A Year to Remember

“MAN SNATCHED BY UFO!” was the headline on page two of the local paper. Just before the man disappeared, his wife, Mrs. Harry Winkler, reports, they were sitting quietly at home watching TV. All of a sudden she noticed her oven door opening and closing and the hands on her kitchen clock spinning wildly. Their dog, Bubba, “was turning somersaults and running around in circles in the backyard.” Mrs. Winkler went outside to investigate and noticed mysterious red, blue, and green lights flickering across the sky. When she returned inside, Harry was gone. “I never saw anything like it!” Mrs. Winkler is quoted as saying. “Bubba’s been so depressed ever since Harry’s not been around to take him on his nightly stroll.”

MEANWHILE, LIGHT-YEARS AWAY. . .

The Outer People are a peaceful and scholarly race who live on a small planet tucked away in a dark corner of our galaxy. They are obsessed with keeping track of every fact and fad in the Milky Way’s history and have developed a technique of traveling through time at high speeds to collect “samplings” from various planets. Although they always make a point of returning their “sampling” right back to the precise year when it was collected so as not to disturb the natural order of things, sometimes they goof. Such was the case with Mr. Harry Winkler. The Outer People simply couldn’t remember which year they snatched him from.

Although the Outer People can’t communicate directly with Mr. Winkler, fortunately, they have constructed a machine to get them out of sticky situations such as this one. With their “Thought Recorder. Model XIV,” the Outer People can view memories locked in Mr. Winkler’s brain. By matching his memories of his final moment on earth with their detailed knowledge of the planets history, they can piece together what year Mr. Winkler should be returned to.

HOW TO PLAY

First, set the Thought Recorder, Model XIV (your computer) to all uppercase letters and turn the volume up. Next, select the memory zone you wish to view (see illustration, below). Type in the first letter of the zone (for example, “A” for Audio). A memory concerning sound will appear on the screen. Type “A” again and a different memory may appear. To ensure that you have viewed every memory concerning sound, press the “A” key several times before moving on to a different zone.

Pay particular attention to the strength signals accompanying each memory. A long flashing line indicates Mr. Winkler’s final memories on earth, while a short flashing line refers to a less recent memory lodged deeper in his mind. Only the former are pertinent; they should be jotted down on paper.

Remember that Mr. Winkler was last seen on earth watching television, so his final memories will be partly a direct recollection of what was on the screen in front of him. and partly his own loose associations with the events he was viewing. Once you figure out what Mr. Winkler was watching on TV, and the corresponding year, type “G” to guess. Then input the year (use digits). If you guess an incorrect year, you can get a helpful clue by typing “H” for help. The solution to Brain Terrain will appear in next month’s issue.

   10 FAST 
   20 RAND 
   30 DIM AS(11,4,22) 
   40 DIM N(11) 
   50 LET WL=32 
   60 LET GW=0 
   70 LET M=0 
   80 LET Q$="" 
   90 LET E$=CHR$ 11 
  100 LET B$=CHR$ 0 
  110 LET S$="*" 
  120 FOR X=1 TO 5 
  130 LET B$=B$+B$ 
  140 LET S$=S$+S$ 
  150 NEXT X 
  160 LET V$="ACVEFSBMPT" 
  170 LET L$="42232232222" 
  180 LET T$="A34L4TN,B4036NNUZS,HXSAB>BS3205Y,J32705Y,R 72565, C2V0X$564V2R5,9XSQR3, 151 AA7A,R206,Q2FI54FD,50XXO ZGZ0UT,PEH0D64,VSEJPANCNAAJ,WPTB7Q,I516C,F74S0(XA39Y3W ,TA4LAFCHA,4MFGNY,EU03P8X2V,FA5(Q3T(T4C3,HT6C5U05Y,VOI EHEJC,HAE0AA>UZWWAW,MYE5FG8L,02A7A,D;$$$:600ZZ:67S3:$$ 
  190 LET P=1 
  200 FOR X=1 TO 11 
  210 FOR Y=1 TO VAL L$(X) 
  220 LET D$="" 
  230 LET D$=D$+T$(P) 
  240 LET P=P+1 
  250 IF T$(P)OCHR$ 26 THEN GOTO 230 260 LET P=P+1 
  270 LET A$(X,Y)=CHR$ (LEN D$) 
  280 LET C=CODE D$(1)-27 
  290 FOR Z=2 TO LEN D$ 
  300 LET N=CODE D$(Z)-C 
  310 LET A$(X,Y) (Z)=CHR$ (N+36*( (N<28) AND (N+C>27))+28*(N<0)) 
  320 NEXT Z 
  330 NEXT Y 
  340 NEXT X 
  350 SLOW 
  360 LET R$="THOUGHT RECORDER, MODEL XIV (PATENT PENDIN G) " 
  370 GOSUB 1000 
  380 PRINT 
  390 LET R$="PRESS A ZONE KEY (A, B, C, E, F, M, P, S, T, OR V) TO ACCESS MEMORY" 
  400 IF GW=1 THEN LET R$=R$+", ,, + E$+MH,,+E$+,, FOR HELP," 
  410 LET R$=R$+" OR "+E$+MGM+E$+" TO GUESS." 
  420 GOSUB 1000 
  430 LET TB=INT ((WL-LEN Q$)/2) 
  440 LET NS=INT (RND*3+1) 
  450 IF M=1 THEN LET NS=INT (RND*TB+1) 
  460 LET N$=S$( TO NS)+Q$+S$( TO NS) 
  470 PRINT AT 18,0;B$; 
  480 PRINT AT 18,0; 
  490 GOSUB 2000 
  500 LET K$=INKEY$ 
  510 IF K$="" THEN GOTO 440 
  520 IF K$="G" THEN GOTO 620 
  530 IF K$="H" AND GW=1 THEN GOTO 760 
  540 LET FL=0 
  550 FOR X=1 TO 10 
  560 IF V$(X)=K$ THEN LET FL=X 
  570 NEXT X 
  580 IF FL=0 THEN GOTO 440 
  590 LET M=INT ( RND*VAL L$(FL)+1) 
  600 LET Q$=A$(FL/M) (2 TO CODE A$(FL,M,1>) 
  610 GOTO 430 
  620 CLS 
  630 LET N$="SPACE/TIME MACHINE ACTIVE." 
  640 GOSUB 2000 
  650 PRINT AT 4,0;"INPUT YEAR." 
  660 INPUT Y$ 
  670 IF Y$OA$(11,1) (2 TO 5) THEN GOTO 720 
  680 CLS 
  690 PRINT AT 1 0,1 1 ; "WHOOOOSH. " 
  700 PRINT AT 13,1 ;"SUBJECT RETURNED HOME SAFELY." 
  710 STOP 
  720 LET GW=1 
  730 CLS 
  740 PRINT AT 6,1 ; "FAILURE. INCORRECT TIME FRAME." 
  750 GOTO 800 
  760 CLS 
  770 LET R$="THE LAST WORDS MR. WINKLER HEARD WERE" 
  780 GOSUB 1000 
  790 PRINT AT 3,6;A$(11,2) (2 TO 21) 
  800 LET QS="" 
  810 LET M=0 
  820 PRINT AT 20,2;"(PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE.)" 
  830 LET K$=INKEY$ 
  840 IF K$="" THEN GOTO 830 
  850 CLS 
  860 GOTO 360 
 1000 IF LEN R$>WL THEN GOTO 1040 
 1010 LET N$=R$ 
 1020 GOSUB 2000 
 1030 RETURN 
 1040 LET J=WL+1 
 1050 FOR I=WL+1 TO 1 STEP -1 
 1060 IF RS(IX>CHR$ 0 THEN GOTO 1090 
 1070 LET J=I 
 1080 LET 1=1 
 1090 NEXT I 
 1100 LET N$=R$( TO J-1 ) 
 1110 GOSUB 2000 
 1120 LET R$=R$(J+1 TO LEN R$) 
 1130 GOTO 1000 
 2000 PRINT TAB (WL-LEN N$)/2;N$; 
 2010 IF LEN N$<WL THEN PRINT 
 2020 RETURN