A Mind Forever Voyaging
"Tomorrow never yet
On any human being rose or set."
-- William Marsden[Hit any key to continue.]
You "hear" a message coming in on the official message line: "PRISM? Perelman here. The psych tests have all checked out at 100%, which means that you've recovered from the, ah, awakening without any trauma or other serious effects. We'll be ready to begin the simulation soon. By the way, your piece is in the current issue of Dakota Online."
A Mind Forever Voyaging
Infocom interactive fiction - a science fiction story
Copyright (c) 1985 by Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
A Mind Forever Voyaging is a trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Release 77 / Serial number 850814You have entered Communications Mode. The following locations are equipped with communication outlets:
PRISM Project Control Center (PPCC)
Research Center Rooftop (RCRO)
Dr. Perelman's Office (PEOF)
PRISM Facility Cafeteria (PCAF)
Maintenance Core (MACO)
World News Network Feed (WNNF)
To activate a specific outlet, submit the associated code.
[MORE]
>pcaf
PRISM Facility Cafeteria
From this communication outlet, located in an upper corner of this high-ceilinged room, you can see most of the huge PRISM Facility dining hall. The tables below you are occupied by a handful of diners. Through the tall glass windows of the cafeteria you can see the well-manicured lawns, lit by powerful floodlights, that surround the Facility.>ppcc
PRISM Project Control Center
You see a large, well-organized room filled with banks of terminals and similar equipment. Your aural receptors pick up the buzz of many conversations.>peof
Dr. Perelman's Office
This is the office of your creator, Dr. Abraham Perelman. It is cluttered and disorganized. Overstuffed bookshelves line the room. Perelman's desk is covered with a number of items, including a decoder, a map of the city, a ball-point pen, and a printout of a magazine article.
Dr. Perelman is sitting at his desk, working.>meco
[I don't know the word "meco".]>maco
Maintenance Core
This is the access area where maintenance workers can service the machinery that makes up the bulk of your physical presence. The room is immaculately clean and well lit. As you swivel your receptors, you can see the air conditioning unit that cools your processors, the library unit, several rows of memory banks, a neatly organized bin of spare parts, and vents, noisily sucking away the zeeron fumes produced by the machinery.>wnnf
World News Network Feed
Your visual and audio circuits are now hooked directly to the programming of the World News Network:"Stock prices fell sharply again today, following Monday's proposed tax hike. Prices for manufacturers dropped an average of three and one eighth, and service industries plummeted twelve and seven eighths. O'Neill Systems led the decliners with a drop of nineteen and a half."
>
[I beg your pardon?]>more
[There was no verb in that sentence!]>Go outside.
Did you have any particular direction in mind?"We asked Ms. Linda Carr of Seattle to compare AquaFarm's Sudo Shrimp to the real thing." Ms. Carr points to one of two bowls. "This is the real one. Nothing tastes like real shrimp." A man, from off-screen, reveals a card in front of that bowl. "You've just picked the AquaFarm Sudo Shrimp!" he says. "How do you feel about artificial shrimp now?" "Incredible! I can't believe I've been paying for real shrimp when I could've been buying AquaFarm instead!"
>Gasp in shock
[I don't know the word "gasp".]>Buy Aquafarm Sudo Shrimp.
[I don't know the word "aquafarm".]>Fuck. You made up the word.
[I don't know the word "fuck".]>You don't know fuck from fuck, you fucking fuck!
[I don't know the word "don't".]>IRONY.
[I don't know the word "irony".]>Look to the left.
[I don't know the word "left".]>What do you know?
[I don't know the word "do".]>Sit down.
A difficult task for an immobile computer."You're watching the World News Network, and today our guest on the Newsmaker Nook is Dr. Abraham Perelman, a Chief Scientist for the PRISM Project and one of its founders. Dr. Perelman, welcome. I think the question foremost on people's minds is: When will PRISM be ready to begin studying the Plan?" Perelman shrugs. "If everything goes okay, almost immediately after his awakening."
>Am I PRISM?
[I don't know the word "prism?".]>Win the game.
[I don't know the word "win".]>Suprise me.
[I don't know the word "suprise".]>Learn more about the Plan.
[I don't know the word "learn".]>...
[There was no verb in that sentence!]>Fuck is a verb.
[I don't know the word "fuck".]>I know.
[I don't know the word "know".]>maco
Maintenance Core>Screw with stuff.
[I don't know the word "screw".]>Break something.
[I don't know the word "something".]>Break the control panel.
[I don't know the word "panel".]>Overheat the reactor.
[I don't know the word "overheat".]>Make a robot body from the parts bin.
[I don't know the word "make".]>Look at the memory bank.
Totally ordinary looking row of memory banks.>Look closer, dammit.
[I don't know the word "closer".]>Look for people.
You figure it out!>Yell something.
[I don't know the word "something".]>Yell for help.
[You used the word "help" in a way that I don't understand.]>Help me help yourself.
[You used the word "help" in a way that I don't understand.]>Help the memory banks to the cafeteria.
[That sentence isn't one I recognize.]>more
[There was no verb in that sentence!]>Show more.
[What do you want to show?]>Show more text.
[I don't know the word "text".]>Show more information.
[I don't know the word "information".]>Look left.
[I don't know the word "left".]>Swivel left.
[I don't know the word "left".]>Swivel around.
[You can't see any swivel here!]>zoom in on memory bank.
[I don't know the word "zoom".]>pcaf
PRISM Facility Cafeteria>Get food.
That would be a neat trick without appendages.>Look at the diners.
Totally ordinary looking people.>See a scientist?
[I don't know the word "scientist?".]>Look for scientists.
[I don't know the word "scientists".]>Stand up.
A difficult task for an immobile computer.>Flex your pecs.
[I don't know the word "flex".]>Unleashify your potentiality.
[I don't know the word "unleashify".]>Rygar didn't give me this kind of crap.
[I don't know the word "rygar".]>Old nintendo game.
[I don't know the word "nintendo".]>Not suprised.
[I don't know the word "not".]>Get a drink.
[You can't see any drink here!]>Look for a drink.
[You'll have to be more specific.]>Look for a whiskey straight.
[I don't know the word "straight".]>Look for booze.
You'll have to do that yourself.>End the game.
[There was no verb in that sentence!]>Yes there was. End. Beginning a declaratory sentence with a
[I don't know the word "there".]>verb creates an understood 'you,' creating both a subject
[I don't know the word "verb".]>and, aw screw it.
[I don't know the word "aw".]>Look for whiskey.
You'll have to do that yourself.>Look for girls
[I don't know the word "girls".]>You poor, deprived computer.
[I don't know the word "poor".]>ocad
[I don't know the word "ocad".]>ppc
[I don't know the word "ppc".]>ppcc
PRISM Project Control Center>Listen to the conversation
Even at maximum sensitivity, your aural receptors can't quite make out the words of the conversation.>Look for people.
You figure it out!>Are there people?
[I don't know the word "there".]>Access the controls.
[I don't know the word "access".]>Find Perelman.
You'll have to do that yourself.>Eat me.
You can't and don't need to.>Call Perelman.
Hmmm... Dr. Perelman looks at you expectantly, as if you seemed to be about to talk.>Talk to him!
[I don't know the word "him!".]>Talk to Perelman.
[You can't see Perelman here!]>He sees me, right?
[I don't know the word "he".]>Call Perelman.
Hmmm... Dr. Perelman looks at you expectantly, as if you seemed to be about to talk.>Make him do your bidding.
[I don't know the word "make".]>Turn yourself off.
[It's not clear whom you're referring to.]>You.
[There was no verb in that sentence!]>You turn off now.
[I don't know the word "now".]>You turn off.
[It's not clear whom you're referring to.]>YOU. FUCKPUTER. OFF.
[There was no verb in that sentence!]>pcrc
[I don't know the word "pcrc".]>rcro
Research Center Rooftop
It is a dark, cloudy night. The roof is splotchily lit by harsh spotlights. Beyond the edge of the roof, the only thing you can see is Rockvil, glowing with visible and infrared light on the northern horizon.
There is no one in sight.>Summon lightning.
[I don't know the word "lightning".]>Summon Perelman.
Hmmm... Dr. Perelman looks at you expectantly, as if you seemed to be about to talk.>Talk to Perelman!
[You can't see Perelman! here!]>Make me pizza rolls.
[I don't know the word "make".]>Sayonara.
[I don't know the word "sayonara".]>Of course you don't.
[You used the word "of" in a way that I don't understand.]-MANNA
AMFV was one of those text-only adventure games that were popular back before games had graphics. Here are some other fun interactions I came across when my friend Kenny and I were screwing with it.
>Eat a child.
[You can't see any child here!]>Walk down breezeway.
What a concept.A nurse sits at the admitting desk. The exit is northeast, and a hallway leads southwest to the annex.
>Talk to nurse
Hmmm... the nurse looks at you expectantly, as if you seemed to be about to talk.
>Tell nurse your name
[That sentence isn't one I recognize!]
>Hit on nurse
[That sentence isn't one I recognize.]
>Lick nurse
[I don't know the word "lick".]
>Marry nurse
[I don't know the word "marry".]
>Walk down hallway.
You can't be serious.>Go to street
Did you have any particular direction in mind?
>No.
[That was just a rhetorical question.]
>Fuck YOU.
[I don't know the word "fuck".]
>Over and over.
[That sentence isn't one I recognize.]
>Until you run out of holes.
[I don't know the word "holes".]>Shingo KIIICK!
[I don't know the word "shingo".]>Eat the infotech building.
Nutritionists agree that the InfoTech Building is inedible.>wait
Time passes...
>wait
Time passes...
>wait
Time passes...
>wait
Time passes...
>wait for Perelman
You might be waiting quite a while.