Myst III - Exile - Part 2 Solution by Peter Clark Concluded from last issue THE VOLTAIC AGE You arrive in the Voltaic Age on a metal walkway facing a stone building on a small island. Go towards the building and try the door. Of course, it's locked. Look to your left and you see a plinth with a cover on it. Open it up and you find the Linking Book back to Jnanin. Behind you is another metal walkway that appears to go nowhere. Go along it to the end and have a look around. You should see a tower with a platform on it and behind that, a turret above a wooden door. There are also many cables and tracks together with many strange mechanisms. Go along the walkway into the cliff. Shortly after you enter, you will see a door on the right. Go inside for a short way and you will find some more pages. Go no further at the present but return to the walkway into the cliff and follow it further into a sandstone crater. You can see a path leading past a tower and a large circular metal structure at the far end. Carry on to the end of the walkway and you will find a sort of airship suspended with no air and you now realise that the metal structure is a door. There are no obvious means of opening it. Go down the ladder and into a metal tower. There are some controls here. It looks like this is the pressure gauge for the airship. Jump out onto a surfboard shaped platform and look around. There is another wheel here and a broken walkway. Presumably Saavedro has been here before you. If you look up you will see a ladder. Climb up and you find more pages. Pull the handle in the centre of the circular object and it swings around revealing a passage. Go through and you will be overlooking the crater. There is a pipe that crosses to the far side. Walk along it until you reach the far end then jump down and open the ventilator cover. Go through until you see an opening beneath you. Jump down and you see a window, a pedestal, a door and a ladder that leads downwards. Unlock the door then climb down the ladder. Look through the window and you see what appears to be boiling lava. Now we must turn the power on. Leave the room through the door and go along the blue-lit tunnel. Some way along, there is a dip in the path. Go down and look to one side. You should see a power distribution panel and, on the other, a ladder. Carry on along the tunnel until you reach a door. On the right thee is a ladder leading down but where it leads is full of water. Return to the ladder in the pit and climb up. You might recognise where you are. Turn the wheel and the gate will close. If you look down you can see a turbine. It will not start as the controls have been sabotaged. Go back down the ladder and return to the submerged ladder. The water has now gone so climb down and press the red button. Look at the generator and turn the crank. A gear will engage. Climb back up and go to the metal walled tunnel. At the end is a broken window. Look through and you can see the turbine. Give one of the paddles a push and things start to move. Now go to the locked door and you spin round on the wheel. Jump off and you see a green light on the door. Press it and hey presto the door opens. Go through and down. There is a viewer here where you can listen to Saavedro again if you wish. Go to the end of the tunnel and climb down into a chamber. There is a large machine in here that you can walk around. You will find some more pages as you go. Return to the place where you came in and look through the gaps in the panels. You will see a circuit with buttons down both sides. Pushing the buttons will move the circuit blocks in either direction. Click on the buttons until the circuit is complete. When the pattern is complete, the system will power up. Now we have to inflate the airship. Go back to the room where you saw the lava. The control knob has been damaged. The knob will move a little but always springs back to the starting point. The trick is to click on the knob, move it slightly then click on it again. When you get it right, it will rotate right round and the platform will lower. Now we have to turn on the fan in the lava room and bring the lava back. With the platform in its lowered position, go down the ladder and look through the window. The chamber should be empty. Open the door and climb onto the platform. Take a step towards the gears and you should see a pillar with a control lever on it. The next bit is a bit fiddly but keep at it and you will get there eventually. Slide the lever to the left and a gear moves to the left. Rotate the lever anticlockwise and the platform will rise. Slide the lever to the right and the gear will move back to the right. Rotate the lever clockwise again and the platform will rise again. Now you can reach the fan to turn it on. Rotate the lever anticlockwise and the platform lowers. Slide the lever to the left and the gear moves to the left. Rotate the lever anticlockwise and the platform will lower again. Now you can return to the Control Room and rotate the lever clockwise to raise the platform. We now have to inflate the airship. Leave the Control Room and return to the hot air controls under the airship. Steam should be gushing out of all of the valves. If you look up you will see two more sets of valves above these. We have to do a balancing act with the pressure to get it just right. If you experiment with the valves you should find that closing the bottom ones increase the pressure by 10, the middle by 4 and the top by 1. Use the lever on the platform to visit all sets of valves and close them all down. We now have to get the needle to rest on the thin line by reducing the pressure. In fact, the pressure has to be reduced by 41 to do this. So, with all the valves closed, open three on the top, two on the middle and three on the bottom. Climb out onto the platform and open the valve that you saw previously. If the pressure is correct, the airship will inflate. The only problem is that it crashes into the round door. Ok, lets get the door open. Go back up to the main walkway and follow it back to the junction. Go left here and walk around to the tower. Use the lift to go down, and walk all the way to the end of the track. Pull the lever and the door should open. The airship drifts out and connects with the walkway. Climb into the airship and pull the lever for a good ride. When you stop, leave the airship and pull the lever at the end of the walkway. The island rises out of the water! Get back into the airship and use the lever to get to the now raised island. The light on the door is green, so use it and go inside and down. There is a hatch here so open it and you will get the Voltaic Symbol. Look around and you see a door in the wall. Open this and you find the Linking Book back to Jnanin. Use the book to get back to the tower on Jnanin and place the Voltaic Symbol on the blue dish. Listen to Saavedro and watch the cage open. From the tower, go down to the beach. Turn left and cross the stepping-stones. Go up the slope and down the steps to the bridge. Cross the first bridge and you will be able to see the door to the tusk but no way to get across to it. Climb halfway down the ladder and step across onto a ledge where some plants are growing. There is one that looks like a lily that amplifies sounds if you get close to it. There are also some other red plants. Go back to the ladder and down to the path that leads to the greenhouse building. Do not go to the greenhouse but go to the right of it where there is a conical structure. Press the top and a creature pops out of the bottom. Behind you is an odd looking plant growing out of the water. Click on this and the creature runs across to it. The squeak that he makes causes the red plants to inflate. Go back up the ladder and onto the ledge again. Click on the lily type plant again and turn it around until you hear the amplified squeak from the creature below. This makes the red plants inflate and forms a bridge across to the tusk door. Go back to the top of the ladder and cross over to the tusk. Go inside and look down at the pedestal where you see another set of marbles. Set these the same as you did in the tower to get the Linking Book to Edanna. The marbles should be set from the outside inwards to 11 O'clock, 8 O'clock, 6 O'clock and 7 O'clock. The Age of Edanna. When you arrive on Edanna you will be on a small platform. Look into the centre of the flower that is near you and you will see a Linking Book. Look to the right and you will see two vertical plants. One is open and the other closed. That is where you need to go. Edanna is a plant filled place and some of the plants have developed other ways of collecting light. Some plants will also react to light in differing ways. Go down the path to the vine and you get taken up to the top. Follow the path to the left and you get to see a strange bird feeding its young. You can use the lens plant nearby to get a close up view. Go back down to the vine and you will see that it is drawing water from an organic bowl. Go through the hole in the wall and follow the path until you come to vine that is closed up. Near to it is a globe-like object. Click on it to see that it is full of water. You will also see the bird again flying down into Edanna. Follow the path to the top. There is a palm tree of sorts and an orange flower here. If you click on the bulbous part of the palm it rises up revealing a Linking Book to Jnanin. It also allows sunlight to fall on the orange flower. Click on the orange flower and you see a pulsing spot of light that you can move about. Set it so that it is over the water bulb that is near the closed up vine and it will burst, filling the bowl and allowing the vine to drink. Go back to this vine and take a ride to the forest. Follow the path a little until you see another bowl. There is a red electric fish in it. Continue past this until you arrive at an empty water bulb on the right hand side of the path. Click on the spines and it fills with water. It also picks up the electric fish. Turn around and you can pick up some more ages. Now follow the path into the orange tunnel. At the bottom there is a lot to see but, for the moment, you cannot reach it. The Log Puzzle. Walk along the branch to the rotten log. It has some of the expanding red plants on it. About now you should hear the sound of a frightened bird. Cross over the log and straight ahead into a hollow log. At the end you can click on the plant to turn the light on and a leaf will unroll. Walk to the end of the leaf and look up. You see a sort of trapeze. Grab this and swing across to the platform on your right. Here you will find a crank and a release lever. This raises a cage into a tree. There is also a release lever on the other side of the leaf bridge. Use the crank to raise the trap then shake the tree with the pink fruits on it until one falls off. Now go back behind the crank and slide down through the hollow tree. Go to your right, back to the leaf bridge. When you get here you will hear a squeak and a creature appears looking for the fallen fruit. Use the handle to drop the trap over it. Now you know what bait to use, go back to the platform using the trapeze and reset the trap. Shake another fruit from the tree but this time; push it a bit further along the branch. Now return to the leaf bridge and wait for squeak to come our. Use the handle to drop the trap, which will miss him. He runs across the log bridge and squeaks as he goes. The red plants expand and destroy the bridge. Now you should be able to swing across to the ledge on the far side of the forest. When you have swung across, go left and turn on the light to unfurl the leaf bridge. Cross the bridge and go down the path until you hear some frantic flapping. In front of you is a plant that has trapped the bird. Now you have to find a way of setting it free. If you played with the experiments in Saavedro's Laboratory you may have got a clue. If not, this is how to do it. Carry on down the path through the opening towards the sea and you will come to an open area where there are some of Saavedro's paintings and another deflated water bulb. Fill the bulb with water and you also get the electric fish. Go left and down until you come to another dish and bulb. This is near some green lights. Click on the pod to fill it with water and, guess what? You get the fish again. If you look up you will see the plant that has the bird taking water from dish. You now have to find a way to force the plant to open. Look down and you see some white orchids and one of those sunflowers. Follow the path around the back of the dish and you will eventually come to a rolled up leaf. You can go no further at the present. There is also another viewer here where you can listen to Saavedro if you feel like it. Return to the area where you saw Saavedro's paintings and follow the thick vine root downwards. At the bottom you should find three white orchids. Go under the arch formed by the roots and look into the centre of the furthest orchid. Focus it on the centre orchid. Now go to the middle orchid which should be glowing and focus it on the rolled up leaf bridge. When you have done this, the bridge will uncurl. Return to the leaf bridge and cross it. Climb up the encrusted hollow logs until you come to a sunflower that is focussed on the water bulb. Go up a little further and you find another orchid. Focus this one on the sunflower then find you way back to the three white orchids that you visited earlier. You will have to cross back over the leaf bridge to find them. Realign the furthest orchid with the one that you cannot reach. The light is reflected to the sunflower and on to the water. The bulb bursts and the fish attacks the plant roots. The plant opens and the bird flies free. The way out is on the other side so re-align the orchid to unfurl the leaf bridge. Cross the bridge and go up the hollow log. Look left at the top and you see another tunnel. Crawl inside and you come out on another branch. Jump onto the swing bar and go down again. Follow the path down to the end and turn left. In this clearing you find a large plant. Follow the path all the way until you come to another white orchid. Look into it and turn it until its light shines on the stamen of the huge plant. The stamen rise up towards the light. Now go back down the path and keep looking right. When you get to some mushrooms, go through and, in front of you, is another of the huge seedpods. This one is open and, above it, you can see a cloud of butterflies. Turn left and follow the path all the way down. Someone has cut a hole in the vine. Climb inside and go along to the end. You are inside the first seedpod that you saw. The seeds are the ones that the mother bird was feeding to her young chicks. Maybe they can be used to get you home. The Ride Back. Climb back out of the vine and then up through the hanging flowers to where you discover a palm tree like the one that you saw previously. Click on the central bulb and the vine rises, blocking out the light to the seedpod. Turn and go back down the path to the bottom. Walk around the seedpod and look up to see that the butterflies are still there. Get close up and click on one of the fungus-like growths. A cloud of spores rises up and drives the butterflies away. Go back to the seedpod root and, this time, climb all the way to the top, which is, now pen. Grab the central stalk and another cloud of spores is released. The butterflies disappear and the bird comes to pick up the seeds and you with it. You are taken back to the bird's nest. Look around and you will find a place where you can slide through the pod and, right beside you, you find the Edanna Symbol. Nearby is the linking book back to J'Nanin and the tower. Activate the symbol in the blue bowl and a bridge slides out giving you access to Narayan, the final age. Narayan. You arrive in Narayan by some steps. Turn around and examine the red tapestries. You may recognise some of the symbols. Underneath them are legends that you will have seen if you looked in Atrus's notebook. Go up the stairs and turn left. You should see two pedestals and a lever. Nothing here seems to work at the moment. You can also see two openings. One is a gate and the other is through a blue force field. Through the gate you can see a suspended gondola. Climb up the metal staircase and meet Saavedro. Listen to his warning about the doors that are opened by the Linking Books. When he eventually disappears, look around and you should find a lever. This is the power switch. Use it and then go back down the metal staircase. Go to the lever between the pedestals and turn it to the left. Now look at the left hand pedestal and click on it to open it. You see three sets of interlocked circles. Now have a look at Atrus's Book. You should be able to find the four sets of words that you need. They are written in bold within the script. If you cannot find them they are: - Nature - Encourage - Mutual - Dependence Energy - Powers - Future - Motion Dynamic - Forces - Spur - Change Balanced - Systems - Stimulate - Civilisation. Return to the tapestries and you will be able to find the symbols that match each of the words. You will only be able to match three of the word sets. Copy the symbols carefully and return to the pedestal. If you click on the circle arcs, they will light up. You must replicate the symbols. The three parchments provide the position of six symbols. The other six must be positioned so that the four words follow in the correct order. When the symbols for each age are complete, the panel will light up. When all three are completed, the pedestal will close and the force field will collapse. Now you have to sort out the second pedestal. Turn the lever back to the right to turn the force field back on. Open the right hand pedestal and you see that there is only one set of circles. You need to find the four symbols that match the fourth set of words from Atrus's Book. Move the lever to the left and go outside. Go down the steps and you see a Linking Book to Tomahna. You want the book for Releeshan though and Saavedro still has that. Around the corner are some more tapestries. They have the symbols that you need. Note these and then return back up the stairs. Pull the lever back to the right and then open the pedestal and enter the last set of symbols. The outer force field collapses and Saavedro turns up with an ultimatum. SAVE YOUR GAME HERE. What do you do now? Do you let him escape and return without the book? You have to return to Tomahna with the Releeshan Book and also make sure that Saavedro doesn't follow you. Go back up the metal staircase and turn the power off. This will trap Saavedro. Come back down the stairs and confront him through the gate. He will offer to give you the book if you let him escape. When you have the book safely in your possession, move the lever to the right and then go back up the stairs and turn the power on again. Saavedro waves you goodbye and disappears in the gondola. Go back down the stairs again and move the lever to the left to drop the force field. Go down the stairs and get the Linking Book to Tomahna. Use it to return home and be met by Atrus and Catherine. THE END - o -