BEFORE THE FLIGHT
Two escaped the valley.
Six people landed on Bellota. Brian called the world “made for fun.” Snuffles charged the weapons center. Hardy shot his shoulder, but the bear killed Hardy, then Phelan, Margie Cot, and Billy Cross. Brian and Georgina escaped. The wounded bear can be outpaced, but he has cut them off from the weapons and signal equipment. The ship is a week away.
R. A. Lafferty, “Snuffles”
Find a route. Bring both explorers home.
AN EXPEDITION INTO R. A. LAFFERTY'S
SNUFFLES
A VERY SMALL WORLD
Snuffles holds the weapons center.
Brian and Georgina must get back.
Read the terrain. Watch the bear. Choose your route.
Move ← → Jump SPACE Toss F Use Q
CATCH YOUR BREATH
A moment on Bellota.
Snuffles can wait.
Read the terrain. Check your equipment. Choose your next move.
NOT FAR TO GO BACK
Take another run at it.
Your last checkpoint is close. Watch for his warning, then jump the charge.
BOTH EXPLORERS ACCOUNTED FOR
A little breathing room.
You made it together.
EXPEDITION COMPLETE
The ship reaches them.
The returning ship rescues Brian and Georgina.
The pat ending. Lafferty's story ends differently.
FIELD MANUAL
Find a way home.
Bring Brian and Georgina back to camp together.
Each blocked route has two solutions. Look before you act.
Need a hint?
Read the obstruction. The objective tells you what blocks the route. Look for another way through, or collect the equipment shown on the trail. Press Q when the prompt says it can help. A solved obstacle stays solved when you reach its checkpoint.
He is learning. Face a target and toss with F. Snuffles remembers repeated throws he sees. When suspicious, he may investigate you instead. Throw from marked bushes to keep your position hidden. His posture and words give you a warning; a committed charge cannot turn.
Watch the weather. Fog hides the distant bear and shortens his sight. Rain muffles sound. Listen for the warning before a charge; he must emerge before he can strike.
Inside your head. At certain moments the world stops and a thought fills the screen. You cannot be hurt while these words are showing. They remain in the dialogue strip afterward. Reduce motion below removes the shifting face and moving weather.
Choose the consequence. A charging bear can open a route and destroy its cover. Hold Jump in soda, then release to launch; a launch can draw attention. Equipment offers another approach. Refuges restore your hearts.
Your companion follows your jumps. Carry when the route calls for it. A hit costs a heart and gives you time to recover. Acorns and trick scores are optional; getting both explorers home is the task.
The flight begins after Snuffles has killed four members of the landing party. Story follows the return to camp, the deaths, the ship’s report, and the final paragraph. The three obstacle courses, equipment puzzles, abilities, and checkpoints are inventions that compress the flight. Pat ending supplies an alternate rescue. Major head-voice passages and the two closing extracts are from R. A. Lafferty’s “Snuffles.”
One hundred miles around. More surprises than a world ten times its size.
THE SHIP’S REPORT
No explanation of the fact that no attempt seems to have been made to use the weapons, though two of the party were killed nearly a week later than the others. All were mangled by the huge pseudo-ursine which seems to have run amok from eating the local fruit, seasonally narcotic. Impossible to capture animal without unwarranted delay of takeoff time. Gravitational incongruity must await fuller classification of data.
R. A. Lafferty, “Snuffles”
THE NEXT WORLD
The next world that Snuffles made embodied certain improvements, and he did correct the gravity error, but it still contained many elements of the grotesque. Perfection is a very long, very hard road.
R. A. Lafferty, “Snuffles”