Impossible Planet story
Two bored space tourism guides, Norton and Andrews, are approached by a very elderly woman, Irma Louise Gordon, who offers them a large sum of money to take her on one last trip to Earth. As they are not sure the planet even exists anymore, having been evacuated centuries ago due to solar flares, they head for a similar planet, although Irma's robot servant is onto the subterfuge. Irma has a very specific dream about her grandparents swimming in a river in Carolina, and wants to re-enact this with Norton, who is identical to her grandfather.
20 total · 3 choice · 10 major · 7 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| compromising one's ethical principles for personal advantage | choice | Should Brian take Irma's money and offer her a comforting lie? |
| desire vs. conscience | choice | Should Brian take Irma's money and offer her a comforting lie? |
| to tell the truth vs. to offer a comforting lie | choice | Should Brian tell Irma that Earth is gone or lie to make her happy? |
| boyfriend and girlfriend | major | Brian and Barbara drifted apart. |
| coping with a terminal illness | major | The reason for Irma's actions was that she had two months to live owing to a heart condition. |
| coping with aging | major | Irma was a very old woman, rich but clearly out of touch with reality and preoccupied with nostalgia. |
| humanoid robot | major | Irma's robot servant RB29. |
| interstellar space travel | major | Two space tourism guides accepted an under the table deal to fly a dying woman across interstellar space to see Earth one last time. |
| nostalgia | major | Irma felt and expressed nostalgia in abundance as she traveled to what she thought was Earth. |
| remembrance | major | Irma was a very old woman, rich but clearly out of touch with reality and preoccupied with nostalgia. |