                            Silicon Dreams
                            --------------

KIM KIMBERLY
============
Kim is 1.7 meters tall, weighs 55 kilos, is fairly intelligent, athletic
and has brown eyes and fair hair. Now aged 22, or 25, or 131 years... 
depending on how you calculate these things.

Born on September 29th, 2172 AD, Kim was raised by the Hampstead Creche.
This was a peculiar place, set amongst decaying buildings, and heavily 
reliant on a mix of relationship-engineering, behavior conditioning and
Hell-Fire religion. It was finally closed in 2185 for breaches of the 
Android Protection Acts. It seems to have done Kim little harm however,
though possibly contributing to a tendency towards introversion.

Then to Milton Keynes School of Life: a fine, residential establishment
situated (despite its name) in Malta. The staff were, in effect, Kim's
family. (This type of situation, by the way, was far from unusual in the
late 22nd century. Advances in entertainment and travel, plus the sexual
revolution resulting from A.I. partho and cloning techniques, made a family
up-bringing the exception.)

Kim returned to England for National Service before progressing to Oxford.
Kim proved a good student, and established many close relationships, though
nothing permanent. It was during National Service that the event central to
the Snowball mission took place, though it went unremarked at the time. Kim
was approached, discreetly, to do security work. Initally, this simply in-
volved training and occasional surveillance of possible subversies, but it
soon developed into counter-espionage.

Then, when the Snowball project got under way, Kim was approached to
volunteer for the stars. The Snowball craft were as near automatic as poss-
ible, and carried a trained crew in the case anything went wrong. But
suppose something happened to the crew? What was needed were one-or-two
trained people, carried without the crew's knowledge who could emerge and
take over if something went really wrong.

TERRAN EXPANSIONARY PHASE, 2120-2210
====================================

The late 21st Century saw a great increase in space travel within the solar
system.

Fusion power was not yet feasible, conventional fuel sources were close to
running out and the energy needs of the industrial nations were ever-
increasing. The solution lay in space. Solar reflectors, if made large
enough, could easily concentrate any amount of energy and beaming it back
to Earth is simplicity itself.

What was not simple was to transport enough material for thousand-mile re-
flectors into space. Indeed, it was much more efficient to use what was 
already there... and thus the first accelerator chains were set up to boost
asteroid material from beyond Mars into Earth's orbit.

By 2120, thirty percent of Earth's energy came from the sapce reflectors and
the proportion was steadily rising. To supply the colossal requirements of
the orbital industries, the whole Solar System was linked by accelerators.
Then workable fusion power was perfected, and it was very cheap.

The whole space sector of the economy was redundant. A lot of politicians
risked looking very silly indeed.

Thus a use for accelerators, space reflectors and orbiting factories had to
be found, and Stellar Colonisation was it. A lot of voters/party members
read SF, after all, and colonies are always popular (at first, anyway).

So the accelerators were linked up and fired out of tens of thousands of 
small exploration probes in all directions. These robots would coast
through space with only one mission - as each flashed past a star it would
report back the existence of Earth-sized planets. Unmanned, they could
continue for centuries.

Ten years behind came larger survey craft, each clutching a great ball of
ammonia ice to power its fusion motor. If one was lucky enough to be fol-
lowing a successful exploration probe, it had just enough time to decel-
erate (from its coasting speed of 0.3 C) before reaching the star. Once
there, it would scout the system and if there really were habitable planets
(or even ones requiring controlled climate domes as long as the ground was
solid) it would radio the information back to Earth.

Then, while waiting for the first colonists to join it, decades later, the
survey craft would proceed to prepare a world for them to live in.

First came a long, slow, painstaking period of asteroid mining - assembling
the necessary materials to build its first robot-production line. The first
robot would take ten or twenty years, the next ten or twenty days and the
thousandth would take minutes.

By a process of careful boot-strapping, highly-intelligent space factories
were built, as well as colossal dish receivers to the constant stream of
technological data from Earth.

Next came the landings on target planet, city building and making ready for
the colonists. And, at the same time, preparations for launching more probes
and survey craft.

The Terran Expansionary phase was scaled down as time passed, and eventually
stopped - as far as Earth was concerned. Domestic political pressures 
changed, and politicians became more concerned with the equality of life for
the so-called Free Nations than with space exploration. But the starships
were in flight, and the foundation of the Human Empire was assured.

GAME SCENARIOS
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

(1) SNOWBALL
============

You play Kim Kimberley, secret agent extraordinaire.

Your mission: to safeguard the interstar transport, Snowball 9, as a last
resort following catastrophic accident or sabotage.

Thus when your modified freezer-coffin wakes you with the Snowball still in
transit, you know that something must be very wrong. You're weakened and
disorientated from lengthy hibernation, but the fate of two million pass-
engers is in your hands!

Snowball 9 started its journey to the stars from from the EEC's Ceres base,
one of fifty colony starships launched in the 2190s. It carried the colon-
ists for Eridani E.

First to be despatched were the ten giant passenger disks, rotating pon-
derously to provide internal gravity. Each was towed gently by a cluster
of small tugs and floated into the void with 200,000 sleeping colonists
on board.

Then the Snowball's engine unit followed, accelerated rapidly by the spec-
tacular flares from its four great fusion motors. Like previous launches,
and the link-up with the disks some weeks later, this was holo'd world-
wide (though few people bothered to watch).

Looking like a necklace of sparkling beads, Snoball 9 headed out into deep-
est space, and into a century of obscurity.

But the major part of the launch was yet to come - and it happened quietly,
out of the glare of publicity. The chains of accelerators, beyond Pluto,
burst erratically into life throughout the following three years: firing
ten-tonne blocks of ammonia-ice at precise speeds after the receding craft.
Once reeled in by Snowball's skyhooks, the ice was built into a huge hollow
shell around the linked passenger disks. When complete, this shielded the
disks during the voyage; until the ice was finally needed as fuel for the
ravening fusion drives.

The ice-shell - which gave the Snowball series its name - formed most of the
mass of the completed craft. Without the accelerator/skyhook system of "in
flight refuelling", realistic-time interstellar voyages would not have been 
feasible.

As with life, the first thirty years of Snowball 9's journey were the most 
interesting. The computers and crew had to catch as much ice as possible
before it flew past. But even then, there were never more than eight active
crew at a time.

Then the starship was left to coast until its destination was near, the crew
hibernating with the passengers. A brief flurry of activity to start deceler-
ation, and back to autopilot. Even allowing for the great resilience, and 
hence low sophistication of the Snowball's machine intelligences, they are
quite capable of running everything unaided. No further crew members were
woken until a year from journey's end.

The plan from here on was to continue deceleration, shed the remains of the 
ice-shield (by now eaten away to insubstantiality be the need of fuel), and
dock with the target planet, Eden, in geostationary orbit. Finally, the pass-
engers would land by glider-shuttle...a process taking many years to get 
everybody down, and necessitating the retrieval of grounded gliders by sky-
hook: the same gliders being used many times. This was the plan, anyway...

Meanwhile, in the Eridani star system, the robot descendants of the original
survey craft that scouted Eden have been hard at work. The original crude 
waldroids, directly controlled from the survey craft's computer, were good 
for little other than manual routine work. But they have long been superseded
by a host of "specialized" robots:  highly intelligent and suitable for any 
task.

Indeed, in the outer reaches of the planetary system the first accelerator 
chains are already being built. It will not be long before colonists can 
leave Eden for remoter stars.

The colonists have taken over a hundred years to reach Eden, but the robots
can obtain information and programming at light speed. They are immeasurably
ahead of their future "masters" in knowledge and technology. Even if Snoball
9 arrives safely, it is by no means certain that the passengers will be able
to cope with the sudden outdating of all their experience.

The physical well-being of the colonists is, however, assured by the robot's
diligent work. Condo's, paveways, PVT's, holo nets, pre-ordained work...
everything necessary for civilised life will be provided. After all, why risk
further disruption of the social fabric resulting from a manifestation of 
the so-called "pioneer spirit"?

All you have to do, as Kim Kimberly, is to rescue the Snowball 9.

(2) RETURN TO EDEN
==================

You - Kim Kimberly - have just saved the interstellar transport Snowball 9 
from disaster. The Snowball had been sabotaged and could not be completely
repaired. Every signaling device was smashed and there were more important
things to do than to jury-rig a radio. The crew had no contacts with events
outside.

Once in orbit, a trial was held. The mempak record from the control room was
fire-damaged but most intersting. It seemed to show Kim entering the room 
and hurling a bomb, trying to destroy the ship. Kim was found guilty, un-
justly, as it happens, but no one knew what really happened. The evidence 
was damning. The sentence was death. Dragged to the life-boat hanger to 
suffer vacuum-exposure, Kim had one last chance. Kim broke free and reached
a stratoglider before the waldroids closed in. An hour later Kim becomes the
first human to land on Eden.

Snowball 9 is in orbit, several months ahead of schedule, crewed by people
who believe you to be a murderer. The only civilisation on Eden is a robot
city far to the east. The planet is reportedly populated by furiously 
hostile beings of every kind: only ceaseless vigilance and hi-tech weaponry
prevent them over-running the city.

The game starts as the stratoglider lands on Eden. As Kim, you have escaped
a swift fate, but your problems are far from over. The crew of Snowball feel
they have a score to settle with you...

A city had been built on Eden. At first, the city building went well, but 
gradually problems accumulated, for Eden was already occupied. Not by sent-
ient beings, but by a myriad of plants and a host of cunning creatures. 
Eventually, these adapted to fight back...

Normally the robots would have holocausted the surrounding area and solved
their problems once and for all, but they were preapring for fragile human
colonists, vulerable to poison and radiation.

So a wall was built and the war stabilised. Any machine venturing into the
jungle was crushed and no living thing was allowed to reach the city or the
Earth-plant farms beside it. Losses were enormous on both sides, but the 
robots were satisifed. Inside the wall, they work to perfect the city for 
the arrival of its new owners.

Communication is not the only function of the space station, however, it is
also responsible for planetary defence.

But all is not well. The city fathers have been fighting the jungle for 
decades and the city is beginning to pay the price. Its foundations are 
broken by a million root-cracks and vermin infest the lower-levels. The
dome is repeatedly-patched and spores have attacked the buildings within.
The city still looks new, but impressions are misleading.

And, what may be worse, is that the robot army has been fighting too long.
Their responses are too ingrained. They have problems in recognising the
enemy.

The robot city, Enoch, is on an equatorial shore in Eden where four rivers
meet. From the outside, all that can be seen is a 3 KM climate-conditioning
dome, surrounded by a green moat of farmland and an outer defensive wall.
Gun-ships drone round the dome like wasps, swooping low over the surrounding
jungle.

Inside, you'd think that you were on Earth. A single yellow sun shines 
through fluffy white clouds in the sky. Green parkland surrounds huge 
apartment-pyramids and the ground hums with a comforting mechanical buzz.
Enoch provides all the comforts of home: only the people are missing.

The city of Enoch is linked to the space factories via a colossal space 
station in synchro-orbit above it. Physical connection is by sky-hook (i.e.
space-elevator) and comlink is by laser. These integrate the city into the
overall Eridani E presence.

The space station is, like the orbiting factories, constructed from an iron
asteroid a few kloms wide.  This mass provides the inertial stability 
required for space-elevator operation: raising or lowering hundreds of tons
of material between orbit and the planet's surface.

So, when the Snowball 9 enters orbit off schedule and without identifying 
itself, then ignores all radio messages, and then threatens the city, the 
space base has a problem. Further attempts are being made to contact the 
"alien" craft but when these fail a decision must be made: the robots cannot
risk a hostile presence in orbit.

(3)  WORM IN PARADISE
=====================

The Worm in Paradise takes place on the planet Eden, 100 years after the 
time of Snowball and Return to Eden. You are a citizen of the Enoch mega-
polis of Eden.

Human colonists arrived a hundred years ago and Eden now supports half a 
billion people. Most of them natives and some of them men. The population
is distributed between a handful of domed cities, of which Enoch is the 
first and smallest.

There is no contact between humans and the native fauna, so rumors of aliens
are rife. It is said that flying saucers are regularly seen and that intel-
ligent moles live in deep tunnels. But no proof has ever been produced.

This game takes place during the reign of the third Kim, when Eden is run as
a benevolent bureaucracy. It is truly a paradise for the silent majority, 
with peace, no crime, full employment (with a fifteen-hour week), good hous-
ing, more entertainment than anyone could watch, etc., etc.

Of course, there's no way that anyone can challenge the system. But then, 
what right-thinking person would want to?

POLITICS
--------
Governments can theoretically run at a profit, extorting no taxes from their
citizens but getting income from such sources as fines for criminal offerces
and printing money (arguably a positive benefit in an expanding economy). 
This also involves tight controls on services and routine supervision of the
citizens to catch trouble-makers. The Government of Enoch is run without
taxes, and is underpinned by millions of robot servants who not only work
hard, but are immune from corruption.

ENOCH HEALTH SERVICE
--------------------
Enoch hospitals make a profit, partly from the resale of body parts to age-
ing recipients and partly by charging for in-patient care. They also cut 
costs by:
 *  Medicating the drinking water.
 *  Making medical advice freely available via computer
 *  Minimising the time patients spend in hospitals.
 *  Rewards for being vaccinated and for reporting infectious people as a 
    threat to public health. Disease spreaders would be fined.
 *  Restricting mentally abnormal people while enabling them to do useful
    work is possible (they are the groups who do worst in Eden, as in many
    societies).
The result is the greatest good for the greatest number at the lowest price,
but tough luck for the minority with expensive illnesses.

ENOCH POLICE
------------
The Enoch Police Force also makes a profit. This entails:
 *  Fines rather than imprisonment
 *  Rewards to informants 
 *  Prosecution of wealthy people for a change. They can afford fines.
 *  Extensive supervision, to detect crime efficiently.
 *  Concealing crime, which increases police costs, is heavily penalised.
 *  Replacement of remaining taxes by fines (In 20th Century Britain, al-
    cohol is taxed while some narcotics attract a fine.  Everything is 
    fined on Eden)
People are potentially immortal on Eden, provided they can replace body or-
gans as these fail. Penniless criminals can easily raise the money to pay 
fines by cashing in their other assets...

Work
----
Robots run the Eridani E system, doing all the important work and most of 
the menial jobs. Whether humans are leisured aristocrats, or pets of the 
robots is difficult to tell. Humans are obliged by law to do some work and
this involves:
 *  entensive "training" schemes
 *  many pen-pushing jobs
 *  fraternities control access to the few good jobs
 *  status is the main concern, not money

                                SCORING AND HINTS
                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Silicon Dreams can be played as three entirely seperate games, if you wish.
However, the only way to obtain a maximum score and the title of 'Supreme
Adventurer' is to complete them in order; SNOWBALL, RETURN TO EDEN, WORM
IN PARADISE, carrying your score from one adventure to next (when you finish
SNOWBALL with a maximum score, you will be told how to carry your score 
across).

Unlike many adventures, you don't score points for collecting 'treasures' 
and storing them in a certain location in the game. Instead, you score for
doing certain things that help you on your way to solving each of the adven-
tures.

SNOWBALL
""""""""
Your aim is to get to the main control room in the engine unit, and rescue
the starship from crashing into the planet Eden.
You will lose points for being caught by the Nightingales.
North, south, east, west, etc. are understood in the usual way, however,
UP and DOWN are relative to local gravity. At the start of the game, you 
are in the lowest level of a passenger disk. You will need to go 'up'.

RETURN TO EDEN
""""""""""""""
The initial object of Return to Eden is to get into the new city of Enoch.
Once you have achieved this, you must stop the Eden robots from destroying
the 'alien' Snowball 9 craft.

WORM IN PARADISE
""""""""""""""""
You will score points for finding out about the city of Enoch, and for 
progress within it. Your prime objective is to obtain money, and then to 
become a member of the giverning party. Should you get the chance to save
the world, it is suggested that you make an attempt.
You will lose points for such things as being recycled (better known as 
dying!)

============================================================================
 SILICON DREAMS DOCS PROVIDED BY  -+*+-THE SOUTHERN STAR-+*+- for M.A.A.D.                                                               
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