My head hurt. My whole body felt exhausted. I opened my eyes only to be blinded by an intense light from all around. I turned my head and noticed that the sun was shining bright today.
Wait. Where am I?
I pulled myself to my feet. My body ached but in the past few days I have become accustomed to sleeping on wooden floors. I slowly stood up and took a brief look around.
I'm on a boat.
Of course, I'm on a boat. I boarded the boat earlier. But that boat was underwater....
The boat that I now stood on was different--much different. The Island of Myst had completely disappeared. In the very middle of the ship, a massive rock stuck straight out of the ocean, as if the boat was built around the rock itself. I walked along the face of the rock and came across the bow of the ship. The ship was literally split in half by the rock, and yet it didn't sink. It was as if the boat and the rock were somehow merged together.
But how did I get here?
The book. I had touched the book, and I had been transported to this world....
In a single moment, everything had come back to me...
In my line of work I deal with many odd antiquities. A few years ago I began to collect rare books as a hobby. During that time, I had established quite a library of rare books, first editions, that sort of thing. And then I remember meeting a fellow colletor, no the wife of a collector who had died recently. She offered me a box of old books that he had never gotten around to evalutating. Stuff that he had never put into his official library.
I took the books home to my study and and began to evalutate them when I noticed one of them was much different than the others. The paper had a unique feel to it, and the writing was composed of an intricate script set down on the page with a very fine ink. There was no mention of an author or publisher, but there was a single word on the front cover.
Myst.
I tried to read through the book, struggling to comprehend the meaning of these symbols when I found a picture taking up half of the final page of the book. The picture showed the open sea, and then it changed. The picture itself became animated going across the ocean until a small island came into view. Fascinated by what I was seeing, I touched the image and felt my body fading away.....
So that was it. The books. These strange books allowed me to travel to strange lands. I was impressed and horrified at the same time. I was given the chance to travel to strange worlds, but so far I had no guarauntee of being able to get back home. I wasn't even sure if I could make it back to Myst Island.
I took another second to look at the surroundings. The ship, a massive rock, a lighthouse off in the distance. I have never been here before, but I had a very errie feeling about this place, like I had read about....yes, I did read about it. In the Myst Library there was an entire journal on this place. I was in what Atrus called The Stoneship Age!
This was a place that Atrus had visited. And if the journal I read was found in the Myst Library, than that must mean there is a way to get back to Myst Island!
I decided that the first order of business would be to find a way back. Along the way I would try and see if perhaps Catherine or Atrus were here somewhere. I also recalled reading that there were inhabitants of this age. People that had made it to the rocks by swimming great distances. I should probably go look for someone and let them know that I've arrived.
The sun was unforgiving in the Stoneship age, so I took my jacket off and carried it with me. I walked back to the stern of the ship and found a staircase leading below decks, but the staircase was flooded with water, preventing me from going down below.
At both ends of the ship, a passageway was cut into the sides of the rock, as if the rock was a natural segment of the boat itself. The passageway lead downwards, but I could only go down a few steps. The rest of the passage was under water, just like the staircase on the ship. This place could get boring really quick.
Along the side of the main rock was a wooden ramp, winding up to the top of the rock until it reached the very top. At the top was a small telescope. The telescope looked old and seasoned. I noticed the viewfinder had an internal compass. I looked through the telescope trying to find any further signs of activity beyond the rocks. There was nothing to be seen. Whatever ocean this was, it had streched far past the horizon.
The ocean here was a dark blue tint, almost pitch black. Nothing at all like the blue-green sea surrounding Myst Island. Was it possible that I was on another part of the world that Myst Island layed on? Or did the book take me to a completely different world?
The lighthouse stood about twenty yards away from the ship, and a walkway was constructed by makeshift gangplanks. I recall reading in Atrus' journals that the lighthouse had been sinking for some time since he constructed it. To say that it had sunk further was an understatement.
The lighthouse was more than halfway underwater. I could enter the lighthouse through a broken window, on what I reconned would have been the third floor I was standing at the very top of a staircase that lead down below to a deep pool of water that had seeped into the structure. Directly above me was a hatch leading up to the observation deck of the lighthouse. The hatch was locked with an old, but sturdy padlock.
On the floor, at the base of the ladder leading up the hatch, I noticed a key. It was connected to a small chain and was firmly screwed into the staircase. I tried to pull the key off of the chain with no success. Unless I could find a tool of some sort, there was no way I could remove the key to open the padlock.
There must be more to this place, I told myself. I carefully made my way back to the ship, balancing my body along the narrow gangplank. On the starboard side of the stern was another long gangplank leading to a small platform in the middle of the sea.
I walked out to the platform and looked around. Nothing but bare rocks and ocean surrounded me. The platform itself only had room for a table with an umbrella perched above it. On the table were three large buttons lined up in a row. Out of curiosity I pressed the first button. It lit up briefly and I heard a noise behind me. It sounded like a motor working back on the ship.
I walked back to investigate, but by the time I got there, the sound had died out. I looked back at the staircase leading below decks and noticed that the water that had flooded the staircase was gone.
I walked down the steps, taking advantage of the opportunity. At the bottom of the staircase was a large steel door with a bright green button in the middle. I pressed the button and the door opened, revealing more steps going down, and total darkness beyond that.
I made my way down the first few steps. The lower hull of the ship was made of glass, allowing me to look out into the sea; but from this depth I couldn't make out very many shapes. The sea was as dark as night down here. The stairs turned the corner further down into the boat, but I couldn't see anything more. I wished that I had brought a flashlight with me.
As I climbed back up the steps the steel door closed behind me. I checked both of the tunnels burrowed into the rock but they were still flooded. The lighthouse turned out to remain flooded as well.
That motor I heard must have been a pump of some kind, and it probably started up when I pushed the button out on that platform. I walked to the platform again, and I pressed the third button.
The pump motors started up again, and whined down just as quickly. I walked over to the boat and took a quick peek in both directions. The stairway below decks was once again filled with water, and the tunnel in the rock were still flooded. I ran across the wobbly gangplank to the lighthouse. All the water in the structure had drained out. The stairs went deep down to the base of the lighthouse. The passage was well lighted from above, so I climbed down.
At the very bottom of the staircase was a large drain in the center of the floor. Next to the drain was a heavy wooden chest. I tried to open it, but the lock sealed the chest airtight. When I moved the chest I heard a slushing noise inside suggesting that water had leaked in. At the bottom of the chest was a small value. I opened the valve and a stream of water poured out, running along the ground until it met the drain. I closed the valve again to make sure whatever was in there stayed dry.
I tried to lift the chest, but it was still too heavy. And the thought of lugging it way up the stairs was tiring in itself. The lock looked like a simple skeleton key, like the padlock on the hatchway. I knocked on the chest with my knuckle. It sounded almost empty.
I decided to leave the chest, and try to explore more of this Age.
As my suspicions confirmed, the second button drained the water out of the two tunnels in the main rock. I climbed down the first tunnel only to realise it was getting darker further down. The sunlight from above stayed with me for about forty feet, and then I was overcome by the pitch blackness. The stairs were broken down into several small flights, making me have to guess every few feet where the stairs began. I noticed the dim shapes of overhead lights, but they apparantly had no power. Further on down the stairs I saw a green light, guiding my way down like a beacon.
I practically stumbled into the doorway, and felt the cold stainless steel surface of it. The green light in the center opened the door, like for the previous room in the ship. The door slid upwards and I was bathed in light.
To say that the room was elegant would be an insult. The splendor of the decor suggested a bedroom that would be fitting for a king. At the far end of the room was a large four poster bed, to my right was a writing desk, and on my left was an immaculate dressser.
In the center of the room was a large oriental rug reaching to the far corners of the room. Two holographic globes sat at the rear corners of the room, displaying strange maps whenever touched. A bright chandelier hung overhead, bathing the room in a soft light. Those steel doors must be watertight because the room looked undisturbed and untouched. Maybe this was Catherine's room.
I opened the desk drawer and looked around. There was a letter opener, and a dop kit. The cover on the dop kit was open, and several medicine vials were resting next to an old syringe and several spare needles. In one small niche of the case were several pills that I couldn't identify.
I took the letter opener and stuck it in my pocket. I then went to check out the dresser. The first drawer contained a set of fine silverware; the second a collection of gold and silver coins. The next drawer contained a small collection of exquisite fabrics. It was the last bolt of fabric, however that caught my eye. It was black with a simple pattern repeated across from it. A yellow cressant moon with a four pointed star in the middle. Why did that look familiar to me?
In the very bottom of the drawer was a light red piece of paper. When I reached down and touched it, a cold chill ran through my body. I recognised the page as one belonging to the red book in the Myst Library. I remembered the distant voice I heard when I opened the book.
"Red pages."
I stuck the red page in my left rear pocket and climbed back up the stairs. I would check out the second tunnel leading down into the rock, and then try and get the chest open.
I walked around the broken ship and down the tunnel on the other side of the rock. It was just as dark as the other tunnel, but I knew now to look for the green light. Once at the bottom, I opened the door and entered the room.
Needless to say I was disappointed. Whoever owned this room was very unaccustomed in keeping it neat, and they had a very morbid sense of decor. Strange native masks, and several sets of deers horns were hung on the walls. On a table in the rear of the room was a skeletal model of a human chest. Next to the model were several bottles, a couple of which carried the tell-tale skull and crossbones symbol for poison.
On my right hand side was a large map chest with a small electrical device on top. It was a small circular pedestal with a button, and a control lever that moved along the base of the pedestal. I turned the device on, and the image of a rose emerged from the device. It was a holographic imager like the one on Myst. I moved the control lever from one end to the other and the hologram changed. The image of the rose slowly transformed to that of a human skull. Very morbid, indeed.
I looked through the map drawers and found a variety of old carefully hand drawn maps. I had recognised none of the places whatsoever. Some locations were written in English, some were written in that strange writing I found in the books that allowed me to travel to these worlds.
The thought occurred to me that I have no idea where Atrus comes from, nor Catherine for that matter. Did they come from Earth, or some other world?
In one of the bottom drawers however, there was a note. A sheet of paper ripped in half right down the middle. It was the left hand side of the paper, and all I could make out was the following...
Marker Swit
Isl
The vault is loc
the Island of M
achieved very
instructions are f
each of the Marker
Turn every one of
"on" position. Th
as a final step, tu
there to th
Something about a vault? Where? I'd need the second half of the page to be sure, but the words Island and Marker Swit(ches?) lead me to beleive this could mean a vault on Myst Island.
The only other place left to explore was the bed. I turned an old sheet over, and a blue piece of paper emerged from underneath. A blue page, exactly like the ones that came from the blue book. Why were these pages left here?
I picked up the page, and the same cold empty feeling came over me as before. I stuck the page in my right hand rear pocket. Satisfied that I would find everything that I could here, I went back to the deck of the ship.
I walked across the gangplanks to the lighthouse with the letter opener in hand. I figured I could use it to pick the lock. When I climbed through the broken window, I noticed that floating in the water, next to the top of the stairs was the wooden chest!
Of course. I had drained the wooden chest of the water inside, and then closed the value. When the lighthouse reflooded, the chest floated back up with the water level. If there was anything inside this thing, it must not be very heavy.
I was about to pick the lock when I remembered the skeleton key that was chained to the floor. The chain was just long enough to reach the lock of the chest, and the key looked like it would fit the lock. I took they key and undid the padlock. The chest opened and inside I found another key, exactly like the first one.
I smiled to myself. Someone must have a love of puzzles, or just a strange twisted sense of humor. I took the skeleton key out of the chest and used it to open the padlock on the hatch. The hatch easily opened, and I climbed up the ladder to the observation deck.
From inside the observatin deck I could take in an entire view of the Stoneship Age without worrying about the harsh sun, or the cold sea wind. I looked through the windows all around taking in the scenery.
It was then that I realised that I hadn't seen any inhabitants yet. Either they had left this age for some reason, or perhaps they were somewhere else. Maybe they had taken to hiding.
Bolted to the floor was a series of batteries with a small indicator showing the level of charge. I noticed that on the side of the batteries three strange symbols were carved into the casings. Next to the batteries was a large hand crank, used to generate power. I turned the crank a little and looked through the casing of the crank as the magnets rubbed up against the coils of copper wire.
I turned the old crank for about two minutes straight when I noticed that the batteries were now fully charged. I climbed back down the ladder, and walked back to the ship to see the light. At the very top of the lighthouse, a teardrop shaped beacon shone in all directions.
I climbed back up the ramp to the top of the main rock and looked at the lighthouse through the telescope. From here I felt the cold ocean winds coming in from the north. Atrus had used the lighthouse as a beacon to others. Perhaps I could use it as a beacon to bring others to where I was.
I tried looking around with the telescope, wondering if perhaps I should be looking in a particular direction. With the built in compass I could point the telescope to any heading I wanted to.
The only real significant object that I could see with the telescope was the lighthouse itself, which was at a heading of 135 degrees. Exactly south-east of where I was standing.
I climbed back down the ramp. I felt like I was forgetting something. Something Atrus had written about. Something about a light?
I looked back to the tunnel going into the rock. I could now see deeper down into the tunnel because the lights were working. The batteries in the lighthouse must control the lights in the tunnel as well. Perhaps I had missed something in the darkness.
I went back to the small platform and turned on the pumps for the tunnel. I quickly ran back and made my way down the tunnel while the batteries still had a charge to them. Apparantly, this world must have a limited power supply. The lights were only working in certain areas, and I could only operate the water pumps one at a time.
I made my way down the tunnel, not having to always mind my step like before. I suddenly noticed a small panel built into the wall near the bottom landing. I touched a small button in the middle of the panel and it slowly slid upwards to allow me to enter. I had to get down on my hands and knees to enter the crawlway.
I was crawling through a long tunnel on a cold metal grating. I felt like I was in a submarine. At the end of the tunnel I could make out several dim lights.
At the end of the tunnel was a large glass enclosed room, giving me a view of the underwater world of the Stoneship Age. Just like in the ship, I was too far underwater to make out any distinct shapes. At the other end of the room was another crawlspace, probably leading to the other tunnel burrowed into the rock. In the very center of the floor was a large compass wheel, painted on the floor.
Around the edge of the wheel were buttons, one at each point. A total of sixteen buttons around the wheel. The button at the very top was labeled N for north. Out of mild curiosity I pressed the button on the south side of the wheel. Suddenly, the lights went out, and an alarm sounded from the ends of the crawlways.
Panic striken, I climbed into the tunnel trying to crawl as fast as possible. At the very end of the tunnel a red light above the opening was blinking. Were the water pumps failing? Did the battery die out?
When I made my way out of the tunnel the lights went out. Quickly, I ran back up the steps, occasionally stumbling, but never quitting until I reached the warm sunlight coming in from above.
What the heck did I do? Did I break something?
I went back to the lighthouse and once again tried charging up the batteries with the hand generator. The batteries were indeed drained, but they didn't appear broken. I recharged them fully, and returned back to the tunnels.
The alarm signal never resounded when I went back into the underwater chamber. There were no red lights, no buzzers. I looked again at the compass wheel. The alarm sounded when I pressed one of the buttons. To be exact, the button was at the arrow pointing due south.
Wait a second. Due south?
The lantern on the lighthouse was at a heading of 135 degrees, exactly southeast.
I pressed the button for southeast.
Instantly the room brightened from a surge of light. But the light wasn't coming from inside the room. From outside the glass walls, a series of undersea lights shone in a multitude of directions, brightening the dark recesses of the sea. I cupped my hands to the glass and I looked around. From where I stood, I could see the underbelly of the ship. In fact, I saw the observatory of the ship, and the inside of it was bathed in lights coming from the undersea lamps.
Of course. Now I remember. One of Atrus' experiments involved creating an undersea lamp. I had even seen a sketch of the device in his journal.
I went back throught the crawlspace, up to the topside of the ship, and practically ran across the gangplanks to the pump controls, not worrying about whether I would fall off or not. I activated the pump for the ship, and then ran back to the ship, hoping that the lamps would still be charged.
I went below decks as quickly as the water pumps drained the passageway. When I finally reached the bottom, I opened the steel door and continued down.
The room was very bright now from the undersea lamps, and I could make out all the details in the room. Tucked into small cubbyholes along the walls of the room were old maps and charts. At the very bottom of the stairs, in the middle of the room was a bare wooden table.
I touched the table's surface, noting how smooth it was when the surface began to change shape. The wood was bending, and stretching upwards, as if something inside the table was trying to break through the surface. The wood then split open, and a small book emerged from underneath. The wooden table reverted back to it's original form and the book fell onto its back. I looked at the cover of the book.
Myst.
This book was smaller than the other books I recalled. It was definately smaller than the book that brought me here to the Stoneship Age. I opened the book up looked through it. There wern't very many pages, but they were still covered with the strange symbols, and on the final page was a picture with the image of the Myst Library.
The library was spinning around, revealing the ceiling and chandelier. I took my right hand and placed it on the image of the library...
I opened my eyes. I was lying on the floor again. Directly above me was the chandelier of the Myst Library. I lifted myself onto my feet and looked around. Everything appeared the same as I had left it. The fireplace, the paintings, the books...
The books.
I reached into my two back pockets with my hands, and pulled out the red and blue pages that I recovered from the Stoneship age.