Vegetation

LUNAR VEGETATION

Examine the surrounding area, noting the stone wedged underneath the shell. There are red and green plants nearby, a supply of some green fruit and one yellow fruit. Across the ravine is a mountain in the shape of a five point star. Due to the moon's atmosphere you are capable of giant leaps and can get to this mountain by timing your jumps correctly. You have to jump when the needle on the meter is in the green zone. It takes a bit of practice but eventually becomes fairly easy to do. You must 'click' your mouse when the needle is either at the top (as in the graphic below) or bottom, not when it's in the green zone. The timing sequence only applies the first time a particular jump is made.

For those who find the leaps too difficult there's a way to 'cheat' and make them easier!

VIEW THE CHEAT

At each of the five points on the mountain is a forest with two different coloured species of plants. If you try interacting with the plants or move inland, they become aggressive and speak in a strange language. The plants can be identified by colour, but you should also look for a distinguishing feature on each species.

RED	Sword-like extensions (Gladiata)
PURPLE	Umbrella shaped tops (Saggitaria)
BLUE	Multiple balloons on top (Voracia)
GREEN	Long tentacles (Strangulica)
YELLOW	Large balloon shaped plant (Mephitia)

Make a note of the colours, identifying features and positions of the forests on the mountain.

There are two additional areas that you can leap to. The forest with yellow and blue plants has two rock 'needles' at its point, whereas the others only have one. Between the two 'needles' you can jump onto the ledge on another mountain. Although you can jump onto the ledge from certain of the other points, these are extremely difficult to do. From all five points you can also jump towards the blue mist in the centre to reach the middle of the crater.

LEDGES

From the yellow and blue forest jump across to the ledge. Two devices (marked with fire and water ideograms) supply lave (fire) and water into small pools. Note that the ideograms are copied into the monograph in your inventory. There's some fertile soil and three lunar coins on the ground. The wall fresco has three ideograms at the top and two drawings at the bottom.

The left drawing depicts two lunar plants. From the 'multiple balloons' and 'umbrella-shaped' tops you identify them as blue and purple plants. The right drawing shows the blue plant attacking the purple one. From this, the ideograms can therefore be interpreted as 'the blue plant conquers (or is stronger than) the purple plant'.

Pan to the right and part of a collapsed stairway leading to a second (higher) ledge is visible. Although the stairway is collapsed you can jump onto the second ledge. There are a total of five ledges that can be reached in this manner. All the ledges have frescos similar to the one on the bottom ledge, which must also be interpreted.

SECOND LEDGE	THIRD LEDGE

Umbrella-shaped top = Purple plant Large balloon shape = Yellow plant Purple plant conquers yellow plant	Large balloon shape = Yellow plant Sword-like extensions = Red plant Yellow plant conquers red plant


FOURTH LEDGE	FIFTH LEDGE

Sword-like extensions = Red plant Long tentacles = Green plant Red plant conquers green plant	Long tentacles = Green plant Multiple balloons = Blue plant Green plant conquers blue plant

From the frescos you establish a definite hierarchy or 'pecking order' between the plants. This explains why two plants in direct conflict with one another are not found together on the forest mountain.

BLUE conquers PURPLE
PURPLE conquers YELLOW
YELLOW conquers RED
RED conquers GREEN
GREEN conquers BLUE

You find a supply of blue fruit on the third ledge. On the fifth ledge is a strange device with a circular control panel and stairs leading up. For now, return to the mountain with the forests. Again, note that although it's possible to jump back from the other ledges, rather do this from the bottom ledge.

MIDDLE OF THE CRATER

Before going to the middle of the crater make sure that you pick up three blue fruits, three lunar coins and three green fruits. To get to the middle of the crater jump toward the blue mist in the centre from anywhere on the forest mountain.

The twisted plating you find is a damaged porthole cover from your shell. The telescope near the blue plants is broken, but you find another two lunar coins. The other telescope (near the yellow plants) works, so insert a lunar coin into the slot to see what's at the top of the stairs on the fifth ledge. There's a supply of lunar reeds next to the telescope.

Go down the stairs to the lower level. The fan-shaped device, next to the supply of yellow fruit, has an indicator but the buttons on it are stuck and need oil or grease. Take note of the sealed door. Examine the large hydraulic organ to find that it requires air and water to function. Note the white chart on the wall next to it. The stairs near the organ lead into a room with various pipes and controls that seem to be related to the organ. At this point in the game all you really need are the shells (lunar potting soil) and the supply of lunar raffia found in the corner.

LUNAR HORTICULTURE

When Ardan takes some lunar potting soil it makes him want to 'grow things in pots'. From the description of fruits in your inventory you know a young sprout can be obtained by planting a fruit in soil. Combine a green fruit with the lunar potting soil to make a green seedling. According to the pecking order 'green plants conquer blue plants', but giving the green seedling to one of the blue plants on the forest mountain won't work as plants growing together protect each other. Note that all five points on the forest mountain are accessible from where you found the twisted plating.

You have to find a way of subduing two plants simultaneously. Examine the dead branch (found near the lunar potting soil) to learn that it's a hybrid, resulting from the grafting of one plant on another. What about growing your own hybrid, by grafting two seedlings that respectively 'conquer' both plants in a particular forest? Hybrids are made by combining two different coloured seedlings with lunar raffia.

Before doing this consider the various options and do some planning. You cannot combine seedlings that are in direct conflict with each other. At this point you only have green, yellow and blue fruit so these are the only seedlings that you experiment with. In the hope of finding purple and red fruits, work on going to the forest with these coloured plants first. Blue conquers purple and yellow conquers red, so prepare a blue and yellow hybrid. Now go to the forest with the purple and red plants and 'click' on both plants while holding the hybrid. After two particular plants have been subdued you can thereafter enter that forest, even if you no longer have the hybrid you used.

As anticipated there are supplies of purple and red fruits in this forest. You also encounter an alien creature eating the fruit on the plants. The creature becomes aggressive and emits a viscous secretion in front of you. Look closely at the alien creature, taking note of the blue and yellow miniature plants on its shoulders.

Now that you have access to supplies of all five coloured fruits, you can prepare the hybrids needed to subdue all five combinations of plants in the same way.

PURPLE and RED plants	BLUE / YELLOW hybrid
BLUE and RED plants	YELLOW / GREEN hybrid
BLUE and YELLOW plants	GREEN / PURPLE hybrid
YELLOW and GREEN plants	PURPLE / RED hybrid
GREEN and PURPLE plants	RED / BLUE hybrid

You encounter a second alien creatures in the forest with green and purple plants.

If you threw additional items out the shell (other than the bodies, monkey wrench and rifle) they are scattered about in the forests (those without an alien creature) and can be retrieved.

There's one last plant to be subdued. Return to your shell and find that a green plant has wrapped its tentacles around the shell. Use either a red seedling (on its own) or a hybrid containing a red seedling to subdue this plant.

ALIEN CREATURES

There are two important things to note about the alien creatures. The miniature plants on their shoulders and the fact that they constantly eat fruit from the plants in the forests. From this you should work out that the alien creatures only eat from plants that are directly 'dominated' by the miniature plants on their shoulders.

Perhaps 'the way to a creature's heart is through his stomach'. From the description of the fruits in your inventory you know they can be eaten separately or mixed and cooked (in the pot) as a compote. The creatures accept single fruits or uncooked compotes (of the correct colours) from you, but this won't pacify them. You need to prepare and cook the correct compotes for them. Compotes are made by combining two fruits in the pot, then cooked on a fire. The nearest source of fire is the lava pool on the bottom ledge.

Creature in the PURPLE and RED forest BLUE and YELLOW plants on its shoulders	PURPLE / RED compote
Creature in the GREEN and PURPLE forest RED and BLUE plants on its shoulders	GREEN / PURPLE compote

Feed the correct cooked compotes to the alien creatures and then explore the forests where they are. You should find the rifle and bolts in the forest with purple and red plants. The protective shield, monkey wrench and plugged-up conch are in the forest with green and purple plants. Also pick up some of the viscous secretion emitted by the creatures.