Land of the Ages Part I- Descent into the Ages (A SW/Myst crossover)

Just a little note before I start- As far as I have ever read, the SW universe does not have books, and may not even know what they are. As to their knowledge of words liek "book" "page", etc, I am not entirely clear, therefore bear with me on this first part, it may not be factually correct in it's assumptions regarding the GFFA's knowledge of books.

With that said, here goes-

_____________________________________________ I realized, the moment I fell into the fissure, that the book would not be destroyed as I had planned. It continued falling into that starry expanse, of which I had only a fleeting glimpse. I?ve tried to speculate where it might have landed, I must admit, however, such conjecture is futile. Still, questions about who?s hands might one day hold my Myst book (something) . I know my apprehension might never be allayed. And so I close, realizing that perhaps the ending has not yet been written.

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?Well, what the Sith is it?? My boss asked me. I shook my head, clueless.

Other work at the Obra-skai library had not stopped, but I could see many heads craning towards Professor Mellyak and I. New archeological and historical finds came to Obra-skai every day? but most did not fall from the sky.

This object was strange not only in it?s method of travel, but in it?s appearance. It was rectangular, and it opened up to show many pieces of paper, all with strange writing on it. And the very last piece of paper in this rectangular article did not have writing on it, but a screen, showing what looked like a strange? perhaps the place this writing is referring to.

The writing was not any I had ever seen before, but it was so beautifully crafted, I found myself longing to understand what it revealed.

?And you?re saying...lemme get this straight...you were getting off your speeder in front of the building, and all of a sudden this book falls on the ground next to you? And you looked up, and there was nowhere it could have come from? It just came out of the heavens...by...by magic?? The Professor asked me. I could see he was annoyed by this, assuming immediately this was some kind of prank. I couldn?t blame him for his skepticism, I had seen it happen and I still couldn?t believe it. But it was true.

After arriving for work that day, and parking my speeder in the lot, I got off it, and heard a whistling sound above me, coming closer. I instinctively jumped out of the way, just in time for this strange object to land where I had been standing a second before. I looked up in the air, assuming there was a speeder overhead that had dropped it, but there was nothing. Just clear skies all around.

When I picked the thing up and saw the strange writing inside, I knew this was something incredible.

?Here, let me see the thing!? Mellyak said, grabbing it from me. He carefully examined the whole thing.

?Hmm...this is most fascinating.? Finally, it seemed like I had his attention.

?Sir, let me show you something.? I said, and reached to take the object back. ?See, there?s all the indecipherable writing, nothing like anything we?ve seen here before, then on the last paper, look at
this-" As I spoke, I flipped through the paper, and arrived at the piece with the screen-like thing on it. I touched it, to demonstrate it to the Professor, when suddenly I felt...I still cannot describe exactly what I felt. It was like my entire essence was disappearing. I was being sucked away...away...into that screen. I began to scream, but I do not know if anyone heard me, because I realized, as I was screaming, that I was not really there anymore.

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Woah! Nice begining! Can't wait to read more!

 

Thanks, Neon!

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There was a loud humming sound. I felt nothing. I?m not sure most people can comprehend what feeling nothing is, because even when you are numb, even when most of you is paralyzed, there is always some part of you? your arm, your neck, your eyes, that is not.

There was nothing of me left. I felt myself utterly free of human confines, and for a brief moment I experienced ecstasy at this. This is what those who believe in an afterlife say it will be like! I thought, and marveled.

Then, just as suddenly as I had evaporated, my body...reconstituted is the best word I can think of? reconstituted itself.

But I was definitely not where I?d started from.

I realized after a moment of total confusion that I was on the island that was pictured on that screen I had touched.

Ah, so the screen was some kind of transport. I thought. I really hope whatever civilization uses those things for transport is friendly. And that they know how to get me home!

?This cannot be good.? I said aloud, as I realized I no longer had the object which had brought me here. I was, seemingly, most conveniently trapped.


I began to wander around, uttering the occasional ?Hello!? or ?Anyone there?? in hopes I could find someone to help me.

My amazement grew, as I continued looking around the island. I had landed on a dock, and there was what I guessed was some kind of ancient boat structure sunken beneath the water next to the dock. There was a hill with some strangely shaped metal structures in front of me. There was also a switch of some kind on the dock with me. I tentatively examined the switch, deliberating over whether to fiddle with it or not. Finally, I shut my eyes, and flipped the switch, afraid of what might happen. To my disappointment and relief, nothing happened.

I began to walk up a hill, away from the dock. There were some buildings up the way a bit, I hoped perhaps there were also people.

As I made my way up a flight of steps, I came across a piece of paper in the grass. On it was more of that strange writing from the book? but now, somehow, I could read it! I stared at the paper for several minutes, simply trying to grasp how that could have happened. I didn?t get it. But then, absolutely nothing that had happened to me in the last 30 minutes made any sense, so I decided I shouldn?t be surprised.

Finally, I realized I ought to actually read the note, since I could. I did-

?Catherine,
I?ve left for you a message of utmost importance in our fore chamber beside the dock. Enter the number of Marker Switches on this Island into the imager to retrieve this message.

Yours, Atrus?

That was all the note said. I put the note back down, figuring it was none of my business. But the fact that this ?Atrus? had used the phrase ?utmost importance? made me uncomfortable.

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This seems like an interesting idea so far.

 

Glad you like it! Sorry I was away so long. From now on hopefully regular posts will be made.

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?Ah well, I?m sure it?s nothing.? I told myself out loud. The silence on this island, besides the lapping of water against the dock and cries of birds in the air, was unnerving me. I began to fear more and more that I was on an abandoned island on some forgotten planet. Perhaps the object that brought me here was millennia old, and no one had inhabited this planet for hundreds of years.

But the note! The note was left just recently! That realization, that the paper on the ground was fairly new, gave me renewed hope. I would find someone eventually, and when I did, I determined to figure out what the Force was going on.

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I spent probably an hour wandering around the island, searching for life. I found a lot of really odd things, and by the end of that hour, I was feeling both amazed and scared.

There was a strange little circular room with a chair in the center, and a ceiling that, when the lights were turned off, showed hundreds of beautiful stars. It was almost hypnotizing to look at, but I was also discouraged. I recognized none of the star constellations.

There was a large stone building that I entered briefly that seemed to contain still more of the objects like the one that had taken me here. I couldn?t help hoping that one of those would subsequently return me, but before I took my chances with that, I continued to explore the island.

There was a small forest on this island, not of any particular note, except for one tree. One of the trees was so huge, I was sure it rivaled the trees of Kashyyyk, in height. I almost felt dizzy staring up at it,. Strangely enough, it was surrounded by a stone wall, as though it was a monument of some kind. I decided whoever lived here must use this tree as a sort of tourist attraction, since it was so impressive.

There was a strangely shaped thing way at the other edge of the island. It looked odd, but I thought it was probably a ship of some kind. It vaguely resembled some of old models of freighters and yachts. The sight of this ship was reassuring, though I could not enter it, it was almost something I would expect to see in my world, and right now I was starting to miss my world very much.

Finally I gave up on finding anyone. Apparently, this island had few visitors. One of them must have left the note I had found, but I had no idea when ?Catherine? would return to retrieve his/her note.

I got the distinct feeling from that note that this island belonged to Catherine and Atrus, or at least parts of it did. Atrus had said ?Our fore chamber by the dock? which would most certainly mean wherever this fore chamber was, it was Atrus?.

At last, tired of walking around the island, which was comparatively small, but large enough to take a great deal of time and energy to fully explore, I returned to the large stone building I had seen before, that contained the transporter devices like the one that had brought me here.

I was already feeling quite discouraged, and didn?t hold out much hope for finding anything useful here, but I spied a red device on a table, and I opened it up.

Sure enough, there was a screen! However, instead of showing a place, all it showed was static. I decided this device must be broken, and was puzzling over whether it could be fixed when I realized there was a red piece of paper, the same color as the ones already in the device, next to it. I flipped through all the papers in the device, and saw there one had been torn out. I grabbed the paper and stuck it in where the tear was, and to my shock, the paper melded to the torn edge, and became a part of this device.

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I really, really meant to make big progress on this yesterday, but first my comp kept fdreezing up over and over again, then I gave up for a while, then wasn't feeling well enough to work on it any more later. But anyway, I did make some progress, which I'll post now...

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But my amazement grew as the static on the screen began to clear up a bit.

?Who are you?? A voice asked. I was shocked to see through the static what looked like the head and shoulders of a man. He seemed to be in his thirties, fairly handsome, but in an intimidating way.

?Who...who are you?? I asked back, but he seemed to not hear me.

?Bring me the red pages!? He said. I tried to ask what he meant, but again, he did not hear me.

?I can?t?.I beg of you?.bring me more red pages...rescue me?..you must?.? His voice trailed off and he disappeared.

Apparently the red papers in this book were called ?pages?. And apparently, this device was missing some, and therefore this man was trapped inside.

There was so much I wanted to ask him. At last there seemed to be life...sort of...on this island. But he obviously needed help before he could be any help to me. I felt my adrenaline pump, and I felt my head clear. This poor man was trapped, and I was his only hope of rescue.

For a few moments I almost forgot my own desperate plight as I tried to figure out how to help him.

Then my eyes came to rest on a device, much like the red one, except it was blue. And there was a blue...page it was apparently called...next to it, as well. I hurried over and opened the device. Sure enough, there was a static-filled screen, and a place to put the missing page. I inserted it, there was a brief humming noise, the page joined with the device, and the screen cleared a bit.

There was another human trapped in this device. He was a bit repulsive to look at, his feature chubby, his hair seemed unkempt, and his whole demeanor unpleasant.

?Sirrus? Is that you??.help me...bring blue pages! ...never, never...must have the blue pages??, he said, through crackling static. As with the other man, he didn?t hear me at all.



By this point I was again feeling frustrated. I had no idea how to go about finding the ?pages? to rescue these guys. After considering for a moment, I remembered the note I had found on the ground, addressed to someone named Catherine.

?Perhaps I should find the message Atrus left for Catherine.? I thought aloud. I didn?t like the fact I was talking to myself, but the absolute isolation of this island was getting to me.

?I wonder what Atrus means by Marker Switches?? I said. I couldn?t really think of anything that looked like a switch, until I remembered the useless little switch on the dock where I had arrived. I realized I had seen several other similar looking switches. I hadn?t been able to figure out their purpose, as they didn?t seem to do anything when switched on or off. I decided there was no harm in seeing if they were the Marker Switches.

After an extensive search of the island, I came up with 8 switches, plus one on a small rock outcropping a few yards from shore. I switched each one on as I passed it, except the one that was away from shore, I couldn?t reach that one. Nothing happened, even after every switch was on. I felt a bit discouraged, but determined I would see my experiment through to the end.

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And that's where my comp died :S

Hope it's ok so far, though. If it's getting to wordy, someone please lemme know!

 

It's already bringing back memories, pleasant and otherwise.

I never could solve the Selenitic Age's subway puzzle on my own. And don't get me started on Riven.

 

Both Myst and Riven are cool, but I don't dare play without a cheat sheet for Riven. I still can't figure out one of the puzzles in Myst, even though I have its cheat sheet too!

Excellent work, Connemara! Not too wordy at all! I like the descriptions and utter confusion of the character!