The Dig - Story

Story

The Dig intro animation starts with a radio telescope in Borneo picking up an unidentified object, directly heading towards Earth. It is a giant asteroid that could cause catastrophic damage upon impact. A team of five is tasked with the mission of taking the Space Shuttle Atlantis to the asteroid, named "Attila" after Attila the Hun (to be distinguished from the real asteroid 1489 Attila), and plant nuclear explosives on its surface to cause it to divert to a stable orbit around the Earth. The player controls Commander Boston Low (voiced by Robert Patrick), a retired astronaut and survival expert. Two other characters accompany Low throughout the game: Dr. Ludger Brink (voiced by Steven Blum), a German archaeologist and geologist, and Maggie Robbins (voiced by Mari Weiss), a reporter and linguistics expert. The remaining two crew members, who only appear in the opening scene, are the shuttle's pilot Ken Borden (voiced by David Lodge) and Cora Miles (voiced by Leilani Jones), a NASA technician and political candidate.

The game starts when Low, Brink and Robbins leave the shuttle to plant the explosives on the asteroid's surface. Their actual mission is not very long or difficult, and apparently serves mainly as a tutorial for players to come to grips with the game and get to know the characters while setting the stage for the real story of the game: After setting off the explosives and successfully causing the asteroid to enter an orbit, Low, Brink, and Robbins explore the asteroid to find out that it is hollow. After further exploration (and activation) by the crew, it turns into a starship in the shape of a shining dodecahedron, transporting the three to a distant planet of unknown location. The crew starts to explore the deserted planet (named Cocytus by Brink in the official novelization), their main priority being to find a way back home. While the planet has a high state of technology, it is in a state of decay and appears to be devoid of particularly intelligent animals.

The title 'The Dig' refers to the whole process of investigation and exploration of the planet, in order to make the alien machines work again and discover what happened to the lost civilization. The main theme is xenoarchaeology.

The story's emphasis is on the stranded trio's interaction (and occasional conflict) as they spread out to explore the desolate world, each in their own way: the commanding Low determined to find the way to go home, the intelligent and stubborn linguist Maggie Robbins studying the dead civilization, and the geologist Ludger Brink, who seems to be sliding into a state of madness.

The trio eventually uncover a stockpile of "life crystals," which have the ability to heal wounds and resurrect the dead, but make the user heavily addicted. Brink, after being resurrected from a fatal fall, becomes obsessed with stockpiling the crystals. Robbins meanwhile deciphers the language, and she and Low begin to interact with an ancient alien they find sealed in a pyramid. The alien was a great inventor in its society, but chose to stay behind after its society abandoned this universe for another dimension known as "Spacetime Six", in order to warn anyone who discovered them about the way the crystals decayed its civilization, and about how none who ventured into Spacetime Six ever returned to this universe, which is referred to as "Spacetime Four".

When asked for a way home, the alien explains that only his society can provide them with one, in the form of a spaceship, but since they will never return this is impossible. Boston then offers to go into Spacetime Six and help his fellow aliens get back. The alien does not believe he has the strength to do it since no-one of his advanced civilization could, though after some persuasion shows them where to find the last piece for the portal. They successfully retrieve the piece, but Maggie dies from a fall after helping restore power to the machine. Low enters the portal and discovers the entire Cocytan race, who are unable to perceive the way back to their home dimension. Low shows them the way home, and the aliens eventually resurrect Maggie and Brink, who is now free of life crystal addiction but appears to have greatly aged from their use, though he is assured he will still live a long time. The astronauts return home with new allies, an expanded view of the universe, and a new understanding of civilization's purpose.