Moonwrecked
by Caelyn Sandel (as Colin Sandel) (2011)
Genres: Science Fiction

You are an employee of Prometheus Corp, on the Moon, wearing a pressure suit but carrying nothing. Following a bogus distress call into some ruins, you discover your moon buggy has been sabotaged by someone from Titan Corp, leaving you stranded. Floating far above you is a Prometheus Corp shuttle. If only there was some way to signal it!

action: %
response: "Please ... please hurry. My suit's almost out of air."

"I'm almost to you. I've just left my buggy at the gate you described. How in the world did you find these ruins?"

"Keep going ... there's a fountain up ahead. I'm ... leaning against the side facing away from you."

"I can see the fountain. I'm approaching you now."

"Thank you. Thank you. I thought I was going to die out here."

"Uh ... there's nothing here. Is ... are there more fountains?"

"..."

"Hello?"

"Sucker."

Your pressure suit's short-range radio goes dead as the communication dies. Then, all you can hear is the sound of your own breathing.

Earthlight sheds a dim glow across the tall spire and broad basin of an empty fountain. The fountain is ringed with recessed lamps, but the lamps are currently off. The tall shadows of buildings block out the stars in all directions except west and south (the way you just came).

You can see a fountain (empty) here.
action: You check what you're carrying
response: You are carrying:
a pressure suit (being worn)
action: You examine the suit
response: It's a basic but serviceable model - large and bulky, with a built-in short-range radio. The orange and grey logo of the Prometheus Corporation is printed prominently on the chest.
action: You examine the fountain
response: The fountain is empty.
action: You go west
response: Obscured by the tall buildings of the city, no earthlight illuminates the area. You don't dare face unseen obstacles with no illumination.
action: You examine the earth
response: It's absolutely beautiful.
action: You take Earth
response: The Earth is too far away.

That's hardly portable.
action: You remove the suit
response: The  Moon's atmosphere is far too thin for you to breathe.
action: Go south
response: By the time you make it back to the gate of the mysterious city, you find an unpleasant welcome. Peeling away from the gate in a cloud of moon dust you see a lunar rover emblazoned with the logo of the Titan corporation, an exploratory rival to your own employer. You prepare to sprint to your own buggy, only to discover that it has been badly damaged.

Someone, likely the "man in distress" whom you just tried to save, has taken a plasma welder to your buggy. Its tires and radio are completely destroyed, leaving you stranded in this beautiful but empty ruin and completely unable to contact your coworkers in the Prometheus Corp shuttle floating overhead.

You look up at the shuttle, plainly visible in the earthlight but too far away to stand any chance of seeing you. You turn back toward the retreating form of the rover, barely visible now. Assured now that you will be stranded here for hours before the shuttle begins to worry about your safety, Titan will report exclusive discovery of this ruin, leaving you and your company in the dust.

Immediately your mind begins to race, seeking a way to signal the shuttle. If only that spotlight overhead were pointed upward! If only it were turned on....

This is the entrance to the mysterious city where you arrived in response to the distress call. There is no pressure dome, leaving the dusty streets exposed to near-vacuum, but the buildings have the tall, rectangular shapes familiar to you from the Tokyo skyline. Only the blue marble of the Earth high above sheds any light on your surroundings.

There's a doorless building to the east.

A massive gate stands wide open to the south. A waist-high pedestal stands at the center of the gate, apparently preventing it from ever closing. There is a tall spotlight nearby, but the spotlight is off.

You can also see a moon buggy (empty) here.
action: You examine the spotlight
response: The spotlight is mounted on a tall pole and pointed down at the vacant pedestal.
action: You look at the buggy
response: (the moon buggy)
Your simple but trusty moon buggy is out of commission. Its tires have been utterly slagged under plasma fire, its rims partially melted and resting in the dust. While the battery housing is still intact and the dashboard controls look like they probably work, your saboteur took pains to specifically melt the long-range radio transmitter.
action: You examine the dashboard
response: The dashboard is mostly intact, though it looks like your friend from Titan decided to shoot a hole in your radio controls, rendering them as useless as the transmitter. The only thing you could really operate to any effect at this point are the headlights.
action: You look at the headlights
response: The headlight switch is currently in the "off" position.

The headlight switch is currently switched off.
action: You turn on the headlights
response: The headlights of the ruined buggy flare to life, casting light into the opening of the building to the east.
action: Go east
response: This building is more like an alcove - hardly big enough to call itself a building at all, for all that it has three walls and a doorway leading back outside.

Your buggy's bright headlights are visible through the doorway to the west.

There's a control panel mounted to the back of the wall. In the dim radiance cast by the buggy's headlights, you can make out three switches on the panel. The switches are labelled "Gate", "Plaza", and "Residential".
action: You pull the gate
response: Nothing obvious happens.
action: You pull the switch
response: Which do you mean, the power switch labelled "Gate", the power switch labelled "Residential" or the power switch labelled "Plaza"?
action: You examine the panel
response: There are three switches on the panel. All three switches are in the OFF position.
action: You switch on Gate
response: As you flip the switch to provide power to the gate, a bright light comes on from behind you, where you left your buggy.
action: You switch on Plaza then switch on the Residential
response: As you flip the switch to provide power to the plaza, the gate power switch clicks off.

As you flip the switch to provide power to the residential area, the plaza power switch clicks off.
action: You go to the west
response: This is the entrance to the mysterious city where you arrived in response to the distress call. There is no pressure dome, leaving the dusty streets exposed to near-vacuum, but the buildings have the tall, rectangular shapes familiar to you from the Tokyo skyline. To the north and west, you glimpse a yellow glow.

There's a doorless building to the east illuminated dimly by your buggy's headlights.

A massive gate stands wide open to the south. A waist-high pedestal stands at the center of the gate, apparently preventing it from ever closing. There is a tall spotlight nearby, but the spotlight is off.

You can also see a moon buggy (empty) here.
action: You go west
response: You try a door to the west and find it locked.
action: Go north
response: Earthlight sheds a dim glow across the tall spire and broad basin of an empty fountain. The fountain is ringed with recessed lamps, but the lamps are currently off. The tall shadows of buildings block out the stars in all directions except west and south.

You can see a fountain (empty) here.
action: Go west
response: Rows of elegantly-designed but otherwise spartan buildings line this road. The lack of any furnishings, vehicles, or signage increases the eerily sparse feel of the place.

You can see a box of crockery here.
action: You examine the crockery
response: A cardboard box lies on its side on the ground here. Broken ceramic spills from its opening.
action: Search box
response: You open the box, immediately prompting a small avalanche of broken dishware. Delicately pawing through the rubble, you are able to find only a single intact dish. You pick it up.
action: You examine the dish
response: The dish is somewhere between a shallow bowl and a high-sided plate. Tiny blue flowers are painted around the edge.
action: You move the box
response: It is fixed in place.
action: You check your inventory
response: You are carrying:
a china dish
a pressure suit (being worn)
action: You throw the dish
response: You carefully set the dish down.
action: You take the dish
response: Taken.
action: Go east
response: Earthlight sheds a dim glow across the tall spire and broad basin of an empty fountain. The fountain is ringed with recessed lamps, but the lamps are currently off. The tall shadows of buildings block out the stars in all directions except west and south.

You can see a fountain (empty) here.
action: You switch on the Plaza
response: As you flip the switch to provide power to the plaza, the residential power switch clicks off.
action: You go to the west
response: This is the entrance to the mysterious city where you arrived in response to the distress call. There is no pressure dome, leaving the dusty streets exposed to near-vacuum, but the buildings have the tall, rectangular shapes familiar to you from the Tokyo skyline. To the north, you see dancing rainbow lights.

There's a doorless building to the east illuminated dimly by your buggy's headlights.

A massive gate stands wide open to the south. A waist-high pedestal stands at the center of the gate, apparently preventing it from ever closing. There is a tall spotlight nearby, but the spotlight is off.

You can also see a moon buggy (empty) here.
action: Go north
response: A silvery, highly reflective liquid rises from the top of the fountain and flows down into the basin. The recessed lamps produce a panoply of delicate rainbow lights that dance softly around the plaza. The tall shadows of buildings block out the stars in all directions except west and south.

You can see a fountain (in which is a falling stream of mercury) here.
action: You put the mercury in the dish
response: (first taking the falling stream of mercury)

You hold the china dish underneath the silvery stream. Within a few moments, the concave recess of the dish is filled with the heavy, shining fluid.
action: You drink the mercury
response: Which do you mean, the falling stream of mercury or the pool of mercury?
action: You put the mercury in the teeth
response: Which do you mean, the pool of mercury or the falling stream of mercury?
action: You switch on Gate
response: As you flip the switch to provide power to the gate, the plaza power switch clicks off.

A bright light comes on from behind you, where you left your buggy.
action: You go west
response: This is the entrance to the mysterious city where you arrived in response to the distress call. There is no pressure dome, leaving the dusty streets exposed to near-vacuum, but the buildings have the tall, rectangular shapes familiar to you from the Tokyo skyline.

There's a doorless building to the east illuminated dimly by your buggy's headlights.

A bright spotlight lances down upon a waist-high pedestal standing in the center of the gate.

You can also see a moon buggy (empty) here.
action: You put the dish on the pedestal
response: You carefully set the dish on the pedestal, adjusting it so that the beam of light from the powerful spotlight reflects off the silvery liquid and up toward your waiting ship.

You hold your breath with nervous anticipation as you see the spotlight's beam, unimpeded by the thin atmosphere, reach the far-distant Prometheus Corp shuttle. After a few seconds, you jostle the china dish, making the surface of the silvery liquid ripple and split the beam of light. You repeat this pattern for several minutes, a sick feeling slowly dawning on you that your attempt will fail.

Just as you are about to lose hope, however, you see the shuttle fire a jet, changing its position. Your heart hammers in your chest as the shuttle maneuvers, and you have to resist crying out with joy as you see it release its spare buggy toward the surface of the moon. It's not too late after all, and those Titan bastards should have known you wouldn't give up without a fight....