TRINITY The Illustrated Story of The ATOM BOMB The Atom - Friend or Foe Within the tiny atom lies a tremendous power. This power first entered the modern world as a means of destruction, unleashing a terrible fury on countless thousands. But like any great force, the atom can also be used to serve man. Atomic power plants provide clean, dependable energy. Nuclear-powered submarines glide beneath the North Pole. Numerous lives are saved by radiation treatment. And radio-isotopes analyze soil, plants, and animals to help increase food production around the world. How did we first harness this amazing power? Let's go back in time to find out... Atomic Facts: Stranger Than Fiction! If you wanted to make a necklace of atoms 25 inches long, and strung them together at the rate of one atom per second, it would take over 200 years to complete the strand. A drop of water contains 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms. There are 25,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms in a breath of air. Atoms travel all around the world and even through outer space. With each breath you inhale atoms that were once a part of great men such as Leonardo da Vinci, celestial objects such as Halley's Comet, and nuclear explosions such as the Trinity Test. 2 The year is 1939. The free world watches with growing alarm as the shadow of Nazi Germany spreads across Europe, led by the man who will one day be known as History's Greatest Villain. "The Master Race will prevail!" "Sieg Heil!" "Sieg Heil!" In January, the great Danish physicist Niels Bohr comes to Washington, D.C. "The Germans have split the atom!" "My God!" "Incredible!" "If Hitler builds an atom bomb, nothing will stop him!" "The world will be plunged into a thousand years of darkness!" "We must be the first!" 3 The scientists draft an urgent letter to the president. "We're unknown immigrants! Roosevelt will never listen to us!" "Will you sign our letter?" Albert Einstein President Roosevelt decides to take immediate steps... "This requires action!" ...and not a moment too soon! Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. The army appoints Colonel Leslie R. Groves, the man who built the Pentagon, to head the atom bomb project. "If you do the job right, it can win the war!" "We'll make you a Brigadier General!" "It's my patriotic duty!" "I accept!" Top Secret - Manhattan Project. 4 On December 2, 1942, scientists at the University of Chicago, led by Enrico Fermi, produce the world's first atomic chain reaction. "The reaction is self-sustaining!" "It works!" "Now we can make nuclear fuel for the bomb!" A secret laboratory is set up in the mountains of New Mexico to design and build the new weapon. "I'll get you anything you need. Men! Money! Materials! Will you do it?" Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer becomes director of Los Alamos. "It's my patriotic duty! I accept!" 5 Oppenheimer and his fellow scientists work long and hard to make the atom bomb a reality. "Plutonium will make a bigger explosion!" "It'll never work! Let's stick with uranium!" "There's no time to argue! Try both!" "Oppie, did you hear the news?" "Not now, Kitty! We're so close!" [Berlin falls, V.E. Day] After two years, the bomb is almost ready. "Here's an isolated place, but we still need a code-name for the test." "Let's call it..." "...TRINITY!" 6 A 100-foot steel tower is erected in the New Mexico desert, miles from the nearest town. "What do they call this place anyway?" "Jornada del Muerto" -- the Journey of Death!" The "gadget" is in a shack at the top of the tower. Final assembly takes place in a deserted ranch house nearby. "Hand me that screwdriver." "It'll never work!" 7 In the pre-dawn hours of July 16, 1945, V.I.P.'s from all over the country gather on a hillside twenty miles from the tower. "This suntan lotion will protect us from atomic rays!" "I must be alert. The Russians will want a detailed account." The tension is almost unbearable. "Zero minus twenty minutes!" "Keep an eye on him!" "Four...three...two...one..." ZERO!!! [clock reads 5:30:45] 8 [atom bomb explodes successfully] "The war is over." Truman and Churchill are jubilant with the news. "The Japs will have no choice but to surrender!" "It's the second coming in wrath!" "...and America will prevail!" 9 On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber exacts a terrible vengeance on the city of Hiroshima. "Bomb away!" "It...it's my patriotic duty." Nagasaki meets the same fate three days later. "I hear an airplane." Truman addresses the world after V-J Day. "It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe!" 10 But the American monopoly on A-bombs is short-lived. "Ready to test, Comrade!" "Our spies did their job well!" "It'll never work!" American is shocked by the news. "The world will be plunged into a thousand years of darkness!" "Our national security is in jeopardy!" [newspaper headlines: Reds Explode A-Bomb] But Dr. Edward Teller is a man with a vision. "If we find a way to fuse hydrogen, we can build a super-bomb!" "Impossible!" "It would require a temperature of millions of degrees." "I can provide such temperatures!" 11 November 1, 1952, on a remote island in the South Pacific... "It's all set to go!" "Let's get out of here!" "It'll never work!" ...Teller's H-Bomb is born. 12 Today, underground tests help us to build more and better nuclear weapons. "Four...three...two...one..." Our scientific know-how helps us to defend the free world behind an orbiting "umbrella" of high technology. "We could intercept and destroy strategic ballistic missiles before they reached our own soil." "We could Intercept and destroy strategic ballistic missiles before they reached our own soil." "It'll never work!" 13 Now that America's new space defense system is in place, the entire planet is safe from the threat of atomic war. "It's Peter Pan, dear...'The boy who would not grow up!'" "Our children can live secure in the knowledge that these thousands and thousands of obsolete missiles, built in the old days of mutual fear and distrust, will never need to be used!" The End. Instruction Manual for Trinity If you've never played Infocom's interactive fiction before, you should read this entire instruction manual. If you're an experienced Infocom player, just read Section I: About Trinity. TABLE OF CONTENTS Section I: About Trinity Preface to the Story . . . . . . . . . . . Page 15 Some Recognized Verbs. . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Sample Transcript and Map. . . . . . . . . . . .16 About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Section II: About Infocom's Interactive Fiction An Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 What is interactive fiction? Moving around Turns and scoring Starting and Stopping. . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 "Booting Up" Saving and Restoring Quitting and Restarting Communicating with Infocom's Interactive Fiction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Basic sentences Complex sentences Talking to characters in the story Vocabulary limitations Special Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Tips for Novices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Eleven useful pointers about interactive fiction. Common Complaints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 We're Never Satisfied. . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 If You Have Technical Problems . . . . . . . . .24 Copyright and Warranty Information . . . . . . .25 Quick Reference Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 This is a brief summary of the most important things to know about interactive fiction. Section I: About Trinity Preface to the Story You're neither an adventurer nor a professional thrill-seeker. You're simply an American tourist in London, enjoying a relaxing stroll through the famous Kensington Gardens. When World War III starts and the city is vaporized moments after the story begins, you have no hope of survival. Unless you enter another time, another place, another dimension. Escaping the destruction of London is not the end of your problems, but rather the beginning of new, more bizarre riddles. You'll find yourself in an exotic world teeming with giant fly traps, strange creatures, and other inconveniences. Time and space will behave with their own intricate and mischievous logic. You'll visit fantastic places and acquire curious objects as you seek to discover the logic behind your newfound universe. And if you can figure out the pattern of events, you'll wind up in the New Mexico desert, minutes before the culmination of the greatest scientific experiment of all time: the world's first atomic explosion, code-named Trinity. 15 Some Recognized Verbs This is only a partial list of the verbs that Trinity understands. There are many more. Some of the verbs listed can be found in all Infocom stories; others are included especially for Trinity. Remember that you can use a variety of prepositions with them. (For example, LOOK can become LOOK INSIDE, LOOK BEHIND, LOOK UNDER, LOOK THROUGH, LOOK AT, and so on. ASK EXAMINE POUR TOUCH ATTACK EXIT PULL UNFOLD CLIMB FILL PUSH UNLOCK COUNT FOLLOW RAISE UNSCREW CUT KNOCK SHAKE UNTIE DIG LIE SHOW WAKE DRINK LISTEN SMELL DROP LOOK STAND EAT OFFER THROW ENTER OPEN TIE Sample Transcript and Map This transcript is not from Trinity, but it does show many of the typical things you might use in the story. It contains some simple puzzles and their solutions, and will give you a good idea of how Infocom's interactive fiction works. The player's sentences appear in capital letters after each prompt (>). The map represents the terrain in the sample transcript as you might have drawn it. !------------! ! Pond ! ----------! Shore !------ !-----|------! / Down | / | / !-----------! / ! Sunny ! / ! Hill ! / !-----------! !----------! ! Pit ! ! Bottom !Table !--|-------! |in | !---|-------! ! Garden ! !-----------! Sunny Hill Here atop Sunny Hill, a great beech tree grows. From the top of the tree you can see old Mr. Langosy's farm to the west and your parents' farm to the east. But as you lie on your back under the copper-colored leaves, you are oblivious to everything but the warm lazy breeze and a faint shout in the distance. >LISTEN TO THE SHOUT You can hear your mother calling you, and your brothers, sisters, and father, to lunch. >GO EAST You'll have to stand up first. >STAND UP Reluctantly, you get to your feet. A platypus crawls down out of the beech tree and waddles hurriedly north. >FOLLOW THE PLATYPUS Pond Shore You're standing by the southern shore of Berube Pond. You can ascend Sunny Hill to the south, go to old Mr. Langosy's raspberry patch to the west, or follow a path to your family's farmhouse to the east. The platypus crawls down into a semi-hidden pit and disappears. >LOOK IN THE PIT It's dark as a new-moon night in the pit. You can see only a few feet down, but not the bottom of the pit. >INVENTORY You are empty-handed >JUMP INTO THE PIT You jump feet-first into the pit, and fall a few feet... ...and fall some more... ...and some more... ...and some more... and finally land with a slight "thud." Pit Bottom You're standing in a small round room. A long dark passage above you disappears into black nothingness. In a corner of the room is a square glass-topped table, and in the south wall is a tiny door, not more than 12 inches tall. >OPEN THE DOOR The door is locked. >PUSH THE DOOR The door won't budge. 16 >LOOK AT THE TABLE The table is about 3 feet tall, with spindly wooden legs and a clear glass top. On the table is a white mushroom with a label attached. >READ THE LABEL The label says, "Eat me." >SMELL THE MUSHROOM It smells just like a white mushroom. >EAT THE MUSHROOM [taking the white mushroom first[ Despite warnings from...from someone (your sister? your mother?_ about eating unfamiliar fungi, you take a tentative bite from the mushroom. Then you notice that the table is growing larger, and larger still. The white mushroom you're carrying gets heavier and heavier, and you notice that it too is growing. The door in the sough wall grows in height, and the room itself seems to expand in every direction. Suddenly, everything stops growing (or perhaps you stop shrinking). You notice that the door (which is now slightly taller than you) has a keyhole. >LOOK THROUGH THE KETHOLE [This story doesn't recognize the word "kethole."] >OOPS KEYHOLE Through the keyhole, you can see a lovely garden on the other side of the door. Platypuses cavort happily on the lawns and in the pools. >KNOCK ON THE DOOR Still peering through the keyhole, you see a smiling platypus wearing a party hat waddle over to the door. "Hello," it says cheerfully. >PLATYPUS, UNLOCK THE DOOR "The key is on the table." The platypus waddles away from the door. >LOOK AT THE TABLE The table looms over you like Everest over Hillary. Way overhead, you see a key through the glass, which you're sure wasn't there before. >TAKE THE KEY The key is out of reach. >CLIMB THE TABLE Don't let that Sir Hillary analogy get to your head. The legs of the table are too smooth and slippery. >LOOK AROUND Pit Bottom You're standing in a small round room. A long dark passage above you disappears into black nothingness. In a corner of the room is a square glass-topped table which looms over you like Goliath over David. Way overhead, you see a key through the glass. In the south wall is a closed door. In the shadows of another corner is a black mushroom >TAKE THE BLACK MUSHROOM THEN EAT IT taken You take a timorous taste of the black mushroom Then you notice that the table is growing smaller, and smaller still. The mushrooms you're carrying get lighter and lighter, and you notice that they too are shrinking. The door in the south wall gets tinier and tinier, and the room itself seems to contract in every direction. Suddenly, everything seems to stop shrinking (or perhaps you stop growing). >TAKE THE KEY Taken. >EAT THE MUSHROOM [Which mushroom do you mean, the white mushroom or the black mushroom?] >WHITE You take a confident chomp from the white mushroom. As expected, the table grows larger, the mushrooms get heavier, the door in the south wall grows, and the room itself expands in every direction. Eventually, everything stops growing (or perhaps you stop shrinking). >UNLOCK THE DOOR WITH THE KEY THEN OPEN THE DOOR Okay, the door is now unlocked. You swing open the door. >GO IN Garden As you enter the garden, platypuses start to file out the door, talking excitedly to each other. "Great party! To bad you missed it!" one platypus mentions to you. The last platypus turns off a light and closes the door behind him, leaving you in the dark. 17 About the Author "Professor" Brian moriarty built his first computer in the fifth grade. This early experience with electronics led him to seek a degree in English Literature at Southeastern Massachusetts University, where he graduated in 1978. He lives near the bridge in Historic Concord, is a member in good standing of the National Hawthorne Society, and accepts full responsibility for his previous Infocom title, Wishbringer. Acknowledgements The author wishes to thank Ferenc Szasz, Professor of History at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, for his valuable advice and assistance. Grateful acknowledgement is also made to Richard Ray and Loretta Helling of the National Atomic Museum, Kirtland AFB; Bill Jack Rogers, Los Alamos National Laboratory; and the Public Information Office of White Sands Millile Range, whose cooperation helped to make this story possible. The photograph of the Trinity Site monument is by the author. Bibliography Curious readers may find the following materials of interest. [did not list] 18 Section II: About Infocom's Interactive Fiction An Overview Interactive fiction is a story in which you are the main character. Your own thinking and imagination determine the actions of that character and guide the story from start to finish. Each work of interactive fiction, such as Trinity, presents you with a series of locations, items, characters, and events. You can interact with these in a variety of ways. To move from place to place, type the direction you want to go. The first time you find yourself in a new region, it's a good idea to become familiar with your surroundings by exploring the nearby rooms and reading each description carefully. (You may notice that Trinity occasionally refers to a location as a "room," even if you are outdoors.) As you explore, it is helpful to make a map of the geography. An important element of interactive fiction is puzzle- solving. You should think of a locked door or a ferocious beast not as a permanent obstacle, but merely as a puzzle to be tackled. Solving puzzles will frequently involve bringing a certain item with you, and then using it in the proper way. In Trinity, time passes only in response to your input. You might imagine a clock that ticks once for each sentence you type, and the story progresses only at each tick. Nothing happens until you type a sentence and press the RETURN (or ENTER) key, so you can plan your turns as slowly and carefully as you want. To measure your progress, Trinity keeps track of your score. You may get points for solving puzzles, performing certain actions, or visiting certain locations. A perfect score is to be strived for, but of course having fun is much more important. Starting and Stopping Starting the Story: To load Trinity, follow the instructions on the Reference Card in your package. After a brief introduction to the story, you'll see a description of the Palace Gate, the opening location. Then the prompt (>) will appear, indicating that Trinity is waiting for your first command. Here's a quick exercise to help you get accustomed to interacting with Trinity. Try the following command first: >GO NORTH Then press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. Trinity will respond with: Broad Walk A brooding statue of Queen Victoria faces east, where the waters of the Round Pond sparkle in the morning sun. Peering between the perambulators, you see Black Lion Gate far to the north, and Palace Gate to the south. A sudden cloud of pigeons fills the air! They circle overhead and congregate around a nearby bench, where an aged woman is selling bags of crumbs. Then try: >LOOK AT THE OLD WOMAN After you press the RETURN (or ENTER) key, Trinity will respond: You get the feeling that she's been selling crumbs on this same bench, year after year, since well before you were born. Her face is lined with care for her feathered charges, who perch on her round shoulders without fear. "Feed the hungry birds!" cries the bird woman. Saving and restoring: It will probably take you several days to complete Trinity. Using the SAVE feature, you can continue the story at a later time without having to start over from the beginning, just as you can place a bookmark in a book you are reading. SAVE puts a "snapshot" of your place in the story onto another disk. You should also save your place before (or after) trying something dangerous or tricky. That way, even if you have gotten lost or "killed" in the story, you can return to your saved position. 19 To save your place in the story, type SAVE at the prompt (>), and then press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. Then follow the instructions for saving and restoring on your Reference Card. Some computers require a blank disk, initialized and formatted, for saves. Using a disk with data on it (not counting other Trinity saves) may result in the loss of that data, depending on your computer. You can save your position as often as you like by using additional blank disks. You can restore a saved position any time you want. To do so, type RESTORE at the prompt (>), and press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. Then follow the instructions on your Reference Card. You can then continue the story from the point where you used the SAVE command. You can type LOOK for a description of where you are. Quitting and restarting: If you want to start over from the beginning, type RESTART and press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. (This is usually faster than re-booting). Just to make sure, Trinity will ask if you really want to start over. If you do, type Y for YES and press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. If you want to stop entirely, type QUIT and press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. Once again, Trinity will ask to make sure this is really what you want to do. Remember when you RESTART or QUIT: if you want to be able to return to your current position, you must first use the SAVE command. Communicating with Infocom's Interactive Fiction In Trinity you type your sentence in plain English each time you see the prompt (>). Trinity usually acts as if your sentence begins "I want to.....," although you shouldn't actually type those words. You can use words like THE if you want, and you can use capital letters if you want; Trinity doesn't care either way. When you finish typing a sentence, press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. Trinity will respond by telling you whether your request is possible at this point in the story, and what happened as a result. Trinity recognizes your words by their first nine letters, and all subsequent letters are ignored. Therefore, DEMONSTRAte, DEMONSTRAtor, and DEMONSTRAtion would all be treated as the same word by Trinity. To move around, just type the desired direction. You can use the eight compass directions: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST, NORTHEAST, NORTHWEST, SOUTHEAST, and SOUTHWEST. You can abbreviate these to N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, and SW, respectively. You can use UP (or U) and DOWN (or D), IN and OUT will also work in certain places. Trinity understands many different kinds of sentences. Here are some examples. (Note that some of these items do not actually appear in Trinity.) >WALK NORTH >DOWN >NE >GO UP >GET THE LEDGER BOOK >READ THE SIGN >LOOK UNDER THE BED >GO OUT >POUR THE WATER INTO THE POT >EXAMINE THE LARGE RED MACHINE >PUSH THE BLACK BUTTON >GIVE THE SHOE TO THE SALESMAN >SHOOT THE ELEPHANT WITH THE GUN >GIVE THE FLY TO THE FROG >CLIMB THE FENCE >JUMP INTO THE PIT 20 You can use multiple objects with certain verbs if you separate them by the word AND or a comma. Some examples: >TAKE THE BOOK AND KNIFE >DROP THE YELLOW BALL, THE SPOTTED FROG, AND THE PEANUT >PUT THE LADYBUG AND THE SPIDER IN THE JAR You can include several sentences on one input line if you separate them by the word THEN or by a period. (Each sentence will still cause time to pass.) You don't need a period at the end of the input line. For example, you could type all of the following at once, before pressing the RETURN (or ENTER) key: >READ THE SIGN. GO NORTH THEN TAKE THE CROWBAR AND MALLET If Trinity doesn't understand one of the sentences on your input line, or if something unusual happens, it will ignore the rest of your input line (see "Common Complaints" on page 23). The words IT and ALL can be very useful. For example: >TAKE THE APPLE. POLISH IT. PUT IT IN THE BOX >CLOSE THE HEAVY METAL DOOR. LOCK IT >TAKE THE SHOE. EMPTY IT. PUT IT ON >TAKE ALL >TAKE ALL EXCEPT THE WET EGG AND THE KEY >TAKE ALL FROM CABINET >DROP ALL BUT THE PENCIL The word ALL refers to every visible object, except those inside something else. If there were an apple on the ground and an orange inside a cabinet, TAKE ALL would take the apple but not the orange. You will meet other people and creatures in Trinity. You can "talk" to some of these beings by typing their name, then a comma, then whatever you want to say to them. Here are some examples: >LOIS, HELLO >SALESMAN, TELL ME ABOUT THE PLATYPUS >WILLY, PUT ON THE GLOVE THEN THROW THE BALL >HARRY, TAKE THE GUN, SHOOT THE PENGUIN Notice that in the last two examples, you are giving a person more than one command on the same input line. But remember: most people in the story don't care for idle chatter. Your deeds will speak louder than your words. There are three kinds of questions that Trinity understands: WHO IS (someone), WHERE IS (something), and WHAT IS (something). For example: >MELVIN, WHO IS HOWARD? >ANITA, WHERE IS THE MAP? >OLD WOMAN, WHAT IS PLUTONIUM? Trinity tries to guess what you really mean when you don't give enough information. For example, if you say that you want to do something, but not what you want to do it to or with, Trinity will sometimes decide that there is only one possible object you could mean. When it does so, it will tell you. For example: >UNLOCK THE DOOR (with the key) The door is now unlocked If your command is ambiguous, Trinity will ask what you really mean. You can answer most of these questions briefly by supplying the missing information, rather than typing the entire input again. You can do this only at the very next prompt. For example: >CUT THE ROPE What do you want to cut the rope with? >THE KNIFE As you cut the rope, you hear a loud crash in the tent. or >TAKE THE BUTTERFLY Which butterfly do you mean, the delicate magenta butterfly or the fat yellow butterfly? >DELICATE The delicate magenta butterfly flutters away as you reach for it. Trinity recognizes over 2000 words, nearly all that you are likely to use in your commands. However, Trinity uses many words in its descriptions that it will not recognize in your commands. For example, you might read, "The full moon is bright and clean, and the wagons case eerie shadows." However, if Trinity doesn't recognize the words MOON or SHADOWS in your input, you can assume they are not important to your completion of the story, except to provide you with a more vivid description of where you are or what is going on. 21 Special Commands There are a number of commands which have special meanings. You can use them over and over as needed. Some count as a turn, others do not. Type the command after the prompt (>) and press the RETURN (or ENTER) key. AGAIN - Trinity will respond as though you had exactly repeated your previous command. For instance, typing SHOOT THE MONSTER WITH THE LASER GUN then typing AGAIN would be like shooting the monster twice in a row. You can abbreviate AGAIN to G. BRIEF - This tells Trinity to give you a full description of a location only the first time you enter a it. On subsequent visits, Trinity will tell you only the name of the location and any objects present. This is how Trinity will normally act, unless you tell it otherwise using the VERBOSE or SUPERBRIEF commands. The SUPERBRIEF command tells Trinity to display only the name of a place you have entered, even if you have never been there before. In this mode, Trinity will not even mention which objects are present. Of course, you can always get a description of your location, and the items there, by typing LOOK. In SUPERBRIEF mode, the blank line between turns will be eliminated. This mode is meant for players who already very familiar with the geography. The VERBOSE command tells Trinity that you want a complete description of each location, and the objects in it, every time you enter a location, even if you've been there before. DIAGNOSE - Trinity will give you a brief report of your physical condition. INVENTORY - Trinity will list what you are carrying. You can abbreviate INVENTORY to I. LOOK - This tells Trinity to describe your location in full detail. You can abbreviate LOOK to L. OOPS - If you accidentally mistype a word, such that Trinity doesn't understand the word, you can correct yourself on the next line by typing OOPS and the correct word. Suppose for example, you typed TAKE THE CLUB FROM THE GIAMT and were told "[I don't know the word 'giamt'.]" You could type OOPS GIANT rather than retyping the entire sentence. QUIT - This lets you stop. If you want to save your position before quitting, follow the instructions in "Starting and Stopping" section on page 18. You can abbreviate QUIT to Q. RESTART - This stops the story and starts it over from the beginning. RESTORE - This restores a saved position made using the SAVE command. See "Starting and Stopping" on page 18 for more details. SAVE - This puts a "snapshot" of your current position onto a storage disk. You can return to a saved position in the future using the RESTORE command. See "Starting and Stopping" on page 18 for more details. SCORE - Trinity will show your current score. SCRIPT - This command tells your printer to begin making a transcript of the story as you venture onwards. A transcript may aid your memory but is not necessary. It will work only on certain computers; read your Reference Card for details. SUPERBRIEF - See BRIEF above. TIME - This gives you the current time of day in the story. In Trinity, using this command does not advance the story's internal "clock". You can abbreviate TIME to T. UNSCRIPT - This tells your printer to stop making a transcript. VERBOSE - See BRIEF above. VERSION - Trinity responds by showing you the release number and serial number of your copy of the story. Please include this information if you ever report a "bug" in the story. WAIT - This will cause time in the story to pass. Normally, between turns, nothing happens in the story. You could leave your computer, take a nap, and return to find that nothing has changed. You can use WAIT to make time pass in the story without doing anything. For example, you can wait for a specific time, or wait for an event to happen, etc. You can abbreviate WAIT to Z. 22 Tips for Novices 1. Draw a map. It should include each location, the directions connecting it to adjoining locations, and any interesting objects there. (See the small sample map that goes along with the sample transcript on page 20.) Note there are 10 possible directions plus IN and OUT. 2. Examine all objects you come across. Most objects in the story that you can pick up are important for solving one or more of the puzzles you'll run into. 3. Save your place often. That way, if you mess up or get "killed," you won't have to start over from the beginning. See page 16 for instructions. 4. Read the story carefully. There are often clues in the descriptions of locations and objects. Even strange or dangerous actions may provide clues, and might prove to be more fun! You can always save your position first if you want. Here's a silly example: >PUT THE SADDLE ON THE PONY As you drop the heavy saddle onto the pony, the animal is crushed by the weight, and it falls down, legs splayed. Here you have a clue that you should find either a lighter saddle or a sturdier horse. 5. Unlike other "adventure games" you may have played, there are many possible routes to the end of Trinity. Some puzzles have more than one solution; other puzzles don't need to be solved at all. Sometimes you will have to solve one puzzle in order to obtain the item(s) or information you need to solve another puzzle. 6. You may find it helpful to go through Trinity with another person. Different people may find different puzzles easy and can often complement each other. 7. If you really have difficulty, you can order a hint booklet and a complete map using the order form in your package. You don't need this booklet to enjoy the story, but it will make solving the puzzles easier. 8. Read the sample transcript on page 20 to get a feel for how Infocom's interactive fiction works. 9. You can word a command in many different ways. For example, if you wanted to pick up a yellow hoop, you could type in any of the following: >GET HOOP >TAKE THE HOOP >PICK UP THE YELLOW HOOP If you type in a command that Trinity doesn't understand, try rephrasing the command or using synonyms. If Trinity still doesn't understand your command, you are almost certainly trying something that is not important in continuing your adventure. 23 Common Complaints Trinity will complain if you type a sentence that confuses it completely, and will then ignore the rest of the input line. (Unusual events, such as being attacked, may also cause Trinity to ignore the rest of the sentences you typed, since the event may have changed your situation drastically.) Some of Trinity's complaints: THIS STORY DOESN'T RECOGNIZE THE WORD "__________". The word you typed is not in the story's vocabulary. Sometimes using a synonym or rephrasing will help. If not, Trinity probably doesn't know the idea you were trying to get across. THIS STORY CAN'T UNDERSTAND THE WORD "_______" WHEN YOU USE IT THAT WAY. Trinity knows the word you typed, but couldn't use it in that sense. Usually this is because Trinity knows the word as a different part of speech. For example, if you typed PRESS THE LOWER BUTTON, you are using LOWER as an adjective, but Trinity might know LOWER only as a verb, as in LOWER THE FLAG. THERE AREN'T ENOUGH NOUNS IN THAT SENTENCE. This usually means your sentence was incomplete, such as EAT THE BLUE or PUT THE BOOK IN THE. THERE WERE TOO MANY NOUNS IN THAT SENTENCE! An example is PUT THE SOUP IN THE BOWL WITH THE LADLE, which has three noun "phrases," one more than Trinity can digest in a single action. YOU CAN'T SEE ANY ________ HERE! The item you referred to is not accessible to you. It may be somewhere else, inside a closed container, and so on. THE OTHER OBJECT(S) THAT YOU MENTIONED ISN'T (AREN'T) HERE. You referred to one or more items in the same sentence, some of which aren't present or accessible. YOU CAN'T REFER TO MORE THAN ONE OBJECT AT A TIME WITH "______." You can use multiple objects (that is, nouns or noun phrases separated by AND or a comma) or the word ALL only with certain verbs. Among the more useful of these verbs are TAKE, DROP, and PUT. An example of a verb that will not work with multiple objects is EXAMINE; you couldn't say EXAMINE ALL or EXAMINE THE BOWL AND THE SWORD. THAT SENTENCE DIDN'T MAKE SENSE. PLEASE REWORD IT OR TRY SOMETHING ELSE. The sentence you typed may have been gibberish, such as TAKE ROPE WITH READ. Or, you may have typed a reasonable sentence but used a syntax that Trinity does not recognize, such as WAVE OVER THE MOUNTAIN. Try rephrasing the sentence. We're Never Satisfied Here at the Infocom, we take great pride in the quality of our stories. Even after they're "out the door," we're constantly improving, honing and perfecting them. Your input is important. No matter how much testing we do, it seems that some bugs never crawl into view until thousands of you begin doing all those wild and crazy things to the story. If you find a bug, or if you think a certain puzzle was too hard or too easy, or if you have some other suggestion, or if you'd just like to tell us your opinion of the story, drop us a letter! We love every excuse to stop working, and a letter from you is just such an excuse! Write to: Infocom 125 CambridgePark Drive Cambridge, MA 02140 Attn: OPPIE If You Have Technical Problems You can call the Infocom Technical Support Team to report "bugs" and technical problems, but not for hints to solve puzzles, at (617) 576-3190. If your disk develops a problem within 90 days after purchase, we will replace it at no charge. Otherwise, there is a replacement fee fo $5.00 (U.S. funds). If you call to report a bug, please provide your version number, which you can find by typing VERSION. Please return the registration card from you Ballyhoo package if you'd like to be on our mailing list and receive our newsletter, The New Zork Times. Copyright and Warranty Information Limited Warranty This software product and the attached instructional materials are sold "AS IS", without warranty as to their performance. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the computer software program is assumed by the user. However, to the original purchases of a disk prepared by Infocom and carrying the Infocom label on the disk jacket, Infocom warrants the medium on which the program is recorded to be free from defects in materials and faulty workmanship under normal use and service for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of purchase. If during this period a defect on the medium should occur, the medium may be returned to Infocom or to an authorized Infocom dealer, and Infocom will replace the medium without charge to you. Your sole and exclusive remedy in the event of a defect is expressly limited to replacement of the medium as provided above. This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state. N.B. After the warranty period, a defective Infocom disk may be returned to Infocom with a check or money order for $5.00 U.S. funds for replacement. Quick Reference Guide 1. To start the story ("boot up"), see the separate Reference Card in your Trinity package. 2. When you see the prompt (>) on your screen, Trinity is waiting for your input. There are four basic kinds of sentences or commands that Trinity understands: A. Direction commands: To move from place to place, just type the direction you want to go: N (or NORTH), S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW, U (or UP), D, IN, or OUT. B. Actions: Just type what you want to do. Some examples: READ THE BOOK or OPEN THE DOOR or LOOK THROUGH THE WINDOW or GIVE THE BALL TO THE CAT. Once you're familiar with simple commands, you'll want to use more complex sentences are described in "Communicating with Infocom's Interactive Fiction" on page 19. C. Commands given to other characters: Talk to characters in the story by typing their name, then a comma, then what you want to say to them. For example: FRED, GIVE ME THE AXE or OLD MAN, HELLO. D. Special commands: Some commands, such as INVENTORY or VERBOSE, give you specific information or affect your output. A list of these appears in the "Special Commands" section on page 21. 3. After typing your input, you must press the RETURN (or ENTER) key before Trinity will respond. 4. Your location in the story is displayed at the top of your screen on a special line called the status line. 5. You can pick up and carry many of the items you'll find in the story. For example, if you type TAKE THE FLASK, you will be carrying it. Type INVENTORY to see a list of the items you are carrying. 6. When you want to stop, save your place for later, or start over, read "Starting and Stopping" section on page 18. 7. If you have trouble, refer to the specific section of the manual for more detailed instructions. 25 Trinity Site Where The World's First Nuclear Device Was Exploded On July 16, 1945 "On that moment hung eternity. Time stood still. Space contracted to a pinpoint. It was as though the earth had opened and the skies split. One felt as though he had been privileged to witness the birth of the world." William L. Laurence, Eyewitness Interactive Fiction Reference Card for the COMMODORE AMIGA This booklet tells you how to run your Infocom story on your computer, and provides a few other handy bits of information. I. What You Need Required: Amiga computer For Interactive Fiction PLUS only: A monitor that supports an 80-column display, such as an RGB-type monitor. Optional: 256K memory expansion cartridge (for faster execution; especially recommended for Interactive Fiction PLUS) Extra 3-1/2 double-sided disks (for SAVEs) A second disk drive (for convenience with saves) Compatible printer (for SCRIPTing) II. Making a Backup Copy In accordance with the licensing agreement in your package, we recommend that you make a backup copy of the original story disk for your personal use. See your hardware manual for instructions on how to make disk copies. Store your original disk in a safe place and always start the story from the backup. III. Starting the Story Turn on the Amiga and wait for the Workbench to appear. Insert the story disk and open the disk icon into a window, then double- click on the story icon. The story can also be started from within the Command Line Interpreter (CLI). If the default drive and directory are not the same as the story's, they must first be changed with the "CD" command (for example, CD DF1:) Then type in the story name. IV. Talking to the Story Whenever you see the prompt (>), the story is waiting for your instructions. If you make a mistake, use the backspace key to erase the error. When you have finished typing in your instructions, press the RETURN key. The story will respond and the prompt (>) will reappear. If a description will not fit on a screen all at once, "[MORE]" will appear at the bottom of the screen. After reading the screen, press any key to see the rest of the description. V. The Status Line At the top of the screen is a status line. This line is updated after every move to show your current position in the story. Depending upon the type of story, it may also show other information. Score and Moves In stories that keep a score, such as the ZORK underground adventures, the right side of the status line will show something like this: Score: 245/920 The first number is your score and the second is the total number of moves you have made. In the example above, you have 245 points in 920 moves. Time In stories that keep track of the time, such as the mystery thriller DEADLINE, the right side of the status line will look something like the following: Time: 9:22 a.m. This shows the current time of day in the story. VI. SCRIPTing You can use the SCRIPT command to print out a transcript of your moves as you go along. SCRIPTing is an optional feature which is not necessary to complete the story and may not be available with certain hardware. 1. Connect the printer to the appropriate port at the back of the computer. Use the Preferences tool (see Section IX) to make sure the system is configured correctly for your printer. 2. Turn on the printer and make sure it's ready. 3. Type SCRIPT at the prompt (>) to start the transcript. To stop the transcript, type UNSCRIPT. 4. SCRIPT and UNSCRIPT may be used as often as desired. If a problem occurs with the printer, the story will "timeout" (appear to hang) for 30-seconds or so, then a printer error message will appear. If you don't correct the problem before the 30 seconds are up, scripting is automatically cancelled. VII. Saving a Story Position You can save your current position in the story to any disk in any drive, space permitting. The save disk must not be write- protected. No other data on the save disk will be affected. 1. Type SAVE at the prompt (>). A message will appear asking you to choose a name for the save file. 2. If you want to SAVE to the story disk itself, just enter a file name and press RETURN. 3. If you want to save to another disk, you must prefix the file name with either the name of the second disk (e.g., Saves:) or the name of the drive containing it (e.g., DF0:). The prefix is needed even if the two disks were swapped using a single drive. If the save succeeds, the prefix becomes the default prefix, and need not be typed again for the next save. The disk drive will spin for several seconds. If all is well, the story will respond: OK If it responds: FAILED consult the Troubleshooting section (see Section XI). After saving your position, you may continue with the story. NOTE: The file "Icon.Data" is used to create icons for new save files. If you delete this file, new save files will not have visible icons. VIII. Restoring a Saved Story Position You can return to a previously saved story position at any time. Type RESTORE at the prompt (>). The most recently saved or restored position will be displayed as the default. Then enter the name of a save file, as in Section VII. If you want to return to the default position, you can just press the RETURN key. IX. Amiga Preferences Several aspects of the story presentation can be changed using the Amiga Preferences tool, including text size (60 or 80 columns, except for Interactive Fiction PLUS, which requires 80 columns) and color. The size can be changed only before the story is started. You also use Preferences to specify your type of printer and the port to which it is connected. The Amiga supports both parallel and serial devices. X. Memory Usage and Multi-tasking On a multi-tasking computer such as the Amiga, all tasks share the available memory. Some tasks may require that a certain amount of memory be available to work correctly. Also, actions like opening and resizing windows or loading a printer driver can use large blocks of memory. When the Infocom story loads, it will normally leave a minimum of 64 Kbytes (32 Kbytes for Interactive Fiction PLUS). This can be changed by starting the story from the CLI with a special argument of the form "F/n", where n is the new minimum number of free bytes (for example, Deadline F/32000). If you supply an argument, memory use statistics will be displayed when the story loads. You may need to increase the amount of free memory if, for example, you are running several tasks and switching between them causes the system to hang. On the other hand, you can probably decrease free memory if you are running only the story. This may reduce or eliminate disk activity on versions of the Amiga with limited memory. X. Troubleshooting - Load, SAVE, RESTORE and Other Problems A. If the story fails to load properly, or SAVE/RESTORE or SCRIPT fails, check each of the following items. If none of these offers a solution, consult your Commodore dealer for assistance. 1. Inspect all disks carefully for any visible damage. 2. For SAVEs, make sure the save disk is not write-protected (the small opening in the corner of the disk should be covered). 3. For SCRIPTing, make sure the printer is connected properly, enabled for printing, not out of paper, etc. 4. Try again; the problem may be only momentary. If all else fails, you can call the Infocom Technical hotline at (617) 576-3190. Please note that this number is for technical problems only, not hints. B. If the story produces an error message, run the following procedure: Restart the story. When the initial screen appears, type $VERIFY and press the RETURN key. The disk drive will spin for a minute or so, and a message similar to one of the following will appear: 1. "DISK CORRECT". The disk has not been damaged and the data is intact. If you are having problems, they are most likely hardware related. It is also possible that there is a bug in the program. If you suspect that there is a bug, call the Infocom Technical Hotline. 2. "DISK FAILED" or "DISK READ ERROR". This reply indicates either hardware trouble or disk damage. Repeat the $VERIFY procedure several times. Also try the $VERIFY process on another computer (such as your dealer's). If the story ever replies "DISK CORRECT", the problem is your hardware. If you repeatedly get a negative response on more than one computer, the disk has most likely been damaged. Please send the disk only to Infocom for testing and replacement. ============================================================================ DOCS PROVIDED BY -+*+-THE SOUTHERN STAR-+*+- for M.A.A.D. ============================================================================