Chapter 33: Man in the Mirror (Michael Jackson, 1987)

>enter

[Inside Mirror] You are inside a rectangular box of wood whose structure is rather complicated. Four sides and the roof are filled in, and the floor is open.

As you face the side opposite the entrance, two short sides of carved and polished wood are to your left and right. The left panel is mahogany, the right pine. The wall you face is red on its left half and black on its right. On the entrance side, the wall is white opposite the red part of the wall it faces, and yellow opposite the black section. The painted walls are at least twice the length of the unpainted ones. The ceiling is painted blue.

In the floor is a stone channel about six inches wide and a foot deep. The channel is oriented in a north-south direction. In the exact center of the room the channel widens into a circular depression perhaps two feet wide. Incised in the stone around this area is a compass rose.

Running from one short wall to the other at about waist height is a wooden bar, carefully carved and drilled. This bar is pierced in two places. The first hole is in the center of the bar (and thus in the center of the room). The second is at the left end of the room (as you face opposite the entrance). Through each hole runs a wooden pole.

The pole at the left end of the bar is short, extending about a foot above the bar, and ends in a hand grip. The pole has been dropped into a hole carved in the stone floor.

The long pole at the center of the bar extends from the ceiling through the bar to the circular area in the stone channel. The bottom end of this pole has a T-bar a bit less than two feet long attached to it. On the T-bar is carved an arrow. The arrow and T-bar are pointing west.

The key here is to understand the phrases the floor is open and the floor is a stone channel to mean there is no floor. The room, as it were, is a box with no lid that has been turned upside-down.

The box also moves, presumably due to wheels, runners or some other magic we cannot see. The box structure stops at each point of the compass rose; think of it as moving from one room to another. Pushing the red or yellow panel will rotate the structure clockwise, while pushing the black or white panel will rotate the structure counterclockwise.

Raising the short pole from the hole in the stone floor allows the room to rotate. Lowering it once puts it in the channel and the room can them move along the direction chosen. At the starting point you can lower it again to put it back in the hole where it was originally; once you move the box that option no longer exists.

These Zorkers were crafty indeed.

>lift short pole

The pole is now slightly above the floor.

>push red panel

The structure rotates clockwise.

The arrow on the compass rose now indicates northwest.

The mirror quietly swings shut.

>push red panel

The structure rotates clockwise.

The arrow on the compass rose now indicates north.

>lower short pole

The pole is lowered into the channel.

>push mahogany panel

The structure slides north and stops over another compass rose.

>push mahogany panel

The structure slides north and stops over another compass rose.

Your sword has begun to glow very brightly.

Here’s the deal: you can stop here (or anywhere along the route) and die, or you can move on. Stopping here and opening the pine door exposes you to statues of the Guardians of Zork, a military order of ancient lineage, heavily armored warriors with their hands clasped around formidable bludgeons. Once they see you, the Guardians awake and, in perfect unison, destroy you with their stone bludgeons, returning to their posts satisfied they have saved the day.

Trying to outsmart the Guardians by pushing the box past them doesn’t work either. They realize someone is trying to sneak by them in the structure, awake, and in perfect unison, hammer the box and its contents (including you) to pulp, returning to their posts satisfied they have saved the day. And even if you could get to the Hallway on foot without the box, the Guardians will still beat you to snot and feel good about it. Keep moving, nothing to see here.

>push mahogany panel

The structure slides north and stops over another compass rose.

Your sword is no longer glowing.

>lift short pole

The pole is now slightly above the floor.

>push red panel

The structure rotates clockwise.

The arrow on the compass rose now indicates northeast.

>push red panel

The structure rotates clockwise.

The arrow on the compass rose now indicates east.

>push red panel

The structure rotates clockwise.

The arrow on the compass rose now indicates southeast.

>push red panel

The structure rotates clockwise.

The arrow on the compass rose now indicates south.

>push pine panel

The pine wall swings open.