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Key & Compass presents:
Beyond the Tesseract
by David Lo

Beyond the Tesseract is a text adventure game originally written in Level II Basic, and later in Turbo C. It is © 1983-1986 by David Lo. It was ported to Inform 6 by Andrew Plotkin in December 2003.

You have reached the final part of your mission. You have gained access to the complex, and all but the last procedure has been performed. Now comes a time of waiting, in which you must search for the hidden 12-word message that will aid you at the final step. But what choice will you make when that time comes?

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 2 of the Inform port of the game.


Maps

Map 1: Real

Reading Pushed(intoreflector) Dreaming Pushed(into CRT) Library Green House CryogenicLab Researcher'sOffice book reflector pills; pool CRT stop reading pop stack wake up pop stack read book push stack sleep push stack

Map 2: Dreaming

Real give theorem to mathematician wake up Inner Space Outer Limits Twilightof Thought Edge ofForever Brink of Time Shadowof Tomorrow Abyss ofNon-Existence postulate supposition mathematician axiom hypothesis shadows sleep

Map 3: Reading

(using the projector) stop reading projector chaos dust snowflake mount;tombstone disk; warranty DimensiaChamber Point-Land Line-Land Plane-Land Sphere-Land AlienAthenium Real push 0 push 1 push 2 push 3 push 4 read book

Map 4: Pushed (into reflector)

prism y-ing apparatus audiotransmutator plant pop stack Chamberof Crystal TransparentVault Hall ofMirrors MirroredHall MirrorHallway GlassSphere Real push stack

Map 5: Pushed (into CRT)

Real InfinitePoint ClosedTimelikeCurve Set ofAll Sets Origin AbsoluteCertainty N-dimensionalSpace ContradictingPremises SpectralVortex MagneticOcean Radio Sea Ionic Storm ScintillatingShower ChromaticWhirlpool function; group future improbability strip integral hole hexahedron coil plasma push stack popstack pop stack push stack Push**2

Walkthrough

Researcher's Office

By the way, a "CRT" is a cathode ray tube, used in television sets and computer monitors back in the 1980's when this game was written.

> about. i. x stack. x crt. scan stack. scan crt. scan me. w.

Cryogenic Lab

> x pills. scan pills. take pills.

> x pool. scan it. touch it. eat pill. sleep.

Twilight of Thought

Thinking has to be done here. Hopefully the things you find in this dream suggest that 'think' is something you should try.

> think. i. x idea. develop idea. x contradiction. w.

Outer Limits

> x supposition. take it. prove it. w.

Inner Space

> x postulate. take it. s.

Edge of Forever

> x mathematician. wake him. e.

Brink of Time

> x axiom. take it. e.

Shadow of Tomorrow

> x hypothesis. take it. prove it.

> prove supposition with postulate. drop contradiction. w.

Brink of Time

> prove supposition with postulate. (+5.)

> x lemma. prove hypothesis with lemma. (+10.)

> x theorem. w.

Edge of Forever

> give theorem to mathematician. (+20.)

You've proven this universe doesn't exist; therefore, you must be in non-existence.

Abyss of Non-Existence

> x shadows. ("Reasons and Answers".) wake up.

Cryogenic Lab

> n.

Library

> x book. take it. read it.

Alien Atheneum

> x disk. take it. x warranty. take it. n

Dimensia Chamber

> x projector. x slot. x 0. x 4. put disk in slot.

> push 0. hit projector. (+5.)

> push 0. take disk. put disk in projector.

> push 1.

Point-Land

> x chaos. push 2.

Line-Land

> x dust. push 3.

Plane-Land

> x snowflake. push 4.

Sphere-Land

> x mount. x tombstone. (+20; "The Eternal Soul".)

> stop reading.

Library

> e.

Green House

> x reflector. scan it. push stack.

Mirrored Hall

> w.

Hall of Mirrors

> n.

Chamber of Crystal

> x prism. scan it. take it. s. e. e.

Mirror Hallway

> x audio. take it. scan it. wear it. n.

Transparent Vault

Difficult to guess: the verb used with the y-ing apparatus is literally "y"; eg: "y object".

> x y-ing. scan it. take it. s. w. s.

Glass Sphere

> x plant. scan it. listen. pop stack.

Green House

> s.

Researcher's Office

> push stack.

Origin

> x strip. scan it. take it. cut it. y it. (+5.)

> i. x bottle. scan it. n.

Infinite Point

> x function. scan it. take it. differentiate it.

> x group. scan it. s. w.

Set of All Sets

> x infinite. scan it. take it.

(value) > infinite. (Wrong. We haven't learned the improbability value yet.)

> w.

Closed Timelike Curve

> x future. scan it. e. e. e.

Absolute Certainty

> w. s.

Contradicting Premises

> x hole. scan hole. push stack.

Spectral Vortex

> s.

Radio Sea

> x coil. take it. scan it. e.

Ionic Storm

> x plasma. scan it. touch it. fill coil. (doesn't work yet)

> w. w.

Magnetic Ocean

Note that every fourth roll of the die gives the value "+ +". The sum of the three numbers rolled between the "+ +" rolls is a constant value; you should add them to find out what number is being suggested by the die, eg: 40.

> x hexahedron. scan cube. take die.

> roll die. g. g. g. g. g. g. g.

> turn coil. s.

Scintillating Shower

> e.

Chromatic Whirlpool

The tetrahedron has to be examined here; otherwise the letters on it are colorless and unreadable.

> scan prism. break it. (+5.)

> x tetrahedron. (+20; "Seeks the Exact".)

> pop stack. pop stack. w.

Cyrogenic Lab

Both supercooling the coil and turning it in the magnetic ocean are necessary for making the coil magnetic.

> put coil in pool. (+10.) scan coil.

> e. push stack. w.

Set of All Sets

The correct value is determined from the adding the die rolls (see above); it won't always be 40.

> take infinite.

(value) > SUM-OF-DIE-ROLLS. (+10.)

> w.

Closed Timelike Curve

> y cube. l. x past. i. x solid. scan it. e. e. e.

Absolute Certainty

Dropping the infinite improbability here opens up the east exit.

> drop infinite. (+5.) e.

N-Dimensional Space

> x integral. take it. scan it. differentiate it.

> differentiate integral with function. (+5.)

> x singularity. scan it. put it in audio.

> w. w. s. push stack. s. e.

Ionic Storm

> fill coil. heat solid. (+10.)

> look. x liquid. scan it. fill bottle.

> pop stack. pop stack. n. push stack. s.

Glass Sphere

> give liquid to plant. (+5.)

> listen. (+20; "Of Countless Tesseracts".)

> pop stack.

Green House

On returning to Real, the stack will stop working and you'll be asked for a password. The hidden twelve word statement that you were looking for was "The Eternal Soul Seeks the Exact Reasons and Answers of Countless Tesseracts." This statement contains the acrostic "TESSERACT", which is the password. Say it, but don't use quotes:

> say tesseract.

*** You have won ***


Extras

Characters


Inventory

In Real:

In Dreaming:

In Reading:

In Pushed (from reflector):

In Pushed (from CRT):

In Push**2:


Score

In that game you scored your-score out of a possible 155, in several turns.

The score is made up as follows:


Thank You to my Patreon supporters

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