game, I doubt much about it could have seriously disappointed me.  It 
has been quite awhile since I've played such a balanced game: strong story, 
good puzzles, and interesting characters, not to mention an excellent sound 
track.  Although I became frustrated at points, overcoming frustration is, 
for me, part of the enjoyment of playing adventure games.  Few things in 
life offer such a harmless means of venting one's spleen, and such an easy-
to-come-by feeling of elation when a problem has been solved.

If you're still playing, have fun and good luck!  If you've finished,
congratulations and well done!  Either way, I'm hopeful that my 
little tome served you in some fashion, by way of solutions, ways of
thinking about this game and/or others -- or even just to stir up a chuckle 
or two.

Copyright (c) 1995 by Morgana.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction 
permitted, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of the author.