P A R A D O X !! presents Final Countdown complete docs! typed by MERKWooD THE STORY After communication at above the speed of light was discovered in the year 2334 by the scientist Nagas Lyrac, who was born and brought up on Mars, the human race reached out beyond the boundaries of the solar system. In the course of the next eight years contacts were made with seven nonhuman and three remotely humanoid races. As communication at above the speed of light (particle) was diverted or halted by larger concentrations of matter, two radio relay stations, known as TerCom I and II, were set up outside Pluto's orbit (in opposition). They pass on the radio messages they recieve using normal radio. As messages, repeatedly failed to reach their destination, each message is now coded, given a serial number and transmitted several times. Some scientists believe that the messages are intercepted and evaluated by hostile intelligences. They base their theory on the fact that only 97.543% of radio interference is due to natural causes, and so 2.457% cannot be accounted for. However, as up till now nothing pointing to the existence of a hostile race has been discovered, this theory is now considered false. At first, however, the contacts with other intelligent beings were confined to an exchange of information and an extremely limited trade with the systems within a radius of 15 light years, an it was not yet possible to travel at a speed exceeding the speed of light. However, a research project, which was supported by all intelligences, bore fruit in the year 2397. On 22.08.2397 the brilliant Weganic scientist Ragn Nietsnie succeeded in carrying out the first matter transfer outside his solar system at above the speed of light. This meant the way for inter-stellic trade was open, and two years later the Sol-system was in possession of transmitter communications to all 10 known civilizations. Since 2412 it has been possible, due to an improvement in the MaTrans-technique to undertake a transmission without a reciever. When in two years time the enourmous Transmitter-circle "HighWay" is completed (diameter 1.2 km), it will be possible to send whole spaceships into other solar systems. The Vasdagh and Ghys'Syn, who already use such transmitter equipment, have sent research ships into 146 solar systems so far. As the planetary gravitational fields also badly disturbed the transmitter traffic, the radio relay station TerCom I, which came into operation in the year 2336, was converted into a trade center, while TerCom II was retained for communication purposes. It follows its lonely orbit beyond that of Pluto at a distance of 20 light hours. The permanent crew, consisting of 238 people, is under the command of Commander Ms. Laira Tyrik. TERRA NEWSNETWORK 14.08.2437 Today the Vasdagh published the results of their 5-year investigation into transmitter activity in the galaxy. With the aid of the radiolocator for transmitter activity which they developed, they could prove that during the time of observation there was no MaTrans-activity anywhere in the galaxy which could have been caused by an unknown intelligence. Because it will probably never be possible to realize the permanent bridging of space at above the speed of light and no intelligent living organism will be able to set off on an endless journey through space and time, the supporters of the Evil-Alien- Theory, who live in permanent fear of the appearance of a conquering fleet, have finally had the ground cut from under their feet. COMMANDER LAIRA TYRIK'S PERSONAL LOG, 30.07.2437 - 19:33 Today all extrasolar radio communications suddenly came to a standstill. A transmitter consignment which arrived at the same moment exploded inexplicably, killing 16 members of the loading crew. Scientists think that the interference in the radio communication could also influence the transmitter traffic, and that the atomic structure of cargo being transported will become unstable. We have sent radio probes with messages to all friendly solar systems asking them to cancel all MaTrans-consignments until further notice... Today the radiolocation discovered an asteroid which had not been registered before and which has been given the name AST2437/07-01. It has a diameter of about 3.8 km. It is almost perfectly spherical in shape. In 12 days and 8 hours it will pass us at a distance of 438900 km and carry on into the solar system at a - for asteroids of this size unusually high - speed of 30000 km/sec. It has not yet been possible to discover its chemical composition... 31.07.2437 - 18:59 Although AST2437/07-01 has come nearer, an exact analysis has still nor been possible becasue the long-distance radiolocation provides no clear results. Tommorrow a system-check will take place because the radiolocators really ought to function perfectly at this distance... The research station on Mercury had to be abandoned due to the high increase in solar activity. The astrophysicist have no idea of the reason for this change, especially since the surface temperature of our mother-star has risen by 3.8 degrees... Scientific teams in the whole solar system have not so far been able to find any possible causes of the interference in all activities above the speed of light. The whole phenomenon seems ever stranger, when one bears in mind that transmissions of matter beyond a radius of 11 light days still function perfectly... 01.08.2437 - 06:49 The surface temperature of the sun has continued to rise and this has caused an expansion by 1/10000 of its circumference. The increase in dangerous radiation has led to an emergency evacuation of the Mercury mines. This help probably came too late for 38 miners who were admitted to the NY Medical Center suffering from extremely severe radiation damage... According to our maintanance team no fault could be found in the radiolocation system. So it is still not possible to account for the fact that we do not recieve any clear location results from the asteroid... 01.08.2437 - 16:43 Terra Newsnetwork has just announced that Miami has been almost completely devestated by a hurricane of incredible force and extent. The report goes on to say that none of the approximately 345000 people who were no longer able to reach the shelters is thought to have survived this inferno... Meteosat 85 reported that a huge tidal wave, 64 meters high, is heading straight for Hawaii at top speed... According to scientists the climate of our planet seems to be getting out of control due to the temperature increase on the sun. On the basis of their research various astrophycisist teams have concluded that if the temperature of the sun continues to rise at the present rate, it is likely to explode in 12 days if the cause of the catastrophe cannot be found and eliminated... Because of this the solar security council has declared the system alarm stage Alpha 2. From now on government permission is neccessary for all private extraplanetary operations... 02.08.2437 - 02:49 On re-reading the location data about AST2437/07-01 I established that the latter simply appeared from nowhere within the rage of our radiolocators. We cannot help suspecting that there is a connection between the appearance of the asteroid and the supernova threatening us. We are going to send two robot space probes to investigate... 05.08.2437 - 16:47 The situation on Earth is deteriorating hour by hour, the natural catastrophes are continuing. The number of victims is reported to have reached approx. 83 million people. The space stations between Mercury and Venus have had to be evacuated. The sun's expansion by 8.7% is even discernable from our position... 08.08.2437 - 22:35 The radio contact with our probes was broken off when they came within 328900 km of the asteroid. One second before the break-down in communications a sort of energy emission of an unknown kind was registered on the surface of the asteroid. By now we doubt that this bolide is of natural origin. We will inform our headquarters of our suspicion... 09.08.2437 - 22:56 Our headquarters have notified us in friendly words that "at the moment due to the catastrophe, there is no possibility" of "investigating our small personal matters" and checking up on our suspicions. As the future of our planet, the continuation of our civilization are at stake. I have decided to act... 10.08.2437 - 09:31 (entry by deputy commander Taiska Gerran) As the commander did not appear for duty this morning we asked our board computer about her where abouts. According to its information the commander was beamed off with the transmitter 06.54 after she had been to the equipment depot. The evaluation of the destination coordinates showed that she had transmitted herself to the asteroid... 10.08.2437 - 10:05 According to the KI GENYUS the commander's theory has been given a probability rating of 45.8%. In case her suspicions should be proved correct the trans- mitter has beamed equipment to the asteroid. This consists of 100 mines and 20 energy cartridges for the return flight aggregates which were distributed all over the asteroid. However, it is not considered likely that all trans- ported objects were re-materialized satisfactorily. After the beaming all TerCom I's transmitters finally broke down... 10.08.2437 - 12:22 The provisions-ship which had been expected at 12:20 did not arrive. KI GENYUS estimates with a probability rate of 97.9% that we are cut off from every communication. As in 12 days and 8 hours our last oxygen reserves will come to an end, our time is running out...... USERS MANUAL 1. Short summary - The A 9000 commands CD - Change / Display of the current path CLS - Clear screen DIR - Display of the files of a technical device DISABLE - Disable a device controlled by the system ENABLE - Enable a device controlled by the system HELP - Display of all commands INFO - Display of own inventory LIST - Display of all the devices controlled by the system with information about the current state of these subsystems SHOW - Display of a picture STATUS - Display of the state of the major systems SYSTEM - Display of available information about the attached system TYPE - Display of a text 2. The commands of the A9000 CD *PATH* The CD-command permits interchange between different "directories. An example: Let's just suppose that you are connected to a prospector robot called PROSP on the airvoid planetoid Ceres and are in possession of a module called Module 1. After looking through the data from PROSP you would like to have access to the contents of Module 1. So the command is: CD MODULE 1 and the response is then CURRENT PATH MODULE 1 To get access back to the directory attched PROSP, the input is: CD SYSTEM If the CD-command is given without the path-name *PATH*, the output will be the name of the current path. CLS The A9000 display is cleared DIR *PATH* The DIR-command shows the contents of the device called *PATH*. If no path- name is specified, the contents of the current directory will be displayed. The DIR-command displays for each file what kind of file it is. There are: ABCDE.TXT - a text file (see TYPE) ABCDE.PIC - a picture file (see SHOW) ABCDE.PRG - a program started by input of the name .ABCDE.TXT - a file protected by a password An example: The current path being SYSTEM DIR DISCOVERIES.TXT SITE PLAN.PIC SEARCH.PRG .SECRET.TXT DISABLE *DEVICE* The DISABLE-command permits the disabling of devices which are managed and controlled by the attached system. An example: DISABLE METAL DETECT 1 will make our PROSP disable its metal detector #1. If instead of the device name *DEVICE* "ALL" is specified, all controllable subsystems will be disabled. DISABLE ALL deprives our PROSP of all perception-sensors. Its mechanical systems, however, remain active as they can only be controlled through programs. ENABLE *DEVICE* The ENABLE-command permits the initial setup of devices which are managed and controlled by the attached system. An example: To prevent our PROSP from stumbling around blindly, we will first restore its "sight". ENABLE OPTOSYSTEM 2 OPTOSYSTEM 2 ENABLED So that our PROSP can later go about its task with its senses alert, it should also be givin back the rest of its faculties. Analog to the disable-command this is triggered off by: ENABLE ALL ENDCLI The Computerterminal is closed. HELP *COMMAND* It gives some brief information about a A9000 command. If the HELP-command is given without parameter, a list of all the available keyboard commands will be provided. INFO The INFO-command supplies the user with all relevant data, like time, air reserves or the degree of contamination. An example: INFO AIR RESERVES :483 A TIME REMAINING :4.6 hours EXPLOSIVES :3 LIST The LIST-command gives information on all devices controlled by the system. In addition the current state of these subsystems is given. An example: LIST OPTOSYSTEM 2 ON E/D METALDETECT 1 OFF E ^system ^index ^state ^access mode (E can be enabled, D can be disabled) SHOW The SHOW-command displays as a picture information which is filed in the system's storage in the form of bitfields. For this A9000 finds an appropriate image itself. An example: From the examples of DIR-command we know that our PROSP has stored a site plan of what it has found so far. In order to see this plan the following command is given: SHOW SITE PLAN STATUS The STATUS-command shows the state of all systems connected to the system. If our PROSP was on board a spaceship, we could get information on all board systems with this command. SYSTEM The SYSTEM-command shows the exact name of a system. If we wanted to thank our PROSP for its good work by giving it a reactor, we would, of course, have to know which of the many PROSP robots it was. SYSTEM NAME :PROSP 4812 TASK :SEARCH FOR VALUABLE METALS POSITION :CERES, SECTOR IV TYPE It functions like SHOW, but can only be applied to text files. The information is automatically translated as far as it is in any way possible. Concepts that cannot be translated are replaced by synthetic words. But in reality there is much more behind this main A9000 command than you will ever see. Whenever cross references or interesting details come up, the A9000 will always pursue them as far as possible and decode their meaning. So always watch out for the computers reports documenting this procedure.