Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures Through the Black Hole Alternate Endings Part 14


Through the Black Hole is different from the other U-Ventures or still-official Choose Your Own Adventures.  Once you play it enough, you realize that it's really an Ultimate Ending book in disguise.  Except there's less coin flipping and more minor side branches.  This ending is an example of what I'd call the "Consolation Prize Good Ending" in Ultimate Ending, as it's positive even while failing to achieve the official goal.  The antigravity device takes me back almost as many miles as there are digits in pi:  "halfway to Earth". 


"Your first steps back on Earth are as wobbly as a toddler's, but you're smiling happily at the hundreds of people waiting to greet you and Nick.  Dr. Bartok is the first to walk up to you.  You already radioed in a report, and you were afraid he would be critical of you for failing to make it through the black hole.  Instead he shakes your hand warmly.


'You didn't get through the black hole', he says, 'but because of your work we know a lot more about them than we did before.  And you and Nick tested the antigravity generator and proved that in the presence of a very strong gravitational field it will work!  You two are heroes!  THE END".


This sure beats getting a plaque after we die. 


Results So Far


2 Good Endings

7 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

4 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures Through the Black Hole Alternate Endings Part 15


My out-of-character skepticism about the countdown timer to repair the crack on the ship in CHOICE #12 is correct!  After a Page 43 of setup, the entirety of Page 44 is wasted on these two lines before advancing to Page 45:  "Finally you get it open.  You apply the sealant!"  It's somehow better than the titanium in the hull, even.  As for the timer, that was "faulty".  


I'm dizzy for a bit as we approach the event horizon, and Nick's voice cuts out.  The hatch can't close anymore, and we don't even see any purple or orange skies, only "coal black".  I'm still outside the Athena, and it's approaching the black hole at over half the speed of light.  CHOICE #17 is another one of those decisions that outright tells you what to do, to compensate for all those blind "quantum divergence" CHOICEs.  Page 60 blasts the door open, which the narration suggests will hurt Nick and depressurize part of the ship.  Page 61 is "Try to think of something better".


If you can't take a hint, this happens:


"You pull out your laser pistol, aim it at the latch, and squeeze the trigger.  An arrow of light streaks out, but instead of being a straight beam, it's bent in an arc, curving back toward the stern of the ship, where liquid hydrogen is stored.  How could that have happened?


Suddenly you realize why.  You're traveling at almost the speed of light in a massive gravitational field.  Of course the laser's ray would be bent!  The liquid hydrogen explodes in a weirdly distorted flare of light.  The blast tears the Athena, Nick, and you into molecules that are soon reduced to neutrons that disappear completely when they reach the singularity-the center of the black hole.  THE END".


But what about the quarks?


Results So Far


2 Good Endings

8 Deaths

0 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

4 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures Through the Black Hole Alternate Endings Part 16


"Think of something better" in CHOICE #17 means looking through the starboard window.  Nick has blood in his hair and is probably unconscious after suffering what Rex Morgan MD diagnoses as "bonkus of the conkus".  I hit the view point with a wrench, tapping the Mayday signal.  Nick "staggers to his feet" and can hear my instructions to depressurize the cabin.  Based on the black and white illustration on Page 62, Nick has brown skin and black hair.


Nick doesn't know what hit him, but we conclude that it must have been turbulence.  He realizes we're almost at the singularity.  The turbulence that follows is a "slight quivering".  All I can do is stare ahead, and it feels like a bad dream.  "You can't move, but you can feel, and you have never felt such hopelessness, such despair", since for all we know we're trapped for eternity.


I try communicating with Nick telepathically, but I guess I'm not psychic in this story.  Nick snaps out of the trance before I do.  He says we're on the "other side", where the sky is "a pleasing apple green".  The computer's readings?  "Course:  undeterminable.  Speed:  infinity".  Nick believes that we're traveling faster than light in our universe, which the computer mistakes for infinity.


A white area is behind us, where the black hole sent us.  Nick wants to use it to return to Earth.  CHOICE #18 is whether to return through the white hole on Page 70, or explore the new universe on Page 74 like my character wants.  The latter leads to an ending rather than a CHOICE, so let's try that!


"Let's see what we can find in this universe', you say.  At the same time you accelerate the thrusters.  The Athena streaks on through vaporous green space.  You strain your eyes and keep checking the display screen, looking for stars or planets that might lie ahead.  'There's one, off to the side', says Nick.  'Edis eht ot ffo, eno s'ereht.'


Huh?  He's talking gibberish.  What's going on?  You look at the instruments.  Somehow the Athena is going backward!  And listening to Nick, you realize that he is talking backward!  The same thing happens when you try to speak.  The controls are all indicating the opposite of what they should.  Distance is decreasing back to the white hole that is this universe's side of the black hole in your own universe.


Now you're lying in the position you were in when you came out of the white hole.  You feel the shuddering and violent dislocation as you go back into it.  You wonder if time will keep running backward once you're in your own universe.  It doesn't.  The shuddering stops.  You're not in your own universe.  You have gone through a different wormhole-one that leads not to your universe, but to one where forward and backward-moving time are perfectly balanced.  Time is no longer passing.  THE END".


Our first Bad Non-Death Ending occurs when we're permanently frozen in time.  At least the Return to the Cave of Time hero only had to deal with a 3 minute delay by writing and using a tape recorder!  This conclusion is where Ultimate Ending diverges from Through the Black Hole, as you're not punished in Ultimate Ending for pursuing the mission too far.



Results So Far



2 Good Endings

8 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

4 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures Through the Black Hole Alternate Endings Part 17


Our computer refuses to comprehend this new universe:  Nick even says "the data won't compute".  Imagine that with your best boxy cartoon robot voice.  We see what look like gray planets, "as smooth as a billiard ball".  Gravity is reversed in the new universe, and the white hole repels us.  My character's suggestion must have come after reading too much Journey to the Center of the Earth.  Or watching The Mole People on Mystery Science Theater 3000.


"If by some chance this planet is hollow and we could get inside it, then we could walk around on the inside of the shell-like ants crawling on the inside of a hollowed-out pumpkin".


CHOICE #19 is whether to follow up on my crazy idea on Page 98, or try to fly somewhere else like what Nick wants on Page 101.


Nick says 'You're the captain', hopefully in the most sarcastic tone possible.  We go for 100 miles per hour speed, conveniently what the Athena can withstand.  The reverse gravity is decreasing, but the clay is too thick to make it all the way down.  Nick says "We may be trapped here forever", but offers some hope that the reverse thrusters could work.  CHOICE #20 is whether to do that on Page 112, or "consider other options" on Page 116.


Before we're out, the "contamination scan" says "Reverse thrusters are jammed".  The narration brings up the antigravity generator, which may actually become a gravity generator in this reverse universe.  CHOICE #21 is whether to use the antigravity generator on Page 115, or "try to think of what else to do" on Page 116.  The first option is the worst case of an anticlimactic Death in the history of these playthroughs.  Suitable for the end of tonight's session!


"You successfully activate the antigravity generator, but don't live long enough to see what happens.  THE END".




Results So Far


2 Good Endings

9 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

4 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures Through the Black Hole Alternate Endings Part 18


While thinking of something else in CHOICE #21, the computer gives up on analyzing the clay:  "Infinite density".  Nick laughs at how useless the computer is, and we have about 3.7 meters to go.  We tunnel through it with the jet packs on our space suits and panic as the pressure from the clay above threatens to bury us alive.  My character compares it to "self-sealing tires".  We make it through to the hollow interior, only to lose most of our supplies with no chance of getting back to the Athena.


(CHOICE #20 is an alternate way to this section, since it goes to Pages 116-123 as well.)


The drawing used in a planet Nicron ending with the giant flowers is actually meant for this segment:  it's copied and pasted here on Page 121.  This planet has a breathable atmosphere, lavender moss, and red and yellow tulips that are taller than humans.  No trees exist so far as we can tell.  Somehow there's light inside, though the sky has no horizon since the land curves upwards and the mountains point down.


We're not alone in the hollow planet:  bipedal furry "birds" that are 8 feet tall run away as if frightened after eating some of the plants.  I wonder if there are huge predators, but the only other animals we see are "big, lazy-looking insects".  Nick assumes that we can eat the plants because the "birds" can, but we're not just aliens:  we're from the wrong universe!  Even on Earth, squirrels can eat mushrooms that are poisonous to humans.  CHOICE #22 is whether to "inspect" the plants on Page 124, or search for water on Page 127.


Edward Packard forgoes the opportunity to make the astronauts writhe in pain from the berries.  They resemble grapes, and Nick says "nothing that tastes this good can be bad for you".  Nick, there's plenty of poisonous fruit on Earth that they say tastes sweet, like the manchineel.  The berries aren't what kill us, however. . .


"Nick and you are so happy eating the fruit you've found that you forget about the predators that the bird creatures were watching for.  You don't hear them until they are almost on top of you:  great, bearlike creatures with huge jaws and teeth like spikes.  They are slow and clumsy-you could have outrun them if you had seen them in time.  You enjoyed eating the fruit, but not as much as the spike-toothed bears enjoy eating you.  THE END".


The spike-toothed bear has its own illustration!  Its teeth hang in its mouth haphazardly, like they're loose, and the tongue is long and thin.


Results So Far


2 Good Endings

10 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

4 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures Through the Black Hole Alternate Endings Part 19


Our hero doubts whether water exists in the reverse universe, but Nick reasons that it isn't dry, and there has to be water in order for plants to grow.  My character assumes the role of the stupid one:  "Maybe it rains at night".  "Nick looks at you strangely.  'I have a feeling it's always daytime here".


We see green and yellow butterflies that might be bioluminescent.  They seem to speak English and offer survival tips!


"You will find water in the hollows of amber vines.  You may eat plants or berries that are orange, red, or yellow.  Do not eat anything else.  Watch for the spike-toothed bears.  Sleep and rest on lavender moss.  Do not cross a river that flows over pink sand".


The only response when we ask about the butterflies is "We are the mind of Marabou".  There's a sunflower illustration on Page 128 with the butterflies.  The water is pure, and the fruits are tastier than anything from Earth.  Spike-toothed bears chase us, but they refuse to step on the lavender moss.


CHOICE #23 comes after four days of travel.  The obstacle is (you guessed it) Pink Sand River.  Nick remembers the warning of the mind of Marabou on Page 135, while my character thinks the butterflies are lying, and there's something worth seeing on the other side on Page 142.  Well, if the mind of Marabou were going to kill us, wouldn't it have done so already?  (And is the mind of Marabou identical to the white cloud from that other ending?)


"Let's see', you say.  You wade in up to your shins.  Nick, staring at the water, says nothing.  You step back and pick up a stick by the riverbank, toss it in midstream, and watch it float gently along with the current.  'The river's not that deep, and look at that stick', you say.  'We could swim faster than the current if we had to.'  'Okay', Nick says.  'Let's try it, but you first.'


You start wading across the river.  Nick follows.  Even when you reach midstream, the water is only up to your hips.  The current is flowing at its fastest here, but there's no danger of being swept off your feet.  You take a few more steps.  Already the water is getting shallower!  You half turn and look back.


'Come on, Nick-I'm almost ac-'  You never finish the sentence.  Dagger teeth have sunk into your leg.  You look down and realize why you didn't see it sooner:  The crocodile-like creature that's tearing your leg off is the same pink color as the river-bottom sand.  'Nick, get back!' you scream.  THE END".


This is the most preventable Death in the book.  Previous Deaths often had more subtle clues such as the "birds" running away from the plants, not magical butterflies that tell you exactly what not to do.


Results So Far


2 Good Endings

11 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

4 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures Through the Black Hole Alternate Endings Part 20


Instead of crossing the river in CHOICE #23, we follow it upstream.  We see an androgynous humanoid with black hair and brown eyes.  It moves in an uncanny way, and its face looks plastic.  This person's name is Caru, and Caru is part of the mind of Marabou like the butterflies from before.  Caru isn't normally in human shape, but just a form used to communicate with Nick and me.


When Nick asks what the mind of Marabou is, Caru lifts a finger and summons lightning and thunder!  We assume Caru is either a god or a magician, but Caru claims the powers are purely scientific.  The mind of Marabou speaks English because it scanned our ship's computer "metaelectronically".  Caru sits in the lotus position according to an illustration, so maybe the mind of Marabou practices techno-Hinduism like the "gods" in Roger Zelazny's novel Lord of Light. 


Instead of a sun, this planet has a white hole that's several inches across, and the light is diffused across an amber sky.  Going through a white hole will be much harder than a black hole, since we'd have to fight the repulsive force.  Caru proposes one way to get back to Earth:  transform into negative particles, then revert once we're back through the black hole.  However, the mind of Marabou is trying to make a utopia in this planet, and we have a chance for Caru to "impart" it to us and become immortal.  CHOICE #24 is whether to return to our universe on Page 151, or stay in the hollow planet on Page 131.


Caru disappears and is replaced by a three-foot tall talking sunflower.  (Didn't think I'd see that in a book called Through the Black Hole, so we have to give Edward Packard credit for originality!)  This is an avatar of the mind of Marabou as well, and it thinks we can make this the perfect planet.  When I remark that Earth is "very imperfect", the sunflower thinks we could warn it about ways to fail.  CHOICE #25 is whether to help on Page 133, or say we don't think we can help on Page 134.  


"We'll help as best we can', you say.  'We'll make a list of things', Nick says.  'Like cars, roads, computers, houses. . .' His voice trails off.  The sunflower is curling over a little, as if it's beginning to wilt.  Why not start telling us what's imperfect about your planet? the sunflower says.


You think a moment before replying, 'What's imperfect is the problems humans have, like greed and cruelty.  If we didn't have these, Earth might be a perfect planet too.'  Thank you, the sunflower says.  We'll make sure we have no greed or cruelty on Marabou, only kindness and fun.  'If you can achieve that', you say, 'this will be the best planet in your universe.'  'Or any universe', says Nick.  THE END".


So Marabou is the name of the planet.  Assuming the atmosphere isn't filled with hallucinogenic gas, we can be assured the talking sunflower will create a utopia.  I think it doesn't like the idea of cars.  Fair enough.  America has an obnoxious dependency on cars.



Results So Far


3 Good Endings

11 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

4 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures Through the Black Hole Alternate Endings Part 21


When we're humble enough to tell the talking sunflower that we can't figure out how to make Marabou perfect, this ending ensues.  It's still positive, unless Nick and the Nameless Astronaut go mad from not having anyone else to talk to.


"I don't think we can help you much', you say.  'We don't come from a perfect planet, and I don't think we can help make this one perfect either.'  The sunflower fades, then disappears, and you and Nick are left alone.  'Maybe I was too abrupt', you say.  'I'm wondering, can we even survive here?  Nick says.


'I think so.  We have been told all we need to know.  It might not be a perfect planet, but we'll live forever and never grow old.'  Nick looks up at the amber-colored sky and at the upside-down mountains.  'It is a beautiful place', he says, 'but will we ever be happy if we never see another human?'


'I'm not sure', you say.  'But I think we'll see other humans.  We just have to be patient.  Humans love to explore.  Someday, I bet, they'll enter the black hole we came through and find us.  If it's true, as the mind of Marabou said, that we'll never grow old, we'll be here to greet them.  THE END".


Results So Far


4 Good Endings

11 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

4 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures Through the Black Hole Alternate Endings Part 22


Caru praises our bravery when we say we want to return to our universe in CHOICE #24, and wants us to take one last look at Marabou because we can't even dream when we're transformed.  Caru might not have been telling the truth, as I think the words "quantum divergence" while asleep.  CHOICE #26 on the last page of the book asks me to pick Page 93 or 89.


On Page 93, we awake in a space between galaxies, and the laws of physics are identical to our universe.  It's not what we're hoping for, as the computer tells us after one hour of searching through a celestial atlas:


"The mind of Marabou transported you to another universe, but it's not your own.  Now your only hope is to find an Earth-like planet in the universe you're in.  There's not much chance of that-you have only enough fuel to travel a few trillion miles, which in the vastness of space is like trying to find a place to stay overnight when there are none in sight and you can take only a few short steps.  THE END".


Inconclusive Endings come in one of two varieties:  optimistic and pessimistic.  The original Inconclusive Endings in La Isla de Los Dodos that inspired the creation of the category were pessimistic, such as being stranded at sea with a tiny hope of rescue.  This ending is a lot like that, because it's not impossible to survive, merely unlikely.  Optimistic Inconclusive Endings exist in Through the Black Hole as well, usually in the "We don't know what we'll find on this planet, but let's explore!" type.


Now we know that the mind of Marabou can make mistakes.


Results So Far


4 Good Endings

11 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

5 Inconclusive Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

U-Ventures Through the Black Hole Alternate Endings Part 23


Pages 89-92 lead what must be the equivalent of the Ultimate Ending.  We awaken in the Athena, and remember everything on planet Marabou as a kind of dream.  We find out we're 40 light years from Earth by noticing familiar constellations, and the mind of Marabou sends us home.  I look in the mirror and realize my face is smoother than before.  "You recognize yourself-there's no doubt that you are you-and yet you are no longer just you, you are more than you!"  How much can the second person pronoun be abused in one sentence?


This means the mind of Marabou is in my head.  On Page 91 is a drawing with the words "WELCOME EARTH'S HEROES!" at the top.  A statue that looks a bit like the Lincoln monument in Washington DC sits in the background, and a man with a suit, black tie, and sunglasses, speaks at a podium.  To the bottom left is a picture of the Athena on the launchpad, and the bottom right has a picture of a black hole.


"Earth-Six Months Later


You're feeling a little numb, just as you did when you realized that you had woken up in another universe, but for a very different reason.  The president of the Earth Federation has just shaken hands with you.  He's pinning something on your jacket.  He shakes hands again and says, 'I am pleased to award you the Medal of Supreme Achievement.'  He reads the citation:


'For highest measure of courage and resourcefulness in passing through a black hole, visiting another universe, and returning safely again to your own universe, galaxy, star system, and to planet Earth'.


Then a band is playing, everyone is smiling, and-you don't know how you know it, but there is no doubt in your mind-somewhere in another universe the mind of Marabou is smiling too.  THE END".


That's it?  I don't call down thunder and lightning in the name of the mind of Marabou and conquer Earth?  Oh well.  It's still a Good Ending.  The United States must have simply changed its name to the Earth Federation in the future, since no one else seems to be represented.  That or everyone has so thoroughly assimilated that no other culture exists.


Results So Far


5 Good Endings

11 Deaths

1 Bad Non-Death Endings

2 Neutral Endings

5 Inconclusive Endings