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"4V"GBIZ2۷mG"&AB@4<[Q4/</<?BK*U,M/ ?<NNJ@k:`IG:ܹm*N2<0<4]Q:/</<?B/?< NNJ@kD f0B?<"NNTм/Hz /<NN 8LN DOC_11GNIUS SWRft _ JIGSPELLSWRht  P_MANPATSWRt BARB2 SWRDt TF16_COMBSWR3F16EDITRSWR t (FOFT SWR',/KULT1 SWRu3m1KULT2 SWRJ t @pPDROME SWRE+4SEUCK SWRYSWARMACHNSWR-t w DBMAN SWRjzBLITZ_1 SWRDt "}BLITZ_2 SWRft "}BLITZ_3 SWRt "}BLITZ_4 SWRt B}GPLUS SWRTt 8F16CKPITSWRt ?B}DKWHEEL2SWRt _^DKWHEEL1SWR8t TBIRDS SWRt #F16_KEYSSWRt ADVQUESTSWRt '"MANUAL SWRzZAMAZON SWRwt w1B_CAULDNSWRt BALLYHOOSWR2t SHERLOCKSWR%BREAKERSSWRtt +AUTO 0BEYONDZKSWRt kYBORDERZNSWRt 9LGDSWORDSWRst 3BRIMSTONSWRt 0 ESSEX SWRt 3BUREAUC SWRt 9[COLOSSALSWR\t A$INGRIDBKSWRt $HBIBLE SWRt 'HERLOCKSWRt JOC11FI2PI1a  G.NIUS The interstellar ship flies through space. You, G.NIUS, have the task of supervising the maintenance robots in the hold. All is calm; you are in the middle of your siesta. Suddenly the alarm signal sounds. The on board computer guides you towards the nearest planet, where the ship makes a crash landing. "Why? How?....Was it the inverse position nucleo- cycler that failed ? Or a disintegration of the plasmomultiplexer module? But this is neither the time for questions or answers....." You must : * reach the exit at the other ende of the cargo ship, before its complete disintegration. * find the passages through the cargo ship...The fallen rubble has obstructed some of the communication doors... * use the robot..air lifts after having partially destroyed them... * avoid the maintenance robots who seem to have undergone a certain degree of derangement... CONTROLS ________ Esc=.....Give up ( or quit demonstration mode ) F3= .....Pause F5= .....Save the current game to a blank formatted disk F7= .....Load a saved game Space=...jump You can set the number of players (1 or 2) and the level of diffuculty on- screen after quitting the demonstration mode before starting to play. You direct G.NIUS by pushing the joystick in the direction you want him to go. To shoot, press the fire button. INDICATORS __________ During the game you will see in the middle of the screen an information board. From top to bottom: * The lives remaining (heads) * The floor level where you are * Beneath there are 4 gauges that indicate from left to right:the general state of health of G.NIUS:your reserve of electrical energy:the remaining ammunition for your pistol:the resistance energy of your shield. * your score and at the end of the game your high-score. SETTING PARAMETERS __________________ By setting parameters on-screen after the demonstration mode you can choose the level of difficulty. Two examples: * for each bullet that hits G.NIUS, you can determine the amount of energy that will be lost. * the pistol can fire 15 to 30 bullets, before it disintegrates. In all cases you have 3 lives for each game. The number of G.Niuses remaining is displayed over the floor level number. ADVICE ______ * To recover arms or energy, you must destroy the maintenance robots. Depending on the side you hit and the number of shots, differents objects will appear ( shields,batteries,nails...) * A destroyed magnet attracts the robots in the room for awhile. * "Lift robots" arrive after you have destroyed all the light pins of this floor. * To obtain a better picture and nice colours, turn you moniters bightness down and regulate the contrast. There is no sense in drawing a map of the cargo ship....The layout is different each time you play, unless you save the configuration on a second disk. Typed by MEDUSA (USA) for Sewer Soft Typed by MEDUSA (USA) for the Sewer Software DOC DISC Series. JIGSPELL When the Jigspell title screen appears you will be presented with three choices. Click on one of these options. LOAD A NEW JIGSAW PICTURE: Use to load a new jigsaw picture. Jigspell will accept any DEGAS compatible (.PI1). First Paint or STAGE II picture file. Click on the name of the picture you wish to load in the file select box, and then click on 'OK' or press Return. LOAD A NEW WORD LIST: Load a list of words created in the Jigspell word list editor. Click on the name of the words list file you wish to load then click on 'OK' or press RETURN. CONTINUE: Start Jigspell Jigspell's operation is based on the Return key, the 'J' shaped key to the right of the keyboard.Most actions are performed using this key. When you click on continue, first enter your name, and then press return, you will then be shown a grid (the jigsaw), with no areas uncovered. The squares will be numbered 1-16, and will be uncovered in that order. The first piece of the jigsaw will flash to prompt you. Simply press return to continue. A box will appear in the centre of the screen containing the word which the child to spell. After the child has memorised the word and thinks that they will be able to reproduce it, they can then press Return, and a box will appear for the child to type in that word. If a mistake is made while typing the word, the backspace key can be used to delet the character to the immediate left of the cursor. After typing the word in, the Return key may be pressed. A box will appear to say whether the word was correct or not. If the word was spelt correctly pressing Return will move forward onto the next word. If the answer was wrong, a screen will appear showing the spelling entered, and the correct spelling. Pressing the Return key returns the user to the jigsaw, and asks for the word to be entered again,hopefully correctly. Don't forget Return continues from all positions in the jigsaw. WORD LIST EDITOR Load the word editor in the same way you loaded Jigspell, this time highlighting 'EDITOR.PRG'. On loading you will be presented with five menue options, operated by pressing the keys 1-5. 1.New word list. Used for creating all current words from memory. 2.Enter new words. Used for entering word, including overwriting words that may have been spelt incorrectly. Within this menu there are several other keyboard functions. F: Move forward through the word list up to a maximum of one hundred words. B: Move backwards through the word list. E: Edit the current word. Allows you to type in a word in place of the current word shown. If no word has previously been entered the the message 'no word' will appear. Q: Return to the main menu. 3. Load. Allows the user to ammend a previously save word list file, for instance if spelling errors appear in the main Jigspell program. Simply click on the wordlist you wish to load, in the file select box, and then click on the 'OK' or press Return. 4. Save. Saves the current words in memory to disk storage. Give the word list you have created a name not exceeding eight characters, then press '.' (full stop0. and enter 'WRD'. This tells the computer that the file you are about to save is a word list file. Then click on 'OK' to save the file. 5. Quit the program, and return to the GEM desktop. Typed by MEDUSA (USA) - for SEWER SOFTWARE POSTMAN PAT Postman Pat now comes to your computer screen in this highly entertaining and colorful arcade game.The game has an easy version suitable for the younger children, and a harder version: as well as POSTMAN PAT SNAP, LUDO and SNAKES and LADDERS: four great games in all. It seemed like just another day to Pat as he climbed out of bed. Little did he know that he would be rushed off his feet by all the work that faced him this morning as he did his round of Greendale. Parcels, letters, and all sorts of odd jobs would keep him very busy. You can help Pat and Jess to get the job done by guiding his van around the village. You start the game by finding the Post Office where Mr. Groggins will tell Pat what he must deliver. It will be a number of letters or a parcel for one of Pats friends. You can drive around the village (and can reverse if you need to turn around ) in order to find your friends house and deliver the parcel.(if you return to the van and then wish to go back to a house you must leave the screen and then re-enter it).Letters are delivered to the houses which flash as you pass them. To deliver a letter just press the fire button as you pass the house. If you miss you have to get Pat out of the van using the fire button and guide him to pick up the letter and try again. If Peter Foggs sheep get loose you can help him by herding the sheep back through the gate( you must find them yourself). Watch out for Oil slicks on the road and Miss Hubbard on her wobbly bike. Because Pat is such a busy chap you have only got a short time to complete all your tasks. If you run out of time, the game is over. The Amiga and ST versions include thes 3 free fun packed games. SNAKES & LADDERS (1-4 players) The aim of snakes and ladders is to get your counter from square 1 ( at the bottom) to square 60 (at the top).Should your counter land at the bottom of the ladder, you will be moved to the top of it. However, if you should land on the top of a snake, then you will slide down to its tail.If you should be lucky enough to roll a 6 you are given another go. To win, you must land exactly on square 60. For example, if you are on square 58, you must roll a two to win.Rolling a three will not count. LUDO (1-4 players) The object of the game is to take all the counters out of your base, then around the board and get them home to win. In order to take a counter out of your base, you must first roll a six. As in snakes and ladders,you must roll and exact number to complete the game. SNAP The object of the game is to match the top half and the bottom half of the displayed character correctly. When the player presses fire with PAT (the cursor icon)over the GO 'button' ,the reels start spinning. The bottom will stop after awhile. Then the player must press fire with PAT over the Stop 'button'. If the bottom and the top match then he wins a point. Playing 99 times or selecting END returns to the title screen. Play against a friend and see who can score the most; in 10,20, or more goes. KEYS Left ___ Right | Up |_use Joystick Down | Fire ___| P - Pause A - Abort Lifted from an AMIGA source and edited by SEWER POSSUM....... Barbarian II Instructions ------------------------- Prologue: At the finale of Barbarian - The Ultimat Warrior, the barbarian defeated the warriors of Drax and thus freed Princess Mariana from his evil spell. Drax fled to the dungeons beneath his black castle, vowing to wreak disaster on the Jewelled Kingdom. It is decided that there is only one way to stop Drax. the Barbarian and Mariana - herself an accomplished swordswoman - are the only two warriors skilled enough to survive the perilous journey to Drax's lair. They must stop him before it is too late. Barbarian II - The Dungeon of Drax Choice of Character You may choose to play either the barbarian or Princess Mariana. At the beginning of the game the two characters will appear. Choose your warrior by moving the joystick left or right and pressing fire. Levels You must fight your way through three levels - the Wastelands, the Caverns, and the Dungeons - before arriving at the fourth level, the Inner Sanctum of Drax. These sections must be played in the correct order. Each of the first three levels is a maze consisting of approximately 28 screens. As you view each screen it is possible to walk left, right, or into doors or caves at the back of the screen. The direction you are walking, as viewed on a map, is continually changing and therefore a compass (in which the sword always points north) has been provided at the bottom of the screen. When you reach the exit to the next level the Level Display will pulse as a warning. It is not advisable to leave a level without first collecting all available magical objects (see below). Monsters On each of the first three levels you must fight six different types of monster, some of which can be killed with one well-placed blow. They are: The Wastelands - Saurian beasts, Neanderthal men, Apes, Mutant Chickens, Stabbers, Floaters. The Caverns - Carnivores, Orc Guards, Crabs, Slithering Things, Cave Trolls, Stingers. The Dungeons - Pit Things, Dungeon Masters, Giant Grubs, Gobblers, Eyes, Orclets. If you survive to the Sanctum of Drax you must face the Living Idol, A great Demon, and finally, the dreaded Drax! Magical Objects In each of the first three levels there are two magical objects that you will need to collect in order to survive throughout the quest. The axe increases your strength. The globe guards against death from Drax's magic. The potion increases your resistance. The key opens portcullis doors. The shield guards against death from the Demon's fire. The Jewel disables the Living Idol when the idol is reached. Energy and Lives Your energy is displayed as a bar at the top right of the screen. When it runs out you lose a life. You start the game with five lives. More lives can be gained throughout the game by collecting any skulls you may find. These contain the life-force of warriors who have preceded you. When you lose all your lives you restart the current level. The energy of the current monster you are fighting is displayed as a bar at the top left of the screen. When it runs out the monster is destroyed. Scoring The more difficult fighting moves will score highly and do more damage. Joystick Moves These are your joystick moves when you are facing right (reverse these when facing left). Without button pressed: up=run, left=walk backwards, right=walk forwards, lower left/right=through a door, down=turn around With button pressed: up=overhead chop or running jump when preceded by run, left=flying neck chop, right=kick, down=low chop To jump across holes or pits you will need to make a running jump. If you do not jump far enough you will find yourself teetering on the far edge of the hole. By swiftly waggling the joystick left and right you may save yourself. F-16 COMBAT PILOT Here's an excellent set of DOCs from POMPEY PIRATES. Not only has ALIEN fixed the bug that plagues the original game, he also included DOCS for both the game and the editor on the disc! Great effort guys. File Structure...... AUTO folder containing F16COMBT.PRG (the file in the AUTO folder on this disk named F16_LOAD.PRG is only for use with this menu- and must be the first program in that folder!) MAPS folder containing MAP3.MAP, MAP4.MAP, MAP5.MAP, MAP6.MAP, MAP7.MAP and MAP8.MAP PICTURES folder containing ADATA1.RX1, ADATA2.RX1, ADATA3.RX1, WDATA1.RX1, WDATA2.RX1, WDATA3.RX1 and WDATA4.RX1 and in the root directory T.PRG ...and on disk two... MAPS folder containg MAP0.MAP, MAP1.MAP and MAP2.MAP PICTURES folder containing MAIN1.RX1, MAIN2.RX1, MAIN3.RX1, MAIN4.RX1, PROMO.RX1, TITLE.RX1, CREDIT.RX1, REPAIR.RX1, WEAPON.RX1 and COMPLETE.RX1 and in the root directory, PROG.PRG, PANEL.DAT, CHRSML.DAT and CH4PT.DAT There won't be much space on disk two so save log files, etc. on disk one. The Game -------- Once you've loaded the game you'll see the crew room. Various areas of the screen are clickable: Window... demonstration mode: a continuous demo. Computer... control configuration: two options; default is to use joystick 1 for control, keyboard for throttle. The other option is to use a joystick in the mouse port as an alternative, more realistic, throttle control. Weapon chart... weaponry details: some pretty pics! Aircraft chart... aircraft details: ditto. Pilot... quickstart: your aircraft is place at the end of the runway, fuelled and armed with a selection of ordinance. No pilot's log is active. Filing cabinet... pilot's log details: load a new log here. Briefcase... recall game: load a saved campaign file and continue a war here. And the door leads to... MISSION SELECTION There are five missions... Scramble: intercept and destroy incoming MiGs. Tankbuster: destroy enemy tank battalion(s). Hammerblow: attack enemy installations; airfields, SAM sites and EW sites. Deepstrike: cripple enemy by destroying factories, power stations, bridges, fuel depots etc. Watchtower: check out enemy installations at low altitude for the guys in intelligence. Once you've completed all five missions successfully, the centre of the pentagon is filled with a new icon: Operation Conquest. This is a full blown war, with you as commander of various airfields. More about that later... Having selected a mission you'll see the map screen. A map takes up most of the screen (amazing!) and various icons are spread along the bottom and far right of the screen. Starting at the top right there's... WEAPONS... weapon loading screen: click on the weapons you want and put them on the aircraft. At the bottom of the screen are three areas where you can store your favourite loads and load them back instantly. To the left of these is an icon which gives you what the ground crew think best. Far right is the exit icon. Left of that is the icon used to clean the aircraft of all weapons. More details on the weapons available later... MET OFFICE... choose your weather conditions: wind, cloud, day or night? No problem! Not available in Operation Conquest; that's the real thing, and no real pilot has control of the weather! TAKE OFF... guess what! Along the bottom of the screen are some more icons... COMMAND (Operation Conquest only)... from here you order airfields to attack targets you select; click on the airfield number, then click on an enemy target. That airfield will launch a single F16 to attack that target. MISSION (Normal missions only)... this tells you your mission objective(s). TARGETS... here you can force the various targets on the map to be displayed- selectively; e.g. if you only want to see SAM sites, that's no problem. REPORT... the latest report from the guys at intelligence. Take it with a pinch of salt- by the time you're in the air, those reported interceptors may have gone, and any suspected targets will probably have moved. WEATHER... details the weather conditions at present. WAYPOINT... here you can choose your flightpath to the target(s). Your start point is the intersection of the two red lines, your target's (if it's a normal mission) co-ordinates are at the bottom of the box displayed. You have 5 waypoints available. See the description of the UFCP later for details. OK... having done all your preflight stuff, click on TAKE OFF. After a short wait the cockpit will appear. First thing to get out of the way is the IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) code. Normally you type a word from the manual in. Not any more! Type ANYTHING in- even one letter- and press RETURN. Now you're ready to roll! Time to tell you the keys, eh? F1, F2, F3: change MFDs (Multi Function Display)... cycle thru various displays: Air to air radar (Yellow line in the middle) , Air to ground radar (green lines fanning out), Artifical horizon, Infra red imager (blank most of the time, it will display a target when a Maverick is locked on), Map, stores display or ILS (Instrument Landing System) display. MFD types: Air to air modes: there are three modes available... TWS (Track While Scan): a medium range (30m) search radar. Up to 10 targets can be displayed, range in miles is in top left corner, altitude in 1000's of feet is in the top right, bearing is in bottom right. A roll bar is superimposed on the display as with all air to air modes to enable orientation when looking down into the cockpit. Targets are red for hostile, green for friendly, yellow for currently selected hostile target. STT (Single Target Track): same as TWS, but you have locked on to a single target, which turns into a diamond, with no other targets displayed. Return to TWS mode by either destroying the target, moving so it goes off the edge of the display or unlocking. ACS (Air Combat Scan): a short range STT mode with targets of greatest threat locked on automatically. Range 10m. Air to ground modes: two modes... GTR (Ground Target Ranging): the A-G version of TWS, range 10m. GTT (Ground Target Track): A-G version of STT. Moving Map: Your aircraft is positioned in the centre and it's bearing is shown as a red line superimposed on the image. Stores: Symbolic representations of your payload are shown along with the amounts of each weapon left. Chaff and flares are also shown. Artificial horizon: Pretty useless as there is a conventional one on the cockpit panel anyway... Flight data: IAS: Indicated Air Speed. Important values are 50kts, NEVER exceed that on grass, and 300kts- NEVER exceed that with undercarriage down. Also displayed on the left of the HUD and top right in mach. ALT: Altitude. Stay below 500ft to avoid enemy EW radar. Also on the right of the HUD. VSI: Vertical Speed Indicator. If it's red, you are descending, green you are climbing. Also shown on a tape indicator between MFDs 2 and 3. HDG: Heading. Also on the top of the HUD, and the right view in the cockpit. FUEL: Fuel remaining in pounds. Also shown on the top right gauge in the cockpit. F5: change UFCP (Up Front Control Panel) mode. Cycle thru Airfields, Waypoints and targets. F6: change UFCP target. Cycle thru individual airfields, waypoints or targets. To get to a target, match your bearing with the target's. Distance and ETA are also displayed. The UFCP also has six lights to it's left. From the top left to right... ATARS pod active, LANTIRN pod active, radar active, ILS active, Autoland active, UHF transmitter active. F7: autoland. Can only be used when ILS display is showing two yellow lines, undercarriage is down and you're not too close to the runway. To land without using autoland or GCA (see below), keep the yellow lines centred in the middle of the display all the way- watch how the autopilot does it! F8: turn ATARS recon pod on. Use when over the target of a Watchtower mission. F9: select radar target. Cycles thru available targets. F10: lock on to radar target. Only really necessary for AMRAAMs and as a visual aid. CONTROL + ESC: abort mission. Aircraft is classed as lost unless you abort BEFORE entering the IFF code- which is why I left that bit in, even though it's otherwise redundant. BACKSPACE: airbrakes. Only available when in the air! Mega realism here... TAB/Q: cycle thru weapons. T: Transmit to airfield tower. When on ground, asks for clearance to take off, when in the air, asks for clearance to land. G: Request GCA (Ground Control Assistance) for landing manually. Tower will guide you in the long, slow and safe way. U: Undercarriage up/down. For obvious reasons, unavailable on the ground! P: Pause/unpause. D: Dogfight mode. Sets MFDs to a typical configuration for air to air combat, and turns off pitch bars on HUD (Head Up Display). H: HUD on/off. If you fly with it off, you're crazy! K: Pitch bars on/off. Best to have them on when flying low as they give you instant visual confirmation of your pitch/roll status. B: Wheelbrakes. Hold down to apply brakes. SPACE: fire currently selected weapon. CURSOR KEYS: select view from cockpit. Hold SHIFT down at same time to lock view in place. C: dispense chaff. F: dispense flare. J: hold down with F to jettison a fuel tank/un-needed fuel or with A to jettison everything. CONTROL + E: Eject. Not to be used lightly- only eject in level flight over friendly territory. KEYPAD CONTROLS: 4/6: Bank left/right. 2/8: Pull up/down. 1/3: Left/right rudder. +: throttle up (hold SHIFT at same time to slam throttle open). -: throttle down (hold SHIFT at same time to slam closed). (And when using the menus, cursors can be used instead of the mouse with INSERT for selecting and SPACE as the equivalent of RETURN in GEM alert boxes.) Right... now you know the keys, press T to ask for take off clearance. Now open the throttle to about 70% and taxi out of the hangar and onto the runway. Slam the throttle open and pull up at 130 knots. Press U to retract the undercarriage- making sure you heard the wheels retract- and you're away! Time to go bust some ass!! The cockpit display is explained in a seperate program on this disk, COCKPIT.PRG. WEAPONS: AIM-120A AMRAAM (Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile): use against MiGs within a 20 mile range. Further away and performance rapidly deteriorates. AIM-9M Sidewinder: short range AAM, more reliable at close range and lighter than AMRAAMs. Maxium range 10 miles, but 5 is more realistic and 3 is most lethal. AGM-88A HARM (High speed Anti Radiation Missile): single mounting on wing hardpoints- use against enemy EW (Early Warning) radars. Maximum range 10 miles, effective range same. AGM-65D Maverick: infra red version, use against hot targets such as tanks, without LANTIRN pod, range is limited to 5 miles maximum. Targets must be 'pickled' (locked on) by pressing fire when the target is centred on the display (diamond will appear), and only then can it be fired. AGM-65E Maverick: laser version, use against anything either illuminated by friendly infantry or your LANTIRN pod. MK-82 Snakeye: retarded bomb, use against hard targets such as factories. The advantage with the Snakeye is that it can be used at extremely low altitude- small fins pop open on the bomb after release, slowing it's descent and allowing the parent aircraft to clear the blast area before detonation. MK-83: standard 1000lb bomb. Do not release below 2000 ft, or blast will damage your aircraft. MK-84: 2000lb bomb. Same release rules as MK-83, but makes a considerably bigger mess when it detonates! DURANDAL: anti runway weapon. The DURANDAL drives into the runway on impact, burying itself, and then explodes upward creating a massive crater. LANTIRN: an all-round good piece of kit, this! Has a built in laser designator so your aircraft need not rely on friendly troops to illuminate a target. Also gives night vision within the area of the HUD and provides extra guidance for most ground attack weapons up to point of release. ATARS: a new (very new!) recon pod. Use on recon missions (Watchtower), but NEVER jettison it! Don't want the commies getting THIS piece of hardware! FUEL TANK: for use on long range missions, jettison when empty or bring it back to cheer up the stores chief! BUGFIX: The original of the game is IMPOSSIBLE to complete! This is because you are promoted TWICE instead of once after completing your first campaign. So when you were in the top squadron and it tried to promote you, crash!! Now I've fixed it so you only promoted once. To the programmers: this is what you did wrong... (code at TEXT+$1C2FE in PROG.PRG) ADDQ.W #1,TEXT+$11EB2 MOVE.W TEXT+$11EB2,D0 ...which means you increment the squadron twice; once in the ADDQ and then later on, when manipulating D0! D0 is then put back having been incremented accordingly, so... double promotion! Swap the instructions with each other and everything's fine! F-16 Combat Pilot: Pilot's Log Editor: Instructions document. Program version 1.22. Thanx to Pompey Pirates....... Instructions---------------------------- Operation of the editor is designed to be as close as possible to the game itself- point and click to change things, and type in new values. Each editable item shown has a circle to the right of it- click in the circle and input whatever value you want. There are some restrictions: the maximum value for numeric items is 9999 as this is what the game limits them to. Also, pilot names can only be 8 characters, and callsigns 10 characters long. Two things which need special note are your squadron and rating- instead of typing in whatever you want, you have to type in a numeric value; these items are stored numerically, not as text. For squadron you can type in values from 0 (Wildcatters) to 7 (Falcon Aces). For rating you can type in values from 0 (Rookie) to 5 (Topgun).Although these are the maximums,you can type in higher values if you really want to- it won't do you any good though! (Having said that,you CAN'T type in false values for squadron as this is just the sort of thing that makes Combat Pilot keel over and die.) An addition to the log details is the 'Next map' item. Combat Pilot has 9 maps that you can play- stored in the MAPS folders and named, funnily enough, MAP0.MAP to MAP8.MAP. Map 0 is the map used when you select Training, the others are 'real' maps. So that you don't use the same map twice when selecting Operation Conquest, a counter is kept within the log file of the map file next to be used. Should you complete a campaign and decide you're in love (!) with the map you used then load your log file into my editor and reduce the Next map value by 1. Simple! Of course, you can give it any value from 0-9999 but, again, this won't do you any good- only 0-8 are useful as the program stands. I've left this in just in case DI bring out an extension with differently numbered map files. I've also added a whole new page to the log screen- the MISSION MARKINGS page. This shows the marks you got for each mission. Again, to change them (say you want to play Operation Conquest but can't complete all the missions) just click in the circles as usual and type in 0, 1 or 2. 0 means that you haven't flown that mission, 1 is a fail, 2 is a pass. Any other value WILL be accepted but may cause problems within the game. To load a log file into the editor click in the circle by 'Name' and type in the name of the pilot you wish to load. If that pilot does not exist a new one will be created. (Log files are saved on disk as "\name.LOG".) To save a log file onto disk either follow the above, making sure no such pilot already exists, or more reliably, click in the circle by 'Callsign' and type in the callsign (you can keep the current one). Providing the disk isn't write protected the log will be saved under the pilot's name (see above). To delete a log file from disk, first load it into the editor (see above) and then click in the circle by 'Erase'. If all is well the file is deleted. The log in memory is also erased. And while I'm here a mention of some bugs... 1> The weapon loading bug number 1. If you have weapons left over having landed, and those weapons are unavailable, then if you load one of your three preferred loads, those weapons disappear into thin air! 2> The weapon loading bug number 2. If during a mission your weapons are damaged then you MUST repair the aircraft after landing. Otherwise, if you try to access the weapon loading screen, Combat Pilot can't figure out how to display a damaged weapon load- and crashes! If, however, this does happen to you... instead of going to the weapon loading screen next time, just take off immediately.Climb to 2000 ft and jettison the weapons. If they won't jettison then you may as well eject- the aircraft is useless if you can't load weapons on to it! 3> The internal gun bug. The F-16's internal gun might be pretty mean in real life but it's TOTALLY USELESS in the game! Put it this way: I have sat on a MiG's tail and pumped 500 rounds into him with no effect. The same with a chopper, the same with many buildings.The gun just don't work! 4> The helicopter bug. Well,maybe not a bug but's it rather odd anyway! First, find a chopper. Now shoot it down. Oh look! Another chopper's just appeared out of nowhere! Shoot it down! Oh look! Another... etc. Great you might think- not so. Just wait till the day a chopper appears directly in front of you & so close you can't avoid a collision. Most annoying! 5> The miraculous AAM bug. Yes, you too can experience the miracle of being shot down before leaving the hangar! These MiGs must have missiles that can track targets hidden behind very thick concrete walls, and even go THROUGH the concrete! How to avoid this? Well, BEFORE you turn the engine on, check your UFCP to see if there are any targets within 15 miles.If there are (and it's not a chopper- they won't fire on you), wait until the target is at least 30 miles away and then take off as normal. 6> The hangar bug. From the third campaign or so, some hangars become dodgy places to park in. In fact, the F-16 is classed as lost if you do stop in such a hangar! Whether this is a random feature intentionally put in, or a real bug, it's certainly bugging! 7> The 'Oh my God I'm going to kill the guy who wrote Combat Pilot' bug. YOU CANNOT COMPLETE F-16 COMBAT PILOT! This is because after finishing the first campaign, you are promoted not once, but twice! And what happens when you're in the top squadron? It thinks you're in the one below that, and when it tries to promote you, crashes!! Aaaarrgghhhh!! It's just possible (I haven't tried it) that if you refuse promotion after your first campaign or refuse it when in the top squadron, that the bug may rectify itself. I wouldn't rely on it though... Built in to this editor is a feature which recognises a corrupted log file and will repair any too-high squadron rating. That's all you need to know, pilot! In an earlier DOC DISC we had some brief DOCs for this complex game, here's some more info that should help fans of this ELITE clone. SP FEDERATION OF FREE TRADERS. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE PLAYERS GUIDE. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TYPED FROM THE MAGAZINE 'THE ONE' BY THE EARL/ECLIPSE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LET'S GO! --------- First things first: the objective is to score in excess of 9,000 points and thus reach the highest rank possible, progressing from humble Cadet through Commander to Admiral. Shooting hostiles scores points. However there are over 32 different types of craft to be found, all of differing degrees of intelligence and aggression. Don't antagonise - just fight to survive. The best way to earn points is to embark on and complete one of the 15 different missions. The higher your rank,the tougher the mission, and the tougher the mission, the greater the reward. Before you can buy anything, you need money. You start with a mere 150 credits, so proficient trading is the order of the day. Use the money to improve your ship, and the better your ship, the better your chance of rising through the ranks. Bear in mind: there's a one per cent handling charge on all purchases of equipment, so don't look too surprised when you get stung for more than you thought. MISSIONS IMPOSSIBLE ------------------- Press f8 to access the on-board computer, and at the prompt type 'NET'. Once in the net, press 'T' and when the message "Enter user to transmit to" appears, enter 'FOFT' [CR]. Federation Hq will now give you details of your mission. Note ALL the details and keep them to hand. The numbers will be of use when you access the navigation computer to plot your course. Now press 'Q' to leave galnet followed by 'QUIT' to leave EDI and get back to your view-screen. A brief explanation of the first eight missions.... 1) Take a message to a specified system for 50 creds. 2) Proceed to a specified system and contact HQ for further instructions for 10 creds. 3) Patrol a specified system and destroy any hostiles, but do not engage any unidentified ships for 100 creds. 4) Escort a convoy to a specified system then report back for 100 creds. 5) Rendezvous with a convoy at a specified system then escort it to another specified system for 100 creds. 6) Search for a lost ship in a specified system and recover any survivors for 100 creds. 7) Investigate strange losses in a specified system then report back for 150 creds. 8) Destroy a defective satellite in a specified system for 100 creds. The other seven missions will have to make a secret for the time being.... SETTING A COURSE ---------------- The galactic map has some keys to please.... The joystick is used to spin the galaxy. HELP - Galaxy map Zoom in. DEL - Galaxy map Zoom out. CURSOR KEYS - Move crosshair. RETURN - Lock course. D - Decode planet statistics. S - Short range scan. SPACE - Exit. Press f6 to activate the navigation computer and view the spiral galaxy. A highlighted route is displayed if there is a mission to perform. Press D for a schematic view of the system you are about to visit. Usefull information is shown to the left of this display, So make use of this if you intend to trade with the locals upon arrival. Press the space bar to return to your view screen. The joystick is used to rotate the map and adjust your position. To lock onto a course press RETURN. If you cant lock onto a course,its due to the distance between you and your target. Either you dont have enough fuel, or your engines aren't capable of such a big jump. Trade on the Net to earn enough money for fuel or to buy bigger engines. If money is a real problem cut your journey into smaller stages. The cursor keys move the white crosshair on the galaxy display. Once locked on course press SPACE to look out of your cockpit,open the hangar doors by pressing BACKSPACE if docked and finally H to enter hyperspace. (tip: Dont aim at a planet when hyperspacing..You tend to DIE!) PAY ATTENTION... ---------------- ...To all planetary information as it's essential to trading, for example... o A planet with a high government or law level is not the best place to sell weapons. o Planets with high populations will always need food - especially those of a small diameter. o Mining communities are your best bet for cheap ores and minerals. o Planets with little or no atmosphere are unlikely to support humanoid lifeforms - other than the military who are always interested in spare organs. o High populations would suggest races of robots. (who obviously dont need food). o Little or no water on a planet means that chances are there's a healthy market for agricultural goods as the natives cant grow food. o Buy hi-tech equipment from hi-tech planets and sell them to lo-tech planets. RADAR ROMPS ----------- The coloured stalks on the radar show what is at the location in question. The following should help you distinguish the good from the bad. WHITE - Space station,or convoy member. GREY - Satellite or unknown. RED - Hostile. BLUE - Unknown. TELEPHONE NUMBERS ----------------- When aimed at a spaceship (friendly) a number appears to the left of the screen. Note this down,access the net and transmit,at the prompt to who, type this number for a chat,and black market trading with others. THE DILITHIUM CRYSTALS CANNAE TAKE IT CAPTAIN! ---------------------------------------------- Damage control is the place to be when things are going wrong. Remember, repairs take time, and time is money. You can always buy some more efficient droids (finances permitting),but at the end of the day effective droid management is of the essence (i.e. dont put too many droids on one job). Better still avoid getting damaged in the first place. The Keys? here you are then... f7 - Activate the damage control screen. RETURN - Activate the selector. + - Add free droid to the highlighted system. - - Remove droid from the highlighted system. CRSR UP/DN - Move highlight. SPACE - Exit. READY EDI --------- Stay in the space station for protection and access galnet (press f8 to activate EDI,the ships computer,and type NET (RETURN) at the ready prompt ). At the welcome prompt type HELP (RETURN) and enter your name when asked. The reply to the 'NEW GAME' prompt is irrelevant if you have just loaded a game. However, if you are mid-game a 'YES' response terminates your game in favour of a new one. Once you have been given your ID number, the net's yours to explore and exploit. Available commands are then listed by pressing the H key. The option to download only works if you know the name of the file you wish to download. This information is only found out by playing the game. NOT SO FREE TRADING ------------------- When conversing with other traders, dont call them names. Its a good idea to mention trading in some form "Do you want to TRADE/BUY/SELL" is a good question to ask. BLACK MARKET ------------ Black market items to look out for include: Class 4 missiles,Towels,Mega-blasters (huge planet busting ghetto blasters), Digital watches,SIMPLE manuals (and you need them) and mega-gin (plus other assorted intoxicating substances). Note: Whatever you do DO NOT buy GPP ROBOTS,No-one will buy these from you, and you are stuck with them! --THE EARL-- FAST BUCKS ---------- To make money quickly buy,then sell almost immediately. Look for something fairly cheap and then buy it in bulk so that the market has no other supply except you, Wait for a few seconds for the price to rise and then sell,sell SELL (for a reasonable price). But remember theres a 1% handling charge,so your profit may not be as large as intended. DOCKING ------- The quickest way to dock is this: zoom in or out on the radar until you see a white line. Fly towards it at full speed. When you are in range a light on the panel will flash,indicating you should activate the docking computer. PLANET ------ The fastest way to land on a planet is to dock with a space station then launch immediately. Pull back (down) on the stick and line up with the planet. The space station will allow you to time skip when you leave it. Why do you need to land? for trading prices or because a mission demands it. LANDING ------- Practice makes perfect so try this when you first begin the game: press Backspace to leave the space station, use the ALT key to reduce your speed (shown to the right of your heads up display) from 020 to 000. you are now stationary (a negative number means you are in reverse). At the bottom left of the screen is your attitude adviser. The arrow heads show the position of the nearest docking station or planet. There should be only one arrow head pointing down. Push forward (up) on the joystick to tilt the crafts nose down. Shortly you should be facing the planet. The attitude adviser becomes a diamond when you are on course. increase your speed to 010 then hold down the J key to time skip - unless enemy craft are present,in which case you should enter navigation computer, lock on course to the intended planet and then return to the main view and engage the hyperspace engines. watch the attitude adviser in case you drift off course. The screen should turn red with the heat as you enter the atmosphere. Use that attitude adviser to line up with the runway and when you are over it, point the nose down into a shallow drive. If everything is safe,the on-board systems will take over and land the ship for you. It takes time to reach a runway. Should you miss it,your best bet is to pull back and leave the atmosphere before attempting re-entry. You can either fly high and safe or low and dangerously. Keep level at roughly the height shown,then when the need to shoot something arises,tap forward (up) to briefly dip the nose and move the cursor to the floor and fire. Now pull up - PULL UP! GENERAL TIPS: COMBAT -------------------- Install a third weapons system as soon as finances permit. Use missiles whenever possible. Drones are usefull. When in direct combat shoot your way through your weapons system. If all else fails RUN FOR IT. TIME SKIP --------- The time skip function is tied to speed at which you travel. Flying at 0 and using the time skip wont get you anywhere. Travel at full speed for maximum effect. Also bear in mind that space stations actually stop time skipping. COMPLETE KEY GUIDE ------------------ F1 - Communications mode. 1 - Arm escape pod. F2 - Arm primary weapons system. 2 - Disengage escape pod. F3 - Arm secondary weapons system. CTRL - Accelerate. F4 - Arm tertiary weapons system. ALT - Decelerate. F5 - Audible threat warnings on/off. D - Engage docking computer. F6 - Navigation computer. H - Hyperspace. F7 - Damage control. K - Kill tune play SFX. F8 - Ships computer. L - Load game. F9 - Radar zoom in. M - Play current tune. F10 - Radar zoom out. P - Pause. S - Save game. J - Timeskip. BKSPACE - Launch. HELP - Music select THIS GUIDE WAS TYPED BY THE EARL OF ECLIPSE.........ENJOY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THANX TO AXIS FOR THE PLAY GUIDE. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ Part 1 of the KULT docs...Thanks to PiraSoft/ACU. A solution appears on an earlier SEWER DOC DISC (as collectors of this fine series would undoubtedly already know!) Edited by Sewer Possum. A WORD TO THE WISE His Raspacious Nullity, SYNAPZ NODUL NERDZ IV, in a fit of insane generosity, hereby consents to the publication of: "KULT". In view of its socially undesirable character. The Management reminds all organic life-forms that thinking of any sort is no longer necessary. Anyone caught indulging in thought processes will be furthured for retraining as Brand X breakfast cereal. * A long time after the Burn. It is the reign of the Tuner Netwerk. The PSI-mutant Tuners discreetly control the world of the Normals, who fear and detest them utterly. For the Protozorqs, inhabitants of the Temple, the day of Alonement is at hand; the god Zorq has returned, as promised in The Book of Origins, appearing from the sky on board his flying object. In an explosion of crazed bloodlust, the horde wreaks havoc throughout the surrounding region. All the Normal villages are razed, and every one of their inhabitants exterminated. Every one, that is, except the young males, who are herded into the Mountain, the Temple of Zorq! Raven and his friend Sci Fi, two young Turners, approach a Normal settlement where the Protozorqs, armed with fearsome Zapstiks, are wiping out the last pitiful pockets of resistance. In spite of orders from the Foetus, Raven and Sci Fi fling themselves into the fray. The situation is hopeless, but thanks to his PSI-powers and astounding combat skills, Raven overcomes incredible odds and finally stands alone, surrounded on all sides by piles of broken and bloody Protozorq corpses. He turns to Sci Fi, but she's been dragged off to the Temple! The Netwerk orders Raven not to try and follow her into the mountain, but once again he defies the authority of the Foetus! At present Raven's in the very heart of the Temple of Zorq! Everywhere fanatical Protozorqs await the fateful words of their hideously deranged leader, Protizim Harssk, Guardian finally, hack a bloody trail to Zorq himself, you've got to be utterly determined, ruthless, daring death at every turn! You'll need to use your PSI- Energy wisely; it could mean the difference between total victory and a horribly sticky end! First you must face the bizarre and terrifying Ordeals of Deilos. Will you emerge as Divo, Holder of the Egg and Messenger of the New Order, or will you meet a ghastly fate on the Altar of Atonement? The Master awaits, Raven. Your fellow Aspirants will show no pity. The repulsive Protozorqs keep gloating guard at every door! KULT, with its all-mouse easy-to-handle game system, its infinitely rich graphic animations and the strange splendour of its scenario, offers you an authentic future classic in the universe of computer games. Step into KULT, Exxos commands it! * NEW AND EXCITING !! WIN A CUSTOMISED CERVIKAL CORD !! Yes, it's for real! Faithful Servants of Exxos Inc. have come up with a lulu. A megamarv holog simulation of you know who's cervikal cord! Wowee! All-star SCIENTIFIC MINDS have tried their darndest to tell the difference, and failed 300% ! Your (ex-) friends will grovel satisfyingly. Your NEW acquaintances will ask your advice about MILLIONS of highly intimate problems! HOW DO I WIN THIS DESIRABLE FREE PRIZE? IT'S SO EASY! ______ Simply scratch the little rectangle and sniff the delicious |______| odor. You'll love it. Now here's the hard part. Just remember: This could be your PASSPORT TO IMPORTANCE ! THE BIG QUESTION: What did you scratch the rectangle with? A : A fluffy pink fish? B : A pink fish with fluffy texture ? C : Not one of the above ? D : You don't remember, but it might have been a fluffy pink fish ? Boy, that sure was hard. Mail your right answer to the following address: FAITHFUL SERVANTS OF EXXOS Inc., P.O. Box 4, ORBITAL BUSINESS PLANETOID 4375. VOTON SECTOR A/666. (if you're under 18, you shouldn't be able to read this. Report to your nearest Cervikal Deaktivation Facility. You'll love it!) BUT WHAT IF I LOSE ? YOU WIN ANYWAY !! In case you think we're kidding, remember: you're not supposed to think. If by some party-pooping quirk of fate, your fabulonic fooled-the- experts Cervikal Cord isn't yours after all, you win IN ANY EVENT receive a FULL COLOR bill, covering mailing and handling charges for this brochure and the bill itself, amounting to AT LEAST 12 MILLION CREDITS !! * K U L T 1. -Sergeant Bullpup fills you in. (this section is reserved for use by life-forms wishing to soak up the socio-politikal background. The Management would like to point out that reading what follows is a bad move from a life-expectancy angle.) Sarge: As of right now, boy, you are RAVEN. Got it? You: ........ (say "yes". If you're a girl, say "yes") Sarge: What'd you say. Slobface? You: ........ (say "yes sir, sarge, sir" quite fast) Sarge: RAVEN, that's YOU, is the HERO of this here=fun-packed game of thrills=. That makes you so happy, ain't that right, slime-bag? You: ........ (say anything you want. He can't hear you because I've turned his ear off.) Sarge: I can lip-read. Now listen good, lunkhead... The Sarge, a person with overdeveloped jaws, takes out his gum and sticks it behind his left ear, because: A : His right ear got torn off in a breathing accident. B : Who wants to know? Then the Sarge, whose eyes are piggish and closer together than his nostrils, picks up a dog-eared sheaf of documents and reads them out loud, because: A : He wants you to listen good, lunkhead. B : See A. Okay, Sarge. It's your baby. * Raven's a Tuner. Tuners are Psy-mutants. Appeared after the Burn, same time as physical mutants. Normals hate mutants, specially Tuners, because can't tell apart from Normals physically. Normals rub out Tuner kids every time identified. Some Tuners avoid detection. Escape. Form Netwerk. Live in hidden centers called Antennae. Defend selves. Remove Tuner kids from Normal communities before identified as Tuners. Normals fear and loathe Tuners. Yuk. Netwerk develops Hitachi-Gauss Amplifier, called Foetus, from human foetus. Allows long-distance telepathic links between Antennae. Netwerk now covers great part of inhabited world. Watch. Start intervening in Normal affairs to guide progress. Netwerk believes necessary to prevent Normals developing into powerful groupings, otherwise certain destruction of Tuners. Gasp. Netwerk maintains social stability discreetly. Normals loathe and fear Netwerk. Yuk. Netwerk will guide events until Normals no longer hate Tuners. Some Tuners disapprove Netwerk policy. Leave Netwerk. Are Defectivs. Hiss. Hunted by Netwerk because irresponsible and dangerous. Raven is young Tuner, training over. Ready to serve. Has Psy powers like all Tuners. Raven's powers destine him for Outside Teamwork, contact with Normals to ensure satisfactory peaceful social evolution. Sent to new Antenna. Leaves with girl, Sci Fi. Sci Fi is Transrec, Tuner working with Foetus, link between Contact Teams and Antenna. Sci Fi is also Feeler: picks up Trouble Spots, directs Contact Team to Pacification Zone. Raven and Sci Fi in love. Cute. Sci Fi has Defectiv tendencies. Was removed brutally from Normal parents. Raven explains that sad etc. bla bla, but Netwerk only hope for safe world. Normals too dangerous for selves and Tuners. Gulp. Cross region not totally under Netwerk care. Sci Fi feels Trouble Spot. Receive order from Antenna (thanks, Gauss) to observe, not intervene. Witness massacre. Physical mutants attack Normal village. Kill everyone except young men. Foetus transmits order to avoid contact. Too dangerous. Sci Fi and Raven disobey! Fight mutants. Sci Fi captured. Mutants have Zapstiks. Victims go up in smoke. Raven uses Psy combat power to kill mutants. Sci Fi gone! Grrr. Fleeing Normals fill in Raven: mutants are Protozorqs. Lived peacefully in mountain. Then carnage. Kill Normals, shouting "Death to Offa. Great is Zorq. Soon end of Shame". Only young men taken alive. Gauss establishes telepathic link with Raven. Sci Fi off the airwaves. Not dead but scrambled. Taken by force to mountain. Grr. Foetus forbids Raven to go after her. Was almost Defectiv anyway. Raven disobeys Netwerk. Finds new massacre, gets caught. Taken to mountain. Will and must find Sci Fi, take out Protozorqs. Banzai. Thanks, Sarge. Really most moving. * 2.- The set up right now (blood-curdling). (the following is reserved for those life-forms wanting to know what they're supposed to do, without wasting any more time on irrelevant issues. The Management reminds personnel that the possession of ideas or any attempt to contaminate others with them is an offense punishable by retraining as encyclopedias, and we all know what that means. Be a nice neighbor; flush that brain down the toilet.) So there you are in the mountain, Raven (that's you). The Protozorqs fling you unceremoniously into a dimly-lit slammer that smells like somebody just did something. Four Normals (you're not a Normal. You're a Tuner. That's a Psy-mutant with powers. Neat.) are slumped around, looking pretty glikky. You're in good shape, ready to shed quite a lot of blood to find your girl, Sci Fi, who's a prisoner someplace in the mountain. You decide rather wisely to keep your more spectacular powers, ones like "stroll around on the ceiling" for later, as you don't feel like getting mashed into pulp (nobody likes Tuners). But why not sneak a look inside a mind or two? Well, well. These Normals sure have glikky thoughts today. One thrilling power you have works likes this: the Foetus captures your subconscious impressions about a particular situation, and analyses them. So that, if you contact him, you'll get an idea what to do. It's your idea, processed by the Hitachi-Gauss Amplifier! If you try it now, for instance, he'll send you this message: "Pay Shunts" (he's a glikky speler). That means it's better to wait and not use up too much psy-energy on trying out your powers. A slight eternity later, a bunch of Protozorqs shove you all through a maze of corridors. You go along the Passage of the Faithful, into the Ring and finally into the Master's Orbit itself! The Master of the Ordeals quits his Eye, surrounded by a battery of crazed Protozorq fanatics. His mutant voice buzzes thickly from behind a terrifying mask! "YUGGA WAGGU! Offas, the day has dawned. The stench of shame will soon be wiped clean. Nourished be Deilos, Abysmal Power of the Humid Pit! Zorq has returned, as was written in the Book of Origins. Soon all Offas will be but a vomitous memory. Today you are become Aspirants, struggling to attain the blessed state of Divos, Messengers of the New Solution. Those who fail will have the nonor to offer themselves up to Deilos! Who would be Divo must first triumph over the Five Ordeals. A skull of Vort will be awarded you for each Ordeal successfully overcome. To be a Divo, you must place five skulls in the Changer before one hour has elapsed! None may re-enter a Chamber of Ordeal that he has already overcome. Bear this in mind: none may do violence in the Orbit. Deilos Forbids. YUGGA WAGGU!" * The Master has spoken. Well, buzzed thickly. To each Aspirant he gives an object of some kind, directing him to one of the five Chambers of Ordeal. Finally, he turns to you. Raven.... Can you win the Five Skulls of Vort? Is that the best way of getting to Sci Fi? What dangers await within the Chambers of Ordeal from whence wafts the fetid stench of grinning DEATH? Just what are these lunatic Protozorqs planning on anyhow, and can you stop them in time? (The management hereby informs all organic life-forms that the third and twenty-second words in each line of the following documents contain significant doses of =Brain-Slurp 17=. Preceding documents also. Why not pull the same amusing gag on your loved ones? Contact Faithful Servants of Exxos Inc. for laughter-packed details.) .) Some heavy mumbo-jumbo in this second part of the KULT docs........SP THE BOOK OF ORIGINS & THE BOOK OF SHAME --- ---- -- ------- - --- ---- -- ----- K U L T The Book of Origins Within the Mountain lived the People. From the sky came Zorq, the final Exalted One, and his familiar, Qriich, in their flying appliance. And Zorq spoke to the People, saying "I have chosen you who are less than nothing. Tomorrow you will be Sires of the New Race, and the Earth will be yours and you will obliterize all the people of the Earth in a frenzy of mindless bloodlust." And the people felt joy. "Let a female be brought to me,"barked Zorq, and it was done fast. A female of the People, the meatiest, was brought before Zorq who impregnated her, saying "Female, you will gender the New Race. Our races will be one and all others will shortly be obliterized, for they are Offa." And the female was placed in the Spawnomatik according to Zorq's desire. In three hours she spawned a multiplicity of eggs which hatched forthwith. And the children did eat of their mother who thus fed her offspring that the Race might be the bloodthirstiest of all. And the children did eat of each of each other, down to the last. And Zorq spoke, saying "So much for that Race." And the People felt sadness, for the New Race had contained a fairly major glitch. Zorq spoke again, saying "I leave you, for I must seek out the Komponent. Upon my return, we will try once more. Keep the Spawnomatik as a sign. But touch it not. Choose a Protizim from amongst you. He will be Protizim of the People and will keep the Faith until my return." And Zorq and his familiar, Qriich, did disappear into the sky in their flying appliance. The Book Of Shame The People of the Protozorqs selected a Protizim. And Protizim Krill kept the faith, the Spawnomatik and the Mountain which became the Temple. And when Krill terminated, Prass was chosen as Protizim. And Protizim Pass forgot the words of Zorq and took it upon himself to attempt the creation of the New Race, saying "Zorq has forsaken us, for he has found another People. But we have the Spawnomatik. Let us produce the New Race ourselves. In this way we can obliterize all other peoples." And the People of the Temple believed him, saying "He's right." And Prass spoke, saying "Let a female be brought to me. And let it be a meaty one." It was done. And Prass did impregnate her, saying "Woof Woof." Then the female was placed within the Spawnomatik where she spawned a slimy multitude of eggs which hatched. The children did nibble apologetically of the flesh of their mother, after which they did snooze. Protizim Prass spoke again, saying "This Race couldn't obliterize a squashed gerbil, let alone Offa, for they are Vorts!" And the people felt disappointed, for they had been counting on something a little more assertive than Vorts. Prass spoke once more, saying "This is our Day of Shame. Our misery is deserved, for we have lacked faith in Zorq who is verily our true God. We must obliterize ourselves and our Vorts forthwith, for we are covered in Guilt." The spoke a Protozorq, saying "Nay, we deserve no such gentle fate. Out people must live to bear the crushing burden of our Crime until Zorq returns to deliver us of Shame. And our Vorts will be our slaves, that we might see our Guilt before us every day! And when our God, Zorq, finally creates the new Race, then will we obliterize ourselves to wash us of our Sin. Only you, Prass, have the right to obliterize yourself today." And the people of the Temple agreed. And Deilos became temporary God in Zorq's absence, for Deilos is the Abysmal Power of the Humid Pit, and the Protozorq's deserved no better. And Protizim Prass did terminaterize himself, saying "Let me be woken up on the Day of the Collective Self-Obliterization." And thus did die Prass who spoke one positively last time, croaking "When Zorq returns, you will take young Offa. And from amongst them you will select those most apt to carry the message of rebrn hope to Deilos. And from amongst the Offa you will take a female, whom you will name Saura, High Priestess, and who will genderize the New Race according to Zorq's desire, for Zorq is our God." it will be dobe. The AMIGA version is a little more playable, but this is still an excellent ST game..............S.P POWERDROME OFFICIAL DOCUMENTATION --------------------------------- RACE CONTROLS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mouse: ~~~~~ Move the mouse left or right to roll your Typhoon in the corresponding direction. Push the mouse forwards to pitch down (i.e dive). Pressing the right mouse button will open up the throttle,accelerating your Typhoon. Pressing the left mouse button will open the speeed brakes and close the throttle,thus slowing you down. Pressing both buttons will activate the afterburners. If you find the mouse control overly sensitive,you can alter various parameters from the tuneup screen to tailor the response to your tastes. Joystick: ~~~~~~~~ The joystick is used to control your Typhoon and you must still use the mouse to make the various selections within the game.So keep the mouse plugged in port 1 while playing the game. Move the joystick left or right to roll the Typhoon in that direction. Push the joystick forwards to pitch down (i.e. dive). Pull the joystick back to pitch up (i.e. climb). Press the fire button and push the joystick forwards to accelerate. Press the fire button and pull the joystick back to open up the speed brakes and close the throttle. If you are at maximum speed,press the fire button with the joystick forwards to cut the afterburners in. Centering the joystick will hold the amount of roll/pitch until you cancel it by roll/pitching in the opposite direction. Keyboard Commands: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ E - Engine on/off W - Wall proximity audible warning on/off R-SHIFT - Point down the track(only with centering field on) L-SHIFT - Afterburners (only ignite if accelerating) T - Display lap times P - Race/Qualifying Positions L - Calculate lead time in a race SHIFT-Q - Quit race/qualifying session/practice session B - Call up rescue craft TAB - Toggle sound effects on/off S - Pause on/off Z - Turn off centring field X - Reduce centering field strength C - Increase centering field strength V - Toggle full view/cockpit view A - Reposition in centre of track R - Overhead race positions on/off (not in practice) SPACEBAR- Quit demo Robopit Controls: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 8 - Replace Nosecone 4 - Replace left wing 6 - Replace right wing 1 - Replace left engine 3 - Replace right engine * - Toggle sttus screen on/off O - Tune-up screen on/off T - Display lap times P - Race/Qualifying Positions (not in practice) SPACEBAR- Exit from Robopits FLYING TIPS ~~~~~~~~~~~ Piloting the Typhoon can seem to be almost impossible to a beginner,but if you follow a few simple guidelines you should be reasonably proficient within half an hour and breaking lap records within and hour or so. Use the centeringfield.At strength 9 the typhoon will almost pilot itself around the tracks and if you also hold down the right shift key,to point down the track,the typhoon will fly around any track without you doing a thing! As you get better,reduce the centering field strength,which allow you to fly faster and soon you will be able to fly around the tracks unaided. Ues the mouse for control.Although many people prefer joystick control,the mouse gives a far better response time and is THE control if you want to achieve spectacular lap time on the later tracks. Don't use the afterburners.These add around 30% extra speed and will easily blow up your engines! so stay well clear of them until you are very proficieny. Also use the default Economy Spec' fuel as the other two make you go much faster. Don't fly too fast! Most beginners put their"foot to the floor"losing control and crashing immediately. Aim at the centre of the track in the distance.Most beginners hug a wall and therefore find themselves often hitting it.Sticking a marker of some sort in the middle of the screen can be a good aid to keeping to the centre. If you find yourself "stuck" in the wall or the floor then press the 'A' key and you will be repositioned in the middle of the track. Practise on the oval test track. The other tracks are far harder to fly around and should be left until you can consistently lap the test traack at around 16 seconds. Some beginners find themselves constantly either pitching up towards the ceiliing or down at the floor. You can reduce the pitch sensitivity with the roll/pitch bias slider in the tune up Typhoon screen.Just move the slider all the way to the left and you should now be able to control the Typhoon. The nosecone and wings can take around 20 hits before they are damaged.Each time you see a blue flash when colliding with a wall or floor you are registering a hit. effectively scraping the Typhoon along the wall.This will knock out the nose or wing very quickly so again press the 'A' key to reposition yourself in the middle of the track. Scraping the force ceiling,causing a white flash,does not damage your craft and therefore is preferable to scraping walls.So fly high where the track is wider and there is less risk. Just because the Typhoon is banked over doesn't mean that it will turn a tight corner,in fact you can fly banked over at 90 Degrees and fly in a straight line if you try.You will have to bank over and pull back to make fast tight corners. For really fast pitstops,fly down the pit lane at full speed and kill the engines by pressing 'E' before you reach your robopit!. The less fuel you have the faster the Typhoon will go The fastest recorded lap time on track 0 is 11.86 seconds,which was achieved by blowing the engines just after crossing the lap marker! CAN YOU DO BETTER?. TUNE UP TYPHOON ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aerofoil Sensitivity: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You have three different sizes of aerofoil wich you can step though and select using this button.Corresponding to each selection a graphical representation of the different aerofoils will be shown on the cut away wing section to the right of the button. A small aerofoil requires more Yoke movement than a larger aerofoil to acheive the same resulting pitch,roll or yaw.This means that with a small aerofoil you can achieve finer control over your racer,whereas a large aerofoil allows you to make very rapid direction changes,usefull on the very twisty tracks. Spreed Brakes: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are three different sizes of speed brake available,with each increasing size giving greater braking effect.Each press of the Speed brake button will step through the three options,and a graphical representation of the different brakes will be shown on the cut-away wing section to the right of the button. The smallest brake allows delicate control of your racer's speed,whereas the largest will stop the racer in just a few metres.Use the prectice sessions on each track to discover which brake suits them.The race is the wrong time to discover that your brakes are too weak,and find yourself ploughing full speed into a corner,engines glowing white hot from the afterburners. Roll/Pitch Bias: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Press the button to the left of the slider to increase the bias away from pitch and towards roll and press the right button to move the bias towards pitch and away from roll. This control effects how much yoke is required to give the desired amount of pitch or roll.If the slider is over to the left hand side of the display(a roll bias) then small movements of the yoke side to side will result in large amounts or roll,whereas large forward and back movements will only give small amounts of pitch. Use pitch/roll bias in conjunction with the Aerofoil sensitivity control to tailor the handling response to your taste. Fuel Select: ~~~~~~~~~~~ There are three different types of fuel available: A)Nitra-Mono Premium, B)Mono Standard and C)Economy Special. Use the Next/Last fuel select buttons to step forward/backwards through the available fuel types and make your selection. Nitra-Mono Premium gives far more thrust than Economy Special but,as you rarely get something for nothing,the Nitra fuel burns up very rapidly, especially with afterburnerss blazing.Therefor frequent trips to the robopit will be required!. Filter Select: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are five different engine filters available: A)Ammonia B)Sulphur C)Oxygen D)Methane and E)Particle. Use Next/Last to select. These filters are large covers which fit over your Typhoons engine intake and protect against the effects of differing planetary atmospheres.Fitting the correct filter will allow your engine to operate at full efficiency under the corrosponding atmospheric conditions.Fitting the wrong filter can lead to disaster,with reduced power,engine overheating and even the possibility of completely wrecking an engine. To futher complicate matters,conditions can change during a race.A storm brewing up will necessitate a quick visit to the robopits and a change to the particle filter.But dont foget to change back when the storm has passed. ROBOPITS: ~~~~~~~~ Refuelling: ~~~~~~~~~~ Upon entering the robopit the refuelling pod will open,and if your Typhoon is not fully fuelled up the refuelling pipes extend,attach themselves to your racer.You can monitor the process with the fuel guage,situated by the status screen. If you feel you have choosen the wrong type of fuel for the race,or this is part of your stratagy,you can change the grade of fuel in use.Select Tune-Up mode from Robopits 'O' and then select the new fuel type as outlined under the fuel select.When your done click on ok to return to Robopits. Info About Typhoon: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When an engine's temperature guage goes red,a warning sounds and you should kill the afterburners immediately! If you dont then an engine will burn out.If you lose the other engine your only hope of getting back to the pits is to call for a Rescue Craft 'B' If it acknowleges your request it may take some time to get to your position,so be patient.If your request was denied you will have to quit(and ditch)that race. TYPHOON'S PANEL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -------------------------------------------------------------------- / | ----------------------- ---------------- ------------------ \ / | | THRUST | | REAR VIEW | | | \ | / | ----------------------- | | | | \ | / | |--| |--| |-------| ---------------- | DATA | \ | | | | | | | | ----- --------- | TERMINAL | \ | | | | | |DAMAGE | | | | | | | \ |--| |--| |DISPLAY| --/-- ------/-- | | /--- ---- | | PROXIMITY SYSTEMS |----------------| / |-------|PROXIMITY SYSTEMS |________________| ENGING TEMPERATURE WARNING STATUS ---- | | JOYSTICK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proximity Warning: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The closer you are to the walls,roof or floor,the faster this warning light will blink.You can also engage an audible warning,which will bleep in time with the light. Engine Temperature: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These two guages show how hot each of your engines are.If the bar charts are green then the engines are within their normal operating parameters,but once a bar moves into the red you may be damaging an engine and an audible warning sound will sound.Once a bar goes off the top of the red section that engine will burn out and will be useless.Keep a careful eye on these guages while using the afterburners,as engine temperatures rise rapidly when they are lit. Systems Status: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The red light should move smoothly back and forth in this display,indicating that all systems are fully operational.If the lights movement becomes irregular then a system is either damaged or failing,though its up to you to trace the fault. DATALINK HELP: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PIN CONNECTORS. Computer 1 Computer 2 _______ ________ Pin 2 * \/ * 2 Pin 3 *_______/\________* 3 Pin 7 *-----------------* 7 Load PowerDrome,Once the race control appears,one of you should press datalink button.This person is the race controller and will be allocated the red Typhoon .The other racer will be allocated the green Typhoon and must use the green robopits. The Race Contoller selects which track the race will take place on and other players machine will mirror his selection.The Race controller has the option to use all the features exept the 'Enter Trophy'Option,the other player can then only view pilot information,Tune-up Typhoon , alter the mouse or joystick option and practice at the choosen track independently of the controller.The race controller has the option to Shift Q to quit the current race. t race. Consistent with our policy of presenting the latest and best DOCs around here's SEUCK. To our knowledge not yet released for ST, but imminent. I've left this AMIGA doc as is, so some of the references (ie: 'IFF sound files' and 'df1:'), won't be applicable to an ST version ... but hopefully most of this very useful doc will be. S.P. SHOOT EM UP CONSTRUCTION KIT ------------------------------------ A) GETTING STARTED..(THE QUICK AND DIRTY GUIDE). Here`s our 'quick and dirty ' guide to help you get a feel for the way SEUCK works, we're going to walk you through each function to give you an idea of what you need to produce a game. The process is quite simple to follow, and all you need is the SEUCK Data disk. Okay, here we go; 1) To start with the best idea is to load one of the three sample games to tinker with-you can examine all the component parts and see how they bolt together. Also it means you can try out a game or two so you can see what's really possible. To load a sample game select-LOAD EVERTHING from the LOAD DATA option on the STORAGE menu. When the list of the games comes up click on the file called slap`n`tickle.all, and it will load at once. For the purposes of this quick little demo we wont actually draw anything, merely tinker a little with the examples just to show what`s possible. 2) Select edit sprite from the EDIT SPRITE menu. A sprite is a frame of animation to be used in an object. Each one has a number and the first one you see is number 0. Click the + and - buttons on the Sprite Number indicator to step through the sprites and see how they are drawn. You can make sprites by choosing colours from the palette and painting them into the grid. Press the exit button to go back to the Main Menu. 3) Select Edit Object from the EDIT OBJECT menu. Sprites are combined to make animated `objects`. The objects are the things that you actually move around the screen. The current object is displayed on screen, as a series of frames of animation or sprites. under the animating picture window at the bottom right of the screen is a button marked DIRECT or ANIMATE, depending on the mode. DIRECTional animation is related to the motion of the joystick which you should have in PORT 2. if you have a joystick connected then kmove it to test the animation in the small preview window in the bottom right of the screen.(try different objects by click- ing on the + and - buttons to change the object number.) this changes the animation display to show you 18 possible frames of animation. Test the effect by clicking the last frame indicator up to a higher figure. When you`ve seen enough, click it back to DIRECT and click on EXIT. 4) Click on Edit Enemy Bits on the EDIT OBJECT menu. this shows you the strenght and ammo ect. available to each different enemy object Dont alter any of the setting`s. just click on EXIT to get back. 5) The map over which you can play is actually a long strip of square graphics called BLOCKS. Click on Edit Block in the EDIT BACKGROUND menu. click through the variuos graphic blocks using the Block Number indicator + and - buttons. When you`ve seen all of them, click the EXIT button to escape back to the main menu. 6) Select Edit Map. This shows you the map for the level you`re currently working on, and an unusual cursor. This is the block cursor and to stamp the current block (the number in green)onto the map, you position it and click your mouse pointer on the number.Pressing + and - signs changes the block number so you get a different graphic. the arrows fast forward you to another part of the map. To escape press the right mouse button. 7) Next select the EDIT IFF Sound effects option. Click the + and - buttons, and look at the sound numbers at the top of the screen and you can see all the sound names assigned to each number. IFF samples can be loaded from any source, even one`s you`ve made yourself, but to save you the hassle there are 72 high quality samples in the games disk included in this package. 8) Click on the PLAYER LIMITATIONS menu and select Player 1. Now you can see all the attributes for your player, including the area of  the screen it can occupy. Notice the players can be switched in or out for choosing to design two or one player games. You have to be careful not to select a NO player game, however. 9) Okay enough noodling around. Test the game! try it in cheat mode first, just so you can see the whole game without getting waxed yourself.(by all means take a few potshots yourself) See if you can spot all the sprites and blocks you saw in the editing windows, and how they`re put together. 10) Now go back and change a few things willy nilly, Go ahead, enjoy yourself. you can`t break anything by changing any of the setting`s and who know`s you might be able to work out how some of the functions work. But set the write protect tabs! in case you try to save it by mistake!. right then here we go on the SEUCK!!!!! THE MENUS...(a. EDIT SPRITE) This is where you create the basic graphics which you will later animate into `games~ objects. The options on this menu selection are EDIT SPRITE,EDIT COLORS and ERASE SPRITE. EDIT SPRITES; Presents you with the sprite editor window. The 24 X 24 grid on the left represents a blank piece of screen on which you can draw your sprite characters.The small square to the top left contains an actual size representation of the sprite you are drawing The current sprite on the screen will have a number,shown in the sprite number indicator. clicking the + or - buttons changes the sprite. You can select any sprite in memory by just clicking until its number appears in this window. Simply click the colour you want on the palette down the centre of the screen,and then click the square on the grid you want to colour.(the current colour is shown in the PEN window) You can hold the button down and move the mouse or joystick to fill more than one square with the selected colour. The MIRROR buttons flip the sprite in the direction of the arrow. its probaly easier for you to try this rather than attempt to explain it. The SLIDE buttons are for moving the image around in the grid. clicking on any of the buttons moves the image one pixel in that direction. The UNDO button does just that. undoes the last click. if you make a mistake, then hold everything until you click the undo to go back to how it was before you goofed. if you`ve done more than one click since the mistake then you`ll have to correct it by hand. The FLOOD buttons flood-fills the grid with the selected colour, erasing all that was there, There is no FILL option, so if you want a large block of colour,its best to flood the screen with the colour you want and chip away at it to get the shape you want. The COPY button lets you copy one sprite`s graphics into another sprite. Just set the destination number to another number and click the copy button. Now that sprite will contain the same graphics as the current one. Handy if two sprites are to be similar but with small differences. Edit Colours; This is very similar to the edit Sprite window, but includes + and - gadgets for RED.GREEN.BLUE(RGB)going from 0-15. although you can only have eight(8) colours from the amiga`s palette of 4096. Simply click on a colour to select it,then use the + and - to adjust the selected colour to your taste. Basically your mixing the colours, adding or subtracting amounts of RED,GREEN,BLUE,to the colour, and 15 is a of it. ERASE SPRITES; Does just that, flushes the current sprite graphic from memory,leaving you with a clean slate. EXIT; Takes you back to the main menu. (b. EDIT SPRITES) Once you have drawn all your sprites you must combine them as `objects` for continous or directional animation during the game. The options open to you here are EDIT OBJECT, COPY OBJECT, and EDIT ENEMY ATTRIBUTES. EDIT OBJECT; Displays the object editing window. Now you can`t actually alter any graphics here,but you can combine them to make an animated object for use as a player,enemy,bullet or explosion. Clicking on the + and - buttons marked object number will let you examine the currently stored objects(if any have been loaded or drawn) Notice the names of the objects, like player 1, player 2, enemy explosion ect...are typed at the top of the screen as each object is selected. These objects always perform the same function in every game. But the shape and animation is up to you. Make sure that you place the right graphics in the right objects. You would`nt want to end up firing enemy ships at little bullets, now would you? To place sprites in the object,just select a sprite graphic with the + and - buttons on sprite number, then click the mouse pointer on one of the object frames and the sprite will appear there with its number underneath, In ANIMATE mode, the frames will be in rows, and in DIRECT mode the frames will be grouped in two`s at all eight (8) joystick directions. The DIRECT button with the little picture over it is a window for testing animation. In DIRECT mode the object in the window reacts to movement from the joystick. Notice that the graphics are arranged with down,centre,up-left,up-right,down-left,down-right. The reason there are two graphics at this point is that they animate between the two when the joystic is in that position. In the preset example the two graphics at each point are the same, so they stay still. try moving the joystick(in port 2) and check out the directional movement in the little window. Clicking on the DIRECT button alters it to ANIMATE.(and vice versa) and in ANIMATE mode you can do up to an 18 frame animation within the object squares. Step up the LAST FRAME + and - buttons to set the amount of frames you want to animate,bearing in mind the first the first frame is 0. Once again, in ANIMATE mode, you can preview the animation in the little window. The DELAY button sets the pause between sprites, less pause means the animation moves faster. The NO HOLD button is another toggle button like ANIMATE/DIRECT. This control sets, when you push an object in a direction, wether it stays pointing in that direction or resets to pointing forwards when you release the joystick. COPY OBJECT; You can paste one object`s graphics from the current number to any of the other numbers from 0-55. BUT...only if the object is of the same type, ie Bullet,Enemy,ect...This can save a lot of redrawing if some of the objects are going to be fairly similar. The NO HOLD and ANIMATE buttons wont work in this mode, by the way. EDIT ENEMY BITS; This is the same as `PLAYER ATTRIBUTES` menu, with special switches to set amount of hits the enemy can take, and various other personality traits like how many bullets it can have on' screen at one time,rate of fire,direction of fire,and so forth. The speed option sets the speed of the enemy object along its path, on a range from 0-10. Setting the speed to 0 means the object is stationery. Points sets the amount of points scored by the player when he blows this enemy up. the range is 0-10000. Hits to Kill is obviously the amount of times the player has to shoot and hit the enemy to blow it up. in a range from 1-10 Fire Direction describes the directions that the enemy fires in,and clicking on the box (no firing)it goes to four way(up,down,left,right) firing, four way diagonal firing,firing up only,down only, left only, right only,up-left,up-right,down-left,down right only,plus R for random firing and D for directional. In RANDOM the fire direction is randomly generated from all ofthe above. The enemy only fires in the direction of movement. Fire Rate; is the period between shots; 100 is equal to not much firing and 0 is very rapid firing, almost too fast. Bullet Speed; is the rate at which the bullets travel once released from the enemy. 0 is stationery, and 15 is fast. Use both these options to select a rate and speed suitable for your enemies. In the same way you can assign graphics to each bullet and explosion, you can also assign sound FX. The Explosion FX and Bullet FX do this for you. All you have to do is select from the sound effects 0-49 which you`d like to represent the sounds of the enemy blowing up or the enemy firing, and these will be stored ready for the game. The EXPLOSION OBJECT and BULLET OBJECT buttons let you select which bullet graphics and explosion graphics you want to assign to the current object. The eight (8) bullet objects lie between object 6 and object 13 and the eight(8) enemy explosions lie between 14 and 21. Collision detection for this enemy is handled on the remaining Enemy to Ship and Enemy to Bullet Buttons. ENEMY TO SHIP tells the computer if you hit an enemy with your ship, wether the enemy will blow up, you blow up or you both blow up, If you want the enemy to blow up, Click the ENEMY DIE box to yes, If you want your ship to blow up, Click the SHIP to DIE box to yes, If you want both to be blown up, Click them both to yes. Obviously if you want them both to be intact after collision, Click them both to no. Similarly, If you want the enemy to die on collision with a bullet, click the ENEMY DIE box in ENEMY to Bullet to yes, If you want the bullet to blow up too, Then click Bullet to die too. If you`d like the enemy to be invulnerable, However(and why not?), then click the Enemy to Die box to no. If the same goes for your bullet, then click Bullet die to no too. EXIT; Yep the same again,sending you back to the main menu. (c.EDIT BACKGROUND) This menu deals with the background map of your game. You can create the graphic `Blocks` which make up your `MAP` and place them in a long strip ready for your game graphics to dance over. The options here are SELECT BLOCK,EDIT COLOURS,and EDIT MAP. SELECT BLOCK : In this mode you have access to all the blocks you`ve drawn so far. This is a handy function when you know what graphic you want and you know and you know what it looks like,but you cant recall what number it is. Finding it is easy. Just plonk the big cursor over the block you want and click on the green number. The block is then stored in memory and the number appears in the green numbers. You can then go to EDIT BLOCK and alter it ,or you can place it on your map with EDIT MAP. The + and - signs on the cursor scan you back and forth sideways through four or five lines made up of all your currently designed blocks laid in a line from left to right. EDIT BLOCK : This window is very similar to the EDIT SPRITE window , except the grid is bigger at 32 x 32 dots. You are still limited to eight colours in the construction of your block,but fortunately it`s another eight colours rather than the same palette as your sprites. Phew! EDIT COLOURS : The Edit Colours setup is the same as the Edit Block screen, except you have the colour palette on screen, and the RGB buttons for you to mix the colours with. As before 15 is a lot of colour and 0 is none of it. EDIT MAP : This is where you plonk your blocks to make up the map. (what a plonker) The position on the map is always displayed on the centre of the Screen. To stamp the currently selected block (the number in green) onto the map, you position the large square cursor where you want to place a graphic and click your mouse pointer on the green number itself. Pressing the button on the + and - signs changes the block number up and down so you can select a different graphic. The arrows fast forward you up and down to another part of the map. To escape from map area just press the right mouse button. EXIT : Takes you back to the main menu. d. EDIT IFF SOUND. This menu allows you to load in and use IFF sound sample files to produce sound effects in your game. There are a total of three directories full of samples supplied with SEUCK. If this isn`t enough you can load your own disk of samples that you have created and work on effects with these. The options in this menu are EDIT IFF SOUND, New IFF Sound Directory,Load IFF Sound Files and Clear IFF Sound Files. EDIT IFF SOUND EFFECTS : This is the screen where you can take IFF sound samples,loaded into the SEUCK from data disk or other disks of your own samples, and manipulate them into effects (FX) for the sounds in your game. First you select the Sound Effect number at the top of the screen These can range from 0-49. Thats 50 different sounds for your game. The twin Replay Rate counters always show the same number, but increment in different amounts - notice the x100 and x1 lables for coarse or fine adjustment. Using these counters you can play any sound back at a different speed, totally altering the effect. Once selected the effect stays assigned to the sound effect number untill changed. This is the tricky bit (I knew it!) You can assingn as many different replay rates (speeds) to your sound as you like, so you get a lot of different effects from the same sample! Fiendishly clever,eh ? Effect Volume changes the loudness of the effect in relation to the other sounds. The range is from 0 - 64, and clearly 0 means the sound cannot be heard,and 64 means it blows your hat off. Clicking on the EFFECT button plays the current sound being edited . Different sounds can be called up from memory by clicking on the box next to the Sample Name. The names come up in the box,and to them as an effect you must assign the one in the box to the current sound number, simply by clicking the USE button. Now you can twiddle its replay rate around and hear the effect by pressing the EFFECT button. The displays next to the SAMPLE button can`t be altered, but are the original settings for the sound, should you get lost and want to hear the original settings. The Free Sound RAM refers to how much memory is left for samples. Of coarse,Exit takes you back to the main menu. NEW IFF SOUND DIRECTORY : This option is purely to allow you to change directory to have access to other samples, but it doesn`t actually load it in: select the next option to do that. The default directory is always`sound 1`, but`sound 2` and `sound 3` are also supplied with SEUCK. If you have your own disk of samples put it in the drive and type in the name of the relevent directory , eg. DF0:seasounds. LOAD IFF SOUND FILES : This assumes the directory is `sound 1` unless changed (as above). All the files in the directory are listed on screen. Select the one you require with the cursor and load by clicking the left button. NB: You may only display up to 24 filenames in any directory. Adding another file to a full directory will result in your new file or an old file in the directory being lost. CLEAR IFF SOUND : Flushes the sound data from memory,leaving you with a clean slate. It asks you to confirm Yes or No, just in case you selected this option by mistake. EXIT : Takes you back to the main menu. e. PLAYER LIMITATIONS. In this menu you can edit the abilities and limitations of your player(s). Within the Player 1 and Player 2 menus are indicators to allow you to edit everything to do with the players. The option on the first menu are Player 1,Player 2 and Exit. On both Player 1 and 2 there are identical sub-menus of Edit Parameters. Edit Play Area and Edit Start Position. EDIT PARAMETERS : This is where you edit the attributes of your player as you did in the Edit Enemy Attributes screen. The settings are essentially the same as that menu, except that you can select Player Enable,Lives and Ship Speed. Player Enable allows you to switch the player in or out. This only really applies to player 2, because if both players are disabled you won`t have much of a game! If your ship doesn`t appear on screen , then you may have switched both players out! (silly plonker! Lives is how many times you can get killed before the game ends, and this goes from 1 to 10. Ship Speed refers to the speed of your ship, that is to say how fast you can move back and forth and side to side. (The speed of the scrolling of the background under your ship is controlled in the LEVEL EDIT menu.) EDIT PLAY AREA : Like the level selections, the player areas are selected and edited using the joystick. Edit Play Area lets you select the area your player can inhabit on screen. To move the top or bottom markers, push them up or down. To move the side markers in or out, push the joystick left or right, press and hold the button, and move them left and right. EDIT START POSITION : Lets you position a cross where you want your player to appear after each level or after a crash. Contrary to popular belief it`s much better to appear on the side of the screen and about a third of the way up. If you appear at the bottom and dead centre you`re a sitting duck! (you tit!) There is a built-in 3 second period of invunerability to help the player (or wally!). Make sure your start position is inside the play area. EXIT : Takes you back (yes you`ve guessed it,a quick learner eh!) to the main menu. PLAYER 2 : These are almost exactly the same menu options as Player 1`s menu,except that it`s labelled Player 2. Mind you don`t get confused by this (yes your only human ?) and check which one you`re on. By the way,Player 2 does`nt appear on screen until he presses the fire button.(you have a joystick,dont you?) f. EDIT ATTACK WAVES. The Attack Waves menu lets you place enemies on the map,and create their attack paths using the joystick. (oh,you bought one!good.) The options are insert Enemy,Join Enemies,Delete Enemies,and Flush Enemy List. INSERT ENEMY : In this option you place the current enemy object on the map. You will see the graphic of the object, like the Edit Object screen. You select the object you want to place with the Object Number buttons,then click the PLACE button. First you coarsely adjust its position with the joystick,making sure you stop just before the part of the map you want. Then you click the joystick button,and you are asked to `fine place`the map position on the screen. ( WARNING: you can only push the map up at this stage, hence the bit about stopping before the section you want the enemy to be on. Dont worry about this too much. You`ll suss (twig)the situation as soon as you use it.) Then you click the joystick (hope its a good one!)button again. You now see the object you want to place on the screen. Place it on it`s starting position,and click the joystick button again. Now you can input the path the ST. oops Enemy will take, using the old joystick to move it along that path. If you press fire on the joystick the enemy will pause at that spot in the game. Easy,huh?...(bloody brilliant!) Then click (no not the camera) the right mouse button to finish. Then you`ll be asked (who said that?) to store the path you just created by pushing the stick left,or rejecting it by pushing the stick right. The screen will confirm your selection. NOTE : If you place an atari,oops I mean an enemy and make him walk up the screen he might not appear,(good) as he will be walking at the same speed as the scrolling screen. You could walk him in from the side of the screen,but avoid ipward movement unless you`ve gone down first. JOIN ENEMIES : This is a very interesting feature in the SEUCK, and thet is being able to join two or more enemy objects together to make either formations of enemies or big enemies. The only drawback (naughty) with making big enemies is that when you shoot one bit of them,only that bit will explode,so each bit of the big enemy must be independent or it will look a bit funny. To join enemies,select the option,select your object using the object number button,then click on the PLACE button. You`ll be asked to place the enemy coarsely by using the joystick, just like the last option. Press fire. Then you`ll be promted to select a fine position using the joystick,again as before. Press fire. Now a big cross with arrows on the points will appear, and the prompt to `Join to which enemy?`. Use the joystick to place the cross on the one (good mag)you want the new object to follow. Click the joystick button. The object will now appear on the screen and follow the selected other object. WARNING : If you have joined set of aliens and you delete the lead object,all the objects joined to it will become stationary. DELETE ENEMY : This will delete the currently selected enemy`s position and movements from the game. You can now replace it if you wish. FLUSH ENEMY LIST : This clears all the enemy movement and positions out of the game,allowing you to place them all afresh. The computer prompts you to confirm yes or no,in case you select this position accidentally!(or cocked it up!) The Enemy units and Path Units free give you a running total of how much memory you have left to play with. EXIT; oh dear do we really have to tell you again? g. EDIT LEVELS Here is where you edit the areas of the map that your levels occupy and how each section behaves in play. There is also a small section devoted to your players starting position and the amount of the screen it can move around in. The options here are Edit Level Parameters, Edit Current Level Map and Player Limitations. oh yes, and exit again. EDIT LEVEL PARAMETERS; The level editor is surprisingly small and efficient ,considering what it must do. its here that you adjust the level number, scrolling speed (if any) the duration of the level,level type and what happens at the end of the level. Level;is the level number, and pushing the buttons selects the current level to work on, from 1-22. Speed; refers to the speed the background scrolls, if any scrolling is being done. This is short range from 1-4, but sticking to 1 or 2 is best for most things, unless you really want to be mean. Duration: selects the duration of the level, if you want it to be time limited, that is, if you want no limit on the time, and want to give to give the level time to play out to the end, select the duration to 255. (NB; clicking the - sign from 1 gets you 255,in case you were about to click it 255 times!) Level Type: toggles between scrolling,push scroll and still. still means its a one screen level, and doesn`t scroll. Scrolling means it does scroll, and at the speed set by speed before. Push scroll means the screen only scrolls when the player pushes against the top edge of his movement area on screen.(see PLAYER LIMITATIONS). End of level: refers to what happens when your player reaches the end of the level. Again this box toggles through various options, continue, loop and redraw. Redraw means that when the level is finished the first screen of the next level will automatically appear. Continue means that the next level will scroll down, Continue means that the next level will scroll down Loop will return the player to the beginning of level one. EDIT CURRENT LEVEL MAP; Having selected the level type and speed, you can then select the area of the map that makes up the level, Pushing the joystick up takes you to the finish of level marker, pushing down takes you to the start of level marker. Pushing and holding the joystick button allows you to move the level markers up or down the map, so they cover the areas of the map you want. As soon as you`ve placed the markers , you can exit from this option by pressing the right mouse button. EXIT; oh yes you know what I mean! h. TEST GAME You can now test the game. The options are for a proper game or a cheat mode. PROPER TEST; This gives you your first glimpse of your game as it will look to someone who plays it. all the movements, sounds and graphics you designed will be combined. After you`ve basked in your wonderfulness enough, you can press both mouse buttons to return. CHEAT MODE; The same as a proper test, except you have infinite lives try the cheat mode first, so you can see how the game is put together without getting waxed before you reach the end, If the game does`nt work for some reason, then you can go back and fix it, then test the game again, before you save it as a finished game. When you select the cheat mode, The game will begin at the currently selected level in EDIT LEVEL PARAMETERS. The FREE MEMORY COUNTER on this menu will tell you how much chip memory you have got left in your computer. Obviously this will be a larger amount on a 1 meg amiga. EXIT; Aw come on! i. DISK STORAGE To save your work (effort) or load bits you`ve worked on before,you must use one of these options,Load Data,Save Data,Erase Data,and of course eveyones favourite option,Exit. LOAD DATA : This brings up a sub menu asking if you want to Load BACKGROUND,SPRITES,OBJECTS,ATTACK WAVES,LEVELS,SOUND EFFECTS,or EVERYTHING. SAVE EVERYTHING is the option that will allow you to make a stand-alone game (see chapter 5)The EVERYTHING file is an entire game,and will wipe any data you already have in memory The EVERYTHING file is what you operate on to make a bootable finished game. SAVE DATA : Selecting this option brings up an identical menu to Load, but with Save Background,Sprites,Objects etc. ERASE DATA : This option allows you to free up space by junking files from your data disk. The computer prompts you with `Confirm Erase` yes or no,so you can get out of it if you select it by mistake. NEW DRIVE : This option allows you to change the default disk drive eg, DF0,DF1,DH0 etc. EXIT : you must know what this is by now? j.EXIT SEUCK. And whoever said there was no way out?.....Yes this is the way out of SEUCK,and you are given the option to Go Ahead And Quit,or Cancel . This is just in case you selected this option by accident. MAKING A FINISHED GAME FROM SEUCK In order to make a finished game from one of your pathetic efforts you must make a data disk or SEUCK Game Disk. This will be the disk you use for storing the crap you just done,oh well practice makes perfection,pitty Jeff Minter didn`t practice enough,sheep shagger. plus it will contain everything you need to boot your game from scratch,or allow it to be started from an icon on workbench. MAKING a GAME DISK. Load your workbech disk,(cant find it?) and format a new disk, After the disk is formatted select Rename from wokbench menu bar and rename it SEUCK Games Disk at the promt. Now insert the master games disk into your drive and open it up. Double click the Make Games disk icon with the left mouse button .Follow the on screen prompts until all relevant files for making the stand alone game are in the computers ram. You will then be prompted to insert the blank formatted disk you have named SEUCK Games Disk and all the files will be transferred to this disk.This is a good time to make several spare copies of the SEUCK games disk.It can be copied with workbench and will save you going through the preparation stages each time you need a new disk but be sure to rename each copy SEUCK games disk. DEFAULT GAME To make a stand alone game you will have by now created players and objects with sound effects,on screen start position and movement paths etc. As you create each part, save out the file to your SEUCK games disk using the same name for all the different types of data. When you are happy with your design work,ensure all separate parts are in memory (check that it works by selecting test game).Now you can save out all this separate data as one file; so that with your SEUCK Games disk inserted, select Save Everything and use the name you have chosen to give your game. Boot up your workbench and then insert your SEUCK games disk.You can prepare your loading screen by using any utility that saves to IFF format.Make sure you save to the EDIT_FILES directory.This will automatically be included as part of the game when you click the icon .If you have not included a loading screen there will be a message indicating that this file has not been loaded and the name of the game will be displayed instead Autobooting In order to autoboot your game when you insert the disk at an inssert workbench prompt,you must use the notepad facility in your utilities drawer on workbench to alter a file called startup-sequence in the S directory on your master games disk. (Startup sequence is a text file which the Amigas operating system looks at when it starts up. It then executes any commands which are that file.See your Amiga manual for details of startup sequence). You can replace LOADWB command with the name of your game.  WAR MACHINE DOCS TYPED BY BOD/ACC edited by S. Possum The Story We have recently lost all contact with our mining installation on the asteroid XR27B. Evidence suggests that our sworn enemies the aliens are responsible. If they gain control of this strategically important basethere will be nothing to stop them swarming accross the entire system, bringing a wave of death and destruction in their wake. You have been selected for this very dangerous mission: The slien queen and her breeders must die. You will be beamed down to the surface of the planet. Youe main objective is to prevent the base and its sophisticated techno-military mining equipment from falling into alien hands. All equipment must be destroyed, and as many aliens as possible to be killed. You must also locate four parts of a top secret weapon, which is needed to kill the evil queen, these pods are found scattered around the complex. The Game You the player can control your character using a joystick. Jump/climb Jump/Fire Jump Left | Jump Right Fire up/left | Fire up/right \|/ \|/ Walk Left --o-- Walk Right Fire Left --o-- Fire Right | / \ Climb Down Fire down/left Fire down/right With Button Pressed Certain pieces of heavy machinery can not be destroyed using your standard weapon. You will have to use grenades to destroy these objects. Grenades are fired by pressing the space bar. When climbing a ladder or wall, you must position your character at the base of the ladder or wall, the push up on the joystick. When playing the game for the first time, you may find this procedure a little tricky, we suggest you practice this a few times, before getting stuck into the game. Objects such as extra lives, ammunition and keys may be found scattered around the base, these are collected by walkingover them. The display panel provides the following essential information. From left to right as follows.. Pos parts collected (all four pod parts must be found). Ammunition remaining. Grenades Remaining. Protective suit status. Scrolling information display. Security droid shield status. Lives left. Score. Time Remaining. DBMAN TUTORIAL ---- This manual was typed in by OMEGA V/Australian Crackers United Contact us: G.P.O Box 1280 Hobart, Tasmania 7000 Australia ---- Another document from AMIGA sources...but I can't imagine there would be too many differences in the ST version. I've left the comments applicable to the AMIGA in...just in case! Thanx of course to Pirasoft and ACU generally. S. Possum... Welcome to the dBMAN Tutorial. dBMAN is easy to use. In just a few short minutes this tutorial will show you how to CREATE, USE, APPEND, DISPLAY, LOCATE, EDIT, DELETE, SORT, and INDEX your new data base. To select a menu item, simply use the arrow key to highlight the command you would like to see, then press the return key. Each section will discuss the different dBMAN commands necessary for you to create and use your own data base. Some sections will even let you enter your own data! THE dBMAN SCREEN The dBMAN screen is divided into two sections, with the command window at the top and the data window below. These two sections will allow you to see dBMAN prompts and messages without disrupting your data display. The command field is where you enter commands for execution. dBMAN places the cursor at the "CMD:" caption when it is ready to receive a command. THE dBMAN SCREEN The message field is where you will receive messages from dBMAN.  The message is posted after the "MSG:" caption; if the message is reporting an error, a beep will sound. The message is automatically erased when you press any key. The file ID field displays the name and file ID of the current data file. dBMAN will display FP (Primary) when it is first started. The current record field displays the record number that was last accessed by dBMAN. THE dBMAN SCREEN The key summary field is a second message field that displays a reminder of which control keys apply to the current command. F7 will display all the memory variables in use. F8 will display dBMAN "switches" and the data files in use. F9 will give an extended explanation of an error message. F10 will provide HELP based on the command in the command line. Create Mailing List The first thing you will need to do is to create a data base. The command you will use is CREATE . You will insert your own file name instead of the <>'s. (Please refer to your DOS manual if you are not sure of what a proper filename should be.) If you do not specify an extension, dBMAN will use a ".DBF" extension. Here we will define the data base structure. We'll tell dBMAN the name of each field and the type of data we will store in it (Character, Number, Date, Logical), how many places to reserve in the record for the data, and if it is a number type, how many decimal places we will need. NOTE: Although the phone and zip fields contain numbers, we'll use the "C" (Character) type. This will allow us to have leading zero's and use the "-" character. You will want to set up your data base structure to allow you to store any data you might want to find later. Don't worry though, if you don't get it right the first time you can always come back and add, delete , insert , and rename the fields. This can be done by using the commands MODIFY STRUCTURE and MODIFY FIELDNAME. Once you have created a data base, you will want to put information into it. But first you will need to USE a data base. The command is quite easy. Just type: USE , where filename is the name of your data base. We'll use the MAIL.DBF again. When a file is in use, dBMAN will display the selected area ID (FP is the default) and the name of the file. You can have only one file open in each area. If you have more than one file in use and would like to see the file names, you can press the F8 key. Try it! ********************************************************************** * Create Mailing List * * You will want to set up your data base structure to allow you to * * store any data you might want to find later. Don't worry though, * * if you don't get it right the first time you can always come back * * and add, delete , insert , and rename the fields. This can be * * done by using the commands MODIFY STRUCTURE and MODIFY FIELDNAME. * ********************************************************************** To add records to your data base, you will use the command APPEND. APPEND will add new records to the bottom of your file Here you will enter the information in each field. ^S will save the record on the disk and return you to the CMD: line. ^Q will abandon the data on the screen and return you to the CMD: line. ^N will save the data and ready the screen for the next record. ^P will allow you to edit the previous record. (Note: A ^N will take you to the end of the file.) ^C will copy (carryover) all the data in the record to a new record at the end of the file. If you would like to add some of your own records to the database, please type a ^A. (Hold the control key down while pressing the "A" key.) There are several commands you can use to look at your data. One is the LIST command. If you type LIST, dBMAN will print the current record on the screen . LIST ALL will print the entire data base on your screen in a continuous scrolling fashion. Another command is DISPLAY ALL. DISPLAY ALL will print one screen of records at a time. You can use the ^right-arrow and the ^left-arrow to move right or left (pan) through the fields. If you would like to see the DISPLAY ALL command work on the MAIL data base, please type ^D. (Hold the control key down and press the "D" key.) There are several commands you can use to look at your data. One is the LIST command. If you type LIST, dBMAN will print the current record on the screen . LIST ALL will print the entire data base on your screen in a continuous scrolling fashion.  Another command is DISPLAY ALL. DISPLAY ALL will print one screen of records at a time. You can use the ^right-arrow and the ^left-arrow to move right or left (pan) through the fields. If you would like to see the DISPLAY ALL command work on the MAIL data base, please type ^D. (Hold the control key down and press the "D" key.) Let's say you want to do something with a record, such as change it. (More on the EDIT command later.) In order to use a record, you will need to make it the current record. One way to do this, if you know the record number, is to use the command GOTO. Just type GOTO , and fill in the record number. For example GOTO 12. Another way to go to a record is to LOCATE it. Here are a few examples: LOCATE FOR STATE = "CA" ; LOCATE FOR LAST_NAME > "D"; LOCATE FOR STATE = "CA" AND LAST_NAME > "D". dBMAN will try to find the first record that matches. If there is no match, dBMAN will display the message: Err05 - End Of File...No More Records. Don't worry about getting an error; there are just no more records. Here you will enter the information in each field. ^S will save the record on the disk and return you to the CMD: line. ^Q will abandon the data on the screen and return you to the CMD: line. ^N will save the data and go to the next record. ^P will save the data and allow you to edit the previous record. ^D will mark the record for deletion. ^U will remove the deletion mark. To permanent remove a deleted record use the PACK command. If you would like to EDIT press ^E. If you want to look at your data base in a certain order, dBMAN provides two ways to organize your file: SORTing and INDEXing. SORTing your file creates a new data file and physically rearranges the records into the specified order. To sort your file, simply type SORT ON TO . Some examples: SORT ON STATE TO STFILE; SORT ON NAME TO NAFILE. Then to see the new sorted data, you will type USE . To see a sort press ^S. If you want to look at your data base in a certain order, dBMAN provides two ways to organize your file: INDEXing and SORTing. INDEXing your file creates a new file that will make your data file appear in the desired order. It does not physically rearrange the records in the data base. To INDEX your file, simply type INDEX ON TO . Some examples: INDEX ON STATE TO STFILE; INDEX ON NAME TO NAFILE. Then to see the new sorted data, you will type USE INDEX . To see an index type ^I. Thank you for joining us through this simple tutorial. There is so much more to dBMAN that we could ever include in a disk based tutorial. In this short tutorial we have tried to give you enough information to get you started using and enjoying dBMAN. HELP Docs 1At the "CMD:" prompt, type any of these names and press the "F10" key: ? COMPARE DO FORMFEED LOCATE READ SET ?? CONTINUE EDIT GO LOOP RECALL SKIP @ CONVERT EJECT IF MODIFY REINDEX SORT ACCEPT COPY ELSE IGNORE MODINDEX RELEASE STORE APPEND COUNT ENDCASE INC NOTE RENAME SUM ASSIGN CREATE ENDDO INDEX OTHERWISE REPLACE UNDENY BEEP DEC ENDIF INPUT PACK RESTORE UNPEND CANCEL DELETE ERASE INT21 PAUSE RETRY UPDATE CASE DENYRW EXIT INTXX PRINT RETURN USE CLEAR DENYW FIND JOIN PURGEDIR SAVE WAIT CLOSE DISPLAY FLUSH LIST QUIT SELECT ZAP Key: Multi-User Only; Single-User Only ^D Edit Keys, Syntax, Functions ^U Functions Esc CMD: ~84 85~ CREATE Create a new database file. The default file extension is ".DBF". FIELDNAME: 1..10 characters ( A..Z 0..9 _ : ) TYPE: 1 character ( C = Character, N = Numeric, D = Date, L = Logic ) WIDTH: 1..3 chars ( C = 1..254 N = 1..17 D = 8 L = 1 ) DECIMAL: 1..2 chars ( 0..15, Digits to right of the decimal ) ... move to next entry in the current FIELD DEFINITION ^N ... move to Next FIELD ^I ... Insert blank FIELD ^P ... move to Prior FIELD ^E ... Erase current FIELD ^S ... Save FILE and exit CREATE ^Q ... Quit CREATE without saving FILE ^D MODIFY ^U CONVERT Esc CMD: ~9 64~ DISPLAY [] MEMORY Display variable names and contents for Global (the default area) or "Fm" (FX, FY, FZ) memory area. DISPLAY [] STRUCTURE Display the structure of the file used in area "Fi" (FJ..FS) or in the current area. Information displayed includes: FieldName, Type, Width, Decimal, Record Size, and Number of Fields. DISPLAY FILE [] Display the file names in the DOS directory which match the optional "". The may contain: drive id, wild-card characters ("*" and "?") and file extension. "*.DBF" is the default "". ^D DISPLAY records ^U LIST Esc CMD: ~83 58~ APPEND (direct entry from keyboard) ^N ... save & append Next blank ^P ... save & move to Prior record ^C ... Save & Carryover data to next ^S ... Save all records and exit APPEND ^Q ... Quit without saving current (appended) record APPEND FROM [FOR ] Append all records (or selected by "FOR") in the "FROM" file to current file. APPEND { DELIMITED | DIF | SDF } FROM Append all records in DELIMITED (comma delimited, quoted fields) or DIF (Data Interchange Format) or SDF (System Data Format) files. APPEND [Fi] BLANK ...to end of the current or "Fi" (FJ..FS) area file. ^D UNPEND Esc CMD: ~55 0~ SELECT [ | PRIMARY | SECONDARY] Make one of the ten file IDs ("Fi" = FJ..FS) the current file ID. Its associated file becomes the current file. The initial "Fi" is FP. PRIMARY and SECONDARY are equivalent to "FP" and "FS" respectively. SELECT (without an argument) resets the selected file ID to "FP". Most dBMAN file-reference commands allow the use of an optional "Fi" file ID so that operations which move the record pointer may be used without doing an explicit area SELECT command first. The commands which may require a prior SELECT are: APPEND, COPY, CREATE, EDIT, JOIN, MODIFY, PACK, SORT, UPDATE USE [] [INDEX ] Close any open files in the current (or "Fi") file ID area & open the new DBF (and index files). If a file extension is not specified, ".DBF" and ".NDX" are assumed for the database (and index files). If the "INDEX" phrase is used, access to the DBF file is in the order determined by the first NDX file in the list. Examples: USE Maillist | MAILLIST.DBF opened in current file ID area USE FQ Costs.BAK | COSTS.BAK opened in ID area "FQ" USE Inv INDEX Inv, Qty | open INV.DBF in current area with INV.NDX & | QTY.NDX indexes. INV is the "master NDX" ^D CLOSE ^U REINDEX Esc CMD: ~7 57~ CLOSE [ ALL | [] [INDEX []] ] Close the DBF file (or NDX files) used in the current or "Fi" (FJ..FS) area. When the INDEX phrase is used, the index files listed are closed rather than the DBF file. Index files which are not listed will remain open. If the "master index" is on the list of indexes to close, the lowest numbered index remaining open becomes the new "master". Using "INDEX" without arguments will close all NDX files in the current (or "Fi") area. CLOSE ALL will close every DBF & NDX file in all areas. Examples: CLOSE ALL | Close all DBF & NDX files in all file IDs (FJ..FS) CLOSE FJ INDEX | Close all NDX files in file ID area FJ CLOSE INDEX Qyt | Close only the QTY.NDX file in the current ID area ^D INDEX ^U USE Esc CMD: See also: CLEAR & SET INDEX TO ~47 6~ UPDATE FROM ON [] [FOR ] Note: WITHList = WITH [, WITH ] ... etc. Update fields in the current DBF file using the "" expressions. Fields of the "FROM " file may be used in expressions by use of a "T." file ID prefix to the fieldname. The "FROM" file must be pre-sorted on the "ON ". The current DBF file must be sorted or indexed on the same . The "" and "FOR " phrases qualify which records in the current DBF file are updated. Example: USE InvTotal | use the InvTotal file to be updated in the current area UPDATE FROM InvUpdt ON Part:No On:Hand WITH On:Hand + T.On:Hand,; Cost WITH T.Cost * 1.1 ^D SORT ^U JOIN Esc CMD: ~14 20~ MODIFY STRUCTURE dBMAN saves the current file to a temporary file ($TEMP1) while the new structure is being defined from the keyboard. After the structure has been modified, the records from $TEMP1 are appended to the new file and $TEMP1 is deleted from the DOS file directory. Field data types may be changed. MODIFY FIELDNAME ... very fast, but only the fieldnames can be changed. ... move to next entry in the current FIELD DEFINITION ^N ... move to Next FIELD ^I ... Insert blank FIELD (Modify Structure only) ^P ... move to Prior FIELD ^E ... Erase current FIELD (Modify Structure only) ^S ... Save FILE and exit MODIFY ^Q ... Quit MODIFY without saving changes ^D COPY ^U CREATE Esc CMD: ~10 2~ The structure of all (or "") fields is copied to "". COPY [DELIMITED | DIF | SDF] TO [] [] [FOR ] All undeleted records within the specified "" and "FOR" conditions are copied to "" in any of four formats: DBF (the default), DELIMITED, DIF (Data Interchange Format) or SDF (System Data Format). All fields (the default) or only field COPY FILE TO Copy the contents of to . Any file type can be copied. The default file extensions are ".DBF". ^D CONVERT ^U MODIFY Esc CMD: ~64 9~ Close all open files, terminate dBMAN, and return to DOS. ^D CANCEL ^U PAUSE Esc CMD: ~53 62~ Change data in the current record (or record "") of the currently selected DBF file from the keyboard. Esc ........ clear current FIELD Ret ....... move down one FIELD DnArw...... move down one FIELD UpArw...... move up one FIELD ^N ... save & move to Next RECORD ^D ... Delete RECORD ^P ... save & move to Prior RECORD ^U ... Undelete RECORD ^S ... Save changes to RECORD and exit the EDIT command ^Q ... Quit EDIT without saving changes to current RECORD Esc CMD: ~0 0~ REPLACE [] [] WITHList [FOR ] Note: WITHList = WITH [, WITH ] ... etc. Replace information in the current record (or all records within the specified "" and "FOR" condition) for fields listed in the "WITHList" clause. The optional file ID ("Fi" = FJ..FS) and field ID prefixes ("J." .. "S.") allow replacements in unselected databases. Esc CMD: see also: SET RELATION TO ~0 0~ SORT ON TO [{ASCE | ASCENDING} | {DESC | DESCENDING}] Sort on specified fields of the current file and put the sorted records into the new "TO" file. If a file name extension is not specified, dBMAN uses a ".DBF" extension. Sorting can be done in ASCENDING order (low value to high value) or in DESCENDING ^D JOIN ^U SORT Esc CMD: ~20 8~ STORE TO Create one or more variables (contained in varList) and assign the value of the "" to them. If any of the variables already exist, they are assigned the new value. The type (N,C,L,D) is changed as required. STORE may also be used to assign values to fields in any open database. If the data type of the field is different than the "", a Syntax Error occurs. Use file ID prefixes ("J.".."S.") when the field is not in the currently selected area. Other dBMAN commands which create memory variables are: ACCEPT, COUNT, INPUT, SUM, RESTORE and WAIT. Esc CMD: see also: RELEASE, SAVE ~0 0~ DELETE FILE Delete the named file from DOS directory. When no filename extension is specified, dBMAN assumes that ".DBF" is the file extension. Files that are in use can not be deleted. DELETE [] [] [FOR ] Mark the current record (or all records that satisfy the optional "" and "FOR" conditions) for deletion. Deleted records are not physically removed from the DBF file until a PACK command is executed. Deleted records are displayed with a "*" character following the record number; can be made "invisible" by SET DELETED ON; can be tested for by the DELREC() function; and can be undeleted with the RECALL command. ^D RECALL ^U ZAP Esc CMD: see also: SET DELETED, EDIT ~18 67~ GO [] { | TOP | BOTTOM } GOTO [] { | TOP | BOTTOM } Move the record pointer in the current file (or in the file selected with the file ID "Fi" = FJ..FS). The record pointer can be moved to the record number given by "", or the record pointer can be moved to the first (TOP) or last (BOTTOM) record in the file. Note that TOP and BOTTOM are often NOT the first or last "physical" record if the file is indexed. Esc CMD: see also: SET RELATION TO, FIND, LOCATE ~0 0~ RECALL [] [] [FOR " and "FOR" conditions) in the currently selected file area or in the area specified by the optional file ID ("Fi" = FJ..FS). Records that have been removed by the PACK command can not be recalled. ^D PACK ^U DELETE Esc CMD: ~19 16~ PACK Physically remove all records in the current file ID which are marked as "deleted" records. ^D ZAP ^U RECALL Esc CMD: ~67 18~ JOIN TO FOR [] Create a new database "" from two currently open DBF files (one in area FJ..FR and the other in area FS). The new file structure is defined by the optional "" or combines all fields in both files. Each record in the currently selected DBF file (FJ..FR) is compared with EVERY record in the FS file according to the "FOR" expression. If the "" is true, a new record is appended t Example: SELECT | force current area to FP USE InvA | USE 1st file in FP USE FS InvB | USE 2nd file in FS JOIN TO NewInv FOR Price = S.Price Item,Supplier,Cost ^D UPDATE ^U SORT Esc CMD: see also: SET RELATION TO ~8 14~ SUM [] [] [TO ] [FOR ] SUM [] [TO ] [FOR ] Add the numeric values in the "" and store the total in the variables specified in the "". The expressions must yield a numeric result. The variables in the "" can also be a field name (in some other use area). The number of expressions in the "" must match the number of variables in t ^D COUNT Esc CMD: ~54 0~ IF | executed only if is TRUE [ELSE ] | executed only if is FALSE ENDIF The "" logic expression is evaluated for a TRUE or FALSE result. If it is TRUE, all commands between the "IF" and "ENDIF" (or optional "ELSE" command) are executed. If it is FALSE, all commands between the optional "ELSE" command and "ENDIF" command are executed. If there is no "ELSE" command, execution continues with the first line following the "ENDIF". ^D ELSE ^U ENDIF Esc CMD: ~23 24~ [ ELSE ] [" is FALSE. ELSE is optional. Comments may be used following ELSE without the "|" comment character. (see also: NOTE for rules on use of comments) ^D ENDIF ^U IF Esc CMD: ~24 22~ ENDIF [] Terminate the prior IF command. Every IF command must have a corresponding ENDIF command or misleading error messages may result. e.g. "ENDDO without matching DO WHILE" can result from a missing ENDIF command. Comments may be used following ENDIF without the "|" comment character. (see also: "NOTE" for rules on use of comments) ^D IF ^U ELSE Esc CMD: ~22 23~ DO Execute the "" command file. The default file extension is ".PRG". see also: RETURN DO WHILE Execute all commands between DO WHILE and matching ENDDO while "" is TRUE. When "" is FALSE, execution continues after the ENDDO command. DO CASE Like IF...ELSE...ENDIF conditional command except DO CASE allows testing of many different conditions with selective execution of commands only for the first CASE which is TRUE. ^D ENDDO ^U CASE Esc CMD: ~27 34~ RETURN [TO ] Return control to the previous command file at the line following the calling DO command. When the "TO " phrase is used, dBMAN returns to the specified file (if it was in the calling "DO " program chain. If the "" i Esc CMD: see also: DO, CANCEL, QUIT ~0 0~ ENDDO [] Syntax: DO WHILE [LOOP] | force evaluation of the [EXIT] | force exit from the DO WHILE ENDDO Termination of a DO WHILE loop. The "" is evaluated the first time the DO WHILE command is executed. If it is FALSE, execution continues at the next line following ENDDO. If it is TRUE, all commands following the DO WHILE are executed until a LOOP o ^D LOOP ^U EXIT Esc CMD: ~29 63~ SKIP [] [] Move the record pointer forward or backward in the current file or the area specified by the optional file ID ("Fi" = FJ..FS). The record pointer moves forward if the "" is positive; backwards when negative. If no "" is specified, the record pointer advances one record. A SKIP beyond the TOP of file will set BOF() to TRUE; beyond the BOTTOM will set EOF() to TRUE. Esc CMD: ~0 0~ LOOP [] Used inside a command file DO WHILE ... ENDDO loop to force the immediate re-evaluation of the prior DO WHILE "" (as specified by the ""). When the is not specified, dBMAN loops back to the prior DO WHILE. DO WHILE DO WHILE LOOP | re-evaluate LOOP 2 | exit inner loop & re-evaluate ENDDO ENDDO ^D EXIT ^U ENDDO Esc CMD: ~63 27~ RENAME TO Change the old file name to a new file name in the DOS directory. The default file name extensions are ".DBF" if no extensions are specified. Esc CMD: ~0 0~ COMPARE TO [] Perform a comparison of all records in the currently selected DBF file with another specified database file. If a "" is specified, fields which are not in the list are ignored. COMPARE is for use at the CMD: prompt or for programmed applications which can not continue normal processing if the files do not compare correctly. Esc CMD: ~0 0~ LOCATE [" and "FOR" conditions until a record matching the "FOR " is found. That record becomes the current record. If the "" is large enough (ALL, NEXT 65000, REST, etc) and a matching record is not found, the EOF() flag is set to TRUE. To locate the next record that sa LOCATE saves the "FOR" expression and "" independently for each open file. i.e. CONTINUE can move each file record pointer independently. LOCATE with no "" and "FOR" arguments moves the record pointer to record 1. ^D CONTINUE ^U FIND Esc CMD: ~33 56~ CONTINUE [] Used in conjunction with the LOCATE command. CONTINUE moves the record pointer of the specified file to the next record satisfying the LOCATE expression associated with that file. A LOCATE command must be executed before using CONTINUE or an error message will result. ^D FIND ^U LOCATE Esc CMD: ~56 32~ CASE Select one of several possible choices, based on the result of the ""expression associated with each CASE. Only those commands between the first CASE that is TRUE and the following CASE, OTHERWISE or ENDCASE are executed. DO CASE CASE | Execute if is TRUE CASE | Execute if is TRUE [OTHERWISE Execute if every CASE is FALSE ] ENDCASE ^D OTHERWISE ^U ENDCASE Esc CMD: ~35 36~ [OTHERWISE []] An optional command used with the DO CASE..ENDCASE commands. The commands between OTHERWISE and ENDCASE are executed when all the prior CASEs are FALSE. Use of the OTHERWISE command without a DO CASE command is invalid. DO CASE CASE CASE [OTHERWISE Execute only if every CASE is FALSE ] ENDCASE ^D ENDCASE ^U CASE Esc CMD: ~36 34~ ENDCASE [] Every DO CASE command must be terminated by a corresponding ENDCASE. Comments may be used following ENDCASE without the "|" comment character. see also: NOTE for rules on use of comments DO CASE CASE CASE [OTHERWISE ] ENDCASE ^D CASE ^U OTHERWISE Esc CMD: ~34 35~ @ [{SAY | ESAY} [ = where "x" = line number 0..24, "y" = column number 0..79 SAY displays the result of the expression using the optional "USING" format at "". ESAY erases the line from "" to the end of line before the "" data is displayed. Both use the VSAY() video attributes. GET will display the variable or field specified using the VGET() video attributes. When a READ command is issued, the cursor will go to the GET and allow data entry. GET can not be used to create a new variable or change its data type. Use the "Esc" @ ERASE Erases the display to the right of and below the "" position. ^D READ ^U CLEAR Esc CMD: ~38 40~ READ Used in a command file to read user input from the screen. You create input prompts and screen displays by using @ SAY and GET. The READ command can be used to get user data for up to 64 GETs. READ automatically CLEARs all GETs. Example: STORE SPACE(20) TO Var1,Var2 | initialize variables @ 3,0 SAY "First Name: " GET Var1 | write prompts & @ 4,0 SAY "Last Name: " GET Var2 | variables to screen READ | get user input ^D CLEAR ^U @ GET Esc CMD: ~40 37~ ERASE The ERASE command clears the display in the data window. The coordinates associated with the "@" command ( ROW() and COL() ) are reset to 0, 0. ^D CLEAR Esc CMD: ~40 0~ CLEAR RELEASE ALL memory variables and CLOSE ALL open database files. CLEAR { GET | GETS } Clear all of the previously issued GET commands. Each time a READ command is executed, data may be entered into all open GETs. When the last field is entered, the GETs are automatically CLEARed. The CLEAR GETS command is optional for compatibility with dBASE. ^D @ GET ^U READ Esc CMD: ~37 38~ ACCEPT { [""] [TO [PICTURE ]] } Read a character string from the keyboard into the named variable or field- name. If "" is not a field (and no variable with that name exists) a new variable is created automatically. The "TO " is always a character data type. The optional "PICTURE" clause allows programmed control of data entry in the same way th ^D INPUT ^U WAIT Esc CMD: ~42 43~ INPUT { [""] [TO ] } Read any type of data from the keyboard and store it in the "TO ". Date, Logic and Numeric data may be entered directly. Character type data must be surrounded by quotation marks or square brackets ([ ]). Date type data may be entered using curly b ^D WAIT ^U ACCEPT Esc CMD: ~43 41~ WAIT [""] [TO ] Command file execution to wait until any key is pressed. The key can be stored in the "TO " variable as a character data type. If the "TO " does not exist, the WAIT command will create it. If the optional "" is specified, it will be ^D ACCEPT ^U INPUT Esc CMD: ~41 42~ ? [ [USING ]] [,ESC()] The "" is evaluated and displayed on the next line. (A CR/LF is issued before displaying the result.) The display location is the line following the current cursor position. The "" and "ESC()" phrases may be repeated but must be separated by c The "ESC" phrase is used to send a string of control codes to the printer. ESC() does not display these codes on the screen. Non-printable codes must be enclosed in angle brackets "<", ">". e.g. ESC("<27>D<0>") will send the byte sequence 27, 68, 00 to the printer. Use SET PRINT ON command to output to the printer. SET CONSOLE OFF to suppress output to the data window. ^D ?? Esc CMD: ~60 0~ PRINT not supported for Amiga!!! ^D EJECT ^U FORMFEED Esc CMD: ~46 59~ EJECT Send a page eject (Form Feed code) to the printer. Set the values of the dBMAN internal line and column counters to zero. see also: SET FOOTER, SET HEADING, SET LINE COUNT, SET PRINT ^D FORMFEED ^U PRINT Esc CMD: ~59 45~ INDEX [] ON TO [{ASCE | ASCENDING} | {DESC | DESCENDING}] Create an index "" for the current database file or the DBF file specified by the optional "Fi" file ID phrase. The components of the index key "" must be of the same data type. see also: CLEAR, SET INDEX TO, SET SAFETY ^D REINDEX ^U CLOSE Esc CMD: ~57 7~ RELEASE { [] ALL | } Memory variables are deleted explicitly (by the "") or in groups. If ALL is used without a "Fm" memory area phrase (FX, FY or FZ) then the GLOBAL memory variables are deleted. FY memory variables are released when execution returns to the callin see also: CLEAR, STORE, SAVE, RESTORE Esc CMD: ~0 0~ SAVE [FY | FZ] TO Store all global (or local FY or FZ) memory variables to the specified "" file. dBMAN assigns a filename extension of ".MEM" when one is not specified by the user or program. Note: A special file ($MEM.MEM) is used by dBMAN to retain local "Y." variables for programs which call subprograms two or more levels deep. ^D RESTORE Esc CMD: ~50 0~ RESTORE [] FROM Read the "" of memory variables previously saved with the SAVE command and place them all into the memory area specified. The default area is GLOBAL memory. If you specify "Fm" (FX, FY or FZ), the memory variables are restored to that area rather than to the GLOBAL area. Note: Before memory variables are restored, ALL existing variables are released in the memory area selected by the RESTORE. ^D SAVE Esc CMD: ~49 0~ NOTE [] * [] | [] The NOTE and "*" commands allow comment lines in a program ".PRG" file. The comment "" can consist of any ASCII printing characters. The entire line following the "NOTE", "*" or "|" is dedicated to comments. The "|" character may be used anywhere in a command line to indicate that the remainder of the line is comments only. When the "|" character occurs within a quoted character string, the character is treated as normal text. Note: DO NOT use "|" following the ";" line continuation character. Esc CMD: ~0 0~ SET Switches: SET BREAK {on|OFF} ON enable debug SET CONFIRM {on|OFF} ON require to accept data to READ & EDIT SET CONSOLE {ON|off} OFF suppress "?/??" output to screen SET DELETED {on|OFF} ON ignore deleted records SET ESCAPE {ON|off} OFF disable "Esc" key sensing SET EXACT {on|OFF} ON force full compare SET PRINT {on|OFF} ON enable "?/??" output to printer SET SAFETY {ON|off} OFF enable overwrite of existing files SET TALK {ON|off} SET BREAK TO [,] SET DATE TO 0=MM/DD/YY 1=DD/MM/YY 2=YY/MM/DD SET DEFAULT {DBF|NDX|TXT|MEM|PRG|SYSTEM} TO [:] SET DEVICE TO {SCREEN | printer} ^D SET page 2 Esc CMD: ~92 0~ Terminate the execution of a "DO" program file. Return dBMAN to the interactive keyboard "CMD:" mode. ^D PAUSE ^U QUIT Esc CMD: ~62 11~ COUNT [] [] [FOR ] [TO ] Count the number of records (qualified by the optional "" and "FOR" conditions) in the current file (or the DBF file specified by the "Fi" file ID). The result is stored in the variable specified by the optional "TO" phrase. ^D SUM Esc CMD: ~21 0~ UNPEND [] Physically remove the last record of the current file, or from the file specified by the optional file ID ("Fi" = FJ..FS). This allows fast removal of unwanted blank records from the end of the file and is much faster than DELETE and PACK for such removal. Note: Not supported in the Multi-User version. ^D APPEND Esc CMD: ~4 0~ FIND [] Search for the first index key matching the "" in the current DBF file using the "master" INDEX file. If no matching records are found, then EOF() is set to TRUE and the record pointer is set to one greater than the number of records in the file. Note: The first index file in the USE command or the latest index file in a SET INDEX TO command is the "master index". ^D LOCATE ^U CONTINUE Esc CMD: see also: SET INDEX TO ~32 33~ REINDEX [] Rebuild all index files used with the current DBF file. The optional "Fi" file ID (FJ..FS) permits reindexing files in unselected DBF areas. ^D USE ^U INDEX Esc CMD: see also: SET INDEX TO ~6 47~ LIST [] [] [] [FOR ] [OFF] [TO PRINT] List all records that satisfy the "" and "FOR" condition in the specified file. The OFF option shuts off display of record numbers. LIST [] MEMORY [TO PRINT] List the GLOBAL (or selected "Fm" = FX, FY or FZ) memory variables and contents. The "F7" key in debug or command mode will also display memory. LIST [] STRUCTURE [TO PRINT] List the record structure (fieldname,type,width,decimal) of the DBF file. LIST FILE [] List files in DOS directory according to . "*.DBF" is default. ^D DISPLAY MEMORY/STRUCTURE/FILE ^U DISPLAY Records Esc CMD: ~3 83~ FORMFEED Issue carriage returns until the line count equals the sum of the current TOP MARGIN, BOTTOM MARGIN and LINE COUNT settings. see also: SET LINE COUNT, SET PRINT TO ^D PRINT ^U EJECT Esc CMD: ~45 46~ ?? [ [USING ]] [,ESC()] Identical to the "?" print command except no CR/LF sequence is output before the print expressions and/or ESC() codes are sent to the screen and/or the selected printer device. BEEP Output a brief "beep" sound. Esc CMD: ~0 0~ PAUSE Suspend execution of the command file on the next command. PAUSE is used for program debugging. When command file execution is paused, you can display variables with the "F7" key, display environment switches and files with the "F8" key, edit and save program line changes with the "^F1" key, delete the program lines wit ^K ... KILL program execution ^L ... reLoad the line (unparsed) from the PRG file ^R ... Resume normal execution ^T ... execute the current program line (single step) see also: SET BREAK ~11 53~ EXIT [] Used inside a DO WHILE...ENDDO loop (or "nested" loops) in a command file. EXIT unconditionally terminates the DO WHILE loop and execution resumes on the command following the ENDDO statement. When is specified, dBMAN unconditionally exits out of the Nth level of DO WHILE nesting. Note: When EXIT is executed within a trapfile, the effect is the same as if it was executed in place of the command which invoked the error trap. CONVERT TO Convert a dBASE II DBF file to dBMAN DBF file. "" is the dBASE II database file name and "" is the dBMAN file name. When a file is specified without an extension, dBMAN will assume the extension is ".DBF". If both file names are the same, dBMAN will rename the dBASE II file using a ".DBB" file name extension. ASSIGN Execute any dBMAN function where output to the screen, printer, a variable or a DBF field is not required. It is intended primarily for use with the dBMAN machine code interface functions. Example: ASSIGN AH(205), BX(3) INT21 INT21 Execute DOS interrupt 21 (hex). Used in conjunction with the dBMAN machine code interface functions. DOS calls which require changing the value of the DS or ES registers are not supported. ZAP [] Equivalent to DELETE ALL and PACK. Eliminates all records from the current DBF file or the file in the specified file ID (FJ..FS). All unused file space is returned to the DOS directory. INTXX Execute the BIOS/DOS interrupt specified by the previous "SET INTXX TO" command. Used in conjunction with the dBMAN machine code interface. The programmer has raw access to the machine. Example: SET INTXX TO 20 | 20 decimal = 14 hex ASSIGN AH(0), AL(162), DX(1) | Set COM2: RS-232 port to 2400 baud, INTXX | 7bits/char, no parity bit, 1 stop bit COL()........................... Cursor Location DAY()..................... Day of Month (1..31) DOW()..................... Day of Week, 1..7 (Sun..Sat) ERRCODE([])............... Error Status FRAC().................... Nexp - INT(Nexp) INKEY([])................. Get KeyCode INT()..................... Integer LASTKEY()....................... Last Key Pressed in READ LASTREC([])................. Last Physical Record LEN()..................... String Length LOG()..................... Log base 10 LN()...................... Log base e MAX(,)............ Max of Two Expressions MIN(,)............ Min of Two Expressions MONTH()................... Month 1..12 NLIST(,)........... Which Item of List is Nexp PAGENO().................. Current Page & inc by Nexp PROW().......................... Print Line Number RANK().................... Decimal Value of Char RECNO([])... and "#"........ Current Record RETRYCNT([]).............. Multi-User ONLY ROW()........................... Cursor Location, 0..24 SRCH(, [,]). Location of [nth] Sexp1 in Sexp2 TIMECNT([])............... Multi-User ONLY TOKENS(,)......... Occurrences of Sexp1 in Sexp2 HOW TO GENERATE REPORTS To generate a report, you must: 1) group the data that you want to put in the report 2) define the format of the report 3) use the database 4) and output the report. 1. Group the data with the SORT or INDEX command. USE INDEX ON TO or SORT ON TO Ex: USE INVENT INDEX ON CATEGORY TO INVENT 2. Define the format of the report with the CREATE REPORT command. CREATE REPORT Ex: CREATE REPORT INVENT Use MODIFY REPORT to edit the format of the report: The CREATE REPORT command allows you to define the page definition, how the data are grouped, and the content and format of each column. You can format up to 20 columns in your report. The command saves the definitions in the format file . Each part of the report definition is described below. Use UpArw and DnArw to move from field to field and ^U (PgUp) and ^D(PgDn) to move from page to page. The "Page Definition" screen defines the page layout of your report. In this section, you define page headers, footers, margins, etc. Heading, Heading2 -- This are the page heading and the text appear at the beginning of every page. You can have up to two lines in your heading. Leave these blanks if you don't need it. If you want the page number to be in the heading, use one of these for page numbers. Footer: -- This is the page footer and the text appears at the bottom of every page. Leave these blanks if you don't need it. For example, page numbers or version numbers can be put in the footer. Title 1, 2, 3, 4: -- This text is like heading/heading2 except it is automatically centered, and appear after heading/headings on every page. The report title can be up to four lines. Page width (# chars): -- Defines the page width, in number of characters. A typical 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper is 80 characters wide. Left margin (# chars): -- Defines the size of the left margin in number of characters. Top margin (# lines): -- Defines the top margin of the page in number of line spaces. Bottom margin (# lines): -- Defines the bottom margin of the page in number of line spaces. # lines per page: -- Defines how many lines of text per page. Column spacing: -- Defines how many spaces between columns. Double space report? (Y/N): -- Enter a "Y" for a double-spaced report, an "N" for a single-spaced report. NOTES: 1. ALL titles (Heading,Heading2,Footer, Title 1,2,3,4) MUST use string expressions. Example: "ANNUAL REPORT.." Y.memtitle + "1986" 2. Margins, and line count work exactly like the SET MARGIN and SET LINECOUNT commands. Press ^D (PgDn) to define how the data are grouped, the group heading and footer and the grand total text. Group on: -- Use the same field here that you used to sort or index your database. The report puts a blank line after each group. Summary report only? (Y/N): -- Enter "Y" if you only want a summary of the group without listing each record of the group. Enter "N" if you want the individual records listed as well as the summary. Eject after each group? (Y/N): -- Enter "Y" to start a new page for each new group. Group heading: -- The text appears at the beginning of each new group. Group footer: -- The text appears at the end of each group. If a Group footer is not specified (blank), the subtotals for the group are not displayed. If you want subtotals but do not want the footer text enter a blank string (" ") for the footer. Total heading: -- The text appears at the end of the report. If the Total heading is not specified (blank), the grandtotals for the groups are not displayed. NOTES: 1. ALL titles (Group heading,Group footer, Total headings) MUST BE string expressions. Example: "ANNUAL REPORT.." Y.memtitle + "1986" Press ^D (PgDn) to define the format of the columns of your report. You can have up to 20 columns in your report. Field contents: -- Defines the data that appears in each column. Use the same name of the field that you used in the database. DO NOT enclose field names in quotes. Note: The REPORT command automatically inserts commas, for Numeric fields. Use STR() function if you do not want the commas. Ex: STR(QTY,4) Width: -- Defines the width of the column in characters. A zero (0) in this field means there are no more columns in the report. # decimal places: -- Defines the number of decimal places if the field is numeric. Total? (Y/N): -- Enter a "Y" if you want a subtotal or grand total of the group in the column, an "N" if you do not. Field header 1,2,3, or 4: -- The titles of the column. The text is not centered, and you can have up to four lines of text per title. Enter an asterisk (*) in any of these headers in the FIRST COLUMN definition, to suppress the line. If the header is not specified (blank) it shows up as a blank line. NOTES: 1. Field header 1,2,3,4 MUST BE string expressions. Example: "ITEMS.." Y.memtitle + "===" + SPACE(4) Press the ^D (PgDn) key to define the next column. Press ^U (PgUp) to go back to previous page. This is an example of a report generated by grouping on a field called "category" from a database called "INVENT". First you see the screens from the CREATE REPORT command, then the report as it looks when output. The text in square brackets in the output corresponds to the formatting field of the CREATE REPORT command. Use only string expressions for the headings, footer, and titles. You can use valid string operators or functions in the headings, footer and titles. Do not use macros. Page Definition Heading: Heading2: DTOC(DATE()) Footer: "Page"+STR(PAGENO(1),3) Title 1: Title 2: "Inventory for ABC Grocery" Title 3: "=========================" Title 4: Page width (#chars): 75 Left margin (#chars): 5 Top margin (#lines): 1 Bottom margin (#lines): 1 # lines per page: 16 Column spacing: 2 Double space report? (Y/N): N Note: Heading2, Footer, Title 1,2,3,4 are string expressions. Note: If the heading is already set with SET HEADING TO command, the REPORT command IGNORES the following parameters in the report form file: Heading Heading2 Footer Left margin Top margin Bottom margin Lines per page This feature allows you to use the same headings which you have used in the previous output. For example, include the report with other reports. To use the parameters in the report form file clear the heading register with SET HEADING TO command before executing the REPORT command. Note: The REPORT command will NOT clear the parameters after the REPORT command is completed. 07/05/86 [Heading2] Inventory for ABC grocery [Title 2] ========================= [Title 3] QTY UNIT Items ONHAND PRICE SUPPLIER ===== ====== ===== ======== ***** Category = BAKING CAKE:MIX 1,234 1.75 PILLSBURY SUGAR 3,456 2.39 BROTHERS:DIST FLOUR 999 1.09 GOLD:MEDAL ***** subtotal... 5,689 5.23 ***** Category = BREAD WHEAT:BREAD 400 1.23 HVNLY:BKRY RAISIN:BREAD 470 0.67 HVNLY:BKRY Page 1 [Footer] The second screen of the CREATE REPORT command defines the group format. Group on: category Summary report only?(Y/N): N Eject after each group?(Y/N): N Group heading: "*****Category="+category Group footer: "*****subtotal..." Total heading: "*****grandtotal..." (The "*****grandtotal..." text appears after the last group) 07/05/86 Inventory for ABC grocery ========================= QTY UNIT Items ONHAND PRICE SUPPLIER ===== ====== ===== ======== ***** Category = BAKING [Group heading] CAKE:MIX 1,234 1.75 PILLSBURY SUGAR 3,456 2.39 BROTHERS:DIST FLOUR 999 1.09 GOLD:MEDAL ***** subtotal... [Group footer] 5,689 5.23 ***** Category = BREAD [Group heading] WHEAT:BREAD 400 1.23 HVNLY:BKRY RAISIN:BREAD 470 0.67 HVNLY:BKRY Page 1 The next screen of the CREATE REPORT command defines the format of each column of the report: Field 1 Field contents: item Width= 25 # decimal places: 0 Total? (Y/N): N Field header 1: Field header 2: "Items" Field header 3: "===" Field header 4: * [suppress blank line] The width of the column is 25 characters wide. "item" is the field name of your database. Up to 20 columns can be specified in the report. When you enter a width of 0, there are no more columns in the report. 07/05/86 Inventory for ABC grocery ========================= QTY UNIT Items [Field header 2] ONHAND PRICE SUPPLIER ===== [Field header 3] ====== ===== ======== ***** Category = BAKING CAKE:MIX 1,234 1.75 PILLSBURY SUGAR 3,456 2.39 BROTHERS:DIST FLOUR 999 1.09 GOLD:MEDAL ***** subtotal... 5,689 5.23 ***** Category = BREAD WHEAT:BREAD 400 1.23 HVNLY:BKRY RAISIN:BREAD 470 0.67 HVNLY:BKRY Page 1 3. Use the database. USE (if sorted) or USE INDEX (if indexed) Ex: USE INVENT INDEX INVENT 4. Output the report with REPORT command. REPORT FORM (to display on the screen) or SET PRINT TO (to ouput to a disk file) REPORT FORM TO PRINT (to print on the printer or a disk file) Ex: REPORT FORM INVENT TO PRINT ***** NOTE: ****** If the heading is already set with SET HEADING TO command, the REPORT command IGNORES the following parameters in the report form file (fileFRM): Heading Heading2 Footer Left margin Top margin Bottom margin Lines per page This feature allows you to use the same headings which you have used in the previous output. For example, include the report with other reports. To use the parameters in the report form file clear the heading register with SET HEADING TO command before executing the REPORT command. Note: The REPORT command will NOT clear the parameters after the REPORT command is completed. dBMAN for Amiga version 2.02 Note: To ensure dbman of enough stack space, execute STACK 9000 before executing dbman. The following commands/functions ar e not supported in this version inorder to make DBman can run with 512K ram. Commands: * JOIN * MERGE * MODINDEX * UNINDEX Functions: * BYTE * LN * LOG * LOGOUT * SAVESCREEN * WORD * STK * PRNFLG * OFFSET * EXP * FLAGS * WORD The following specifications were also changed for memory requirement. Database file specification Fields per record 64 Bytes per record 2000 Records per file 2 billion Active database files 10 Local memory variables Number of variables 32 Total number of bytes 1000 BEEP command does not produce a beep sound but it will flash the screen. Use Shft-> and Shft<- keys instead of ^-> and ^<- keys. DISKSPACE function requires different parameter. DISKSPACE() The function returns the number of free bytes on the disk. You need to specify the drive name. Ex: ?DISKSPACE("df0:") 33184 REPORT.DOC A text file (REPORT.DOC) is included on the disk to describe in detail on how to generate a report. it is automatically centered, and appear after heading/headings on every page. The report title can be up to four lines. Page width (# chars): -- Defines the page width, in number of characters. A typical 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper is 80 characters wide. Left margin (# chars): -- Defines the size of the left margin in number of characters. Top margin (# lines): -- Defines the top margin of the page in number of line spaces. Bottom margin (# lines): -- Defines the bottom margin of the page in number of line spaces. # lines per page: -- Defines how many lines of text per page. Column spacing: -- Defines how many spaces between columns. Double space report? (Y/N): -- Enter a "Y" for a double-spaced report, an "N" for a single-spaced report. NOTES: 1. ALL titles (Heading,Heading2,Footer, Title 1,2,3,4) MUST use string expressions. Example: "ANNUAL REPORT.." Y.memtitle + "1986" 2. Margins, and line count work exactly like the SET MARGIN and SET LINECOUNT commands. Press ^D (PgDn) to define how the data are grouped, the group heading and footer and the grand total text. Group on: -- Use the same field here that you used to sort or index your database. The report puts a blank line after each group. Summary report only? (Y/N): -- Enter "Y" if you only want a summary of the group without listing each record of the group. Enter "N" if you want the individual records listed as well as the summary. Eject after each group? (Y/N): -- Enter "Y" to start a new page for each new group. Group heading: -- The text appears at the beginning of each new group. Group footer: -- The text appears at the end of each group. If a Group footer is not specified (blank), the subtotals for the group are not displayed. If you want subtotals but do not want the footer text enter a blank string (" ") for the footer. Total heading: -- The text appears at the end of the report. If the Total heading is not specified (blank), the grandtotals for the groups are not displayed. NOTES: 1. ALL titles (Group heading,Group footer, Total headings) MUST BE string expressions. Example: "ANNUAL REPORT.." Y.memtitle + "1986" Press ^D (PgDn) to define the format of the columns of your report. You can have up to 20 columns in your report. Field contents: -- Defines the data that appears in each column. Use the same name of the field that you used in the database. DO NOT enclose field names in quotes. Note: The REPORT command automatically inserts commas, for Numeric fields. Use STR() function if you do not want the commas. Ex: STR(QTY,4) Width: -- Defines the width of the column in characters. A zero (0) in this field means there are no more columns in the report. # decimal places: -- Defines the number of decimal places if the field is numeric. Total? (Y/N): -- Enter a "Y" if you want a subtotal or grand total of the group in the column, an "N" if you do not. Field header 1,2,3, or 4: -- The titles of the column. The text is not centered, and you can have up to four lines of text per title. Enter an asterisk (*) in any of these headers in the FIRST COLUMN definition, to suppress the line. If the header is not specified (blank) it shows up as a blank line. NOTES: 1. Field header 1,2,3,4 MUST BE string expressions. Example: "ITEMS.." Y.memtitle + "===" + SPACE(4) Press the ^D (PgDn) key to define the next column. Press ^U (PgUp) to go back to previous page. This is an example of a report generated by grouping on a field called "category" from a database called "INVENT". First you see the screens from the CREATE REPORT command, then the report as it looks when output. The text in square brackets in the output corresponds to the formatting field of the CREATE REPORT command. Use only string expressions for the headings, footer, and titles. You can use valid string operators or functions in the headings, footer and titles. Do not use macros. Page Definition Heading: Heading2: DTOC(DATE()) Footer: "Page"+STR(PAGENO(1),3) Title 1: Title 2: "Inventory for ABC Grocery" Title 3: "=========================" Title 4: Page width (#chars): 75 Left margin (#chars): 5 Top margin (#lines): 1 Bottom margin (#lines): 1 # lines per page: 16 Column spacing: 2 Double space report? (Y/N): N Note: Heading2, Footer, Title 1,2,3,4 are string expressions. Note: If the heading is already set with SET HEADING TO command, the REPORT command IGNORES the following parameters in the report form file: Heading Heading2 Footer Left margin Top margin Bottom margin Lines per page This feature allows you to use the same headings which you have used in the previous output. For example, include the report with other reports. To use the parameters in the report form file clear the heading register with SET HEADING TO command before executing the REPORT command. Note: The REPORT command will NOT clear the parameters after the REPORT command is completed. 07/05/86 [Heading2] Inventory for ABC grocery [Title 2]  ========================= [Title 3] QTY UNIT Items ONHAND PRICE SUPPLIER ===== ====== ===== ======== ***** Category = BAKING CAKE:MIX 1,234 1.75 PILLSBURY SUGAR 3,456 2.39 BROTHERS:DIST FLOUR 999 1.09 GOLD:MEDAL ***** subtotal... 5,689 5.23 ***** Category = BREAD WHEAT:BREAD 400 1.23 HVNLY:BKRY RAISIN:BREAD 470 0.67 HVNLY:BKRY Page 1 [Footer] The second screen of the CREATE REPORT command defines the group format. Group on: category Summary report only?(Y/N): N Eject after each group?(Y/N): N Group heading: "*****Category="+category Group footer: "*****subtotal..." Total heading: "*****grandtotal..." (The "*****grandtotal..." text appears after the last group) 07/05/86 Inventory for ABC grocery ========================= QTY UNIT Items ONHAND PRICE SUPPLIER ===== ====== ===== ======== ***** Category = BAKING [Group heading] CAKE:MIX 1,234 1.75 PILLSBURY SUGAR 3,456 2.39 BROTHERS:DIST FLOUR 999 1.09 GOLD:MEDAL ***** subtotal... [Group footer] 5,689 5.23 ***** Category = BREAD [Group heading] WHEAT:BREAD 400 1.23 HVNLY:BKRY RAISIN:BREAD 470 0.67 HVNLY:BKRY Page 1 The next screen of the CREATE REPORT command defines the format of each column of the report: Field 1 Field contents: item Width= 25 # decimal places: 0 Total? (Y/N): N Field header 1: Field header 2: "Items" Field header 3: "===" Field header 4: * [suppress blank line] The width of the column is 25 characters wide. "item" is the field name of your database. Up to 20 columns can be specified in the report. When you enter a width of 0, there are no more columns in the report. 07/05/86 Inventory for ABC grocery ========================= QTY UNIT Items [Field header 2] ONHAND PRICE SUPPLIER ===== [Field header 3] ====== ===== ======== ***** Category = BAKING CAKE:MIX 1,234 1.75 PILLSBURY SUGAR 3,456 2.39 BROTHERS:DIST FLOUR 999 1.09 GOLD:MEDAL ***** subtotal... 5,689 5.23 ***** Category = BREAD WHEAT:BREAD 400 1.23 HVNLY:BKRY RAISIN:BREAD 470 0.67 HVNLY:BKRY Page 1 3. Use the database. USE (if sorted) or USE INDEX (if indexed) Ex: USE INVENT INDEX INVENT 4. Output the report with REPORT command. REPORT FORM (to display on the screen) or SET PRINT TO (to ouput to a disk file) REPORT FORM TO PRINT (to print on the printer or a disk file) Ex: REPORT FORM INVENT TO PRINT ***** NOTE: ****** If the heading is already set with SET HEADING TO command, the REPORT command IGNORES the following parameters in the report form file (fileFRM): Heading Heading2 Footer Left margin Top margin Bottom margin Lines per page This feature allows you to use the same headings which you have used in the previous output. For example, include the report with other reports. To use the parameters in the report form file clear the heading register with SET HEADING TO command before executing the REPORT command. Note: The REPORT command will NOT clear the parameters after the REPORT command is completed. dBMAN for Amiga version 2.02 Note: To ensure dbman of enough stack space, execute STACK 9000 before executing dbman. 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Installing G+Plus. Included files. The following files are included on the G+Plus master disc: AUTO A sample Auto folder, containing G+PLUS.PRG G+PLUS.PRG the program, duplicated in AUTO fldr G+PLUS.ACC the accessory README read this first, it may contain important information not included in the manual GDOS_INF.DOC Everything you wanted to know about GDOS  ZOOMTEST.PRG test program for zoom boxes. Replacing GDOS If you've been using a GDOS program copy the G+PLUS.PRG to the AUTO folder and either rename eg: .PRX the GDOS file or delete it. If you haven't got an AUTO folder set up do so and include G+PLUS.PRG. Keep a copy of GDOS.PRG. Installing G+Plus Accessory Copy the G+PLUS.ACC file to the root directory of your disc. Using G+Plus The operation of G+PLUS will be transparent to the user, in most cases. One big difference is that G+PLUS does not require you to have an ASSIGN.SYS file in your root directory when you boot up. If GDOS is unable to find and ASSIGN.SYS file it exits without installing itself. If G+PLUS can't find an ASSIGN.SYS file it will remain active. You can then load an ASSIGN file by holding down the Alt key when you run your program or use the installation file feature to automatically load your ASSIGN.SYS file. If doesn't find an ASSIGN.SYS file at bootup it will install a set of default devices. These are just what is necessary to allow to remain resident. It's unlikely you'll be able to run a program that expects to find certain fonts and device drivers without first loading its associated ASSIGN.SYS file. Programs will most likely inform you of an error and exit. Using ASSIGN.SYS files with Will read any ASSIGN.SYS file created for use with GDOS. To make it even easier for your to use ASSIGN.SYS files, lets you imbed a title in the file which will be shown at bootup and in the G+plus accessory. You can use this magic word feature to give titles to your ASSIGN.SYS files or to display notes about their use. An ASSIGN.SYS file is an ASCII text file and you can use a wordprocessor or text editor to make changes to it. If you use a word processor make sure you save the file as ASCII. To add the magic word to your ASSIGN.SYS file, simply enter the letters ":", notice the colon at the end, after a semi colon comment mark. eg: ;:Easy Draw fonts ;:Broadway/Times The section titled Introduction to ASSIGN files contains more specific information about the structure of the ASSIGN.SYS file. NOTE: If you use Timeworks DTP and you wish to alternate between different ASSIGN files you will have to run their FONTWID.APP program after loading a different assign file, before running DTP. This need only be done after changing your ASSIGN file for DTP, not every time loads a different ASSIGN file. (See .DOC file on disc for Timeworks users) Using the Accessory If you followed the instructions on installing the Accessory you should be ready to go. Select from the menu line. Loading a new ASSIGN file There are two ways of loading a new ASSIGN file and activate all of its font and device driver assignments. The INstallation file method, described below, allows you to automatically load ASSIGN files when you run a specified program. You also can load ASSIGN files manually by using the Alternative Options feature. Alternative Options To access the Alternative Options menu, hold down the ALT key when you double click on a program to run it. A dialog box will appear before the program runs, with three options, Load ASSIGN file, Bypass Installation, Continue. When you click on Load ASSIGn file a file selector will appear showing all files with the extension .SYS. Locate the .SYS file you want and click on it. Then click OK. The Accessory will now attempt to load the ASSIGN.SYS fileand install it. If an error occurs during the loading process you'll see an error message and be given the option to try again, abort back to the desktop of run the program anyway. Bypass installation is a quick way to defeat the installation file feature without accessing the accessory from the desktop menu. If you click on bypass installation the program you're running will use whatever ASSIGN file is currently in memory, bypassing the check for installation file entirely. The Continue option lets you continue running your program as selected, if you've changed your mind about using Alternate Options. After loading an ASSIGN.SYS file its name will be shown in the box labelled Current Assign File in the Accessory, so you can tell at a glance which fiole is active. We suggest giving your ASSIGn files names like EASYDRAW.SYS etc to help remember which file goes with which program. The Installation file The Alternate Options menu lets you load an ASSIGN file manually. also has a feature which can automate this process, making it extremely easy to switch back and forth among different programs that use . The Installation File contains the names of the programs you're likely to use and the pathnames of their corresponding ASSIGN files so that when you run a program its fonts and drivers can be loaded automatically. Installation file editor. To create or edit an Installation File, click on the option labelled Installation File Editor in the Accessory. A dialog box will appear. This box contains space for a maximum of 12 installation strings, arranged in two columns. The program's name will be shown in the left column and the path for its associated ASSIGN file in the right column. All functions of the Installation Editor are accessed through the six options at the bottom of the dialog box, LOAD, SAVE, ADD, DELETE, CLEAR and EXIT. Click on LOAD to load an installation file, with an extension .INS. Save will save your instalation file setup to disc with a .INS extension. If you save an .INS file to your root directory, # Accessory will load it automatically on bootup. To add new GEM programs to the installation list, click on Add and a file selector will appear. Locate your program name and click on it. Another file selector will appear for you to select your ASSIGn.SYS (or whatever you want to call it .SYS) file. 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You've got a co-pilot who's a better shot than you, but not for long I hope. Now it's up to you, young Alex. And one thing more. If Jason were here he'd have this to say. In time of trouble, forget common sense, forget the force. Do what you goddam feel like. If it don't work, one thing's for sure. You ain't going to be around to regret it.' Seated at the astrogation console of the Cobra, Alex watched Rafe's home on the forward screen. It was a much modified, and quite bizarre looking, Anaconda cruiser, its cargo bay dented, its fuel-scoop ripped open, its hull lights blinking not so much with meaning as with disrepair. rafe had not invited him aboard. At 0.1 light years from Tionisla he was safe from detection, and here he stayed in the cold and silence of interstellar space, collecting ships, fuel, food and weapons. Three Mambas - small fighters - were tethered to the service bay on the Anaconda's hull, robots crawling all over them as they patched-up the shot up vessels. Unlike humans, robots could work without arc-lights. When the graveyard ship had arrived at Rafe Zetter's private system, Rafe's holoFac had appeared in the cabin. 'It takes a lot of effort and a lot of wile to get supplies for the sort of mission you're about to go on. I'll fuel your ship enough to get you to Isinor. But from then on you're on your own. You're going to need missiles, operational lasers, an energy bomb, a fuel-scoop ... a whole bunch of other things.' 'An iron ass,' Alex muttered with a smile. 'That's right. And I don't want to hear from you again until you've scalped that Cobra that killed Jason.' 'Why are you doing this for me?' 'I'm doing it for Jason,' Rafe said. 'And for others besides. And listen Alex. Don't you go worrying about Raxxla. Not yet. That comes in time ...' 'But why did he say it?' 'To let me know he trusted you. You father reckoned you have it in you to become one of the Elite. That's good enough for me.' Alex's head span. What was the old man saying now? Not just that Jason Ryder had been an elite combateer, but that he'd seen the same potential in his son? in Simcombat Alex had often built up a success and survival score that had awarded him the simulator's highest accolade: a victory roll over the mock-up of the old earth city of London. But he had never thought that in real life he would ever achieve a combat status higher than 'dangerous'. To be elite... A dizzying prospect. And a nerve-racking one, with all that it implied of not just fighting off free-booters, but of spending time as a bounty hunter, deliberately hyperspacing into dangerous planetary systems and waiting for pirates to come to you; looking for trouble, in other words, boosting your combat status to the maximum by advertising yourself to killers, and outgunning them. 'One thing's for sure,' Rafe went on drily. 'Unless you get there, unless you become elite, you'll never get to Raxxla. And you'll never know exactly what your father was searching for.' 'I don't understand.' 'Were you aware of his involvement in the Dark Wheel?' Shock after shock! The Dark Wheel was a semi-legendary space unit, star-riders who made it their business to seek the truth behind the plethora of myths and romantic stories that filtered back from all corners of the Universe: fabulous cities, parallel worlds, time travellers, even planets that appeared to be the old 'heaven' of Earth legend. The Dark Wheel was as mysterious and as mythical to the traders of the Galaxy as King Arthur might have been to the first spacemen. 'It's not possible,' Alex breathed. 'He would have told us ...' 'The hell he would,' Rafe said, staring at the younger man from the shimmering holoFac on the bridge. 'The ship that killed Jason was no pirate. He was killed because he'd found something. Something that certain parties were deeply unhappy that he'd found.' 'What exactly?' Rafe laughed. 'Listen to the boy! Look at me, Alex. Do I look whole? I do? Well I ain't. One leg, some of my liver, a few brain cells - all that's left of the real me. The rest is just bionic. Trying to do what your father did, I got shot to hell 'n' back. I was elite once. Now it takes me ten seconds to decide to spit. He didn't tell me because I'm not part of it anymore. Not to that degree. But I watch and I listen, and I do what I'm told. And as sure as there's gold-flake on the skin of a Geretean, Jason Ryder told me to get you ready to follow in his footsteps.' Coming so soon after his father's death, with the memory of Jason's murder so vivid in his mind, it was almost too much for Alex. He didn't know whether to glow with pride, or shake with apprehension. he slowly sat down at the astrogation console and played his fingers over the controls of the Cobra. After a while he smiled, and shrugged away the confusions and the sadness he was feeling. 'Right. If it's what my father wanted, then I shan't disappoint him ...' ------------ CHAPTER FIVE Out of Witch-Space: the dizziness, the slight shudder, the brief disorientation. Ahead of them, the distant, red-blue disc of the planet Xezaor was only slightly brighter than the gleaming field of stars around. The planet's sun was dim and very close by. It glowed red. A dying star, as the world ahead of them was a dying world, a cooling world, a world whose wealth and industrial development could not hold back the process of Galactic ageing. Xezaor was a world where luxuries and warmth meant everything, now, and Shanaskilk fur, with the multiple heads still intact, would fetch a high price. Routine. A routine trade run. Elyssia dozed, Alex punched co-ordinates into the auto-pilot and prepared to pass the time of the long run-in to the world. Routine, a routine which Alex was by now well used to. Out of Witch-Space and then the slow approach until the Coriolis station came on target- Nothing to do ... Nothing to see ... The Cobra rocked and a sound like the screech of metal being bent apart echoed through the bridge! 'Company!' Alex said loudly, and Elyssia blinked awake. She must have assessed the situation in an instant. She remained where she was. Alex was at the console and there were only seconds available for thought. Alex had been taken by suprise, not because he hadn't been paying attention, but because the attack ships had been so close to the egress point from hyperspace. With their tiny hulls between him and the glowing sun, they had not been visible for an instant, and they had been performing a 'tumbling' routine, mimicking, slow-moving asteroids. Alex had half noticed them and half ignored them. They had got the first shot in, then overflown the Cobra. Now, they grouped behind as Alex punched up maximum speed, and scanned space for them. 'here they come ...' The shields screamed as laser fire played off them. Beam lasers? Those ships were well equipped. But then, so now was the Nemesis, the dramatic name that he and Elyssia had given to their ship. Alex checked the rear monitor and lined up the firing window. He stabbed out two bursts of fire from the newly installed aft-laser. The pirate ships veered apart, one of them struck. As he had them on the screen, he targeted a missile. A missile from one of the attacking craft began to weave towards them, and his screen flashed with warning. Alex operated the Nemesis's ECM, and after an agonisingly long few seconds the incoming missile vanished in a burst of heat and light. The hull screeched and Alex dived. He noticed that the shields had begun to put a drain on the first energy unit. Elyssia sat calm and quiet while Alex handled the situation. Ahead of them, the planet edged closer, rising and falling and spinning in a dizzying way as Alex fought for a better combat position. Then instinct took over. He looped the Cobra a full 180 degrees and raced head-on at the pirate vessel that had been behind him. Now he could see that it was a Fer-de-lance, a sleek, fast ship that was probably loaded down with sophisticated navigational and defence equipment that had been installed by the original owner. Or maybe not ... such equipment took cash to maintain, and this ship had seen battle service aplenty. As pirate and Alex closed, Alex took a chance. they had only four missiles and one was targeted. He punched for fire and the Cobra jolted as the deadly sting shot across space. It reached its target and the Fer-de-lance literally disappeared. Had it hyperspaced? No. When Alex activated the rear screen, he saw the spreading ash cloud, a silvery glimmer against the stars ... 'Good shooting!' Elyssia said enthusiastically. Through the cloud of metal and ash came the other ship. Alex looped again. A laser strike depleted the aft shield even more. But now that the enemy knew that its prey had an anti-missile system, it was going to try and dogfight Alex to destruction. This ship was a Cobra too. It's fuel-scoop gaped, ready to suck up the canisters of precious Shanaskilk fur from the wreckage of the shattered trader. Alex had other ideas. Again, Xezaor was ahead of them. rear-shooting, Alex ducked and darted towards safety, and the pirate weaved a snaking pattern against the star- field behind. Alex targeted a missile - 'Save it if you can ...' Elyssia breathed. 'I know,' said Alex. 'But at least we can afford a replacement ...' We won't afford the fuel scoop then,' Elyssia reminded him, and they both laughed. At a time like this, worried about their shopping list! The space station, and the safety it afforded with its own fighter defences, was too far away. Alex veered sharply sunwards, and dropped his forward velocity dramatically. the pursuing ship copied the first movement precisely, but took a few seconds to orientate to the second. It overshot. Before it knew what was happening it was no longer the hunter but the hunted. 'Go, Alex, go!' Elyssia shouted, as Alex shot off pulse after pulse of laser fire. the Cobra on the screen ducked and weaved, but Alex was equal to it, hardly thinking, just reacting. the temperature of his forward laser began to rise dangerously. The Cobra ahead of them launched a missile at them, and Alex shot it, not even bothering to program the ECM. Elyssia gasped at the cheek of that, and glanced at the young man in whose hands her life was being so capably held. A moment later it was all over. The pirate exploded, his screen energy finally exhausted. Alex saw the wink and flash of a jetissoned escape pod and for a second - Remembering the beam of fire that had destroyed his own escape craft, remembering the savage destruction of the Avalonia ... - he was tempted to go in pursuit. His better judgement prevailed. Around them, cargo cannisters tumbled like sycamore seeds. 'And us with no scoop to pick them up!' Elyssia muttered. Alex grinned. 'We claim two. that's quite a bounty.' Elyssia looked down at him as he sat and guided the ship towards Xezaor. 'Alex, you're a natural. It's an honour to ride the stars with you.' No-one had said a word, neither of them commented on it: the fact that this had been Alex's first solo combat! ----------- CHAPTER SIX They had been trading now for three standard months, and their Cobra craft, the Nemesis, was was scarcely recognisable as the tomb-place of Trader Henry Bell. With new insignia, new welding, new colour and the pods and swellings of the armaments housings, it began to look like a fighter. Three months a trader. And not for one hour of one day of those months had Alex forgotten the reason behind this way of life. Something - someone - disguised as a trader had killed his father, and done it's best to kill him. His father had led a double life, and according to the oldest relic in the Galaxy, had deputised his son to follow in his star path. Alex Ryder was not about to fail his father in that wish. There were so many questions, so much grief, so much anger. And for Elyssia too, although the Teorgeon woman rarely showed the emotion that Alex sensed was bubbling just below the surface of her cool, wise-cracking exterior. They were facing a task together, a task of growing, of becoming strong. There would have to be a time of waiting, and both were accepting that time with as much silent patience as they could muster. But it was not easy, not easy for wither of them. And for Alex, with blood on his hands at last ... not easy at all ... The skirmish with the two pirate ships had scraped the paint a little, and loosened several hull plates, necessitating a trip to a service station where, because of their bounty hunting, the work would almost certainly be performed free of charge. Though this had been Alex's first solo combat, it had not been their first battle. Elyssia would have qualified for 'dangerous' status had she been eligible for a rating. As it was, her rating - on the evidence of the Nemesis's skirmishing - had been assigned to Alex. Now, for the first time, Alex felt he had taken a substantial step towards proving that he genuinely deserved that particular classification. Still at the astrogation console, he guided the ship to within a thousand kilometres of the surface of the dying world, so close that the planet filled everything in the forward vision screen. At dead slow approach speed he finally looped around and there, slowly spinning before them - a glittering metal cube - was the space station, its access bay, a wide rotating mouth. 'Oh for a docking computer ...' Alex murmured as he began to match rotation and slowly approached. 'Waste of money ...' Elyssia chided. 'If you can't dock without losing your paintwork, you shouldn't be in space.' Alex was a great flier. but snaking neatly into the reception bay of a Coriolis station was his greatest weakness. He made it, though, and once inside the vast hanger space, magnetic traction drew the Nemesis slowly to a vacant berth. AutoCom links snaked out and clamped to its hull. Alex watched the bustle in this great, brightly-lit void, the customs ships, the police Vipers, the advertising modules, the repair modules, all moving slowly in the cube-space, touting for business. Elyssia hid in the escape pod as usual. Alex declared his cargo, and received confirmation of his bounty killings, and notification of his bonus: thirty credits! That exactly covered the cost of a new missile. When all the check-ins, log-ins and identity verifications had been run, Elyssia emerged from hiding. The escape capsule had been their first priority, and they had bought one second hand for four-hundred credits. They didn't intend to use it anyway, except to screen off Elyssia's unfortunate and unwelcome origins. Now began the routine of business. Selling, then deciding where to trade next, and what to buy to take with them. Trading is very much a hit and miss profession. With certain high demand, high turnover products, a small profit can usually be guaranteed - foodstuffs, textiles, simple machinery, simple luxuries. but the ship's running costs, and an occasional space skirmish, can soon eat up such profits, making the whole exercise essentially worthless. There is no way of knowing trade prices at other systems.Each planetary state jealously guards its stock-market information, and there are heavy penalties for faxing the market prices of any item beyond orbit-space. Prices change, too. Speculators lurk in every system, no matter how poor. that tonne of frozen bladderlash that would have fetched eight credits a month ago on Ceinzala, against a buying prices of three from its homeworld Reorte, will suddenly be worth only two. The demand for bladderlash had not lessened. The speculators have made a secret killing, and fixed up the market. Hit and miss. Alex and Elyssia had been lucky so far. they had carried Vargorn mind- silk between Rexebe and Inera and doubled their initial hundred credits. They had ferried gold-flakes of Geretean reptiles and only just covered their costs. They had supplied twenty tonnes of sunflower seeds to the grotesque amphibioid inhabitants of Bierle, to who sunflower seeds were a particular delicacy, only to find that a mass, mind-induced mutation had occured throughout the entire planetary population, changing their taste buds ... The search was now on for the new delicacy to delight the palates of the Bierleans. Lubrication oil had come close, and lavender scented tissue paper. But somewhere there was a real profit to be made. One day. One year. Moving machinery from high-tech worlds to middle-tech worlds was also unexpectedly profitable, and demand for luxuries was always high on evolving industrial worlds. But on Xezaor the Shanaskilk furs (bought at thirty galactic credits the tonne) were likely to be at their best bet yet. Alex nervously called up the buying price at Xezaor. He whooped with triumph as he saw that he and Elyssia had tripled their money. This time, in the hit and miss game, they had hit lucky. They sold the furs without trouble. Then Alex called up the price list at Xezaor of ship and armaments equipment. The new missile was the standard thirty credits. He ordered one and a small robot scuttled off to fetch the permitted weaponry. Beam lasers were one thousand credits, and the temptation to invest in one was strong. The price of the fuel and cargo scoop which the Nemesis so badly needed was extortionately high, at five hundred and twenty-five credits. But an energy bomb cost nearly twice as much! Of course a fuel scoop could be used for salvage, as well as topping up their fuel banks by sun-skimming. so it was a good investment, even at one hundred credits over the odds. Alex ordered one. Delivery and fitting would take twenty hours, a standard day. Alex fuelled the ship, next, and stocked up with Xezaorian delicacies. They had three hundred and twenty galactic credits left with which to buy trade stock, an uncomfortably low sum. On the other hand, their ship now had extra defensive shields, four-directional targetting of lasers and missiles, an anti-missile system and a fuel scoop. They were more than half way to becoming a battle cruiser. Elyssia scanned the planet's market list with Alex. For all that Xezaorians liked exotic things, they had precious little to offer. Two narcotics were available - arcturan burstweed and, strangely, tobacco - and Alex thought hard about them. 'Surely we could get away with tobacco ...' 'Uh-huh.' Elyssia murmured. 'No way. Nicotine is deadly, even in low doses, to many races.' 'If we carried it to a human world?' 'Still too risky.' Minerals were on offer, but were pricy. Durassion - one of the ores that could be refined and 'time-stressed' to give duralium for ship's hulls - was available at eight credits the tonne, and that would sell exceptionally well at Lave ... but Lave was many light years away, now, and any dura-ore could bottom-out on a standard day when a new richer ore was found. Too risky. Gemstones? there were maroon and silver spectonals for sale, and red- green emeronds. A pirate convoy would smell such booty from two light years away. As for the curiousity market there were two hundred fossilised Dironothaxaurian life-bones on offer, at forty credits each. 'Ever heard of them?' Elyssia asked. Alex said, 'I've seen one. And heard one. In a museum on my homeworld. they sing. They're over forty million years old, and still they sing; waiting for something, a hatching, or a change of climate. They're bones from the pelvic region, so they could be incubation pods. Nobody knows ...' 'Are they valuable?' 'Very. Exactly by how much I don't know.' 'Check it for restrictions ...' Alex did so. There were no known import restrictions, or potential legal violations involved in trading in these fossilised animal bones. 'Better than food - ' Alex said. 'Any day,' Elyssia agreed. 'So we go for it ...' 'I suppose so.' But as Alex began to key into the trade-centre to purchase the goods, the console flashed the words, 'Incoming message ...' 'Rafe!' Alex said. And Elyssia too seemed excited at the prospect of seeing and talking with Rafe Zetter again. But it was not the wizened, crusty old space trader who appeared on the screen as Alex accepted the call. Nothing like. It was a human being, and not a humanoid alien that faced them. But what had happened to its face was beyond description. there were many ways to change ordinary human looks to nightmarish caricatures of the same: flying too close to certain stars, being exposed to the interstellar vacuum too often, working in certain ore and mineral mines ... But Alex, as he stared at the lumpy, grey swellings that swathed this person's flesh, could not imagine what grotesque disaster had befallen the caller. Lips like quivering gossamer wings trembled in the grey flesh. A hand, skeletal and crippled, shot through with bright red blood vessels, touched the wispy ginger hair that grew in a bizarre floral circle around the deformed head. 'Are you Ryder?' The voice, at least, was normal. And male. 'Identify yourself, caller.' Ignoring the question the other man went on, 'What're you trading in this time? Minerals? Specialities?' 'What's it to you?' 'Whatever it is you're thinking of buying, I can do you a better deal.' 'I wouldn't trade with you if I was running hot from a supernova.' The human grinned 9or so it seemed). 'Rafe Zetter would. How come you're so fussy?' 'You know Rafe?' Alex asked, perturbed and puzzled by the grotesque man's invocation of the friendly name. 'Me and half the Universe.' The deformed man leaned closer to the monitor. his features filled the screen totally. 'Parasites.' 'I'm sorry?' 'These things. This ...' tapping his face. 'Parasites. Spider worms. I did a stint in the pen. on Dykstra's world, and the little buggers took a liking to me. These are the larvae, about two million of them. They'll hatch out in about ten years, and that'll be the end of me. I sort of hope I'm at a dinner party with someone I don't like, at the time, but you can't plan for these things. I don't blame you for not trusting me ...' Pale eyes glittered from beneath the heavy, pulsating folds of grey flesh. 'But don't judge by appearances. Alex - it is Alex, isn't it? I mean, for hell's sake tell me if I've got the wrong number ...' 'I'm Alex Ryder.' 'And I'm Patrick McGreavy. I'll say just two things to you. the first is this: when you kill the snake, you'll lay a ghost that's haunted me for more than five years. I'm not a flier. What I am doesn't matter. There are more people like me than all the sunflower seeds you've traded in your life. People who need vengeance. People who can't do it for themselves. Kill the snake and you'll do a service to us all.' Alex couldn't help the wry smile that touched his lips, even though he had rarely felt less like smiling. He felt as if he were being manoeuvred, manipulated, like a robot ship, an autoremote, programmed to fly in endless, mindless circles. What the hell was going on? He was jason ryder's son, and until three months ago his best combat experience had been in a SimCombat trainer. His pilot's license had hardly dried. And somehow, despite all of this, he had been chosen as nemesis to exact a savage vengeance from a ship that was certainly far more than a simple - and simply deadly - pirate. There were people watching him, and waiting on him, their fingers crossed, their breath held. Why him? Why him? (and Elyssia ...) 'Okay,' he said quietly. 'I get the message. You said "two things".' 'Right. Rafe told you to trade in Shanaskilk fur, as soon as you could afford it. Am I right?' He was right. It was one of Rafe's last pieces of advice to Alex, and Alex had not forgotten it. McGreavy went on, 'When Rafe told you to do that he was sending you to me. You've got to get an iron ass. You've got to trade in something really worthwhile. unship and fly across to South City, to the private traders' centre in the Magellan Building.' 'I've already got an "iron ass",' Alex said. 'You think so, do you? Do it anyway. Take a chance. Make your way to the Magellan Building, South City ...' After a moment's hesitation, and with a glance at Elyssia, who just shrugged and nodded, Alex agreed. A Coriolis station is nothing less than a vast city built on six planes and spread, around the wide empty sky of its interior, facing inwards. From South City, the roof of the world is North City. At night, the lights that glow above your head are the lights of streets and buildings. Alex checked out of the ship's berth and took a sky taxi across the void. the tint automatic ship slid delicately and smoothly between the incoming and outgoing ships. Alex watched in fascination as the towering buildings of South city dropped away below and the grey sky edged closer. To his left, he could see the pattern of streets and parklands on the inhabited plane known as Commander City. facing the entrance to the station, on that particular level lived the high ranking officials and various planetary envoys and ambassadors. They enjoyed a landscape which included lakes, rivers and ski-slopes with real snow. Below him, the Nemesis became a tiny dart-shape on the broad landing pad. Above him, the towering offices and living blocks reached down towards him like geometrical stalactites. There was an abrupt moment's disorientation and suddenly the roof was the ground and now the Nemesis was a single, winking light in the heavens. The taxi dropped swiftly to street level, between the grey and black monolithic structures. lights of different colours blinked and shone, and when the atmosphere began, a strange dusty shimmer seemed to envelop the city. The streets were crowded here and it took Alex only moments to realise that the South City of this particular Coriolis station was the 'down town' area. Illegal trade abounded, in narcotics, robots, slaves, sensuastims, prostitution and frozen organs. Spacers, walked slowly, cautiously, most of them still wearing near-full suit, a certain sign that this was the rough quarter. Hookers, of all sexes (the Galaxy counted seventeen at this time) and races, but mostly humanoid, solicited from hovering platforms, ready to escape fast from any over-welcoming, unwelcome client. Advertising hoardings here were almost completely devoted to proclaiming the illicit pleasures which were available in South City. police cars and remotes roared overhead, as did med-ships. The streets were alive with noise and bustle and filth. The Magellan Building, a dark, squat cube, sat amongst this confusion like a great, brooding monster. It had no visible windows. Lifts rose and fell on its outer walls, slow-moving green lights that gave it an uncanny sense of being alive. Alex had come without a hand weapon, and now began to regret it. Practically everyone - and everything - he saw carried a gun, in contradiction of orbit-space law. He walked cautiously through the crowds of reptiloids, cloaked amphibioids, armoured insectoids, squat, bristling felines, and the grotesque robo-tanks in which things that looked like giant molluscs, or worms, or branches of heather, moved within the safety of their own environment. He entered the Magellan building and noticed the stench for the first time, the combined body odours of a thousand alien life-forms; suprisingly  some - those who drank raw methane gas - managed to excrete sweat that smelled as sweet as apple blossom. But most did not. The private trading centre was a vast hall, surrounded by the entrances to offices and warehouses. What was sold in this crowded, noisy place, was anything that was considered too risky, or bizarre, or commonplace to sell on the open market. The trader who loaded up his cargo bay from a private purchase had better check with the planet's export monitoring system before leaving, or his reception, at the other end, might be a little more violent than he'd expected. Alex scanned the high walls for a hint of McGreavy's warehouse. As he did so, he found himself standing behind two tall, violent-looking insect- forms, their bodies armoured in light grey, their facetted eyes swivelling to stare at him as they talked together, chelicerae clashing and clacking in the peculiar mode of communication. Alex stepped away, heart beating, blood rushing to his head. Compound eyes, jointed limbs, head antennae, double cutting jaws ... Thargoids! Here, on a space station! Thargoids were deadly. Thargoid spacers had their fear-glands removed, and were considered to be the most effective and potent of mankind's enemies. The bounty for killing a Thargoid was huge, and for capturing, and delivering the juvenile form, the Tharglet, to any Space Navy research centre, even greater. What were they doing here? The Thargoids chatted together and watched Alex coldly. Alex noticed that each had an appendage resting on its thoracic plate, where they holstered their hand-lasers. 'Back off,' a voice whispered, and Alex turned. McGreavy stood there blinking through his deformities. Alex had not grasped how short the man was; he only came up as far as Alex's chest. 'Thargoids ...' he whispered. 'Bullshit,' McGreavy said, and dragged Alex away. 'They're Oresrians, and the one thing that can make an Oresrian deadly is being confused the way you've just confused them, with their deadly enemies the Thargoids. Check the thorax markings and the shape of the fourth joint on each hind leg before you jump to conclusions again ...' Alex followed McGreavy gratefully, away from the whispering insects. McGreavy's warehouse was small, cramped and smelly. Alex followed him through into the dimly lit interior, and felt a pang of discomfort as the grotesque little man closed the doors behind them. In several large, transparent crates, peculiar creatures shuffled and murmured, excited at the sudden disturbance. 'Are these what you have to offer?' Alex asked in a low voice. McGreavy chuckled. he walked over to the nearest crate and brought up the light, to illuminate more clearly the odd creature within. Alex stared. The creature was vaguely familiar, but the memory refused to come. It had a thick shell, patterned neatly, and limb holes at regular intervals around this bony house. For the moment the beast was securely hidden within its protective environment. 'What are they?' 'Mymurths,' McGreavy said. 'If they seem familiar its because they're astonishingly like an animal of Old Earth: the tortus, as I believe it was called. These things have two heads, four legs, and two anterior organelles that seem to serve no purpose. They're named for the planet of their origin. Mymurth. But you'll be shipping them to Cirag. The Ciragians have a special relationship with the Mymurth.' 'They eat them?' Alex guessed. 'They worship them,' McGreavy corrected with a twitch of his flimsy lips. 'Worship?' McGreavy nodded. 'To the Cirag race, the Mymurth are the reincarnations of gods. A particular sort of god, called an 'avatar'. The animal form of a god. The Mymurth look very like the legendary avatars of Ciragian religion and mythology. They're from another world, of course, and have no connection with Cirag at all. But any Ciragian family will give a small fortune to have a living Mymurth in its temple.' Alex was fascinated and intrigued. The bulky creatures moved sluggishly about, their fleshy pink limbs emerging from the shells to propel them through the slush that filled their cages. 'How much is a small fortune?' 'Each of these will fetch a hundred credits. Maybe more. And i have twenty-eight. twenty-eight hundred credits. that'll but you all the shields and weaponry you need ...' 'Why not trade them yourself?' McGreavy laughed sourly. 'With my record? You must be joking. No thanks. It takes me half a standard year to get a pen full of these things, and Rafe Zetter usually has a customer for me, someone like yourself who needs credit fast, to perform a certain act ... of violence ...' Alex found himself staring at the bright eyes of the hideous face before him. He was no longer overly concious of the deformities, or of the pulsating life that existed just below the man's skin. He was aware only of the fact that he wanted - needed - to trust this aquaintance of Rafe's, and yet didn't. 'Make me an offer I can't refuse,' McGreavy said, and hard reality hit Alex again. He said, 'Three hundred.' McGreavy chuckled and shook his head. 'The idea is that you make the profit. You won't do that offering me three times what you're likely to make for a Mymurth.' 'I meant ... three hundred for the lot.' For a second McGreavy stood in silence, staring at the younger man. 'Is this a joke?' 'No joke. I have three hundred credits in the world. You've got the wrong boy, McGreavy.' 'You just sold a cargo load of Shanaskilk fur!' 'And bought weapons and a fuel scoop. I bought the furs at a loss to begin with. I'm no trader McGreavy. I'm a combateer. I did tell you.' Alex looked down at the Mymurth. 'I'll buy eight off you. How's that?' 'I sell the lot, or not at all. I want fifteen hundred credits for them. Rafe said you'd come through ...' 'Rafe was wrong. Shift them through some other sucker ...' Alex turned to go. McGreavy's whimper of panic was almost funny to hear. 'I save these things up for Rafe. Who else is going to trade in Mymurth?' 'I'll take ten off your hands, for three hundred credits. The more you stall, the less I'll offer.' Alex was enjoying this. 'I need to shift the lot. To Cirag.' Where was Cirag, Alex wondered. It was not a name that rang any bells. 'Then you'll have to trust me,' he said. 'Like you trust Rafe. I'll give you a down payment of three hundred against one third of what I get at Cirag. I'll come back and pay you off.' McGreavy stared at him in silence; the man's breathing was laboured. 'One third will hardly cover my outlay. Fifty percent.' 'Forty percent,' Alex said. 'And no further bargaining.' The Mymurth shuffled anxiously. McGreavy shrugged with defeat. He summoned the vid-witness, and the two men signed the agreement. Twenty- eight Mymurth for sale to Cirag, forty percent of the proceeds to be returned to Pat McGreavy at South City, Coriolis 7, Xezaor. If McGreavy was right, and the money was forthcoming from the religious nutcases on Cirag ... Where was Cirag? ... The Nemesis could be equipped with beam lasers, extra missiles, extra shield energy units, and an energy bomb, and the hunt could begin in earnest. Alex returned to his ship to report the day's trading. ------------- CHAPTER SEVEN They had been set up, of course. And in a way, they went into the set-up gamely. Alex checked up on the planet Cirag and discovered that it was not listed with the Official Planetary Register. That was the reason for its unfamiliar name. Not to be registered was not in itself unusual. Only inhabited worlds were listed. There were millions of uninhabited star systems of use to miners, traders and explorers, which could only be located by reference to the Galactic Gazatteer of Worlds. But Cirag was inhabited by intelligent beings. That meant just one thing: Cirag was an independant world, had refused Federation Status, was dangerous, probably deadly, most likely the haven for freebooters and criminals, and almost certainly a system in which the general principle of 'laser first, talk second' was applied. 'We've got to be crazy ...' Elyssia said. Alex agree, 'Could Cirag be Raxxla? Could it be the world my father mentioned before he died?' 'No way. Cirag is Cirag, and Raxxla - if it exists - is in another Galaxy; you know the legends. Cirag is just a hell-hole of a world, by the sounds of it. Give the guy his turtles back. Let's trade life-bones.' But Alex said no. Something about the whole deal, about the way he felt manipulated, guided, had whet his appetite for this venture. There was good money to be made, and the Nemesis could finally equip itself to perfection. And the hunt could begin. Vengeance could begin. 'It's hit or miss, right? And in Rafe's eloquent language, we'll not know a goddam about any failure.' 'We've got to be crazy ...' Elyssia repeated. 'Let's not talk to any strangers, at least ...' Out of Witch-Space. The planet Cirag floated before them, a pastel yellow world, the dark markings upon its surface - mountains, probably, or deserts - forming a pattern that reminded Alex of bones. At nineteen light years from Xezaor, the Nemesis had made two refuelling stops, and as they came into System Space they had energy enough for a two-light-year jump only. The nearest world, Alex knew, was more than twice that distance away. No matter. With their new fuel scoop they would simply transit the sun's corona, and recharge the fuel cells. Cirag's sun was a large, yellow star, old, but with much life left in it yet. It was active, too. As Elyssia - at the astrogation console - turned towards it, so two immense streamers of fire were erupting from its surface, whirlpools of plasma that were spectacular when seen through the Nemesis' polarising filters. 'Let's catch some of that heat,' Elyssia said, and punched for top speed. The Nemesis surged forward. But they flew for no more than a minute. 'Holy Mother of the Stars!' Alex stared at the scanner screens and felt his stomach turn over. The bright marks there were so large that they could only be Boa or Anaconda class cruisers. They had formed an attack pattern, four large ships, surrounded by the darting points of light that was its fighter escort. On the viewscreen, against the glowing sun, the assault group were dark smears, rapidly closing. 'Boas,' Elyssia said. 'They're set up as fighter cruisers, by the look of it. At least they're slow. Hang on ...' Alex gripped his seat, then grimaced as he fell for the same trap that his father had always set for him. But this time it was as well that he secured himself. The universe shifted; his body organs did somersaults. Elyssia feigned an escape loop, and the fighters - Mambas by the looks of them - broke formation and went into the scatter mode that meant pursuit. But Elyssia completed the loop to come full back against the looming pirate craft. She sailed under the belly of the leader with as much calm and cheek as you please. It belly-shot at them, and she rolled the Cobra so that she could side-strafe back. All along the Boa's under-belly, shards and sparks flew brightly where the shields were lowered around the laser housings. 'Markings are unfamiliar ...' Alex said. There had been black and green flags with bright sunbursts on them, and non-terrestrial ideographs on the sides. 'Intentions very familiar ...' Elyssia breathed. Behind them, two of the Mambas were closing fast. Pulses of laser fire made eerie streaks in the dark circle of space around the glowing sun ahead of them. The huge ships had turned too, and were accelerating towards them. Elyssia made it clear, without speaking, that they'd never reach the star and have time to refuel. Alex, never taking his eyes from the scanners, knew as much. Elyssia rolled the Cobra and turned to fight. She targeted a missile and dispatched it on the turn, and the nearest fighter became a glittering dust cloud. The other streaked fire across the forward shields, and the Nemesis shuddered and whined. Two stabs of her finger on the side-fire button, and the second mamba tumbled, its shield still up, its pilot disorientated by the unexpected hit. Elyssia closed in for the kill. Killed. On of the Boas loomed large from the darkness. It was rolling slowly, and beams of light played from its spike nose. Elyssia targeted a missile. Sweat ran freely from her face, and her hands were white with tension. Alex, feeling helpless, gripped the sides of his chair, leaning forward, jumping and starting in sympathy with every sudden movement, every avoiding action. The Boa ECM'd the missile before it had gone a tenth of the distance between the two ships. the Nemesis slid smoothly along its belly and again turned side on, strafing the sensitive underparts as it matched the giant's slow roll. And then it happened. From somewhere, out of nowhere, pulsing laser fire made a direct aft hit on them. the Nemesis shuddered and stuttered and was forced into a rapid, dizzying roll. Alex swore, feeling his body wrenched by the seat harness. The shock had nearly taken his head off. He straightened up, assessing the situation: there were two Mambas behind, and they were closing rapidly on the maw of an Anaconda; it hovered there in the void, like a giant net waiting to swallow them. 'Let's see you get out of this ...' Alex said loudly, and glanced at Elyssia to see why she was running so straight. She was slumped in her chair; Blood flowed freely from her scalp and nose. Her eyes were closed. She must have had her seat belt too loosely fastened, and had struck the console when the Cobra bucked. Alex leaped from his co-pilot's seat and literally wrenched the woman free, throwing her to the floor. this was no time for courtesy. he buckled in, stabbed fire at the Anaconda's ram-scoop, then overflew, dodging laser and outrunning a missile, which then closed on him with alarming speed before he was able to destroy it. The planet Cirag was ahead of them once more. he began to run for safety, and then thought an alarming thought: what guarantee did he have that the Coriolis station would protect him if he got in range? He had no such guarantee. The space stations were as likely to be against him as the ships that pursued him. But if he could let them know what he carried, if he could communicate that he carried their god creatures, perhaps they would send their fighters to keep the freebooters at bay. To his right a Mamba appeared out of nowhere. he rolled the Nemesis and shot from his rear laser, then slowed speed, span and strafed the killer vessel from his port gun, watching the mamba tumble out of control, not destroyed, just dead. If he could only release the cargo, jettison the cannisters containing the Mymurth life-systems, perhaps the pursuit would end. He and Elyssia would be out of pocket by three hundred credits, but so what? Neither he nor Elyssia were elite, yet. He might feel like an elite combateer, but faced with this sort of - A Mamba strafed him. Shields screamed. he targeted a missile, but used side-fire to battle with the attacker ... - faced with this sort of pressure, neither of them could survive. Elyssia came round, staggered to her feet and stared, through blood- encrusted eyes, at the combat. Cirag came closer. A tiny spinning point of silver light winked and beckoned to them, but the sight of it did not fill Alex with joy. 'There must be more than Mymurth in those cannisters ...' Elyssia said quietly. 'Let's discuss it later,' Alex retorted, as he rolled and veered to escape the fire coming from the closest of the big ships. The woman left the bridge. hanging on for dear life, she went down to the cargo bay ... And suddenly the attack finished. Alex nearly jumped with suprise. One moment his tail had been hot, and his port laser almost at exploding point. the next, nothing. The heavy lights of the massive pirate ships dropped away into the background. tow of the Mambas continued to dog his tail for a moment, firing last, optimistic bursts of fire. Then they vanished, streaking away into darkness, away from the sun. Alex slowed the Nemesis and checked damage levels. They were not seriously hurt, but two missiles were gone, and energy levels were low. Their cargo was intact, however, and if the pirates had backed off this close to the world, it could only mean that Cirag would defend its visitors. Elyssia came back onto the bridge, holding the small, black box that was a thru-Vis camera. 'They look like turtles. They stink like turtles. They're as boring as turtles. But I've taken a couple of Thru-Vis shots, just to see if anything else is hiding in there ...' 'Good idea. let's see?' 'Two or three minutes ...' She placed the camera down, sat back in the co-pilot's seat and looked at him. 'You okay?' Alex nodded. 'Shaken. How about you?' 'Bruised, bloody but unbowed. We in the safe zone?' 'Looks that way.' The Coriolis station span gently before them, bright with sunlight, casting its shadow on the patchy grey and yellow of the huge world below. Several ships were tethered to buoys close by. They looked safe enough. Lights flashed on the Station. Everything gleamed, everything welcomed. Alex sailed gracefully past the immense flying city, then turned to face the entrance. But there was no entrance. 'What in God's ...?' He sat there, motionless in space, rotation matched with the Coriolis, facing blank metal. By zooming in he could see the shape of the entrance, closed, now, protectively. 'Afraid of strangers?' Elyssia suggested. 'We need fuel badly. They'd better not be too afraid ...' Then the crackle of an audio message coming in. On the screen, only the space station, with stars and the sun behind. 'Identify, identify. This is Cirag Orbit Space.' 'Cobra class trader, the Nemesis,' Alex said. 'We have a cargo of Mymurth. Open the gates.' There was silence for a while, through the channel remained open because it continues to hiss and crackle. Then: 'Attention, Nemesis. Mymurth trade in Coriolis stations is prohibited.' 'What?' 'Release your cargo before coming aboard. Release cargo. You will be compensated.' Alex glanced at Elyssia. 'What the hell do we do?' 'Sounds unprofessional to me,' the woman said. 'Sounds a little fishy ...' She picked up the camera and removed the developed and printed film. Staring at the two prints for a moment, she suddenly seemed to realise what she was looking at and gasped. 'Oh my Sweet World ...' she said slowly, and passed the prints to Alex. On the screen, the entrance to the space station began to open slowly. two lights shone there, likes eyes, tiny in the dark void space beyond. Alex looked at the Thru-Vis pictures and for a second couldn't comprehend the grotesque sights he saw. Looking through the bodies of the Mymurth, the camera had picked up the spider-like lifeforms that were living inside the shuffling, harmless turtle-forms. The sight was discomforting, jointed legs seemed to be reaching out into every limb, and every body space. the central black body was shiny, and from it peered a number of bloated, faceted eyes. Two long, bristly tendrils stretched into the Mymurth's brains from each of these hideous parasites. 'What are they?' Alex whispered, and Elyssia said, 'Trouble. They're immature Thargoids.' Alex felt his heart quicken. Tharglets! He was transporting Tharglets, the larval forms of one of the most deadly life-forms in the known galaxy! Set-up? Being set-up hardly began to describe the way they'd been duped on Xezaor! No wonder the pirates closed in so ravenously ... 'There's good bounty on Tharglets. The navy pay well, for research purposes.' 'They're also deadly; and they make ideal mercenary fighters if trained and developed. We've been carrying fighters for Cirag. Pirate fighters. No wonder they was to destroy us. They won't want any evidence left of this ...' Alex stared at the space station. For a moment Elyssia's word just went in and didn't register. he was thinking of the pirates who had attacked, and who had been beaten back ... He was thinking that the danger was over ... they were at a Coriolis station, and the only danger now was illegal trading ... He was thinking safety ... He watched as the bright eyes slid forward, out of the space port. Behind the eyes came the bulky shape of the ship to which they were attached. Behind the ship came light, brightly lit, a gleaming yellow beam that cast the shadow of the ship against the Nemesis... The shadow of a snake. The Cobra! He would have known that ship anywhere. It was months since he had seen it, but not a night had passed when the shape of it, when the evil of it, had not infested his dreams. The ship that had destroyed the Avalonia came slowly towards him and he had no doubt at all as to its identity. And not had Elyssia. She sucked in her breath and moved towards the console. 'I want him. Let me take the controls ...' 'Sit down,' Alex said coldly, and Elyssia turned angrily on him. 'I have as much stake as you ...' 'Luck of the draw,' Alex said. 'the pilot of that ship killed my father ...' 'Killed my whole family! We were escaping Teorge, and we asked that ship for help, for supplies. It took my sister and myself as slaves, and blasted my family's vessel to pieces. I escaped. My sister didn't. Alex, I want that bastard.' 'Too late ...' Fire blossomed from the front of the Cobra. The Nemesis rocked and rattled. Alex targeted a missile, then stabbed laser fire back. The energy spread over the Cobra's screens like a bright yellow flower. It accelerated towards them. Alex accelerated too, but rose over the killer, and over the space station. We can't fight it! We've not got the weapons, nor the defences. Not yet. Damn! What should we do? On the rear screen, Alex saw the sombre shape of the killer rising above the Coriolis station. A flash of light presaged the warning INCOMING MISSILE, and Alex targeted the ECM to destroy it. As he did so, he turned. The two ships tore past each other, majestic metal galleons, raking each other with fire before turning and approaching again. Twice they duelled in this way. The Nemesis groaned beneath the weight of the laser strikes on its hull; the energy in its storage cells began to drain away. In Alex's mind there was only confusion. the Cobra knew him and wanted him and wouldn't let go. And this was the ship he wanted to kill ... But he wasn't equipped to kill it ... Not yet. Not yet! So despite Elyssia's objections, Alex turned and ran for the sun. the Cobra followed. The two ships manoeuvred and looped, slowed and speeded up. Whenever possible, Alex rear-lasered, and this had the effect of driving the Cobra back a little. It targeted and dispatched three more missiles, and Alex shot them down. he was tempted to think that that represented the full missile load of the Cobra, but he wisely avoided such complacency. His own missile remained targeted, ready to fly, but he imagined that it would meet a quick and pointless fate. The sun edged closer. It grew in size and majesty. The cabin temperature of the Nemesis rose. Immense arms of plasma curled out from the surface, like weird creatures rising above a molten sea. Alex flew towards one, fuel-scoop ready. The Cobra fired at him. Shields screeched. The duelling ships entered the realm of the Inferno ... Alex said, 'It's working. Look ...' The fuel gauge was edging up as the scoop sucked in raw plasma and converted it to the energy form needed for Witch-Space transit. he skimmed the Nemesis along the edge of the great ocean of fire. The arms of the corona was millions of miles long, thousands wide, and curling round, like a whirlpool. At its centre, there was a calm place, a place away from the heat and danger. Alex headed towards it. The cabin filled with an eerie brilliance in which shadows seemed to writhe and beckon. The sun was an unbearable glare. The temperature of the ship rose dramatically. Fire played about the hull, and the shields moaned and creaked. 'Not long,' Elyssia said. At last she too had come to realise that they were just not ready to fight the Cobra. They had to get out of here, and fast. The nearest star was six light years distant, their fuel gauge showed a jump capability of four, and rising ... In the calm sea, wrapped around by sunfire, the Nemesis hovered, and waited. Somewhere in the brilliant glow of the plasma arm the Cobra searched for them, but perhaps they were safe, now, safe from scanning, or from probing, since no electronic eye or ear could pierce the intense radiation field of the corona. 'Five light years and climbing. get ready to go, we're already targeted ...' 'I'm ready,' Alex said. He tried not to think of the consequences of such a long, unsupervised jump ... In the first instance they would just jump small distances, but they hyperdrive mechanism wouldn't tolerate too many such feeble movements. Alex turned the Nemesis so that it gently span in a circle, searching the flickering, shadowy fire for danger. 'Five point five light years. A minute more. Just sixty seconds ...' 'Just thirty seconds ... we're filling up lovely ...' The ship hummed. Alex dripped with sweat. 'Just twenty seconds more, Alex, and we can fly like star seed ...' On the scanners, the merest flicker of light hinted at the presence of the Cobra. It was on the other side of a strand of plasma; a curtain of fire seperated them. Nemesis and the killer stood motionless in space, facing each other through the great erupting wave of sunfire. 'We're ready to go,' Elyssia said. 'Alex. Go! Now!' Alex Ryder shrugged her off. 'No,' he said. 'Not yet ...' 'Alex!' He pushed the ship towards the fire. The flickering, ghostly image on the scanners moved too. Closing And with a sudden cry, Alex stabbed speed into the Nemesis' engines, and raced towards the veil of flame and plasma. All vision had gone. All he could see was his father's face; and the white ball of flame that had been the Avalonia ... All he could feel was grief, and anger, and hate ... All he knew was that he had a missile targeted on the Cobra, and that he had one last, desperate chance ... The ships closed. The distance between them was the distance of the plasma veil. It played on the hull of the Nemesis, and the shields screamed and complained. He could not go too deep ... Not too far in... Too dangerous ... He fired the missile. The tiny vessel sped into the sunfire, weaving and ducking as it homed on the Cobra. It didn't show on Alex's scanner. It didn't show on the Cobra's scanner. Not until it was too late ... The Cobra triggered its ECM. Alex saw the burst of brightness, the sudden detonation ... and then he saw the great fire ball that gyrated around the destroyed missile. Momentum, heat, plasma, fire ... all gathered together into a ball of death that swept from the corona and engulfed the Cobra. No shield known could stand against such intense energy, the raw energy of a sun, stung and screaming, blown into a great tidal wave of explosive terror. The Cobra bathed in light and fire. Alex watched the scanner, and suddenly ... The light was gone. The Cobra was dead. Destroyed. Gone forever. The Nemesis slowed and turned, went back to safety. No-one on the bridge said a word. But in the bright light of the ageing sun, tears glistened on two faces. ------------------- CHAPTER EIGHT: CODA The holoFac of Rafe Zetter gleamed and shimmered on the bridge of the Nemesis as if with pride. Behind it, the full face of Lave was a welcome and relaxing sight. The last of the Mymurth and their precious parasites had been off-loaded into two Navy Asp-type ships. The final payment had not yet been agreed, but the figure would not be less than on hundred credits per creature. 'I knew you could do it,' Rafe said, chewing happily and stroking his wispy sidewhiskers. 'Had to be sure. But was confident to get you to Cirag before you were ready.' 'We could have been killed,' Alex muttered. 'That system was crawling ...' 'But a good combateer, even an elite combateer, knows when to run, and how to run. I'm proud of you ... you ran and scored.' And as he spoke, so on the screen a message came through from the Galactic Police HQ on Lave Coriolis 6. Congratulations to Alex Ryder, and thanks on behalf of the Galactic Co- operative of Worlds for your efforts and skill in destroying pirate vessels as documented by you, and verified by on-board V-film. We have pleasure in assigning you the Combat Status of 'Deadly'. Your legal status of 'Offender' has been negated. You new rating as Deadly will be logged in the GalNetwork within a standard day. 'Select wisely in battle, and be strong.' So there it was. Alex was not yet twenty earth years of age, had come within one step of being rated more highly as a combateer than most people would even dream about. He was deadly; he had killed the Cobra; why the Cobra had killed his father Alex hadn't thought to ask ... of the ship's pilot, at least. He had guessed that the ship and its bounty killer pilot had simply been earning a wage. Instead, he said to rafe, 'Did you know the ship was at Cirag?' 'Had a good idea of it, Alex. That's why we sent the Tharglets with you. Nobody, but nobody - if they're a tad evil - can resist booty like that. I knew it would bring every freebooter for a light year after you, but I reckoned you could handle them. Most importantly, I was damn sure that your cargo would bring out the Cobra.' 'You fought well. You showed the sort of instinct for combat that I remember in Jason. He was right. You are the man to follow him.' 'Follow him where?' Rafe chuckled and shook his head. 'You see, that's the big question. Your father was chasing the mythical planet Raxxla. Does it exist, or does it not? If it does, then on Raxxla there's an alien construct that's a gateway to other Universes, and all that's in those Universes in the way of bounty, and treasures, and aliens, and life ...' 'Jason Ryder was convinced that Raxxla existed. That's why he trained for, and became part of, the Dark Wheel, the legend-seekers. I hadn't heard much from him or about him for some time until just before he died, when he told me he'd found evidence for the real existence of Raxxla. He came back from Deep Space to get a proper team together ...' Rafe smiled bitterly. 'But just before he was due to go back he decided to take a safe-worlds holiday jaunt with his son ... and an assassin was waiting for him.' 'But why?' Alex asked. 'Why kill him for finding Raxxla?' 'Because there are people on Raxxla already. This is only a guess mind you, but from what happened to Jason I'd say it was close to being right. We've long suspected that a corps of elites live there, and are exploiting the gateway. They're powerful, twisted men. Powerful enough to hire an assassin to kill the threat to their dominance.' Rafe leaned a little closer to Alex, his bright eyes gleaming, an intense look on his grizzled face. 'I've put you through your paces, Alex, you and Elyssia both. The Dark Wheel needs you. Both of you. But believe me, what you've just been through is nothing to what you face now. You've got to become elite, Alex. And that means a lot of training, and lot of fighting, and maybe a lot of months, even years. But then the Universe will open up before you in a way you never imagined possible.' Alex stood silent, thoughtful, watching the old man. In the corner, half in shadows, Elyssia stood and watched too, frightened by what she was hearing. 'Has the grief gone?' Rafe asked, and Alex nodded. The old trader smiled. 'How does it feel to be rich?' 'Empty,' Alex said, and Rafe Zetter laughed. 'You'll do for the Dark Wheel, Alex. You'll do ...' This is the ELITE novella - THE DARK WHEEL - typed for Sewer SoftWare by Mezzo! On earlier DOC DISCS you'll find the complete manual as well as hints and tips on gameplay - but this story really sets the atmosphere for what is arguably THE best game on this or any other machine! Due to size limitations this document has been split into 2 parts. The Dark Wheel - A novella by Robert Holdstock CHAPTER ONE From the moment that the trading ship, Avalonia, slipped its orbital berth above the planet Lave, and began to manoeuvre for the hyperspace jump point, its measureable life-span, and that of one of its two-man crew, was exactly eighteen minutes.The space station gently span away into the shadows and the small Ophidian class vessel shuddered as its motors angled it round towards the faraway jump. The planet Lave, below, rotated in blue-green splendour. There were storms moving across the Paluberion Sea, six great whorls of pink and white cloud. they were approaching the continental mass that was FirstFall, and promising a bleak and wet few days to the swathes of forest and the deep, snaking valleys that cut through the rugged land. The cities of both Humankind and Lavian glittered among the verdant blanket below, like bright shards of glass. Watching the lush world from his seat at the astrogation console, Alex Ryder expressed an audible sigh of regret that he had not been allowed down to the world himself. next to him, fingers moving expertly over the keys of the trader's ManOp console, his father grinned. Jason Ryder knew well enough the frustration of only being allowed to observe a rich and fabled world like Lave from orbit. he had been planetside once, an unforgettable experience...But the rules and regulations of the Galactic Co-operative of Worlds were strict - and sensible. Lave, like any other planet, was not a holiday resort, not a curiosity. it was a living, evolving world, and there were folk down below to whom that world was everything that Old earth had once been to the Human race. Protection. Mother. Home. Another time, another year, Alex thought. You earned your visit to Lave, and he had hardly begun his professional life. he still had so much to learn. The Ryders had been a trading family for three generations. it had begun with Ben Ryder, who had traded almost exclusively using shot-up pirate ships. Ben had lived life on the edge, and, one day, one night, one star year, he had not returned. Out in the void between the stars his grave was as remote as it was private, and would probably never be found. his son, and his grandson - who was Jason Ryder - had follow the family business. Alex would soon have to make the final decision: whether to sacrifice his life to shuttling cargo between the worlds of the Galactic Co-operative, or to train for a different profession. Let's be clear about trading. trading between worlds is no game for a youngster with ideas of getting rich quick. you can spend a lifetime carrying food, machinery and textiles, and at the end of that life you'll have enough saved up to buy you a patch of coastal land on an Earth-type world, and spend the rest of your days in quiet, isolated comfort. That's all. A lifetime of sweat and combat for an orbital shuttle, a home, and the clear blue of an alien sea at your doorstep. If you want more, there are ways of getting it: narcotics, slaves, zoo animals, weapons, political refugees ... trade in any of these things and wealth will tumble around you. And corsairs, and privateers, and pirates... And the police. The strain of the years of honest trading was already telling on Jason Ryder, but he had invested wisely, and this small, cargo-carrying, pleasure yacht was his pride and joy. he could get away from the trade lanes for a while (although he always respected the trader maxim that 'an empty hold means an empty head', and never travelled freight-less; today he was carrying thrumpberry juice, an exotic flavouring). He could show his son what space was really like, and whet the lad's appetite ... or let him see that a life in hard vacuum was one of the hardest lives of all. For his part, Alex ryder would need a lot more convincing. he was a tall, fair-haired young man, wiry and athletic. He was atmo-surfing champion on the Ryder homeworld, Ontiat, and very bright. Like all young men of his age he was reluctant to switch his status from that of student to professional, with all that that meant in terms of settling with one particular girl, one job, and beginning to plan for when, eventually, he would buy his own land. He still had a year to decide, a year of surfing, free-fall baseball, cloud barbecues, hi-falling, partner selection and Sim-Combat. He was in no hurry. Except that he loved space. Loved the flash of the sun on duralium hulls, the clutter and confusion of the space ports. Loved the idea o other worlds, of exploration, of path-finding. The voice of SysCon, which controlled all traffic flow in Lave's orbit- space, murmured softly, 'Avalonia, make a four-minute drift-flight to Faraway jump point.' 'Understood', Alex called back, and adjusted the auto accordingly. His father sat back and smiled, his job done for the moment. SysCon said, 'Enter Faraway jump along channel two seven, at forty-five orient.' 'Affirmed,' Alex said, and his father rolled the ship along its central axis, ready for the dangerous hyperspace transit. Everything looked good. On the rear monitor, where the planet shone brilliantly as it slowly moved through the heavens, a dark shadow drifted into vision: another ship, lining up for the Faraway jump. It was quite normal. Alex took no notice, more concerned about the impending transit through hyperspace. His father scrutinised the other vessel for a moment, the relaxed. He had no way of knowing that he only had fourteen minutes left alive. Making a Faraway jump in a system as complex and crowded as Lave is no simple business. A hundred eyes are watching you for the slightest mistake. Make a mistake in orbit-space and the next time you go to dock at one of the world's Coriolis space stations a big NOT WELCOME sign might flash in the vacuum before you. You slip your C-berth under the instruction of Station Space Monitor. Perhaps twenty ships are doing the same. You go when it's safe. You rotate, accelerate, decelerate and spin to the absolute second, both of time and arc. That way you get clear without two thousand tons of duralium trader rammed into your hyperspace jets. It isn't over. Now you're under supervision of HSA, Home Space Authority, and they'll jockey you safely about among the traders, and the yachts, and the ferries, and the shuttles, and the star-liners, and the arrow-shaped police patrol ships. All of these vessels slip and slide about you, streaks of silver in the darkness, flashing green and blue lights, sudden walls of grey metal that pass across your bows, winking yellow warning beacons. You move through this chaos and a new voice begins to call for attention. Now you're with the Faraway Orientation Systems Controller; FOSC - or SysCon - sets you up for the big jump. You're going to cover maybe seven light years in a few minutes, and you might think that's a lot of space to get lost in, but that isn't how it works. Faraway is a tunnel, like any other tunnel. Inside that tunnel is the realm called Witch-Space, a magic place, a place where the normal rules of the universe don't necessarily work. And every few thousand par-secs along the Witch-Space tunnel there are monitoring satellites, and branch lines, and stop points, and rescue stations; and passing by all of these are perhaps a hundred channels, a hundred 'lines' for ships to travel, each one protected against the two big dangers of hyperspace travel: atomic reorganization, and time displacement. Jump on your own through hyperspace, across more than half a light year, and you'll be lucky to make the same universe, let alone your destination. You might emerge from Witch-Space turned inside out (which is not a pretty sight). You might be stretched in all the wrong angles, and although the ship keeps travelling, that jelly mass of broken bone and flesh inside the cabin is you. According to legend, you might come through okay and breathe a sigh of relief, only to go into Earth orbit and wonder why that big lizard, with the teeth and the long tail and the green scales is roaring up at you, and warning you off his nice Jurassic patch of prehistoric desert. To go Faraway is a killer, unless you obey the rules. So for a few minutes, on that fateful day, Alex ryder was content to let the robot voices of SysCon guide his family's ship through the space lanes, towards the jump point for the planet Leesti. He relaxed, beside his father, and watched the bustle of the space port. The shadow behind them, the ship that was following their path towards Faraway, was a Cobra class cargo freighter. No-one knew how or when the designation of space-going vessels had been linked to the names of snakes. The Ryder's own vessel was a relatively harmless Ophidion, capable of two hyperspace jumps, armed very basically, set up, really, only to destroy imminent dangers, like asteroids, meteoroids, or 'crazy craft', the name given to vessels that were out of control, or ridden by juveniles out for kicks. The Cobra was a bigger vessel by far. A common trading ship, most Cobras are buried beneath the weaponry and defences that their hard-bitten, tough-talking captains have accrued. And with good reason... To be a trader is to be two things: dangerous,and at risk. Dangerous because to survive as a trader you have to know your weapons and how to use them in space combat you need to be able to recognise a pirate, or an anarchist, or a Thargoid invader, or a police trap when you might be carrying any one of a thousand prohibited materials. And at risk for the same reason. A juicy Cobra, weighed down with minerals or rare textiles, or furs, or ore, is as tasty a target for a freebooter as any in the Galaxy. To be a trader means to shoot first and pray that you've read the warning signs alright, and that your victim was a pirate. Make a mistake and not even two shells of time-stressed duralium and a belly full of missiles is going to save you from the vipers. Vipers. Police ships. Small, fast, deadly. And most particularly, tenacious. The pilot is a man, certainly, but kill the man and the ship will keep coming at you. Kill the ship and it's missile will keep coming at you. Kill the missile and watch for the shadow. When a viper bites, it clings. Eleven minutes... 'There's a sight you'll not often see...' His father's words broke through Alex's silent, concentrated study of the planet they were leaving. To the right, running a parallel course towards the Faraway tunnel, was an odd-shaped ship, with powerful lights flickering on and off. It was catching the sun and Alex could see how it was slowly spinning about it's central axis. Fish-like fins opened and closed. Across it's sleek hull a rapid pattern of coloured lights rippled. A Moray. A subaqua vessel, designed for both space and undersea voyaging. The Moray was rare ship indeed to see in space, especially about to undertake a hyperspace transit. On worlds like Regiti and Aona, where the only land was the tips of volcanoes, rising above the oceans, the Moray was both freighter and public transport, a vital ship-link between the undersea cities that were developing in such hostile environments. The Moray's frantic colour signalling ceased. Alex noticed that his father was watching the animalistic display (the coding had been developed from the signalling of a terrestrial aquatic creature, the squid) with a frown on his face. 'Something up?' Jason shrugged. 'Not sure. Probably not'. Alex watched the Moray with renewed interest, then turned back to the rear view, where the Cobra had nudged a few kilometres closer. 'Shall we warn him to stay back?' Jason shook his head. For the first time Alex realised that his father had been as aware of the trader as he, and had been studying it curiously for some minutes. There was a tension on the Avalonia's bridge that was unusual and unpleasant. Something wasn't right. Alex had no idea what, but he sensed it powerfully. Something was not going according to routine. Then the go-signal for entry to the Faraway tunnel flashed on, accompanied by a gentle audio prompt. And as it did so, the Avalonia's life expectancy had shrunk to just nine minutes. Around the entry point to Witch-Space is always to be found the biggest cluster of transit vessels, most of them moored in groups at orbital buoys while mechanics and repairmen crawl over them, checking and servicing their external systems. At such a point in any advanced system like lave you'll see every ship of the line, every type, subtype and artificially mocked-up version of every snake-ship ever built. As they approached the jump, Alex practised ship identification, a crucial talent in any space-faring profession. The unarmed, unmanned orbit shuttles were easy enough to spot, as they ferried cargo all around the system. He noticed two Asps, Navy ship, small manouevrable and deadly, well protected against attack, and with highly advanced military weapons systems. He also saw a single Krait, the so called StarStriker, a small, one-man ship much favoured by pathfinders and mercenaries. To his right, space-docked, and still unloading her passengers, was the immense, cylindrical mass of an Anaconda, a massive freighter that had been adapted to passenger transport. It was an ugly ship, and it's yawning ram-scoop gave it the appearance of being a squat, blind creature with it's mouth disgustingly agape. The catalogue was endless. Boa class cruisers; Pythons; the bounty hunters' favourite, the Fer-de-lance, packed out with weapons, and no doubt decked out inside like a palace; landing craft called Worms; Mambas; Sidewinders ... large craft and small, all winking brightly and reflecting sunlight in brilliant blue-grey sheens. And of course, the were advertising droidships, their catchy light displays blinking out information about ROHAN'S REAL EARTH ALE WITH HONEY, or KETTLE'S CLONE-YOUR-OWN FUNGAL CURES. Or even offering the 'last real food before Witch-Space', small restaurant ships designed to dock and supply instant nourishment (PRIEST'S PERFECT PROTOPOLYPS, TUTTLE'S TASTY THERAPSBLADDERS) to space-weary travellers. 'Here we go ... Hang on to your seat...' Jason Ryder always said this, and Alex always fell for it. he tensed up as if the ship were about to plunge over a gravity roller. In fact, the entry to Witch-Space was accompanied by an almost negligable accelerative surge, a moment's dizziness, and then the spectacular sight of the stars brightening, spreading out and suddenly streaking in multi-coloured circular patterns, so that the ship seemed to be passing down a spinning tube. Almost as soon as the surge of acceleration had come it had gone. The ship drifted into 'Witch Light', in the non-place in space and time. It was crossing the void between stars in seconds, but for those seconds it was in a twilight world whose existence was beyond imagination. They say the Witch-Space is haunted. Maybe that's why the call it 'witch'. Time turns all around, and atoms turn inside out, and gravity waves billow up, and things move there, lifeforms, or shadows, or atoms, or galaxies, who knows? No-one has ever stopped and gone outside to find out. Only robot remotes exist there, switching stations, monitors, rescue Droids and the like. Whatever lives in Witch-Space, in the Faraway tunnels, will remain a mystery always. But there are ghosts there, the ghosts of early ships that went in to Faraway, and didn't come out again. Ghosts... And shadows. The shadow of a snake. A Cobra ... Rising over them ... 'What in God's name...?' Jason Ryder had gone whiter than white light. Trapped in Witch-Space, there was nothing he could do to out-manoeuvre the other vessel. Alex said, 'He doesn't know the rules. Perhaps it's a rookie pilot-' 'Perhaps,' his father said. Jason Ryder's eyes never left the scanners. His face had beaded with sweat. Alex watched the shadow of the Cobra... Well-equipped ... a fuel-scoop, missile silos, extra cargo holds, the squat dome of an energy bomb housing ... a rich ship indeed and a deadly one... 'They can't be intending to attack us.' 'They hell they can't!' Three minutes... And they came out of Witch-Space! Immediately, Jason's hands began to fly over the key console. The Avalonia surged forward, rotating on it's long axis. The planet Leesti was a small, greenish disc in the far distance. Alex saw his father arm the two missiles that the Avalonia carried, then reached to rest his hand on the multiple laser-trigger. It was a pirate then. And as Alex came to accept the inevitability of combat, his mouth went dry and his mind sharpened. He had never been in combat before, not for real, only in the SimTrainer. he had heard his father talk about it, of course. And combat did not sound glorious... A pirate ship, disguised as a trader, pursuing its victim into Witch- Space itself...for their cargo of... Thrumpberry flavouring? An uneasy voice whispered in Alex's mind. This was untypical behaviour for a freebooter. They normally waited at the edge of planetary systems, watching for their prey with long-distance scanners, picking and choosing carefully. Pirates could be found everywhere, of course, though rarely in space around Corporate State worlds, or Democracies (the police were too efficient). Planets run by anarchistic or feudal governments were a pirate's favourite haunt. This behaviour was wrong... Not a pirate. Alex looked from the slowly rotating planet to the grim, grey features of his father. They were a long way from safety. 'What the hell are we up against?' 'Put on a RemLok and get to the escape pod,' Jason Ryder murmured. 'Do It!' 'I'll say and fight.' 'The hell you will. Do as I say,' As he spoke, Jason thrust a small, black face-mask - the remote-space-locator - at his son. The first missiles struck the Avalonia's shields, and Jason punched the launch buttons on his own defences. The small ship veered and strained as he looped it in an escape run, activating its ECM as the Cobra launched a second wave of missiles. But through the brightness the sombre grey shape of the killer came on... It happened so fast, then, that afterwards Alex was uncertain as to what exactly had happened. The duelling ships span and circled in towards the planet. Space around them blazed silently as their weapons struck and were deflected. Then the whole universe rocked. Air screeched into the void. the lights in the Avalonia blinked and dimmed. Warning lights shot on across the console: laser temperature in the red, screens down, energy low, cargo jettisoned, cabin temperature dropping... In the same moment of the Avalonia's death, Alex Ryder found himself being struck by his father, the remlok mask being forced into place about his eyes, nose and mouth. Then his whole body was physically manhandled into the escape pod. The ship shuddered and screamed. Fuel spilled into the void. Father and son faced each other for a last moment, each watching the other through a mist of tears and confusion... 'I don't understand...' Alex screamed above the noise of the dying ship, meaning: Who's trying to kill us? 'Raxxla!' Jason said. 'Remember Raxxla!' Then, as he pushed Alex back into the cramped escape pod, he shouted, 'Remember me, Alex! I wouldn't have wished this on you. Raxxla!' The escape pod was jettisoned. Alex tumbled. The sleek shape of the Avalonia was above him, and then just white light - White heat. Cold space! In a second it had gone, the ship, his father, a part of his life - obliterated by a single burst of fire from the hovering shape of the pirate. And as Alex watched, so a yellow tongue of fire licked towards the tumbling escape pod. He felt heat, then pain, then cold... The tiny survival vehicle was blasted apart, sparkling fragments falling towards the green world of Leesti. Alex hit space, arms flailing, mouth opened, conciousness and life draining from him with every second... ----------- CHAPTER TWO In space, everyone can hear you scream... As long, that is, as you're equipped with a RemLok survival mask. An instant after Alex Ryder hit the hard vacuum, a skin of plasFibre had been shot across his body from nozzles on the face piece, keeping him warm against the cold, tightening and protecting him, securing him against the void. The oxygen flow in his body was cut off to all but his heart and brain. Needle-doses of adrenalin and somnokie were held ready, just within the skin area of his mouth, ready to alert or depress his body functions according to circumstances. And the RemLok screamed through space for help. It was a standard survival device, an instantly recognisable distress call indicating that it was being sent out from a small, remotely located, dying body. The alarm screeched out on forty channels, shifting wavelength within each channel four times a second. One hundred and sixty chances to catch attention... A cumbersome Boa class cruiser, loaded down with industrial machinery, slowed its departure run from Leesti and turned to scan space for the source of the signal... Two police vipers came streaking from their patrol sector, near the sun, scanning for the body in trouble... An adapted Moray Starboat, a vast glowing yellow star on its hull - the sign of a hospital ship - came chugging out of the darkness... Messages from ships to both the planet and its ring of Coriolis stations were abruptly broken as the split second message came streaming through. TV programmes were interrupted, the screen disolving into a permanently recorded display of the space-grid location of the RemLok. Every advertising space module changed its garish display to flash, in brilliant green, the same information. in the orbit-space around Leesti, a million heads turned starwards. That split second of panic, that moment's cry of distress, was a sound they knew too well to ignore, and were too frightened of to take for granted. Within twenty seconds, two autoremotes, tiny vessels just big enough to carry an hour's oxygen, one dose each of forty drugs, and a variety of other stimulants, were hovering around Alex Ryder's spinning body. One of them shot out a stabilising cable and dragged itself to his corpse. Blinking through its solitary monitor, it hovered over his face like a squat, legless, dachshund hound and pumped adrenalin, oxygen and glucose into his bloodstream. Alex opened his eyes and panicked slightly. The autoremote calmed him down with a quick pumpsurge of tetval. The robot's voice whispered in his ears,'Brandy? Scotch? Vodka? I am equipped with a full range of miniature stimulants to make the waiting easier.' 'What ... happened ... ship? ... Avalonia ... ' he gasped through the tight face mask. The autoremote blinked at him sympathetically,'Brandy, then,' and hit Alex with two shots of Qutirian SynCognac. An hour later he was aboard the Moray hospital vessel, in parked orbit  above the grey-green face of the world Leesti. Burns to his hands and face had been taken care of. Minor blood vessels that had ruptured in his skin had been knitted back together. he was bruised, stunned, but essentially fit physically. The image of the ship exploding had begun to haunt him, however. He stood by the wide, sloping window of his hospital room, staring out across the bright of space to the slowly rotating world below, watching the flash and tumble of shuttles, and small freighters as they either glided up from worldDown, or struck the atmosphere on their descent, leaving brief, brilliant flares of red in the thin planetary atmosphere. Wherever he looked he could see the shadow of the Cobra, rising up in the Witchlight, a great killer beast, closing on its prey. And his father's face ... The sudden alarm, the sudden anger, and yet ... and yet Jason Ryder had known. His grieving, mind-stunned son just knew that his father had been more aware of the danger than he had let on. It had been in his face, in the tension in the cabin, in the slow, deliberate words that he had spoken during the approach run to hyperspace. Jason had known that his life was within danger. He had been ready for it, ready to save his son in the event of attack ... It made no sense. But for the moment Alex felt only loss, the loss of a man he had loved. Both his parents were gone, now. His homeworld would seem an empty, uninviting place. Behind him, the door opened softly and the grey-suited figure of a nurse appeared. She reproved him mildly for being out of bed, but seemed please by his apparently calm mental state. There followed what seemed like a constant stream of visitors. First the doctor, scanning him for tension and psychic repression. The medic was not pleased. he more or less said, 'Young man, your father is dead and it would do you no harm to shed a few tears. Its all there, all the grief, all the sadness. It'll do you no good to deny it.' 'I'll grieve for my father,' Alex said back angrily, coldly. 'I'll grieve among the ashes of the pirate that killed him. And not until.' 'Will you indeed.' 'Yes,' Alex stated defiantly. 'I will. Indeed.' After the doctor had gone, the man from the Galactic Medical Co- operative came, fussily checking up on Alex's medical insurance, making sure that he was covered for all aspects of the treatment, including his Faraway transit home. Then the police, two lean-faced men, wearing the grey cloaks and silver waistcoats of the Narcotics Investigation department. What cargo had the Avalonia been carrying? Why would a pirate be so interested in him as to follow him to a Corporate State world? Had his father ever transported drugs? Firearms? Slaves? What about alien substances: Manjooza, fear glands, Marswurt? What was said in the moments before destruction? Would he recognise the ship again? What were its markings? Alex told them everything he could remember. Everything he'd seen. Everything he'd heard ... Except for the fact that his father had clearly known the danger. And except for the word Raxxla. The police left. they were not satisfied. Alex had just received his solo pilot's license, so he could make his own way back to his homesystem, but he should notify them of what route he was taking. Raxxla... Alex watched them go, their viper a slim, evil-looking ship as it rolled and sped away from the hospital vessel. His mood matched the dim- lit room, matched the gloom-grey of the storms that were building up on the world below. Leesti's oceans looked wild and cold, now, its clouds great charcoal coloured swirls of anger above the ragged, mountainous land. Raxxla. What could it be? What could it mean? At midnight, still resting and recouperating (care of the Leesti Medical Authority), a small green light winked on in his room. alex, still awake, frowned then realised that he was being monitored. 'What is it?' he asked the empty room, and a nurse's voice whispered, 'There's a holoFac message coming through for you. They've requested a tightbeam. Will you receive?' Alex sat up in bed. No-one knew he was here. Did they? He frowned and said, 'Sure.' 'Will you accept the charge against your CR?' Curiouser and curiouser. Since he was broke, and without credit until he sorted out his GMC insurance, it was easy for him to say, 'Yes.' In the middle of his room the air suddenly shimmered white, small bright particles flying off in all directions around the gradually defined shape of a man. He was tall, but slightly stooped. As the whiteness of the image resolved into colour, the whiteness of the man stayed. His hair was long and snowy, his beard ragged. His face had a touch of colour. His eyes were small, gleaming points among the wrinkles. He was smiling. he wore a tattered trader's uniform, and one arm hung limp by his side. even his boots were worn down, and the toes were split. The handlaser at his side had seen the same better days as the rest of his equipment. 'You the Ryder Boy?' this apparition of run-down age asked. the voice creaked, a gruff, battered tone, the voice of a man who had breathed hard vacuum. 'That's me. Alex Ryder. And you?' Alex climbed out of bed and went to stand before the life-sized holoFac. The old man watched him, and chewed. Then he spat. The gobbet of stained spittle seemed to fly straight towards Alex's shoulder and he winced and jerked slightly to one side, before realising that nothing could travel into real space from the holo. 'You don't remember me,' the old man said. 'That's clear enough. But I remember you.' 'Give me a name.' 'Rafe Zetter. Trader of old. Traded with your father for many years, till we parted company on account of a certain issue which, you might say ... caused a difference of opinion between us.' 'Slaves,' Alex said quickly. He remembered Rafe, now. But what had happened to the man? he was old before his time. He was the same age as Jason Ryder would have been, but looked twenty years more. 'Slaves is right,' Rafe said. 'I ran my life on the edge of a Viper's sting ...' trader parlance for 'one jump ahead of the law'. 'But my the time I indulged that little whim, my ass was hard iron. I somehow made it to hell 'n' back. That's where I am now.' 'In hell?' 'Broke.' Alex nodded, picking up slowly on the trader slang. An 'iron ass' was a ship that was well enough defended - shields, missiles, and lasers - to make a skim run through any system at all, even an anarchist's paradise like Sotiqu. All hell and then some would come at you if you tried to trade in such a chaotic system. 'Hell 'n' back' meant that Rafe had tasted the good life, bought with the profits of his illegal trading, but that it had all gone wrong. It always went wrong. Rafe said, 'I was damn sorry to hear about Jason. A good man. A good friend of old, and a man I still respect.' 'It didn't happen but eight hours ago,' Alex said coldly. 'How the hell did you get to hear about it.' Rafe Zetter chuckled, then spat again, and again Alex couldn't help ducking. The Spittle vanished at the holoFac's edge and Alex felt a chill of irritation. 'You got your father's temper, young Alex. Maybe you've even got some of his skills.' 'Answer my question, old man. How do you manage to know about my father? How did you find me?' Watching him from the holo, Rafe chewed, smiled and considered. Alex tensed, waiting for the next high-velocity spit-transmission. Rafe said, 'I repeat, Alex. I had great respect for Jason Ryder. For what he was, and what he was doing.' 'He was a good man,' Alex said. 'And an honest trader.' 'He was a damn sight more than that,' Rafe said loudly, and spat. Alex dodged. The ghostly holoFac image shimmered and blurred slightly. 'What does that mean?' Rafe Zetter leaned forward so that his grizzled features seemed almost able to kiss the younger man. 'He was a combateer, Alex. One of the best. No way should he have died like he did...' 'My father was a trader, not a combateer,' Alex said, startled and disturbed by what Rafe was implying. 'Guess again, sonny.' 'But it sickened him to fire shots in anger.' 'Maybe,' Rafe said drily. 'But it didn't stop him. How else do you think he made it as a trader all those years? Dammit Alex, even if your cargo is sour-cream and pickles there's someone going to try and take it from you. Your father was a combateer of the highest calibre ...' Alex swallowed heavily, staring at the quizzical features of old Rafe Zetter. 'The highest calibre ...?' rafe nodded. 'That's right, Alex,' he said softly. 'You can be deadly, you can be dangerous, and you can end up as pet food in orbit around a dog's ass-of-a-world like Isveve. But if you're elite, and you die, then there's a reason for your death ...' What was this old man saying? Elite? An elite combateer? Alex's head span. He knew all about the space pilots who'd earned that title, of course. few of them did. To be elite in combat was to be ... well, as near invincible as made no odds. A great many pilots were 'dangerous'; you didn't last long as a trader if you weren't. Many more had earned the classification 'deadly'. So had a lot of mercenaries. So had a lot of pirates. But elites. Few and far between. And his father, Jason Ryder, had been elite, and none of his family had ever known! 'Jason was one of the very best. You probably never saw his ship, but it was like a fortress. He traded places that most of us would have had nightmares about.' Rafe shook his head admiringly. 'One of the best. A man of the highest calibre ...' His gaze hardened on Alex. 'The question is ... Can you be the same?' 'What makes you doubt it?' 'Jason never said anything about you. I guess he was trying to protect you. The trouble is that it gives me nothing to go on: you're going to avenge your father's death - I can tell that from the look of you, and your tone, and your anger - but for all I know, that'll just mean one more Ryder will be stardust before he even manages to target a missile.' Not liking Rafe Zetter's tone, Alex said bitterly, 'I've done hours of Simcombat. I score highly...' Rafe laughed and spat voluminously, then became serious. 'Alex, there's something I've got to know. Maybe you're going to end up -' 'Pet food in orbit around Isveve!' 'Yeah. Maybe that. The only person who knew your talents was your father. Tell me, Alex, and tell me true, now ... Did he say anything to you ... you know ... in the moments before he died? Did he indicate anything, or say anything?' 'He said a lot,' Alex murmured, and felt a strong pang of grief as he remembered the look in his father's eyes, the greyness of his cheeks, and his desperate words, remember me, Alex... 'I think he knew he was going to die. The last thing he said was the word Raxxla. I don't know what that is. An alien, I guess ...' Rafe smiled, shaking his head. Suddenly there was a brilliant sparkle in his eyes: 'Raxxla's no alien, Alex. It's a ghost world. A planet. A legend ...' He hesitated, staring quizzically at the younger man through the distant link between them, 'Jason really said that to you?' Alex nodded. 'Moments before ... It was the last thing he said.' 'Then he knew,' Rafe said with a nod. 'And that's good enough for me. Alex, get your frail shell to Tionisla and take a visitor's shuttle to the orbital cemetery there. Say you've come to see the grave of Starpilot Fleischer. And take a good look around. You do that, boy. Tomorrow. I'll be waiting for you.' 'Waiting to do what?' Rafe chuckled. 'How're you going to hunt a Cobra? You going to hitch- hike? Or use a big stick? You'll need a ship. Hunt like with like. get to the wreckplace at Tionisla. I know just the vehicle you need. Don't speak to anyone. Just get to Tionisla.' 'But - ' 'Au'voir, Alex!' And Rafe Zetter spat for the last time before the holoFac faded. Alex didn't flinch. Something whistled past his ear and struck the far wall behind him. ------------- CHAPTER THREE The best way to see the wreckplace at Tionisla is to approach it from the Sun (a reasonably safe thing to do since Tionisla, being a Democracy has few pirates in its system). Tionisla itself is a bright yellow world, and the cemetery is always between the planet and its star. As you fly close, the whole strange graveyard seems to be expanding from the circle of the world behind. The first thing you see is a shimmering, silver disc, a double spiral of tiny bright points. It slowly turns: it's a galaxy in miniature, with the same intense blur of light at its centre, because here is where the biggest tombs are to be found. Come closer and soon you can see that the stars in this galaxy are markers, great lumps of metal, heavily inscribed with the words and symbols of a thousand religions. The cemetery is a bizarre and moving sight. The markers are rarely less than a thousand feet across. There are chrome-alloy crosses, titanium Stars of David, duralium henges, and all the strange symbollic shapes of the worlds, and the minds and the faiths that have come to die in this Star traveller's special place. Tethered below this vast, rotating mausoleum is the dodecahedral shape of a 'Dodo' class space station, the home of the Cemetery Authorities. Here you go through security checks and get your visitor's visa. And as you stand in the queue, staring up through the translucent ceiling of the Customs Hall, you can see the battered, broken ships of many of the dead, still attached to the silent tomb that contains the body. It's a good enough reason to come to Tionisla. There are pickings aplenty among the wrecks. The treasures of centuries might be revealed by pressing the right panel on the right cube of black, alien metal as it floats silently by. Or maybe not treasure, just the tomb's defences... A pit with a laser. A robot guardian with knives where its hands should be. A hyperspace vacuum that sucks you in and throws you out into another time. You tread carefully among the wrecks in orbit about Tionisla. The creatures buried here - human and alien - had money enough to buy these prized resting places, and more than enough wealth to protect their property after death from the mercenary fingers of bounty hunters. Formalities completed, his newly issued pilot's license checked, Alex Ryder was given a small tour-ship, and oddly shaped and cumbersome vessel. He drifted quickly among the tombs, seeking the resting place of Starpilot Fleischer, following co-ordinates on the ship's cemetery plan. He soon found what he was looking for. Whoever Fleischer had been, he was monstrously egocentric: his tomb was a great crystalline structure, a puff-ball of diamond-bright needles, literally hundreds of feet across. His body, dressed in the red uniform of an elite combateer, hovered in stasis at the centre of this great construct, illuminated by focused light from the sun. Tethered to the simple monument of the grave next to this was the battered, blistered shape of a Cobra class ship, its insignia still proudly displayed, but all its vital equipment, its fuel-scoop, its extra cargo bays, its aft missile and laser banks removed. Alex stared at it. It looked nothing like the Cobra that had destroyed his father's ship. That vessel had been bristling with all the extra things that good money could buy, to defend and to attack, and to make the trading game an easier prospect for the elite trader. A light on the Cobra winked on. Alex blinked, then looked again. Sure enough, a small, red light was flashing on and off, a brief sequence of code. LAND ON DOR PL 'Land on the dorsal plate' - That was clear enough. Alex manoeuvred his tiny craft above the arrow shape of the Cobra, and touched it gently onto the heat-blistered hull. He looked guiltily. Touching monuments wasn't permitted and the cemetery was patrolled by Kraits, small and deadly security craft, with instructions to blast away any man, woman or child seen tampering with a mausoleum... But the graveyard was huge, and the shadows of the great tombs transferred this miniature world of the dead into a place of hide-outs, and shifting, occasional safety. An entry port opened, and a green light quickly blinked the message 'Come aboard'. Alex flew the tour-ship into the hull space and when he got the 'pressure green' signal stepped out and walked cautiously towards the main control area. He opened the sliding door and blinked for a moment at the bright control displays and scanners. Ahead of him, the main screen was wide, and filled with a view of Fleischer's crystal tomb. Silhouetted against the gleaming brightness of the crystal was the shape of a man, wearing a full space suit. One hand rested on the navigation console, the other hovered above the laser button. 'I'm aboard,' Alex said, and walked up behind the silent pilot. The man made no movement, said nothing. For a moment Alex stood beside him, staring out into the wreckplace, at the slowly shifting monuments, at the stars glimpsed in the background. Then he turned to greet his host. And nearly died of shock, taking a quick horrified step backwards! It was the drawn, mummified face of a corpse that half looked up at him from behind its visor, the rictus smile of death stretching wide across its lips. 'Do you think we should take him with us?' a voice asked from across the cabin. Alex started again with suprise and watched the figure which emerged from the shadows. 'As a sort of totem. A lucky charm.' Alex tried to smile, but neither relief nor the new arrival's charming grin could relax him enough. too much had happened too fast, and he stood rooted to the spot, watching as the woman came over to him. She was quite small. He skin was olive, her eyes dark. She wore her hair in a fashionable series of spikes, like a porcupine. Dressed in the light green coveralls that most traders sported, she seemed swamped by clothes. her hand-touch was cool and confident, and she kept the contact as she looked up at Alex Ryder, still smiling disarmingly. 'So you're the man that Rafe has chosen. Well Alex. So far it seems that star-riding with you is at least going to be quiet. You do ... er ...' she frowned. 'You do have a speech function?' She turned him slightly and felt up his back for the switch. 'or are you one of the early 'semaphore and gormless grin' models?' 'Sorry,' Alex said. 'You took me by suprise.' 'Oh God,' the woman said. 'Where's the off-switch? I think I prefer you silent...' 'Who are you?' Alex asked, irritated by her levity and keen to find out why Rafe Zetter had summoned him here. Where was the old man? 'Trader Fields', she said, and touched the heel of her right hand to her left shoulder by way of salute. 'My given name is Elyssia. Elyssia Fields.' She smiled again. 'My brood mother's little joke. She discovered Greek mythology at age 9 when she was incubating her first cluster.' Brood mother? Greek? Incubating clusters? That meant that Elyssia Fields was from Teorge, the so-called 'clone-world'. Alex struggled to remember what he'd been taught about Teorge ... an inhabited world ... settled by two colony ships that had proceeded to clone a select few of the crew and colonists, killing the others. For centuries Teorge had been a world apart, cut off from the normal flow of trade and commerce, and banned from sending representatives into space. Elyssia Fields was clearly a fugitive. 'I'm Alex Ryder,' Alex said. 'I know,' the woman said back, breaking the gaze with which she'd been fixing him. She patted the corpse on the shoulder, and oddly affectionate gesture. 'This is - or rather was - Space Trader Henry Bell. We're going to purloin Mister Bell's coffin. Of all the people who are going to object, he's going to be the most objectionable. This rust bucket is set up with holo-projections of our man here, warning of dire consequences for invading his sanctity. I've turned most of them off, but I expect I've missed a few.' 'We're going to steal this ship?' Alex said quietly, checking the flickering control display panel. Witchlight fuel registered enough for a 0.1 light-year jump, hardly sufficient to clear the Tionisla system. Elyssia stared at him, a half smile on her lips. 'We could pass the time chatting if you prefer. Plant some flowers, clean the tomb up a little ...' 'I meant,' Alex said drily, 'How the hell are we going to get away with it? He found himself staring at the pert features of the humanoid female. The shadow of gloom and grief that had haunted him for the last few hours seemed to fade a little. The girl interested him. He added, 'And just why are you helping me, anyway? Where's Rafe?' With a quick laugh, Elyssia said, 'Funny thing about Rafe. Wherever you go in the galaxy, he's always there, a shimmering white holoFac ... but where he really is ... that's something you're about to find out.' She glanced up at Alex. 'Why am I helping you? Who says I am? We'll be helping each other, in fact. You have a father to avenge. I have some things to avenge too. Maybe I'll tell you about them one day. But without you I can't fly this ship.' Suprised, Alex said, 'Cobras were made to be flown by a single pilot.' 'But I'm a single Teorgeon. I'm not supposed to be here. I can fly this bucket with my eyes closed, but your face fits. Listen, Alex, this craft wouldn't survive the first attack by a pirate with a peashooter, no matter how good we are behind the laser button. We need shields, missiles, defences and cargo space. How d'you think we're going to get them? They don't grow on silvery moons, you know.' 'Trade for them,' Alex said gloomily, and the vista of his family's long life trading through the stars swept before his eyes. Elyssia was right. He couldn't go hunting a Cobra without the proper equipment, and it would take too long to sort out his inheritance, bearing in mind the circumstances of his father's death. He felt utterly overwhelmed with frustration. A part of him wanted to kill right now. A part of him wanted to rip out onto the space-lanes, and hunt his father's killer. But the best part of him knew that would be a recipe for disaster, that patience was called for, that a tactical appraisal of how he would set about the hunt was essential ... and that a protected ship was a barest necessity! 'I've got a hundred credits in all the world,' Alex said, referring to the Galactic Emergency Services loan that he had been given to get him home. 'It's a start,' Elyssia said. 'It's a start in the trading business. As Rafe would say, we'll give this old lass an iron ass.' Her face darkened, though the flickering lights from the console were bright in her eyes. 'Then we'll go to a place that I suspect only Rafe Zetter knows, and we'll watch a lot of heartache burn up courtesy of some fine shooting by the both of us. We'll get the ship that put an end to your father. It's a ship that has a lot to answer for ...' But she would say no more than that. For anyone reckoning on beginning a space trading career from scratch the hardest task is finding a ship. Each planetary system has its floating junk yards, its second-hand craft, its impounded vessels, eventually auctioned by the police. Most places advertise for co-pilots, to work without pay for four years with the guarantee of a ship at the end of it - if they're still alive. But ships are expensive, even if they're from the scrap heap. Alex was impressed and startled by the audacity of the theft that was being proposed. In response to Rafe's plan, the fugitive, who had been hiding out in the dead craft for nearly a year, had managed to accumulate the fuel, food and power to make a brief hyperspace jump to the interstellar junk yard. All that had been missing was the right co-pilot, someone who could actually do the trading without arousing suspicion. They hauled the mummified body of Henry Bell to the small tour-ship and set the craft adrift. 'Whatever happens now,' Elyssia said as they took positions at the bridge consoles, 'You're going to get an 'offender' status tag. But Rafe thinks if you respect the body they'll just post it at Tionisla itself. Destroy the body and they'll probably notify most worlds in the vicinity, and we can't afford that. Here goes ...' On the screen the small tour-ship drifted away, and the crowded monuments of the cemetery swung past in a dizzying array of bright and shadowy surfaces. Alex studied the scanners and monitors carefully. The only had a tiny energy supply to fore and aft screens. A blast or two of laser power. No missiles of course. The craft was still locked on to the Dodo space station, whose position was shown by the darting bright point in the tri-axial grid map. Slowly the Cobra turned, and began to move gently, silently towards the edge of the spiral grave-field. The scanner scanned, and Alex watched it hard, alert and apprehensive for the tell-tale wink of its moving green light. The duller-colours of the tombs and stationary craft crowded the scanning screen, moving slowly past. 'There's something I ought to tell you about uncontrolled Witch-Space jumps ...' Elyssia said, and Alex felt a moment's irritation. 'I already know. Thanks. besides, wherever we're going we're only going a tenth of a LY. And that's reasonably safe.' Elyssia sniggered. 'What god or goddess do you believe in?' 'Randomius Factoria ...' Alex muttered. 'Me too ...' They looked at each other. Alex laughed and said, 'repeat after me: Lady of Fate, we adore you ...' 'Get us to Rafe's, we implore you ...' The monuments and monoliths drifted by. The star field widened ahead of them. 'Nearly there,' Elyssia breathed. 'Get ready for the jump ...' Alex watched the scanner. And two bright points of light appeared, moving rapidly towards them. 'Company!' he said, and Elyssia swore loudly. 'Use our laser, and any chance of trading goes. Those are police. They may not be Vipers, but they're police nevertheless. Damn!' Ahead of the the starfield was almost clear. the two security craft veered apart, to close in from the sides. Elyssia began to count down, finger resting on the simple trigger that would despatch them faraway. 'Ten seconds...' The Cobra vibrated and whined, unused to activity after many years in stasis. 'They're closing - fire coming in!' 'Five seconds.' The Cobra screeched as a laser shot glanced off its hull. The shield energy, low as it was, vanished! The attacking craft overshot. It's colleague fired and missed, manoeuvring with difficulty around a large, henge monument that slowly revolved at the edge of the cemetery. 'Three ...' 'Lining up ... fire coming in!' The two craft were together again. Their laser fire played in the void around the Cobra. 'Two ...' There was a strike, a scream of pain, the vessel almost rocked out of control. And then - Star tunnel! Elyssia flopped back in her chair. Alex cheered. When he looked at the woman he saw that she was drenched with sweat. When he reached a hand towards her, his fingers were shaking uncontrollably. --------------- Now load part 2 ----------------- -Thanks to PIRASOFT/ACU for these Thunderbird DOCs- DOCS FOR THUNDERBIRDS THE SCENARIO The year is 2063. On a remote island in the Pacific Ocean lives retired industrialist Jeff Tracy and his sons. To the outside world they are the 'idle rich'. The reality is something different. Deep under the island is an underground complex. This is the base of International Rescue, an organisation dedicated to the saving of lives. Orbiting high above is Thunderbird 5, a space station monitoring all radio signals for a hint of an emergency. Within Tracy Island are Thunderbirds 1,2,3 and 4. All ready at a moments notice to be launched to any point on the earth or in space. The International Rescue organisation is headed by Jeff Tracy and the vehicles piloted by his sons Alan, Gordon, John, Virgil and Scott. All the Thunderbirds craft were designed and built by a brilliant scientist and engineer Horatio Hackenback the III, known within Thunderbirds as 'Brains'. International Rescue is a secret organisation, and for it to continue to function it must protect the identity of its agents and the location of its base and craft. - More (Y)/N/NS? To help in this it uses many agents around the world who's job it is to get information about possible threats. The British agents who are Thunderbirds most able team are Lady Penelope and her butler Parker, for Penelope, being an English aristocrat is often a useful cover. As well as having to contend with natural disasters the Thunderbirds also have an arch-enenmy, the Hood, who has sworn to stop at nothing until he has stolen the secret designs of all the Thunderbirds craft You have joined International Rescue, it is your task to save lives across the world and stop the evil Hood. BASIC PLAY The Thunderbirds computer game is in 4 parts of increasing difficulty. The objectives of each part is detailed later in this guide. You can control two Thunderbirds characters, one at a time. The character which is under control can be moved around the 'Action Area' under your control to perform certain tasks. These must be performed to solve various problems and puzzles which block your progress to the objective of the Mission. OBJECTS To help you solve your individual tasks you can take 4 objects from a - More (Y)/N/NS? selection of 6. Each character carries 2. The choice of what to take is yours, experience will help you decide the objects that are best suited for each Mission and who should take it. Other objects will be discovered in the Mission locations, these can be used individually or together with another object. A character may drop an object which may then be picked up and used by another. CONTROL You may control your Thunderbirds character with either the keyboard or joystick. The following keys are used. O - climb up or enter lift (joystick up) K - climb down or drop/pickup object (joystick down) Z - go left (joystick left) X - o right (joystick right)  Return - use highlighted object (joystick fire) Space - swap character 1 - highlight object 1 2 - highlight object 2 - More (Y)/N/NS? H Help, which names the objects the character is holding. If you wish to abort the Mission at any time you may do so by pressing shift and Q at the same time. HINTS To complete Thunderbirds we recommend that you make maps of each Mission with notes as to the location and use of objects. All Missions are solvable within the time provided. SCREEN LAYOUT The screen displays all the information you require. To the top left are the character displays. These show you the characters you are currently working with, together with a picture of each Thunderbird are the objects they are carrying and a health level. If the health level reaches zero then that character is unconscious and the Mission will be aborted. If one of the objects is highlighted then this indicates that this object is active and may be 'used'. - More (Y)/N/NS? TEXT Below the character display is a text line which shows any words that any of the characters may say. You should read this as sometimes it contains clues as to what you should do. TIME In the top right of the screen is a timer, all your missions are a race against time. The clock will begin at a maximum of 99 and count down to zero. If it reaches zero and you have not completed your task the Mission is aborted. The later Missions have less time to complete, so planning your moves is vital. MISSION 1 - MINE MENACE An explosion has destroyed the lifting gear in the Santa Peuablo Mine leaving 2 miners trapped in the mine cage deep below the surface. Conventional rescue services will arrive in a couple of hours-this will be too late-the mine is flooding from a damaged valve on the mines's pumping station. Alan, Virgil and Brains are to attempt a rescue using TB2 to pull the - More (Y)/N/NS? cage up the shaft to safety. To do this both Alan and Brains must reach the stricken men to attach the grab and save the day. Alan starts his journey in the control room near the surface, while Brains is transported in the MOLE underground to start his rescue. You are presented with 6 items before the mission begins, only two of which can be carried by each character, so two must be left behind. Your characters are: BRAINS ALAN The objects are: Torch Lamp Laser cutting tool Bag of gobstoppers Klaxon Grease Can Hint - More (Y)/N/NS? You must first use Brains to find a hammer to fix the small winch lift and then a spanner to re-start the pump which will stop the mine flooding. Leave Alan to his own devices till you have done these things. MISSION 2 - SUB CRASH A revolutionary new submarine, the Oceanic Star, is undergoing sea trials when it is struck by a mine. It sinks out of control and comes to rest on the rim of an under sea Volcano. The crew escapes leaving only the Captain to shut down the nuclear reactor which is going critical - he is overcome by the radiation. The Nuclear Reactor will explode and cause a terrible disaster to local marine animals - as well as setting off a chain reaction of volcanic destruction. The reactor must be shut down, but you must work quickly before the Sub slips off the rim into the Volcano and the hull is crushed by the pressure or melted by the heat. Your characters are: GORDON ALAN - More (Y)/N/NS? The choice of equipment is as follows: Two Aqualungs Radiation Pills Can of 'Shark-away' shark repellent American Express card Copy of Kine Magazine Hint Beware radiation! Coloured cards are used to control the reactor, among other things. MISSION 3 - THE BANK JOB After the Submarine in mission two surfaces, small fragments of a certain type of limpet mine are found embedded in the hull. The Thunderbirds must find out who planted it. The only problem is that the records of the company which made this mine are in the vault of the Bank of England. Lady Penelope and Parker must get into the Bank of England and retrieve the document from the - More (Y)/N/NS? main vault. They only have a limited amount of time before the Bank opens. They start at the back of the Bank and are immediately confronted by a guard. You must get the document, but you must not get caught or run out of time. Lady Penelope would not like prison food so be careful. Your characters are: LADY PENELOPE PARKER The objects you can take are: Clockwork mouse 'Snoozy' sleep spray Stethoscope Dynamite Iron bar Mirror Hint The lift is a heavy problem. - More (Y)/N/NS? MISSION 4 - COUNTDOWN TO TERROR The file obtained by Thunderbirds agents in the vault identifies the source of all the Thunderbirds problems as their arch-enemy the Hood. Worse than that, he is in possession of a film taken at the sub rescue of the Thunderbirds craft. If this film is not recovered before it can be computer analysed all Thunderbirds Secrets will be sold to the highest bidder. Information obtained by Lady Penelope through the World Intelligence Network points to a small town called Dry Gulch in Arizona. Thunderbirds 1 and 2 take off immediately. While airbourne the HOOD interrupts TV broadcasts and threatens to launch a Nuclear Missile at London if a ransom of 4 Billion dollars is not paid by the World Bank within 3 hours. The primary objective is to stop the HOOD from launching his missile but you must also find the Film. Remember- Thunderbirds are the only people who can stop him-his only threat. The missile must be either disarmed or desroyed, and the HOOD must be stopped. Your characters are: - More (Y)/N/NS? VIRGIL SCOTT The objects you can take are: Two pairs of dark glasses Tube of super glue Yoyo Gun First aid kit Hint Your on your own with this one. F.A.B. -END- - More (Y)/N/NS? F-16 COMBAT PILOT KEYBOARD INSTRUCTIONS AND COMMANDS From a POMPEY PIRATES Compilation.....nice one boys! CONTROLS ROLL RIGHT................6 ( CONTROL 0 RIGHT ) ROLL LEFT.................4 ( CONTROL 0 LEFT ) PITCH UP..................2 ( CONTROL 0 BACK ) PITCH DOWN................8 ( CONTROL 0 FWD ) RUDDER LEFT...............1 ( CONTROL 1 LEFT ) RUDDER RIGHT..............3 ( CONTROL 1 RIGHT ) CENTRE CONTROLS...........MOUSE LEFT BUTTON INCREASE THROTTLE.........+ (CONTROL 1 FWD ) DECREASE THROTTLE.........- (CONTROL 1 BACK ) THROTTLE SLAM OPEN........+ AND SHIFT THROTTLE SLAM SHUT........1 AND SHIFT UNDERCARRIAGE.............U AIRBRAKES.................BACKSPACE KEY WHEELBRAKES...............B DOGFIGHT MODE.............D JETTISON FUEL TANKS.......J AND F TOGETHER JETTISON ALL..............J AND A TOGETHER EJECT.....................CNTRL E DEFAULT** MOUSE=PORT 0,JOYSTICK=PORT 1 DISPLAYS CHANGE LEFT MFD.........F1 CHANGE CENTER MFD.......F2 CHANGE RIGHT MFD........F3 RADER TARGET SELECT.....F9 RADER TARGET DESIGNATE..F10 HUD PITCH BARS ON/OFF...K HUD ON/OFF..............H WEAPONS SELECTOR WEAPONS SELECT (FWD) TAB KEY WEAPONS SELECT (REV) Q CHAFF................C FLARES...............F PICKLE TARGET........SPACE BAR* FIRE WEAPONS.........SPACE BAR OR MOUSE RIGHT BUTTON OR JOYSTICK FIRE BUTTON UP FRONT CONTROL PANEL MODE SELECT............F5 CHANNEL SELECT.........F6 AUTOPILOT..............F7 RECCE POD ON/OFF.......F8 COMMUNICATIONS TRANSMIT CALLSIGN......T REQUEST GCA............G COCKPIT VIEW CURSOR KEYS -HOLD FOR BRIEF LOOK -SHIFT AND CURSOR KEY TO LOCK MENU CONTROLS SELECT...............INSERT CANCEL...............CLR HOME OTHER KEYS PAUE/CONTINUE.......P QUIT................CNTRL ESC KEY Thanx to A.L.F and MERLIN for sending this contribution. S.P ADVENTURE QUEST (Level 9) (Later released as Part 2 of the 'Jewels Of Darkness Trilogy') IN TAKE TABLE OUT S S S S DROP TABLE TAKE ORCHID N N N E GIVE ORCHID (the Unicorn gestures for you to follow him North) N N N TAKE PIPES TAKE MEDALLION S S S W N W W W S S DROP PIPES DROP MEDALLION UP TAKE SILVER BALL DOWN TAKE PIPES TAKE MEDALLION N N E UP E UP UP (you may be attacked by wolves before you get to this location, but you are resurrected to here anyway!) LOOK (you are given a scroll, and a stick is on the ground here) READ SCROLL (your quest is explained) DROP SCROLL TAKE STICK DOWN DOWN W DROP STICK (it sheds fruit!) TAKE ONION EAT ONION TAKE STICK DOWN N N IN DROP MEDALLLION DROP STICK TAKE SLING TAKE BOTTLE. OUT N N N N N W (you will hear a sliding sound in the sand!) N LOOK E E E N E UP UP UP UP W W (you meet a Giant) WAVE SLING (the Giant runs off!) E E DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN W W W W OPEN SESAME (a cavern opens up to the North) N TAKE SUNDIAL S E E E S W DRINK UP (you see some snakes) PLAY PIPES (the snakes dance away) IN (the Priestess gives you a small ruby in exchange for the sundial) OUT DOWN W DROP SLING W LOOK S DROP PIPES E LOOK S LOOK S S S S FILL BOTTLE (from the river here) DRINK FILL BOTTLE IN TAKE MEDALLION TAKE KEYS. OUT N N N N N W N LOOK E E E N E UP UP UP UP W W W UP UP UP UP UP UP UP DROP MEDALLION UNLOCK SNOWMAN DROP KEYS TAKE SNOWMAN DOWN DOWN DOWN PUSH ROCKS (with the Snowman's help, you get rid of the Orcs and the Abominable Snowman!) DOWN DOWN S S UP UP UP IN (a Dark Shape flies at you!) THROW RUBY (it explodes, destroying the Dark Shape) N TAKE EYE TAKE BAG S OUT DOWN DOWN DOWN E TAKE ROPE W N N UP UP UP UP UP DROP ROPE DROP EYE DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN S S S DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN W W W S (you meet a Djinn, guarding the Oasis to the South) OPEN BAG (a blast of air blows the Djinn towards a nearby lamp). S DRINK IN TAKE TRIDENT OUT TAKE LAMP FILL BOTTLE N N E E DRINK FILL BOTTLE (with oil this time!) E UP UP UP UP UP UP N N N UP UP UP UP UP ON LAMP IN THROW BOTTLE THROW TRIDENT THROW BAG (they all land with a 'splash!' in the distance) OUT TAKE KEYS TAKE EYE TAKE ROPE IN THROW KEYS THROW EYE TIE ROPE (it hangs downwards into the darkness) OUT TAKE MEDALLION IN THROW MEDALLION OFF LAMP THROW LAMP DOWN (you fall into an Underground River) CLIMB UP E TAKE LUNG-FISH DOWN LOOK UP (here's all your items!) DROP LUNG-FISH TAKE LUNG-FISH TAKE TRIDENT TAKE LAMP TAKE BOTTLE DROP LUNG-FISH TAKE LUNG-FISH. DOWN N W W N W UP DROP LUNG-FISH TAKE LUNG-FISH ON LAMP OIL DOOR FILL BOTTLE (with water again) DROP BOTTLE DROP LAMP DROP LUNG-FISH TAKE LUNG-FISH DOWN E E S S S UP DROP LUNG-FISH TAKE LUNG-FISH TAKE KEYS TAKE EYE DROP LUNG-FISH TAKE LUNG-FISH DOWN N W W N W UP DROP LUNG-FISH TAKE LUNG-FISH OPEN DOOR DROP KEYS DROP LUNG-FISH TAKE LUNG-FISH DROP EYE DOWN UP DOWN E E S S S UP TAKE NET TAKE BAG DOWN UP TAKE MEDALLION DOWN N W W N W DROP MEDALLION E S W TAKE JELLY-FISH E N DOWN E IN (an Octopus attacks you!) OUT UP W W TAKE MEDALLION E DOWN DROP MEDALLION (it's sucked down a hole!). UP DROP JELLY-FISH UP TAKE LUNG-FISH DROP LUNG-FISH DROP NET DROP TRIDENT TAKE EYE TAKE LAMP N W W N (Orcs block the way north!) S E E N N N GIVE EYE (the Statue gives you a sword) S S UP UP UP TAKE EARTH-STONE (it is lost to the Orcs.....but only temporarily!) DOWN DOWN DOWN S W W N (no Orcs this time!) N E S S W TAKE EARTH-STONE E N N W (the Orcs chase you!) CUT BRIDGE S S E E DROP SWORD S DROP LAMP TAKE NET TAKE TRIDENT TAKE LUNG-FISH DROP LUNG-FISH DOWN TAKE JELLY-FISH. E DOWN DROP EARTH-STONE UP DROP JELLY-FISH UP TAKE LUNG-FISH DROP LUNG-FISH DROP NET DROP TRIDENT TAKE BOTTLE TAKE LAMP N TAKE SWORD N N W W W (you meet a Dragon!) THROW BOTTLE (it causes the Dragon to choke and back off) N TAKE EGG S W W WAIT (until the flames move NE/SW) DOWN LOOK DOWN SCORE DOWN SCORE DOWN TAKE CLOAK DOWN SCORE DOWN SCORE IN SCORE DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN W DROP CLOAK (it now covers the hot coals) W S DROP EGG (the Phoenix is reborn!) N W W W W UP DROP LAMP TAKE SUN-STONE. DOWN E (a Balrog now stands astride the bridge, blocking your way!) CUT BRIDGE (you fall to a Bleak Moor) N W N N TAKE BRAZIER (it shrinks into a tiny ornament!) TAKE STAR-STONE DOWN (you slide down a scree slope and the Orcs daren't follow you!) DROP BRAZIER (you're warm again!) TAKE BRAZIER S S S S E DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN S (when the Skeletal Hand grabs you.......'CUT HAND') S (you are surrounded by Ghosts!) DROP BRAZIER (the Ghosts are now banished) E E S S S W W IN S (lucky you ate that onion, earlier!!) UP THROW STAR-STONE THROW SUN-STONE TAKE BOOTS. DOWN N OUT E E N N N E E E TAKE MIST-STONE W W S W S S S S W W IN S UP OUT DROP SWORD TAKE SUN-STONE TAKE STAR-STONE S S UP UP DROP STAR-STONE DROP SUN-STONE DOWN DOWN N TAKE EARTH-STONE TAKE MEDALLION S UP UP DROP BOOTS TAKE SUN-STONE INSERT EARTH-STONE (the Rock Door opens) TAKE STAR-STONE UP INSERT SUN-STONE (the Gold Door opens) UP INSERT STAR-STONE (the Silver Door opens) UP INSERT MIST-STONE (the Glass Door opens) UP (you are now surrounded by Orcs!) WAVE MEDALLION N W W (more Orcs block the way North) W S E (you hide in the Alcove as the Orcs pass) W N E N N N DOWN DOWN N. FINAL MESSAGE The Demon Lord freezes you with a look: "YOU WILL STILL FAIL!", he snarls, "NO AMULET CAN WORK SO CLOSE TO THE CENTRE OF MY POWER". But the Phoenix dives at the fire, destroying it completely! The Demon Lord screams and implodes to nothing. Your mission is successful!! You scored 5475 out of about 6000. You are clearly a Master Adventurer! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Well, here we are with the final part of the Comprehensive ST Manual. The first 3 parts to this stupendous piece of literature can be found on Sewer Doc Disks 6,7 and 10 respectively. Chapter Nine: Magazines for the ST There are practically no translations in computering because last month's magazine is today's outdated information; a major reason for the domination of computer magazines over books as a form of information distribution. But you will eventually realize that today's hot magazine article is actually "cold news" from about three months ago; it takes time for the magazine to find the news, write the article, get it layed out, and printed. If you want hot news, then get a modem and join the BBS's. That is where the action is. Futhermore, magazines have commercial interests; in many cases, that's the only thing they have. Not only that they review article because they get paid by the software producer, but also some magazines will not review products if they are paid money by the competitor. Magazines will tirelessly review lousy products if they happen to own the distributor. Many publishers have the moral level of earthworms; they block or destroy other magazines simply in order to dominate the market. The "competition" between Atari and Commodore seems to be a product of both manufacturers (who are interested in selling their machine and putting the other one down). (Guess who makes ST chips. Right! Guess which company would go under if it didn't have a competitor who buys so many chips. You bet.) Magazines also have an interest in maintaining this "competition." In the early part of this century, William Randolf Hearst, America's newspaper king, sent Frederick Remington, the famous frontiers painter, to Cuba, to paint scenes from the then-on-going Spanish-American War, in which the imperialist US knocked imperialist Spain out of corrupt Cuba without a fight. Remington got to sleepy Cuba, looked around, and telegraphed to Hearst "No war here". Hearst sent a telegram right back, saying "You paint the pictures, and I'll write the war." West Germany is the major country for the ST. German is a very useful language to know. West Germans have bought 80% monochrome monitors, while the US and British users are the opposite, with 80% color monitors. This means that the Germans use the ST for professional applications, while the Americans and British are playing games. This can be seen in the difference in programs: American and British games are spectacular, with whorehouse colors and loud pop music, just like Ronnie and Maggie state events. (Starglider is basically about reconquering lost terri- tory by shooting everything in sight. SDI is a starwars game; enjoy the thrills of total nuclear war.) English utilities are usually simple TOS PRGs, with little graphics, few options. West German commercial programs are very developed; SIGNUM is an excellent example; no English program can compare to its sophis- tication. Only FLIGHT SIMULATOR II or VIP are in that quality. German PD's are usually better than the similar Anglo-saxon commercial PRGs: more options, more developed, more use of the mechanics of the machine. Ordnung muss sein! Drawing PRGS better than DEGAS and DEGAS ELITE can be found as German PD's. Of French PRGs, I only know that they've written a game in which UFOs kidnap all the cats on Earth and you have to play poker to get the kittys back. About ST magazines I'll start with West Germany, the powerhouse of the ST. West Germany buys over 30% of all ST's in the world, making it a considerable market. The 260 ST, smaller brother of the 520ST, is popular there, but users moved quickly to the 1040ST and beyond. Germany has produced technical and professional programs and hardware of a high standard. This is possible in part by the support and distribution of high quality information in their magazines. The foremost publication is ST JOURNAL (from DATA BECKER, Merow- ingstrasse 30, 4000 Dusseldorf, West Germany, tlf (0211) 310010), a computer journal which is the most professional ST developers journal in the world. Typical articles are written by persons with academic computering training. There is little advertising; the layout is that of a professional journal. The DATA BECKER publishing house also puts out a whole row of ST books, all on the various technical/programming aspects of the machine. The lower end, general books, tend to be a bit wordy at times (one book uses several pages on the mouse). The West German magazine ST-COMPUTER is the best ST magazine anywhere. It is probably directly responsible for the high level of ST work in Germany. New products and products in development are announced here. Authors are technically or professionally highly qualified. Products are reviewed not only from Germany, but from worldwide sources. The reviews are critical: the good and bad is carefully described. If the program is weak, they tell you. In-depth analysis of the industry, hard hitting interviews, and the direction of the development of the ST are standard. They often make proposals for projects. Articles explain how to build your own hardward (scanners, eprommers, etc) or complete guides to advanced programming. There are regular contests, with entire systems as prizes, for better software, and the results are professional. The magazine also sells hardware at low prices. ST-COMPUTER is the major source of ST PD disks in the world. No other source has such a large, varied, advanced collection. They present original PD's, sent in by their readers. The library has to be seen to be believed. Practically every single other PD library in Europe takes their disks from this source. In June of last year, they had a handful; in September 87, they celebrated disk #50 with champagne, February 88 has over 120 disks. Scienti- fic, mathematical, and professional programs, including utilities and accessories, are the mainstay of their PD library. There are German drawing and painting programs which are superior to commercial releases. 3-DLABYRINT is an example of a ST basic program which runs quickly and without error. Astrolabium, an astronomy program, is excellent. The trend seems to be towards writing the program in English; at least the screen picture is (mostly) in English. An updated list is in every issue. Their disks cost 10DM each. Our UG has a full copy of the ST COMPUTER collection. ST COMPUTER has close ties to Atari Deutschland, but stand nevertheless editorially independant. The magazine is the best monthly ST computer magazine, not only of Germany, but for both Europe and the US. (ST COMPUTER Redaktion, Schwalbacherstr. 64, 6236 Eschborn, West Germany, about 30$ a year) Another West German magazine is ATARI MAGAZIN. It covers all Ataris, both 8 and 16 bits. There are listings, reviews, personal ads, and contacts as well. (6 Dm each, from Verlag Raetz-Eberle, Postfach 1640, Melanchthonstrasse 75/1, 7518 Bretten, West Ger- many. Tlf 07252/3058.) 68000'er, the West German magazine, was written for the Macin- tosh, Amiga, ST, and Sinclair QL. The QL died, and so it was dropped. Mac people do not read anyone else's magazines (MACUSER is the best for Macs), and so Mac rarely appeared in the magazine. In March 88, Amiga was dropped as well. The publisher annouces that he will make a new magazine for the Amiga. The point is however that the magazine will continue as an ST magazine, not an Amiga magazine. The market is appearing to settle out: the machines, which are nearly identical, are getting a profile. Amigas are either for kids (games) or video studio work (TV studios), with little in between. ST's are somewhat for games, but mostly for home and small office applications (wordprocessing, programming, business, university student, and self-taught programming). 68000'er will now be called ST MAGAZIN. It is a large format, glossy paper magazine, dedicated to 68000 chip computers. The magazine is up to date and informative. There is a personal ads and contacts section. There are listings. They have pretty much dropped everything to do with ST PD's; ST COMPUTER completely dominates that aspect. The magazine is also expensive, with an obscure pricing system. As far as I can tell, a one year airmail subscription to the US is about 133 Dm. Individual issues cost 7DM each. (68000'er or ST MAGAZIN, Redaktion Markt und Technik, Verlag Aktiengesellschaft. Hans Pinsel Strasse 2, 8013 Haar bei Muenchen. West Germany. There is an American office: M+T Publishing, 501 Galveston Drive, Redwood City, CA 940363, Tel. (415) 366-3600.) From Austria, there is XE/ST, a magazine covering both 8 and 16 bit Ataris. It resembles ST-COMPUTER. Enthusiastic workers, well thought, well written reviews and comparisons. They offer a substantial PD library as well. The appearance of the magazine is a good proof of what an ST can do: layout and printing are done with ST's and done well. There are small ads and contacts. (One year 540 shilling, XE/ST, Webgasse 21, A-1060 Vienna, Austria.) There are no Scandinavian commercial magazines for the ST or Ataris. Danish small systems computer magazines are notable in their poor quality. There are mostly repeated reviews of games. They seem to write for Commodore 64s and PC's, a curious mix. There are possible plans (...) for an ST magazine in Denmark in late Spring, 1988. The size of the ST community however makes it very difficult; it is not even certain whether there are 700 or 5000 ST's here. Compare those numbers to the Amiga: 15000 Amigas alone. Peter Pedersen, of STOP UG in Copenhagen, Denmark, edits START, the monthly UG memberships magazine (STOP is the UG, START is the magazine). Written mostly in Danish, it is the only Scandinavian effort for the ST. Peter Pedersen took over editorship only late in the Summer of 87, so the direction of the magazine has changed from mostly games to more serious discussions. Reviews, articles, letters, small ads. The editor is remarkably well informed about the ST and Atari developements. The UG also has a PD collection. Our UG and STOP have close connections: they can be contacted on the BBS; 68000 UG members are encouraged to write articles for START. We can place free small ads in the magazine. Copies of the magazine are available at meetings for 10 Kr. Subscriptions to the magazine are possible for members of our UG. Contact the magazine at: START, Peter Pedersen, Strandvaenget 44, 6710 Es- bjerg, Denmark. The titles of British magazines is a chapter in itself. There was ATARI USER, which featured both 8 bit and 16 bit machines. It then separated into ATARI USER, for 8 bit machines, and ATARI ST USER, for the ST. ATARI ST USER is remarkably bad. Nothing here that hasn't already been printed elsewhere. It dwells mostly on games, standing uncomfortably close to the distributors, doubly so if they are British. (38 # Overseas. ATARI ST USER, Database Publications, Europa House, 68 Chester Road, Hazel Grove, Stock- port SK7 5NY, England). If you ever wonder why they are so nuts about MICROLINK, well, guess who owns it. A second British magazine was called ST USER. When ATARI USER changed it name, the first ST USER was forced to change its name to ST WORLD. The big sharks push around the little fish. This is further confused by the fact that it continues to be distributed from Canada as ST USER INTERNATIONAL. Not clear? Nobody was. This did not ruin the magazine however. ST WORLD is a small family company, but they put out the best English language magazine available. Sharp, critical reviews, detailed descriptions of professional ST usage. They've gotten quite a line up of writers for their magazine. Dale Hughes writes the funniest articles in computering anywhere; Richard Seel writes excellently researched articles on a wide range of topics. Atari England likes it so much that they recently bought 20% of the stocks in nonvoting shares. ST WORLD maintains its editiorial independence. If you are looking for an English language magazine, then this one is recommended. (Gollner Publications, 10 Theater Lane, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 1SR, tlf. (243) 78 39 32.) The "European" (My mother always explained to me that if a British crosses water, then it is a voyage. She is French.) price is about 30 #, which includes several Thanks to A.L.F and MERLIN for sending this.......S.P A M A Z O N (Trillium) Amazon is not really a particularly difficult game; what makes it hard in some spots is the tricky syntax needed to solve a problem or get past an obstacle. With this solution you should have no trouble at all in finishing the game. One note before we get started: this solution is for the intermediate (seasoned explorer) version. The explorer version has a few problems/situations that are not in the novice version. I will point these out in the solution and those playing the novice version can ignore them! Ok, you start at NSRT headquarters, waiting for the satellite transmission. Just wait (one move is all that's needed), and the picture will come in. Adjust your keys to "tune in". Keep adjusting until the picture is clear. After viewing the scene of the massacre, "Go Office" to get your assignment. Give your name to Murphy when he asks, and say "yes" to next question. You can answer either "yes" or "no" to the "are you scared" question, and "ok" to the question after that one (Murphy asks a lot of questions). When he asks what level you are, you can answer "Seasoned Explorer" if you like (or Novice, if you prefer). He'll hand you an envelope and tell you to go to the airport. So, do just that, "go airport". Once there, open the envelope, which tells you which city to go to, as well as containing an airplane ticket. "Go Miami". When you get there, tell the taxi driver to take you to the Institute. Don't allow him to take you to a hotel, because you'll never get there. When you reach the Institute, and try to enter the building, a policeman will stop you. Show him your letter, and he'll let you in (for someone on a secret mission, you sure are giving out a lot of information!). Enter the building, where you'll find a secretary. Tell her your name, and answer yes to the map question. Then head east down the hall to the office, and enter it. You won't be able to do anything here until you talk to Paco the obnoxious parrot, so "get drape". Tell Paco your name, then open the cage. Answer yes to all his questions. Open the refrigerator when he tells you, and get the fruit. You won't need the medicine, so leave it. Give the fruit to Paco, then call him: "Paco". Now you can open the cupboard. Examining the shelves will show you a dart gun and some food for the parrot. Get those, then leave the office. The director will show up, telling you that you can't take Paco with you. Offer the director a bribe: "Bribe director". Keep saying no to his demands until he's down to ten thousand dollars, then agree. You can now leave with Paco, so "go airport". Once there, buy tickets for Paco and yourself. You will be paged to the courtesy booth. Answer yes to the name question, then take your pack. The only way to find out what's in there is to take inventory; just looking at or examining the pack won't work (inventory can be abbreviated to inv). Open the envelope and write down the emergency transmission code, then read the note that has your regular code (you might want to write that one down, as well). Now it's time to be on your way, so "go amazon". You will make an unscheduled refueling stop in Guatemala City. The immigration officer will demand cigarettes; give them to him. You really don't need them for the Kemani later on. If you are playing the Explorer version, you will make a further stop in La Paz. Here, whatever you do, you will be robbed, and left with only your computer and belt. Turn your computer on ("computer on") and input your emergency code. After the transmission, the police will arrive with Paco, and demand money to return him to you. Give them the belt (which is a money belt with gold inside), and you will have Paco with you once more. The rest of this portion is automatic, and you will eventually be in the Amazon. Ok, so here you are, flat on your back in the jungle. Sit up, and after the sound effects are over, turn your computer on and input your regular code. When the transmission is finished, go East. You're on a jungle trail. Try to go north, and a wild boar appears. Luckily, he will go back into the bushes again. Now you can really go north, where you will hear the sound of guns firing. Corrupt government troops are very close! Go east, and sure enough, there they are. And they capture you, too. There is no way around this, but it doesn't matter, since you'll be escaping later on, anyway. You're taken to a tent, and securely tied. Wait, and the captain will come in. He isn't too nice, and accuses you of being a spy. Then he'll ask if you have any money to pay for your freedom. You can say yes and tell him to look in the pack. Of course, there's no money there; the troops have already taken it. The captain will toss the pack aside and leave, promising to have you executed in the morning, if not sooner, a cheery prospect. Wait until night falls, and Paco will come around looking for you. Call him: "Paco", and he'll enter the tent and free you. Take your pack and go west to leave the tent. It's pretty dark out there, and hard to see. Wear your goggles, and you'll be able to go north out of the camp. You must wear the goggles, or you won't be able to do this safely. Once away from the camp, remove the goggles. However, now the soldiers know you're missing, and they're coming after you (oops)! This is definitely an emergency, so turn on your computer and input the emergency code. NSRT will guide you (provided you have your map and map coordinate tables) to a safe location. Once there, get some sleep. In the morning, take the path north. Woosh! An arrow just barely missed you! Out from the bushes steps a Kemani tribesman, bow ready. You want to make sure he knows that you're friendly, so smile. He will take you to his village, where the men will crowd around, making odd motions with their hands. They obviously want cigarettes, but you gave those away a long time ago. Just keep entering commands like "go hut" etc., until the Kemani kick you out into the jungle. This is a small maze of no great difficulty. Just go North, North, North, East, and you'll be in a clearing. North again brings you to Macuma. North once more, and you're on the slopes, pretty high up. It's a trifle chilly, so wear your parka. Now keep going up until you reach the snowstorm. Here, you can't go further without help, so turn on the computer. Enter the emergency code. As before, NSRT will guide you safely out of the storm (provided you have the map, etc). Then go north and enter the lava tube. Have another night's sleep (I wonder how Paco managed to survive the freezing cold?). In the morning, continue north until you're back in the jungle. North again (the favorite direction in this game!), and you come to a clearing, where you see a crate floating down from the sky. Go east until you come to the drop site. Open the crate, and get the rifle. Also take the parachute. Leave the raft and oar, because they are both useless (the raft has a hole, and the oar is broken. So is the rifle, but you won't need to fire it). Then head north to the river. Ok, so now you're at the river. It's dark again, so wear your goggles. Aha, there's a hippo feeding at the river. Just wait until he leaves, then go west until you come to the native boat. Examine the boat, and you notice that there's a small hole in it. "Use parachute", and that will plug the hole. Now go south, and you'll find a handy paddle. Go back north to the boat. You're almost ready to cross, but first you have to do something about the water-phobic parrot. "Shoot Paco", and he will collapse into your arms. Get into the boat, and "cross river". Part of the way over, alligators will appear. Your rifle is useless for shooting, but you can use it as a club. This is a tricky one, because "hit alligators" won't work. Instead, you must say "use rifle" (silly, but that's what will work). If you are playing the Explorer version, the alligators leave, but come back. When this happens, "use paddle", and you will row fast enough to make the shore before they get to you. This is a good time to save the game. A totally purposeless and extremely frustrating arcade sequence is coming up. There is no way to avoid it, alas, and you may lose your patience with it the first time around. Ok, you're across the river, and you'll be too tired to turn on your computer. So you might as well just sleep. In the morning, you'll find that monkeys have stolen everything except the computer. NSRT will try to guide you to the monkeys, but they move too fast. Here is where the arcade sequence begins. You will have to move your little dot (using either the N-S-E-W or the I-J-K-M keys) after the dot that represents the monkeys with the pack. This is not easy, but, believe me, it can be done, even if it seems to take forever!! Once you have the pack (and saved the game so you won't have to go through this idiocy again), go east to the bridge. Paco will not want to cross, but you can persuade him by saying: "use gun". Do NOT "shoot Paco", because he'll have convulsions. Just the threat is sufficient to get him to cross over. About half-way across, the bridge starts to collapse. Just continue east, and you'll make it safely over. From there, go south until you come to the Tree of Skulls, and go west from there. Aha! The entrance to the Lost City! However, don't get carried away just yet! First, turn on your computer, and enter the regular code. Don't worry about the tape of the massacre that is transmitted; it is not of the least importance to you. Once transmission is completed, go south to the campsite. This is another good place to save the game, because yet another tedious arcade sequence is about to happen. The Huni will be attacking soon, so wear your goggles. Then turn your laser on. The Huni will now attack. This night, there are, fortunately, only three of them to kill. Use the left and right arrows to manuever the laser (which looks like something left over from "Space Invaders"), and use the space bar to fire (you stop automatically when you shoot). Once you've gotten rid of the Huni, you can get a good night's sleep. In the morning, go back north to the Lost City. Continue going north until you come to the storeroom. Ignore the fruit (not important) and go east. This is a temple with a large statue. The statue is not important. Go north to the wall and push it. A lever appears! Pull the lever, and a set of stairs is revealed. Go down the stairs. The entrance closes behind you, but don't worry about it. Go west to the end of the passage, then up to the vast hall. West again will bring you to a tiny room, and north to the wall with the key. Take the key and go south and east back to the hall, then north to the door. Unlock the door. You'll find a piece of paper on the floor. When you try to read it, you'll see that it's in code. Your computer will beep, so turn it on. NSRT will tell you what the paper says. Now is another good time to save the game, in case you make a mistake later. You will have to enter the Antechamber and open the doors in the proper sequence. One wrong move, and you're dead. Ok, go west. Here are the three doors that must be opened. The sequence is: Open 132. If you're playing the Explorer version, you will have to open a second set of doors, but the code is the same. How about that! You found the emeralds at last! However, Macuma is about to blow its top. In fact, the whole place seems to be coming down! Fortunately, the rest of this is almost automatic. Go south, and continue south until you come to the soft volcanic earth. Here, you go up into the pit room, and then west out of the city. The lost city crumbles before your eyes, but don't despair! A helicopter appears at the last moment, taking you and Paco to safety. Congratulations! You've just finished your first mission for NSRT!!!!! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Thanks to A.L.F and MERLIN for sending this.......S.P Instructions for this game are on DOC DISC 1, this is the solution. THE BLACK CAULDRON (Sierra On-Line) START: GO TO THE DOOR AND PRESS F6 - OPEN DOOR - ENTER THE DOOR AND GO TO THE CUPBOARD - PRESS F6 - TAKE KNAPSACK - PRESS F6 - TAKE APPLE - PRESS F6 - TAKE BREAD - PRESS F6 - TAKE WATERBOTTLE - NOW GO TO THE FIRE AND PRESS F6 - TAKE GRUELL - LEAVE THE ROOM AND GO EAST - GO TO THE SHED AND F6 - OPEN SHED - F6 - GET CORN - GO TO THE GATE AND F6 - OPEN GATE - PRESS NOW THE TAB KEY AND GO TO GRUELL - PRESS F4 TO FEED THE PIG HEN WEN WITH THE GRUELL - NOW WALK WEST BACK TO THE HOUSE. GO TO THE DOOR AND F6 - OPEN THE DOOR AND ENTER - GO TO THE THE BOWL AND WAIT - NOW YOU GET A ROPE - LEAVE THE ROOM WITH THE PIG - OUTSIDE THE HOUSE YOU GO NORTH - THERE COMES A BIG BIRD THAT GETS YOU AND HEN WEN - YOU MUST RETURN TO THIS POINT AFTER YOU ARE FREE(2 X SOUTH) - THEN GO WEST - GO TO THE TREE AND F6 - GET LUTE - GO WEST - GO NORTH - GO NORTH - GO NORTH - F6 - GET DAGGER - GO EAST - PRESS TAB KEY - GO TO WATERFLASK - F4 - YOU FILL YOUR FLASK WITH WATER - GO SOUTH - THERE IS A HOUSE IN THE BUSHES - SEARCH THE UNDERGROUND HOUSE - F6 - OPEN DOOR - ENTER DOOR - GO TO THE CUPBOARD AND F6 - OPEN CUPBOARD - F6 - GET COOKIES - LEAVE THE HOUSE - GO SOUTH - GO WEST (MORVA MARSH) - GO NORTH - GO NORTH - GO NORTH - (EAGLE MOUNTAIN)/START AT THE RIGHT FROM THE SCREEN TO WALK TROUGH THE ROCKS - WHEN YOU HAVE WALKED THROUGH THE ROCKS GO NORTH - GET THE ROPE AND PRESS KEY 7 AND THEN F2. NOW YOU CLIMB THE ROPE - IF YOU HAVE CLIMBED THE ROPE YOU CAN CLIMB THE ROCKS - AFTER CLIMBING THE ROCK WALL YOU GO DOWN ON THE OTHER SIDE FROM THE MOUNTAIN - YOU SEE SOME CROCODILES - YOU MUST SWIM TO THE OTHER SIDE - WATCH OUT FOR THE CROCOS - IF YOU ARE ON THE OTHER SIDE YOU MUST GO TO THE WALL AND PRESS F6 - CLIMB THE WALL - YOU SEE A WINDOW AND USE HERE THE DAGGER - ENTER WINDOW - GO EAST - GO EAST - GO EAST - WAIT UNTIL CREEPER SITS DOWN BY THE THRONE - NOW F6 - YOU JUMP DOWN AND GO TO THE PIG - PRESS F6 AND WALK WITH THE PIG WEST - AGAIN WEST - GO UP - GO WEST - GO WEST - PRESS F6 - THE PIG IS FREE NOW - WAIT FOR THE HENCHMAN - HE PUTS YOU IN PRISON - IN THE CELL - THERE IS A TIN CUP - F6 - GET CUP - GO DOOR - F4 - USE TIN CUP - WAIT - DOWN - GO NORTH - GO WEST - GO WEST - GO TO THE WALL - PRESS 4 X F6 - GO NORTH - F6 - GET SWORD - (YOU CAN USE THE SWORD TO STOP THE HENCHMEN). GO SOUTH - GO SOUTH - GO EAST - F6 - UP - GO NORTH - F4 - USE SWORD - F6 - GET KEYS - PRESS TAB KEY AND F4 - USE KEYS ON DOOR - ENTER DOOR - (CELL FLIRE FLAM) - F4 - USE SWORD TO FREE FLIRE FLAM - LEAVE CELL - GO WEST - GO UP 1 X - GO EAST - F6 - OPEN DOOR - F6 - GET ALL - GO SOUTH - GO SOUTH - F4 - USE SWORD TO OPEN THE BRIDGE - LEAVE CASTLE - GO EAST - GO SOUTH - NOW GO BACK THE WAY THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS - DOWN THE ROPE AND WALK THOUGH THE ROCKS - NOW GO SOUTH - GO EAST(WALK TROUGH THE TREE) - HERE DID YOU FIND THE DAGGER - GO EAST - SWIM - GO EAST - SWIM - GO EAST - BRIDGE - GO TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRIDGE AND PRESS F6 - AGAIN F6 AND YOU GET A FOOD WALLET - GO SOUTH - WAIT HERE FOR GURGY AND GIVE GURGY THE APPLE - GO SOUTH - FALLING WATER - GO WEST - GO TO THE PIG FOOTPRINTS AND JUMP ON THE ROCKS TO THE BIG ONE - (F6) - DOWN - PRESS F6 AND F4 - OFFER THE LUTE TO KINGEIDDILEG - NOW YOU GET A MIRROR AND THE FLYING DUST. F4 - USE FLYING DUST TO GO UP - (IN THE WATER)LEAVE THE WATER AND GO WEST - GO WEST - (SWAMP) - F4 - USE THE FLYING DUST - FLY TO THE LEFT FROM THE SCREEN,TO THE YELLOW GROUND - (HIDDEN AREA OF MORVA) - STOP FLYING AND PRESS F4 - GO TO THE DOOR AND F6 - OPEN DOOR - GO TO THE CHEST AND F6 - OPEN CHEST - NOW WAIT FOR THE WITCHES - THEN F6 - PRESS TAB KEY AND GET SWORD - PRESS F4 USE - OUTSIDE - PRESS F6 - DON'T GO TO THE BLACK CAULDRON - WAIT FOR GWYTHAINT - HE MUST STEEL THE BLACK CAULDRON THEN USE FLYING DUST - FLY EAST - FLY NORTH - STOP FLYING AND PRESS F4 - GO NORTH - GO NORTH - GO WEST - (BASE EAGLE MOUNTAIN) - NOW GO BACK TO THE CASTLE - GO TO THE BRIDGE AND ENTER THE CASTLE/ - INSIDE THE CASTLE YOU GO NORTH - (WINE CELLAR) - GO NORTH - GO WEST - DOWN - GO EAST - GO TO THE GRATE - PRESS F8 - PRESS F6 - PRESS F6 - NOW WAIT AND LOOK WHAT HAPPENS - DO NOTHING - THE GAME IS OVER FOR YOU - LET THE COMPUTER PLAY THE GAME FOR YOU NOW - DON'T GET THE BOOK AND THE GOLD AT THE END - WAIT UNTIL THE GAME IS OVER - YOU CAN PRESS THE HELP KEY TO SEE THE COMMANDS. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Thanks to A.L.F and MERLIN for sending this.......S.P Partial solution is on DOC DISC 1...here's a more extensive solution. BALLYHOO (Infocom) START.......S - LIFT THUMB - S - GET POLE - N - N - N - CLIMB UP - E - E - E - E - E - E - GET BALLOON - W - W - W - W - W - W - DOWN - DOWN - GET POLE - S - S - W - GET MASK - S - W - HIDE - WAIT - WAIT - E - N - E - N - NE - SEARCH GARBAGE - GET TICKET - PRESS BLUE DOT - SW - S - PUT TICKET IN SLOT - E - S - SE - LOOK INSIDE CAGE - GET KEY WITH POLE - UNLOCK CAGE - OPEN CAGE - ENTER CAGE - GET THE HEADPHONES AND THE BUCKET - S - NW - N - W - W - S - UNTIE BALLOON - BREATH HELIUM - SPEAK TO HARRY - S UNLOCK COMPARTMENT - OPEN IT - GET WHIP - W - WEAR MASK - KNOCK ON THE DOOR - GO IN - CLOSE DOOR - LOOK IN THE ASH - GET NEWSPRINT - WAIT - LIFT WALL - CRAWL UNDER IT - GET TRAP - WAIT - (SOMETIMES 4X) - FEEL THE ROLE - UNSET THE TRAP - PUT THE CHEESE IN TRAP - REMOVE THE MEAT - DROP TRAP. E - W - E - W - GET MOUSE WITH BUCKET - E - N - E - PUT TICKET IN SLOT - E - S - GET MOUSE FROM BUCKET - GIVE MOUSE TO HANNIBAL(2X) - LOOK - N - E - E - N - SE - GET STOOL - NW - S - W - W - W - N - N - UNLOCK LION CAGE - OPEN CAGE - ENTER CAGE - WHIP THE SMOOTH LION (3X) - OPEN GRATE - PUT THE MEAT INTO PASSAGE - GO OUT - GO IN - CLOSE GRATE - LOOK UNDER THE STAND - OUT - S - S - W - S - GIVE CASE TO HARRY - N - E - PUT TICKET IN SLOT - E - E - S - SHOW CASE TO ANDREW - GIVE CASE TO JENNIFER - UP - GET ALL - LOOK INSIDE POCKET - GET VEIL - UP - N - N - GIVE TICKET TO RIMSHAW - RIMSHAW,HYPNOTICE ME - STAND - E - UP - E - PASS MONEY THROUGH CROWD - DOWN - E - UP - E - DOWN - S - GET INTO LONG LINE - WAIT(UNTIL YOU SEE A SHORT LINE) - GO IN SHORT LINE - WAIT (3X) - GO OUT SHORT LINE - GO IN LONG LINE - GO OUT LONG LINE - (DO THIS SO LONG UNTIL YOU HEAR A VOICE,IN SHORT,OUT SHORT,IN LONG,OUT LONG,IN SHORT) - YES - NOW GO AGAIN IN THE LINES AND OUT THE LINES UNTIL YOU CAN BUY BANANAS - REMOVE CHOCOLATE - DROP BANANAS. N - HELLO HAWKER - (NOW WALK AROUND UNTIL YOU ARE BACK TO RIMSHAW) - STAND - S - W - CRAWL UNDER TENT - SEARCH GARBAGE - DROP WHIP - DROP POLE - GET GRANOLA - CRAWL BACK - S - S - SW - N - PUT TICKET IN SLOT - E - E - E - N - SE - SHOW GRANOLA - HELLO TINA - GET HAND - KISS TINA - NW - GET RADIO - OUT - W - W - S - SE - DROP ALL - GET RADIO AND HEADPHONES - CLIMB ON CAGE - CLIMB LADDER - TURN DIAL TO 1170 - REWIND TAPE - RECORD THE MUSIC - WAIT (UNTIL THE TAPE IS FINISHED) - REWIND TAPE - DOWN - DOWN - LOOK - GET ALL - NW - UNLOCK CAGE - OPEN CAGE - ENTER CAGE - PLAY TAPE - WAIT - LOOK UNDER STRAW - OPEN TRAP_DOOR - GET RIBBON - OUT - SE - SLIDE TICKET UNDER FRONT - GO IN - GET TICKET - BET $1 - (NOW PLAY UNTIL YOU WIN)NOW:OPEN PANEL - OUT - NW - SW - WAIT - NE - SE - SLIDE TICKET UNDER FRONT - GO IN - LOOK UNDER TABLE - GET CASE - WAIT - OUT - DROP ALL. CLIMB UP - CLIMB LADDER - GO HOLE - WAIT(2X) - GRAB SHAFT - PULL SHAFT - DOWN - DOWN - GET ALL - NW - SW - DROP ALL - CLIMB LADDER - OPEN PANEL - KNOCK ON DOOR - GO IN - LOCK DOOR - GET SPREADSHEET - MOVE DESK - UP - DOWN - GET ALL - N - FILL BUCKET WITH WATER - S - NE - N - POUR WATER OVER DETECTIVE - ASK DETECTIVE ABOUT BILLY - DROP STOOL AND RADIO - GET NOTE AND CARD - READ SPREADSHEET - S - SW - N - W - S - ASK HARRY ABOUT EDDIE - W - S - E - HELLO EDDIE - GIVE CARD AND NOTE TO EDDIE - GIVE SPREADSHEET TO EDDIE - GIVE NEWSPRINT AND THE RIBBON TO EDDIE - WEAR DRESS_SUIT - WEAR SHAWL_JACKET - WEAR VEIL - WEAR RIBBON - KNOCK ON DOOR - GO IN - CLOSE DOOR - GET CROWBAR - GET HEAD - OPEN DOOR - OUT - W - OPEN DOOR - GO IN - GET THUMB - OUT - E - GO IN - PUT THUMB IN HOLE - WAIT - GET CHELSEA - OUT. N - E - NE - SW - N - N - N - CLAP HANDS - ROUSTABOUT,GET NET - WAIT - S - S - S - NE - N - DROP ALL - GET RADIO - S - SW - N - N - N - ENTER CAGE - GET STAND - OUT - DROP STAND - STAND ON IT - CLIMB UP - UP - TURN RADIO ON - REMOVE SHAWL-JACKET - REMOVE DRESS-SUIT - REMOVE RIBBON - REMOVE VEIL - DROP SHAWL-JACKET AND DRESS-SUIT - DROP VEIL AND RIBBON - E - W - W - W - W - DOWN - DOWN - (IF YOU DROPPED THE RADIO THEN PICK IT UP HERE) - S - S - S - PHONE STATION - OUT - N - N - N - STAND ON STAND - UP - NOW GO EAST UNTIL THE GIRL IS FALLING DOWN - WAIT UNTIL YOU FALL DOWN!!! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * disks and back issues. ST WORLD has been distributed from Canada (under the name ST USER INTERNATIONAL) but poor distribution leads them to find someone else, perhaps in the US. The American price has been 37 $ a year. Soon, ST WORLD will turn into two magazines: one for programmers and applications, another for games. A special magazine is that published by Paul Glover in England. Up to now it has been called the ST CLUB NEWSLETTER, but it is about to change names, along with a total restructuring and new layout. It is a UG newsletter, written by members, and edited by Paul Glover. Since it is not a commercial magazine, it can afford to be open and critical: users will directly state what problems a program has in actual application. The first issues were small, A5 (that's half page size to Americans) roughly written, but packed with information and addresses. The January 88 issue is large format, laser printed, desktop publishing layout. The February issue is even better. Paul Glover manages to produce a very informative, packed newsletter for an amazingly low price: a year's subscription is 5 #. Users write from all over Europe, not just England. There are also lots of tips and tricks on using the ST in totally different things. The ST Club also offers savings and discounts on hardware and software to subscribers. At this very low price, the magazine is definitely worth having. (The ST CLUB NEWSLETTER, Editor, Paul Glover, PO BOX 136, London, E1 1LL, United Kingdom. 5# for one year. The magazine plus 6 disks is also available for around 25 pounds (the best PD's for two month periods). Of the rest of Europe, not much to say. No one seems to know of any magazines in Italy. There are none in Spain; Atari has only recently set up offices there. France has moved away from the attitude that computers are only for accountants and scientists; this kept the home computer wave out of most homes. But to their credit, they are working on changing this situation (Last year, the major sales argument was that the ST is as good as a PC). The ST has developed very quickly, with about 60,000 machines sold up to Fall 87 in France. There are several French ST magazines, unfortunately I have not been able to get copies of them. Holland is another center for the ST. The Dutch have really gotten orga- nized. There are a great number of ST UGs there, all inter- connected. There are rumors of ST magazines in Poland, but I haven't yet been able to get an issue. Non-Atari Dedicated Magazines We can also look at other magazines which are not written specifically for the ST or ATARI. These cover general small systems. There is firstly PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD. It could be said to the British equivilent of BYTE; professional audience, essays, excellent reviews, lots of advertising for all machines. About 250 pages. (15 # year, 33 # for the rest of the world, as they put it. PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD SUBSCRIPTION DEPT, Freepost 25, 32-34 Broadwick Street, London, W1E 6EZ, England). The following reviews of American magazines are based on issues from July 1987 and several issues from November and December 1987. It is of course possible that the magazines have changed. One notices however that a good magazine is good with the very first issue; a bad magazine stays bad. As for American magazines: there is firstly ANTIC (which means in English a "frivolous" or "ridiculous" act.) And that is what it is. If the British ATARI ST USER could be worse, then it would be ANTIC. Very thin articles, with practically no expertise. Very long reviews of the latest joysticks, however. For 8 and 16 bit machines, with emphasis on the 8 bit machines. They think the ST is just a bigger game machine. ANTIC is mostly a software publishing house, with a large number of programs; the magazine exists in order to advertise their products. They sell PD's (all fourteen of them) at 12$ each. Waste your money by sending 40$ (Outside of the US) to ANTIC, 544 Second Street, San Francisco, California, 94107 USA tlf (614) 383-3141). ST USER, of England, was an 8 and 16 bit magazine which split into two magazines. This trend seems to be popular in the US. ANTIC, the awful magazine, split up the magazine and now publishes ST/ART, dedicated only to the ST. It is awful as well. Very commercial. Totally uncritical. Vague, superficial, un- trained. (4 times a year, with disk, for 50 dollars. START, 544 Second St, San Francisco, California. USA.) ANALOG also covers 8 and 16 bit machines. And it too broke up into a ST magazine: ST-LOG. Only a bit better than START. Uncritical. Lots of games. Some articles are simply dopey. (39$ for 12 issues. ST-LOG, 565 Main Street, Cherry Valley, Maine, 01611 USA.)(A member has had a great deal of trouble with ST LOG. He hasn't received an issue in since last summer; three letters to the publisher have not been answered. It is not clear whether ST-LOG has ceased to exist.) Another American magazine is ATARI EXPLORER. This is more serious than the others, which doesn't say much. It makes an effort to bring competent articles on the ST. The biting criticism and in depth reportage of ST WORLD (England) or ST COMPUTER (West Germany) is missing. Atari Corporation has also bought a large share of the magazine. Many of the top people from Atari write regularly in the magazine. Perhaps this prevents it from criti- cizing ATARI USA. They are also very poorly informed about things outside of the US; they are vaguely (uncomfortably) aware that the ST is sold in Europe, but they know nothing about it, since they can't read any other languages. (ATARI EXPLORER, 7 Hilltop Road, Mendham, New Jersey, 07945 USA) (Tlf. 201-543-6007). 18$ a year, plus 10$ more outside of the US. (But people have ordered it, at US prices, and recieved 6 or more issues, without ever paying anything. I tell them that most Americans think Denmark is somewhere in Oregon.) British shouldn't laugh. American friends of mine think that London is in New Jersey. And I was once asked if West Germany has the same political structure as the People's Republic of China.)(The magazine is having difficulties meeting its publication schedual: they tried to go from four times a year to six times a year, but don't have enough material to print or money to print it. So instead of appearing bimonthly, it is skipping occasional months.) Last American magazine. I was recently sent a copy of ST APPLICATIONS by a member; he liked it as a programming magazine. The magazine is very interested in programming, especially C and Modula 2 (at least, the issue I saw), with lots and lots of listings. Advertising, new products, etc. If you want an American magazine, this is it. (ST APPLICATIONS, Box 980, Forestville, California, 95436 USA. Tlf. (707) 887-7879. 40$ Foreign, 78$ Airmail.) The American market has the best thing: a very low dollar. Ordering from the US is easy and safe; a GIROCHECK (Postal transfer) can be made out in dollars to the American address; the post office will convert that to a check which is then sent to the US. Be sure to order things with AIR MAIL; Americans tend to think that air mail is a luxury and don't realize that ship mail takes 3-4 months. But write very clearly that you are using an ST; I got Flight Simulator first for the PC, and now for the XL. If you know of any magazines which I've not mentioned, please send me an issue, I'll photocopy it and mail it back the next day. Non-dedicated magazines Of non-specialized magazines (not specifically ST or Atari) the American magazine BYTE is the most professional, most respected, and serious magazine to all small systems computers. Truely critical and forward looking. Articles on new advances in computering, both hardware and software. If you see something anywhere, it was printed in BYTE several months before. BYTE chose the ST as computer of the year in 86 (which is why I bought mine). But since the ST has had a bad showing in the US, BYTE rarely mentions it anymore. BYTE has however dropped the ST from BIX. PERSONAL COMPUTER WORLD is the British equivilent. Lots of advertising. COMPUTE! is another general American magazine worth mentioning. Listings, good articles on trends, developments, the industry, the mechanics of the computer. The SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN has an excellent monthly column on advanced computing. (The October 1987 issue was entirely dedicated to computering. Excel- lent articles from leading professionals on the state of the art and the future of computering. Read about computer systems in the year 2000.) DR. DOBBS JOURNAL is another respected professional programmer's magazine. CT, a West German magazine, is a profes- sional hardware/programmers magazine, with advanced projects and listings. Recent articles explained how to use an IBM harddisk with an ST and how to add a 68020 processor. Most of these magazines can be found in public libraries, university libraries, or computer science departments at universities. Technical col- lege libraries and computer science libraries also have computer magazines; these tend to be serious; programmers/developers magazines and journals. End of Chapter Nine: Magazines for the ST. ====================== * * ====================== Їld5 ? <_@p    !> ZAAAldKC@ @@@~ p Welcome to the bonus file .... This file cannot be accessed via the main menu, and has been provided as a bonus for those observant hacker type people who like to pull everything apart. This is only part 1 of the doc, part 2 will appear in the same fashion on a later disk. Yeh, another one that you can play wiv yer PC-Ditto, so what if doesn,t run R E A L F A S T . . . , who needs all that speed for a text adventure? Thanks ALF and MEZZO.........................................S.P S H E R L O C K H O L M E S (The Riddle Of The Crown Jewels) (Infocom) (As played on Atari St with PC Ditto Utility) You start outside Holmes' house in response to a call from Mrs Hudson. You are wearing a coat, hat, and have a whistle and black bag. The pocket of your coat contains a #1 note. The bag contains two bottles; a blue one (digitalis leaf for Tachycardia and other accelerated arrhythmias) and a brown one (belladonna for Brachycardia and other decelerated arrhythmias). Remove hat and examine it to see a stethoscope inside. Get it (+1) Knock on the door. Mrs Hudson answers it and says Mr Holmes hasn't eaten or slept for 3 days. A visitor has called on important government business and is waiting in the parlour. She won't let you enter the parlour till you've seen Holmes. Go to Holmes' room. he is sitting on the sofa holding a phial of colourless liquid and has his hand on a hypo in a morocco case. [Note that if you shoot the phial, Holmes licks the drops of liquid from his fingers. If you do this several times, you shoot him! He won't let you take the phial or hypo] Get tobacco from slipper (+1), get pipe (+1), get newspaper (+1). "Read newspaper to Holmes"; he glances at it and his eye falls on the article about the Tower of London being closed. (+5). He calls for a tray of food and sits and looks at you. Mrs Hudson shows the visitor in. He has come from the Tower (as Holmes guesses). The Crown Jewels have been stolen Thursday night. All that was left was a verse. The visitor gives Holmes a piece of paper to look at. Holmes glances at it and gives it to you. "Read paper". Mortality, behold a fear! What a change of flesh is here. Think how many royal bones Sleep within this heap of stones. Here they lie, had realms and lands, who now want strength to stir their hands. For two score years, I reigned alone, A Virgin Queen on England's throne. My navy caused Armarda's shame And with me died the Tudor name. The apple sorely tempted Eve, And Tell another tried to cleave But when one fell, it showed to me The mighty pull of gravity. My father, it was said, would die Beneath the Holy City's sky. Jerusalem his body claimed And it's after him I'm named. Oh Stately holmes of England In Baker Street abide. For even you must surely fail To save your country's pride. "Ask Holmes about paper"; he says the references are very obvious. The visitor says the calamity can only be hidden till 9am on Monday. If the regalia aren't back at Buckingham Palace by then, all is lost. Holmes gets his hat and coat from the bedroom and says he'll wait outside. Go into the bedroom. The ampoule is of etherium which is highly volatile and must not be opened in the presence of fire. Get lamp (+3), get magnifying glass (+1). Go to parlour and get matchbook (+1). Outside, Holmes says we must follow the trail but there will probably be traps. So if you lead the way, he will be thrown off the scent. After a few moves, he tells you to keep the ampoule well hidden. "Light lantern" so you can see where you're going once outside. Go to Westminster Abbey and wait till it opens. Go inside and get the pacquet (+1) and crayon (+1). Inside the pacquet are sheets of coloured paper (brown, green, blue, yellow, orange, white). Having read the verse at the start, you know you must make 3 brass rubbings. These are of Newton, Queen Elizabeth 1 and Henry V. Go to each of these three tombs and at each, get a piece of paper from the pacquet (any colour), "put paper on tomb, rub paper with crayon, get paper". If you "touch inscription" on each of these tombs, it feels sticky. The others feel normal. Go to the British Museum and into the manuscript room. The librarian keeps talking and distracts you from whatever you try to do. "Ask librarian to be quiet"; he apologises and leaves the room. "Get old book, examine it"; Secret Writing and Invisible Inks. "Open old book"; it falls open at the introduction," read it"; Invisible writing has a long and honourable history. It is used primarily when it is felt that a code or cypher may be too easily broken. Most invisible inks are somewhat sticky to the touch and virtually all of them become visible when exposed to moderate heat. Go back to the abbey to the Evangelist chapel. As you enter you are told that you wonder what makes this room seem different from the others. "Examine room"; you see lots of candles and realise the room is warm. "Warm (colour) paper with candles"; in each case, something appears on the back of it. "Read back of (colour) paper" to read each one. The one from Newton's tomb reads: London Bridge is falling down. All that's under it will drown. With it falls Victoria's reign, Britannia ne'er to rule again. When a number you require, And you're banking all thereon, Subtract the conquest from the fire, Half a league, half a league, half a league on. The one from Elizabeth's tomb reads: Hickory Dickory Dock, Your enemy is the clock, When it strikes nine, The victory is mine, Hickory, dickory dock. Here comes a candle to light you to bed, Here comes a chopper to chop off your head. The one from Henry's tomb reads: Twinkle, twinkle, Son of Mars, Fought at sea, midst masts and spars. Now above the world so high Looking down with watchful eye. Twinkle, twinkle, Son of Mars, England's hero, Prince of Mars. Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? I've been to the tower to look at the queen. Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there? I left something for you, go back if you dare. Holmes says Moriarty is responsible. We must solve the clues to see what he has in mind for us. Go to Covent Garden; a girl has collapsed. "Wear stethoscope, use it on girl"; he heartbeat is very fast. "Open blue bottle", you see an orange pill and some cotton balls. "Give orange pill to girl"; she recovers and puts a carnation in your buttonhole before she leaves (+5) Go to Bird Cage Walk. When you are offered a telescope to buy, "haggle with vendor". He says you can have it for 19/6. "Haggle with vendor"; he says 19/-. "Buy telescope, He gives you a shilling change (+1) Go to Trafalgar Square and "examine Nelson through telescope"; you see a ruby in his blind eye. Go to the pet shop and "ask Sherman for pigeon" (+1). "Ask Sherman about pigeon"; he says it's very clever. Just show it what you want, tell him to get it and it will. But it only seems to like red things. Go to Trafalgar Square. "Show ruby to pigeon"; it looks interested. "Pigeon, get ruby"; it quivers with excitement. "Drop pigeon"; it flies up, gets the ruby and circles. Go back to the shop. "Ask Sherman for pigeon"; he says it's too young to fly again today but it came back with a ruby and gives it to you (+5). "Examine ruby"; it has a scratch on it. "Examine scratch"; it looks like tiny writing. "Examine scratch through glass"; it says wear a carnation. (Note: if you don't show the pigeon the ruby, it circles, flies back to the shop and Sherman gives you a piece of red glass it picked up but he won't let you take it again) Holmes says it isn't part of the crown Jewels but was stolen from the Agra Treasure in India many years ago. We are in great danger. He gives you a signet ring and says if anything happens to him, take it to Mycroft at the Diogenes Club. He'll tell you what to do (+1) This happens when you collect the first gem. Go to Clock Tower. You can see a sapphire on the clapper of the bell. "Put balls in ears". When the clapper swings towards you, "get sapphire", it swings away again so do it again. You get the sapphire (+5). Examine sapphire"; there's a scratch on it. "Examine scratch"; it looks like writing. "Examine scratch through glass"; you see 2.00am. Go to Scotland Yard. If you "search (Bligh's) boat" in the Black Museum, you find an oar (+1). Go to the boat at Embankment. It only has one oar. To use it, you must "get into boat, lift anchor, launch boat". If you row with one oar, you go in circles. If you "wait", you drift downstream but can land at Traitors' Gate. But the portcullis is lowered and you can't get in. You can also go under London Bridge though you can't land, just "drop anchor". If you "examine bridge", you see a clump of moss lodged among the supports. "Examine moss"; it's a different colour from the other lichens around. If you try to get it, it's too high and if you hit it with the oar, it falls into the water, an opal drops out and vanishes from view. *************************************************************************** Well, we've run out of room on this disk, so keep watching for part 2 of this doc, which will be featured soon in a future Doc Disk. words password: swordfish. 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