Alarms are blaring, lights are flashing, and the airlock won't open. A voice on the speaker tells you to calm down, the situation is stable, and you're two kilometers below the ocean surface. The voice cuts off abruptly. You're a child named Chloe, wearing skintight overalls. It's hard to think.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 3 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
> x structure. x water. look in water.(Something's moving.)
> x door. s.
Middle Level Infirmary
> x furniture. x glass. x cocoon.
> x cushions. x laces. x sensors.
> x cabinet. open drawer. kick drawer.(+5)
> look. x stapler. take it.
> n. w.
Implausible Observatory
> x ocean. listen. x tables. x archway.
> e.
Food Court
> x railing. x tables. x aquarium.
> x drain. open drain.(+5)
> d.
Duct
> x valve. x disc. take disc.
> put disc on valve.(No, but you learn the disc is magnetic.)
> push disc up.
> u. s.
Kitchen
The voice wants you to get to the infirmary on the floor above.
> x stove. x meat. take it.
> x furniture. x doors. open doors.(+5)
> look. x can. take it. x tin object. take it.
> n.
Food Court
> take disc.
Return to the dumbwaiter:
> w. n. e. n.
North Bridge
> put can in dumbwaiter.(You also drop the heavy disc.)
> e.
Empty Closet
> shoot dumbwaiter.(+20, using the stapler. The dumbwaiter is now straightened.)
> w.
North Bridge
> x dumbwaiter.
> take disc. put it in dumbwaiter.(+10)
> s. w.
Caved In
Good luck trying to guess that this is the way to doctor the meat.
> put tin in meat.(+5)
> put meat in water.(+15. The creature is gone.)
> d.
Underwater
> x door. look in window.
> e.
Rubble
The disc is now magnetically attached to the door, which I guess is only reason the door opened for you.
> x numbers. x shaft. x ladder.
> u.
Terrace Restaurant, South Side
> x railing. x court. x tables.
> w. n.
Terrace Restaurant, North Side
> x corpse.(+5)
> x badge.("WILSON KENNAN"; "Section 101 Manager")
> take badge.
> x table. x folder. take it.
> x railing. d.
Food Court
> w. s.
Screening Room
You hear a chant or melody nearby.
> n.
Implausible Observatory
> x whales. listen to whales. sing. dance.
> s.
Screening Room
> x terminals. x screens.
> x door. look in window.
> put badge in slot.(+10. The door opens.)
> x screens.(Now shows the solar system, with Station Oceanus Prime orbiting Saturn.)
> s.
Southern Complex
The door behind you shuts. You can't return that way.
> x door. x tiles.
> e.
A Room Like No Other
> x glass. x table.(+5)
> x papers.
> x recorder. take it. turn it on. yes
> x chair. x laces. x lamp.
> w. s.
Machinery
> x machines. x machine. x engravings.
> x arm. x object. take diamond.(+5)
> n. e.
A Room Like No Other
> cut glass with diamond.(+10)
> x figure.(It's Nurse Nelly.)
> touch her.(You hear her voice.)
> g.(You hear yourself tell Nelly about hearing the whales.)
> g.(You see yourself in the tub.)
> g.(You meet Nelly for the first time.)
> g.(+5. You caused the cylinder to explode. You killed Nelly.)
> e.
Intensive Ward
> x beds. x figure.("Hoffmann")
> touch him.(nothing)
> x equipment.
> s.
Aseptic Corridor
> x door. x plaque.("QUARANTINE")
> put badge in slot. e.(+10)
Quarantine
> x bodies. x codes.
> w. s.
Section 101
> x valve. x screen.
> read log. g. g. g. g. g. g.(+20)
You learn your history, and the valve is now open.
> s.
Wastebasket
> x wreckage. search it. x glass.
Dr. Celyne enters from a hidden door.
> x Celyne. talk to her.(She says you have value.)
> g.(She says you're a child.)
> g.(She gives credit to Nelly. Whales approach.)
> g.(She pulls out something. The whales wait.)
> shoot Celyne.(+50, with the stapler)
*** You have won ***
Extras
Characters
Chloe is the player-character and a child. By game's end, you learn you're a human-spacewhale hybrid, listed as "Subject CL03" in all documentation.
The whales can be seen in the observatory after visiting the screening room, and again in the "wastebasket". But considering that the station is Titan, a moon of Saturn, these are no ordinary whales. At the very least, they are telepathic and telekinetic.
A creature is swimming underwater beneath the caved in area. You only see it clearly for a brief instant. It's a long reptile with an immense gaping maw.
Doctor Celyne enters the "wastebasket" soon after you arrive there. Other than you, she's the last person in Oceanus. Almost certainly, it's her voice you heard on the speakers. She sees you as a valuable resource and wants to enslave you.
Found dead:
Doctor Wilson Kennan is found dead of a broken neck in the terrace restaurant. He was the Section 101 manager. The station log strongly implies that Celyne killed him.
Doctor Nelly Adams, aka Nurse Nelly, is found dangling from wires on the other side of a glass wall in a doctor's office. She was the only one who treated you with compassion and respected you as a person. It's probably her voice on the recorder. You learn you somehow killed Nelly with a massive wave of uncontrolled telekinesis.
Doctor Burt Hoffmann is on a bed in the intensive ward. His body was severely crushed in the same TK event that killed Nelly.
Twentry-eight bodies of children are piled up haphazardly in quarantine. Many are deformed. They are all the failed attempts to produce a viable human-whale hybrid.
Mentioned:
Most personnel were evacuated after the TK event.
The nurses assigned to Chloe were not evacuated, but we can assume they all died during the upheaval that freed Chloe from her cocoon.
BioFarm is the research company that is responsible for Oceanus. Because Titan is not subject to Earth's laws, they obviously feel they can ignore all medical ethics there.
Credits
This is the response to CREDITS:
The game was tested by the one and only Andrew Schultz (what would I do without him?), Gianluca Girelli and Garry Francis. Rovarsson was also pretty helpful in finding missing verbs and interactions. It uses the PunyInform libraries by Johan Berntsson and Fredrik Ramsberg, and of course Inform6 by Graham Nelson (and a lot of other people). The C64 version has been compiled with Ozmoo by Johan Berntsson and Fredrik Ramsberg. All the other thirty-something versions are courtesy of Stefan Vogt and his incredible Puddle BuildTools.
if you enter the water at "Caved In" while the snake creature is still a danger.
You have become a slave
if Celyne stabs you with a needle. This happens if you talk to her too many times.
You have won
if you try to shoot Celyne with the stapler while the whales are waiting. The whales destroy the station and adopt you.
Inventory
Items are listed in the order acquired.
a suit. You're wearing it.
It's a full bodysuit. You don't even know how to remove it.
a shiny splinter. There are rock fragments at Middle Bridge; you take one automatically when you look at them.
You don't need the splinter.
a pneumatic stapler. It's inside the cabinet's drawer in the middle level infirmary; kick the drawer to open it.
At north bridge, put the spray can in the dumbwaiter. Go east into the closet and shoot the dumbwaiter (with the stapler). The can explodes and straightens out the dumbwaiter. The dumbwaiter works now.
In the "wastebasket", shoot Dr Celyne with the stapler while the whales are waiting. This in itself doesn't hurt her, but it makes her hestitate just long enough for the whales to make their move.
a dented disc. It's in the duct below the food court.
The disc is heavy. To get it out of the duct, take the disc then push the disc up.
After fixing the dumbwaiter in north bridge, put the disc into the dumbwaiter. The dumbwaiter delivers the disc to a bulkhead in the level below you, unlocking it.
a juicy piece of meat. It's in the kitchen.
Put the burst container into the meat, then, at "Caved In", put the meat into the water. The underwater creature will try to eat the trapped meat, then flee, making it safe for you to go underwater.
a spray can. Find it by opening the doors in the kitchen.
At north bridge, put the spray can into the dumbwaiter. Go east into the closet and shoot the dumbwaiter (with the stapler). The can explodes and straightens out the dumbwaiter. The dumbwaiter works now.
a burst container. Find it by opening the doors in the kitchen.
Put the burst container into the meat, then, at "Caved In", put the meat into the water. The underwater creature will try to eat the trapped meat, then flee, making it safe for you to go underwater.
a security badge. The corpse in the terrace restaurant, north side, is wearing it.
In the screening room, put the badge in the slot to open the south door to the southern complex.
In the aseptic corridor, put the badge in the slot to open the east door to the quarantine.
a folder. It's in the terrace restaurant, north side.
Read it. You learn that the facility, after several failures, succeeded in creating something. Note also that they used the phrase "OUT OF JURISIDICTION, ALLOW" frequently.
an old audio recorder. It's on the workbench in "A Room Like No Other".
Turn it on to listen to its recording. A woman's voice is frustrated with the unethical practices she's witnessed here. Very likely this is Nelly's voice.
a diamond head. It's the object on the arm of the machine that stands out in "Machinery".
In "A Room Like No Other", cut the glass wall with the diamond. You can now go east, but the diamond is lost.
Score
This is the response to SCORE:
You have so far scored your-score out of a possible 185, in several turns.
Points are awarded as follows:
5 points for kicking the infirmary's drawer open.
5 points for opening the food court's drain.
5 points for opening the kitchen's cabinet door.
20 points for straightening the dumbwaiter.
10 points for sending the disc down the dumbwaiter.
5 points for inserting the burst container into the meat.
15 points for putting the booby-trapped meat into the water.
5 points for examining the corpse in the terrace restaurant.
10 points for opening the door in the screening room.
5 points for finding the audio recorder.
5 points for taking the diamond.
10 points for cutting the glass wall with the diamond.
5 points for learning that you killed Nelly with your mind.
20 points for reading the entire log in Section 101.
50 points for trying to shoot Celyne with the stapler while the whales are waiting.
