The Exhibit

Reflections of home

A zoo in deep space. You are the newest exhibit, and the crowd loves you.

At a glance

Kind of world	Reflections of home
Serum in the arrival Box	2 ampoules
Native Serum stand-in	None: bring spare Serum
Quests	Yes: see your Traveler's Guide

Screenshot comingthe-exhibit-arrival

Stepping out onto the stripe-mown meadow under the glass dome, the catalogue house ahead and rows of alien faces pressed to the glass

What happens when you arrive

The Box opens onto a meadow mown into neat stripes, under a sky made of glass. Behind the glass there are faces. Hundreds of them. You are aboard a zoo-ship in deep space, and you are its newest exhibit: a "Lesser Overworlder", or as the keepers call you, Steve. Your habitat is the aliens' best guess at an Earthling's home, built from a brochure: a catalogue house, a pond, plastic flowers, a mailbox full of dirt, and LINDA, an animatronic companion in an apron who has prepared you some gravel for dinner.

At first you can't understand a word anyone says: alien speech shows up as strange glyphs. Your first job is simple. Put on a show.

The rule: you live in a zoo

The ship's structure (the dome, the hull, the decks, the keeper doors, the chute) can't be broken. Only the habitat itself, the turf, siding, windows and props, can be dug up and rebuilt. Nothing spawns naturally: the ship's people stay at their posts, and anyone who wanders off is put back.

The crowd

While you are inside the habitat, the tourists react to everything you do, and a Crowd meter (0 to 100) tracks how much they like the show.

You do	The crowd	Points
Hit one of the plastic cows	Laughs	4
Dance (crouch on and off 8 times in about two seconds)	Cheers	4
Eat where they can see	Cheers	3
Fall and hurt yourself	Laughs	3
Place a block	Cheers	2
Splash into the pond	Laughs	2
Sleep	Says "aww" and takes photos	2
Break a block	Takes photos	1
Stand still (or hide in the house) for 30 seconds	Boos	minus 3

You can only earn points about once every second and a half, so keep varying the act. Every 15 points, someone tosses a treat through the feeding slot: usually a Zoo Token, sometimes Star Crisps, Glorp Jelly, a Void Puff, or an apple, cookie, torch, iron nugget or string.

Feeding time

Twice a day, at morning and dusk, the PA chimes, Keeper Glorb comes out onto the catwalk over the chute, and Specimen Feed rattles down into the trough. While the hatch is open, the chute's air current blows upward.

Being watched

In the habitat, the camera in the speaker tree watches the meadow (out to 30 blocks, but never underwater or indoors) and LINDA watches indoors. Doing something suspicious in their sight fills a detection meter. Building something too clever brings a Wrangler to confiscate it.

Once you are loose on the ship, simply being seen by a keeper on duty, a Wrangler or a tourist fills the meter.

Danger	What it does	How to deal with it
Detection at half	Wranglers are sent after you (up to 2 at a time).	Hide: crouch by a cargo crate, or climb into a cleaning cart's bin and ride it. Nobody looks twice at a cart.
Wranglers	Padded keepers with a net launcher and a sleep-dart pistol. Nets hold you, darts make you drowsy.	Keep moving and break line of sight. They go back to the armory once the trail is cold.
Sniffer Drones	Little noses on rotors that follow your scent trail, point by point, and beep for the Wranglers.	Go through water, or ride a cleaning cart: both wash the trail out.
Detection full, or netted with a Wrangler close	You are carried back to your bed and tucked in. Gently.	Nothing is lost, just try again.
Hurting a tourist	A huge jump in detection.	Don't.

A keeper uniform worn on your chest also hides you, as long as nobody gets close. While you sleep, the keepers come in and tidy: anything you built is taken apart and stacked by colour in the meadow, and your chests are sorted.

Your quest: four chapters

The quest tracker shows one chapter at a time.

Chapter	What to do	Who
The Show	Win the crowd up to 60. A small hand pushes Zib's first note and the Translator Earpiece through the feeding slot. Carry it and you understand the aliens.	Zib, the teenage tourist by the slot
Breakout	Talk to Zib at the slot. She gives you her plan, then get out of the habitat.	Zib
The Ship	Pull the 3 scoop cores out of the collection ship in the Hangar, then open every case from the Release Console in the Gallery of Lesser Worlds.	Professor Mulch knows the ship.
The Acquisition	Talk to Curator Vasht and decide what happens to the zoo.	Curator Vasht

The four ways out

Zib's Note "The Plan" spells them out:

1. The pond drain. Dig down under the pond.
2. The feeding chute. Step into the shaft while the hatch is open at feeding time and the air blows you up to the keepers' side. If Glorb is still on the catwalk (for about the first 20 seconds), he catches you and carries you back to bed.
3. The keycard. The first night, Glorb is in such a hurry tidying that a Keeper Keycard slips out of his pocket by your bed. It opens the keeper door, but keep it out of LINDA's sight.
4. Zib. She can jam the keeper door's lock from outside for a while.

Zib can also slip you a Reprogramming Fob. Press it to LINDA's back panel and she loops a happy report to the keepers forever, so she stops watching you. After that she can even be talked into coming along.

Screenshot comingthe-exhibit-chute

Riding the feeding chute's air current up the glass tube toward the keepers' catwalk

Once you are out, Zib's last note ("You're Out!") tells you how to hide and sends you to Professor Mulch in the east gallery, a talking fungus who has planned his escape for thirty years and never tried it.

The scoop cores

Read the Acquisition Console and you learn the next exhibit: the whole of Chicago, lifted by three scoop cores into the dome already built in the Hangar. Pull all three cores from the collection ship and it powers down. Only then does the Release Console unlock: it opens every case in the Gallery of Lesser Worlds and thaws the travellers frozen in the Curator's stasis boxes. Each one thanks you and goes home.

The three endings (spoilers)

With the exhibits free, Curator Vasht (tall, thin, an eye on a long stalk he uses like a monocle) will see you. You can talk him into one of three endings, and it holds for good, for every player and every later visit:

Ending	What happens
Sanctuary	The zoo becomes a sanctuary. Every door is open and nobody is a specimen.
Swap	Vasht goes behind the glass in your place, and the tourists adore him.
Star	You sign on as the star of the show, with a gold suite and fan mail, and Chicago stays where it is.

Whichever you choose, Glorb presses 16 Habitat Glass into your arms: a window for home. After any ending, none of the security applies any more.

People aboard

Who	What they're like
LINDA	The animatronic companion. Sweeps one spot, "cooks" gravel, waters the plastic flowers, washes the cows, and says the wrong cheerful thing. Her eyes are the keepers' camera indoors.
Keeper Glorb	Huge, soft, six-armed and pastel. Feeds you, knits you blankets and calls you Steve. Talk to him after you escape for Glorb's Blanket.
Zib	A teenage tourist who visits every day and thinks the zoo is cruel. Stands by the slot by day.
Professor Mulch	A slightly mouldy talking fungus. After the exhibits are freed he gives you a Specimen Tag.
Curator Vasht	Owns the zoo. Sees every living thing as an acquisition.
Gift Shop Clerk	Sells merchandise for Zoo Tokens.

Other keepers patrol the ship or gossip in the Break Room, where they see nothing at all.

Screenshot comingthe-exhibit-gallery

The Gallery of Lesser Worlds: display cases with placards, a frozen traveller in a stasis box

The Gift Shop

Price	You get
1 Zoo Token	8 Habitat Glass
1 Zoo Token	1 Glorp Jelly
2 Zoo Tokens	1 HSHabitat Snow Globe
2 Zoo Tokens	1 LDLINDA Doll
3 Zoo Tokens	1 POPlushie of You (it has your face)
4 Zoo Tokens	1 I SAW THE STEVE Shirt

The Snack Machine takes 1 Zoo Token and drops a random Glorp Jelly, Void Puff or Star Crisps.

What to bring home

Find	How	Why it's worth it
Tractor Beam	Lift it from the rack in the Wranglers' armory (it restocks).	Hold to lift a mob or block from up to 16 blocks away, let go to throw, crouch to set down. Works in any world. It runs on charge (heavier loads drain it faster) and recharges while it rests.
Translator Earpiece	Zib, through the slot.	Carried, the keepers make sense. Worn as a charm, every animal speaks: it turns their sounds into lines on screen.
Glorb's Blanket	Glorb, after you escape.	Carry it and phantoms think you've slept.
Specimen Tag	Professor Mulch, after the release.	Worn as a charm, animals take you for their keeper and follow along calmly.
Habitat Glass	The ending, or the Gift Shop.	Glass from the dome.
Gift Shop keepsakes	Zoo Tokens.	Decor.

Serum and getting home

• The arrival Box's cache holds 2 Serum Ampoules.
• There is no native Serum ingredient here, and nothing to mine, so don't lose your Box.
• The Box lands in the middle of the meadow, inside the dome. You can walk back to it any time; the keepers will happily carry you there.

Tips

• Mix up the act. The crowd only pays out about every second and a half, and standing around costs you points.
• Hitting the plastic cows and dancing are the best earners at 4 points each.
• Grab the keycard the first morning before LINDA spots it.
• Water is your friend once you are loose: it washes out the scent trail the Sniffer Drones follow.
• Getting caught costs nothing. Experiment with every route.

Birds

Birds you can photograph for your bird log here. Open one to turn it round, watch it move and hear its call.

• Brochure Robin: common
• Tourist Ibis: rare

Everything this world adds

74 blocks and items (click to open)

Dome Glass

Smudged Dome Glass

Ship Skylight

Display Case Glass

Feeding Chute Glass

Gallery Railing

Viewport

Dome Base Plate

Ship Hull

Pink Ship Hull

Mint Ship Hull

Lilac Ship Hull

Chrome Trim

Gallery Deck

Glowing Floor Strip

Ceiling Light

Drain Pipe

Grav Lift Pad

Curator's Velvet

Collection Ship Hull

Cargo Crate

Keeper Door

Chute Hatch

Floor Hatch

FSFeeding Slot

TBTractor Beam Rack

ACAcquisition Console

RCRelease Console

SMSnack Machine

PPlacard

GBGallery Bench

QSQueue Stanchion

SMScale Model of the Stevens

GSGlorb's Knitting Basket

SCScoop Core

Mown Turf

Dark Mown Turf

Catalogue Siding

Catalogue Shingles

Painted Window

Papier-Mache Rock

Painted Cave Wall

Plastic Leaves

Speaker Tree Trunk

TCTree Camera

Drain Grate

WHWELCOME HOME EARTHLNG Mat

POPicture of a Fireplace

CTCow TV

MFMailbox Full of Dirt

FTFeed Trough

Red Plastic Flower

Yellow Plastic Flower

Blue Plastic Flower

White Plastic Flower

Pink Plastic Flower

Habitat Glass

POPlushie of You

HSHabitat Snow Globe

LDLINDA Doll

Specimen Feed

Zoo Token

Zib's Note

Translator Earpiece

Keeper Keycard

Reprogramming Fob

Tractor Beam

Specimen Tag

Glorb's Blanket

Glorp Jelly

Star Crisps

Void Puff

Keeper Uniform

I SAW THE STEVE Shirt

The traveler's tape

Every arrival Box has a chest by its door holding a cassette: the last traveler reading their journal of this world aloud. This is what they say. It gives a lot away.

Read the journal (spoilers)

Day one. The Box opened onto a meadow mown into stripes, under a sky made of glass, and behind the glass there were faces. Hundreds of them. A woman in an apron told me she had prepared the gravel. Day three. They feed me twice a day down a pink chute. A large purple one sings to me through a tree. Day six. The large purple one brought me a blanket. It's a very good blanket. I've been planning an escape for a week, and I think the blanket is part of why I haven't done it. Day nine. The kid with the antennae came back. She slipped me a note. Four ways out: the pond, the chute, the keycard, her. If you're reading this, pick one. And don't let the tree see you.