Return to Space (Part 2)

Picking up where we left off in the last blog post...around this time is when the game starts to introduce some more movement-based challenges.  Avoiding a tentacle monster under a grating and acid drops falling from above, the player has to navigate an underground passage only to discover a race of pale four-armed humanoids.  After doing them a favor (getting rid of that pesky Orat on the surface), they provide Roger with a sand skimmer that he pilots to the only permanent settlement on the entire planet.  It's all very reminiscent of Mos Eisley and the trip there involves the player having to dodge rocks like they're playing some kind of futuristic off-road version of Out Run.  Upon arrival at his destination, Roger Wilco receives an offer from one of locals to buy his ride.  For awhile I used to think that the amount of money offered had to do with the condition that the skimmer was in (i.e. how many rocks the player hit on the way there), but that turns out not to be the case.

Moving on, this location has several points of interest: a cantina, a used starship dealership, and a "Droids 'R' Us" (changed to "Droids 'B' Us" in later versions of the game for copyright reasons)...kind of funny considering the store chain it was parodying, "Toys 'R' Us" is now out of business in America.  Other than that there are opportunities to interact with other characters a bit and acquire additional funds via a very deadly slot machine.  Much like real slot machines it's very hard to get a significant amount of money out of it, so instead players are pretty much expected to cheese their way to riches by save scumming each crank of the handle.  There's also a way to "hack" the mini-game by using certain four-letter words, but let's not get into that...

Roger needs to buy one particular ship and droid in order to advance the plot.  It's actually possible to get a discount for both of these purchases using coupons not listed in his inventory.  In actuality these coupons come printed on real paper in the boxes Space Quest was sold in...yet another example of the game breaking the fourth wall.  When it comes time to blast off, the player needs to inform his astro-navigation droid where to go.  This is one particular puzzle that really stumped me as a child.  The solution is to have a couple of beers at the bar.  Doing so makes the other patrons relax enough for Roger to overhear a conversation about a Sarien battlecruiser performing strange weapons tests on asteroids in sector "HH"...not being much of a drinker now, let alone when I was a child, it seemed to me that buying beer was a waste of buckazoids and should be avoided.  Thank goodness for hint books showing me the error of my ways.

After being treated to a non-interactive spaceflight sequence to sector HH, Roger's droid skillfully pilots the craft close to the Deltaur undetected.  From here Roger Wilco instructs the droid to rendezvous with him later, then dons a zero-g jet pack a slips aboard the battlecruiser through an airlock hatch undetected.  Sariens might be sloppy when it comes to security, but they're still the type to shoot first and ask questions later.  Because of this the player must guide Roger around using the air ducts or else by stowing away in a trunk until he reaches a laundry room.  In order to avoid being spotted Roger is forced to hide in a washing machine.  As fate would have it the washer gets activated with him still inside.  Somehow he manages to survive the cleaning process and more implausibly emerges decked out in a Sarien uniform; including helmet and boots!  Thus disguised, Roger is able to infiltrate the bowels of the ship and reach the place the Star Generator is being kept.  It's too big to move, however, clever players will have discovered earlier in the game that the Star Generator has a built-in self-destruct system that can be activated by entering a special code.  This is one of those "guide-dang-it!" puzzles that Sierra adventure games are well known for.  Back in the beginning of the game Roger has to recover a particular data cartridge from the library room aboard the Arcada (a dying crew mate hints at its importance).  The cartridge contains the blueprints for the Star Generator along with a log entry by one "Slash Vohaul" explaining how to arm the self-destruct system.  

Once activated there isn't much time before detonation so, in what feels like a story come full circle, Roger once again hastily escapes a starship before it explodes by commandeering a Sarien emergency escape craft.  The game time skips at this point, jumping ahead to an award ceremony on "Xenon"; Roger Wilco's homeworld and the place the Arcada was returning to.  The astro-navigation droid is present and Roger is awarded a golden mop along with the words "Once a janitor, always a janitor."

It's possible to forget the data cartridge back on Kerona or, through the magic of save game manipulation and out-of-game knowledge, never get it to begin with.  Aside from a lower score and few changes to the ending text though it doesn't affect the conclusion.  Supposedly, there are a number of ways the player can abandon the quest, but I can honestly say I've never experienced any of them.  I have always liked the idea of a janitor turned hero.  All it requires (according to Space Quest) is a little bit of ingenuity and whole lot of dumb luck.