Oo-topos Intergalactic Tachyon Drive Spacecraft 12,288 Astro Mega Class Intermediate-Range Operator Manual This operator manual contains important information regarding operation of the Intergalactic star fleet Astro Mega Class series of intermediate-range spacecraft. In order to obtain maximum usage of this spacecraft, we suggest all craft pilots familiarize themselves with the contents of this booklet and follow the recommendations outlined. Astro Mega Class vehicles should be operated only by a trained, licensed pilot. This book is not meant to be used as space flight instruction. The Astro Mega Class meets or exceeds all applicable Intergalactic Federation star fleet safety standards. Effectiveness of these safety features can best be continued through regular craft inspection and maintenance. Proper repair of this craft should be done only by a qualified Astro Development technician. Always specify Astro Development parts for maximum performance and economy. Observe all flight regulations. Make safety a habit! CONTENTS Main Computer..................................................4 Bridge Controls................................................4 Primary Components.............................................5 Cargo Bay......................................................9 Payloads.......................................................9 Emergency Landing..............................................9 Specifications................................................11 3 MAIN COMPUTER Using advanced technology, the Astro Mega Class craft is virtually self-operational. The on-board computer system provides all engine control, navigational maneuvers, and systems monitoring necessary for intermediate-range space travel. The Main Computer is entirely voice-activated. The system receives audio input only at the Main Computer Console, located behind the bridge on the port side. However, the system provides audio output anywhere on-board. COMPUTER OPERATION - When the vehicle is in total shutdown, the computer must be re-activated for flight. Audio input of the MISSION CODE is required to begin computer functions. Audio input of the word "STATUS" initiates a computer check of all on-board systems. Audio output will notify the pilot of malfunctions, safety hazards, or any other disorder that would imperile space travel. Intergalactic Federation safety codes require that all systems MUST be in proper operating condition in order for this craft to enter flight. Audio output will notify the pilot of lift-off condition with the ALL SYSTEMS CHECK response. The Main Computer performs other functions besides standard ship operation. For example, with audio input of the word "VALUE", it will appraise any item and supply currency exchange rates for nearby star systems. BRIDGE CONTROLS Bridge controls are automatically activated and monitored by the Main Computer. Override Systems will function only during an emergency landing situation. 4 PRIMARY COMPONENTS [1] ACCELEROMETER: an instrument that measures the rate of acceleration changes. Located on the Bridge control panel by the co-pilot chair. [2] AIRLOCK: a chamber that adjusts air pressure for passage from on-board to extravehicular environment and vice versa. Located mid-ship on the port side. [3] APOGEE KICK MOTOR: a rocket motor that fires at the apogee of an oval transfer to launch the craft into a circular geostationary orbit. Located in the Port Engine Room. [4] AVIONICS: the electronics system and instruments that monitor and control ship functions in flight. Located on the bridge. [5] COMPUTER CARD UNIT: storage for individual Universal Activan Data Cards to control various computer information functions. The cards can easily be exchanged and updated to the most recent information banks. Located in the Main Computer on the port side before entering the Bridge. [6] CRYON PURIFIER: a filter that intensifies cryon particles emitted by the power cylinder. Located in the Port Engine Room. [7] ENERGY CONVERTER: an "Xchanger" energy converter that uses zellium-based internal coils to convert various forms of energy created by the power cylinder into usable light drive energy. Located in the Port Engine Room. [8] EXTRAVEHICULAR HELMET: a self-sealing headgear used in conjunction with Extravehicular Space Suit and Thermo Gloves for extravehicular activity in hostile or no-environment situations. Contains light activated face shield and portable oxygen recirculator. [9] EXTRAVEHICULAR SPACE SUIT: a self-sealing and regulating thermo-spacesuit used in conjunction with Extravehicular Helmet and Thermo Gloves for hostile and no-environment extravehicular activity. 5 pages 6 and 7 are pictures of spaceship 7 [10] GYRO-MATIC LEVELER: a system that stabilizes the spacecraft during flight. Controls stability along linear (roll), planer (pitch) and vector (yaw) axes. Located in the Bridge control panel. [11] HYDRO-PARTICULATOR: a life-support component that purifies and recycles condensation from internal atmosphere of the craft into the water system. Located in the Life-Support Center. [12] KRYLLIAN CHIP: a vital component of the transmission beacon. Located on the Bridge. [13] LIGHT-ROD: a short-term source of light that absorbs energy from available light when not in use. Required in the Life-Support Center during flight and removable for emergencies. [14] MAIN SHIELD UNIT: a portable protective unit that, when installed, creates a "cushioning" shield around the spacecraft to prevent damage from micrometeroids and other space debris. Installs on the garon ray transfer housing in the Starboard Engine Room. [15] NAVCHIP: a computer component that contains current interstellar causeway information and navigational beacon. It controls firing of the external retro-rockets during flight. Located in the Bridge control panel. [16] OXYGEN RECIRCULATOR: a vital component of the Life-Support Center that removes condensation and harmful gases from the internal atmosphere of the ship. Water particles are channeled into the hydro-particulator and gases are jettisoned into open space. Located mid-ship on the starboard side. [17] THERMO GLOVES: self-sealing hand protection used in conjunction with Extravehicular Helmet and Extravehicular Space Suit for hostile and no-environment extravehicular activity. [18] TACHYON POWER CYLINDER: a power intensifier that creates a radioactive zone around the engine core using intense alphacoronic waves. Supplies limitless power and life support capabilities. Located in the Port Engine Room. 8 CARGO BAY The Cargo Bay is located in the center of the spacecraft and measures 8 x 7 x 7 fleegs. The entrance to this area of the ship is airlocked since the Cargo Bay doors must sometimes be opened during flight. The Cargo Bay is designed to accommodate most cargo and payload support equipment (i.e.-for specialized atmospheric control). The size and weight of all cargo support equipment must be included with data that is fed into the Main Computer to determine exact payload limit. PAYLOADS The Mega Class spacecraft is capable of carrying two types of payload: 1) Attached Payload remains in the Cargo Bay during flight and unloaded only at fixed landing destinations. 2) Free-flying Payload is deposited in space through the Cargo Bay airlock during flight. Free-flying payload requires proper orientation training and instruction. it is best to check with the payload manufacturer for recommended disembark information. EMERGENCY LANDING The Main Computer operates all emergency landing functions. However, in an emergency landing situation, the pilot can engage the Main Computer auto-pilot override system. This enables the pilot to combine Main Computer scanning data with optic visualizer input. 9 Picture of spacecraft 10 SPECIFICATIONS Ship type: Mega Class Tachyon Drive Model: 12,288 Identification Code: XX4357G900S5.1 Weight (fueled): 75,000 BS (165,000 LM) Cargo Capacity: 1,000,000 BS (2,200,000 LM) Wingspan: 25.73 FG (84.42 T) Length: 35 FG (114.83 T) External Hull Composition: Ablative Nuvonic Trainium Inner Hull Composition: Spanedar Voraxion Engine Type: Tachyon-convert 5000 Engine Thrust: 14,900,000 KN Maximum Speed: 4.5 LPM Fuel Capacity: 400,000 Lemperes* * NOTE: Use ONLY ungarbonized fuel. 11 Space Ecological Society OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT J. Castor Nebulus President DATE: 51.7.290 TIME: 06.13.00 COMMUNICATION: Argo HQ, President TO: Flight Commander Argo Base MISSION CODE: TSE957TX PRIORITY: Urgent -- red level DEPART: White Bay 2. Maximum speed, immediate upon receipt of this directive. DESTINATION: Observation Labport 5V, Station 5 Omega Sector 12 OBJECTIVE: Transport protective compound to Labport BACKGROUND: Outside the boundaries of star system 69 Omega is Observation Labport 5V. Subject of this Labport is star 69B and surrounding planets. The third planet of this system (Earth) is inhabited. Earth has no knowledge of or contact with the numerous members of the Intergalactic Society. An interstellar transport carrying power transfusion waste collided with a meteor and its toxic contents have scattered into open space. These contents are being drawn toward star 69B (Sol) and Earth is in the path. The transfusion waste is so deadly that all lifeforms on Earth could be destroyed on contact. Earth is not aware of the problem and does not have the technology to avert disaster. A protective compound has been synthesized by SES scientists. With seeds of this compound, Labport 5V can produce the chemical and secretly introduce it into Earth's atmosphere. it is IMPERATIVE that no attempt be made to communicate directly with lifeforms on Earth. Earth is within a restricted travel zone. Sudden contact with other lifeforms could cause irreparable damage to Earth's development. COMMENTS: The SES has great hopes for the inhabitants of Earth. It is of the utmost importance that we do whatever possible to avert this disaster. Good luck, J. Castor Nebulus PRESIDENT JCN:ps AUTO FLIGHT LOG Date: 54.7.290 Mission code TSE957X Time: 07.23.12 Mission code accepted. Prepare for departure. Audio input received. Executing on-board systems check. Please be seated and fasten your safety harness. Time: 07.24.11 ALL SYSTEMS CHECK. Proceeding with departure sequence. Tachyon drive engaged. Output: full thrust. Time: 08.01.09 Departure successful. Mission course preset. Destination: Observation Labport 5V. ETA: 310 minutes. Time: 12.14.30 ALERT. Course deviation detected. Cause unknown. Initiating auto-course reset. Time: 12.15.14 ALERT. Course reset unsuccessful. Scanners indicate probably cause of deviation: tractor beam. Origin: Theta Sector 6. Commencing evasive maneuver sequence. Please standby. Time: 12.22.07 ALERT. Evasive maneuver sequence complete. Unable to escape tractor beam. Rapidly approaching planetoid located in Theta Sector 6. Scanners indicate tractor beam located on planetoid. Data suggests deliberate action to force landing of this craft. Transmitting MAYDAY code. Please standby. Time: 12.29.17 ALERT. All transmissions jammed by unidentified device on planetoid. Estimated collision with planetoid: 4 minutes. Scanners seeking emergency landing site. Auto-pilot override system engaged. Now accepting input from optic visualizer. Time: 12.30.58 Planetoid identified. Name: Oo-Topos. Planet type: 40 Gamma Gamma Titan Class Fe1 iron moon. Gravity: 1/1. Position: variable. Orbit: no data. Indigenous sapient life forms: no data. Last recorded contact: Delta Sector 5, merchant ship, Gladiator. Crew and ship missing. ALERT. Audio input received. Scanners confirm emergency landing procedures. Prepare for sea landing estimated: 2 minutes. Please be seated and fasten your safety harness. Time: 13.01.22 ABORT EMERGENCY LANDING! Scanners indicate sea composed of highly corrosive materials. Auxiliary emergency landing site located. Prepare for hard landing on beach. Time: 13.07.18 Emergency landing successful. Minimal damage to ship. Tractor beam still engaged. Lift-off impossible. Scanners indicate life-support conditions hostile. Atmospheric composition: 74.2% ammonia, 15.7% nitrogen, 10.1% other trace elements. No natural water supply. Preliminary life readings indicate no indigenous sapient life forms. Time: 14.00.12 Scanners indicate buildings due west of beach. Unidentified life forms approaching ship on port side. Life forms not indigenous to Oo-Topos. CAUTION: data analysis suggests Oo-Topos is a likely base for space pirates. Scan.......................ALERT! Breach in outer airloc................................. AMIGA INSTRUCTIONS (512K required) GETTING STARTED Step 1: Turn your Amiga computer off. Step 2: Place the "kick-start" disk in the disk drive and turn on the computer. Step 3: When prompted for the workbench disk, place the COMPREHEND disk in the disk drive instead. Step 4: Begin your adventure! PLAYING A COMPREHEND INTERACTIVE NOVEL You communicate in your novel by typing commands in English. Tell COMPREHEND what you want to do by typing in your command, press RETURN, and COMPREHEND will respond with the results of your actions. The simplest commands, and most often used, are those for traveling. To walk north, you can type Walk North, Go North, or you can abbreviate with simply North, or even N. Press RETURN after your command. Other directions you can abbreviate are E for East, S for South, W for West, U for Up, D for Down, I for In or Enter, and O for Out or Exit. To see what you are carrying at any time, simply type Inventory. More complex commands can contain any combination of verbs, nouns, prepositions, adjectives, pronouns, and direct and indirect objects... basically any type of imperative command. Examples are commands such as Read the note, Look at the tree, Look under the wagon, Catch the squirrel with the box, and Feed the penguin sardines. Commands can also be combined into longer sentences, like Catch the cat by the tail and throw it into the tree. (Of course if you can't catch the cat, you won't be able to do too much throwing.) Each action in a command generally takes some amount of "time". In other words, if you are in a perilous situation, stringing a lot of commands together into one sentence will not get them done any faster. Generally, commands within a sentence are those separated by commas, the word and, or the word then, such as Grab the rope and the food, then run out. That sentence contains three commands: "Grab the rope. Grab the food. Run out." If something drastic is about to happen, you may be interrupted before your command is completed. For example, if grabbing the robe in the above example causes a rock to be dislodged and to start falling, you may be told "Before you can continue... a rock begins to fall from above" before you even get the food. This gives you a chance to react differently to the falling rock than just getting the food while it crushes you! MAPS When traveling throughout your novel, a map will eventually be handy so you can get back to places and explore paths that you missed earlier. The best way to draw a map is to describe each location in a box on a sheet of paper, then draw lines to other boxes and label the directions taken to get there. Be careful. Some writers create worlds with twisting paths, so if you go north to get somewhere, south may not necessarily return you to the original place! GRAPHICS MODE AND TEXT MODE When you start your novel it will be in graphics mode. A picture of your current location appears on most of the screen. There is a window with a set of special-option buttons on the right edge of the screen and a window for four scrolling text lines at the bottom of the screen. This is where you type your commands, and where the results are given. If a text passage is too long for those lines, COMPREHEND will pause and wait for a keypress before completing the text. You can switch to all-text mode at any time by just pressing RETURN at the input prompt without any command. The all-text screen keeps several lines at the top that describe your current location, in case you need to refer back to the description after it has scrolled up. Pressing RETURN again from text mode returns you to the graphics mode. Besides being useful for re-reading a long passage, checking previous commands, and checking the location description, text mode can be used to speed travel around areas of the "universe" with which you are already familiar. When in text mode, the graphics are not updated as you move from location to location. They are only updated when you return to graphics mode. Be careful when traveling in new regions with the graphics mode off, however. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words... SPECIAL OPTION BUTTONS On the right side of the screen is a group of buttons that simplify frequently-used actions and commands. The middle set of buttons is a compass for movement. Instead of typing go north, south, east, or west, just click on the compass point. Below the compass is a button marked List. Clicking it will list what is in your inventory. The other buttons are for saving and restoring "novels in progress" (Save and Load), quitting, or restarting from the beginning (New). If you "quit", you are given the option of saving also. SAVING AND RESTORING "NOVELS IN PROGRESS" It is acknowledged that occasionally it is wise to switch off the computer for such trivial things as eating, sleeping, or visiting with other humans, a method is provided for saving "novels in progress." If you click on the Save button, a dialog box appears that lets you select a number from 1 to 4. There is room to save four different situations. Clicking on the number you choose will save your exact situation for later. To restore a situation, at any time while playing, click on the Load button. For both saves and loads, a Cancel button is provided in case you change your mind. HINTS If you get stuck, don't panic! Just send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Hint Department [the name(s) of your interactive novel] P. O. Box 311 Geneva, IL 60134 We'll rush you a hint book free of charge. ============================================================================ DOCS PROVIDED BY -+*+-THE SOUTHERN STAR-+*+- for M.A.A.D. ============================================================================