



                        The Xenomorph Softdocs
                           Typed by Bateau

CONTENTS

Credits

Introduction...................................... 03
     Screen Layout................................ 03
     The Inventory................................ 05
     Moving Objects............................... 06
     Statistics................................... 07
     Load/Save Game............................... 10

Novella........................................... 11

The Ship.......................................... 12
     Mombassa Oak................................. 12
     Mombassa Oak Log............................. 13

Equipment......................................... 15
     Motion Detector.............................. 15
     Atmospheric Analyser......................... 16
     Personal Communicator........................ 17
     Standard Power Module........................ 18
     Security Pass................................ 19
     I.D Card..................................... 20
     Credit Card.................................. 21
     Computer Console............................. 22
     Medical...................................... 23
     C.N.S........................................ 24
     Kopek Coffee Machine......................... 25
     Drink-O-Mat.................................. 26
     Snak-O-Mat................................... 27
     Anti-Matter Drive............................ 28
     Fire Extinguisher............................ 29
     Anti-Matter Pod.............................. 30

Weapons........................................... 31
     10mm Pistol ACP.............................. 31
     10mm Assault Rifle........................... 32
     Laser Pistol................................. 33
     Laser Rifle.................................. 34
     20mm Super Magnum............................ 35
     Needle Gun................................... 36
     Stun Gun..................................... 37
     75mm Rocket Launcher......................... 38
     Particle Accelerator......................... 39
     Grenades..................................... 40
     Proximity Mines.............................. 42
     Gravity Mine................................. 43
     Robomine..................................... 44

Atargatis......................................... 45
     Sirius System................................ 45
     Atargatis Stage 1............................ 48

                                                       =X= Page 01 =X=
XENOMORPH

Amiga Version Programmed by DAVID NEALE
IBM Version Programmed by CHRIS SAWYER
Atari ST Version Programmed by DAVID NEALE
C64 Version Programmed by IAN DENNY
Achimedes Version Programmed by DAVID NEALE
Graphics by TERRY GREER
Games Design by TERRY GREER and RAY EDWARDS
Novella Written by STEVE HATHERLEY
Sound Effects by NICK REEVE
Manual Written by RAY EDWARDS

COPYRIGHT (C) PANDORA 1990

This manual is dedicated to Maureen Furzey

                                                       =X= Page 02 =X=
XENOMORPH

Welcome to Xenomorph, a whole new world will open up before you when
you take your first steps from your space ship.

To help you survive why not try out the game controls within the
confines of your ship the Mombassa Oak.

Once you are familiar with the game controls detailed in the intro
section, sit back and read the Novella.
The Novella contains a history of events leading up to your present
position.

The sections on Equipment and Weapons are intended to be used as
reference so why not leave those sections until you find objects with
which you are unfamiliar.

The Appendix section is contained on a seperate sheet and contains
extra instructions that may be relevant to your machine.
It also contains a useful keyboard control guide.

Xenomorph is not just a game but a test of survival, your ultimate aim
is to return to civilisation (ALIVE!)

Hint: remember, short controlled bursts.

                                                       =X= Page 03 =X=
                           q=[x]=[X]=[x]=p
                                INTRO
                               d=[X]=b

SCREEN LAYOUT

_____________________________________________________________________
______________________|                                              |
                      |                                              |
                      |                                              |
           2          |                                              |
                      |                                              |
                      |                                              |
______________________|                                              |
______________________|                       1                      |
                      |                                              |
                      |                                              |
           3          |                                              |
                      |                                              |
                      |                                              |
______________________|______________________________________________|
______________________|    _  |       |  _    |                      |
                      | |\'_  |       |  _'/| |                      |
                      | |_\   |       |   /_| |                      |
           4          |-------|   5   |-------|           6          |
                      |       |       |       |                      |
                      | <---- |       | ----> |                      |
______________________|_______|_______|_______|______________________|

The game screen is divided into one large area and five smaller ones.

AREA 1: is the main view of the outside world.

AREA 2: is the statistics area.

AREA 3: is the special equipment area.

AREA 4: shows what is contained in the left hand.

AREA 5: contains the movement icons.

AREA 6: shows what is contained in the right hand.

                                                       =X= Page 04 =X=
SCREEN LAYOUT (CONT.)

 ___________________________________
|       __  |     .     |  __       |
|    .'`  | |    / \    | |  `'.    |
| |\' 1 __| |   /_2_\   | |__ 3 '/| |
| |   -'    |    | |    |    '-   | |
| |___\     |    |_|    |     /___| |
|-----------|-----_-----|-----------|
|   /|___   |    | |    |   ___|\   |
|  /     |  |   _| |_   |  |     \  |
|  \  ___|4 |   \ 5 /   | 6|___  /  |
|   \|      |    \ /    |      |/   |
|___________|_____'_____|___________|


The six movement icons allow you to move about the ship and mining
colony

ARROW 1: rotates you anticlockwise through 90 degrees.

ARROW 2: moves you forward 10 feet.

ARROW 3: rotates you clockwise through 90 degrees.

ARROW 4: moves you left 10 feet whilst maintaining the direction you
are facing.

ARROW 5: moves you backwards 10 feet.

ARROW 6: moves you right 10 feet whilst maintaining the direction you
are facing.

Simply place the mouse over the respective movement icon and press the
left mouse button. Holding down the mouse button will continually move
you in the chosen direction.

Alternatively use the keyboard controls to emulate the mouse icons.
( refer to keyboard control card ) [Note: Keyboard Control Card Was
Unavailible For Transcription]

                                                       =X= Page 05 =X=
THE INVENTORY

 ____________________________________________________________________
|__________________________________|       |       |II II II II II II|
|                    |             '-------'-------|II II II II II II|
|                    | .------.                    |II II II II II II|
|         __         | |_ _ _ |                    |II II II II II II|
|        (  )        |  |.. :|                     |II II II II II II|
|       _.TT._       |  |____|                     |II II II II II II|
|      /(    )\      |   "  "                      |II II II II II II|
|     /  |  |  \     |     __________________      '-----------------|
|    /  /    \  \    |    /__________________|___________________    |
|   A'  |    |  'A   |   /___________________|_________\_________\   |
|       | || |       |  /____________________|_________|__________\  |
|       | || |       | /_____________________|__________\__________\ |
|       /_)/_)       |/______________________|__________|___________\|
|                    |___________/___________|___________\___________|
|                    |_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|
|                                                                    |
|                                                                    |
|                                                                    |
|____________________________________________________________________|

Objects may be stored for later use by entering the inventory screen.
To do this press the right mouse button.

The main view area of the screen will be replaced by your inventory
screen and now you can place objects in the pack area of the inventory
screen.

Objects may be carried in your back pack and placed in any one of the
twenty five zones within it. Placing an object on an already occupied
zone will exchange your currently held object with it.

You can place objects quickly into your pack without accessing the
inventory screen by placing the object onto the stats screen and then
pressing the left mouse button. The object will be thrown into the
pack's next available zone.

                                                       =X= Page 06 =X=
MOVING OBJECTS
           _
          | `--.__
          '.__    `._
  ____________`      `.
 |             `       `---
.`----------    `._
|___________
 |
 `-----------           ___
    `.________________.'

To pick up objects the hand pointer must be visible. If it is not then
click on the right mouse button once, so that the hand icon appears.
The reason the hand icon is not visible is because you are in fire
mode.

Point at the object you wish to pick up and press the left mouse
button.

The hand icon will disappear and it will be replaced by the object's
image.

Failure to successfully pick up an object off the floor usually means
you are standing too far from it.
Try moving closer to the required object.

Objects can be stored in the packs inventory for later use.

Try experimenting with objects you are unfamiliar with to see what
they do.

                                                       =X= Page 07 =X=
STATISTICS

 ___________________________________________________
|------------------------.   _    _    _    _    _  |
|                        |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | | |
|                        |  | |  | |  |_|  | |  | | |
|                        |  |_|  | |  |#|  | |  |-| |
|                        |  |#|  |_|  |#|  | |  |8| |
|                        |  |#|  |8|  |#|  | |  |8| |
|                        |  |#|  |8|  |#|  |_|  |8| |
|                        |  |#|  |8|  |#|  |%|  |8| |
|                        |  |#|  |8|  |#|  |%|  |8| |
|                        |  |#|  |8|  |#|  |%|  |8| |
|                        |  |#|  |8|  |#|  |%|  |8| |
|                        |  |#|  |8|  |#|  |%|  |8| |
|                        |  |#|  |8|  |#|  |%|  |8| |
|________________________|  |_|  |_|  |_|  |_|  |_| |
|___________________________________________________|


When you choose your character he or she will have five sets of
statistics which describe how well they are.
Each column cannot be increased above it's maximum e.g you cannot by
artificial means increase your health beyond 100% by continually
taking drugs.

The red column displays HEALTH.

As you suffer damage from attacking aliens your health decreases.
When the red column reaches zero you will die.
Your health can be increased with the correct medication.

The blue column displays STAMINA.

As you rush about the mining colony you will become tired and your
stamina will decrease. When your stamina reaches zero you will be too
exhausted to carry on. You can regain your stamina by simply resting
or by use of certain types of drugs.

                                                       =X= Page 08 =X=
STATISTICS (CONT.)

The white column displays RADIATION ABSORBED DOSE.

Due to the widespread use of radioactive elements in many day to day
items, leaks are inevitable.
Some areas abord the ship also have a high background level of
radiation.
The white column indicates the cumulative amount of radiation received
by you. As it reaches a maximum your health and stamina will begin to
suffer. As time goes by you will become progressively more and more
poisoned by radiation.
To decrease the amount of radiation poisoning a series of drugs have
been developed and these can totally counteract the effects of
radiation sickness.

                                                       =X= Page 09 =X=
STATISTICS (CONT.)

The green column displays FOOD LEVEL.

Food is an indication of how starving you are. When you run low on
food your stamina suffers as well as your health.
Eating food will incease your food level up to a maximum of 100%.
Eating food when your food level is at a maximum is wasteful and has
no effect.

The yellow column displays WATER LEVEL.

Water is essential to life and how thirsty you are will effect your
stamina and eventually your health.
Dehydration is increased when you run or wear environmental suits.
Dehydration is also enhanced by the air conditioning units.
Drinking will increase your water level.

                                                       =X= Page 10 =X=
LOAD/SAVE GAME

Select the inventory screen by clicking on the right mouse button

Select the small disk icon at the top of the inventory screen
 _______________
|  | |     | |  |
|  | |_____| |  |
|  |_________|  |
|               |
|               |
|_______________|

To save your current game position, select the save game icon and
follow the on screen prompts.
 ____________________        _____________
|      |             |      ||           ||
|      |           _ |      ||           ||
|------|          | `-._|\  ||           ||
|      |          |       \ ||___________||
|      |          |    _  / |   _______   |
|------|------.---|_.-' |/  |  |    __ |  |
|      |      |      |      |  |   |__||  |
|______|______|______|      '--|_______|--'


To load a previously saved game select the load game icon and follow
the on screen prompts.
 ____________________        _____________
|      |             |      ||           ||
|      |             |      ||_          ||
|------|             |  /|_.-' |         ||
|      |             | /       |_________||
|      |             | \  _    |_______   |
|------|------.------|  \| `-._|    __ |  |
|      |      |      |      |  |   |__||  |
|______|______|______|      '--|_______|--'


To return to the game select the game icon.
     ____________________
    |      |             |
  _ |      |             | _
 | `-._|\--|         /|_.-' |
 |       \ |        /       |
 |    _  / |        \  _    |
 |_.-' |/--|------.--\|-`-._|
    |      |      |      |
    |______|______|______|

                                                       =X= Page 11 =X=

                           q=[x]=[X]=[x]=p
                               NOVELLA
                               d=[X]=b

	The fresh glass of beer in front of me was my third, and already
I was enjoying myself. I took a mouthful of the sweet brew and
returned to the conversation.
	"That was the old Hypersleep 2-21s. They don't make those
anymore," Zena was saying.
	"Still," I shrugged, "At least they were better than the Zion
14s. Remember the Beijing San?"
	"What happened to the Beijing San?" Sam Ansell look worried. I
could swear he had turned a shade whiter since we started drinking. It
was his fault really. He should know better than to ask a couple of
old star jockeys like Zena and myself about interstellar travel. He
was making his first trip out in the morning and wanted a little
reassurance. Could we help allay his fears?
	How could we refuse? He had bought the first round after all. I
had started with the old story about the XP-17A, which he had heard
anyway. I embellished it slightly, mentioning that since then onboard
sensors had occasionally cought sight of the missing flight test while
in the Big Empty.
	That lead onto other missing flights. We had since moved onto
malfunctions in the cryogenics. The Beijing San was quite a good one,
if a little fantastic.
	"Well, nobody really knows," said Zena. "The Beijing San turned
up at Procyon on schedule but something had gone wrong with the
freezers."
	"The Zio 14s?"
	"Exactly. Nobody knows how they malfunctioned, but instead of
freezing the crew and passengers, the 14s cooked them instead.
Eighteen months of slow cooking reduced everyone aboard to a thick
reddish slime. It was disgusting."
	"But I wouldn't worry about that," I added seeing Sam's face
turn a shade whiter. "We haven't lost anyone in the freezers for
about three years now. They're perfectly safe. Don't worry." I hid a
smile in my beer.
	This was fun. I was glad I accepted Zena's invite for a last
drink before my trip. It promised to be spectacularly dull - a routine
supply drop to a bunch of grubby miners in the Sirius system.
	That was tomorrow, for now we were propped up in Roxy's, one of
the two gravity bars in the Vetz oribital dockyard complex. We sat by
the window overlooking a shadowed earth below us.
	"Well. You could cop out." Zena casually took a swig from her
glass, waiting for Sam to take the bait.
	He did not disappoint her, "Cop out? What does that mean?"
	"Cross Over Psychosis. C - O - P. Cop out," she said, as if that
explained everything.
	Sam still looked blank, so I elaborated. "You see the Big Empty
drives you mad. Scrambles your-" I stopped, seeing the blank look on
his face.
	"The Big Empty?"
	Zena sighed. "Hyperspace."
	He nodded knowingly. It had dozens of names: hyperspace, warp,
nullspace, jump, spaceminus, spaceplus. That mystery region of
imaginary physics beyond Crossover which permitted mankind to access
the stars.
	"Call it what you will, it's the Big Empty to us. You see," she
started straight into his blue eyes, "There's nothing there."
	He stared back, locked by those entrancing eyes.
	"Anyhow," I said a mite testily, "the Big Empty scrambles your
brains. The effect has been known about ever since the first tests.
That's why we have the freezers. Didn't you ever learn about this?"
	Sam coughed embarrassedly. "No, I never expected to leave the
Halkan Services metroplex"
	"So what are you doing out here? What do you want with a hell
hole like Edenia?"
	"I'm escorting the new third generation Tashita Central Nervous
System to Halkan on Edenia. I'm an analyst, but I can perform the
required hardware surgery in a pinch. I wasn't supposed to go, but the
girl I'm replacing was arrested yesterday."
	Third generation CNS was new to me. My last ship was fitted with
a first generation system, I didn't even know that there had been a
second. That was the only problem with jockeying. You spent so long
away from civilization that everything changed. Still, the money was
good.
	"You were telling me about cop out," prompted Sam.
	"Yeah, right. Where was I? Oh yes, the Big Empty. Well, it
affects something in the brain. It's something to do with mylar
coating on the nerves, or something like that. Anyway, you go
vegetable if you don't freeze, it's as simple as that."
	I finished my drink and called over the barkeep. Sam must have
figured we were only jestering, he had finally finished his first
glass.
	"However," Zena said as I ordered another round, "Big Empty can
still hit you in the freezers. You're supposed to be safe, but there's
always that small percentage thta you're going to cop out. There was
that guy on the Midnight Ice. He thought there were little green men
living inside his head, so he tried to chop his skull open to get them
out. Cop out."
	"So much of it depends on the ship," I said, handing out the
beer. "Which one you booked with?"
	"Ah, the Adler."
	Zena sat back and laughed, "Well, you've got no worries there
then. That's a german ship - she won't fail on you."
	"Mind you, the ship maybe safe but the food certainly isn't. I'd
slip straight into the freezers and avoid the pre-freeze meal if I
were you." The germans were great engineers but lousy cooks.
	Sam shifted on his stool. "So, don't you worry? I mean, with all
these terrible things that can go wrong. Don't you ever think that
your next trip might be your last?"
	"Not really," answered Zena. "Ships are getting safer every
time. I mean, you go out on a three year round trip and when you get
back you get a new ship that's three years more reliable."
	"Not only that," I added. "but you won't find a star jockey
without his lucky St Kopek."
	"The patron saint of spacemen," he smiled. He knew that one.
	I reached around my neck and pinched through the cord around my
neck with my nails. I pulled the cord and the medallion out and rolled
the severed ends of the cord between my fingers. In moments they had
healed so there was no scar. Cellular plastic, one of the new wonders
surprising me this time. I wondered what would change when I returned
again in two years.
	I passed the medallion over to Sam. "Three kinds of beans," he
read. He flipped it over to see the three coffee beans on the other
side. He looked at Zena, "Have you got one?"
	"Of course, a tattoo. But I'm not showing you here," she raised
her eyebrows suggestively.
	I felt a faint tinge of jealously as he smiled briefly and
blushed. Tugging my medallion away form his grasp, I slipped it around
my neck and glanced at my wrist implant. "It's time I made a move.
Early start in the morning." I tipped back my head and emptied my
glass, then stood.
	"Hey, hold on-" said Sam.
	"Yes. Just one more drink. I'll get it." Zena looked around for
the barkeep and tried to catch his eye. I returned to my stool.
	"So, where are you going?"
	"Sirius," I said once I had settled down again. "Supply run to
an Essen mining platform, the Atargatis. Year out, year back.
Sleepwalk."
	"On the Mombassa Oak, did you say?" Zena finally caught the
barkeep's eye. "Isn't that an old Vetz design?"
	"The 33a," I told her. "It's being scrapped after this run. I
cast an eye over her last week. They're doing some serious work
kitting her out for this job." I looked over to Sam, "I'm getting a
first generation CNS-e7. Anything I should know?"
	He shrugged, "Not really. They're pretty reliable. Take care of
itself."
	"Well there's a suprise," I said sarcastically. "Like everything
else. We're nothing more than janitors, you know. We don't do
anything. The ship takes off, navigates itself through the Big Empty
and docks at the other end. I don't have to press so much as a single
button. Sometimes I just-"
	"No," said Zena sharply. "Don't wish or it might come true. Ah,
here are the drinks." She started to take them from the barkeep.
	"Sirius," mulled Sam. "Isn't that a double star?"
	I shrugged. It didn't matter to me. One destination was pretty
much like any other. Black, empty and cold.
	"You going to Sirius?"
	I looked up at the barkeep and nodded.
	"Atargatis?" He said it in a thick accent that I couldn't place.
	"Yeah. Why?"
	"You supply ship?"
	"Yeah. So?"
	"Shadowfaith left for Sirius give months back." He turned to
leave.
	"Woah," called Zena, halting him. "How do you know?"
	"Crew here. Drink. Talk." The barkeep left.
	I looked down at my drink and thought. Shadowfaith was Osaka's
ship. What was one of the Essen board memnbers doing at a tiny mining
outpost in a dead end system?
	Sam coughed, "I heard rumours recently. Through Halkan."
	I looked up at Sam, "Rumours about what?"
	"Osaka was buying weaponry recently. State of the art firepower.
Sonita 12.64mm Close Assault Weapons. Optik Laboratories 70 Megawatt
Auto-Lasers. Heavy stuff."
	Zena stared incredulously, "It's just a mining platform. What do
they want with all that hardware?"
	"Rumour around Halkan had it that Essen had discovered some form
of actuated liquid superconductor. Chezalure Chemicals had somehow got
wind of it. I think you'll find the Spirit of St Louis headed out that
way just before Osaka left."
	I rolled my eyes ceilingwards. I hoped I wasn't walking into a
warzone. That would be fun.
	"Great. Anything else to cheer me up?"
	"Just getting my own back," he smiled smugly.
	Zena looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
	"For those horror stories," he elaborated. "You had me there for
a moment," he added seeing Zena smile mischieviously.
	"So," she said, "We embellished them a little. Here and there."
	"If you want some fun, get hold of Crossover by a guy called
Smythe. It's superb for lurid accidents and mysterious happening. You
can get great reactions from idly dropping them in casual
conversation." I laughed, "What we've said is the tip of the iceberg."
	He suddenly looked a little less certain.
	"Perhaps," I added, "You had best read it upon your return." I
stood, "Now, I really must get away." I finished my drink and left
Zena and Sam begind. I weaved through the empty bar and out into the
corridor. Now, could I get into my quarters without entering a
zero-gee area? The Vetz dockyards had changed a little since I had
been here last and I doubted I could manage to find my way back at
all. I consulted a wallmap and eventually found myself a route that I
could walk.
	A de-tox tab would prevent a hangover in the morning. I popped
one in the communal bathroom and splashed water on my face. It was a
shame the de-tox took so long to act. Head swimming sluggishly in a
thick syrup, I stumbled to my coffin sized quarters and fell asleep.
	Unfortunately, there was no way of avoiding the zero-gee areas
in the morning. I had to catch the shuttle that would ferry me over to
the Mombassa Oak, and that meant zero gavity. I packed slowly, trying
to delay the inevitable moment. It's really embarrassing. Space nausea
is suffered by dirtsiders, not experienced spacers. My other patron
saint is whoever invented artificial gravity. I could not have been
any of those early astronauts (Hell, they didn't even have Kopek
watching over them).
	I stood at the door between the two sections and took a deep
breath. Reaching down I peeled off the soles of my shoes. revealing
the velcrose layer beneath. I shoved the soles in a ziptight pocket on
my kitbag, and slung it over my shoulder out of harms way. Moving
forward, the door opened automatically and I stepped out into nausea.
	As usual, I felt fine at first but after a few minutes I gean
feeling queasy. I walked dead straight along the 'bottom' of the
corridor. Others walked along the walls and ceiling, ignoring my
discomfort. The sound of footsteps was replaced by the risp-rasp of
repeating velcrose. And the pounding of my heart.
	I should be used to this. I've been a spacer 18 years now. Ah
but, I told myself, at least thirteen of those have been asleep. That
left five years, most of which was spent in artificial gravity. So I
suppose my space sickness was not that shameful. Still, it was
embarrassing.
	It was none too soon before I strapped myself into the
comforting, padded acceleration couch on the shuttle. It was not
compulsory - we would not be accelerating anywhere fast. It was
psychologically comforting though.
	"You okay?" The pilot twisted around to watch me strap myself
in. He looked older than I did but his shoulder patch only indicated
eight years of service. Hell, anyone with eight years of service was
older than me. I supposedly only had ten years experience on his, but
had only lived five of those.
	"I'm fine. Just a touch of space sickness."
	He grinned and turned away. I listened idly to the professional
banter between him and traffic control and breathed a sigh of relief
as a faint pressure against my back told me we were moving.
	The view outside slowly rotated until we were facing the western
drydocks. The Mombassa Oak was out there, somewhere. The pilot guided
us gently through ratlines and crowded space. Spacers on flybuggies
darted past. Robots tugging lumps of machinery drifted towards half
completed ships. New ships, not like mine.
	"See that one," the pilot pointed towards a half completed ship
in the nearest drydock. "That's going to be the new Fly By Night.
She's going to be one mother of a mover." There was awe in his voice.
	I craned my neck to get a better view. Sure, the Fly By Night
was going to be an impressive ship by any standards. I could tell this
already. The drives were shrouded from view, but the crew section was
open to view. Heavily plated, the nose of the ship had a feral,
dangerous line.
	"She's going to be fast. They say she's got some experimental
Crossover Drive. Expected to do Barnard's Run in under three months."
	I whistled appreciatively. That was fast, knocking over a month
off the best times. I looked harder at the unfinished ship. Specks of
light reflected off robots and dockers working on her. I noticed the
dark shape of a patrol droid floating protectively near the shrouded
drive section. I doubted it was alone. Vetz was keeping this one under
wraps.
	I watched until we drifted out of sight, then turned my
attention on what appeared to be a piece of metallic driftwood. The
Mombassa Oak was not a pretty craft by anyone's standards. The Vetz
33a was not an elegant design at the best of times, but the Mombassa
Oak had been retrofitted on numerous occasions and her original lines
could only just be discerned beneath a mass of additional equipment.
	The Mombassa Oak had been tugged out of her drydock and say in
open space, just waiting for her skipper. Me. The supply pod dwarfed
the ship by comparison. It locked onto a dorsal mount, above the Oak's
massive drive section and was at least ten times the length of my
fifty metre ship. There, I was already calling her 'my' ship.
	If the Mombassa Oak looked like nothing more than a piece of
metal and plastic space debris, the pod looked like a long bloated
sack. Blisters and warts decorated what might have been an elegantly
tubular surface. One particularly unsightly mess towards it's end was
the Crossover Booster, ensuring that the Crossover field stretched
tight around the pod.
	Together, the Oak and pod looked like a vast queen termite
loaded with eggs. As a drone approaches it's queen, we slowly crept
closer to the massive ship. The pilot concentrated on the controls,
receiving information from his onboard. With a slight nudge we mated.
	I scrambled out of the couch and pushed through to the docking
right. There was gravity aboard the Mombassa Oak.
	"Welcome aboard, skipper," said a black girl with 'Smith F.J.'
stencilled above her breast pocket and three years service on her
shoulder.
	"Thank you Smith F.J." I said with more feeling than was
necessary. I had weight again.
	She laughed, "It's Fiona, please. Let me show you around."
	"You can go if you like. I'm sure I can find my way."
	"Maybe," she said opening the pressure door to the interior,
"But I had best show you around anyway."
	I followed her through, relishing the sensation of weight again.
Tossing my kitbag on a bunk, I say myself beside it and replaced the
soles on my shoes.
	"Okay," Fiona popped open a panel revealing a mass of circuitry.
"This is where we've hidden the CNS. Do you want to give it a name?"
	"No, Computer will do."
	"Okay." She reached over and tapped buttons on the command
panel. "CNS-e7. Keyword is 'Computer'."
	"Keyword is Computer," repeated the sexless voice.
	"I can do this myself you know," I said.
	"Ah, I guess you can." Fiona popped the panel closed and
shrugged. "If you have any difficulties the manual is in the infeed."
She pulled open the hardcopy feed to reveal a mass of paper. "It's
pretty reliable, so I doubt you'll need it."
	She walked past me to something I didn't recognise. "This is the
only non-standard piece of kit. It's a dispenser for stuff from the
cargo pod. Anything you want, just as for. There's five years worth of
supplies for two hundred and fourteen people in there, so I doubt
there's anything it can't supply. There's a list on file if you need
it."
	I watched, then my eye caught sight of something else and I
started rummaging through my kitbag. Fiona, looking through the
viewscreen at the orbital dockyards, hadn't noticed.
	"And that's about it. Ah, no. Except for one more thing. Now,
where is she?" Fiona started opening lockers, hunting for something.
	I ignored her and concentrated on a gleaming white appliance in
the corner. Standard equipment on any spaceship, interstellar or
otherwise. There was more feeling generated by this one item than any
other, including Crossover Drive. If the Kopek patent zero-gee coffee
perculator failed, the ship failed. It was coffee that ran the ships,
not the Crossover Drive.
	I slotted my own supply of coffee into the machine and waited.
Lights flickered green, but the real proof was in the tasting. While
I waiting something nudged my legs. I looked down to see green eyes
framed by smoky grey fur. The ship's cat.
	"Ah, I see you've found Hydrant."
	I knelt and scratched the cat behind the ears. "Well Hydrant,
are you a boy or a girl?"
	"Girl," supplied Fiona. Hydrant said nothing, as was the way of
cats.
	"That's about it, I think. Time I went. Have a good trip."
	"Thanks," I muttered absently. The coffee was almost ready.
	Behind me the pressure door slid open and shut as Fiona stepped
back to the shuttle. As I took my first sip of the piping hot liquid a
low clank echoed through the ship. The shuttle had left. I sat in the
command couch with my feet on the console, watching the shuttle
disappear into the drydock maze. Hydrant sat on my lap, washing
herself.
	"Computer."
	"Yes skipper?"
	"I think it's time we left. Run diagnostic."
	"Running," the CNS replied.
	I didn't have to tell the computer to do that, but it was
reassuring to actually do something on board. A row of lights lit a
uniform green on a board above me.
	"Diagnostic run and complete. All systems functional," The CNS
said unnecessarily.
	"Okay, let's go."
	"Interfacing with flight control. Prepare for acceleration.
Coundown Running. Three, two, one, go."
	Almost imperceptibly the low background hum deepened as the
reaction drive pushed the ship out of orbit towards Crossover. Vetz
dockyards slid past slowly as the Mombassa Oak started it's one year
voyage to another star.
	"Adios," I said softly.
	I didn't do anything for the first couple of hours except stare
out of the viewscreen. Not that there was much to do anyway. We would
reach Crossover point in two days. I could go straight to sleep now,
but I preferred to stay awake as long as possilble, checking and
double checking. The yards might have fiven the Oak a clean bill of
health, but they weren't the ones trusting their lives to it.

3 January 2134. First day of voyage.

All systems green.

	I couldn't think of anything else to put in the log. I had spent
a coupole of hours checking my freezer, but it checked out green.
There were three other freezers, relics from back when a crew of four
was carried as standard. Back when the companies realised that they
were paying four people too much for doing too little. The three other
freezers were old but serviceable. One was littered with cat hairs. No
guessing which was Hydrant's.
	Highlight of the second day was an unplanned spacewalk. I didn't
have to do it, but it made a change. The dispenser had developed a
glitch. I asked for drypak pizza and got a pair of size 44 mining
boots. They didn't even fit.
	I found one fault in the hardware - one of the pop-chips had
come loose. I pressed it back home and dialled another pizza but
something must have caused a blockage. I could have sent one of the
robot drones out to take a look, but I was restless already. The CNS
located the blockage quickly enough and it looked an easy job.
	Sure enough, it took me little more than an hour, most of which
was spent sightseeing. The blockage itself was a couple of pizzas, the
ones I had ordered. They were jammed in the delivery chute running
between the cargo pod and the dispenser aboard the Oak.
	
4 January 2134. Second day of voyage.

Minor hardware failure in dispenser units causing chute blockage.
Diagnosed and repaired successfully. All systems green.

	The rest of the day I composed letters to various friends and
relatives and fired them back to Vetz for posting. I watched an old
movie before hitting the sack. It was one I had brought with me, and
one I had seen several times already. There were surprisingly few
movies in the pod, until I realised earlier ones would have been taken
when the miners first went out. All the entertainment packages aboard
were under two years old.
	That night I had a dream about two ships linked fatally by
threads of lethal green and red. An imaginary space battle between the
Shadowfaith and the Spirit of St Louis. I woke in a sweat and hunted
for the weaponry locker. I checked the Armstrong 35 MW hand laser and
tried it out on the mining boots, blasting them to slag. Pity the
power cell was only half charged.
	Four hours from Crossover and it was time to go to sleep. I ran
a quick eye over the Crossover drive, but it was beyond me. I knew
where the antimatter pellets were loaded, but that was about it. All
the lights were green, and that was good enough for me.

5 January 2134. Third day of voyage.

Approaching Crossover. Another minor glitch in dispenser, but
otherwise all systems green.

	I discovered the glitch as when I ordered the pre-freeze meal
the dispenser delivered considerably more than I had asked for.
Hydrant and I both ate well and there was plenty left over. I didn't
worry about the glitch, I was quite happy for it to deliver more than
I asked for.
	After the meal it was time for the big chill. I knew better than
to try and put a freezerbag on an alert Hydrant, so I put her to sleep
first before bagging her up and shoving her in the freezer. With
greens all over her board I started to undress.
	I sat in the freezer, with the freezerbag as far as my waist. I
held the syringe in my hand and aimed carefully. I don't know what it
is in the junk they pump into you, but it leaves a little black
circle. Spacers love them, scars of their profession. I had arranged
mine into a small pattern on my arm. This sixth formed the last of a
hexagon. Others did things differently. Zena, I knew, was creating a
lewd join-the-dots picture on her thigh.
	The syringe had to stay for the duration, allowing the CNS to
pump me full of all sorts of drugs if I went critical. It had been
known. I taped the syringe to my arm and pulled the freezerbag over my
head, sealing it shut. Tubes snaked out from the bag and into the
freezer, one carrying my syringe feed.
	I lay down and the freezer hood sealed over me. "Good night
computer."
	There was no reply. I started to feel tired, closed my eyes and
fell asleep.
	Three hundred and nintey-one days and eight point seven light
years later, I woke up.
	Everything was cold. My arm was aching where the hypodermic had
injected me with something to wake me up. But why was it so cold? I
opened my eyes to see red lights everywhere. Emergency!
	The freezer hood had already swung open and I sat upwards and
tore the freezerbag away. I was in no mind for being tidy - the CNS
needed a damn good reason to put me through emergency defrost. I was
not about to hang about tidying up. The freezing jelly had not yet
drained away and it splashed liberally across the deck as I lept for
the nearest pressure suit.
	"Computer, what's going on?" I grunted, still groggy from the
abrupt waking. I could faintly smell burning.
	"I hurt," came the reply.
	I hurt? What kind of programming was that? I scanned the console
while struggling into the pressure suit. Pressure had not yet been
lost, but if this was a real emergency it could go any second. The
console was littered with little red lights. What had happened?
	My mind reached back and dragged forth memories of a dream about
a battle between the Shadowfaith and the Spirit of St Louis. I almost
shouted my surrender at that point, but that would have been foolish.
"Computer, scan area."
	"Scanning..." There was a brief pause while I clicked my helmet
into place. "Nothing in range -kipper."
	I looked in concern at the computer, "Where are we?"
	"C-Crossover point."
	"Run diagnostic."
	"Running. Crossover Drive malfunction. -ooster Drive failed.
Cargo still in Big Empty. Resulting enery surge d-damaged Crossover
Drive. Secondary power -estroyed. CNS fatally -ounded. Background
silicon -erioration setting in. Backup components failed."
	I swore. That made me feel better, so I swore again. At least it
wasn't battle damage, so I would not have to contend with anything so
friendly as a boarding party. Heat from the suit began to filter
through to my cold flesh. All that was missing was coffee.
	"Computer, have we enough fuel to reach Atargatis?"
	"Confirmed."
	"Are the reaction drives still functioning?"
	"Confirmed."
	"Are we on rendezvous course?"
	"Confirmed."
	That was something. "Estimated time of arrival?"
	"Two point four days."
	Excellent. Now I had to get in touch with them. They would have
enough parts to get me back, I only hoped they had enough supplies to
last another two years. I doubted it, but perhaps they had enough
freezers. I doubted that as well. This fateful voyage was probably
their death knell.
	"Computer, cancel mayday." The distress call was automatic and
would have sounded immediately the CNS registered the malfunction. The
Atargatis should have been responding by now though.
	"Distress call not sent. Transmiss- damaged."
	"Great," I muttered. I still needed a coffee and programmed the
Kopek before starting my own tour of damage inspection. The computer
panel that Fiona had checked when I arrived proved to be a real mess
and the source of the smouldering I could smell. I slid out the
circuit boards and looked forlornly at the chips. All sorts had gone,
not least of which was the navigation routines. Without that there was
no way of getting back through Crossover and to home. Still, Atargatis
would have that sort of stuff.
	Several other chips were obviously fried, and if background
silicone deterioration (whatever that was) was setting in then I could
expect more to go. There should be a chip-analyser somewhere aboard
the Mombassa Oak. Intelligently enough, it was sitting behind the
adjacent panel. With my coffee by my side, I sat on the floor and
proceeded to check the chips.
	I would have to check them again later, but for now I definitely
knew I needed the navigation chip, the Crossover power-regulation
chip, and the freezer control chip.
	That done I cast an eye over the drive. The lights were green
and it looked okay. Still, it would be best if I asked one of the
Atargatis's crew to check it over. I didn't know what use the mining
platform had for antimatter pellets, but I certainly needed a few
more. I had half a canister left, which would only throw me a couple
of light years. I needed at least two more.
	Some of the freezers were damaged. I was lucky, Hydrant was less
fortunate. I left her there for the momnent, I'd do something about
her later.
	Food was a bit of a problem. All that I had to eat was the
remains of the pre-freezer meal, and only that which I had left in
it's drypak. A pizza, three sandwiches and two tins of prime catfood.
Not a feast to set before a king, but it would keep me alive.
	The artificial gravity was still working, which meant there was
nothing wrong with the reaction drive. There was obviously nothing
wrong with the pressure. The failure had not ruptured the hull, a fact
for which I was eternally grateful. More than a couple of hours in a
pressure suit is enough for anyone to cop out.
	Which left the radio. Which I had to repair.
	It turned out to be really trivial. I checked the physical
components after persuading the CNS to tell me where they were. They
checked out and eventually I traced the fault to the antenna outside.
The diagnostic chip had given up the ghost long before I found it. I
didn't mind. A little hard work wasn't doing this janitor any harm.
	I suited up and went for a spacewalk. The missing cargo pod
shocked me. It had seemed too familiar on my last trip outside. I
studied the torn and twisted moutnings before turning away. As I did,
something caught my eye - a package somehow wedged under the
dispenser. It was a drypak cactus. I couldn't think of anything more
useless, and tossed it into the inky darkness.
	"Well, there's another one for Crossover."
	The unfamiliar stars barely fazed me, but the huge gas giant in
the distance did. I had forgotten about that. A brown dwarf, or
something. Why on earth was it called a brown dwarf when it was so
radiantly blue? I eventually dragged my gaze away and scrambled over
the ship to where the antenna was pointing towards the still invisible
Atargatis. The broken connection was easy to find and only took a
moment to weld tight.
	I chinned the mike, "Mombassa Oak to Atargatis. Come in
Atargatis, this is Mombassa Oak."
	I waited several minutes, but there was no reply. Perhaps the
radio was still broken? Still, I should have been getting incoming
calls. Surely they would have spotted me by now?
	"Mombassa Oak to Atargatis," I repeated a little more
desperately. Why didn't they respond?
	It puzzled me, but not enough to stay out here. The thought of
another coffee spurred my actions onwards and in a few minutes I was
through th airlock and out of the suit. Moments after that I was
relaxing in the acceleration couch with my feet up and a coffee in my
hands. Suddenly the problem of not being able to contact the mining
platform did not seem to be so urgent. It was probably a faulty
transmitter on their part.
	I tried again to raise them, without success. Worries gradually
crept in again. Why weren't they answering? Perhaps the Spirit of St
Louis had destroyed the platform?
	"Computer, run me a visual scan of Atargatis, as much detail as
you can give me."
	"-firmed."
	At least the CNS was still taking orders. I wondered how long
that would last. The scan would take a while to build up a detailed
image, so I decided to attend to Hydrant.
	There's a popular myth perpetuated by the movie industry that
spacers traditionally bury their dead in space, leaving them to float
eternally in the heavens. It doesn't work like that, but I honestly
couldn't think of anything else to do with Hydrant. I scooped her
lifeless body out of the lukewarm gloop and dumped it in the airlock.
I said a few dumb words then hit the manual override, opening the
outer doors. She was gone.

31 January 2135. Three hundred and ninety-fourth day of voyage.

Severe malfunction in Crossover Drive. Cargo lost, CNS failing. Fuel
low. Am unable to reach Essen mining platform Atargatis, they don't
respond. Atargatis appears undamaged. Ship's cat died in freezer
malfunction, buried at sea.

	Sure enough the image had shown the base to be perfectly intact.
No battle damage was evident. Perhaps they had all gone stir crazy?
Why didn't they respond?
	After I had slept I started theorising wildly. Perhaps UFOs had
visited and carted them all away? Perhaps the Spirit of St Louis had
boarded and taken the Atargatis. Perhaps I had copped out after all?
	To relieve the boredom, and to take my mind away from
increasingly strange ideas I hunted through the library for
information on Atargatis and Sirius.
	Sirius was a double system. Sirius-A was a type A1 star. Sirius-B
was a more interesing A7 white dwarf. Each orbited the other about a
common centre. The rest of the system was fairly dull, a collection of
rocks, ice and gas giants. The platform was located on something
called a shepherding satellite, part of an ancient world which had
been torn apart by tidal forces. The rest of the world was scattered
in the brown dwarf's orbit. Damn clever whoever it was that had
figured all this out. They even reckoned that the world had an
atmosphere.
	I forwarded through the technical stuff, it was all greek to 
 anyway. Following that were a couple of legends about the 'Dog Star'.
The funniest was about a tribe of ancient africans that believed a
bunch of intelligent frogs had descended from Sirius and told them
what a wonderful place it was. Their knowledge of the double system
was quite uncanny - the africans (they called themselves the Dogon
tribe) apparently knew about it long before a guy called Bessel
announced the presence of Sirius-B in 1844. Weird.
	Over my second coffee of the day I browsed through the data on
Atargatis. It was a standard Essen contruction, modular design and
built by Essen VN-II von Neumannn machines. Work had started five
years ago and was ready to start production a year after that. The
Atargatis mined a Bipolar Cobalt Lattice which was essential for the
new level of theoretically intelligent CNS computers. The lattice
could be produced in the laboratory, but only minute quantities as it
required incredible pressures, staggering temperatures, and a very
long time. The material crystallised at an agonisingly slow rate. To
get a crystal the size of a pinhead would take something in the order
of five thousand years.
	Crystals the size of thumbnails had been found by an Essen probe
on the shepherd. Theorists predicted crystals the size of footballs
deeper in the satellite, and maybe on other rocks as well. No wonder
Essen had set up on Atargatis.
	As yet, there had been no further exploration, but the file said
it was a future possibility if the Atargatis was a success.
	I called up the plans and browsed through them. It seemed as
everything I needed, the chips and the fuel would be there. The food
was bound to be there, two hundred men had to eat something. They
still didn't answer my calls for help, but I had given up thinking of
reasons. I'd find out tomorrow

1st February 2135. Three hundred and ninety fifth day of voyage.

CNS deteriorating. Atargatis still refuses to break radio silence.
Food very low.

	In fact, I had eaten the first of the tins of catfood just
before I slept. I was saving the second for later and was just
beginning to look forward to it. It wasn't all that bad, certainly
tastier than the drypak sandwiches. Probably more nutritious too.
	I could see the shepherding sattelite when I woke. I could also
see that the Mombassa Oak had inherited some unwelcome stabilization
problems.
	"Computer, we're spinning."
	"-n. -. -rol."
	Damn, the computer was just about dead. "Computer, give me
control," I ordered.
	No reply.
	"Computer," I shouted. "Give me control!"
	"Y-you... -ontrol."
	Thank you. "I have control," I confirmed.
	The controls were dead, the computer had not heard me. "I have
control," I shouted desperately. The spin was increasing.
	"Confirmed." The controls suddenly responded and I was flying
the Mombassa Oak alone. calling on skills I hadn't used in years I
brought the ship back on course.
	"-ek. Na-... -in."
	I didn't understand a word, but I knew what it meant. I needed a
new CNS board as well. I hoped the mining platform had a spare, the
CNS was not something I could live without. There was no sense in
worrying about it now, I had a ship to pilot.
	Four hours and as many cups of coffee later I made final course
corrections. Essen mining platform Atargatis lay silent below me. The
complex had power, but apparently no life. Not if the radio silence
was anything to go by.
	A few gently nudges on the control column and the Mombassa Oak
mated with the Atargatis with nothing more than a slight bump. I
permitted myself a gentle smile, "Not bad for a janitor."
	I unstrapped myself from the acceleration couch and stared
outside at the platform complex. Where was everybody? That mystery
would soon solve itself, and then I could return to the problem of
fixing the Mombassa Oak and returning home.
	Perhaps this time I'd get a promotion.

	END

                                                       =X= Page 12 =X=
                           q=[x]=[X]=[x]=p
                              THE  SHIP
                               d=[X]=b

MOMBASSA OAK

Ship name : MOMBASSA OAK
Ship type : VETZ TYPE TU/3C
Owner     : CONLANE (58% Essen owned charter firm)
Layed down: 13th May 2129

Length    : 1180 ft
Height    : 65 ft
Width     : 80 ft
Weight    : 2150 tons

Computer:
               Second generation Tashita Central Nervous System (CNS)

Haulage rating:
               0.1% failure 9800 tons
               50% failure 20127 tons (estimated)

Drives:

In-system
               Villards 49 Reaction drive
               Max 4.9g acceleration (unladen)

Crossover
               Nysan type 5/knb fueled by Nysan CT pellets (CT/5/knb)

Crew:
               4 max. (Normal deep sleep compliment for routine hauls)

                                                       =X= Page 13 =X=
MOMBASSA OAK LOG

Shakedown tour:

Date left   : 22nd Oct 2130
Returned    : 18th Oct 2131
Destination : New Bali, Proxima Centauri
Distance    : 4.5 ly
Time        : 326 days in crossover total
Carrying out: 5000 tons seeds/microchips/organoplasms/medical supplies
Carrying in : 6700 tons biospecimens/mineral samples/letters/videos

Notes       : Orbital rendevous with the 'Ghost of Komodo'. Ship
              performed well, on outward leg crossover drive showed
              reluctance to re-enter normal space, estimated 0.002
              milliseconds delay. No structural damage.
Inward leg  : No problems on return leg.

Date left   : 23rd Jan 2132
Returned    : 5th Apr 2133
Destination : Part of Survey Convoy to Barnard's star
Distance    : 6 ly
Time        : 436 days in crossover total
Carrying out: 9600 tons (300 people (deepslumberers + personal
              effects)/scientific equipment)
Carrying in : Empty

Notes       : Uneventful outward leg
Inward leg  : 0.001 millisecond delay in crossover on re-entering
              normal space. Fault untracable.

Date left   : 1st Jun 2133
Returned    : 26th Jun 2133
Destination : Deep range 7, Oort cloud
Distance    : 02. ly
Time        : 18 days in crossover total
Carrying out: 3200 tons basic supplies/luxuries
Carrying in : 9800 tons petrochemicals/plutonite slabs

Notes       : Food dispenser malfunction, fixed easily.

                                                       =X= Page 14 =X=
MOMBASSA OAK LOG (CONT.)

Date left   : 10th Sept 2133
Returned    : 5th Dec 2133
Destination : Testudo nine slowboat
Distance    : 1.2 ly
Time        : 92 days in crossover total
Carrying out: 4000 tons basic supplies/luxuries
Carrying in : 415 returning opt-outs (deepslumberers)

Notes       : Outward bound slight crossover failure, overshot by 600
              million miles. No tracable cause.
Return leg  : Uneventful.

Date left   : 3rd Jan 3134
Returned    :
Destination : Atargatis mining station Sirius system
Disttance   : 8.7 ly
Time:       :
Carrying out: 9800 tons water/basic supplies/luxuries
Carrying in : ?

Notes       :

                                                       =X= Page 15 =X=
                           q=[x]=[X]=[x]=p
                              EQUIPMENT
                               d=[X]=b

MOTION DETECTOR:

 _________________________________________________________
| _____          ______________________________________   |
||     |        |______________________________________|  |
||     |                                                  |
||     |           _________________________              |
||     |          |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|             |
||_____|          |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|             |
|  ___            |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|             |
| | 1 |           |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|             |
| |___|           |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|             |
|  ___            |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|             |
| | 2 |           |_|_|_|_|_|_|#|_|_|_|_|_|_|             |
| |___|                                                   |
|  ___                      ______                        |
| | 3 |                    |  /\  |                       |
| |___|                    |__\/__|                       |
|_________________________________________________________|




This device detects micro changes in air density caused by the motion
of a body.
It emits radar beams in the xe band and triangulates using doppler and
phase shift.

It has a three position coordinate switch to select scan direction.

Position 1 is used to scan in front of you. Your position is located
at the bottom of the scanner.

Position 2 is used to scan behind you. Your position is located at the
top of the scanner.

Position 3 is used to scan around you. Your position is located in the
center of the scanner.
The detector has a power level indicator which will tell you when to
change the power module. The power module is of the universal type 1.

The main screen shows points of light corresponding to the approximate
direction and distance of the moving object. Each square on the
scanner represents 10 feet in distance or one move location.

                                                       =X= Page 16 =X=
ATMOSPHERIC ANALYSER

 _________________________________________________________
| _____          ______________________________________   |
||     |        |______________________________________|  |
||     |         ____________________________             |
||     |         #%$$$$$_______|________|____|            |
||     |          |                         |             |
||_____|          |                         |             |
|  ___            |                         |             |
| | 1 |           |                         |             |
| |___|           |                         |             |
|  ___            |_._._._._._._._._._._._._|             |
| | 2 |           |_________________________|             |
| |___|                                                   |
|  ___                      ______                        |
| | 3 |                    |  /\  |                       |
| |___|                    |__\/__|                       |
|_________________________________________________________|

Determines whether or not the atmosphere is capable of sustaining
human life.

When activated many litres of air are sucked in and sampled in only a
few second.

A miniature spectrum analyser determines the presence of various
chemicals in the sample and displays them on a bar chart.

As long as the chart only reads in the green zone then the air is safe
to breathe.

An LED indicator is provided on the power module to indicate charge
remaining. The power module is of the universal type 1.

                                                       =X= Page 17 =X=
PERSONAL COMMUNICATOR

 _________________________________________________________
| _____          ______________________________________   |
||     |        |______________________________________|  |
||     |                   _.----._                       |
||     |                 .'  .--.  `.                     |
||     |                |   |    |   |                    |
||_____|                 \  `.__.'  /                     |
|  ___                    \        /                      |
| | 1 |                    `.    .'                       |
| |___|                     |    |                        |
|  ___                      |    |                        |
| | 2 |                     |    |                        |
| |___|                     `-..-'                        |
|  ___                      ______                        |
| | 3 |                    |  /\  |                       |
| |___|                    |__\/__|                       |
|_________________________________________________________|

Everyone has a personal communicator. Not only does it enable you to
talk to any other communicator in range but it also updates the ship's
computer on your health and location.

The communicator runs from a standard power module and an LED
indicator shows the power remaining.

Switch one sets the device to the local band and enables you to
communicate with the ship's crew and computer.

Switch two sets the unit to wide range and allows contact to be
established with those within a hundred mile range.

Switch three allows you to place calls via a main computer to anyone
anywhere there is a local network.

                                                       =X= Page 18 =X=
STANDARD POWER MODULE

 .------------""-.
|                 |
|                 |
|         /|      |
|       .' |      |
|      /   |      |
|    .'    |    .'|
|   /  .'| |  .' /|
| .' .'  | |.' .' |
|/.'     |    /   |
|        |  .'    |
|        | /      |
|        |'       |
|                 |
|                 |
`._______________.'

Used to power all types of equipment. It actually consists of a
miniature cold fusion chamber able to provide megawatts of energy for
short periods.

The power modules come in four different power capacities, from low
capacity as used in domestic electrical equipment, to high capacity
ones such as those used in heavy weapons.

Simply plug one in to the appropriate slot on your device and you're
ready to go.

                                                       =X= Page 19 =X=
SECURITY PASS

 ____________________________________
|  .------.                          |
| /  .--.  \      XX..........    .. |
| | |    | |                         |
| | |---.' |_________________________|
| | |    | |                         |
| | |---'  |  X                      |
| '.______.'     """""......::::'    |
|            X X X                   |
|                         .......    |
|____________________________________|

Basically an electronic key in the shape of a standard credit card.

The pass enables access to various parts of the ship. Each card is
colour coded and each colour represents a different level of access.

The lowest card level, as issues to loaders etc, would not enable
them to access the flight deck.

Security droids are also linked in with the security system to protect
the most sensitive installations.

                                                       =X= Page 20 =X=
I.D CARD

 ____________________________________
|  ___________      ---------------- |
| | |.| %%  % |      .------------.  |
| |      % % %|      |  ########  |  |
| |___________|      | ########## |  |
|                    | #  0  0  # |  |
| | " |"| " |"|      | :   _|   : |  |
|  |"| " |"| "       | |  ####  | |  |
| " " """ " """      |  `.____.'  |  |
|                    |____________|  |
|____________________________________|

Everyone is issued with an I.D card. It contains personal data about
the holder including their medical records.

The card's built in circuits also monitor the holder's life functions
and can advise computer central of any anomalies.

The card enables access to various ship equipment such as the store
and medical units.

Each card contains a retina scan of the holder so that the card can
only be used by the person to whom it was issued.

The card also contains a special transponder that transmits the
location of the user and his health stats.

                                                       =X= Page 21 =X=
CREDIT CARD

 ____________________________________
| % %%%%%  %%%%    %%%%%             |
| %%    %%%% % %%%%% %% %            |
|####################################|
|####################################|
|                         .:.        |
| %%% %%% %   %         .:::::.      |
|  %%% %%%%%%%%%%     .:::::::::.    |
| %%%%%% %%%%%% %   .'           `.  |
| %%%%%%%%% %% %% .:_______________:.|
|____________________________________|

Everyone is issued with a credit card. It contains a record of the
holder's bank balance.

The card is automatically updated by his employer when the user works
and is automatically debited when the holder purchases items.

The card has totally replaced cash and now the credit is the standard
monetary unit throughout the system.

Like the I.D card, the credit card contains a retina scan of the
holder but this is only for purchases of over 50 credits.

                                                       =X= Page 22 =X=
COMPUTER CONSOLE

 _______________________________________________________________
|.--------------------------------------------------------------.|
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||                                                              ||
||______________________________________________________________||
|         _||_     /                          \      /\          |
|        \    /   |    ____________________    |    /  \         |
|         \  /    |   |____________________|   |   /_  _\        |
|          \/     |                            |     ||          |
|__________________\__________________________/__________________|

This device allows you to interrogate the ship's data banks.

To operate simply insert your data disk and the disk's contents will
be displayed.

Scroll up and down the message using the arrow keys provided.

Special program disks can be inserted to reprogram the ship's
computer. For instance, say you wanted to update the navigation
system's destination. You would just insert the appropriate disk and
the data will be uploaded automatically.

                                                       =X= Page 23 =X=
MEDICAL
 _________________________________________________________
|                                        _______________  |
|     _      __ ___ _  _ ___   _ ___ _  | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|   _| |_   |_   | |_)|_  |   |_| | | \ |___|___|___|___| |
|  |_   _|  |   _|_| \ _| |   | |_|_|_/ | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
|    |_|                                |___|___|___|___| |
|                                       | 8 | 9 |<--| E | |
|_______________________________________|___|___|___|___| |
|          |  ||  |                      _______________  |
|         _|__||__|_                    | .,.,.,,.      | |
|        //|______|\\      _____        | ,::.,.:,.;:,  | |
|       //          \\    | | | |       | :,:,;,:,..:,  | |
|      //            \\   | | | |       |               | |
|     ||              ||  | |_| |       | ,.,::;        | |
|     ||              ||  |     |       | :.;,:,        | |
|     ||              ||  |     |       | :,.:,;;..:.,  | |
|     ||______________||  |     |       |_______________| |
|      """"""""""""""""   |_____|                        |
|_________________________________________________________|

The medical unit is able to dispense almost any drug required from
headache pills to birth control pills.

However, to stop the abuse of such items you have to insert your I.D
card in the slow provided and tap in the appropriate code for the
medication required.

Caution: medication should be taken seriously and proper medical
advice should be sought as soon as possible.

The medication I.D code can be provided by a qualified doctor or the
ship's computer.

Warning: keying the wrong code could be very dangerous.

                                                       =X= Page 24 =X=
C.N.S.

 ________________________
| _  _  _  _  _  _       |
|| || || || || || | .... |
|| || || || || || | :: : |
|| || || || || || |::: : |
|| || || || || || |:::.::|
|| || || || || || |:     |
|| || || || || || |::::: |
|| || || || || || |:     |
||_||_||_||_||_||_|      |
|                        |
| M A I N T E N A N C E  |
|________________________|

The Central Nervous System is the ship's "brain". It controls all the
ship's functions from lighting to life support.

Should in the unlikely event that one of the C.N.S, units becomes
damaged then space C.N.S. boards and chips can be easily substituted
by a skilled technician

C.N.S. circuits are self configuring and any chip can be substituted
for any other chip. Theh unit programs the chip to provide whatever
function is needed.

                                                       =X= Page 25 =X=
KOPEK COFFEE MACHINE

 ____________________________________________
|        _  _                ___             |
| |/ /\ |_)|_ |/            |   | Coffee W|S |
| |\ \/ |  |_ |\            |___|            |
|                           |   | Coffee B|S |
|                           |___|            |
|                           |   | Coffee W   |
| ______________________    |___|            |
||                      |   |   | Coffee B   |
||______________________|   |___|            |
|| |||   |______|   ||| |                    |
|| |||              ||| |_____               |
|| |||              ||| |     |  KOPEK       |
|| |||              ||| |  2  |              |
|| |||              ||| |  _  |  PATENT      |
|| |||              ||| | | | |  ZERO-G      |
|| |||              ||| | | | |  COFFEE      |
|| |||              ||| | |_| |  PERCULATOR  |
|| |||              ||| |     |              |
|| |||              ||| |     |              |
|| |||______________||| |_____|              |
||`--------------------'                     |
|____________________________________________|

Remember, if the Kopek patent zero-gee coffee perculator fails, the
ship fails.

This machine allows you to purchase Kopek coffee.

Drinking coffee reduces thirst, but Kopek coffee does much more than
this.

To operate the machine insert your credit card in the slow and click
on the button next to the coffee type required.

The cost of the purchase is indicated next to the button and this
amount will be debited from your card.

                                                       =X= Page 26 =X=
DRINK-O-MAT

 ____________________________________________
|    _   _  ___              __|             |
|   | \ |_)  |  |\ | |/    5|   |BEER        |
|   |_/ | \ _|_ | \| |\     |___|            |
|            O_  ___       4|   |COLA        |
|     |\  /| |_|  |         |___|            |
|     | \/ | | |  |        1|   |MINERAL     |
| ______________________    |___|WATER       |
||                      |      |             |
||______________________|      |             |
|| |||   |______|   ||| |      |             |
|| |||              ||| |      |             |
|| |||              ||| |      |             |
|| |||              ||| |      |             |
|| |||              ||| |      |             |
|| |||              ||| |  _   |             |
|| |||              ||| | | |  |             |
|| |||              ||| | | |  |             |
|| |||              ||| | |_|  |             |
|| |||              ||| |      |             |
|| |||______________||| |      |             |
||`--------------------'       |             |
|______________________________|_____________|

This machine allows you to purchase drinks.

Drinking reduces thirst. Becoming dehydrated will effect your health
and could eventually kill you.

To operate the machine insert your credit card in the slow and click
on the button next to the name of the purchase required.

The cost of the purchase is indicated next to the button and this
amount will be debited from your card.

                                                       =X= Page 27 =X=
SNAK-O-MAT

 ____________________________________________
|                            __|             |
|    _        _   _        5|   |PIZZA       |
|   |_  |\ | |_| |  |/      |___|            |
|    _| | \| | | |_ |\     4|   |BURGER      |
|            O_  ___        |___|            |
|     |\  /| |_|  |        1|   |BANANA      |
|     | \/ | | |  |         |___|            |
|                          2|   |CHEESE SND. |
|                           |___|            |
|                          3|   |HAM SND.    |
|                           |___|            |
|                          2|   |CHOC BAR    |
| ______________________    |___|            |
||  __________________  |      |             |
|| |                  | |  _   |             |
|| |                  | | | |  |             |
|| |                  | | | |  |             |
|| |                  | | |_|  |             |
|| |                  | |      |             |
|| |__________________| |      |             |
||`--------------------'       |             |
|______________________________|_____________|

This machine allows you to purchase food.

Food will incrase your stamina level and make you less susceptible to
damage from attacks.

To operate the machine insert your credit card in the slot and click
on the button next to the name of the purchase required.

The cost of the purchase is indicated next to the button and this
amount will be debited from your card.

                                                       =X= Page 28 =X=
ANTI-MATTER DRIVE

 ___________________________________________________________________
|    ___      _  _    _               _   __  _   _  _       __     |
|  .'   `.   | // /  | `.  /\  |\ |  /   |   | \ | // /    .'   `.  |
|   `._.'    |// //| |  | |--| | \| |  _ |-- |-/ |// //|    `._.'   |
|/`-.   .-'\  /_//_| |_.' |  | |  |  \_| |__ | \  /_//_| /`-.   .-'\|
||   : :   |                                             |   : :   ||
| \_/   \_/                                               \_/   \_/ |
| _________________________________________________________________ |
||          ____________________          |                        ||
||         |\                  /|         |                        ||
||  ___|\  | \ ______________ / |  /|___  |    A N T I             ||
|| |     \ |  |              |  | /     | |    M A T T E R         ||
|| |___  / |  |______________|  | \  ___| |                        ||
||     |/  | /                \ |  \|     |                        ||
||         |/__________________\|         |     _____________      ||
||                                        |    |             |     ||
||    _____________                       |    |::::::'      |     ||
||   |  _________  |                      |    |             |     ||
||   | |     |   | |                      |    |::::::::::': |     ||
||   | |-----|___| |                 _____|    |:::::::::::. |     ||
||   | |     |   | |               .'  ___     |:::::::::::: |     ||
||   | |     |   | |             .'  ,'   |    |             |     ||
||   | |     |   | |           .'  .'     |    |::::::       |     ||
||   | |     |   | |         .'  .'       |    |:::::'       |     ||
||   | |_____|   | |       .'  .'         |    |::::::::::'  |     ||
||   | |_____|___| |     .'  .'           |    |.......      |     ||
||   |_____________|   .'  .'             |    |:::::::::    |     ||
||                   .'  .'_______________|    |_____________|     ||
||__________________|______________________________________________||
|/_________________________________________________________________\|

This is the heart of the ship. It supplies all the energy needed to
power the ship and the crossover drive.

The unit is heavily shielded so that the anti-matter fuel rods cannot
come into contact with the outside world.

Three such units drive the Oak and all three must contain an
anti-matter pod to allow the ship to function correctly.

Anti-matter pods are extremely dangerous and very fragile, only
qualified personal should attempt replacement of drained or damaged
pods.

                                                       =X= Page 29 =X=
FIRE EXTINGUISHER

                          ______
                    _.--''      `.
                  .'              |
                .'     _.--"|_____|__
               /     .'  .-'         `-.
              /     / .-'      _____    `-.
             /     / |           |  |      |
             |    |  |              |      |
             |    |  |                     |____
             |    |  |        |     |      |    `.
             |    |  |        |-----|      |_     |
             |    |  |        |     |      | \    |
             |    |  |         _____       | |    |
             |    |  |           |  |      | |    |
             |    |  |         _/`..'      | |    |
             |    `. |         _____       | |    |
             \      `-._      |  |  |      | |    |
              `.        `-._  |     |      | |____|
                `.-_        `-._           |
                    `-._     /  `-._       |
                     |  `-._/       `-._   |
                     |      `._         `-._
                     |         `._          `-._
                     |            `._           `-._
                     |               `._            `-._
                     |                  `._             `-._
                     |                     `._              `._
                     |                     |  `._              `.
                     |\___________________/|     `._             \
                     |                     |        `._          |
                     |                     |           `._      /
                      \                   /               `._..'
                       \_________________/

A standard 14 lbs of solid carbon-dioxide fire extinguisher.

The Co2 is released on activation of the button and lasts for several
minutes.

Although the bottle itself only weighs 14 lbs a small built in
anti-grav enables the bottle to contain over 200 lbs of solid
carbon-dioxide.

Although carbon-dioxide is non toxic caution should be excercised, as
use within a small compartment could cause all the air to be expelled.

                                                       =X= Page 30 =X=
ANTI-MATTER POD
                   _____
                 .' ___ `._______
            __ .' .'   `. `.     `._
         __|  :    `._.'    :__   | |___
        |  |  | /`-.   .-'\ |  |  | |   |
        |  |  | |   : :   | |  |  | |   |
        |  |  |  \_/   \_/  |  |  | |   |
        |__|  |         | | |  |  | |___|
         |_|  |  _______| |_|  |  | |__|
           |  | |              |  | |_
           |__|-|______________|--'  _|
           `._______________________|

    _________________________________________
  .'     :      :      :      :      :      :`.
.'   ____:______:______:______:______:______:  `.
|   |                                       |   |
|   |                                       |   |
|   |                                       |   |
`.  |_______________________________________|  .'
  `._________________________________________.'


When matter and anti-matter come together, huge amounts of energy are
released.
In the process both the matter and anti-matter annihilate each other.
If this process were not controlled, one pod would release the
equivalent of a trillion megatons of explosive energy.

Large power plants control the interaction of the matter and
antimatter to provide several petawatts of energy continuously for
years.

The Mombassa Oak has one of these anti-matter power plants located in
the main engine room. If this fails the emergency nuclear power
backup comes into operation. This will not have sufficient power for
hyper-space travel or for a take off from a planet's surface.

Special shielded containers are used to transport the pod containing
the antimatter as the pod itself is very unstable.

                                                       =X= Page 31 =X=
                           q=[x]=[X]=[x]=p
                               WEAPONS
                               d=[X]=b

10mm PISTOL ACP

                       __
 _|\__________________/  \_
|                  ||||    |
|__                ||||    |
  |_______________________/
                 \   / //\|
                  |_ .'/\/|
                    |\/\/\|
                    |/\/\/|
                    |\/\/\|
                    |/_/_/|

Standard side arm for flight crew is a gas operated, recoiless pistol
firing mainly teflon coated uranium, caseless 10mm ammunition.

The magazine holds 15 rounds and an LED indicator on the weapon shows
how many rounds remain.

The rate of fire is selectable via a three position switch.

Setting 1. One round is fired every time the trigger is pulled.

Setting 2. Three rounds are fired every time the trigger is pulled.

Setting 3. Rounds are continuously fired until the trigger is
released.

                                                       =X= Page 32 =X=
10mm ASSAULT RIFLE

                                        _____
                                       |-----|
                                       |-----|
                                       |-----|
              _______   __.------._____|-----|____________________.-.
 __.-._.---._|       \_|  |       \____|_____|_|                  | |
|  | | |   | |       | |  | .------.           |                 | |
|__| |_|   |_|       |_|  | |      |           |                 | |
   '-' '---' |_______/ |__| |      |           |________        | |
                          '-'------,.       .---'       `-._____| |
                               \ .' |        \                  `-'
                                `.__/         \
                                    \          \
                                     \         |
                                      \        |
                                       \_______|

Standard rifle issued to armed forces. Like the 10mm pistol it is gas
operated, firing caseless teflon coated ammunition. Unlike the pistol
it fires a longer round and the two are not interchangeable. Rounds
are fired at a higher rate than in the pistol.

The magazine holds 30 rounds and an LED indicator on the weapon shows
how many rounds remain.

The rate of fire is selectable via a three position switch.

Setting 1. One round is fired every time the trigger is pulled.

Setting 2. Three rounds are fired every time the trigger is pulled.

Setting 3. Rounds are continuously fired until the trigger is
released.

                                                       =X= Page 33 =X=
LASER PISTOL

                                 ___
________________________.-------'   '--.
`.   _____              |   __         |
  `. \___ \_____________| .'  `.       |
    `.   \______________| |-   |       |
      `.________________| `.__.'      _|
                   \    ;----------,-'
                    \ .' | |  |  | \
                     `-._/ |  |  |  \
                          \|  |  |  ||
                           \  |  |  ||
                            \________|

A high power chemical laser whose beam will cut through plasteel in
seconds.

The high power is derived from a small fusion reaction in the power
module which runds out quickly with continuous use. However in
stopping power it more than rivals a 10mm round.

The laser will penetrate body armour where a 10mm round will be
defeated.

An LED indicator is provided to indicate charge remaining.

The power module is of the universal type.

                                                       =X= Page 34 =X=
LASER RIFLE

                              ___________________________
                              \                      _   |
_______________________________\__________.-||-||---' '--|___________
`.   _____                               |   __                      |
  `. \___ \______________________________| .'  `.                    |
    `.   \_______________________________| |-   |                    |
      `._________________________________| `.__.'      ______________|
                                    \    ;----------,-'
                                     \ .' | |  |  | \
                                      `-._/ |  |  |  \
                                           \|  |  |  ||
                                            \  |  |  ||
                                             \________|

A very high power chemical laser whose beam will cut through plasteel
in milliseconds.

The very high power is derived from a small fusion reaction in the
power module which runs out very quickly with continuous use.

This weapon is not usually carried aboard ships because of the very
real danger of breaching the outer hull and causing explosive
decompression.

IT is normally only used by the military in ground based operations.

The power level is selectable from medium to high to very high each
level being double the power of the previous level.

An LED indicator is provided to indicate charge remaining. The power
module is of the universal type.

                                                       =X= Page 35 =X=
20mm SUPER MAGNUM

                             __.----._________
             ______________.'  |    |         |
            |             |--  |    |         |
            |             |____|    |         |
            '....________      |____|       .-'
            ----'       |'---;-----------.-'
                        ||_ /         .-'
                        `. |       .-'
                          `|      |
                           |      |
                           |      |
                           |____.-'

[Yes It Really Does Look That Weird]

This weapon can really make your day.

Originally designed for the police and security forces it has found
much favour with all who use it, as it's stopping power is unrivalled
by any other similarly sized sidearm.

Since the weapon fires a 20mm exploding shell don't expect to question
the target after he has been shot.

The standard row of LEDs displays the current load status.

                                                       =X= Page 36 =X=
NEEDLE GUN

                .--------.
            ____|        |______
.-----+----|    |        |      |
'_____|    |    |        |      |
      '----|____|        |      |
            \   |________| .---'
             |'---;-----.-'
             ||_ /      |
             `. |       |
               `|      .'
                |      |
                |      |
                |____.-'

[Yup, This One Too]

This weapon fires tiny needles at high velocity. On impact with soft
tissue they inject a fast acting sleep agent or poison.

The needles will not penetrate body armour but will pierce a space
suit. The rupturing of a suit with such a small hole is not dangerous
as suits have an automatic sealing system that can cope with such an
event.

The needle gun once loaded with a suitable magazine displays
ammunition remaining via a row of LEDs.

                                                       =X= Page 37 =X=
STUN GUN

 |.             _____
 | `.       _.-'     `._____
 |   '-.___|     ___   `.   `-._
/|         |   .'   \    \      `.
\|      ___|  |     '    |        |
 |   .-'   |  .         ,'     ___|
 | .'      \   `-.___.-'    .-'
 |'        |`._          .-'
           |   ;._____.-' |
           |  /  |        |
            `.___|        |
                 |       .'
                 |       |
                 |       |
                 |_____.'

This weapon discharges a huge electrical charge into a target. It
will disrupt neurological systems of a lifeform to such an extent that
it will render the subject unconcious.

It will stun a man size target for several minutes with no lasting
damage.

It's effects on robotic systems is not recommeded as it can cause
unpredictable results.

A three position switch allows the charge to be adjusted from level 1
(a painful zap) to level 3 (comatose for several minutes).

The weapon has the standard row of LEDs to indicate charge remaining
and it is powered by a standard power module.

                                                       =X= Page 38 =X=
75mm ROCKET LAUNCHER

 ___________________________________________________________ .---.
|                                                           ||   |`.
|                                                           ||   |  `.
|                                                           ||   |   |
|                                                           ||   |   |
|                                                           ||   |   |
|___________________________________________________________||   |  ,'
                      |                                          |,'
                      |    _______________________       .-------'
                      |   |                       \     _'
                      |   |                       ||   |
                      |   |                       ||   |
                      |   |                       ||   |
                      |   |                       ||   |
                      '---'                       |___/

Designed for anti-armour use, this weapon can be loaded with a variety
of shell types.

1. FRAGMENTATION

2. SMOKE

3. INCENDIARY

4. HIGH EXPLOSIVE

5. TEAR GAS

6. NERVE GAS

See the section on grenades for the effect of each round type.

To use the weapon simply load it with the required shell type and push
the fire button.

                                                       =X= Page 39 =X=
PARTICLE ACCELERATOR

                                     ______________
           ______                   /`.           /
.---------|      \---.---.---.---.-|   `.________/|
 \        |          |   |   |   | |     |_______/____
  \       |          |___|___|___|_|     |            |
   \      |          .===:===:===:_|     |            |
    \     |          |   |   |   | |    _|            |
     `----|          |___|___|___|_|  ,' |          ,'
          '-----.---.'              \|___\________,'
                |   |               ||  |   |
                |   |               ||_,'   |
                |   |                \/    .'
                |___|                 |    |
                                      |___.'

A very powerful weapon which accelerates a beam of fast neutrons
towards a target. This weapon will punch a hole through almost
anything but uses large amounts of power.

The device is powered by a heavy duty power module and a row of LEDs
shows how much power remains in the weapon.

The three position switch is used to select the power level used,
each level being twice the power of the preceding level.

Extreme caution should be employed when using this device as firing
it aboard ship can cause a hull breach and the associated explosive
decompression of the compartment.

                                                       =X= Page 40 =X=
GRENADES

    _.---._
  ,' `-.-' `.
 /   /   \   \
|`._/_____\_.'|
|   |     |   |
|-._|_____|_.-|
\   |     |   /
 \   \   /   /
 /`---------'\
 `._________,'

There are many types of grenade but all have common features. They are
all the same size, they all have a 5 second fuse and are not reusable.

1. FRAGMENTATION:

100 grams of high explosive send wire sharpnel in all directions. It
has a kill radius of 50 feet and will not rupture plasteel walls.

2. SMOKE:

A cloud of coloured smoke issues forth for 10 seconds. In an enclosed
compartment with no ventilation asphyxiation may occur.

3. INCENDIARY:

20 grams of high explosive send 100 grams of pyrophoric material in
all directions setting fire to anything flammable within 50 feet. It
will not rupture plasteel walls.

                                                       =X= Page 41 =X=
GRENADES (CONT.)

4. HIGH EXPLOSIVE:

This definately will rupture plasteel walls and as such must never be
used in pressurised compartments. Used mainly in demolition this
advanced phenolic nitrate explosive is five times more powerful than
TNT.

5. TEAR GAS:

Not actually a gas at all but a very finely powdered lachrymatic
irritant. When the "gas" comes into contact with the body's moisutre
it reacts causing extreme irritation. Not usually fatal.

6 NERVE GAS:

Always fatal to man, fluoroisopropoxymethylphosphine oxide is kepy
under pressure and on activation will fill a room of 20 cubic metres
with a lethal dose.
The gas will oxidize in a few minutes due to the action of the
catalyst rendering it harmless.

                                                       =X= Page 42 =X=
PROXIMITY MINES

             _________________
         _,-'   ___________   `-._
      ,-'      |___________|      `-.
   ,-'     _   |           |  |      `-.
 ,'    _,-'    |-----------|  | |       `.
/    ,' `.     |           |  | | |___    \
|  ,'     `.   |___________|  | | |       |
|  `.     ,'                  | | |       |
\    `._,'     .-----------.  | |         /
 `.     `-.    |           |  |         ,'
   `-._        |           |        _.-'
       `--._   '-----------'   _.--'
            `--.___________.--'

Once activated and after a delay set by the three position switch the
device will detonate when an object enters it's location.

A variety of types are available:

1. FRAGMENTATION

2. SMOKE

3. INCENDIARY

4. HIGH EXPLOSIVE

5. TEAR GAS

6. NERVE GAS

Refer to the section on grenades for the effects of each mine type.

                                                       =X= Page 43 =X=
GRAVITY MINE

    _________________.------._________________                                                                   
 ,-'                 | .--. |                 `-.                         
/                    | |__| |                    \                      
|                    | .--. |                    |                     
|`.                  | |__| |                  ,'|                       
|  `.                | .--. |                ,'  |                       
 `.  `.              | |__| |              ,'  ,'                           
   `.  `.____________|      |____________,'  ,'                              
     `. |`.__________|      |__________,'| ,'                                
       `: |`.         `.__,'         ,'| ;'                                  
         `:  `.                    ,'  ;'                                    
           `.  `.                ,'  ,'                                      
             `.  `. .--------. ,'  ,'                                       
               `.  `|        |'  ,'                                       
                 `. |        | ,'                                        
                   `'--------''                                                   

When activated and after a delay set by the three position switch the
mine remains passive until something spets on it, whereupon it will
exert a huge gravitational field above itself. This will squash
anything completely flat.

The device functions only once (squashing itself in the process) and
is completely safe for use aboard ship.

It is now much favoured over the standard proximity mine as it
produces no collateral damage to nearby sensitive systems.

                                                       =X= Page 44 =X=
ROBOMINE

              _
            ,' `.
           /.___,\
          /   o   \
         /    o    \
        /     o     \
       /`.         ,'\
      /   \       /   \
     /    |       |    \
    /     /       \     \
   /     /         \     \
  /     /           \     \
 /     /             \     \
|`-.  /               \  ,-'|
|  |`-._      O      _,-'|: |
`._|   |`--._____,--'|:  |;-'
   `-._|   |     |:  |;_,'
       `-._|_____|;_,'

When activated this mine will sprout legs and go in seach of moving
objects. When it enters the moving object's lovation it detonates it's
high explosive charge.

A three position switch sets the time delay before the Robomine starts
searching for targets.

CAUTION THIS DEVICE WILL TRACK ALL MOVING OBJECTS INCLUDING YOU.

The Robomine is powered by a standard power module and an LED
indicator shows the power remaining within the device.

                                                       =X= Page 45 =X=
                           q=[x]=[X]=[x]=p
                              ATARGATIS
                               d=[X]=b

SIRIUS system

The Sirius system is normally considered to be binary.

The primary Sirius A is of spectral class A7, and seen from Earth is
the brightest star in the sky.

Sirius B, a white dwarf of class A1, is much fainter. From Earth
Sirius B is invisible to the naked eye.

The presence of Sirius B was postulated by F.W. Bessel in 1834 to
account for irregularites in the proper motion of Sirius, it wasn't
until 1862 that A. Clark actually observed it.
Not surprising considering it is vastly outshone but it's primary: the
ratio is 10,000 to 1.

However the Sagan telescope launched in 1997 clearly showed a massive
planet and a haze of debris orbiting Sirius B.

The planet was obviously a gas giant, but very large, this led onto
several astronomers classifying it as a brown dwarf.

                                                       =X= Page 46 =X=
SIRIUS system (CONT.)

This debate gained momentum when early probes discovered that it
radiates several orders of magnitude more energy than it receives.

The Sirius B system including the brown dwarf (Some now call it
Sirius C) are currently under license to the ESSEN mining group
(until 31st Dec 2140).

This license was granted by the Earths Stewardship board for
exploration, and small scale mining after an Essen probe had
discovered large (1cm) crystals of Leighgnarium on the surface of the
Shepherd in 2120.

Leighnarium is a Bipolar Cobalt Lattice used in CNS computer
production, it crystallizes extremely slowly (roughly 1mm per 5000
years), and requires high pressure and temperatures.

The shepard is around 150 miles across, it's composition indicated to
ESSEN that bigger crystals may be found deeper in.

                                                       =X= Page 47 =X=
SIRIUS system (CONT.)

In 2129 after lengthy negotiations ESSEN gained the license and
dispatched one of their VN-II Von Neumann machines to pre-build the
mining station.

The VN-II takes about a year to get a fully livable environment
setup, at the end of this time it shuts down leaving a modular
constructed habitat ready for the first workers.

The mining base built on the Shepherd was named Atargatis.

                                                       =X= Page 48 =X=
ATARGATIS Stage 1

The licesnce agreed limits the exploration to Sirius C orbitals
within 1.5 AUs.

Size        : Standard multi level VN-II construct

Commissioned: Jan 2131

Workers:    : 200 (inc 50 research staff)

                                                       =X= Page 49 =X=
ATARGATIS Stage 1 (CONT.)

KEY PERSONNEL

Anthony Hanson........Station Manager
Dr. Joan Holimbrook...Head of Geological Research
Dr. Keith French......Chief Medic
Prof Simon Quin.......Biologist (Recently added to staff)
Dr. Wilhelm Kofman....Ethnologist (Recently added to staff)
Juan Osterley.........Engineering
Yuri Bayanov..........Head of Mining

No further public information regarding Atargatis

END OF XENOMORPH MANUAL
REFER TO APPENDIX SHEET FOR
MACHINE SPECIFIC INFORMATION 	[Which I Don't Have :(]