Surprise! I sprung Chapter 9 on you! Two chappies in one day cuz I love you! :D and I might be a little bored... but mostly because I love you! *hugs*
So Melody is about to take her first few steps into Riven... let us see what awaits her shall we...?
When her feet touched solid ground, she had to wait for a moment for the sick feeling in her stomach to subside.
A loud clang made her open her eyes.
She had linked into a small, shed-like building. Iron bars had closed the moment she had arrived.
Wonderful. Not three seconds into her rescue attempt and she had already been caught.
Being sneaky was just not her specialty.
As long as she was stuck here, she might as well read the journal Atrus had given her. Whatever happened next, she definitely wanted to be prepared.
They held for more than thirty years, but the corrections I made to Riven have finally failed. The island has resumed the familiar pattern of decay that is the hallmark of my father's work. I must now race to implement this new patch before it's too late. I only hope that my revised theories are sound.
Revisions to Riven completed. There are still a number of minor adjustments which need to be made, but the basic corrections have been entered and should be working.
Something's not right. I've been monitoring the instruments for several hours now but have thus far observed no change. It's possible that I have made an error, although I checked my entry against my prenotation and can find no discrepancy. I have not had a rest in nearly three days, so it may be that I am just not seeing it. If the fault is with my foundational assumptions however... perhaps after a short rest I will see something.
Success! It appears that my repairs have been effective after all. The gateway image has become noticeably clearer and although it is impossible to know this with absolute certainty the island seems to have quieted itself. Just a few more weeks of work and I should be free at last to go there myself and attempt to bring Catherine back. The past eight months have left me little time to think, to devise a strategy for getting her out of there. I have received no sign from her in all that time. I am afraid that... No. I must assume that she is alright, else my fears undermine my efforts to bring her back.
I did not create the age of Riven. Unlike my father, I have never presumed to have such power. And yet the future of all those who live there has fallen into my hands. So far I've managed to read the page before it turns. The island continues to appear stable and I would like to believe that I have saved a dying world. But the theories of one individual cannot support the lives of real people indefinitely. I must get everyone off of Riven as soon as possible.
The problem now is Gehn. I'll never be able to rescue Catherine and relocate the islanders if he is still the man he once was. I haven't seen him in over thirty years, but his history forces me to assume that he is still a threat.
His mission to restore the D'ni civilization has left too many innocent cultures dying in it's wake and would continue to do so were he to once again be free of the confines of Riven, or the 5th Age as he coldly titled it.
The universe has been safe from his corruptive influences for the last thirty-three years because no one has been able to leave that Age. The last linking book out of Riven having been lost in the Star Fissure upon my return to Myst. That was my intention, to maroon my father on Riven by removing all the existing links to other worlds. And since the Art of constructing books has long been lost with the fall of the D'ni, he would be trapped there for the remainder of his lifetime and effectively segregated from the countless other worlds that he would have invaded.
In effect that is what we achieved, but the way it fell however was no one's ideal. Though the sting of the incident has gradually faded from my memory, the deep pain of the responsibility for what actually came to be had never left me. At the time it all seemed so clear: Gehn's destructive path could not be allowed to continue. But it was never my choice that the innocent inhabitants of Riven who had already suffered so much would be the ones to pay for it.
Enough. To dwell in the past is to die in the present. The situation is not the same as it was then. The knowledge I have acquired in the years since that time has yet to be applied to this problem.
I think I have the solution. Why it did not occur to me sooner I do not know, unless the idea of it had been pushed out with the thought of my sons.
A prison book.
Many years ago during a hunting exploration through the ruins of D'ni, I chanced upon a formula for a most unusual type of book. Unfortunately, due to the fact that my father was then in the habit of confiscating my discoveries, I was forced to leave it behind. Years later however as part of my efforts to protect the vulnerable worlds linked to the books in my library, I was pleased to find that I could still recall most of the formula and with little experimentation quickly succeeded in creating one of these devices myself. The
procedure is actually quite simple: by altering key lines of text but slightly, a normal linking book's connection can be partially severed in such as anyone who attempts to use the book will be permanently trapped in the dark void of the link. That is unless someone else then uses the book, at which point that person will become trapped and the first person displaced back into the world.
The technique can be applied to books that have already been written, changes to the original text being so slight that anyone who is unfamiliar with the code will be unable to detect them. If indeed my father has not changed, what better bait could there be than a book that appeared to be a link back here to D'ni?
Trouble. My nightly analysis of the island's condition has revealed that the tremors have begun again. The pattern however is new. The disturbances are the result of the changes I have made. This did not at first concern me, however tremors of this type were one of the possible side-effects that I had anticipated during this initial phase of the island's readjustment. In order to verify my assumptions, I have decided to calculate again incorporating the new data.
The results were not what I expected. The damage to the understructure is more extensive than I realized. I can no longer go to Riven as planned.
Catherine, forgive me...
I must act while I still have the time. The signs are barely visible but there is no question that the island's deterioration is accelerating. Total collapse is imminent unless I can keep ahead, and that is becoming increasingly difficult to do.
With every passing moment I gain a clearer picture of the incredible chaos that my father's economy of words has yielded, but it is a damaging process. The complexity of the problem is overwhelming. There is no end to this. The last few days have all but conviced me that the collapse of Riven is inevitable and that at best I can only strive to delay it now and hope that at some point the island will become stable enough to risk a rescue attempt.
I think I've come up with a way to subdue the tremors. It will require my exclusive attention for at least a month or two, so it may be necessary to discontinue these journal entries for a while.
Something truly miraculous has happened! Beyond all conceivable probability, someone has finally found my lost Myst-linking book and has freed me from this prison. A young woman named Melody saw through my sons' lies and has joined me here. She told me a curious story about finding my Myst-linking book among her dead great-uncle's belongings. I vaguely remember meeting a Stanley Hunter many years ago, but the place and circumstances escape me. How he came into possession of my linking book is also a mystery.
My heart goes out to the poor girl. Fear and exhaustion have taken their toll on her. She is sleeping now. That is the best thing for her.
Melody wishes me to help her get home, but I cannot leave Riven for fear it will collapse entirely without my corrections. But my new friend has offered to help me. This may be the solution to my dilemma.
I'm still not sure it can work. The logistics of such a scheme are formidable, but the mere fact that it may now be possible for me to continue my repairs to Riven and yet proceed with my original intent to find Catherine has given me renewed hope.
The last few days have left me little time to work out the remaining problems with sending Melody to Riven. It did occur to me however that if a way could be found to signal me once Gehn had been captured it would no longer be necessary to take a real linking book to Riven and risk the possibility of inadvertently releasing Gehn. The deteriorated state of the capturing image makes the use of a visual signal impossible, but the picture remains a reliable indicator of Riven's condition none the less by measuring and interpreting variations in the noise patterns. I am still able to observe basic changes that occur in the Age even though I cannot see them. The problem is that my instruments can only detect changes that occur on a fundamental level and it seems unlikely that an individual could affect such an elementary change from within an Age. The idea may be foolish. Still, there is a known weakness that may be worth investigating. An anomaly that appears as a rift between two seperate systems: The Star Fissure. But how, or even if, this fact could be exploited I cannot say.
Sending Melody to Riven also means that once I receive the signal that she is ready to return I would have to leave my writing in order to take a real linking book there myself. However, provided my father was safely out of the way, this should take very little time. After that, assuming the island has not incurred much damage in my absence, it should then be a relatively simple matter to hold it together long enough for Catherine to return to Riven and evacuate the remaining islanders.
Predetermining a signal without knowing the topography of the island may prove to be impossible, but I'm afraid there can be only one answer to the question of whether or not I shall send my friend to Riven with a way out: the potential for failure would be greatly diminished if the prison book is all that is taken there.
I'm sure my father is expecting me to bring a linking book to Riven.
May he not be disappointed.
Approaching footsteps made her jump and shove the journal back into her bag.
A man walked by the cage. Judging from his clothes and the fact that he was carrying some kind of gun made her conclude that he was a guard, apparently on patrol. He had nearly passed the cage before he noticed her.
He looked shocked. He came toward her, talking excitedly in a language she had never heard before. When she didn't respond, he pointed to her shoulder bag and spoke more slowly.
He wanted to go through her bag? She bit her lip.
The man pointed again and spoke more rapidly.
Well she wasn't going to hand him her bag, but maybe she could show him a few unimportant things to satisfy his curiosity.
Melody slowly placed the bag on the floor of her prison. "Alright, alright," she said slowly. "I'll show you what I've got." She pulled out a few of the things she had brought with her: a length of rope, a pencil, some food from Atrus' garden, a cloak, a flint rock, a glowing crystal for a flashlight and a comb.
When she pulled out the prison book, his eyes widened at the sight of it. He gestured for her to give it to him.
"No," she said, holding it away.
He gestured again, speaking rapidly.
Melody shook her head. "It's mine."
He pointed the gun at her, yelling at her angrily.
She had no choice but to hand it over.
Laying his gun down, the guard opened the book and gazed at the moving picture of D'ni. He looked back up at her and smiled.
"Yeah, yeah," she said, "Very cool, I know. Now give it back."
He held the book away from her.
"Give it back!" she ordered angrily.
He laughed at her.
Suddenly he stopped laughing. A look of shock crossed his face as his hand flew to his neck. A second later, he was lying on the ground. Unfortunately, the prison book had fallen just beyond her reach.
Melody watched in alarm as the guard's body was dragged out of sight by his ankles. What the heck was...?
She gasped as a masked figure suddenly appeared. She watched as he scooped up the prison book.
"Wait!" she called. "That's mine!"
He looked back at her, then turned to leave.
"Hey!" she called. "At least get me out of here!"
He stopped and seemed to study her behind his mask. Maybe he couldn't understand her.
"Please," she pleaded. "Don't leave me here."
After a tense moment, the man yanked a lever nearby. The bars slowly lowered. He jammed a dagger into the lever so the cage wouldn't shut again.
By the time she had gathered her stuff into her shoulder bag the bars had completely lowered. She looked up to thank the mysterious man.
He was gone.
And he had taken the prison book with him.
Melody was certain she had never felt more stupid in her life than she did at that moment.
Not five minutes in Riven and she had been captured and had the prison book stolen. Now she had to retrieve the prison book, trap Gehn, find and free Catherine and somehow signal Atrus before the Age completely fell apart.
No problem...
Interesting no? Melody just has to do everything doesn't she?
Melody : You mean you make me do everything...
Me : Details, details. Better be nice to me. I control your fate!
Melody : You already have most of the story written, at least as far as-
Me : *presses buzzer* No spoilers! Bad character! Bad! Go to your room!
Melody : ...
Me : ... please?
Melody : Whatever. Please read and review before Myst drives me nuts.