The first job I did today was to fetch the control panel for Edison and get him to fix it. This didn’t seem to be any use at the dream machine in Olympus but will no doubt come in useful elsewhere.

I decide to take a look at this motherlode on the map I got from Cooter. On the way I’m attacked by a Martian agricultural robot which is a first.

I find the spot on the map and it turns out to be some sort of power station. There are two robots in there. The first called Coker fetches coal and puts in on a conveyor.

The conveyor is broken though – I take the broken belt with me so I can get it fixed.

The other robot Stoker takes the coal to the furnace. I don’t find this motherlode anywhere but there is a door that won’t work without power.

Back at Olympus Trippet fixes the belt.

I take it back to the power station, wheelbarrow some coal into the furnace to get it going then the robots take over.

The electricity comes back on and the locked door now opens and reveals limitless bins of oxium which I help myself to.

Stoker mentioned electricity towers which would need fixing if the power was brought straight back on. Sure enough on the other side of the station I find the towers with cables flapping around.

Spectors wearing rubber gloves so I try to get him to fix it but he won’t have it.

I swap the equipment around and do it myself.

That gets the electric supply for the whole planet going again. I head out to have a look at one of the towers to the north next.

When I get there the controls don’t work as the lens is overgrown with weeds. I’ve can’t do anything about this yet so will come back.

The teleport tubes now work which should help me out no end. I decide to take a look at the dream machine down at Hellas.

I notice a rusted shut door on the way – I use some lamp oil on it and find a load of live martian seeds behind it – these have to be useful so I grab one.

Marcus gives me a bit of advice about the dreamworld and where to find the machine.

On the way to the machine I find a canal barge – I’m sure I’ll be using these later but the canals are still empty even with the electric going.

I fix the dream machine with Edisons panel + some radium and fire it up.

This transports me to a very odd world of void and obelisks. Walking into an obelisk takes me to another world.

These worlds are pretty bizarre – each obelisk represents one of the posessed people who have been trapped in nightmares by the martians. I have to go in and solve some problem or other to get them out. In the first one I have to get a minotaur who is causing havoc in a china shop out the back of the shop by using a red carpet and then locking him out.

Once complete Tiffany is now standing where the obelisk was ready to be returned to his body.

The next obelisk takes me to a dreamworld recreation of Hellas complete with a small population of Martians. I get all sorts of information here. One of the martians was aparently working on some sort of replacement body in a laboratory under the north icecap which I will need to find later but it apparently was under ice a lot of the time even when the canals were full so I’ll have to get the canals filled first.

The leader of the group volunteers to leave the dreamworld if I can grow a new body. I get various intructions on this.

I’m also told the neccessary checmicals, I’ll need to use as a fertilzer. I’ll have a go at this after I free everyone from the dream world.

In the next world I have to get past a load of moving trees.

And then nursemaid a martian pod plant to maturity.

I’m given a few seeds and some water which I’m supposed to use to repel the attacking worms from the plant. Its easier just to fight the worms off all in all.

Eventually the pod ripens, I cut it open and thats another one done.

H.G. Wells is being attacked by a load of invisible monsters. I can see their footprints so I attack them with the elephant fun I picked up ealier in the map.

Lenin’s world is one of the oddest with workers just out of reach on a winding path.

Lenin wants me to divide the wealth equally…..

I gather up all the money and put it down in 25 piles of 10.

After giving back the spare change Lenin is happy with the job and thats the last of the obelisks done.

Next its time to grow this pod plant. The chemicals are in one of the buildings in Hellas. I trek to the north pole and back to shovel some ice into a bucket for the water.

The plant takes 9 days to grow and apparently I have to visit it every 3 days. I take the easy option and just camp outside to pass the time. The plant slowly gets bigger.

Eventually its ripe – I cut it open and get a complete martian body.

I go back in the dream machine and Prektesh tells me to put the body in the machine and he will transfer into it.

It all seems to go ok

Butt apparently the infection is now in the soil. Prektesh dies and tells me to take the body to Tekapesh.

Tekapesh agrees to be more helpful when I give him the body.

He grants me access ot his dream machine. I go and use it and get another 4 obelisks.

The first world here is a room that shrinks when you step on the grey tiles. I have to get the oil at the far end and get back again so I can open the door.

This is easy enough.

The next world is another really odd one. Its supposed to represent the solar system but does it using tiles from the rest of the game.

For instance I’m chased on one square by a red dot so thats obviously supposed to be Jupiter.

I find Lowell near the edge. He wants me to find Pluto for him which means getting past the monster.

Its a pretty mean looking canal worm but I have a cupids bow. Shooting it with this charms it and I can just walk past.

A lot of empty space later I find pluto and use my mirror to signal Lowell that I’ve found it.

The Clemens quest is one of the more boring ones. I have to move a barge around with a lever collecting the pages of his book. Invisible blocks get in the way all the time which leads to a lot of trial and error. This is one of the larger dreams also.

40+ pages later he tells me I’ve got them all and compiles them into a book for me to post.

Theres a postbox at the end of the stars. I use the manuscript on it and thats him free.

Next world, I’m immediately set upon by four proto-martians. I finish these off and then get a message saying I’ve collapsed from exhaustion.

When I wake up all my party are dead.

The moment I step outside the door I find out I’m still asleep. I grab a load of dollars off the bodies of my party and find a horse auction at the other end.

One of the horses is Smith. I bid for him at the auction and he gives me a load of clues for all the previous games. That doesn’t help me out much. I go back in and restart the world and this time buy the grey horse which turns out to be the last missing person.

Now everyone is free, I ask Tekapesh to return to the dream world and he agrees.

All the 1893 crew now seem to be back in their bodies although there are the ones at Argyre that I still haven’t been to see yet. Talking to all of them, I don’t get any particularly useful information so it looks like I need to go back and try one of the other quests next. I’ll probably have a look at the towers at the North and see if I can’t get them fixed.

I’ve spent most of this session in the dream world which proved to be fairly odd – it seems like an excuse for the developers to do some strange things with the game engine. It all fits within the context of the game – the little mini quests are definitely better than just navigating maze like dungeons. I don’t feel like I’m that near the end of the game yet – this is taking quite a bit longer than Savage Empire and doesn’t feel much smaller than Ultima 6 was. This is probably the best Origin game I’ve played up to this point so I’m not complaining anyway.