At first I thought that it was night out, then I realized that the sky itself was gray as far as the eyes could see. My body felt cold. I wasn't lying down anymore. The usual discomfort that I usually felt when I was transported to a new world wasn't as strong as before.
I was standing on a small rock landing. Surrounding the landing were giant gears stucking out of the water, as if the machine they were once connected to had exploded and sent them flying across the sea. The only other structure I could make out was what I believed to be the fortress that Atrus constructed.
The fortess was a massive metal building, rising above the water on a stubby base. Extending from the main entrance of the fortress was a long bridge, connecting the fortress to this very landing.
A metal track made a circumference around the fortress. The radius of the track was almost exactly length of the bridge. I stepped out onto the bridge and looked underneath to where the bridge and the track met. I could make out a system of gears and motors underneath the bridge, but I had no idea what they did.
Looking along the radius of the track, I noticed another metal landing roughly the same size as this one, but with a different shape and color. There didn't seem to be any way to get over there unless I were to walk along the track itself, which didn't seem like a good idea. The track itself looked well oiled, suggesting recent use or consistent maintenance.
The fortress itself had an overall octogonal shape, but the exterior walls shifted at 45 degree angles, suggesting that the building layout resembled a complex eight pointed star. It was a curious looking design, indeed. Next to the base of the fortress was a massive motor system with a large gear on the top, which meshed with a gear built into the base of the fortress.
To my left were two giant gears, similar to the monument on the Island of Myst. Next to the gears was a small pedestal with an interesting display. On the pedestal were four buttons, and above each button was a small indicator with a shape imprinted on it. By pressing each button, I caused the shapes to change. At the bottom of the pedestal's surface was a larger red button. I experimented with the buttons with no obvious success.
I walked along the bridge towards the fortress. How could Atrus have built such a thing? I looked out towards the horizon and saw nothing for miles. How could anyone build such a fantastic structure in the middle of the ocean? It must have taken years with conditions like these. I was also curious as to how deep the ocean was around here.
It was then that I remembered what Atrus had mentioned about creating worlds with the books. I still found it hard to beleive that merely writing about something could create it.The type of writing language that created something like this would have to be very complex. Everything down to the finest detail would have to be accounted for. No man could learn such a complex language.
And yet, it existed. The Mechanical Age, the Stoneship Age, and others. These books literally created worlds. I could put Atrus' concern over the deestruction of the library into a whole new perspective. It wasn't merely books that were destroyed, it was entire worlds.
The interior of the fortress was also metal. The floor, walls, and ceilings were completely metal with a cross-hatched mesh pattern, making the structure even more impervious to dents. Immediately the corridor forked off to my northeast and my northwest. I decided to walk northeast and see what lay ahead.
Up ahead the corridor turned into a large room. The walls were decorated with ancient weapons of war. Battle axes, swords, crossbows, and a few treasure chests were prominently displayed in the room along with the trophy head of a gorilla. In the far corner of the room was a slender throne that went from the floor to the ceiling. Directly across from the throne was a narrow window looking out to sea, but it was covered by a long tapestry, blocking out all outside light.
Sitting on a table along the outer wall was a small wooden box. I opened the box when suddenly a large cobra jump out and try to snatch at my outstretched fingers. I jumped back in fright and fell back onto the metal floor. The head of the snake bobbed again and it suddenly retracted back into the box, the lid closing after it.
Cautiously I approached the box again. The snake jumped out same as before and lunged foreward. This time I wasn't caught off guard. I watched the motions of the snake from a safe distance and examined the creature. This snake wasn't even real.
The snake was a mechanical contraption. Segments of metal were carefully welded together to create the fluid motion of a real snake. I couldn't even fathom the amount of time it would take to create such a device. Perhaps the inhabitants of this age were skilled metal workers.
Next to the throne was a large pedestal with two control levers on the front. As I approached the device a hologram appeared directly above the controls.
The hologram was a series of words. FORTRESS ROTATION SIMULATOR. CALIBRATING Suddenly, the words disappeared and the fortress, the bridge, and the track appeared in midair. The image twisted and rotated freely, and then the image became a flat plane with arrows at the four cardinal compass directions.
I experimented with the two controls on the front of the device. I pulled the first lever all the way down. Nothing happened. I pulled the second lever and suddenly the fortress image began to rotate. The bridge swung along with the fortress gradually building speed. It continued speeding up until I released the second control. The fortress then slowed down and the bridge connected with the closest directional arrow. It pointed roughly east. I pulled the left control lever back up and the bridge shifted slightly, until it was pointing exactly east. The machine made a small whooshing sound, like a burst of air being released from a valve.
Was fortress was capable of rotation? Perhaps that explained the reason the bridge was on the track.
I left the machine and continued walking through the fortress. The walkway along the perimeter of the fortress branched off to a passage that lead directly to the middle of the fortress. I walked down the central corridor and saw a cylindrical shaft. Actually it appeared to be two cylinders, one inside the other. The outer cylinder had a section missing exposing a second cylinder an inch shorter in diameter. I made a circumfrence around the shaft and then headed back down the corridor after finding nothing of interest.
Back at the branch, I noticed a small button at waist level along one of the walls. I pressed the button and suddenly the central corridor itself shifted downwards. The floor itself split into segments and descended down to a sub-level, becoming a stairway to a lower level of the fortress.
I walked down the newly formed stairs and looked around in the darkness. Right where the elevator should be was a massive pillar with a mesh of gears built around the base. In front of the pillar was a small pedestal similar to the simulator I experimented with earlier, only this one had a single control lever and a simple indicator.
The indicator showed two circles, one inside the other. Each circle had a segment missing, making each circle incomplete. I pushed the lever once and the massive pillar in front of me rotated slightly. The indicator itself also changed. Now the inside circle had moved 45 degrees clockwise.
I pushed the lever again. The inside circle rotated another 45 degrees. The pillar also rotated, and judging by the length of the rotation, I estimated that it was a 45 degree rotation as well. I pushed the lever one more time. By now the inside circle and the outside circle had matched facing downwards. The indicator began blinking bright red.
I walked back up the steps a bit and took a quick glance towards the central cylinder. The opening in the outer cylinder was now matched with the opening of the inner cylinder revealing what appeared to be an elevator car. I continued up the stairs and pressed the button to convert the staircase back into a walkway.
Inside the cylindrical shaped elevator were three buttons. The top button was shaped like an up arrow, and the bottom button a down arrow. In between the two was a square button.
I pressed the up button because I knew the elevator couldn't descend any further. A door closed in front of me and the elevator quickly rose up to the upper lever of the fortress, separated from the lower level by eight feet of concrete and reinforced steel.
The upper level reminded me of the area around the shaft at the middle level. The whole level was a single room, totally bare, Along the floor were spotlights pointed at the elevator shaft and the walls of the room. The vaulted ceiling was at least fifteen feet high peaking at the center of the fortress. I did a quick walk around the elevator shaft but found nothing of interest.
I walked back into the elevator shaft and pressed the middle button this time. An indicator light inside the button blinked and after a brief pause the elevator finally descended roughly eight feet. I found myself facing a wall of solid concrete in between the main and upper level of the fortress. I pounded the wall with my fist in case this turned out to be some sort of secret passage without success. I pressed the down arrow button and found myself back at the main level of the fortess.
I left the elevator and continued walking along the perimeter hallway. On the other side of the fortess I found another room similar to the throne room I had seen earlier. This room was exactly proportioned like it's twin, but the decor was much more splendid.
The marble throne looked directly out through the narrow window where I saw the open sea. I walked to the throne and sat down staring out the window. Below the window was a small model of a clock, somewhat similar to the clock on Myst Island.
Next to my feet sat a small wooden box with a six by six grid of squares laid across the top, similar to an elegant chessboard. I couldn't open the box so I had no idea if this was indeed a game similar to chess or not.
At the center of the floor was a tile mosaic resembling a large compass. Just off the center of the design stood an antique telescope, an exact duplicate of the telescope I found earlier in the Stoneship Age.
Could this be Atrus' room?
I looked around, and suddenly noticed other models. The sunken boat, the spaceship. Then I noticed the paintings. One was a portrait of a woman of wealth and stature. Catherine, perhaps? I still had no idea what she looked like.
The other portrait showed a man regally dressed in an outfit deemed suitable for a king. I found the face to be slightly familiar, but I couldn't place where. Pictures of the old kings on Earth kept popping into my mind.
On another wall hung a massive tapestry depicting a scene from a war. I knelt down to examine the quality of the fabric when I noticed that there was a small panel hidden in the wall, next to the base of the throne.
I touched the panel and it slide open to accomodate me. I got down onto my knees and crawled into the small room. Inside was a large collection of chests, and each chest I opened revealed great masses of gold and silver. Such wealth was beyond my comprehension.
I'll admit I was tempted to take a gold coin or two, but I didn't want to risk it. There were strange symbols imprinted on the coins that I couldn't make out. Using these coins back on my home world could arouse suspicion.
At the very top of the coins on one chest was a red page, similar to the red pages that I had found earlier.
Do I dare take it? If there was a red page here, more than likely I'd find a blue page here as well. If I were to put this page in in the red book, would that help Sirrus leave the red book?
The red book was similar to the book I had used to get here, to The Mechanical Age, only it appeard to be an empty world, in which Sirrus himself existed. Perhaps the missing pages were what kept Sirrus from leaving. As if the link between to the world in the red book was damaged.
Atrus had gone to great lengths to prevent his sons from escaping those books. And yet, I knew that I just couldn't let one of those two men stay imprisoned for a crime they didn't commit. If only I had some clue as to which brother had destroyed the library.
As I took the page I noticed another page, stuck into a small wine rack carrying strange vintages of multicolored wines. This page had English writing on it.
Sirrus,
Your greed sickens me!
Your desire for wealth
and plunder is never
satisfied. I will instruct
my subjects not to pay
your new tax and you
know they'll listen to me.
Regards,
Achenar.
Sirrus? Greedy? Is this Sirrus' throne room? His treasure? I crawled back out of the hidden room and looked at the portrait hanging on the wall. It was Sirrus' likeness.
Maybe Sirrus was the one who destroyed the library. Before I had trusted Sirrus more because his brother Achenar looked like he was three steps from insanity. I had never thought of greed as being a motive for destroying the library, and yet it still was a very plausible one.
I walked back to the other throne room curious as to if there was another secret panel, which turned out to be true. I crawled inside wondering what wealth I would find in here.
There were a few chests inside, a set of shelves with various potion bottles, and a large cage with a switch on the front. Out of curiosity I flipped the switch, only to be blinded by arcs of electricity that went across paths between the bars of the cage like a sadistic Jacob's Ladder. Obviously this cage was meant for execution or cruel torture.
Among the various old medicine bottles was the blue page I had a feeling I would find. As I grabbed it, I felt the same cold chill in my body as with the previous pages. Once again I kept the pages in opposite pockets remembering how they repelled one another.
As I was about to crawl back out I noticed a chest similar to one in Sirrus' throne room. Perhaps there was more treasure. I opened the chest.
Immediately, a musty smell escaped that nearly overtook my olfactory nerves. I felt a sudden surging in my stomach, and my eyes started to tingle. Inside the chest were the rotting fleshy remains of a human corpse. I closed the chest while covering my nose. That'll teach my curiosity a lesson.
I crawled back out of the hole. and sat on the floor to catch my breath. After a few seconds I went back to the secret panel to close it and block out the odor of death. I then sat down in the throne and took a minute to think about the situation.
There was almost a hundred percent chance that the other throne room belonged to Sirrus. But the only real proof was the note and the painting; and it could be that they were just sitting there, in the hands of someone else.
I'll assume for now that the nicer throne room belongs to Sirrus. That would mean there was a good chance that this throne room belonged to Achenar. The note was written by Achenar and he did mention his subjects. Did they rule jointly over the Mechanical Age?
To find out more, I'd have to talk to the brothers. They were the only two that I have even encountered here. Atrus, I only knew from a holographic message and a series of journals. Catherine I knew even less about. I had yet to find any proof that Catherine was even alive. For all I knew Catherine could have been the one in that trunk!
But where was the book that was supposed to take me back to Myst?
I leaned back against the simulator machine, which hummed to life from my touch. I looked up as the images formed in mid air. The fortress, the bridge, the track.
Wait. There was that other landing....
Perhaps to get to the other landing, I have to rotate the tower and the bridge.
I began to experiment with the fortress simulator, rotating the fortress so that it faced the four cardinal compass directions. It was tricky because the fortress rotation built up speed after awhile, and it would sometimes swing back to a landing it had already passed.
The right lever controlled the rotation. The longer you held it down, the faster it went. Once you released the lever, the bridge would come to a stop at one of the four compass directions. Then, I would flip the left lever back up to lock the fortress into place, to prevent any straying rotation.
After awhile, I noticed that in each compass direction the fortress stopped at, a sound came from the simulator. A specific sound would always be made at a specific direction. I made the following chart on the back of the letter from Achenar to Sirrus...
| Fortress Rotation | |
|---|---|
| Direction | Sound |
| North | Dink |
| East | Pish |
| West | Blitz |
| South | Plink |
Now, if I could just find the real controls to rotate the tower.
I began exploring again, thinking about the most logical place to put the controls. More than likely they'd want them to be hidden, in case the fortress fell into the hands of enemies. It'd also be logical to assume that controls to rotate the fortress would be located in the very center of the fortress, making the setup for the controls much easier.
I took the elevator back up to the top level of the fortress and looked around. This area was somewhat hidden from invading forces. But I couldn't see any controls.
The center of the fortress.
In the very center of the fortress was the elevator shaft. The elevator itself rose and lowered on a massive pillar underneath. I looked up to where the shaft had ended and noticed a small console with a chair in front of it, nestled on top of the elevator itself. Now the question was how do I get up to the controls? Or how do I get the controls down?
I stuck my head in the elevator and pressed the middle button. There was a pause before the elevator began its descent and I managed to keep my head and hands away from the elevator to prevent crushing. The rotational controls lowered to the level of the floor and I sat down in a small chair in front of the console.
The controls were identical except there was no holographic projector, and there was a red button at the base of the controls, presumably to bring the elevator back up. Through a small window, I could see the gears from the control levers.
I released the rotational lock and began rotating the fortress. I could feel my whole body swinging around, and the gears inside the small window began a similar spinning pattern. Underneath my feet I heard the soft rumbling of a gears.
For such a massive structure, the rotation was swift and quiet. I surmised that the mechanical workings of the fortress used centrifical force to aid in rotating the massive structure. The movements were swift and effortless for the fortress, as if it was built only yesterday.
Since there was no way to tell what direction I would end up facing, I was forced to rely on the timing of the motor's movements. After the fortress came to a complete stop, I locked the motors and heard a piston noise, indicating that I was rotated east.
I pressed the red button to bring back the elevator and took it down to the main level. I was almost jumping with curiosity as if it would make the elevator go down a little bit quicker.
I ran through the metal corridors and across the bridge out to the bright yellow landing. It was an impressive structure with a twisting stairway, bending around an arch. The book was sure to be here. But after a quick search, I didn't see it.
I remember from reading Atrus' journal that this landing was supposed to be a watchtower that first sighted the invading navy. In fact this small rock I stood on was originally a mountain that protected the original city before it was destroyed by the invaders. There were three of them surrounding the city as a means of protection.
The original protection scheme for the city had failed. Atrus built the fortress to protect the remaining inhabitants and as far as I knew, it did protect them from a second invasion. Perhaps the city was invaded again after Atrus had left.
I continued searching the east rock. At the other end I found a series of small plaques mounted on a podium that resembled a gear spool. There were two plaques along the center of the surface, aligned towards the right side, indicating that perhaps there were two plaques that should also be there, but were not. The plaques had two interesting patterns on them. The first was three triangles in a row, with a circle above the middle triangle and the second was the left half of a full circle.
This must be for that console I saw at the south landing. I must probably enter these symbols into the machine to make it work. But these were only the final two symbols. What were the first two?
It was then that I noticed another landing to the north side of the fortress. The remains of the north mountain. I ran back across the bridge, back to the rotation controls. My guess was that I would find the first two symbols I needed on the north rock.
On my second try at rotating the fortress I realized that I was getting better with the controls. After only five minutes including the time it took to get to the elevator and back, I had successfully rotated the tower so it was facing north.
As I walked through Sirrus' throne room to get to the bridge, I noticed an object far out at the sea. Out of curiosity, I looked through the telescope. Directly in front of the window was a sunken ship, with the skeletal remains of a human being hanging from the mast. I presumed this was an unfortunate soul from the invading enemy. I pulled away from the telescope and continued to the bridge.
The north landing looked more simpler, less artistic than the one on the east side. I didn't really bother to examine the details of this new location since I knew what I must find there. At the far end was the podium that I was looking for. On the left side were the two symbols that I needed to complete the puzzle.
The very first symbol was a thick circle with a segment missing from the bottom, similar to the symbol I ended up with when I was rotating the elevator. The second symbol were three isosceles triangles, sandwiched together as close as possible.
I went back to the tower controls yet again to get back to the south landing. I walked across the bridge for what I assumed would be the last time, and came to the set of controls on the pedestal. I pressed the buttons on the indicators, cycling through the various images until I came up with the sequence that I wanted.
The thick circle with the bottom quarter missing. The three isosceles triangles. The three triangles with a circle. The left half circle. I then pressed the red button.
Suddenly, the floor next to me shifted. It began to descend breaking up into steps along the way down, just like the staircase in the fortress. I had uncovered a secret passageway.
I walked down the stairs and looked around. The room was tight, and dark except for small spotlights in the corners. A small table supported by two gears buried into the floor stood against the rear wall, and on the table sat the Myst book. I reached out and grabbed the book, opening the pages. I found the familiar twirling image of the Myst Library on the final page. It was nothing new to me anymore. I calmly closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and reached into the picture.....
The Myst Library.
My head hurt and my body felt weary. More weary than I usually felt when going to a new Age. I looked out the doorway of the library and noticed that it was dark out. That explains it. I was tired.
I took both of the pages and stuck them in their respective books. I closed each book before either sibling got a word out. I'd try and talk with them tomorrow morning. Right now I needed to get some rest.
I nestled myself back into the corner of the Library where I had slept before. I closed my eyes to the dim light of the chandelier and quickly drifted to sleep.
And I dreamt of going home.