Key & Compass presents:
Andromeda Awakening
by Marco Innocenti

• Walkthrough
  • Prologue: Apartment and train
  • Midgame: The underground settlements
  • Endgame: Center of the planet
• Extras
  • Characters, Credits, Inventory
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This game at CASA, IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Follow me at Bluesky, Ko-Fi, Mastodon, Patreon, and Wordpress.

Walkthrough

Prologue: Apartment and train

Andy's Apartment

> x me. i. x ticket.

> x card. read card. x picture. x E-Pad.

> x bed. x table.

> take folder. x it. open it.

> x bathroom.

> x dust —or— x atmosphere.

> x memory. smell it. listen to it.

Give the E-Pad a workout:

> research E-Pad.

> research Andy. research me. research Council.

> research ASA. research galaxy.

> research world —or— research Monarch.

> research Korhos. research Fatimah. research Sehrn.

> research Tidal Initiative.

> research manuscript —or— research Mementos.

> research Codex.

> research Phelios. research excerpts.

> research Event. research mechanosatellites.

> research Second Bound. research First Bound.

> research library. research KFS.

Moving on...

> w.

Condominium

> x grates. x light.

> research Campus. research Brouguoise.

> d.

The Exit

> x door. x stairs. n.

Avenues

> x people. x sun.

> x Korhos. x Fatimah. x Sehrn.

> e.

Avenues - East branch

Although there's a road east, you have no business there.

> se.

South Fork Station

The "obliterator" seems like the wrong English word here. I'd call it a scanner.

> x gate. x obliterator. x vending.

You notice someone in yellow about now.

> put card in vending. (It eats your card!)

> put ticket in obliterator.

> x yellow. x map. x man.

> x backpack. x fresh ticket. take it. (Not that easy!)

> talk to man. g. step on fresh ticket.

Man leaves, you take the new ticket, toss the old away.

> put ticket in obliterator. s.

Railways

> read report.

You will automatically board the train after reading the report, but you can instead choose to wait. The train will also arrive after 8 or so other actions.

Train

> x man. x newspaper. research glacier.

A tremor shakes the train.

> talk to man. talk to man.

A shockwave hits and the train is destroyed.

Wrecked Train

> x man. talk to man. z. s.

Midgame: The underground settlements

Ledge

> x chasm. x glow. x ledge.

> nw.

Rails' End

> exits. (A useful command to show where you can go.)

> x smoke.

> sw. (Can't; that rail is still live.)

> n.

Molten Span

> research Constructs. x Constructs. x shine. (A pole?)

> e.

Hollow Grounds

> x magma. x quartz. take splinter. x it.

> x light. nw.

Cave Mouth

> x cliff. s.

Hyerotrope

There's no way to know this at this time, but the four dots refer to four pieces of machinery elsewhere.

> research Hyerotrope. research Ancient Era.

> x dome. x web. x door. x dots.

> touch dome. touch web. touch door.

> listen.

> n. (Part of the cliff falls.)

Cave Mouth

> se. (If you're stopped by a tremor, try again.)

Hollow Grounds

> w.

Molten Span

There's now a bridge north.

> n.

Pillar Section

Extremely hot here! Take the bar and go!

> x wires. take bar. s.

Molten Span

> x bar. w.

Abandoned Wareshouse

> x switch. x boxes. x hut.

> pull switch. (Although it's not obvious what you just turned off, the rail at Rails' End is now no longer live.)

> go to rails' end.

Rails' End

> x rails. sw.

Last Steel Overlook

> x wagon. x chasm. listen to it.

> w —or— enter wagon.

Broken Wagon

> x bench. look under bench. take box.

> out.

Last Steel Overlook

> x box. open it. x Elektron. x weight.

> research Elektron. put quartz in Elektron.

> read Elektron.

> x glossy side. x sticky side.

> go to hyerotrope.

Hyerotrope

> put Elektron on hyerotrope. (geo-gravitional pull)

> go to warehouse.

Abandoned Warehouse

> n.

Inside the hut

> x wire. x shelves. x cut.

> pry cut with bar. n.

Featureless Corridor (center)

> research underground settlement.

> research disappearing walls.

> e.

Featureless Corridor (east end)

> x spot. put Elektron on spot. (Gamma section port found.)

> tap Elektron. (North wall vanishes. You retake the Elektron.)

> n.

Dark Recess

> touch walls. (You find and take the north exit.)

Dark Lab

> x cabinet. open it. take all from it.

> x alpha disc. x beta disc.

> w.

Nail

> x nail. touch it. x tables.

> x terminal. turn it on. read it.

> research Event. research alpha radiation.

> e. s. s. w. w.

Featureless Corridor (west end)

> put Elektron on spot. (Alpha section port found.)

> tap Elektron. (West wall opens.)

> w.

Blinking Room

> x light. x floor.

> w.

The Storeroom

> x soap. take it. smell.

> e. n.

Cold Pyramid

> x spike. x machinery.

You must be on the spike to see the machinery in detail.

> climb spike. x machinery.

> put Elektron on it. tap Elektron.

> put beta disc on cylinder. (Cylinder leaves; spike leaves; north way opens.)

Incidentally, back at the hyerotrope, one of the four dots has stopped pulsing.

> n.

Quartz Tunnel

> x walls. nw.

Quarantine

> research quarantine. e.

Wastes

> x stairs. x green. d.

Waste Basket

> smell. search garbage.

> x case. open case. take it.

> go to quartz tunnel.

Quartz Tunnel

> throw case. (Success!)

Although you can pick up the machine, it's simpler to leave it here to avoid disambiguation issues with a similar machine found in "Inferno".

> x machine.

> put alpha disc on machine. (Not a match.)

> go to quarantine.

Quarantine

> n.

Cells

> x cells. w.

Control Room

> x monitors. x table. x buttons. ('screens' and 'shock'.)

> push screens button. x monitor.

> push shock button. (Lightning in the monitored cell!)

> x terminal. tap it. (Need a 3-digit code.)

> e. n.

Inferno

> x writing. (Note the "use the bounds use their number" clue.)

> x cylinder.

> put alpha disc on cylinder.

> x hole. look in it.

> s. w.

Control Room

> research bounds. (There are 237 rules.)

> type 237 on terminal. (Learn about Initiative One.)

> e. s. s.

Pentagon

> x grate. x tunnel. x northwest door.

> sw.

Scanning Lab

> x cube. x wires.

> x cannon. (red "FIRE" button)

> x left bay. x right bay. (both empty)

> push button. (Blue ray scans left bay, then laser fires at the right bay.)

> go to Quartz Tunnel. e.

Glass Divide

> x chairs. (find "Gamma" disc)

> take gamma.

> x window.

> w.

Quartz Tunnel

> put gamma on perfect machine. (It digs into the ground. Something happens elsewhere.)

> go to nail.

Nail

The talon is gone, leaving a way west.

> w.

Windowed Habitat

The Elektron beeps twice. The "talon" enters from the north; it's a wheel, part of a torn machine.

> x wheel. x parallelepipedon.

> put Elektron on it. (Alpha radiation found; do not activate.)

When I first played, I overlooked that the thing on top of the parallelepipedon is a distinct item called a "circular maze".

> x maze. put wax on maze. x wax.

> go to scanning.

Scanning Lab

> put wax in left bay.

> put weight in right bay.

> push button. take weight and wax.

> go to habitat.

Windowed Habitat

> put weight on maze. (The parallelepipedon sinks into the ground; the hole closes. You're sure something big happened somewhere.)

> go to hyerotrope.

Hyerotrope

The door now has an azure frame.

> touch door. (It opens and closes.)

> enter door.

As you enter, your Elektron is destroyed and your E-Pad dies.

Endgame: Center of the planet

Inside the Hyerotrope

> x cube. sit on cube. (You travel to...)

Ravines

And the Hyerotrope goes back up without you.

> x cracks. s.

Dust to Dust

> x train. x human. x city. x waterfall.

> n. n.

The Gate

> x gate. x columns.

> x ladder. (missing a rung)

> up. (no, you need that rung)

> put bar in hole. (no: too thick)

> s. s.

Dust to Dust

> search train. (You acquire a bench pole.)

> x pole. n. n.

The Gate

> put pole in hole. u.

Operator's Room

> take diary. x it. read it.

> x desk. x console.

> x lever. push lever. (The north window breaks open.)

> x devices. x chair. x dust. x window.

> n. (You jump down to...)

Mall

> take lever.

> x stocks. x machinery. (You acquire an essay.)

> x essay. read it.

The professor believes the Hyerotropes are thinking beings, and as a group, the Hyeromatrix work as an attractor.

Also, the Hyerotropes emit a strong energy directed towards the galaxy's center.

> x cave. x channels. x river.

> n.

Center of the earth

> x objects.

> n.

Memento Mori

> x Hyerotrope. x object. read sign.

It's the beacon. The Hyerotrope opens and pulls you and the beacon inside.

It's full of Stars

> x stars. x form.

The Hyerotrope moves. Monarch is destroyed. Other Hyerotropes join you. You play the recording.

*** You are among the stars ***

> beacon

> wrong

> afterwords

Extras

Characters

• The player-character (E-Pad user 5,835) is the chief researcher at the Radiations and Microwave Survey in the Monarch State University.
• Dr. Andy Re's (E-Pad user 5,834) is a professor who was studying crust substrates until he was murdered.
• Some people are passing everywhere in and between the Avenues and Railways.
• A man in the yellow coat is reading the map at South Fork Station.
• A reading man is on the train, reading his newspaper. You recognize him as the stranger who told you "it will be ok, man" when your magnetic card was eaten by a vending machine. If you talk to him four times on the train, you learn his name is Doran, and he's a scientist for the ASA Electric Development.
• The Hyerotropes may be (or may not be) alive.

Found dead:

• The rest of the human race fell to the "Dust to Dust" location.

Mentioned:

• The Council of the Thirteen is the government-above-the-government. Andy's report is for them.
• The gate operator left his diary behind.
• Marko was a friend of the operator. Marko was sent to the digging facility. He was swallowed by one of the Hyerotropes.
• General Hickk'errs has blank eyes. He ordered a set of dangerous experiments.
• Prof. G.D. of the Monarch Research Facility wrote the essay.

Credits

Type CREDITS to open a menu, then open the "Credits" and "More Credits" menu-items:

Credits

Release 1 of Andromeda Awakening was betatested and proofread by Joel Webster, and proofread by Lutein Hawthorne and G. A. Tippery, who did an awesome job considered they had but a few days to do it.
Release 2 was done via the help and suggestions of such impressive gentlemen as Victor Gijsbers, Peter Pears from www.intfiction.org, and Hannes Schüller from www.goodolddays.net. Praises to them.
Release 3 was tested and proofread by Dacharya64, Joey Jones, Michael Wayne 'JizaBoz' Phipps Jr, and Jacek Pudlo.

If you have suggestions, corrections or flames, feel free to contact me at email redacted. Of course, it would not be lethal to write me some (eventual) pleasantries, also.

HUGE thanks must go to Graham Nelson and the rest of the nice people who designed such an incredible tool like Inform 7, which superlative programming language should be studied in schools (and probably is). Also, bows to the intfiction.org community for being always so supporting and helpful.

Lastly, all my praises to Steve Meretzky and Dave Lebling, along with all the impressive people at Infocom; Scott Adams for opening the doors of IF for me; Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler at Beam Software, for having taught me english before a regular teacher did and for being the incredible inspiration they are. You all deserve a place in the Empirean circle of Storytelling and a righteous throne in Absolute Myth.

More Credits

This story has been written using Inform7. It uses the following extensions: Basic Screen Effects, Basic Help Menu, and Approaches by Emily Short; Glulx Boxed Quotation by Eliuk Blau. Thank to the respective authors for easing the author's job so much.

Inventory

Items are listed in the order acquired in this walkthrough.

• an expired railway ticket. You're carrying it.
• You automatically throw it away when you get a new ticket.
• a magnetic card. You're carrying it.
• Examine it; it has your picture and stats on it.
• At South Fork Station, put the card in the vending machine. The machine eats your card, but the plot advances.
• an E-Pad. You're carrying it.
• It's a electronic guide that you can consult about for many topics using the command RESEARCH TOPIC.
• Known E-Pad topics: alpha radiation, Ancient Era, Andy, ASA, Bounds/Codex/Humanitas Mementos, Brouguoise, Campus, Constructs, Council, disappearing walls, E-Pad, Elektron, Event, excerpts, Fatimah, Fatimah Initiative/Tidal Initiative, First Bound, galaxy, Hyerotrope, KFS, Korhos, Library, me, mechanosatellites, Monarch/world, Monarch manuscript, Phelios/Terracentral, quarantine, Second Bound, Sehrn, underground settlement.
• Reading the writings in "Inferno" prompts you to use the number of bounds as as code-number. Research bounds tells you there's 237 of them; in the control room, type 237 on the terminal to learn about Initiative One.
• The E-Pad stops working when you enter the Hyerotrope.
• some Report files. They're on the table in Andy's apartment.
• Open or read the folder. Hold onto it.
• a new railway ticket. At South Fork Station, it's sticking out of a backpack carried by the man in the yellow coat.
• To get the ticket, talk to the man a couple times, then step on the fresh ticket when it falls out. Then put the new ticket in the obliterator to unlock the railway gate.
• a quartz splinter. In the hollow grounds, find the splinter by examining the quartz.
• Put it into the Elektron to give power to it.
• a steel bar. It's at the pillar section.
• At "inside the hut", pry the cut (in the wall) with the bar to open a way north from there.
• a black box. In the broken wagon, find the box by looking under the bench.
• Open it; it contains an Elektron and a metal weight.
• an Elektron. It's in the black box.
• Put the quartz splinter into the Elektron to give power to it.
• At the east end of the featureless corridor, put the Elektron on the spot, then tap the Elektron to open a doorway north.
• At the west end of the featureless corrdior, put the Elektron on the spot, then tap the Elektron to open a doorway west.
• At the "cold pyramid", climb the ice spike, put the Elektron on the machinery, then tap the Elektron to try to activate the machinery.
• In the windowed habitat, put the Elektron on the parallelepipedon to learn there's Alpha radiation inside it.
• At the hyerotrope, put the Elektron on the hyerotrope to learn it's a extremely-powerful power source.
• When you enter the hyerotope, the Elektron is destroyed.
• a metal weight. It's in the black box.
• In the scanning lab, put the wax soap (replicating a circular maze) into the left bay, put the metal weight into the right bay, then push the button. The maze pattern on the soap is cut into the metal weight. It's now styled as a metal weight (cut to resemble a circular maze)
• In the windowed habitat, put the cut weight onto the maze. The parallelepipedon sinks into the ground.
• a disc labeled "Alpha". It's in the glass cabinet in the dark lab.
• In "inferno", put the alpha disc on the cylinder found there.
• a disc labeled "Beta". It's in the glass cabinet in the dark lab.
• At the "cold pyramid", climb the ice spike, and put the beta disc on the machinery there.
• a wax soap. It's on a plastic shelf in the storeroom.
• In the windowed habitat, put the wax soap onto the circular maze. You now have a wax soap (replicating a circular maze).
• In the scanning lab, put the pressed wax soap into the left bay, put the metal weight into the right bay, then push the button. The maze pattern on the soap is cut into the metal weight.
• a glass case. Find it by searching the garbage in the "waste basket".
• In the quartz tunnel, throw the case to shatter it. The perfect machine was inside it.
• a perfect machine. It's inside the glass case.
• Put the gamma disc onto the perfect machine.
• a disc labeled "Gamma". Find it by examining the chairs in the Glass Divide.
• Put the gamma disc onto the perfect machine.
• a bench pole. After discovering that the ladder at the gate is missing a rung, go to "Dust to Dust" and search the train to find and acquire this pole.
• Return to the gate and put the pole in the hole (of the ladder). Now you can go up the ladder to the operator's room.
• an Operator's diary. It's on the desk in the operator's room.
• Read it for the backstory.
• a broken lever. It's the main part of the console on the desk in the operator's room.
• Push the lever. It breaks off and you throw it through the window. It lands in the mall to the north; pick it up there. Not much you can do with it, though.
• an essay. Acquire it by examining the machinery in the mall.
• Read it.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

• the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, Phil Tatro, and Daniel Stelzer;
• the generous support of Janice M Eisen, Matthew Foxley, and Thomas Insel;
• the very generous support of Karl Ove Hufthammer, Lance Campbell, and DrkStarr;
• the extremely generous support of Emily Short, Allen Garvin, Jesse McGrew, Jacqueline Ashwell, Jennifer Rexrode, and Durafen;
• and the invisible support of several anonymous patrons.

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