RESCUE - MASTERTRONIC LTD (IS.0210)

The U.N.O. Deep Space Research Base was considered to be completely
unimportant, the last remnant of Mankind's futile attempts to reach
the stars. Even the name was an anachronism now. There was not a
United Nations Organisation any more, mainly because there were no
more nations, not really!

After the Final War, Man was always optimistic that there would never
be another - the Earth was a wreck, and Mankind survived only in small
colonies, outposts of civilisation mainly in orbiting space stations,
around the planets and moons of the Solar System, and in the sealed
domes on the surfaces. Everything else was a radioactive mess,
completely uninhabitable!

Of course war was not over, when would it ever be! The miners of the
asteroid belt feuded with the Seleinans as the inhabitants of Earth's
Moon and its satellites liked to be called. As for the Far Colonies,
around the giant gas planets of Saturn and Jupiter, they just sat on
their wealth of fuels and waited.

So when the call came through from the scientists in their lonely
vigil around Pluto the whole of Circum-Solar Space was thrown into
panic. They had been forgotten for a long time, living out their lives
in splendid isolation, far beyond the influence of the feuding
parties, in the self-contained habitat, the last reminder of the
Golden Age.

Now they were once again the focus of interest for the whole of
Humanity. No faction could allow the others to gain anything of the
power that the scientists were claiming. Though they thought of it as
a Star Drive, there was only one thought that was present in the minds
of the various governments. Anything that could release that sort of
energy, would make the ultimate weapon in the forthcoming conflict!

The race was therefore on to get to the Scientists first, and relieve
them of the burden of their invention. For the ultimate good of
Mankind, of course!

Not that the pirates that roamed the space lanes would worry about
that. And though the Scientists were not to know - sending the message
in open transmission made them the target for any, and every, bounty
hunter and buccaneer in the whole Solar System.

The Game

You are the Security Officer. The base is being invaded. It is your
job to get the experiments and the scientists off the base and away to
safety. The experiments are only of any use if the correct scientists
are rescued with them. One of the experiments could be the most
devastating weapon ever devised. You must not let this fall into the
wrong hands.

You start the game in the Escape Craft, which you have fortuitously
just been repairing. You must bring all the scientists and their
experiments back here, before you take off.

Each scientist is locked into his personal chamber with his own
experiment. One at a time they will suddenly realise what is going on
and start running around in their cabin, desperate to get out. When
they are at this stage you must open the door and let them out.

The only problem is that they are so terrified by all the shooting and
noise that they can only think about running in one direction as fast
as possible, only changing course when there is a wall or enemy unit
in the way. To guide them into the ship you must nudge them in the
right direction or force them to take routes by placing objects as key
junctions on the way to the ship.

When you get the scientists to the Escape Ship, you should herd them
to the suspended animation chambers at the back. There are 8 red pads
on the floor. When a scientist has stepped onto one, he is put into a
kind of hibernation, and a message is printed telling you so. Another
scientist will then start to run around in his cabin (if there are any
left alive) and you must then rescue him. At all times the location of
the active scientist is shown on the radar at the top.

When you have enough scientists, experiments and fuel, go into the
Escape Ship and press any of the buttons at the front on the flight
deck. You will then take off.

Upon take-off you will be told if you succeeded in rescuing the
ultimate weapon/experiment, and assessed on the other results of your
attempt.

Pick/Drop

The four boxes in the status panel show what you are holding. Picking
up and dropping uses a "First in, first out" principle. If you are not
quite in a dropping position you will be automatically moved to the
right place when the button is pressed. When you first pick up a
Medikit or an ammunition box, if will go into a separate store in the
middle of your panel. Once installed it will be automatically used
when needed.

Objects which are scattered around the base to help you are:

Medikit: This is a device similar to having an extra life. What
happens is that when you are on your last bit of energy and you get
shot, if you are carrying a Medikit it will restore your energy to
full, using itself up in the process.

Ammunition: Initially you are limited to about 256 shots before you
run out of ammunition. If you are carrying a spare ammo box, and you
press fire with an empty gun, it will charge up your gun.

Bomb: This will detonate when fired at enough, killing all life
on-screen except yourself. It will also leave a large section of the
base walls heavily damaged, though they remain intact. It is used
mainly for killing tanks (see later) or for blowing down doors.

Fuel Drum: You need 8 of these to power your Escape Ship on its
flight. They need to be got fairly early on in the game, as the aliens
will use them for themselves if they find them.

Crates: There are a large number of old packing crates scattered about
the base. If you can't find a particular kind of object, there might
be one in a crate. Firing at the crate will damage more and more of it
until it either vanishes or splits open to reveal another object.

Experiments: These are always found next to the scientists. One of
them is the one the enemy is after, but neither you nor they know
which it is. You must therefore try and rescue all of them before they
are captured.

If you come across a Medical Centre (which are represented by a
syringe), you can use it to "top up" your energy, without affecting
your Medikits (if any). Simply press upwards on one to use it.

Teleports: are blue devices with red buttons at the bottom. When you
press upwards on these you will be beamed to another place on the
base. All teleports have their individual destinations; you just have
to learn which goes where.

Note that the scientists can be pushed against a syringe to heal them,
but they cannot use teleports.

Enemies

There are three main types of enemy: 

SPINNING TOP - fires all the time at everything. Moves randomly.

ARMOURED SCOUTS - only fire when you are directly in front of them.
Sometimes try to track you, other times don't.

TANK - any missiles fired at these are reflected at the firer. They
fire homing missiles at you which never miss. If a scientist appears
on the screen, they will shoot at him instead of you. The only way to
destroy these is to detonate a bomb on-screen, or make them run over a
death trap (purple thing on floor). Be very careful when you encounter
one, as it sometimes decides to track you across several screens,
firing all the time. Can be very hard to lose it.

Open/Shut Panels: are door controls which allow you to drop or raise a
steel bulkhead across a corridor, blocking the way to the enemy. These
will only close if there is nothing in the way, and will only open if
the doors are intact. Any damage warps the doors so that they won't
fit back into the slot. If you see a door instructing you to "Open",
but it already is, it means the aliens have burnt it off its hinges
and it is now useless.

There are plenty of resources around the base at the start of each
game, but the longer you play, the more the enemy smash up, blow up,
or steal. You will often see an enemy "locked on" to some item of
yours, which will be destroyed if you don't shoot them. Anything which
you can move can be destroyed, including the bulkhead doors, though
these last longer than anything else.

Certain pieces of the wall will reflect missiles off at different
angles when fired upon, and you can use them to do fire around corners
or do snooker-type shots with them.

LOADING INSTRUCTIONS

Type LOAD "" and press ENTER.

Controls

All controls are user-definable at the start of the game.