The Story So Far

Flashback: March 1834. Madness strikes the stranded Arctica expedition. Inside the cramped camp tent, a man walks endless circles around another man babbling to himself. Several bodies sprawl on the floor. Another man, trembling uncontrollably, staggers about with a whale-oil lamp. Huddled in a corner a man with horrible eyes and ghastly pale skin rocks back and forth, several precious journals clutched against his chest.

Fade back to the present. It's winter. Inside the modern workboat Lady Jane, three people examine these same journals. WILLIAM, the Lady Jane's caretaker, picks one up and passes it to CLAUDIA, the great-great-great-granddaughter of the Arctica's captain. She in turn passes it to you.

After 170 years of silence broken only by rumors of cannibalism and madness, Claudia is determined to learn exactly what happened to Captain Torvey and his teenaged daughter, Perdita. She knows now that the tales told by the Inuit are true: the expedition failed when its surviving members went mad. But why?

As our story resumes, you and Claudia are trying to determine exactly what caused madness to descend upon the doomed crew.

Go BACK if you want to re-examine the clues.
CONTINUE if you are ready to solve the mystery.

An Access Excellence Science Mystery sponsored by Genentech, Inc.
Copyright © 1997 Genentech, Inc.; all rights reserved.