﻿	Project NOVA

	(C) 1987. Written by Mark Cantrell.



	LOADING INSTRUCTIONS.



I:-	Insert the tape into the cassette recorder and rewind to

	the beginning.



2:-	Ensure the EAR socket on the Spectrum is connected to the

	EAR socket on the cassette recorder.  Disconnect the MIC

	socket.



3:-	Type LOAD "" and press ENTER.



4:-	Press PLAY on the cassette recorder.  Project NOVA should

	now LOAD and RUN.



Select 48 BASIC on 128K machines.



	Storyline



  The tutordroid glided across the dimly lit room to take

position behind the data terminals and display screens before

turning to face its waiting class.  It then spoke in a harsh

metallic voice, "Good morning class.  Today we will be studying

a period of great crisis for Earth and her budding empire and

the war-time development of the contravertial NOVE device

whose deployment and threat of total stellar holocaust has

maintained peace for four hundred years since the end of the

First Galactic War."

  The tutor signalled for the present students to connect

their neurological interfaces to their data consoles before

continuing its lecture, "For many years the war had raged

across the galaxy between the forces of Earth and her

colonies against an alliance of alien races who objected to

man's colonisation of their worlds.  Both sides had fought hard

but the war had reached a stalemate."

  "After many years of trying to break the stalemate, the

Earth Government of the time received news that a team of

military scientists were working on a device that was capable

of penetrating the heart of stars and detonating their nuclear

fuel causing them to collapse and fling off their outer layers,

creating a super nova and destroying the target star's system

of planets.  The project was named NOVA after its effect upon

stars."

  "The potential of this device encouraged the Earth

Government and excited the military who saw this weapon's

ability to break the stalemate and allow the Earth to win the

war, opening up the galaxy for colonisation."

  "Project NOVA instantly began to receive increased

government funding to prodcue a working prototype and

eventually a full sized test warhead."

  "Development went well until finally disaster struck!  Alien 

agents managed to entice a technician with the NOVA project to

treason.  In return for immense wealth and his own private

planet he was to help the aliens to procure the NOVA project.

He stole the prototype and the designs, taking them to a

rendevous with an alien ship and escaped.  The alien vessel was

tracked to an old pre-war Earth space station which had been

abandoned and left in a nearby sector of alien occupied space."

  "The aliens intended to learn how to build and operate the

NOVA device.  Once it was in their hands they would have been

able to destroy the Earth and win the war in one fell swoop!"

  "Naturally the Earth authorities were worried, a small fleet

of ships sent in to recover the device would have been

intercepted and destroyed by a larger force while a large

fleet would have weakened the front with potentially

disasterous results."

  "It was decided that a lone pilot would be sent in to 

retrieve the NOVA designs and destroy the prototype.  He was

supplied with a canister of 'flu virus which he was to use to

clear the station of alien life before he could search for the

NOVA designs."

  "Thus the lone pilot, a Flight Sargeant Smith of the Third

Martian Combat Squadron, found himself approaching the disused

station, seeing no apparent signs of activity F.SGT Smith

manoeuvred in for his final approach when the station's 

defense lasers opened fire and destroyed his directional

motors.  This caused his ship to smash through the hull of the

station's primary docking bay, completly wrecking his ship."

  "So began one of the most operations of that

conflict, had F.SGT Smith failed then the Earth would almost

certainly destroyed and the war lost!"

  "Now class, I want you to perform the following history

test.  Smith's surroundings will be simulated by a computer and

fed straight to your cerebral cortex as though you were Smith.

You must guide events as close as possible to the recorded

historical events, if you have studied your introductory work

correctly then this test should pose few problems for you."

  "Right, load your test programs and commence the test when

ready.  Good luck."

	List of useful commands.



RAMSAVE:-  Will save a position and status to a buffer in

	       memory and redescribe the current location.



RAMLOAD:-  Will restore a saved position and status from the

                     buffer in memory and redescribe the current location.



LOAD:-  As RAMLOAD but from cassette.



SAVE:-  As RAMSAVE but to cassette



AGAIN:-  Will repeat the last player input.



TEXT:-  Will turn the text display off and redescribe the

            current location.  In this mode all player input will

            scroll underneath the location text and list of present

            objects.



PICTURES:-  Will turn the picture display on and redescribe the

                    current location.



INVENTORY,I:-  Will list on screen what the player is carrying

                         and wearing.



LOOK:-  Will redescribe the current location.



GET ALL:-  Will place all conveyable objects in the players

                  location into their inventory.



DROP ALL:-  Will place all carried objects into the players

                     current location.



EXAMINE ALL HERE, CARRIED, WORN:-  Will allow the player to

                                                                examine all objects in the 

                                                                specified area, (here, carried

                                                                 or worn).



QUIT:-  Will end the current game and allow the player to clear

           the program from memory.



WAIT:-  A neutral command.  Used when the player wishes to wait

            for something to occur.



HOLD:-  Will pause the game until a key is pressed, this is so 

             the player can read responses to command strings.



SEARCH:-  Will allow the player to search through an object to

                  see if it hides another.



CHARS A-C:-  Changes the main character set to the one selected

                      by the player.



TELEPORT:-  Will allow the player to activate the teleport

                     providing they are carrying the control unit.



SAY, SPEAK:-  Will allow the player to speak to a character or

                        give them a command.  The speech section must be

                        enclosed in quote marks, eg. SAY "HELLO" TO PILOT.



With the ALL commands an object may be ignored by entering

EXCEPT x.  The exception to this are ALL commands where you put

the objects into another.







