A Few Notes on Navigation
Schizm allows you to rotate through a full 360° in most locations (to better see the scenery) but you can only move along certain fixed paths between certain fixed points. I call these “paths” and “nodes” in this walkthru.
Many nodes have multiple paths leading from them so it may not always be obvious which path I am directing you on. I will try to give landmarks to navigate by as best as I can but if you seem completely lost try going back to the last node and looking around for another path.
If I tell you to look for an arrow, what I mean is that you should move the cursor around until it changes into the arrow indicating you can walk forward. When I tell you to examine an object, I mean that you should move the cursor over the object until it turns into the magnifying glass then click on it.
There are numerous places in the game where you have to click forward several times to get anywhere. For example, the game has an annoying tendency to have you stop in the middle of bridges, stairs and the like, forcing you to click forwards a second time (or third, or fourth, or…) in order to go the rest of the way. If I tell you to cross a bridge or whatever, just go forward however many times is necessary.
Finally, there are a number of actions in the game, such as entering and exiting vehicles or elevators, that you will find yourself doing over and over again. I won’t be giving detailed instructions on how to do this every time you come across one; just assume it works the same way it did the last time.
The Story So Far
When the planet Argilus was discovered, it was found to contain cities, machinery and other evidence of an advanced civilization, but no people. The planet was deserted, its population seeming to have vanished without a trace.
The planet was quarantined and a scientific expedition sent to attempt to discover what had happened to the Argilans. Then, contact with the scientific team was lost.
Now, a supply ship piloted by contact specialists Hannah Grant and Sam Mainey has arrived at Argilus. They were supposed to receive a briefing once they reached the planet but their hails go unanswered; the science team seeming to have vanished as mysteriously as the Argilans before them.
Suddenly, the drives on their ship fail and it begins an uncontrolled reentry into Argilus’ atmosphere. Hannah and Sam are forced to eject in the escape pods and fall to the mysterious planet below.
Walkthrough
Hannah and the Living Ships
After the introduction is finished you get your first view of Argilus in the person of Hannah Grant. She will unsuccessfully attempt to contact Sam then you will gain control. You can switch to Sam at this point if you want but we’ll continue with Hannah for now.
Go forward and up the ramp directly in front of you. As you arrive at the next landing you will see a flash of light. Hannah will comment on this but it really doesn’t mean anything; it’s just a foreshadowing of events to come.
Turn to the right until you see another ramp. Go forward and up it. You will arrive on another landing.
There are two paths forward from this node, one to the left of the organic-looking column directly in front of you and one to the right. Take the right path. This will take you to an area surrounded by several benches.
Turn to the right until you have almost turned completely around. You should see a couple of wooden tables under what looks like a clothesline. The nearest table has what looks like an electronic tablet on it. If you hold your cursor over the tablet it should turn into a magnifying glass. Click on it and you will get a close-up of an expedition logbook. Hannah will get very excited but her excitement will evaporate a moment later when she realizes that the memory in it has been erased. Now, why would someone have done that? Oh well, back out of this scene and turn around again.
You should be facing what looks like an open tower. Go forward out of the benches area and you will be looking at a doorway into the tower. There is a button to the left of the door and pushing it will summon an elevator. The elevator will also come automatically if you move forward so just go forward into the opening. The elevator will arrive and you will automatically get in.
Turn to the left until you see the control panel. Push the up button. When the elevator gets to its destination, turn to the left until you get a forward arrow again and go forward. You will leave the elevator shaft.
There is a device off to your right but ignore it for now. Find the path a bit to the right of center and go forward. Hannah will make a comment about how there are no people around. Again, go a bit to the right and forward. You will find yourself at the base of another ramp. Turn a bit to the left and go up the ramp and to the next landing.
You are now looking at a door to a building. You can flip the door-knocker but it doesn’t do anything at the moment. If you look to the left you will see a beehive. To the right is another beehive and a path. Take that path.
If you turn to the left you will see a large, pear-shaped container of some kind, partially filled with some type of liquid. You can click on it to get a close-up if you wish. Note the row of symbols down the middle of the container.
You will also see a small, wooden “shelf” on the right side of the container. Click on that as well. Take note of the object on the shelf and the picture on the wall behind it. There isn’t anything else we can do here at the moment so back out of any close-ups, turn until you are facing the ramp again, go forward then go down the ramp.
Turn to the right until you are looking at a more-or-less open path between a building on the right and a gazebo-looking structure on the left. Go forward then turn left to look into the entrance to the “gazebo”. (If you find yourself staring at a wall, turn right and go forward then turn left to face the entrance.) This is another elevator. Go in and take the elevator up to the next level.
When you exit the elevator you should be facing a stream of greenish liquid falling into a green pool and another one of those beehives. Turn to the right and go forward. You will be facing another ramp.
Don’t take the ramp yet. Turn to the left until you are looking at the corner of the building and have a forward arrow. Go forward. You will only take a few steps so hit forward again. You will walk around the corner.
In front of you is a lantern-like object sitting on a pedestal. You can pick up the “lantern” but don’t do that yet. Instead, look at the very top of the lantern. The top of the lantern is a push-button and, if you hold your cursor over it, the cursor should turn into a pointing finger. Click the button a few times and notice what happens with the spikes protruding from the wall. Now pick up the lantern. (Click in the middle of the lantern, not the push-button.) The lantern will be added to your inventory.
Turn around until you can see the ramp again and go forward. Turn left to face the ramp then go forward to climb it. When you get to the next landing, Hannah will comment about how quiet it is and speculate that she is on some sort of living ship.
Turn a bit to the left until you see an area with a few benches under a sloping column (which looks something like a bone). Go forward into this area then turn right until you see another expedition log sitting on a bench. You can get a close-up of this one too but Hannah doesn’t make any comments about it this time. (Unless you skipped the first one in which case she gets excited about this one. Dunno why there are two…)
Turn to the left until you are looking under the sloping column and go forward, under the column and to the base of a ramp. Go up the ramp to the next landing.
When you arrive, there will be another flash of light like the one you saw before. One of the missing scientists appears before you and implores you to find the “plaques”. It seems the plaques contain the coordinates needed for navigating the living ships. Someone or something has taken and hidden the plaques and, since the coordinates change with time, the old coordinates don’t work and you need the new ones to get back to Bosh. (Bosh’s Tunnels are the location of the main scientific base, if you didn’t read your manual.)
The scientist fades in and out a few times and says something about being trapped before disappearing completely. Hannah is confused and wonders aloud what the scientist meant.
When you regain control you should see a low platform in front of you with a spiral staircase leading upwards from it. Go forward onto the platform then turn left until you see the base of the stairs. Go forward and up the staircase.
Keep going up the stairs until you reach the top. You will stop a few times and will have to keep clicking forward to keep going up. You will occasionally have to turn to the right in order to see the stairs and continue upwards.
About halfway up you will pass a set of controls on your left. Ignore them for now and just keep going up.
When you reach the top of the stairs you will be looking at a tall tower with a pair of wing-like sails extending from each side. Turn to the right until you see a shelf with several items scattered about on it. One of the items is a small wooden tablet. Click on it to get a close-up. This is one of the plaques you were told about. Write down all of the symbols on the tablet, even the ones which are crossed out.
Back out of the close-up then turn around and head back down the stairs. Go down until you reach the control panel we passed earlier. Click on the control panel for a close-up.
You will see five dials on the control panel and should also see a view of the landing below, including the fountain and a row of “buckets” beyond it. If you click on one of the dials, you should see an object “thrown” from one bucket to another. Click on each of the dials and watch the object bounce around.
The goal here is to get the object to land in the bucket closest to the fountain. Number the dials from 1 to 5, starting from the left. There may be other solutions but the one I have found is to click the dials in the order 4 – 2 – 3 – 1 – 5. Once the object has landed in the correct bucket, back out of the close-up, turn left to the stairs and go the rest of the way down.
You should now be facing the fountain. Go forward and you will walk around the fountain and be looking at the row of buckets you saw from above. (From here they sort of look like tulips.) Click on the nearest one to get a close-up of the inside. If you manipulated the dials above correctly then you should see another wooden tablet lying in the bucket. Write down all of the symbols on this tablet as well.
We now have everything we need to leave. Back out of any close-up, turn to the right then go forward to the top of the ramp. Turn left to the ramp and go down to the next landing.
On the landing, go forward, turn a bit to the right and then go forward again. Go down the ramp in front of you to the next lower landing. There, turn left, go forward, turn right, go forward then turn left to face the elevator. Take the elevator to the next lower level.
Outside the elevator, turn left until you are looking at the other elevator (the one in the open tower structure) and go forward. You should be looking into the entrance of the elevator but do not go in.
Instead, turn to the left until you see a circular console beside a wooden platform. Go forward to the console. Push the button in the middle. You will get a cinematic of a boat-like vehicle arriving on an overhead track. When it arrives you will automatically get on board and travel to the next tower.
Once there, turn to the right and go forward to the base of another ramp. Go forward again to climb the ramp.
At the next node you should be looking at a wall with several protruding spikes. There is a torch to the right and the edge of a ramp to the extreme right. You can click on the spikes to get a close-up view. Look familiar? They look like the spikes you saw on the wall in the area where you picked up the lantern.
Back out of the close-up then turn to the right to face the ramp and go forward. It’s a short ramp and you will only travel a short distance before stopping in front of what looks like a sculpture of tentacles. Examine the tentacles. When you do, you will walk around them and will find yourself on a platform with a pedestal in front of you and a view of the wall with the spikes beyond. There is a dial on the pedestal with 14 markings on it and there are 14 spikes on the wall. Click on the top of the pedestal to place the lantern there.
If you remember from when we first found the lantern, the button on the top affects the spikes in the wall. Each press of the button causes the selected spike and the spike on either side of it to reverse position; if it was retracted it will extend and if it was extended it will retract.
Spikes are selected using the dial on the pedestal. There are 14 spikes. Number them 1 thru 14 starting from the left. There are also 14 markings on the dial. Number them 1 thru 14 starting from the right. Select a spike by turning the dial to the corresponding number and pushing the button on the lantern.
The goal here is to get all of the spikes extended. There may be shorter solutions but the one I found was to select spikes 2 – 4 – 7 – 9 – 10 – 12 – 13 – 11 – 9 – 5 – 3. (If you make a mistake you can reset the spikes by backing out of the close-up then examining the tentacles again.)
When you have extended all of the spikes you will see a brief energy display along them. Back out of the close-up, turn around then go forward off the ramp. Turn right to face the spikes again. Previously you could only examine the spikes but now you can go forward. Do so and you will walk a good distance along the energy field over the spikes then across another bridge. You will eventually stop in front of a horizontal beam.
Look at the beam and you should see an object hanging from beneath it. Click on the object to get a close-up then click on it again. It will unfold to reveal a seat and a set of handles. You will automatically get on board and it will take you to yet another tower.
You are now on another platform. Turn right until you see a ramp and go forward to go down it. On the next landing, go forward and into the elevator. Take the elevator up to the next level.
Well, it looks like we’ve found some sort of control room! Go forward twice. You should be looking at a chair. Turn right until you see three control panels in front of you. You can select any of the three to get a close-up but start with the leftmost panel.
You should see three concentric rings of symbols with another symbol in the very center. These symbols should look familiar; they are the ones from those wooden tablets we found. The two rows of symbols that were crossed out at the top of each tablet are the old coordinates that don’t work anymore. We are interested in the bottom two rows on each tablet.
The symbol in the center should match one of the symbols from the first column of the plaque. If you look at the three concentric rings of symbols you will see that one symbol from each ring is illuminated. (Actually, only the outermost ring has all of the symbols on it, the other two have dots, but you can determine which dot corresponds to which symbol by looking at the outer ring.) The rings correspond to the second, third and fourth columns from the plaques.
If you compare the illuminated symbols with those from the plaques you will discover that they match those from the plaque you found at the top of the stairs. Those are the coordinates for your current location. You want the coordinates from the other plaque. Click on the symbols from the plaque you retrieved from the bucket. (That’s the 7, 8 and 10 o’clock positions on the outer, middle and inner ring respectively.)
Back out of the close-up and select the right console. Do the same thing here. (This time you want the 9, 2 and 9 o’clock positions.)
Back out of this close-up too and select the center console. Click the hand symbol in the middle. If you have entered the coordinates correctly you should get a cinematic of the living ship setting sail while Hannah happily reports to Sam that she is on her way to Base 1.
Hannah and the Science Base Docks
When you regain control of Hannah you will still be looking at the center console. Before you leave here, note the row of lighted buttons around the bottom of the console. These are navigation presets. If you push the first lighted button the controls will automatically be set for the living ship fleet. Pushing the second lighted button sets them for here. (Don’t be intimidated by the number of unlighted buttons; you won’t need most of them for the game.)
At any rate, we need to get started. Back out of the close-up and turn right. Go forward twice to leave the control room then forward again to enter the elevator. Take the elevator down.
Go forward and up the ramp then turn left to look at the horizontal beam. Click on the object hanging below the beam to get a close-up then click on it again to cause it to unfold. You will get on board and be taken to another location.
When you are back in control, immediately turn around and attempt to use the chair again. Uh-oh… It doesn’t work. Hannah will be concerned about this then speculates that someone or something is causing all of this to happen. Well, there isn’t anything we can do about it right now so turn around again and go forward.
You will find yourself in a large, abandoned building. Hannah will speculate about where she is and once again wonder where all the people have gone. Well, that’s kind of what we’re here for, isn’t it?
Go forward twice then turn left to look at the circle of light. Click on it for a close-up and note the three symbols. Then back out of the close-up and turn completely around until you see a ladder leading up the side of a statue.
Go forward and you will climb partway up the ladder. Turn left and click on the ladder to get a close-up of the top of the statue. You will see that the statue is projecting the three symbols you just saw. You can’t do anything with the statue right now so back out of the close-up and turn left then look down and go forward to climb back down the ladder. (Navigation on the ladder is a bit tricky and you can ignore this whole area for the moment if you wish.)
You are now facing the circle of light again. Turn left, go forward, turn right then go forward again. When you arrive, there is another of those flashes of light and a figure appears before you. Hmmm… Interesting. I don’t think this is one of the missing scientists, do you? The figure will say something in an unknown language and give you an object. The object appears in your inventory but you can’t do anything with it right now, or even tell for certain what it is.
Turn a bit to the right until you get an arrow again then go forward twice. There is a device to your left but ignore it for now. Instead, turn right then go forward three times. You are now facing a doorway but you can’t go through it. Just remember where it is for now.
Turn completely around and go forward until you are facing the device we passed a few minutes ago. (Hannah will complain along the way but it isn’t totally clear what she is upset about.) Go forward towards the ladder and you should climb it. Turn to the left to get another arrow then go forward and turn right to face the device.
The device you are looking at is a mechanical computer. Click on it for a close-up. You should see a keyboard with symbols on eight of the keys. If you click on one of these keys the machine will chatter for a moment but not seem to do much else. There is also a row of short posts across the top of the device. If you click on them they will move up or down.
Click on a few of the posts to raise them then click on any of the labeled keys except the leftmost one. The machine will chatter for a bit then several indicators along the bottom of the device will light up.
The device is a mechanical computer. The posts across the top are the inputs and the lights at the bottom are the outputs. Each key causes a calculation to be performed using the values defined by the posts and lights and the lights display the result. There is a separate calculation for each key.
The inputs and outputs are in binary. Those of you familiar with binary can skip forward a bit. For the rest of you, here is a quick introduction.
The number system most everyone is familiar with is the decimal system. The decimal system uses base 10. That is, each position in a number is a power of 10. Thus, we have a ones place, a tens place, a hundreds place and so on. There are ten possible values for each place; 0 thru 9. In base 10, the number 234 is understood to mean (2 x 100) + (3 x 10) + 4.
Binary works exactly the same way. Binary is base 2, meaning that each position in a number is a power of 2. Thus, there is a ones place, a twos place, a fours place, an eights place and so on. There are two possible values for each place; 0 and 1. The number 1101 is thus understood to mean (1 x 8) + (1 x 4) + (0 x 2) + 1. This is the same as 13 in decimal.
The values for the posts and lights are calculated in binary. Counting from the far right, if the second and third posts are up then we have entered the number 6 (calculated as (1 x 4) + (1 x 2) + 0). If the first and fourth lights are lit then the number being displayed is 9 (calculated as (1 x 8) + (0 x 4) + (0 x 2) + 1)
OK, with that out of the way let’s examine the keys. There are two rows of keys. Number the keys on the top row 0 thru 3 and the keys on the bottom row 1 thru 4 (starting from the left).
Each row has an equation associated with it. For the top row it is…
Key Value x Posts x Lights…and for the bottom row it is…
Key Value x Posts + LightsIn both cases, if the value for the lights at the bottom is zero, it is treated as if it was one.
So, if the posts are set to the value for 6 and the lights are displaying the value for 8 and you press the third key on the top row the result would be 2 x 6 x 8 or 96. If you press the third key on the bottom row it would be 3 x 6 + 8 or 26. If the lights were displaying 0 (all lights off) then the result would have been 12 in the first case (2 x 6 x 1) and 19 in the second (3 x 6 + 1). No matter what values are involved, pressing the first key in the first row will result in all of the lights going off (since 0 x anything x anything = 0).
YOu can play around with the machine for a while but we haven’t found anything yet to tell us what we’re supposed to accomplish here. That means that we’ve done everything we can with Hannah for now. So, let’s see what Sam Mainey has been up to. Save your game (so we won’t accidentally lose everything we did with Hannah) then click on the picture of Hannah and Sam at the bottom right of your screen to switch to Sam.
Sam and the Balloon Fleet
Sam Mainey has found himself on a balloon floating a few thousand feet above the ground. He unsuccessfully attempts to contact Hannah before announcing that he is setting his equipment to “record” (heh-heh). You then gain control.
Immediately examine the object on the ground in front of you. It looks like some sort of compass. Write down the symbol at which the arrow is pointing. (Actually, go ahead and write down all of the symbols for reference. They should look familiar; they are the same as the symbols on the keyboard that Hannah was playing with a few minutes ago…)
Back out of the close-up, turn to the right and go forward. Ahead of you to the right there is a large, somewhat circular device with a number of large, paddle-like levers on it. Ignore this for now. To the left you should see a stand with what looks like an expedition log sitting on it. Click on the log to get a close-up.
Sam will recognize the log as belonging to a Dr. Richard Hovis and note that it only has one entry. Click on the screen to play a warning from Dr. Hovis, telling you to get away immediately. Too bad your ship crashed, huh? Sam will comment that first the people of Argilus vanished and now something has happened to the science team. He also wishes that he had gotten the briefing he was supposed to receive after reaching the planet. There is nothing else we can do with the log so back out of the close-up.
Ignore the device in the background for now. Turn to the left until you get an arrow and go forward along the corridor. At the next node, turn left and go forward onto the balcony then turn to the right. There is another of those compass objects here. Examine it and write down the symbol the arrow on this compass is pointing to then back out of the close-up.
Turn right and go forward to return to the corridor. Turn left and go forward until you are looking at a gondola hanging from an overhead cable.
Ignore the gondola for now. Turn right and move forward, now on the outer balcony. At the next node, turn left and examine the compass on the floor. As before, write down the symbol the arrow is pointing to. Back out of the close-up, turn right, go forward to the next node and turn left again. There is yet another compass here. Write down its symbol as well.
Back out of the close-up, turn right and go forward to a final compass. Examine it and write down the final symbol. You should now have written down five symbols, some of them possibly more than once. Back out of this close-up and turn to the right. You should see an expedition log lying on the floor. Click on it for a close-up then click again to play the log.
This log is from a Dr. Bremmer. Dr. Bremmer is concerned because the members of the scientific team have been disappearing and there are very few of them left. She comments that another scientist has taken one of the balloons to head to Base 2 while a Dr. Angela Davies has made a big discovery back at the main base. She plans to head back there herself. Sam will wonder aloud what is happening to the scientists.
Back out of the close-up then turn to the right and return to the node where you found the first expedition log. (Forward to the gondola, turn left, then forward through the tunnel.)
Once there, turn to the left and go forward to the device in the background. Click on it for a close-up. Note the symbols on the levers. You should recognize them as being the same as the symbols on the compasses you examined. Push the levers marked with the symbols you wrote down from the compasses, in the order in which you examined them. As you press each symbol you hear a voice announce something and, after pressing the fifth symbol, the center of the device will rotate open and several marbles will drop into it. Take the marbles.
Now, turn your sound on if you have been playing with it off and turn the volume up if necessary. Number the levers from 1 to 8, starting with the lever on the top right. Press lever 1 and listen to the sound it makes. It sounds like “ossa” so write down the symbol and that sound. Then press lever 4. This one should sound like “dissa”. Write down this symbol and sound too.
We’re done here so back out of the close-up, turn around and go forward then turn right and go forward to reach the gondola we passed earlier. Examine it and you will automatically get inside. There is a “T” shaped switch in the center of the console. Click on it and watch the cinematic as the gondola takes you to another balloon.
When you get control again, go forward to exit the gondola then turn right until you are facing an entrance to a tunnel. Go forward. Now, turn left until you are looking at a circular device. (It looks something like a steering wheel.) Click on it to examine it. Note the curving rows of symbols across the top and bottom and the three symbols to the right side. Back out of the close-up.
Turn right until you are facing the tunnel again then go forward to the middle of a four-way intersection. Turn to the right. You should see a device at the end of the walkway. Go forward to it and Sam will comment on the technology and speculate that there should be some way to make it work.
If you play around with the equipment here and wander around a bit without solving anything you will see a flash of light and Dr. Bremmer will appear and give you some hints. If you want to see her appearance, push random levers on the equipment and walk around the balloon for a while. Otherwise, read on…
You are attempting to fill the gas bag of the airship that you may have seen outside. This airship requires a special lifting gas that is twice as strong as the normal lifting gas. There are ten pipes carrying gas and these are controlled by the levers on the device in front of you. The problem is that which pipe carries the “super gas” is random and changes every time you use the equipment.
Fortunately there is a way to test the lift of the gasses. That is what the dial and small balloon you can see to your right are for. The first time you use the levers you put gas into the balloon. The dial then “weighs” the balloon to determine how much lift it has. Based on this information, you choose one lever and the gas bag on the airship is filled with that gas. (The airship has two gas bags and you have to fill each separately, thus the two machines.)
Now, if you could test each pipe one at a time it would be easy to determine which pipe carried the super gas but this approach is out since the pipe carrying the gas changes every time you test it. You have to somehow test every pipe at once. Fortunately, there is a way to do this.
Turn to the device, pick any lever and designate it as lever one. Press that lever one time. Press the next lever two times, the next three times and so on, all the way to lever 10 which you press 10 times. Then push the center button. You will automatically turn to the right and you will see the balloon inflate and the dial spin.
Now, you have put 55 units of gas into the balloon. (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 = 55) If all of the gasses had the same lift then you would have created 55 units of lift. But, since one of the pipes was carrying the super gas, the actual lift will be greater. The dial tells you how much the actual lift is.
The dial is read like a clock. There are two indicators, an outer and an inner. The outer indicator is worth 12 and the inner worth 1. So, if the outer dial is at the 4 o’clock position and the inner at 9 o’clock then the value is (4 x 12) + 9 or 56, if the outer is at 5 o’clock and the inner is at 12 then the answer is (5 x 12) + 0 or 60, and so on. Examine the dial and determine the lift value.
Since the super gas has twice the lift of regular gas, each press of the lever for the super gas was effectively counted twice. So, the difference between the value you calculated from the dial and 55 will tell you which lever controls the super gas. If your total was 58 then the super gas is controlled by lever 3 (58 – 55 = 3), if it was 62 then it was lever 7 (62 – 55 = 7), and so on. Determine which lever controls the super gas, turn to the left and push that lever. You should see the first gas bag inflate and the airship rise into the air.
Now turn around, go to the other device and repeat the process. You should see the airship rise completely to the docking platform and the loading ramp extend.
When the cinematic ends turn around and go back to the four-way intersection. (Sam may make a comment about Dr. Bremmer here that doesn’t make much sense unless she appeared to offer her hints. Basically he is wondering aloud what her hints meant, even though she never appeared and the problem is already solved. Go figure. The game has this problem in several places.) Turn to the left, which should be opposite the way you came in, and go forward until you are outside again. Once you are back outside turn left to face the airship.
(If you went the wrong way and found yourself at the gondola again, simply turn around and go all the way through to the other side then turn left.)
Go forward twice and you will climb up and into the airship. Turn around and go forward to the cockpit. Turn left and go forward then examine the chair there. You will see something that looks like a CD sitting on the seat. Pick it up. (You can examine the controls here but they really aren’t of any importance.) Back out of any close-up, turn around and go forward once to get to the center of the cockpit then forward again to reach the other set of controls. Now, examine the controls in front of you.
Play around with the controls for a bit. The dial at the top has 13 possible settings, the lever on the right has 10 and the lever on the left has 3. (You move the levers and dials by dragging them with the mouse.) Hmmm… Where have we seen these same symbols lately, and in a group of 13, 10 and 3 too…
Back out of any close-up, turn around and go forward to get to the center of the cockpit then turn left. Go forward then turn around and look down. Go down the stairs to get back to the docking platform then go forward again to reach the entrance to the tunnel. (The first time you get here Sam will ask Hannah if she can see what he is seeing. No, I don’t know why.) Turn right to face the tunnel then go forward all the way through the building.
You should be back on the gondola platform. Turn right and examine the wheel-like device we examined earlier. Yes, these symbols look to be the same as the ones from the controls in the cockpit. Click in the center of the device and you will place the CD from the cockpit there.
Now, click on the first of the three symbols on the right. The CD will spin and two other symbols will light up; one on the top and one on the bottom. Write these symbols down. Do the same with the second and third symbols on the right. These are the navigational coordinates for the main science base at Bosh’s Tunnels.
Back out of the close-up, turn right, go forward all the way through the building then turn left and go forward and into the airship. Turn around and go forward to the cockpit. Turn right, go forward to the pilot’s seat and examine the controls again.
Set the lever on the left to the first symbol. Set the dial at the top to the symbol from the top part of the navigational coordinate display and the right lever to the symbol from the bottom of the display. Then, push the button in the middle of the control panel. Repeat this process for the second and third symbols.
When you press the button after entering the third set of coordinates, you will get a cinematic of the airship lifting off from the platform, extending sails and setting off on its way.
Sam at Bosh’s Tunnels
When the cinematic ends you will be at the science base and still looking at the controls on the airship. Before you leave, note the two lighted buttons in the lower left corner of the console. These are presets for automatic navigation. If you press the first button the controls will automatically set themselves for the balloon fleet and the airship will return there. Pressing the second button will bring you back to Bosh’s Tunnels.
Leave the cockpit and go outside. When you exit the airship Sam will finally manage to make contact with Hannah. There is a brief happy reunion and she and Sam will fill each other in on what they have discovered. She will also tell Sam that she is stuck where she is and needs him to help her before she can progress further. Looks like it’s up to you!
You have a bit of a stroll in front of you so let’s get started. There isn’t anything along the way except for some scenery, so I’ll run through this as quickly as possible. Turn right until you get an arrow then go forward and down the stairs. Then, go forward, turn right, go forward again and turn left. Go forward onto the bridge.
The building in front of you is an elevator. Go forward. The elevator will arrive and you will automatically get on board. Turn left and push the button. When the elevator reaches its destination go forward to exit the car.
Go forward all the way across the bridge. Then, go forward a few more times until you are facing a tri-lobed door. You can’t open this one so turn left, go forward then turn right. Look just to the right of this door (where it looks like a pipe or conduit enters the side of the door). If you hold the cursor over this point it will turn into a magnifying glass. Click to get a close-up of a button. Push the button and the door will open. Go forward into the opening.
You should now be looking at a group of buildings. Go forward then turn right to face a bridge. Go forward three times to cross the bridge, forward three more times to cross another bridge, forward yet another three times to cross yet another bridge, then forward three more times to climb the steps. Whew! Made it at last!
You might want to make a save game at this point. Just a suggestion. Remember this spot; we’ll call it the Temple Entrance and will be returning to it several times.
There is a path into the tunnel directly in front of you but ignore it for now. Turn to the left until you get another arrow and go forward. You can see the science base in the distance but Sam will observe that there is no way to get to it. He will also say that the building he is in seems to be some sort of temple, wonder if this is where Dr. Davies made her discovery and speculate that there may be another base further inside.
Turn around and go forward to the Temple Entrance again. Turn left to face the entrance and go forward. You will find yourself facing a pool of water. Turn left and go forward twice. If you turn to the left you will see what looks like a row of Tibetan prayer wheels (vertical cylinders sitting on a base; the cylinders can spin). Click on them for a close-up.
Note that if you click on any of the vertical cylinders it will spin for a bit. If you look below each cylinder you will see a small window with a colored symbol in it. If you click on the symbol you can drag it up or down to reveal other symbols. Note that the symbols under all of the cylinders move together. You can play around for a bit but we really can’t do anything with this yet so simply note it and back out of the close-up.
Turn right and go forward to get to a corner. Turn right and go forward to climb a flight of stairs. There is a room to our left and we may as well check it out while we are here. Turn left and go forward into the room then forward again to reach what looks to be a shrine of some sort.
Look at the altar. Your cursor should turn into a magnifying glass so click on it for a close-up. Look familiar? It looks like the same picture of an insect that Hannah saw back on the living ship fleet. (It was on the wall behind the pear-shaped container.) Back out of the close-up then click on the engraving on the wall to the left of the shrine. This looks like one of the same symbols that Hannah found too. Nothing we can do here at the moment so just make a note of it for now.
Back out of any close-ups, turn around and go forward to the doorway then forward again to get back into the corridor. Turn left and go forward down the stairs. At the corner turn right and go forward. There is another set of prayer wheels to your left but you can ignore them for now. Go forward twice more. Here there is a stairway to your left. We’ll come back to it later so for now turn back to the corridor to the right and go forward again.
There is another set of prayer wheels to your left. Go forward yet again to find a fourth set. Now turn to the right. You should see a bridge extending out over the pool. Go forward once.
Now, SAVE YOUR GAME. Trust me on this one. You will want a save here. Also, if you have been playing with the sound off or turned down, turn it on now.
Once you have saved your game, go forward. You will automatically turn to your left to see a figure appear. Hmmm… That doesn’t seem to be one of the scientists either! The figure will chant something then disappear. Sam will confirm that the figure was not one of the scientists and that the locals are apparently trying to help him. At least, the figure seemed to want Sam to hear that chant sequence. It must be important.
Don’t remember the sequence? That’s why you have a save one move before hearing it. It will come in very handy later.
OK, a few more things to do here. Turn back to the right until you are facing along the bridge again and go forward. Turn right and go forward again. There is another set of prayer wheels here, for a total of five. Just make a note of that then turn around and go forward to get back to the bridge. There is a tunnel in front of you but there is nothing of importance down it at the moment, so turn left and go forward and across the bridge. Turn left and go forward twice more. This should put you in front of the stairs we bypassed earlier. Turn to the right to face the stairs and go forward. You will climb the stairs to the first landing. Turn until you are facing the landing and go forward and out onto the balcony.
Turn right and go forward twice. Turn right and enter the room. In here, turn to the right and examine the drawing on the wall. It looks like a diagram showing how to use some sort of surveying instrument. You may also recognize one of the symbols as one you saw on the side of one of the walls when you first arrived.
Back out of the close-up and turn around. Examine the machine in front of you. You can try it out if you like but you can’t do much with it at the moment. Back out of the close-up. You should notice that the symbol on the wall above the machine matches one of the symbols on the survey machine diagram behind you.
Turn to the left and go forward to leave the room. Turn right then go forward. Turn right here to see another expedition log lying in a doorway. You can examine it but it doesn’t seem to do anything. (There are several of these useless expedition logs sitting around.)
The corridor continues but there isn’t anything of interest down there. We’ve done all we can in this area at the moment so go all of the way back to the Temple Entrance.
You should now be looking at the stairs which first brought you here. Turn to the right and go forward to where you saw the science base. Turn a bit to the left and go forward. Turn completely around and look at the pillar in front of you. You should see a panel on the pillar. Click on it for a close-up then click on the pendulum-like switch. There will be a cinematic as a small monorail car arrives.
When the cinematic ends, click on the car to get on board. Click on the only working control and you will get a cinematic as the monorail takes you to another part of the complex.
At the end you will automatically get out of the car. You are facing a dark tunnel so just go forward. You will arrive in a room with eight large prayer wheels. Sam will recognize them for what they are. Go forward to stand in the middle of the wheels. Each wheel has two parts, the vertical cylinder on the top and a base with a window displaying a colored symbol. Click on any of the cylinders; it will spin and you will hear a two-syllable chant. Hey! That sounds a bit like the chant the strange figure said to us! Good thing we have a convenient save game in case we need to listen to it again.
Each of the eight prayer wheels produces a different two-syllable chant. Each wheel has a unique first syllable. The second syllable depends on what symbol is showing in the window in the base. You can click on this symbol and drag the mouse up or down to change it. Each symbol has a unique syllable associated with it and the same symbol will produce the same syllable on any wheel. With eight wheels each with eight symbols, there are 64 possible two-syllable chants.
Your goal here is to determine the combination of wheels and symbols needed to reproduce the chant the strange figure gave you. This can be difficult if you do not have a very good memory for sounds, which is why I recommended creating the save game immediately before the figure spoke. I recommend creating a second save game here. Then, reload the earlier save, listen to the figure, then reload this save and experiment with the wheels until you find the right combination for the first two syllables. Repeat the process until you have all six syllables.
Or, since you are reading a walkthru, just do the following. Turn until you are facing the path by which you entered (and you have a forward arrow). Number the wheels 1 thru 8, going clockwise and starting with the wheel just to the right of the path. The first two syllables are created by wheel 1 with the black symbol showing. The middle two are produced by wheel 8 with the white symbol showing and the last two by wheel 4 with the green symbol. Carefully note the shape of the cylinders and the color of the symbols.
Now, head back to the main part of the facility. Turn until you get the forward arrow and go forward twice. Click on the monorail car to get on board then click on the working control to travel back. When you arrive, go forward, turn right and go forward.
You should now be at the Temple Entrance again. Don’t go in yet; we have a bit more to do out here first. Turn to the right until you are looking along the wall and go forward. Does that symbol on the wall look familiar? Turn to the right and go forward twice. You should now be looking at another bridge. Go forward until you reach the end of the bridge. You will find a small metallic dome and Sam will comment on how everything is just sitting around even though the people are missing. You should recognize the dome from the diagram you found inside the building.
Examine the dome and you will sit down at it. Look down and you will see a lever. Click the lever. The dome will split open and the machinery within will be revealed.
The interactions with this device can be a bit complex so take a moment to become familiar with it. First, notice that when you turn left or right the device will always stop lined up with one of five metal columns rising around you, the symbol on the wall of the building or the entrance to the bridge. If you click on the “sight” you can raise or lower it, revealing a series of symbols.
If you move the cursor over most of the rest of the device it turns into a magnifying glass. If you click here the view will shift to show a dial and two buttons. Pushing the button marked with a “+” will cause the dial to spin. Pushing the “0” will reset it to its initial position. (Apparently the science team labeled the buttons; the Argilans didn’t use recognizable symbols anywhere else around here!) You can also drag the dial back and forth with the mouse but it will return to its original position when you let go.
Finally, from the view of the dial, if you move the cursor to the top of the screen it will turn into another magnifying glass. Clicking here will show you a measurement scale of some kind. Notice that the scale is marked with a symbol from the diagram as well. There are ten symbols on the scale that correspond to the numbers from 0 to 9. (You can write these down if you wish though on my monitor they were very hard to make out.) The main thing to note is that the scale is 10 units long.
When you are done move the cursor to the bottom of the screen to back out of this display. Do the same on the screen with the dial and you will be looking at the sight again. If you back out here you will turn the device off and exit, so don’t do that yet.
Instead turn until you are facing the symbol on the side of the building. Then turn to the right until you are facing the first of the metal columns. Raise the sight until it is pointed at the very top of the column. Note the height of the sight. (Just count markings if the symbols aren’t clear.) Write down this number.
Now, release the sight and enter the close-up of the dial at the bottom of the device. Push the zero button then push the “+” button. Note where the dial stops. (Again, just count the dial positions if you can’t make out the symbols.) Write down this number as well. This number is actually the distance from the device to the column in question. Repeat this process for the other four columns.
Or, just note these values. The first column has a sight height of 4 and a column distance of 45. The second has a height of 5 and a distance of 16. The third is height 7, distance 20, the fourth height 4, distance 25 and the fifth is height 6 and distance 35. Write down all these numbers.
Now we’re ready to go. Back out of any close-ups until the device closes itself down then go back to the Temple Entrance. Turn to face the tunnel and go forward.
Turn left and go forward to the first of the prayer wheels then turn left to face it. Click on the wheels for a close-up. Sam will comment that it doesn’t look the same as the others and speculate that it has a purpose; like opening doors. Hmmm…
Find the three cylinders on this prayer wheel that match the ones you identified in the other chamber as being the ones which produce the chant you heard. If you then try to get the colored symbols under those cylinders to match up with the ones from the other chamber you will discover that you can’t get all three colors under the correct wheels at the same time. This isn’t the right prayer wheel, so back out of the close-up.
Go back to the base of the stairway. (From here (assuming you are still facing the prayer wheel) that’s right, forward, right, forward twice, right, forward three times then left.) Go forward to the stairs and forward again to climb them. Turn to face the balcony and to forward onto it. Turn to the right and go forward twice then turn right and go forward again. Turn right to face the diagram and examine it.
The diagram shows two triangles and if you remember the numbers you collected from the survey device you will realize that they correspond to parts of the triangles. The height of the sight is the height of the small triangle, the length of the scale on the device (10) is the base of the small triangle and the distance to the column you read from the dial is the second part of the base of the large triangle. (If you notice, the base of the large triangle is composed of two line segments; the distance you measured and the length of the scale on the device. You will have to take both numbers into account.)
In fact, you have numbers for everything except the height of the large triangle, which corresponds to the height of the columns. Fortunately, we have everything we need to determine this. Since the near angle of both triangles is the same the ratio of the height to the length of the base of the triangles should be the same also. In other words…
Solving for Heightlarge triangle we get…
or…
Plugging in the numbers for the first column, we get…
If you do the same for the other four columns, you will find that Column 2 has a height of 13, column 3 a height of 21, column 4 a height of 14 and column 5 a height of 27.
With these numbers, back out of any close-up then turn to face the machine in the room. Examine it for a close-up. Set the first dial to the height of the first column or 22. Set the second dial to 13, the third to 21, the fourth to 14 and the fifth to 27. (Don’t worry if you can’t read the symbols; just count over the appropriate number of spaces.)
If you have set the dials correctly the view will pan down and a drawer in the bottom of the device will slide open, revealing a greenish disc. Pick it up, click on the drawer to close it and then back out of the close-up.
OK, we have one more thing to do here. Turn left and go forward to leave the room. Turn left and go forward to the stairs then turn left and go forward. Turn left to the stairs down then go forward to descend to the first level again. Now, go forward, left and forward to the bridge. Turn right to face the bridge and go forward twice. The mysterious figure will appear again and repeat his chant from before. This time Sam will notice that the figure leaves through a door but somehow knows that the door is locked. He also makes an odd comment about not exploring and waiting on Hannah (who has already contacted us saying she is stuck and needing our help).
Turn right to face the bridge again and go forward. Then turn right and go forward then turn left to face the prayer wheel. Click on it for a close-up.
Click and drag the colored symbols up or down until you get the correct colors under the cylinders you identified in the other chamber. In case you can’t tell one cylinder from another, you want the black symbol under the sixth cylinder, the white symbol under the third cylinder and the green symbol under the eighth cylinder. Then, click on the cylinders in that order (6, 3, 8). You should be rewarded by hearing the chant and getting a cinematic of the door the figure exited through opening.
Back out of the close-up, turn left then go forward. At the intersection, go forward again and through the tunnel. Go forward along the bridge then turn left to face the doorway. Go forward.
Hey, this area looks familiar! You will automatically go all the way to the computer device Hannah was working on and Sam will contact Hannah telling her where to meet him. Hannah will radio back saying that she is in front of the device, and where is Sam? Apparently they are both in front of the device, but can’t see each other.
Uh-oh.
It seems that whatever has happened to first the Argilans and later the scientists has now happened to Sam and Hannah as well. Hannah wonders why they can still communicate and Sam theorizes that whoever is behind all of this wants them to. He suggests they keep exploring to find out what they can.
The conversation ends with you still in control of Sam. You can switch to either character at this point and either one can now visit any location to which the other has previously been. The only thing you can’t do is transfer inventory from one to the other, so Sam is stuck with the marbles and the disc while Hannah still has the object the Argilan gave her. For the moment, we’ll keep controlling Sam.
Turn left and go forward as far as you can then turn left again and go forward. You are now at the base of the statue projecting the light symbols. Turn right to face the statue and go forward. Once you have climbed the ladder, turn left and examine the ladder to climb further. Look up at the “projector”. You will notice that you can place something there and when you click there you will place the disc in front of the projector. Back out of the close-up, turn around and look down then go forward. You should be facing the circle of light. Click on it for a close-up.
There are now six more symbols visible. Look familiar? They should; they’re living ship navigation coordinates. Looks like we’re about to visit someplace new! Write the symbols down.
Back out of the close-up and turn left. Go forward twice to reach the entrance then forward again to go through the tunnel and to the end of the bridge. Examine the horizontal beam then click on the device below it. You automatically get on board and travel to the ship.
Once Sam gets aboard the ship, let him stay where he is and switch to Hannah. Bring her to the ship as well (the beam transport device will now work for her again). Once there, turn right until you see the ramp and go forward to the bottom. Go forward again to enter the elevator. Take it up to the control room then go forward to the consoles.
Now, I know you can’t wait to go to the new coordinates you have found but we have a bit of unfinished business to take care of first. Remember the “shrine” you found in the temple, the one with the picture of the insect from the Living Ship fleet? We’re going to follow up on it first. So, get a close-up of the center console, click on the first lit button (to set the controls for the fleet) then click the hand. You get a cinematic as the ship returns to the fleet.
Hannah and Sam at the Living Ship Fleet
When you arrive you will still be controlling Hannah and in a close-up of the center console. Back out of the close-up then switch to Sam. Have him turn to face the beam transport device again, click on it once for a close-up and again to get aboard and be transported to the next tower. Once there, turn until you get an arrow and go forward to take the long path across the spikes. Go forward to a ramp and down it. Then, turn left and go forward to the control console. Push the button and wait for the boat-like vehicle to arrive. You will automatically get on board and travel to the next tower.
Once there, turn until you are looking between the two elevators and go forward. Turn right and go forward then go forward again to the base of the ramp. Go forward and up the ramp.
When you arrive, the door of the building in front of you will open and an Argilan will exit. He will talk to you briefly, telling how some of the Argilans learned the scientist’s language. This caused “Matia” to become confused and it then imprisoned all of the Argilans, as well as the science team. He will also tell you that unless things are made right the “Good Servant” will finish what it has started. Hmmm… That doesn’t sound good.
The Argilan tells you that he will trade “precious oil” for pearls. (OK, so they’re pearls, not marbles. Whatever.) You will have to measure them yourself. He then returns to the building.
Turn right and go to the pear-shaped container. Click on it for a close-up then click on the scale running down the middle of the container. The pearls will disappear from your inventory and an indicator will drop to the ninth position on the scale.
Click on the “shelf” you can see extending from the right side of the container. You will get a close-up of a small flask. Click on the flask to pick it up. Back out of any close-ups and return to the living ship.
Once Sam is back on board, switch to Hannah and click on the center console. Click on the second lit button then click on the hand symbol. Watch the cinematic as the living ship returns to the docks beneath the science base.
Hannah and Sam at the Science Base
When you arrive, switch back to Sam and have him take the beam transport device back to shore. Enter the docks and go all the way back to the shrine in the temple. (Can’t remember the way? Once you get off the transport device, go forward along the bridge and into the docks. Forward again, turn left, forward three times, turn right, forward three times, forward up the stairs, turn right, forward along the bridge, forward through the tunnel, turn right, forward three times across the bridge, turn left, forward five times to the corner, turn left, forward up the stairs, turn right, forward into the shrine. Whew! This game really needs a quick way of getting back to somewhere you have already been.)
Unfortunately, when you get there, an Argilan priest will appear, gesture angrily at you, then disappear again. Apparently you are one unit of oil short! Looks like we’ll have to go back and try to find another unit. Go all the way back to the ship again, switch back to Hannah and have her take the ship back to the Living Fleet.
Hannah and Sam at the Living Ship Fleet (again)
Switch back to Sam and have him go all the way back to the point where he met the Argilan earlier. The Argilan will exit the building again and talk some more. He will eventually acknowledge that you are a unit of oil short and tell you to go to the elevator. He then goes back inside again. Sam and Hannah discuss this a bit and finally decide it is more interference from Matia.
Turn around and go down the ramp. Turn until you are looking between the elevator and the building, go forward then turn to face the elevator.
((At this point you have to start using both characters to solve some of the puzzles. In most cases it doesn’t matter which one you use where. It only becomes important when a puzzle needs something that is in one or the other’s inventory. I’ll be mentioning which character I am using just to make it a bit clearer when I am switching from one to the other but if you have a favorite feel free to use them instead.))
At this point we need Hannah’s help. Leave Sam at the elevator entrance and switch to Hannah. Bring her all the way to this elevator as well. (You should know the way by now but look above if you need directions.) Have her enter the elevator and take it up to the next level. Don’t exit the elevator when you get there. Instead, switch back to Sam.
Sam should still be looking into the elevator shaft but the elevator should now be gone. If you examine the depression where the elevator was resting you will see another marble! (Pearl. Whatever.) Click on it to pick it up. Back out of any close-ups, turn left to face the ramp and go forward and up it. Turn right to face the container and forward to reach it.
Now, the first thing you need to do is to click on the shelf for a close-up then click on it again to place the flask there. Then switch to looking at the main container and click on the scale. The scale will drop one symbol and the marble in your inventory will vanish. Click on the shelf again then click on the flask to pick it back up.
Back out of any close-ups and turn to the ramp. Go forward. The Argilan will exit the building again and talk to you a bit more. He gives you some more information before vanishing in one of those flashes of light.
Time for everyone to head back to the living ship. Send Sam back and just have him wait where he gets off the beam transport device. Switch to Hannah and have her go all the way to the control room. There, select the center console, click the second button then click the hand symbol to head back to the science base again.
Hannah and Sam at the Science Base (again)
When you arrive, take control of Sam and go to the shrine again. (See above if you need the directions.) This time, when the Argilan appears, he is satisfied. He takes the flask of oil from you and gives you another of those navigation disks for the airship. Well, we only know of one place where we can use these things so it’s time to head for the balloon fleet again!
Leave the shrine and go all the way back to the airship. Somewhere along the way you will see the usual flash of light and Dr. Davies will appear. She will give you a few hints about solving the columns puzzle (which you have already completed) and talk about how ritualized everything on Argilus is.
She will fade out and Dr. Hovis will appear. Hovis will warn you not to trust Davies before fading out himself. Hannah and Sam will discuss this for a bit but finally decide that the only thing they can do is continue with what they are doing.
Once you reach the airship, go to the pilot’s seat and click the first lit button on the bottom left then click the large button in the center of the console. You will get a cinematic as you return to the balloon fleet.
When you arrive, exit the airship and go through the facility to the navigation coordinate machine. As before, put the disc in the middle of the machine then push the three symbols on the bottom right, writing down the symbols that appear. Then, return to the airship and enter the coordinates on the control panel as before. You will get a cinematic as the airship flies to Matia’s Island.
Hannah and Sam on Matia’s Island
Once on the island, leave the airship and go forward. Don’t go through the gate yet. Turn to the right where you will see a panel of some kind. There is a spot you can interact with to the left/center of the screen and, if you click there, a key will turn and the panel will open. Inside the panel you will see a set of airship coordinates and you should recognize them as the ones which brought you here. Click on the key again to take it.
Back out of any close-up, turn left and go forward to go through the gate. Go forward again. You will get a brief cinematic as an elevator arrives. Go forward into the elevator.
The elevator goes to four levels and you select which level to go to by raising or lowering the control in the center of the elevator. The further you move the control the further the elevator moves in that direction. We’re going to the very bottom first so just push the control down all the way.
When you arrive, turn to the left and go forward. You should be looking at a lake below a dam. Turn to the left until you see a water wheel. Now, have Sam wait here while we go get Hannah.
Hannah on Matia’s Island
Switch over to Hannah, who should still be in the control room of the living ship. You can try entering the coordinates you got from the light display but you will find that they don’t work. Remember, the scientist that Hannah saw told her that the coordinates change over time and that the old coordinates are no good. We need to determine the new coordinates.
Pull out the symbols you wrote down from the tablets that Hannah found on the living ship fleet. Now, to make things easier, let’s assign numbers to the various symbols. Look at either the left or the right console. We’ll assign numbers to the symbols as if they were positions on a clock. Thus, the symbol of a single vertical bar is one, two vertical bars is two and so on.
Once you do this, translate the coordinates you have into numbers. You should wind up with the old coordinates for the living ship fleet as Left 3, 6, 2 / Right 6, 8, 7 while the new coordinates are Left 3, 4, 7 / Right 6, 9, 11. Bosh’s Tunnels have old coordinates of Left 7, 10, 5 / Right 9, 1, 5 and new coordinates of Left 7, 8, 10 / Right 9, 2, 9.
Now, compare the old and new coordinates with each other. If you look at the living ship fleet coordinates for the left console you will find that the first value did not change, the second value changed from 6 to 4 and the third from 2 to 7. Thus, the coordinate changes were 0, -2 and +5.
If you do the same thing for the left console coordinates for Bosh’s Tunnels you will find they changed by the same amounts. Looks like we’re on to something! Do the same thing with the right console coordinates and you will get change values of 0, +1 and +4.
Now, apply these changes to the new coordinates you have. Translating our new symbols to numbers we get Left 10, 1, 9 / Right 3, 12, 10. We’ll start with the innermost ring and work out.
Start with the left console. The first number we have is 9. Adding 5 to it is the same as going 5 positions clockwise, so we wind up with a value of 2. Now, like a clock, since the inner ring passed the 12 position we need to advance the next outer ring by 1. So, go ahead and change the second value to 2. We then subtract 2 from this number (or go two positions counter-clockwise) and wind up at 12. We don’t do anything to the outer ring, so our new coordinates are 10, 12, 2.
We do the same thing with the right console. Our value for the inner ring is 10. Adding 4 takes us around to the 2 position and forces us to advance the center ring to 1. We then add 1 to the center ring to get 2. The outer ring is again unchanged. Thus, our final coordinates for the right console are 3, 2, 2.
Enter these values then click the hand symbol on the center console. You should be rewarded by a cinematic of the living ship setting off again.
When you arrive, leave the control room and take the beam transport device to shore. When you get to shore there will be a flash of light and the scientist that Hannah met earlier will appear. He will be very excited that you are there and give you some information. It seems that something called “Matia” is behind the disappearances. He fades in and out a few times but manages to convey some information.
“Matia” is the name of an Argilan defense system and custodian device and is also a cultural center for the Argilans. It sent the population somewhere to protect it from “contamination”, apparently a result of the arrival of the scientific team. Some of the Argilans attempted to contact the science team and now Matia seems to think that the entire population is contaminated and everyone is imprisoned somewhere.
The scientist says that Matia thinks the science teams were looting and pillaging, not studying. He also mentions something called the “Wanderer” which he says could be a doomsday device of some type.
Great. Now we have to save the entire world. Why is it never easy? (If you haven’t done so lately, you might want to save a game at this point.)
Look to your left and you will see a cart of some kind. Get into the cart and look at the console in the center. (If you are looking at the back of the console, click on it to turn it around.) Write down the symbol showing on the display. Then, drag the dial to the right of the display up or down to reveal other symbols; there are a total of four (though only three of them are of any importance.) Besides the initial symbol, the other two of interest are the one that looks like a fancy letter “U” and one that looks like a capital “I” with two dots over it. Select either of these and press the right button. You will get a cinematic as the cart takes you somewhere else.
Each symbol on the display corresponds to a station. Depending on which symbol you select you will go to different destinations. Actually, in this case, you will go to the next station or you will go past it to a point were part of the rails are missing. At this point you will automatically turn around and go to the next station anyway. So, no matter what symbol you select at the moment, you will always wind up at the same location.
When you regain control, note the symbol now showing on the display. That is the symbol for your current station. Write it down then turn until you get an arrow and exit the cart.
Note the device in front of you. It has the same symbol on it as the one you just wrote down. This device calls the car to this point if it is not here.
Go forward twice, turn right then go forward twice more and down the stairs. Turn a bit to the left and go forward twice again. You are now standing in front of a door to your right. Turn right to face the door. Note the symbol on the door. Now, click on the center of the door for a close-up. Write down the four symbols you see.
Now, click on the button in the middle of the door to open it. Go forward through the door. On the other side of the tunnel Hannah will exclaim about the tower in the distance and speculate that it is important since all of the rail lines go there. Too bad the tracks are out, huh? Turn to the right and go forward then click on the device in front of you for a close-up.
Welcome to the second-most annoying puzzle in Schizm! You are about to play a game against the computer. Move your mouse around over the board in front of you. If you notice, when the cursor is between two of the “posts” on the game board a line will highlight connecting them. If you click there, a “bridge” will form between the posts. The computer will then raise a panel, blocking a connection between two other posts on the board.
The object of the game is for you to create an unbroken connection from one side of the board to the other. You and the computer will alternate turns, with you making bridges and the computer blocking connections until either you create a complete path or the computer manages to block all possible paths.
When you complete an unbroken path, you are rewarded with a cinematic showing a rail rising partially into place. Now, you have to play the game again. If you win the second time you will see the rail rise the rest of the way into place. However, if you lose, the rail drops back down again. That’s right; you have to win twice in a row! (Fortunately, once you win twice the rail stays in place.)
Oh, don’t bother trying to save after your first win. The game will let you but when you reload you have to start from the beginning again.
Unfortunately, I cannot give you explicit instructions on how to win since the computer’s moves are somewhat random. The only strategy I hit that seems to work is to scatter your moves around the board. If you start at one side and simply try to extend your way across the board you will always lose. However, if you make your first few moves at scattered points on the board (say, center, then top left, then bottom right) the computer seems to have a harder time with its strategy.
Once you have won twice in a row, back out of the close-up, turn around and go forward to the door. Then turn left to the tunnel and go forward through it. You can go back to the cart now if you wish but you will find that there is still a missing section of track and you can’t get any further than before so let’s just continue on for now.
Turn to the right and go forward twice. You are now in front of another door. Turn right to face it. Notice the symbol on this door; it matches the symbol on the object that the Argilan gave Hannah in the docks area.
Click on the center of the door for a close-up. Clicking the button here does nothing. You will notice that you can move the symbols on either side of the button up or down. Obviously we need to find the combination to let us through this door. We’ll come back to it later.
Back out of the close-up, turn left then go forward until you are facing an elevator shaft. When you attempt to go forward again you will get the brief cinematic of the elevator rising in its shaft then you will enter.
The elevator goes to four levels and you select which level to go to by raising or lowering the control in the center of the elevator. The further you move the control the further the elevator moves in that direction. We’re going to the very bottom first, so just push the control down all the way.
When the elevator stops, turn right and go forward. You should be standing between two wheels. Go forward again to enter a chamber with a pool of water in the middle and a cell of some sort on the far side. There will be a brief semi-cinematic where you see a figure come to the bars of the cell then walk away. Hannah will say that it looks like one of the scientist and that it looks like he is really there, not a ghost. Unfortunately, there is no way to get to him.
Switch back to Sam then click on the wheel in front of him and drag it up or down. You will notice that you can turn the wheel. When you do, the sound of water you may be hearing stops. However, if you attempt to move, the wheel immediately turns back to its original position. So, turn the wheel until the sound of water stops then switch back to Hannah.
You are still in the same chamber as before but now the pool of water has disappeared. Go forward. The trapped scientist will come to the door of his cell and talk to you.
The scientist will identify himself as Dr. Santos. Since he is really here and not fading in and out he manages to give you a good deal of information. He confirms what you heard earlier; there is a device or entity on Argilus called Matia. Matia is a pervasive part of the Argilan’s lives and was designed to protect them, among other things.
When the science team arrived, Matia apparently took the Argilans to another dimension to keep them safe. Dr. Santos realized that, with all the technology around, there must be some central device controlling and protecting everything. He and some of his colleagues tried repeatedly to make contact and finally, in desperation, started taking items in hopes of triggering the device into action. Unfortunately, the result was the capture and disappearance of the entire science team.
Dr. Santos says that the only person he has seen was Dr. Hovis. Dr. Hovis said that he had discovered the secret of visiting the other dimension. He said there was a village where he had to enter each hut twice but leave only once. He does not know what Dr. Hovis meant by this.
Dr. Santos asks that you come back to visit then wanders off. There is nothing more to learn here so let’s head back out.
Turn around and go forward to get back to the entrance. There is a device to your right but we don’t have everything we need for it yet so ignore it for the moment and just go forward again. Go forward into the elevator, turn right then go forward again. (You can also go a bit to the right of the elevator and go forward to wind up at the same spot.) Go forward twice. You should now be standing in front of a drawbridge and there should be a control in front of you. If you click on the control you will see the bridge try to close but only go a short distance.
Time for some help again. Switch back to Sam and go back to the elevator. Once there, turn right and go forward to stand between the two wheels you saw earlier. Turn to the wheel on your left. You will notice that you can turn this wheel like the one you turned earlier but, unlike that wheel, you can turn it multiple positions and the wheel stays where you turned it when you move.
Turn this wheel several positions to the left (counter-clockwise) then turn around and do the same thing with the other wheel. Switch back to Hannah and have her try to close the bridge again.
You will notice this time that the bridge closes further. The wheels control how far the bridge closes. Note how far the bridge dropped then switch back to Sam and turn the wheels a few more times. Unfortunately, the only way to solve this seems to be trial and error. You will probably have to turn the wheels different amounts. It is also possible to turn the wheels too far, in which case the bridge will suddenly refuse to close again. If this happens, just back the wheel up a few positions. At any rate, switch between the characters having one turn one wheel or the other then having the other try the bridge until you get it closed.
Now, have Hannah turn left and go forward and across the bridge. The place you now find yourself is the village that Dr. Hovis was talking about where he entered each hut twice but left only once. Either character will work here but I recommend using whichever character has the object that was given to them by the Argilan in the docks. That’s Hannah if you’re following this walkthru.
Once across the bridge turn to the left. There are five huts in the village, four to the left of the curving path you are now looking down and one to the right in the center. Number the huts on the left from 1 to 4 going clockwise, 1 being the first one you pass on the left as you walk along the path and 4 being the last. The hut in the center of the village we will call hut zero.
You can try to enter any of the huts. To do so, go to the door and click on the door handle. If you do this to hut zero you will just see a flash of light. However, if you do this to any of the other huts, you will enter the door and come out another door, probably one to another hut.
If you try huts for a while it may seem as if which hut you wind up at is random but it actually isn’t. Each hut leads to a specific other hut, depending on how many huts you have previously visited. For example, if the first hut you enter is for hut 3, you will always exit from hut 4. If the fourth hut you enter is hut 2, then you will exit from hut 1. Attempting to enter hut zero will “reset” the count.
Here is a table showing which hut leads to where, based on how many huts you have entered.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1st | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| 2nd | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 3rd | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 4th | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| 5th | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 6th | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 7th | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 8th | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Your goal here is to enter each hut twice but only exit huts 1 thru 4 once. You will exit hut zero four times. If you examine the table you can determine that one valid sequence is 2, 4, 1, 3, 3, 4, 1, 2. (There may be other valid sequences as well.)
When you exit hut 2 after your seventh move, don’t simply turn around and re-enter the hut. Instead, take one step forward. You will see the now familiar flash of light and another Argilan will appear before you. He will say something and give you a tile like the one the Argilan in the docks gave you. If you notice, the symbol on this tile matches the symbol on the door you were able to go through earlier. (The one that led to the balcony where you played the game to raise the rails.) Once you have the object you can turn around and enter hut 2 for the last time.
You will exit hut zero to find that everything has changed. It is now night and Hannah can no longer contact Sam. Go back to the bridge. When you arrive, you get yet another flash of light and yet another Argilan appears; this one wearing sunglasses and staring at something. (Yes, apparently Argilans wear their sunglasses at night.)
The Argilan will address you and say that some of them have learned your language. She will also say that you are at the entrance to their sanctuary and that you must choose between the Wanderer and the Good Servant. She then looks at the sky again and disappears.
When you regain control, look in the same direction she was looking. You should see a row of lighted posts along the top of the ridge; some raised and some lowered. Write down the sequence of raised and lowered posts.
Hmmm… 12 posts… Haven’t we seen something with twelve posts that can be raised or lowered? Yep, the mechanical computer device back in the docks. We aren’t quite ready to go back there yet but keep that in mind.
Go back to hut zero and enter it. You will find yourself back in the normal world and will re-contact Sam and bring him up to date. After this point Hannah can go to the other dimension any time by entering hut zero but Sam cannot. In fact, he can’t even enter any of the huts.
Return to the bridge. It has raised but if you walk forwards then it will automatically lower for you. We are going back to the room where we met Dr. Santos so cross the bridge then turn right and go forward to the elevator. Turn left and go forward into the room. Turn left to face the device there and go forward to it. Click on it to examine it.
It is not immediately obvious but you can place an item in the top of the device. If you have one (or both) of the tiles the Argilans have given you then clicking on the top of the device will insert one of them into it. Note which one has been inserted. You want to first insert the one which has the symbol matching the door you were able to go through. If the wrong tile was inserted just click on the top of the device to swap it out.
The device has four sliding buttons that can move left or right. Once you have inserted the tile into the device, these buttons will light up showing symbols. You should recognize these as being the same as those on the door combinations.
Move the sliders left or right until the buttons are displaying the symbols from the door you were able to go through. (Top to bottom on the buttons matching the door symbols from left to right.) You should have to move the first button one to the left, the second two to the right, the third one to the left and the fourth one to the right.
Click on the top of the device to swap to the tile with the symbol for the door you couldn’t get through. Move the buttons to the same positions as for the first tile. (Left one, right two, left one, right one.) Write down the symbols that are displayed on the buttons.
Now, return to the elevator and return to the level with the two doors. (The one you originally arrived at.) The elevator can be a bit tricky to operate. If you pull the elevator control all the way up you will go one level above the one you are trying to reach. (The one where the airship is currently parked.) If you don’t pull it far enough up you will go to the level below the one you are trying to reach. Here there is a walkway you can go out onto but you can’t go any further along it. I recommend pulling the control just a little ways up and, if this doesn’t take you to the right level, just pulling it again. If you overshoot just push down a bit to drop to the next lower level.
Once you have gotten to the correct level, go and face the door you couldn’t go through earlier. Click on the center for a close-up. Now, drag the symbols up or down to match those you got from the device outside of Dr. Santos’ cell. When you are done, click the button in the middle. The door should open. Go forward through the tunnel, turn left then go forward again.
You are now looking at the single most annoying puzzle in Schizm! This game is the same as the one you played earlier with one important exception; this time the computer moves first. This makes the game a lot more difficult. As before, you have to create an unbroken path from one side of the board to the other to win and you have to win twice in a row. All I can say is… good luck.
When you have won twice (and finished screaming in frustration), back out of any close-ups, turn around and go back to the entrance. Turn right and go forward through the tunnel. Then, turn left and go back to where the cart dropped you off. Click on the button on the device to your right to get a cinematic of the cart arriving. Go forward onto the cart to get on board and click on the console to activate it.
Turn the dial to the symbol that looks like a capital I with two dots over it. Push the right button. The cart will now take you to the structure you have seen in the distance.
When you arrive, turn to the left and go forward to get out of the cart. (You may note that there is another device here with a button that will call the cart back.) Turn right and go forward. You are now standing somewhere between two huts. Turn to the left and go forward. You should see a hut somewhat ahead of you and a pipe leading to the hut somewhat to the right. Go towards the pipe then click on it for a close-up. You will notice that the pipe has eight posts along its top.
Back out of the close-up, turn right and go forward twice to the other hut. Note that it too has a pipe leading to it, this one on the left. Go to the pipe and click on it to see that it also has a row of posts on top.
Have we seen two rows of eight somewhere? Yep, the output display on the mechanical computer back at the docks. We’ve almost got everything we need for it.
Back out of any close-ups, turn to the left and go forward to the main path. Turn right. There are two paths ahead of you. Both lead to the same place but we’ll take the left path. Go forward, turn right and go forward again. Turn right to face a control. (If you took the right path, just reverse left and right above.)
If you press the control you will get a brief view of the structure overhead but nothing else happens. Well, we’ve done all we can here. Go back to where the cart dropped you off and push the button to summon it. Get aboard the cart and set the dial to the symbol that looks like a fancy U. (That’s the stop where we’ve spent most of our time here.) Click the right button to travel there.
When you arrive, go to the elevator and take it all the way to the bottom then go to the room where Dr. Santos is held prisoner. Switch to the other character, have them go to the wheel controlling the water in the room and have them turn the wheel to shut the water off. Then, switch back to the first character.
Go forward to talk to Dr. Santos. He will tell you that in order to change the Good Servant back into the Wanderer you will have to use “Ossa” and “Dissa”. He will then leave and Hannah and Sam will speculate about what this means.
OK, “Ossa” and “Dissa” should sound familiar to you. Remember the very first device that Sam worked with? The one that he got the blue marbles from? If you remember, each time you pressed a lever on that machine you heard a sound. One of those sounds was “ossa” and another was “dissa”. You should have the symbols corresponding to those sounds written down.
We are done here for the moment. Have Hannah go all the way back to the control room of the living ship. There, enter a close-up of the center console. Press the second lighted button then click the hand symbol to return to the docks.
Science Base (again)
When you arrive, take the beam transport device to shore then take the bridge into the docks. Go to the mechanical computer device you played with earlier.
Set the posts across the top of the machine to match the lighted posts we saw on the top of the ridge in the other dimension. Push the button for “ossa”, which is the second button in the first row. When the machine has finished, push the button for “dissa”. This is the last button on the bottom row. When the machine finishes this set of calculations, write down the pattern of lights displayed on the output. Then, go back to the living ship and return to Matia’s Island.
Hannah and Sam, the Wanderer and the Good Servant
We last saw Sam standing in front of the water control wheel. We need him now, so switch to Sam and turn to face the elevator. Go into it and go up to the level where the rail line is. (That’s one below the top.) Exit and go to where you can meet the rail cart. Push the button to summon it and get aboard when it arrives. Select the symbol that looks like a capital “I” and push the right button.
When you arrive, turn left and go forward to exit the cart. Go forward to the intersection and turn left. Go to the pipe for the left hut and examine it. Set the posts on the top of this pipe to match the output from the left set of lights on the mechanical computer.
Back out of the close-up, turn around and go to the right hut. Examine the pipe there and set its posts to match the right set of lights from the mechanical computer.
Now, back out of the close-up, turn around and go forward to the main path. Turn right then go forward along the left branch of the path. Turn right, go forward then turn right to face the switch. Push it.
You will get a cinematic of the large device above you opening and closing. One of the Argilans will appear and almost sound disappointed in you but will say that there is still time for you to help your friends. She will disappear.
Don’t leave quite yet. Turn around. You should see a panel similar to the one next to the place where the airship is docked. Click on the keyhole to the left/center to insert the key you are carrying and open the panel. Click on the panel for a close-up. Hmmm… More airship coordinates. Write these down.
Time to head for the airship again. Back out of any close-ups and return to where the cart dropped you off. Push the button there to summon it again. When it arrives, select the next station (that’s the fancy “U”-shaped symbol) and click the right button. When you get there, exit the cart, go to the elevator and take it to the top level. From there, return to the pilot’s seat in the airship.
Enter the coordinates you just found. When you do, the airship will take off and go to hover over the large device. It opens and the airship will retrieve an item from inside of it. It will then take this item to the living ship and drop it there. The airship then returns to its dock.
We’re almost done; we just have one more promise to keep. Leave the airship and return to the elevator. Take it all the way to the bottom. Turn left and go forward to stand in front of the wheel again. Turn to face the wheel then turn it to shut off the water flow. Now, switch back to Hannah.
Hannah is still in the control room of the living ship, so leave and take the beam transport device to shore. Get in the cart and take it to the next station (the fancy “U” shaped symbol again). From there, go to the elevator and take it to the very bottom. Go back to the room where you met Dr. Santos and go to his cell.
Dr. Santos will appear and seem surprised that you came back for him. He will comment that you and Sam need to stay together then he disappears. Guess he wasn’t as real as we thought, huh? Hannah and Sam will discuss this for a bit.
Time to go. Take Hannah all the way back to the control room of the living ship and go stand in front of the consoles. When she gets there, an Argilan will appear and point to something opposite the controls before disappearing. Don’t do anything quite yet, we have to wait for Sam.
Switch to Sam and bring him all the way to the living ship control room as well. When he gets there, have him or Hannah look at where the Argilan indicated. You should see a new button. Push it. It is then revealed that the living ship is actually a living spaceship as it launches itself into orbit.
Hannah and Sam, together again, watch a viewscreen as they are contacted by Dr. Davies. She tells them that they have passed the test; that by showing the proper amount of respect and concern for each other they have convinced Matia that humans are worth making contact with. The Good Servant has become the Wanderer and is coming with them back to Earth. She also says that everyone they met or contacted on the planet was really Matia. (Including Dr. Santos, apparently.) She wishes them well and Hannah, Sam and (presumably) Matia sail off in their living starship.
Congratulations, you’ve won. Roll the credits.
Leave a Reply