Key & Compass presents:
Lunar Base 1
by Michael Wayne Phipps Jr

• Map
• Walkthrough
  • Part I: Late Pioneers
  • Part II: Awakening
  • Part III: Departure
  • Part IV: Conclusion
• Extras
  • Abbreviations, Characters, Credits, Endings, Inventory
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This game at CASA, IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Map

Walkthrough

Part I: Late Pioneers

Lunar Module

> about.

> x me. (You are Captain Stan Rogers, American, 45.)

John removes his helmet and hose. Ground control congratulates you both on your landing and clears you for entering the base.

> x John. (Dr. John Klose, German, 32.)

> x monitors. (You see the base dome and two large crates.)

You're hungry. John gets a meal from the seat compartment.

> open compartment. (You automatically take and eat a meal.)

John puts his helmet back on.

> x suit. take hose.

> x ECS. x controls.

> open hatch. u. (John follows you.)

The Moon

You briefly remember you and your father visiting the local science center.

> x ETS. (Bypass switch is off, therefore energy is going to the Base. Solar panel array is near it, connected via a cable.)

> x IECM. (Things in it can be exposed to the surface and scanned. Closed. Has cable to Base.)

> x array. (octogon shape)

> e.

Lunar Base 1 (Airlock)

John closes the airlock, then removes and hangs up his suit.

> remove suit. put suit on hook.

> e.

Lunar Base 1

John wants you to say something.

> talk. 1. (re: brightness)

John puts a small picture on the wall.

> x picture. (Family portrait of John, wife, and child.)

> talk. 2. (re: experiments)

John gives you a sample tube to put into the IECM.

> x tube. w.

Lunar Base 1 (Airlock)

> close metal door. wear suit. w.

The Moon

You think you see someone on the other side of a rock. Then there's a burst of blinding light.

> open IECM. put tube in it. close IECM.

John locks the IECM. He says he didn't see the flash.

> e.

Lunar Base 1 (Airlock)

> close airlock. put suit on hook. e.

Lunar Base 1

> talk. 1. (re: experiments)

> talk. 2. (re: IECM controls. Note the blue dial and the "Lock" button.)

> talk. 3. (re: sleep)

> x bunk. get on bunk.

Part II: Awakening

> x John. (He's staring out the window.)

> talk. 2. (re: what he's doing)

> 1. (re: what he saw.)

John talks about a dream with a glowing angel, then waking up and seeing her outside the window. You decide to report this.

> w.

Lunar Base 1 (Airlock)

The dusty smell is stronger.

> wear suit. close metal door. w. w.

Lunar Module

Everything has lost power? Maybe some exterior problem?

> u.

The Moon

You see something shining far to the northeast.

> x module. x main antenna. (bent!)

> bend antenna. (You hope that'll work.)

> w.

Lunar Module

You speak with ground control. You're to secure the base, divert power to the LM, and come home.

> u. e.

Lunar Base 1 (Airlock)

> close airlock. put suit on hook. e.

Part III: Departure

Lunar Base 1

John is charging you!

> hit John. (He falls, snoring.)

> tie John. (to the hose)

John wakes. You explain the situation, but he just stares.

> talk. 1. (John's not okay.)

> talk. 2. (John says he did nothing to the antenna.)

You're unwilling to untie John (by taking the hose) just yet.

> show picture to John. (This calms him enough that you automatically untie him.)

> w. (John follows you.)

Lunar Base 1 (Airlock)

> wear suit. w. (John follows you.)

The Moon

> turn on ETS. (only charging to 65 percent)

> talk. 2. (re: batteries)

> talk. 4. (re: shining)

> talk. 3. (re: ground control)

> w.

Lunar Module

An unknown voice from ground control insists that John can diagnose the problem.

> e.

The Moon

> talk. 1. (John starts working on repairs.)

> z. z. (The ETS now reads 98%.)

At this point, you can go west right now to return to Earth, but that ending is unsatisfying. Instead, investigate whatever is shining to the northeast.

> ne. ne. ne.

The Moon (at obelisk)

> x obelisk. take it.

> sw. sw. sw.

The Moon

> show obelisk to John. ("It looks evil!")

> e.

Lunar Base 1 (Airlock)

> close airlock. put suit on hook. e.

Lunar Base 1

> push lock. (It's now off.)

> w.

Lunar Base 1 (Airlock)

> wear suit. close metal door. w.

The Moon

> open IECM. take tube.

> put obelisk in IECM. close IECM.

> e.

Lunar Base 1 (Airlock)

> close airlock. put suit on hook. e.

Lunar Base 1

> push lock. (It's now on.)

> turn blue dial. (John, via radio, tells you to hurry outside.)

> w.

Lunar Base 1 (Airlock)

> wear suit. close metal door. w.

The Moon

John points northeast to a strangely-angled structure.

> x structure.

> ne. ne. ne.

Frightening Structure

> x slab. (2 feet wide, just above your head.)

> touch slab.

You see an alien queen address you, and you seem to leave your body!

> SPACE

You're then in an alien city and remember a church. There's a rumble. A mountain floats above you!

> SPACE

The Moon

The structure is gone. The LM is still southwest.

> sw. sw. sw.

The Moon

> talk. (John just wants to enter the module.)

> w.

Lunar Module

You start the trip back to Earth.

Part IV: Conclusion

Delivery Module

You both land safely, then are airlifted to HQ.

> SPACE

Earth (Meeting Room)

John isn't here. General Bradley tells you that both you and John took a major dose of radiation. He asks you not to contact John or his family, and also tells you that John intentionally damaged the antenna.

General Bradley further tells you that you saw a recording from gods from before human history. Then he brandishes a pistol. You'll be in rehab for weeks. Then hs tells you how a NASA inspector named Thomas Ronald Baron died with his family, a clear threat not to talk or else.

Finally, he congratulates you on your grand discovery and for being the first man on the moon. The first?

*** The End ***

Extras

Abbreviations

This game uses some technical abbreviations:

• DM = Delivery Module. This is the craft that the lunar module docks with above the moon. It's the DM that actually takes you and Dr. Klose back to Earth.
• ECS = Environmental Control System. In the lunar module, it provides life support to your space suit via a hose.
• ETS = Energy Transfer System. It's outside the airlock. It transfers power from solar panels to the lunar base. It has a switch to redirect the power to something else.
• IECM = Induced Environment Containment Monitor. It's a test chamber outside the airlock. You put things inside it and close it. Inside the base, there are controls to lock the IECM, then select an environment to subject them to.
• LB1 = Lunar Base 1. It's the habitat you and John will be living and working in while on the moon.
• LM = Lunar Module. The craft that brought you to the moon from lunar orbit and will take you back to do the DM.

Characters

• Captain Stan Rogers is the player-character. He's American and 45.
• Dr. John Klose is your crew-mate. He's German and 32.
• Ground control is your contact on Earth. When asking about the power problem, an unknown voice with an odd tone cuts in, insisting Klose can diagnose the problem.
• An alien queen speaks to you when you touch the slab, but you don't understand her.
• Hideous winged insects and humanoids with elongated skulls are seen during your out-of-body experience.
• Random people with the space agency are seen after you return to Earth.
• General Bradley debriefs you when you're back on Earth.

Mentioned:

• Werner Von Braun was an inspiration for John.
• You remember your father when you step onto the moon's surface.
• John's wife and child are on the picture.
• Thomas Ronald Baron was a quality control and safety inspector for NASA. He and his family died in 1967 when his car stalled on a railroad track. In context, this odd bit of trivia is actually a threat, because it's strongly implied that Baron (and his family!) was killed for saying too much.

Credits

This is the response to ABOUT:

Lunar Base 1 was written by Michael Wayne Phipps Jr. using Inform7. The cover art was also created by Michael Wayne Phipps Jr. using an original sketch and GIMP software.

This version is intended for IfComp 2012 and may be updated in the future.

Special thanks to all testers: Jonathan Blask ("Ellison"), Sean Shore, Adri ("Generic Geek Girl"), Irfon-Kim Ahmad, and Keith Stewart.

Thanks to the makers of Inform, to the regulars at ifMUD and intfiction.org who answer my questions when I'm in a bind, Stephen Granade for organizing IfComp, and all donators to IfComp.

Thank you for playing Lunar Base 1. I hope it is an enjoyable experience for you.

Endings

I found four endings to this game.

• How are you ever going to explain your carelessness? You are surely to be demoted, if not discharged.
• if you turn on the ETS to divert power to the lunar module while John is still inside the base. John dies.
• You have died
• if John chokes you to death at the beginning of part III.
• The End (an unsatisfying ending)
• if you and John return to Earth without making contact with aliens. General Bradley tells you that both you and John took a major dose of radiation. He tells you not to contact the Klose family until further notice. And he also tells you that John intentionally damaged the main communications antenna.
• The End (the winning ending)
• if you and John return to Earth after making contact with aliens.

Inventory

• a space suit. You're wearing it.
• In the lunar module, your suit is connected to the ECS (Environmental Control System) via a life support hose. When it's time to leave, take the hose to detach it.
• After entering the lunar base, in the airlock, close the airlock, remove the suit and put it on the hook.
• Before leaving the base, wear the suit and close the metal door.
• a life support hose. It's attached to your space suit and to the ECS of the lunar module.
• Just before leaving the module, take the hose to detach it.
• In part III, when John is attacking him, hit him then tie him with the hose. After you calm him down (see picture), you automatically take the hose back.
• a picture. John hangs it on the wall of Lunar Base I soon after entering there for the first time.
• In part III, after tying John up (see hose), show the picture to him to calm him down.
• a sample tube. In Lunar Base I, John gives it to you during part I, after you talk to him about the experiments.
• Outside the airlock, open the IECM, put the tube in it, then close the IECM.
• Later, when you want to put the obelisk into the IECM, take the tube to make room. What happens to the tube at this point doesn't matter.
• an obelisk. It's on the Moon, far to the northeast.
• If you show the obelisk to John, he says it looks evil.
• Optional: Take the tube out of the IECM and put the obelisk in its place. Close the IECM with the obelisk inside. Using the obelisk this way is required towards getting the best ending.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough is provided free of charge since the work it's based on has less than fifteen locations. Please consider it a thank you for your support!

I create larger walkthroughs too! Please visit my Patreon account if you're interested in helping me create more interactive fiction walkthroughs. I appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks again.

Ko-Fi is a way to send me small one-time donations. Every little bit helps, and thank you!