LASH

"This game will clearly become an instant classic." --"Brother Noro"
"[It] deserves the highest praise; higher praise than I could ever give." --Ross Presser
"The best sort of games are the ones you wish wouldn't end, and LASH certainly falls into that category for me." --Roger Carbol
"It's an intriguing story, well told, and technically it all hangs together well." --Duncan Stevens
"[Sunk] by a combination of soapbox preaching, bad design and gameplay decisions and screwy logic..." --"Quentin D. Thompson" (ah, well...)

North American Salvage Corporation
451 Gates Drive
American Africa ME-2726-0-451-62726-1
22 August 2062
Dear Aspirant:
I am pleased to inform you that your performance on our tests has been outstanding, and that you have been selected to participate in the greatest salvage project of the 21st century: the recovery of artifacts and information from the North American continent.
Remember that your findings will become the property of the North American Salvage Corporation, and their monetary value will be split equally between you and the Corporation. Depending of course on what you find, that value could be quite significant indeed. Your site has been selected, and a fact sheet is enclosed that outlines some of the details of that site, including items of possible monetary value.
To facilitate your salvage project, you will be provided with a Multiple Use Land Explorer (MULE) robot, which you will control through a Local Asynchronous Satellite Hookup. This robot partakes of some very current technology, including cutting-edge Natural/Artificial Intelligence capabilities. In addition, it is equipped with experimental Ingaki time-folding features, though these features are to be used entirely at your own risk, and the North American Salvage Corporation assumes no responsibility for the consequences of such use. The robot has been airdropped to your site, and is programmed with knowledge of its boundaries.
I offer you my enthusiastic congratulations on your admission, and wish you the best of luck in your salvage endeavors. Remember, our success is your success!
Sincerely Yours,

William E. Congreve
President
North American Salvage Corporation

PLEASE NOTE: The LASH interface is not intended for use by children. The old North American continent is unpredictable, and some survivors of the Second American Civil War still dwell in the ruins. The radiation from the atomic weapons used in the war has rendered the land uninhabitable and the survivors cancerous and grotesque. Consequently, the MULE could encounter disturbing scenes, including graphic violence and very offensive language. Parents are hereby warned that events depicted via the LASH may not be suitable for children.

LASH is a piece of interactive fiction (IF). If that term means nothing to you, don't worry -- the software contains instructions on how to use it.

The other thing you need to know about LASH is that it is a "story file" which requires the use of an "interpreter program". These two components are roughly analogous to a videotape and a VCR, respectively. There are lots of interpreters capable of reading LASH -- I recommend Frotz, which is available for most platforms, with the notable exception of the Macintosh. If you're using a Mac, I suggest Andrew Plotkin's excellent MaxZip.

Once you've downloaded your interpreter, click here to download the LASH story file. Remember to download this file in binary format, which in most browsers means right-click and choose "Save Link As" (or the closest equivalent) from the pop-up menu.

If you have a Java-enabled web browser, you can also play LASH online.

This page has been viewed times since June 18, 2000. That may seem like a lot, but remember to subtract all the times I've obsessively checked this counter.

LASH page / Paul O'Brian / obrian at colorado.edu / Revised August 2000

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