My stats:
CAPTAIN
SKILL: 12
STAMINA: 19
LUCK: 9
SCIENCE OFFICER
SKILL: 7
STAMINA: 21
MEDICAL OFFICER
SKILL: 10
STAMINA: 14
ENGINEERING OFFICER
SKILL: 7
STAMINA: 19
SECURITY OFFICER
SKILL: 9
STAMINA: 21
SECURITY GUARD 1
SKILL: 7
STAMINA: 21
SECURITY GUARD 2
SKILL: 7
STAMINA: 20
SHIP
WEAPONS STRENGTH: 10
SHIELDS: 15
This is an altogether less competent crew than I had last time, but I'm not particularly worried. I know that there's a path through this book that requires no dice rolling whatsoever, and I'm determined to rediscover it.
I have a better idea of where not to go now that I've refamiliarised myself with the book. After my ship got sucked through the Seltsian Void, and I determined to get my crew home, I followed the same path in the opening paragraph as before, pressing on towards a life-bearing system ahead. I ignored a blue planet (the one with too much democracy), a red planet (the one with the LSD atmosphere), and a planet orbiting a purple star (the one where my previous crew got shoved into an oven by population control robots). I was through the parts of the book I'd previously explored, and into new territory.
Pressing on, we found a medium-sized blue-green planet with several clusters of life. I beamed down with my Science, Medical and Security Officers. We materialised in the middle of a storm, with three aliens approaching.
Not wanting to appear too threatening, we waited for the aliens to come close, then told them of our mission using our translators. The aliens agreed to take us to the village elder, and we followed them back to their village. The elder was friendly enough, and I decided to question him about his knowledge of astronomy. Perhaps he could provide some knowledge that would help us get home? I should have realised that his people were far too primitive to be of help, as he had no idea what I was talking about. We beamed back up to the Traveller and journeyed on toward a large red planet.
As we approached the red planet, a smaller, grey planet came into view, and I decided that we would investigate it. Our scanners detected a crashed scout ship, and I sent a recon party to check it out, but there was nothing of interest inside. The recon party returned and came to me to report, but no sooner had they begun when I received a distress signal from the loading bay. Three crewmen involved with docking the recon plane had dropped dead!
I decided to put the recon party into quarantine, but after a medical exam they were declared to be fit and healthy. Meanwhile, three more of my crew had died in the engineering section (luckily not my Engineering Officer, as I didn't roll a 2 or a 12 on two dice). My Science Officer made a suggestion, and I had to roll equal to his Skill on two dice for it to be a useful one. Given my Science Officer's Skill of 7 I wasn't confident, but I managed to make the roll, and he suggested that I seal off the docking bay. This proved to be the correct move, as no more of my crew dropped dead. With some investigation we discovered that the grey planet had a poisonous atmosphere which was carried back with the recon plane. The recon party had been unaffected, as they were wearing protective suits. I had the air in the docking bay evacuated, and the crisis was finally over. Rest easy, anonymous dead crewmembers.
I now had the option of heading for the red planet, a blue planet, or a fast-moving spot that showed life-signs. I went with the blue planet, and found that it was inhabited by a considerably developed society. Trying various radio frequencies, we contacted the planet and received a reply from an alien called I-Abail, First Officer of the National Government of Jolsen 3. He wanted me to beam down on my own, and how could I resist such a friendly, non-suspicious offer?
 |
| My dear old mammy |
I appeared in I-Abail's office, which was highly advanced. He had a floating desk and invisible chairs and everything. The alien offered me food and drink, and I took it, which was a bad idea. The food was drugged and I was knocked out and taken to the ominously named "portal lab".
In the lab was a door-frame, the portal for which the lab was named. I-Abail explained that his people had developed a space-time portal between their dimension and mine, and that they wanted me to be the first person to test it out. They didn't wait for my answer; I was pushed through the portal with no regard for my own well-being. And he had seemed so polite!
 |
| Somebody's been reading Doctor Strange |
I emerged in a strange black void, on a pathway made of non-material energy. The pathway led to a series of criss-crossing turns and forks, and I followed the mostly at random. Eventually I came to a place where the pathway ended, and with great trepidation I stepped off into blackness. It was a bad decision, as I fell into blackness and was stranded in the limbo between universes forever. My adventure ended there!
So, I had a more successful attempt this time around, but I fell afoul of the most heinous part of the book. I know that I have to do that portal maze to get one of the coordinates I need to win, but it's a really unfair bit of design. There are two places in the maze where the path ends and you have the option of stepping into space. One leads to death, and the other leads to success, but there's no way of knowing which is which. You just have to take a guess, and hope you picked the right one. I didn't, so it's back to the beginning for me. It's irritating, but at least now I know which is the correct choice. That's what beating gamebooks is all about, really: trial and error. See you next week, then, for Starship Traveller, attempt 3!
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