Start of a transcript of JIGSAW An Interactive History Copyright (c) 1995 by Graham Nelson Release 3 / Serial number 951129 / Inform v1600 Library 6/1 Standard interpreter 1.1 Interpreter 1 Version C / Library serial number 951024 >look Clouded Crags A sharp, steep mountain wall rises to the north. Clouds gather and part with furious speed on the crags above. A slowly-rotating, holographic projection hangs in mid-air beneath the churning clouds, in the shape of a torus. The hologram slowly turns, now showing a Universe of stars and galaxies, exploded violently out from a point. >w Cube The sharp mountain walls to west and north meet here at a basalt pinnacle, on which a perfectly-cut cube two yards across is balanced. >e Clouded Crags A sharp, steep mountain wall rises to the north. Clouds gather and part with furious speed on the crags above. A slowly-rotating, holographic projection hangs in mid-air beneath the churning clouds, in the shape of a torus. The hologram slowly turns, now showing a laser beam striking a diffraction grating. >z Time passes. The hologram slowly turns, now showing the fission of an atom. >z Time passes. The hologram slowly turns, now showing a demonstration of the Doppler effect. >z Time passes. The hologram slowly turns, now showing the carbon-dating of ancient human bones. >z Time passes. The hologram slowly turns, now showing a Universe of stars and galaxies, exploded violently out from a point. >z Time passes. The hologram slowly turns, now showing a Universe of stars and galaxies, slowly creating itself. >z Time passes. The hologram slowly turns, now showing the industrial extraction of ammonia. >z Time passes. The hologram slowly turns, now showing the carbon-dating of ancient human bones. >e Thick Mist Thick, cloudy mist covers the Land here, suspended in the air like milk in water. >e You stumble along, descending a little out of the mist. Dodecahedron The sharp mountain walls to east and north meet here at a basalt pinnacle, on which a perfectly-cut dodecahedron two yards across is balanced. >s Toll Gate Here, the eastern rock face meets the Ash River just to the south. Cut into the rock face is a square-cut doorway, radiating cold and open only onto blackness. Above it is an adamantine plaque, bearing the simple word "TOLL" and a graph. The Ash River bubbles and splutters. >x graph The vertical axis of the graph runs from 0 to 110 M, whatever M is; the horizontal axis, from 0 to 100 Y. Plotted on the graph is a rising curve, climbing slowly to M=20 at Y=20, then to M=40 at Y=40, and then a sudden rise to M=80 by Y=50: after that the curve gradually rises to M=110. The Ash River bubbles and splutters. >w Northeast of Pyramid Open field north of a slow, sludgy Ash River, which flows out of the west corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northeast face is a gleaming doorway. >w Northwest of Pyramid Open field north of the canal, which opens out here to a steel-grey river and then flows under the eastern corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northwest face is a gleaming doorway. The canal-water splashes and catches the light. >w Glacier Milk A violently rapid glacier-milk river plunges down the western rock face into a canal just to the south, which flows away east. >s At the Pagoda The western rock face meets the glacier-milk canal just to the north. A Chinese Pagoda, or pavilion, is placed serenely on this bank, its doorway open. >s Thick Mist Thick, cloudy mist covers the Land here, suspended in the air like milk in water. >e You stumble along, climbing a little. Thick Mist Thick, cloudy mist covers the Land here, suspended in the air like milk in water. >e You stumble along, climbing a little out of the mist. Carved Faces The southern mountain wall is carved here with a mass of faces, each on top of another: glaring, happy, bemused, tragic. >e Octahedron The sharp mountain walls to east and south meet here at a basalt pinnacle, on which a perfectly-cut octahedron two yards across is balanced. >n Ash River Culvert To the north, the Ash River, sick with grey sludge, drains into a culvert in the sheer mountain wall which runs along the eastern border of the Land. >n Toll Gate Here, the eastern rock face meets the Ash River just to the south. Cut into the rock face is a square-cut doorway, radiating cold and open only onto blackness. Above it is an adamantine plaque, bearing the simple word "TOLL" and a graph. >w Northeast of Pyramid Open field north of a slow, sludgy Ash River, which flows out of the west corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northeast face is a gleaming doorway. >w Northwest of Pyramid Open field north of the canal, which opens out here to a steel-grey river and then flows under the eastern corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northwest face is a gleaming doorway. >e Northeast of Pyramid Open field north of a slow, sludgy Ash River, which flows out of the west corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northeast face is a gleaming doorway. >s Southeast of Pyramid Open field south of a slow, sludgy Ash River, which flows out of the east corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the southeast face is a gleaming doorway. >w Southwest of Pyramid Open field south of the canal, which opens out here to a steel-grey river and then flows under the western corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the southwest face is a gleaming doorway. >n Northwest of Pyramid Open field north of the canal, which opens out here to a steel-grey river and then flows under the eastern corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northwest face is a gleaming doorway. >[ A blue-behinded ape, I skip Upon the trees of Paradise. -- Robert Louis Stevenson, "A Portrait"] s Southwest of Pyramid Open field south of the canal, which opens out here to a steel-grey river and then flows under the western corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the southwest face is a gleaming doorway. >e Southeast of Pyramid Open field south of a slow, sludgy Ash River, which flows out of the east corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the southeast face is a gleaming doorway. >n Northeast of Pyramid Open field north of a slow, sludgy Ash River, which flows out of the west corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northeast face is a gleaming doorway. >w Northwest of Pyramid Open field north of the canal, which opens out here to a steel-grey river and then flows under the eastern corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northwest face is a gleaming doorway. >w Glacier Milk A violently rapid glacier-milk river plunges down the western rock face into a canal just to the south, which flows away east. >e Northwest of Pyramid Open field north of the canal, which opens out here to a steel-grey river and then flows under the eastern corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northwest face is a gleaming doorway. >e Northeast of Pyramid Open field north of a slow, sludgy Ash River, which flows out of the west corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northeast face is a gleaming doorway. >e Toll Gate Here, the eastern rock face meets the Ash River just to the south. Cut into the rock face is a square-cut doorway, radiating cold and open only onto blackness. Above it is an adamantine plaque, bearing the simple word "TOLL" and a graph. >x plaque The vertical axis of the graph runs from 0 to 110 M, whatever M is; the horizontal axis, from 0 to 100 Y. Plotted on the graph is a rising curve, climbing slowly to M=20 at Y=20, then to M=40 at Y=40, and then a sudden rise to M=80 by Y=50: after that the curve gradually rises to M=110. >s Ash River Culvert To the north, the Ash River, sick with grey sludge, drains into a culvert in the sheer mountain wall which runs along the eastern border of the Land. >s Octahedron The sharp mountain walls to east and south meet here at a basalt pinnacle, on which a perfectly-cut octahedron two yards across is balanced. >w Carved Faces The southern mountain wall is carved here with a mass of faces, each on top of another: glaring, happy, bemused, tragic. >x faces As you peer into the faces, you realise with a start of surprise that a new face is being carved even now! You stand back a moment, but there can be no doubt: the face is yours. >w Thick Mist Thick, cloudy mist covers the Land here, suspended in the air like milk in water. >w You stumble along, descending a little. Thick Mist Thick, cloudy mist covers the Land here, suspended in the air like milk in water. >n You stumble along, climbing a little out of the mist. At the Pagoda The western rock face meets the glacier-milk canal just to the north. A Chinese Pagoda, or pavilion, is placed serenely on this bank, its doorway open. >n Glacier Milk A violently rapid glacier-milk river plunges down the western rock face into a canal just to the south, which flows away east. >n Cube The sharp mountain walls to west and north meet here at a basalt pinnacle, on which a perfectly-cut cube two yards across is balanced. >e Clouded Crags A sharp, steep mountain wall rises to the north. Clouds gather and part with furious speed on the crags above. A slowly-rotating, holographic projection hangs in mid-air beneath the churning clouds, in the shape of a torus. The hologram slowly turns, now showing the fission of an atom. >x hologram The hologram is animated, and constantly changes, as if always saying its previous picture was wrong but this one is right. The hologram slowly turns, now showing tracks of particles in a bubble-chamber. >w Cube The sharp mountain walls to west and north meet here at a basalt pinnacle, on which a perfectly-cut cube two yards across is balanced. >e Clouded Crags A sharp, steep mountain wall rises to the north. Clouds gather and part with furious speed on the crags above. A slowly-rotating, holographic projection hangs in mid-air beneath the churning clouds, in the shape of a torus. The hologram slowly turns, now showing a demonstration of the Doppler effect. >e Thick Mist Thick, cloudy mist covers the Land here, suspended in the air like milk in water. >e You stumble along, descending a little out of the mist. Dodecahedron The sharp mountain walls to east and north meet here at a basalt pinnacle, on which a perfectly-cut dodecahedron two yards across is balanced. >s Toll Gate Here, the eastern rock face meets the Ash River just to the south. Cut into the rock face is a square-cut doorway, radiating cold and open only onto blackness. Above it is an adamantine plaque, bearing the simple word "TOLL" and a graph. >w Northeast of Pyramid Open field north of a slow, sludgy Ash River, which flows out of the west corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northeast face is a gleaming doorway. >w Northwest of Pyramid Open field north of the canal, which opens out here to a steel-grey river and then flows under the eastern corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northwest face is a gleaming doorway. >w Glacier Milk A violently rapid glacier-milk river plunges down the western rock face into a canal just to the south, which flows away east. >s At the Pagoda The western rock face meets the glacier-milk canal just to the north. A Chinese Pagoda, or pavilion, is placed serenely on this bank, its doorway open. The canal-water splashes and catches the light. >e Southwest of Pyramid Open field south of the canal, which opens out here to a steel-grey river and then flows under the western corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the southwest face is a gleaming doorway. >e Southeast of Pyramid Open field south of a slow, sludgy Ash River, which flows out of the east corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the southeast face is a gleaming doorway. >e Ash River Culvert To the north, the Ash River, sick with grey sludge, drains into a culvert in the sheer mountain wall which runs along the eastern border of the Land. >s Octahedron The sharp mountain walls to east and south meet here at a basalt pinnacle, on which a perfectly-cut octahedron two yards across is balanced. >w Carved Faces The southern mountain wall is carved here with a mass of faces, each on top of another: glaring, happy, bemused, tragic. At the top of the pile, your own face stares out impassively. >w Thick Mist Thick, cloudy mist covers the Land here, suspended in the air like milk in water. >w You stumble along, descending a little. Thick Mist Thick, cloudy mist covers the Land here, suspended in the air like milk in water. >n You stumble along, climbing a little out of the mist. At the Pagoda The western rock face meets the glacier-milk canal just to the north. A Chinese Pagoda, or pavilion, is placed serenely on this bank, its doorway open. >e Southwest of Pyramid Open field south of the canal, which opens out here to a steel-grey river and then flows under the western corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the southwest face is a gleaming doorway. >e Southeast of Pyramid Open field south of a slow, sludgy Ash River, which flows out of the east corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the southeast face is a gleaming doorway. >e Ash River Culvert To the north, the Ash River, sick with grey sludge, drains into a culvert in the sheer mountain wall which runs along the eastern border of the Land. >n Toll Gate Here, the eastern rock face meets the Ash River just to the south. Cut into the rock face is a square-cut doorway, radiating cold and open only onto blackness. Above it is an adamantine plaque, bearing the simple word "TOLL" and a graph. >e You stumble through the ice-cold blackness of the Toll gate, to emerge... As an Indian, celebrating the annual tribal festival in your valley in the Brazilian rain-forest. Later, you will be married. For now, supplies are being dropped by a light plane, as you trade with outsiders for land. Here comes the plane... the crates must be coming down right on top of the wedding feast! All that ribald laughter... And the napalm, and the agony of the forest. *** You have died *** In that game you scored 62 out of a possible 100, in 1055 turns, giving you the rank of Arranger of Pieces. Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, give the FULL score for that game or QUIT? > undo Toll Gate [Previous turn undone.] >e You stumble through the ice-cold blackness of the Toll gate, to emerge... As a teenager, stooping in three feet of brackish cold water in a mud-pit lined with planks of wood. It is night, but sound and fury bursts across the sky unceasingly. Suddenly the barrage ends, and you slump against the trench wall for a moment's rest, calmed by the scent of cut grass... And the phosgene gas blisters your lungs in a matter of seconds. *** You have died *** In that game you scored 62 out of a possible 100, in 1055 turns, giving you the rank of Arranger of Pieces. Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, give the FULL score for that game or QUIT? > undo Toll Gate [Previous turn undone.] >e You stumble through the ice-cold blackness of the Toll gate, to emerge... As a teenager, stooping in three feet of brackish cold water in a mud-pit lined with planks of wood. It is night, but sound and fury bursts across the sky unceasingly. Suddenly the barrage ends, and you slump against the trench wall for a moment's rest, calmed by the scent of cut grass... And the phosgene gas blisters your lungs in a matter of seconds. *** You have died *** In that game you scored 62 out of a possible 100, in 1055 turns, giving you the rank of Arranger of Pieces. Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, give the FULL score for that game or QUIT? > undo Toll Gate [Previous turn undone.] >e You stumble through the ice-cold blackness of the Toll gate, to emerge... As a confused child running along what you somehow know is the Tiergarten, the green avenue of Berlin, full of marchers and bustle and noise. You catch sight of a pretty, shining toy dropped on the road and pick it up. It's a gold badge, with a black four-armed sign on! You pin it to your old cloth jacket, just above the star your mother makes you wear... You wave to the marchers, and they soon see your pretty badge. *** You have died *** In that game you scored 62 out of a possible 100, in 1055 turns, giving you the rank of Arranger of Pieces. Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, give the FULL score for that game or QUIT? > undo Toll Gate [Previous turn undone.] >e You stumble through the ice-cold blackness of the Toll gate, to emerge... As an Indian, celebrating the annual tribal festival in your valley in the Brazilian rain-forest. Later, you will be married. For now, supplies are being dropped by a light plane, as you trade with outsiders for land. Here comes the plane... the crates must be coming down right on top of the wedding feast! All that ribald laughter... And the napalm, and the agony of the forest. *** You have died *** In that game you scored 62 out of a possible 100, in 1055 turns, giving you the rank of Arranger of Pieces. Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, give the FULL score for that game or QUIT? > undo Toll Gate [Previous turn undone.] >e You stumble through the ice-cold blackness of the Toll gate, to emerge... As a teenager, stooping in three feet of brackish cold water in a mud-pit lined with planks of wood. It is night, but sound and fury bursts across the sky unceasingly. Suddenly the barrage ends, and you slump against the trench wall for a moment's rest, calmed by the scent of cut grass... And the phosgene gas blisters your lungs in a matter of seconds. *** You have died *** In that game you scored 62 out of a possible 100, in 1055 turns, giving you the rank of Arranger of Pieces. Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, give the FULL score for that game or QUIT? > undo Toll Gate [Previous turn undone.] >e You stumble through the ice-cold blackness of the Toll gate, to emerge... As a teenager, stooping in three feet of brackish cold water in a mud-pit lined with planks of wood. It is night, but sound and fury bursts across the sky unceasingly. Suddenly the barrage ends, and you slump against the trench wall for a moment's rest, calmed by the scent of cut grass... And the phosgene gas blisters your lungs in a matter of seconds. *** You have died *** In that game you scored 62 out of a possible 100, in 1055 turns, giving you the rank of Arranger of Pieces. Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, give the FULL score for that game or QUIT? > undo Toll Gate [Previous turn undone.] >w Northeast of Pyramid Open field north of a slow, sludgy Ash River, which flows out of the west corner of the golden Pyramid. In the centre of the northeast face is a gleaming doorway. >sw Disc Room This is a tiny tetrahedral annexe of a room, whose only clear feature is a broad black disc embedded in the floor. >nw Inside the Monument A sloping crevice of metal, sunken into the ground some way to make a larger-than-expected room. Short flights of steps lead up to west and southeast. The air is hot as a bakery. At the centre is a heavy old table whose top is a beautiful mahogany jigsaw-board, with room for sixteen pieces arranged in a square. There are three gaps left. >list a1 a growth of mould in a Petri dish (solved) a2 a 33 r.p.m. vinyl long-playing record (solved) a4 parklands strobed by laser light (solved) b1 a moustachioed invalid in bed (solved) b2 rolling, low sand dunes (solved) b3 a silver USAF-marked plane b4 white folds of snow (solved) c1 a cocktail in a glass, with tonic and ice (solved) c2 a horse-drawn state carriage (solved) c3 a racing steam train (solved) c4 the full moon in a blue sky d3 fields of cabbages d4 a shipping barge in a canal >turn off alarm The latch on the clock is now off. >set clock to 59 The clock starts, silently and slowly, and the jigsaw board pulses with a flickering amber light, warm and erratic as though from an oil lamp. >press c4 The piece at c4 presses in smoothly, like a button, then releases. You are sucked up once again into the time vortex. As you slow down, you briefly make out Stravinsky's ballet "The Rite of Spring" being broken up by riots in Paris and then everything begins to change... [Press SPACE to continue.] Chapter Nine - The High Point Lunar Module An early space capsule like the cockpit of a plane, bolted with banks of dials and analogue readouts like car milometers. A computer displays crude green digits; not far away is a sextant. Mass is so critical that there's no panelling over the maze of wires and pipes, and the hull is eggshell-thin. Two astronauts can just about comfortably stand by the control panel, either side of which is a triangular window. In the white ceiling, at the rear, is a hatch, shut tight; and down at knee-level, the entrance to an airlock. A modern-looking book, Rukl's "Atlas of the Moon", sits incongruously beside a kind of hammock. You are not altogether surprised to find out who the other astronaut is. Black snatches the sparkler away and you lose sight of it. "That was a close one! We're breathing pure oxygen here. It could have been the Apollo 1 fire all over again." >save Ok. >undo Lunar Module [Previous turn undone.] >x black Black is poised over the controls, wearing not a space-suit but casual clothes: black jeans and a T-shirt from the height of the Vietnam war protests, with a picture of men on the moon and the slogan "So What?" written underneath. "Haven't you ever wondered what would have happened if the last Apollo astronauts hadn't been killed?" >look through window That's not something you need to refer to in the course of this game. >x hatch That's not something you need to refer to in the course of this game. >get atlas Taken. "So here goes!" This has, to say the least, been a confusing evening. Killed? You don't remember that, but then nobody at your school ever talked about Apollo. >read atlas There are entries on every named feature of the moon, and well-drawn maps. It's really intended for astronomers rather than tourists, though it includes quite detailed features of the Apollo landing sites. The view is extraordinary, flying over a bright white-grey cratered world from 70 miles up. "And... burn!" says Black coolly. The capsule turns and thrusts briefly into a new elliptical orbit, arcing downward. "Traditionally the astronauts get to name the Lunar Module, so, I hereby christen her... 'Othello'." >x display You can't see any such thing. >x displays You can't see any such thing. >x sextant Used for navigational fixes, sighting against the stars, the way travellers have for four thousand years. Through it you can see only lunar surface. >z Time passes. "Let me see... the Littrow valley, that's 20 degrees 48 minutes north, 30 degrees 10 minutes east..." >z Time passes. >z Time passes. The "Othello" drops to a perilune of just 10 miles up, and Black kicks in the engines again to tumble it out of orbit. >z Time passes. The craft is on automatic pilot descent now, gliding down over the lunar surface. >z Time passes. At 2000m up, Black takes over the controls, chiefly a buttoned joystick. The "Othello" is braking steadily. >z Time passes. Only 100m over the lunar soil now, and Black is concentrating to avoid craters and boulders. >z Time passes. Sheets of lunar soil are blown radially away from the base of the craft by rocket exhaust. >z Time passes. Wires hanging from the four legs brush against the surface, and the "contact" light comes on. For an instant Black hesitates, then kills the engines, and the "Othello" settles without a bump, leaning just fractionally (one of its legs must be slightly inside a minor crater). "I don't recognise this! We're in the wrong place! And there's no fuel to take off and land elsewhere." >z Time passes. >z Time passes. >z Time passes. >out But you aren't in anything at the moment. >turn on alarm The latch on the clock is now on. >set clock to 1 You shorten the time left on the clock. >z Time passes. Suddenly you are wrenched out into the time vortex once more, and find yourself back... Disc Room This is a tiny tetrahedral annexe of a room, whose only clear feature is a broad black disc embedded in the floor. You can see a sparkler here. >nw Inside the Monument A sloping crevice of metal, sunken into the ground some way to make a larger-than-expected room. Short flights of steps lead up to west and southeast. The air is hot as a bakery. At the centre is a heavy old table whose top is a beautiful mahogany jigsaw-board, with room for sixteen pieces arranged in a square. There are three gaps left. >z Time passes. >restore Ok. >z Time passes. "Haven't you ever wondered what would have happened if the last Apollo astronauts hadn't been killed?" >get atlas Taken. "So here goes!" This has, to say the least, been a confusing evening. Killed? You don't remember that, but then nobody at your school ever talked about Apollo. >z Time passes. The view is extraordinary, flying over a bright white-grey cratered world from 70 miles up. "And... burn!" says Black coolly. The capsule turns and thrusts briefly into a new elliptical orbit, arcing downward. "Traditionally the astronauts get to name the Lunar Module, so, I hereby christen her... 'Othello'." >z Time passes. >z Time passes. "Let me see... the Littrow valley, that's 20 degrees 48 minutes north, 30 degrees 10 minutes east..." >look up littrow valley in atlas South of the Littrow crater, a valley with a broken south wall named after Johann J. von Littrow (1781-1840), the Austrian astronomer. The Taurus-Littrow valley, landing site of Apollo 17, is located at 20 degrees 10 minutes north, 30 degrees 48 minutes east. >show atlas to black Black looks aghast at the entry you found on the Taurus-Littrow valley. "10 minutes north, 48 east!" Frantic manoeuvering of the capsule ensues. The "Othello" drops to a perilune of just 10 miles up, and Black kicks in the engines again to tumble it out of orbit. >z Time passes. The craft is on automatic pilot descent now, gliding down over the lunar surface. >z Time passes. At 2000m up, Black takes over the controls, chiefly a buttoned joystick. The "Othello" is braking steadily. >z Time passes. Only 100m over the lunar soil now, and Black is concentrating to avoid craters and boulders. >z Time passes. Sheets of lunar soil are blown radially away from the base of the craft by rocket exhaust. >z Time passes. Wires hanging from the four legs brush against the surface, and the "contact" light comes on. For an instant Black hesitates, then kills the engines, and the "Othello" settles without a bump, leaning just fractionally (one of its legs must be slightly inside a minor crater). >z Time passes. "Houston, Taurus base here," says Black superbly to nobody in particular. "The Othello has landed. -- Welcome to the Moon, population 4." The "Othello" shakes a little as its remaining fuel sloshes back and forth in the tanks. [Your score has just gone up by one point.] >z Time passes. >look Lunar Module "Othello" An early space capsule like the cockpit of a plane, bolted with banks of dials and analogue readouts like car milometers. A computer displays crude green digits; not far away is a sextant. Mass is so critical that there's no panelling over the maze of wires and pipes, and the hull is eggshell-thin. Two astronauts can just about comfortably stand by the control panel, either side of which is a triangular window. In the white ceiling, at the rear, is a hatch, shut tight; and down at knee-level, the entrance to an airlock. Black stands at the controls, dressed incongruously in jeans and a T-shirt. >x airlock That's not something you need to refer to in the course of this game. >x hatch That's not something you need to refer to in the course of this game. >u You can't go anywhere here except down through the airlock. It really is tiny, like two phone boxes side by side. >d You change into the space suit, and wriggle out on your stomach through a hatch only 32 inches square. (Getting out of a lunar module has been compared to being born.) Clambering out onto the nine-rung ladder, you stretch with relief. The last step is actually quite a large one... A Magnificent Desolation As Buzz Aldrin put it. A ridged, furrowed plain of unraked powdery soil, dotted with pebbles and boulders of subdued grey and brown which gleam here and there with splashes of glass. Mountains rise like sand dunes from the overcurved horizon. You have landed in the southeast corner of the Taurus-Littrow Valley, an embayment between two-kilometer high Massifs to north and south, which runs eight kilometers wide to the west until it climbs foothills bordering the Mare Serenitas. The valley floor ends suddenly with Bear Mountain to the southeast. A ladder rises through the shade into the airlock of the squat and beautiful Lunar Module "Othello". The Lunar Rover, a stripped-down jeep, rests neatly here. >