XENON
(c) 1989 Melbourne House / Bitmap Brothers

From the moment that Captain Xod's face appeared out of the static on the 
communicator, Darrian knew he was in trouble. As the only other Federation 
fighter in the sector Darrian had to go to the captain's aid. It would have to 
happen to Darrian, everything seems to happen to Darrian. Maybe it came from him 
being the youngest ever man to have graduated from P.E.d'E., the Panterran Ecole 
d'Espace, he had used up all of his good luck there and now the gods were out to 
extract their revenge.
  
Of course it did not help that he had been born when he was. The universe was in 
chaos, war had returned and now no travel was safe. For five hundred years there 
had not been a single major conflict, and space had been completely safe, apart 
from the odd rogue pirate and the risk of collision with space debris. Mind you, 
with all travel over any distance occurring in the unreal world of hyperspace 
the chance of meeting another ship was slight in the extreme, even on the 
busiest routes between the suns of the galactic cluster, and as for the chance 
of hitting space debris, as there is no debris in hyperspace, at lease not yet, 
this was only a problem when coming to a system to dock, and it was the space 
port's duty to keep the lanes clear.
 
At least there were some advantages to living now, he mused. He could count his 
blessings that he had not lived through the Arachnid War itself, now that had 
been totally unreal. They had been shown holo's of the war during their training 
in the P.E.d'E., and it had given him nightmares after each and every time that 
he had seen them, he still woke up screaming sometimes when something reminded 
him, and now he knew exactly why he was frightened of spiders.
 
The war had been such a close run thing as well, if it had not been for the 
skill and bravery of the allied pilots, and the superb judgement of their 
Admiral, the great Ziggy S, the universe would now only be peopled with purple 
furry things with eight legs. It was no wonder then that Ziggy had received the 
highest accolades the Governments of the eight allied empires could bestow. 
Having recovered from the devastation caused by the traumatic Arachnid War, 
which had been fought over half the galaxy and lasted well over fifty years, 
humanity had its spirit severely dented and its passion for war completely 
removed. Through the fighting it had learned to live with itself and with the 
other races that had stood side by side with it in the terrible battles against 
the spiders.

No-one wanted to see death and destruction return, they had seen too many 
pictures of colonies completely ruined by the Arachnids' suicide soldiers, heard 
too many stories of cruisers destroyed in the bleak cold of space, the frozen 
bodies of their dead crews slowly orbiting their blackened hulls. Now was the 
time for peace, reconciliation and rebirth.

It was hard to say quite how the other allies had reacted to the war, four of 
them had made their first contact with humanity during the war, and the other 
three had always been something of a mystery to the people of Earth, how do you 
know what is really going through the mind of a mile long gas bag, or even the 
mind of a hive insect? Still, the eight allies, the remnants of the Arachnids 
and their now freed slave races, all appeared bowed by the experience. Life 
would never be the same again.
 
In the peace following the Arachnid War, trade and artistry both flourished 
reaching peaks never dreamed of before, as the victorious allies rebuilt their 
shattered empires and once again pushed out into the stars. The cross cultural 
influences that came from the close contact with the allies during the war 
brought about new forms of art never seen before by any of the races.  
The archaeologists set about to reconstruct the ancient pre-space civilisations 
and artists harked back to the glory days of the twentieth and twenty-first 
centuries. Several of the greatest composers used themes from the ancient days 
as the starting point of their new works. Tallemarcs I 3 Variations on a theme 
by Ian Anderson was hailed by critics across the thousand worlds as one of the 
greatest pieces written for a thousand years.
 
The Pax Terra kept the space ways clear of pirates, much more of a threat in 
those days before Professor Hamylin had done her pioneering work into the theory 
of charmed life quark interactions, that had led eventually to the creation of 
the Quark/quark power unit, which meant that it was finally possible to put into 
practice the latest developments in simultaneity theory, which meant that the 
Markov boundary to Hyperspacatial pseudo-acceleration was finally broken, 
allowing the allies and their trading ships to finally break free of the 
Andromeda Galactic Cluster and reach out into the vast depths of space that lie 
beyond and reach into the furthest corners of the universe.

Not that there were any corners, for as had been predicted long before mankind 
had even achieved the stars, the universe was closed and eventually one of the 
new craft succeeded in circumnavigating it, and in being tracked all the way 
round, with full coverage on the Supra-Spatial Holo Networks of their visits to 
twenty of the furthest colonies, proving for all time that they had not faked 
their voyage.

The knowledge that the universe was indeed closed, and would finally collapse in 
on itself seemed to act as a spur to its inhabitants to achieve as much as 
possible before then, even though no one living could even imagine the number of 
lifetimes that would pass before the collapse came.
 
As more and more of the universe became settled it was thought that no more 
intelligent species would be found, for surely if they existed they would have 
made themselves known long ago. Even a religion started claiming that their were 
seventeen sentient species as seventeen was the most perfect number and the 
number of the children of Garstragh the creator. The discovery of the Xenites a 
mere century after the religion's founding caused it to disappear even more 
rapidly than it had risen, leaving Thrice reformed Wodenism as the only religion 
surviving with any of its tenants not yet proven to be false. The Xenites 
appeared overnight. One day no one had even heard of them, the next their ships 
and bases had appeared on fifteen different planets. Suddenly war had returned, 
and merchantmen once again had to travel armed, but when civilisation grows so 
large, it takes many years for the great trading fleets to re-equip. For nearly 
a decade merchantmen took their life in their hands never knowing if they would 
be attacked, or if there would be a friendly warcraft available to rescue them.

Even now a decade after Xenites first appeared there could be calls like this 
one, Darrian cursed yet again, before he finally rolled out of bed and moved 
over to the control panel. He switched on the speech channel, saluted and then 
ran his fingers through his tousled hair, not that the captain could see him 
yet, and Darrian was not going to switch on the vision channels unless he 
absolutely had to, there was no need for the captain to see him undressed.
"Urgent Mayday, Repeat Urgent Mayday, all units in the sector WQD145FF report at 
once. The fleet is under attack. We need support. There is heavy Xenite 
activity. Proceed to a rendezvous at Tarsus Nebula, make all possible speed. We 
are in extreme danger" Message Repeats".

Darrian relaxed, he had not realized just how embarrassed he had been at the 
prospect. Still it had only been a recording. He pulled on a pair of trousers 
and moved over to the controls, he had to get this craft into order and go and 
help the captain, he was going to be the first craft to arrive, there could not 
possibly be anyone closer than he was. This meant that he was going to be the 
one that had to clear the way.

A minor problem if it was not for the fact that he had to cut right through 
Xenite occupied territory. Fortunately there was some hope, at least he could 
plot a route that would take him past three refuelling stops on the way, he 
would be able to refuel and replenish his shields at least, if only he had the 
skill to get through.
"There is no peace for the wicked" he thought. "Why did this happen to me? By 
all the warriors in Valhalla, I must get through to the captain, either that or 
join in the feast. Let's just hope that the Gods like me today."
 
GAMEPLAY

You have to negotiate four sectors, each divided into four zones. You have a 
choice of two craft, which you can change between  at will. You have aground 
craft, capable of eight way movement, and a faster jet fighter. You need to 
select the appropriate craft to negotiate the obstacles facing you and be 
prepared to change between them rapidly. Certain of your opponents are ground 
based and some are at altitude, you need to be in the correct craft to shoot the 
alien that you are facing. Certain weapons can only be collected and used by the 
fighter craft. You can only use the ground craft on the ground, you cannot land 
on the top of buildings, you need to fly over these in the fighter.  Shooting 
the aliens and their weapon emplacements reveals power cells. Collect these by 
moving over them, to give your craft extra power.

There are eleven types of power pill:

ARMOUR Makes your ship invincible for IS seconds
  
FUEL There are two types of fuel cell those with one orange band restore five 
units of fuel, those with three restore call your lost fuel

POWER Increases the distance your shots travel
  
RATE Speeds up your ground craft
  
SIDE Arms fighter with side lasers
  
WINGS Gives you wing tip weapons
  
ZAP Again there are two types of zap pills. Those with a single orange band zap 
the aliens and screen, those with a tripleband zap everything, aliens and 
emplacements.

BALLS Collect up to two rotating balls that follow you and mimic your fire 
pattern.

Each time you are hit by the aliens' weapons you lose at least a unit of fuel 
which is used to recharge your shields. If you collide with any of the aliens 
you will suffer substantially more damage and consequently use more fuel. If 
your fuel runs out you lose a life and have to restart from the beginning of the 
zone. Some aliens will require more than one hit to kill them, these flash every 
time you successfully hit them. Some of the aliens are invulnerable. Halfway 
through each section you will be faced with a single large opponent. This is a 
'Sentinel' so called because they are set to guard the path and they are fully 
sentient, that is smart. You need to find out where they are vulnerable and 
concentrate your fire on the appropriate points. Colliding with a 'Sentinel' is 
fatal.

At the end of each section you will have another larger and more dangerous 
'Sentinel' opponent. These are only vulnerable to certain attacks, and 
completely invulnerable to all others. If you succeed in defeating this you will 
be refuelled and re-equipped ready for the next section. You lose any weapons 
you had collected on the previous section.

THE SECTIONS

In the first section the domes and aliens are either ground or air based, as are 
their bullets. When you shoot the lift domes, they are then replaced by either 
another dome, nothing or a power pill. You need to pick up the power pills to 
add extra weapons and abilities to your ship, be careful though, as picking up 
some pills switches off the bonuses you have already collected. You need to use 
the fighter to fly over the obstacles and the ground craft for close combat with 
the aliens.

The second section uses only the fighter craft. You must avoid the sides and the 
various weapon emplacements mounted in the side walls. Once again there will be 
power pills to pick up. The third section is similar to the first, in that you 
have the use of both of  your ships. You have to make the correct decisions as 
to which ship to use. Using the wrong craft can prove fatal. Finally you must 
negotiate section four. You are nearing your goal. Time is of the essence. Fly 
your fighter at speed through this section to achieve your goal.

THE ALIENS

In order to complete your mission successfully it will probably be necessary for 
you to read the following notes on the various enemies that you will be facing.

Ladybirds 
These are standard Xenite craft. They are used in several defence operations, as 
they are cheap and effective. They are small ground based craft. They are 
equipped with a low power unit and basic enemy identification, detection, and 
tracking equipment. They are armed with a forward firing missile.

Pods
These are basic self-destruction type guards. They are equipped with an array of 
sensors enabling them to track and intercept intruders. They are not armed but 
explode on impact.

Eyes
An upgrade to the design of the pods. These have a superior power plant and 
computer, giving them greater speed and the ability to track intruders at a 
greater distance. They will attempt to follow and collide with your ship.

Spinners
Fly in either arrowhead or a single diagonal line across the screen. They keep 
to their place in formation as they are not equipped with sensors. They're, 
however, equipped with very powerful engines allowing them to attain high 
speeds.

Launchers
Sitting on the side walls of the passageways. These are heavily armoured doors. 
They periodically open to launch a single rotator.  
It has been noted that the rotators launched from these show greater 
intelligence in their movements than the normal rotators that appear in packs.

Rotators
These appear either as single craft launched from the launchers described above 
or in patterns of four or sixteen that attempt to block the passageway. No 
rotator has been known to be armed with any weapons, they are self-destruction 
craft relying on collisions for their effect.

Sidewinders
These are among the largest of the flying Xenite ships. Equipped with lasers 
they have a nasty habit of lurking at the side of the passageways and coming out 
into the middle when they detect intruders.

Sideshooters
Another large flying ship. These are equipped with two lasers. The have slightly 
less armour than the sidewinders, and fly in patterns rather than having 
sensors.

Middleshooters
Earlier version of the sideshooter, these only mount a single laser, and again 
move in a variety of patterns to cover the whole of the passageway.

Side Guns
There are quite a number of different types of gun emplacements that sit on the 
side walls of the passageways. They vary in the amount of detection circuitry 
and movement that they are equipped with. Some rely on shooting a constant 
stream of missiles across the passageway, so that there is no way that an 
intruder can pass without taking a large amount of damage, others can track 
intruders and aim their guns or even follow intruders along the passageway 
itself. You will have to learn the differences between these types yourself as 
it has not been fully documented.

Spinners
An upgrade on the simple ground based pod, spinners fly in patterns. Later 
models are equipped with missiles. They have some extremely nasty habits in 
their flight patterns. Watch out for these.

Cells
These most often appear in groups of four. They have basic sensors and will move 
along the passageways until they detect an intruder, when they will switch into 
a pattern mode firing their missiles along the length of the passage.

Kites
These move down the passage at very high rates, they are not armed with 
missiles.

Pumps
More of a hindrance than anything else. These expand and contract regularly, 
blocking the entire passage at their greatest extent. They are heavily armoured 
and therefore require an extremely large number of hits to destroy them, it is 
simpler to avoid them instead.

Blinkers
Similar to the side guns that you will already have encountered. These fire 
salvos of three missiles at a time. They also have more armour than most of the 
other side weapons and will require several hits before they are neutralised.

Hearts
These move in a variety of patterns. They come in a range of models with 
different power packs and ornaments.

Circle Moulds
Fast moving craft armed with missiles.

Brain
These are highly intelligent, heavily armoured powerful craft, among the most 
powerful in the Xenite armoury. They are armed with smart missiles.

Stalks
These are invulnerable. They will either launch a large number of missiles, or 
if shot enough times they release the bubble that they hold at the top of the 
stalk.

Bubbles
These come in two varieties. Some are equipped with an intelligent sensor and 
will try their best to collide with any intruder. Others are simply fast moving 
and launched in large groups to provide blanket cover.

Lip Guns
Highly armoured, these are only used in defending important Xenite Colonies. 
They are armed with both lasers and normal guns. 
Besides these there are the Sentinels that appear at the end of every section. 
These are unique creatures or at least there have never been previous reports of 
the Xenites using the design of any Sentinel more than once, and a large number 
of these have been reported from other sectors. You will have to find out for 
yourself the particular method of destroying the Sentinels that you are faced 
with. They are definitely the most feared of all the Xenite weapons met so far.

STATUS PANEL

Down the right hand side of the screen there is a status panel. This displays 
all the information you need to know about the state of the game and of your 
craft. At the top of the display there are four numbers. The top number is your 
score. Underneath this there are two single digit numbers. To the left is the 
number of lives you have left, to the right the sector number. Underneath these 
is your altitude. Beneath this there is your long range communicator screen. 
Most of the time this is blanked off, but at the start of each section Captain 
Xod will appear and tell you which section you are starting. Underneath this 
there is a bar display showing your fuel level. Underneath this there are two 
bargraphs. The left hand one is your rate or sped, and the right hand one your 
powerthe distance your shots travel.

At the foot of the display there is a weapon panel. This has ten letters on it. 
Weapons active are highlighted in red.
The weapons are:
W Wing 
L Laser 
S Side Shot 
H Homing Missile 
A Armour 
B Ball 
X Extra ball making one 
X Extra ball making two 
O Time left on homing missile 
0 Time left on armour 

CONTROLS

When the program had finished loading your will see the main control panel. Your 
protective shield is down, and the mission screen is switched off.
Press Fire to start play.
You control the ship's movement with the joystick.
To change craft press space or rapidly wiggle the joystick.
To force the game to pause press F1.
Press F1 again to restart play.
To quit press F7.


