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Cyborg
Part I:
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Youīd think that with two brains youīd be able to remember who you are. That
you remember who you used to be is something, of course, but if it was NASA
II, the space agency, that made you a CYBORG and sent you on this mission
(whatever it is), what are you doing in the middle of a forest? Has an
interplanetary leaf shortage suddenly developed for you to investigate?
This is the beginning of Michael Berlynīs pre-Infocom masterpiece, Cyborg,
In this game the usual problem of accounting for the adventurerīs naivete is
handled by a brilliant stroke: you have amnesia, and have no idea who you
are, where you are, or what you are supposed to be doing. Fortunately, you
have a partner through this: your other, mechanical half. Asking his opinion
on objects and locations can often be of aid, although he has partial
amnesia, too, so he can be of only limited help at first.
Anyway, here you are. Start by asking for Help, which will explain a bit
more about your situation. But just a minute now. Whoīs this lizard standing
beside you, asking for food? Well, you need some of that yourselves (both of
you in your own ways), but if you canīt find out where you are and whatīs
going on, you may never find anything, so letīs see if you can find some
food, either for the lizard, who may be able to help you out of this, or for
one of your two halves.
Go southwest, then south. Hmmm. A nice collection of dead insects. Just
what a lizard might like. Get them, and then go north and northeast to find
him again. Feed him, then Ask Lizard. (You can Ask all four questions in
return for the one meal. NOTE: In some Apple versions, it is not possible to
get the insects and feed the lizard. However, doing this is not necessary to
win the game. If you canīt get the insects, skip down to the microlaser
part).
Well, we didnīt learn much from that, but itīs a beginning. Letīs explore.
Go east. Go east again. Whatīs this? A room full of little shelves? A
storage closet in a forest? There must be more here than meets the scanner.
But the microlaser could be useful. Get it and wear it.
By the way, what do you suppose killed those insects? To find out, go West
out of the room, South, West twice, and then South again to reach the place
on the path where you found them. Now go down, leaping gracefully over the
railing. (NOTE: In some Apple versions, you must CLIMB DOWN). Ouch! Well,
now we know what did them in.
Thereīs a forest here thatīs very easy to get lost in, so just go straight
east, three times. In the maintenance room, get the matches and the
sneakers. Now backtrack west, and go north twice to a dark area. Light a
match. Get the power-pack. Ahhh! That felt good! Get the ladder, too. You
never know when it might come in useful. South, south, and east to where the
matches were, and then south twice. Get the cube. It doesnīt seem to have
any external features, so cut it (with the laser) and then open it. Get the
ID that fell out, but donīt throw the now-empty cube away yet.
Insert the ID in the slot, but then get it again. (Always remember to do
this after putting the ID in a slot, which you will be doing often.) Go
south. Get the Ultrafiche, which seems to be the only thing in the library
you can get at. Go west, and take a little time to admire the scenery. It
makes no sense whatsoever, but at least itīs pretty.
Go west again. Insert the ID in the slot, and get the apple. Eat it. Get
the ID back, of course. Now wear the ID (it works two ways), so it wonīt be
taking up space in your hands.
Go north four times from the vending machine to get back to the main path.
Go west. It smells interesting to the south, doesnīt it? Letīs look Whoops!
Maybe that wasnīt such a good idea after all. Fortunately, we have our
laser. Shoot the snake. 100 power-units is usually enough for IBM. 50 is
said to be sufficient for Apple II. However, you may have to shoot more than
once.
From the snake, go north and then go west three times, noticing the
descriptions. Thereīs a shoulder harness here; get it and wear it. Then go
east twice, north, and northeast. Cut the string to release it from the tree
and then get it. Lace the sneakers with the string and wear them. Go east
twice. Climb the tree and get the fruit. Itīs a little prickly, but if you
cut it, to get the skin off, you can eat it. Go back down and then north.
There is more of the forest, but there is nothing to do and nothing much to
see.
At the entrance to the gymnasium, you can go right in, since youīre wearing
the ID and the sneakers, so just go north. Go up to get to the top of the
steam cabinet. Open the hatch, and enter the cabinet.
YOW! Thatīs hot! Quickly strike a match and look around. The infra-red
lenses will allow you to see in the dark from now on, so take them and wear
them. Then take the droid, who will go straight onto the shoulder harness.
(Heīll be making smart remarks from time to time, which may or may not be of
help.) Then go up to get out of the cabinet and down to get back to the gym
floor.
Go north to the center of the gym, and go up (climbing the rings) to the
ceiling. Smash the trap-door. Yes, you really should. Go up. Thereīs a
frightened "togram" here. She looks scared, so pet her. Now that she feels
better, Ask the Togram all four questions.
Hmmm! So there are more humans here. And youīd better look out for the
illogical smada: it sounds like something an adventurer might be better off
avoiding. Thereīs nothing you can do for the togram now, so go down twice,
to get back to gym floor.
From the center of the gym, go west twice, southwest, west, and north.
Press the touchplate, as directed, so contaminants from the forest ecology
will not harm the environment now facing you. (Wearing the ID is necessary
here, too.) Go north to the top of the shaft.
Part II:
--------
Go down once. At 25 meters down, open the hatch, and go south three times.
Get the repair patch you find here (NOTE: in some Apple versions, there is
no patch here; patch will be available during the arcade sequence). Then go
north three times back to the shaft, and down to the next level.
Go northwest to the intersection. Explore the blue corridor to the south,
first. Go south, up, and south to the center of the dome. Once there, go
east to see the view, which may give you an important hint as to whatīs
going on, and then head back west and south to the southern end of the dome.
Remove the droid, and it will pop through the hole and return with a
spacesuit for you.
Getting the suit on is pesky. Drop the matches, ultrafiche, cube, and
ladder, so your hands will be free. Then remove the laser, ID, sneakers, and
harness, and drop them, too. Get the suit and wear it. Then go north and
west to the airlock.
The next part of the game varies from system to system. (By the way, it now
becomes clear that the points of the compass are merely relative in this
game. However, judging from the layout of this ship, conventional terms such
as "fore", "aft", "port", or "starboard" would also have had little meaning,
in addition to giving away too much too soon.)
On an IBM PC, simply press the button, go west and pick up the torch. Then
go north and apply the repair patch. Afterwards, go south and east. You exit
the airlock without pressing the button, so just go east again to get to the
center of the dome.
On an Apple II, save the game at this point, because Cyborg is suddenly
going to turn into a video game for a moment. Push the button and go west.
Watch the coordinates at the bottom of the screen. You are starting at
22/13. You have to get to 7/25. Move back, down to 7, left to 25, and
forward. When you have applied the patch, reverse the process. This section
of the game is real-time, so you donīt have the usual adventurerīs luxury of
stopping to think between moves. The Apple Macintosh version presumably
follows one of these two schemes.
Once you are back at the center of the dome, go south to where you left
everything. Remove the suit, and drop the suit and torch (if you have one),
you wonīt need them any more. Get the laser, sneakers, and harness. Wear all
three. Then get the matches, ID, droid, ultrafiche, cube, and ladder. Go
north four times to get back to the intersection.
This time, go northwest on the red path three times. Drop off the ladder at
the wall and go up. If you go west, you will find yourself on the shipīs
bridge. Notice what the screens show you. Then go west again. This dial is
broken, and it will have to be repaired, but thereīs nothing useful we can
do here, yet, so go east three times to get back to the ladder.
Go south twice to the eerily-lit room. The balance will blow you up if you
arenīt careful, but if you drop the cube first you can take the power
crystal. Go north twice and drop the crystal by the ladder. Then go north
twice more.
At last! The ultrafiche reader! Insert the fiche in a slot and insert the
ID in the other slot. Then turn on the reader. Now things begin to become
really clear to you, explaining what the heck that forest was all about,
where you are, and what youīre supposed to be doing. And it seems thereīs
still some more work to do.
Donīt forget to get the ID. Wear it, to prevent inventory problems. Then go
south twice from the reader and southeast three times to get back to the
intersection.
This time go north along the yellow path. That grill looks suspicious, but
your energy levels are getting low, so leave it alone for now. For now, go
north three more times (we donīt have all we need for sickbay yet, so just
pass that by). Get the beaker from the laboratory, go east, and fill the
beaker with oxygen. Then go west and go south four times, back to the
intersection.
Finally, take the green northeast passage to Hydroponics. Get the peach and
eat it. Then go east, get the wire, and go west and southwest, back to the
intersection again. Southeast takes us back to the tube.
Part III:
---------
In the tube, go down one more level to the bottom. Go along the corridor to
the west twice, then north twice, then west. Get the power-battery. Since
weīre all recharged, now, this would be a good time to take care of the
robot the lizard warned us about, and which we saw on the screen, so go back
east, south, south, east, and east, to get to the bottom of the shaft.
From there, going south will take you to the sleep chambers, and on the
third time, you will find the berserk robot. Shoot it with 150 (IBM) or 45
(Apple II). Then smash the dead robot.
Take the power casing. Open it. Take the power cell that the robot stole
from you while you were unconscious and wear it. This will permanently solve
energy problems for your cyborg half. Drop the power casing and take the
tools.
Go south twice more. Getting the sleepersī manual from the iguana is the
nastiest problem in the game, but the solution is actually simple. Remove
the sneakers, unlace them, and drop them. (You wonīt need them any more.)
Then give the string to the iguana and while he is playing "iguanaīs cradle"
with it you can take the manual.
North five times from the iguana gets you back to the shaft bottom. Drop
the beaker and matches here temporarily, and return to the dormitory area.
Go west twice, south twice, west, and north. Get the moldy bread, but donīt
eat it; itīs not at all good for your human half. Go north twice more. Open
the locker here with the tools. Get the solder that was in the locker. Then
go south and go east three times, back to the shaft bottom.
Drop the solder, wire, and manual here. Pick up the beaker and the matches
and go north to the cargo bay. Remove the ID, insert it in the slot, get it
back and wear it. Go north. There is a very nice maze here, and you can
solve it, if you like, but it wonīt achieve anything to do so. Instead, you
have to clear it out. It seems that thereīs a lot of flammable stuff in the
debris, because if you pour the oxygen out of the beaker and onto the
debris, light a match, and drop the match, you get a dandy explosion that
opens up a way for you to the alien ship. Drop the beaker and the matches
now, because you wonīt need them again, and go east twice to get inside the
ship.
Once inside, feed the reptile with the moldy bread (no accounting for
tastes!). Once you have done this, Ask the Reptile. He should explain just
about all the remaining mysteries, so now pick up the small CPU you found
here, and exit west, west, and south.
South once more gets you to the bottom of the shaft. Get the manual, wire,
and solder, and go up to the 50m level and northwest to the multi-colored
intersection.
We might try to finish quickly here, but letīs visit sickbay first, so
weīll be in good health at the grand finale. Go north. Remember the grill?
Well, our energy levels are permanently high now, so smash it.
Oh no! Itīs the smada! Shoot it with 100 if you have an IBM, or 45 if you
have an Apple II. Whew! Well, we had to take care of that anyhow. Go north
twice more, east, north, and west. Unlock the latch with the tools, and open
the panel. Enter the cylinder, close the panel, and pull the lever. This
should heal most of the damage done by various accidents and beasties along
the way, so open the panel and leave.
East, south, west, and south three times returns you to the intersection.
Northwest three times gets you to the ladder where you left the power
crystal. Pick that up, and then go up and west twice to get to the end of
the bridge. Now weīre ready for that dial. Drop the wire, solder, CPU, and
power crystal, and repair the dial (you need to be holding the manual and
the tools).
Now turn the dial to wake up the sleepers. Since you may have been
contaminated by something nasty during your adventures, you donīt want to
visit with them, but thereīs no point in that anyway, because all you have
left to do is go east and throw the switch to start the automatic landing
procedure, and receive the thanks of the entire human race.
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