PROJECT NOVA
(Zenobi Software)

Spectrum 48K/128K


The Story So Far ...

As the students settled down in their seats
and prepared themselves for another couple
of hours of intensive "learning", the droid
at the far end of the room blinked into life
and began to spew forth the contents of its
database ... Such was life in Cadet Training
School No. 3618.

Over the years the authorities had come to
learn the lesson that "survival" in the
vastness of space relied more on adequate
training than on "good luck" and therefore
had initiated a series of courses that would
implant this knowledge in the thousands of
cadets that swelled their ranks yearly. One
such bunch of cadets was about to embark on
phase one of such a course and YOU will be
amongst them.

"For the purpose of this lesson we will return to a time when the Earth was in crisis
and war was raging across the Galaxy. Earth and her colonies were locked in battle with
an alliance of Alien beings who regarded the Earth's colonialism as an intrusion upon their
collective space. However, neither side was making any great progress, and despite the odd
sortie against each other a "stalemate" existed. But moves were afoot to put an end to
this and on Terran the military scientists were hard at work developing a supreme bomb, to
be known as the NOVA ... after the effect created by its explosion. PROJECT NOVA excited
all concerned and increased government funding soon had the project in full flow. However,
alien agents infiltrated the research department and enticed a technician to steal the
prototype and the design master copy.

A great search was initiated and the aliens were finally tracked to a pre-war Terran
space-station, abandoned at the outbreak of war and left unoccupied in an alien occupied
part of space. Plans were then made to recover the prototype and the design master copy.

The aliens intended to build and operate the NOVA device to suit their own ends ... to
destroy the Earth and end the war in one fell swoop. Supremacy of space would be theirs!!

The Terran authorities sent in a couple of small fleets but these were destroyed by a much
larger gathering of alien craft and so it was decided to send in one highly-trained agent
in the hope that one small craft cold sneak in undetected. The agent was supplied with
a canister of "flu virus" with which to eradicate all alien life from the space-station.
This lone pilot was a Flight-Sergeant Smith of the 3rd Martian Combat Squadron.

Your task today is simply to recreate Smith's incursion onto the planet and to attempt
to carry out the task in hand as though you yourself were Smith. So plug you neurological
interfaces into the data consoles and your cerebral cortex will be fed simulated information
concerning Smith and his surroundings. If you have studied your introductory work correctly
then this test should pose few problems ... so load your test programmes and commence
when you are ready. Good luck."


NOTES

Use the commands RAMSAVE and RAMLOAD to store/recall a game position using memory but use
LOAD and SAVE to make a more permanent record on tape. Use the command AGAIN to repeat the
last command and the command HOLD to pause the passage of time. TEXT will turn the graphic
system OFF and PICTURES will turn it back on again. The game will recognise the use of the
word EXCEPT, so use it in the context of GET ALL EXCEPT THE DEAD ALIEN. To change the main
character set simply use the command CHARS A, or CHARS B, or CHARS C. The player will be
allowed to EXAMINE ALL either HERE, CARRIED or WORN.