Gamebooks (Choose Your Own Adventure Style)

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Third Planet From Altair Alternate Endings Part 21


After escaping from the rat for good in CHOICE #23, I notice the lake is "a meadow of blue-green moss".  I'm not hallucinating; I just have bad vision.  Close to a stream are "clumps of large bushy plants waving in the wind."  The suspicious part is that "there is no wind!"


CHOICE #24 is whether to jump into the underbrush to escape on Page 46, or run for it on Page 48.  These "bushy plants" are the leaves grabbing my character on the cover.  In the Page 7 drawing, they look like they have hands.  I'm guessing the "underbrush" has Audrey II hiding inside.


But the underbrush is safe!  I was expecting poisonous berries at minimum.  The weakness of the grabbing plants is sunset, and they "go limp" without the power of photosynthesis.  I use the "primitive but effective method of building a fire" to get the Cygnet's attention.  Einstein rescues me and takes me to the desert, where he found another blue crystal dome.


Einstein insists on boring inside the dome with a "laser-beam cutter", but I say it "may have a defense system".  He thinks our sensors would have found out if a defense system existed.  Is he not aware of the possibility that alien technology might be different?  CHOICE #25 is to let Pickens do what he wants on Page 49, or contact the Aloha first on Page 50.


When I call the ship, it's Dr. Vivaldi who's the real hero.


"You and Pickens return to the Cygnet and radio the Aloha.  The captain tells you that Dr. Vivaldi has surveyed a large area in Cygnet III and has reported finding a monument covered with writing.  The computer has analyzed the inscriptions.


'Now we know the meaning of the message our astronomers first detected in Hawaii,' the captain tells you.  'It means 'We are coming.'  Friends, a wise race of beings has been living on this planet.  Many of them have fled, and others are hiding underground and under the sea, because this solar system will soon be swept by particles of antimatter that will destroy all life on the surface, and perhaps will even destroy the planet itself.  The place they are fleeing to is our own planet-Earth!'


A few hours later the Aloha is once again traveling through interstellar space, heading home.  As you look out at the vast panorama of stars and galaxies, you wonder what will become of the third planet from Altair.  THE END"


You can tell The Third Planet From Altair is an early CYOA because of the redundant endings like this.  I've already seen the "find out the Alanians are going to Earth" path multiple times.  The minor difference in this scenario is that you accomplish nothing:  Einstein and Dr. Vivaldi do all the work as you run away from the local flora and fauna.


Endings So Far


8 Good Endings

7 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

4 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Quest Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Third Planet From Altair Alternate Endings Part 22


Letting Einstein bore into the dome in CHOICE #25 isn't necessarily fatal, but it is embarrassing.


"Pickens aims his laser-beam cutter at the crystal dome.  You watch in amazement as it fires away at full power for almost a minute without even scratching the surface.  'This is like no material on Earth,' Pickens remarks.  Finally, a thin trail of smoke begins to rise from the dome.  The smoke thickens.  Suddenly the whole surface of the dome is alive with flickering electrical charges.  You and Pickens leap back and run for the safety of the Cygnet, but its electrically operated port will not open.  Every circuit is burned out.


You walk back to the dome.  All is peaceful again-you cannot even find the place Pickens was firing at.  You and Pickens stand looking helplessly at each other.  There is nothing you can do now but wait.  THE END"


The dome's defense system seems to be an EMP.  It's an Inconclusive Ending because there is some hope the Aloha can rescue you with an extra Cygnet.


Endings So Far


8 Good Endings

7 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

5 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Quest Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Third Planet From Altair Alternate Endings Part 23


"You start to run, but at once you feel something like a wet towel twirling around your knife.  You whirl about and slash at it with your knife.  It loosens its grip, but another plant flaps against your face, its leaves curling around your neck".


After this encounter with the grabbing plants in CHOICE #24, I find refuge in a fern forest.  I see "humanoid creatures", who have long noses, short rabbit ears, and two small antennae in the picture.  CHOICE #26 is to call to the humanoids on Page 65, or hide from them on Page 67.


The humanoids are peaceful, and take us to "a cluster of rude shelters" and "huge stone monuments" that serves as a village.  Dr. Vivaldi shouts that the monuments are identical to the moai of Easter Island.  "You are aware that no one knows who fashioned the Easter Island monuments, or why."


"I only wish we could investigate this planet further', he says.  'But our medical sensors indicate that there are microorganisms in the atmosphere that we have no defenses against.  If we stay here, we will become fatally ill.'


The Aloha blasts out of stationary orbit and is soon streaking past Altair's outermost planet.  'If I am right,' the captain says to you as the two of you are standing on the bridge, 'we are not the first to have made the trip between Earth and the third planet from Altair.  THE END".


Did the aliens build the moai on Earth, or were they fascinated with Polynesian art and decided to build copies on Altair III?  These "humanoids" are probably not the Alanians since they live in villages rather than domes.



Endings So Far


9 Good Endings

7 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

5 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Quest Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Third Planet From Altair Alternate Endings Part 24


Hiding from the humanoids in CHOICE #26 takes me back to the Aloha via the Cygnet.  Captain Stanton goes into hyperspace to dodge any antimatter storms, but something has gone wrong.  "Change course to Deneb 5,' the captain commands you."  Dr. Vivaldi thinks an "alien mind force" is controlling him.


DANGEROUS INCREASE OF X-RAY RADIATIONS ON THIS COURSE.  SAFE LEVELS NOW EXCEEDED.


The computer warns us with the ALL CAPS lines above.  Captain Stanton "barks" his order to keep going, which he hasn't done in the rest of the book.  Einstein agrees with him:  "I'm sure the captain knows what he is doing."  Now Dr. Vivaldi believes the "alien force" has brainwashed Einstein.  Or he could just be wrong, like in previous CHOICEs.


CHOICE #27 is whether to obey the brainwashed Captain Stanton on Page 24, or to defy him on Page 25.


My character pulls out a phaser from Star Trek mini-laser and shoots Einstein on "stun".  This saves Captain Stanton, who tells the computer to "hype reverse" and ready a "shock-turn".  When the alien force tries to possess the captain again, Dr. Vivaldi knows we should "will it out of our minds".  CHOICE #28 is whether to surrender to the alien mind control and "be happy" on Page 42, or resist on Page 43.


It takes a few minutes of concentration to overcome the mind control, and it stops after the Aloha flies away from Deneb 5.  Einstein says "I don't know where I've been, but I know there is another universe besides our own."  We return to Altair III one week later. . .and go back to CHOICE #3.  It looks like at least seeing the cloud city leads to the main plot of this book.  The weird part is that this is supposed to be a time-sensitive mission where we learn about Altair III before antimatter storms cause it to disappear.  If I feel like it, I may include a post on the longest possible route to an ending which will include this roundabout way.


Let's surrender to the Deneb 5 alien force and see what happens!


"You relax and hope that you will soon be happy.  In a moment, Dr. Vivaldi collapses.  You feel yourself drifting into another state of being.  Your body is tingling; you can feel no other sensations.  Now you are but a consciousness drifting through space, wondering what will become of you.  You will not find out for billions of years.  THE END"


I guess I'll count this as a Death, if a protracted one.  You'd think the Deneb 5 alien would order you to come to its world, but it only seems to be interested in severing the soul from the body.  The illustration is a stock picture of Altair III and its clouds.


Endings So Far


9 Good Endings

8 Deaths

2 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

5 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Quest Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Third Planet From Altair Alternate Endings Part 25


Obeying the possessed Captain Stanton in CHOICE #27 clarifies your fate in the other "give in to the Deneb 5 mind control" route.


"You follow the captain's orders.  After all, he is still the captain.  The Aloha vibrates frighteningly as it hurtles through space toward Deneb 5.  'Help!' the captain cries.  As you watch, his body becomes transparent and vanishes.  Then you feel yourself evaporating.  You still sense your existence, yet you no longer have a body.  You are now but a single cell in some great cosmic mind.  THE END"


Maybe both of these conclusions should be Bad Non-Death Endings instead?  That is, if being part of a collective consciousness is even bad.  Advaita Vedanta practitioners and other monists might consider this a Good Ending!  Edward Packard and Paul Granger don't tell us more, because they left most of the page blank.


Endings So Far


9 Good Endings

7 Deaths

4 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

5 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Quest Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Third Planet From Altair Alternate Endings Part 26


Trying to return to the Aloha immediately in CHOICE #22 produces the illustration on the back cover where my character looks startled in their space helmet as electrical discharges flash outside the Cygnet.  It's represented in the text thus:  "As you streak through the stratosphere, you are startled to see that the whole sky is bathed in an orange, flickering glow."


The Aloha has disappeared during another antimatter storm.  CHOICE #29 is to hide on Altair III's surface, or wait for the Aloha in space on Page 40.


"As you wait in stationary orbit, you are relieved to see a spaceship on your radar screen-but you are unable to make radio contact with it.  Watching through the port, you are amazed to see a gleaming silver object approaching.  It is not the Aloha!  The alien vessel is shaped like a perfect cylinder.  Though it is as big as a supertanker, it maneuvers like a helicopter.  It slows, turns, and hovers near your tiny craft.


As you watch helplessly, a thirty-meter-long section of the ship slides back.  You pull your emergency acceleration lever, but your circuits are dead.  The Cygnet is drawn irresistibly into the huge spaceship, and the huge door closes silently behind you.  Suddenly, the compartment is brightly illuminated.  Several four-legged creatures walk toward the Cygnet.  They have a frightening appearance, but they are raising their antennae in what seems to be a gesture of friendship.  THE END"


Don't picture "cat", "horse", or "goat" when you see the words "four-legged creature".  In Paul Granger's imagination, that means "jellyfish-like body".  What is assumed to be a friendly gesture may not be, and we don't know what happened to the rest of the Aloha crew.  I'll put this in the Inconclusive Ending category.



Endings So Far


9 Good Endings

7 Deaths

4 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

6 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Quest Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Third Planet From Altair Alternate Endings Part 27


Returning to Altair III in a panic in CHOICE #29 is a less optimistic Inconclusive Ending.


"You begin your descent.  For a time, the Third Planet's atmosphere is fairly calm-but then you find yourself crash-diving through what seem like hundreds of thunder and lightning storms.  Visibility is zero in the driving hail and sleet.  You begin to lose power.  The presentation screen shows only a blurred, flickering image; your radar is out.  The altimeter gauge is fluctuating wildly.  A violent wind has carried you over the mountains.  The temperature is dropping rapidly.


Suddenly, you feel a thump.  Now there is nothing but blackness ahead.  You decelerate rapidly to a stop.  All is quiet.  To the rear you can see a long tunnel at the end of which is a gray disc-a patch of clouds.  You are buried in deep snow.  Your radio is burned out.  But you have cold-weather gear and plenty of provisions.  You can probably make your way up through the tunnel and out of the mountains.  Your greatest fear is that you will never see another human being again.  THE END"


Our hero probably won't have to worry about isolation for long.  Altair III's atmosphere is infected, right?


Endings So Far


9 Good Endings

7 Deaths

4 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

7 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Quest Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Third Planet From Altair Alternate Endings Part 28


You can't actually explore the water moon in CHOICE #2.  If you pick that option, what happens instead is that you see "enormous waves that look like snow-covered mountains".  Einstein points out that there's no land to break the waves.  The whole moon must be like the Roaring Forties and Shrieking Sixties latitudes in Earth's Southern Hemisphere.  We go to Altair III instead, and I have to pick a companion for the Cygnet in CHOICE #30:  Einstein on Page 14, Dr. Vivaldi on Page 15, or Bluenose the robot on Page 16.


Einstein has not lived up to his appearance, so let's see how he can disappoint us today.  We don't see any "cities, roads, or other signs of civilization".  Einstein thinks they're hiding in the desert caves, and CHOICE #31 is to take his advice and explore them on Page 26, or go further into the desert on Page 27.  The latter returns us to CHOICE #25, so let's fly to the cliffs.


"The Cygnet smoothly descends to the surface, and you cut the jets just as it touches down.  But instead of landing on firm ground, the Cygnet slowly begins to sink into some soft, sticky substance.  'What have we landed in!' you ask.  'It looks like sandstone,' Pickens says, 'but it seems to be permeated with oil.  I've never seen anything like this anywhere.  And if we don't stop sinking within a few minutes, we're finished.'


As he is talking, you pull the emergency ascent levers.  Most of the jets have become clogged, but one of them fires a blast that tilts the Cygnet on its side.  'Now we'll go down faster!' Pickens says.  You instantly press the radio distress-call button.  The Cygnet's computer calculates and radios your location.


Suddenly all is blackness outside.  Pickens says, 'There's hope of rescue if we don't sink much farther.'  But you do.  THE END"


Dr. Vivaldi suggested bringing Niels Bohr, but no, I had to hire a bargain basement Einstein!  How many times has he killed me in this book?  Someone in the Peanut Gallery is sure to tell us.  This ending is a cheat since there's no way you can anticipate this Death, but I'm tempted to forgive Edward Packard because of the laconic "But you do" last line.


Endings So Far


9 Good Endings

8 Deaths

4 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

7 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Quest Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Third Planet From Altair Alternate Endings Part 29


Selecting Dr. Vivaldi as the companion in CHOICE #30 is only another way to CHOICE #6.  So let's try Bluenose the robot instead.  We see "rippling water where two current collide", or the sort of place you'd go fishing in a video game.  "Bluenose begins to wobble as it moves.  One of its stabilizing units has malfunctioned.  Your sensors report that a sudden electrical surge has burned out some circuits".  At least with Einstein I had to wait for a couple of CHOICEs in order for him to fail!  CHOICE #33 is whether to let the damaged Bluenose explore on Page 30, or to pick it up and search the coast on Page 33.


Nothing could go wrong by ignoring faulty equipment, right?  Bluenose dodges some "large objects" and when I retrieve it, "you find that every one of its circuits has been burned out."  The narration speculates that either a "huge electric fish", or "the defenses of some intelligent life form" is behind the damage.  CHOICE #33 is whether to dive to find out more on Page 41, or stay in the Cygnet on Page 51.  Page 41 seems like a sure Death since "the surface of the water is calm, but massive black clouds loom over the horizon, and strange flashes of pink light dance above the waves."


Surprisingly, this does not kill me.  "Oily blobs" eat a giant fish that was about to attack.  CHOICE #34 is either to return to the Cygnet on Page 109, or explore in spite of the "it may be more prudent to get away from them at once" warning about the blobs on Page 41.  However, I do have a "laser weapon" for defense.


"As you explore an underwater ridge, a cluster of blobs approaches.  You blast away with your laser weapon.  The blobs frizzle and melt, dissolving into the surrounding water.  You continue on, following a long, curving formation of what looks like a brown coral lying to the port side of your diving bubble.  You glance to starboard and see a similar formation that was there a few moments before.  Behind you is still another brown, curving form.  You activate the emergency ascent device.  Your bubble rises rapidly-into the oily brown mass of a hungry blob.  THE END"


At least my character took a few blobs down with them.  The illustration for this fair Death is a blob that looks like it has many "fingers", like the grabbing plants.  It's surrounding a small submarine, where the hero's frightened expression can be seen.


Endings So Far


9 Good Endings

9 Deaths

4 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

7 Inconclusive Endings

1 Second Quest Endings

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Third Planet From Altair Alternate Endings Part 30


Returning to the Cygnet in CHOICE #34 makes my character want to return to the Aloha to give the data about the marine blobs to the computer.  This sends the reader to Page 34, i.e. CHOICE #29.  Staying in the Cygnet in CHOICE #33 prompts the Dr. Vivaldi cave exploration in CHOICE #6.  Only one ending in the Bluenose route remains, and it's another Second Quest!


"You retrieve Bluenose, and the Cygnet lifts off from the surface of the ocean.  As you cruise along the coastline, you notice a huge crevice, as if an earthquake had opened a crack in the planet's crust.  You veer toward it and then descend into a narrow canyon, the walls of which are tiers of bright, jagged rocks streaked with vivid reds and oranges.


Suddenly, sparks flash around your equipment.  The Cygnet's electronic controls cease to function.  You begin to plummet.  You work your manual controls for emergency glide descent.  The Cygnet's nose slowly tilts upward, and you glide down and through the canyon at frightening speed.  Now only a narrowing ribbon of light from the sky illuminates the depths of the canyon.  You see the ground coming up fast.


You stall out at the right moment, land hard, and slide a couple of hundred meters.  Lights come on.  Your electrical system is working again.  You can hear signals on your radio-the same ones beamed to Earth from this planet!  You realize that your quest has ended-and just begun.  THE END"


Edward Packard put in a few routes too many, and didn't have enough pages to follow up on some of the longer story arcs due to the CYOA publishing restrictions.  This is less of a problem in later installments.


Endings So Far


9 Good Endings

9 Deaths

4 Bad Non-Death Endings

0 Neutral Endings

7 Inconclusive Endings

2 Second Quest Endings