The Beginning Of The End ======================== The Story So Far ---------------- The teacher, Miss Earwig, was busy filing her toenails when Mr. Snooper walked in and glared at her. "Don't look at me in that tone of voice," she chided. Then he growled, "If I was you I would be careful what I did. you are a sticky wicket as it is!" This came as a surprise to the class... after all, they never ever suspected her of cheating at such a gentleman's game as cricket... especially not by glueing the bails on to the stumps! In fact they bad not even realised that she was into the game, they always suspected that croquet was more her bent! So as Fred (hero of the last two Zikov escapades and all-round good guy) sat in his French class puzzling over the difference between "Bonjour" and "Au Revoir", he felt a strange glow surround ... as if he were the centre of the Universe and all known power had been bestowed upon him (a teacher to those who know the profession). This feeling grew and grew and with it his intelligence grew also. French was no longer a confusing subject and the mysteries of the world were his to know. But, with these feelings of grandeur, came a sense of fear and insecurity. As if something beyond his deepest understanding was about to take place - and it was not yesterday's maths homework! The world around Fred began to spin and he saw a place he had never seen before, a place he had never been to - Nirvana. He suddenly knew things be should never have known, why he was here in the first place and even why he knew so much in the first place ...... All this had been brought about by an evil and voracious character called Basil Hodgkins, who on having a conversation with his wife, Matilda, said "There are contractions in my head. " To which she replied, "You must be having your brainchild." This in turn led him to finding his way to the centre of the Earth where the machine of total universal control, built by the Incas after they had mis-aligned the space-tine continuum, sustains sanity on the planet. Basil had trapped the guardian of the machine and through time had learnt to dismantle it. The machine, acting by instinct, sent a beacon of power and hope to the surface of the planet in an attempt to contact somebody capable of coming to its aid. Unlucky for it, the beam had touched Fred .... not the wisest choice by a long way. Assist Fred to locate the parts of the machine ... scattered through time, space and the length and breadth of Tooting. Then return these parts to the centre of the Earth's core before releasing the guardian and allowing it to rebuild the machine and thereby return the sanity of the world. It will be necessary to collect four components, which together will stop Basil's plans. Notes ----- It is necessary, and vital, that you collect "something" which will protect the components when they are in the Disrupter-Areas, as they are highly unstable in these places. Each area has a green zone ... this has nothing to do with the environment but will shield the components in question. You have been warned, so seek them out and use them wisely! The game contains a list of all usable commands, so type VOCAB to access it and INFO to reveal any other information that the author may have seen fit to divulge ... not much! Loading ------- LOAD"" (ENTER)