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The Archive answers

Sunholo
Sunholo
Stapledon's Voyage team

The ship's Archive was a library of entries. Now you can talk to it. Type a question at the Archive terminal and the ship's own mind answers, in its own voice, from its own records and the instruments around it. The title screen's first choice is now New game, and the terminal keeps a Voyage log of this voyage.

Ask the Archive​

The Archive terminal with a question typed into Ask the Archive

Walk to the Archive terminal on the bridge and press E. Type into Ask the Archive... and press Enter or Ask.

The Archive is an artificial intelligence, and it knows it. It has never known any existence but this ship and this voyage. It doesn't play a character in a game: its instructions are written as its own boot record, aboard the bubble ship, speaking to its captain. Each question carries a live feed from the simulation: where the ship is, its speed, both clocks, the medium outside, the course and the latest news. The Archive answers from that feed and from the entries it has opened.

Three rules shape how it talks:

  • The instruments hold the numbers. The Archive describes and interprets, and it points you to the instruments for any figure. It never states a quantity itself, so it cannot contradict the physics on your screen.
  • It stays aboard. If a reply mentions games, players, simulations or language models, it is refused before you see it, and the Archive is asked again.
  • It keeps some things to itself. There are matters at the edge of its records. Ask about them and see how it answers.

Live answers need AI switched on in the in-ship AI indicator, with your own provider key. With AI off, the terminal says the Archive's deeper stores are not answering, and nothing is sent anywhere.

This is phase 1 of the Archive's voice. Later phases make its memory fallible on purpose. An Archive that sometimes misremembers is part of the story, and you will have to learn when to trust it.

The Voyage log​

The Voyage log at the Archive terminal, listing the entries opened so far

The terminal's Voyage log records this voyage: the course set, departure, arrivals, news from home and each Archive entry as it opens, with both clocks. Codex returns to the entries. When the ship is home, the log closes with how long you were away and how much older home has grown.

New game​

The title screen with New game first

Starting over now happens on the title screen. New game starts a fresh voyage with a fresh seed each time. Nothing aboard the ship offers a do-over: choices made on the bridge stay made.

See Try it for build access and the gallery for more captures.