SUMMONING THE FUZZY CHAMBER OPENING TEA HOUSE There's a low table in the center of the tea house. Near the west wall you see a large tape recorder and a plastic box of audio cassettes. The rice paper panel door is to the south. >x cassettes There are several dozen audio cassettes in the plastic box. All of the cassettes have blue labels. The blue labeled cassettes are marked "RESEARCH NOTES" and are numbered sequentially. >play cassettes You play several of the blue labeled cassettes until you feel confident that you have gotten as much information from them as you need. Apparently the tapes are recorded in Martin's father's voice and contain his notes for a scientific research project. The tapes tell you that Martin's father had been sending message signals to nearby star systems in an attempt to contact intelligent alien life forms. Martin's father and his research partner Jorucho Takamine had developed a device that extracts signals from human brain waves and transmits them with a powerful laser beam capable of cutting through the atmosphere and traveling dozens of light years through outer space. The dates on the most recent tapes are more than 25 years old, so you decide to concentrate on listening to the tapes from that year. You learn that in July, Martin's father and his partner sent a transmission targeting a star system that was 25.7 light years away. Since the message would be traveling through space at the speed of light, it would take 25.7 years for the signal to reach its destination. The content of the message was meant to provide a sampling of sensory impressions extracted from Viktor Kessler's brain as he views a textbook on mathematics, listens to recordings of Shakespeare's Hamlet and Beethoven's fifth symphony, smells an assortment of flowers, and tastes several different food items. The fabric samples that were intended for tactile impressions were not going to be used that day because of some technical difficulties involving Viktor's cat Paganini, who had urinated on the samples that morning. ------------- Press space bar to continue ----------------- On the next tape Viktor talks about the astonishing development that occurred immediately after sending that transmission. A reply message was received! Viktor and Jorucho were stunned by the ramifications of the reply message. It appeared to be alien in origin, from the same region in space that they had been transmitting to. But the reply transmission arrived instantaneously! This should be completely impossible since their own message would not arrive at its destination until 25.7 years later. Even if the aliens were somehow capable of sending instantaneous messages across light years of space, how could they possibly respond to a message that they hadn't even received yet? The content of the alien reply appeared to be mostly mathematical, with the information transmitted directly into the brains of Viktor and Jorucho. Each seemed to have received only a part of the message. But between the two of them they had enough information to suspect that the aliens had supplied them with instructions for how to enhance their transmitter for the purpose of sending signals faster than the speed of light. ------------- Press space bar to continue ----------------- Unfortunately, Viktor and Jorucho's understanding of the mathematics was fragmented and incomplete. Despite frequent modifications to their equipment and much testing and re-testing during the months that followed, they were unable get any signal at all to emanate from their enhanced equipment. However, they learned that the process of faster-than-light signaling involved a folding of space-time made possible by the magnetronic transformation of organic materials. They needed to use materials that produce unusually strong taste sensations, either sweet, sour, salty, or bitter. The last tape, from October, discusses Viktor and Jorucho's decision to try to use broccoli in a bitterness transformation. Both Viktor and Jorucho apparently possessed the genetic characteristic that causes broccoli to taste bitter to them. The two partners had been having a disagreement over how much broccoli to use. Jorucho wanted to start the testing with a medium- sized piece of broccoli, and Viktor wanted to use a large piece of broccoli. However, the first broccoli transmission test had been temporarily put on hold because the cat Paganini had eaten almost all of the broccoli. Both partners agreed that the small broccoli sprig left by Paganini was clearly insufficient for testing purposes. You return the tapes to the plastic box. >s The rice paper panel door opens. You step down and slip into your shoes. STONE STEP >sw You wander back through the garden. Eventually you reach the garden entrance. JAPANESE GARDEN ENTRANCE >s As you go through the gate, you hear the tinkling of unseen wind chimes. A rice paper panel opens and you walk through to find yourself on the First Level of the store. The panel closes behind you. FIRST LEVEL In the small indentation you see a pebble. >drop bowl The black bowl containing a spoon is now on the floor. >s WALMART PARKING LOT >open cloth sack The small cloth sack is now open. Inside the sack you see a white chess pawn and five game tiles. The game tiles look similar to what you've seen being used to play Mah Jong except that the markings on the tiles are somewhat unusual. You see a tile that has a picture of one eye. Another tile has a picture of two ears. Another tile has a picture of three noses. Another tile has a picture of four mouths. Another tile has a picture of five hands. You see some words written on each of the tiles. >w PHONE BOOTH, in the WalMart parking lot You hear the computerized voice tell you (somewhat faintly since the receiver is hanging down on its cord) ... "Press "1" to be enlightened. Press "3" to be cleansed. Press "9" to be returned. If you do not have access to a touch tone phone, please remain on the line and an operator will assist you." >press "9" You pick up the receiver. You press "9". You hear the sound of a motor grinding, the door slams closed, and the phone booth suddenly rises upwards very quickly, flying high into the air. The telephone voice tells you, "Estimated travel time for this six mile trip is three minutes, using standard travel speed." The phone booth flies southeast. After about three minutes of flying it drops down through an opening Martin's roof and comes to an abrupt halt in the pantry. The phone booth door opens. PHONE BOOTH, in the pantry You see the kitchen to the east. You see Agador-Spartacus in the kitchen. He's lying down. >press "4" You press "4". You hear the sound of a motor grinding, the door slams closed, and the phone booth suddenly rises upwards very quickly. Then, just as suddenly, the phone booth comes to a screeching halt. The phone booth door opens. PHONE BOOTH, by the upstairs landing You see the upstairs landing to the east. >e You drop the receiver. SECOND FLOOR LANDING >n SHORT HALL >x shelf Etched into the glass shelf is a picture of a checkerboard. Nothing else is currently on the shelf. >take pawn You take the white pawn out of the small cloth sack. >put pawn on shelf The white pawn is now on the glass shelf. You hear a muffled thump coming from the general direction of the fuzzy square and slightly south. Then the iris device on the west side of the pillar opens. There are grinding noises as metal cylinder emerges from the open iris device and extends towards the socket in the fuzzy square. The cylinder enters the socket, and then you hear a thump as the cylinder locks into the socket. The fuzzy square rotates a quarter turn clockwise The fuzzy square rotates a quarter turn clockwise The fuzzy square rotates a quarter turn clockwise ------------- Press space bar to continue ----------------- You hear a thump coming from the socket in the fuzzy square. Then there are grinding noises as the metal cylinder pulls away from the square, revealing a round metal socket in the center of the square. The cylinder recedes into the pillar. When the cylinder is completely inside the pillar, the iris device closes. Then you hear a muffled thump coming from the general direction of the fuzzy square and slightly above. The fuzzy square in the wall begins to move, and you now see that the square is actually only one side of a fuzzy cube. The cube rotates a quarter turn from right to left. The side of the cube now facing you looks like a fuzzy white square with a round metal depression in the center. The fuzzy cube rotates a quarter turn from right to left. The side of the cube now facing you looks like a fuzzy white square with a round metal depression in the center. The fuzzy cube rotates a quarter turn from right to left. You see a large round hole in the side of the fuzzy cube that is now facing you. Looking though the hole you can see a little bit of the inside of the fuzzy chamber. >