@style(spacing 1) @title (TIM QUICK - SUMMARY) @pageheading(DRAFT) @majorheading (TIM QUICK AND HIS ULTRAMARINE BIOCEPTOR) @center (by Jim Lawrence) @center (June 1983) @blankspace(5) @heading (Opening Scene) "Tim, snap out of it!" cries Buzz Berkeley, bursting into the young inventor's private lab. "The red alert signal's flashing on your videoscope!" Reluctantly you tear your eyes away from the blueprints and circuit diagrams spread out on your workbench. They're the plans of your newest, top-secret invention--a deep-sea submarine specially designed for capturing rare specimens of marine life on the ocean floor. As Buzz's voice shatters your spell of concentration, an alarm bell on the videoscope also begins to ring. Obviously someone's trying urgently to get in touch with you over the Quick's private TV communications network! @heading (Lab Layout) The layout of the lab is as follows--- On the North wall of the lab, from left to right, is a COMPUTESTOR for troubleshooting any invention, machine or system . . . DOORWAY N (thru which Buzz entered) leading out onto the grounds of Quick Enterprises and the airstrip . . . and a QUICK SPECTROSCOPE for analyzing the chemical makeup of any substance. On the East wall of the lab is a MICROWAVE SECURITY SCANNER for detecting the presence on the grounds of QUICK Enterprises of any intruder not equipped with a proper Electronic Identification Amulet . . . DOORWAY E, leading past the Electrical Control Panel to the office of Tim's secretary and lab aide, SHANA KEMP . . . and Tim's DESK, bearing the telephone. On the South Wall of the lab are the CHEMICAL SUPPLY SHELVES . . . DOORWAY S, leading to the SUBMARINE TEST PEN, in which Tim's revolutionary new ULTRAMARINE BIOCEPTOR is now resting . . . and the ELECTRONIC SUPPLY SHELVES. On the West wall of the lab are the MECHANICAL SUPPLY SHELVES and an array of machine tools and other devices used by Tim in constructing pilot models of his inventions. In the center of the lab is Tim's WORKBENCH, with the VIDEOSCOPE and its control knobs in easy reach at his left. @heading (First Scene) The game begins as the player responds to the red light and alarm bell by turning on the Videoscope. The screen lights up and we see COMMANDER BRENT inside the Quick's Undersea City, called the AQUADOME. Brent excitedly reports that a huge monster is attacking the Undersea City, threatening to batter its way thru the transparent plastic shell of the Aquadome, which encloses the city. In fact, as the video camera pans, Tim and Buzz can actually see the monster. This creature--which looks like an enormous sea slug with clawed tentacles--has been glimpsed before by Aquadome personnel while exploring the environment outside the Undersea City. They've nicknamed it the SNARK. Brent barely has time to plead for immediate help before the picture on the Videoscope collapses, and the screen goes dark again! Has something catastrophic happened?! Alarmed, Buzz darts to the Computestor. It immediately pinpoints four possible causes: (1) failure of the transmitting equipment at the Undersea City--(2) a short in the coaxial cable linking the Undersea City and Quick Enterprises--(3) failure of the Video receiver--and (4) sabotage. Since the boys can't check (1) or (2) may require lengthy and elaborate testing--Buzz's first impulse is to check out the possibility of sabotage. He suggests that they either activate the Microwave Security Scanner, or else phone SECURITY CHIEF LOU PERELLI to inquire about any signs of a saboteur at work. Instead, Tim may simply elect to go thru Doorway E and look at the Electrical Control Panel. If he does so, he'll find that the Video Network's circuit-breaker has popped. Tim closes it, and nothing drastic happens. With power restored, the Videoscope screen lights up again. But the incoming signal from the Aquadome is no longer being received. Nor can Tim get any response to repeated calls. Meanwhile, as Buzz points out, they still don't know why the circuit-breaker popped. Was there a power overload, or did someone open it to interrupt the signal? If Tim takes time to check with Security, Lou Perelli will inform him that they've picked up some disturbing information about his secretary and lab aide, Shana Kemp. It will turn out that she manually opened the circuit-breaker to impede Tim's efforts to save the Undersea City from the Snark. If questioned now, she may admit this--either due to panic or belated pangs of conscience. She may also blurt out further information which would be helpful to Tim in later stages of the game. However, Tim may not take time to bother with all this. His overriding concern may be for the safety of the Aquadome personnel--and the possible chance of capturing the monstrous Snark, a sub-oceanic equivalent of King Kong. His newest invention--the ULTRAMARINE BIOCEPTOR--is obviously the only sub capable of hunting down the monster in its native habitat on the ocean floor. In fact it's the only craft in the Quick submarine fleet which is now at Quick Enterprises and available for an immediate dive. However, the UB has performed erratically during tests. This is the problem Tim was working on when the call for help came over the Videoscope. Since the craft is still in the pilot-model stage and hasn't been perfected, the Computestor has not yet been programmed to troubleshoot it --it can only check out sub-assemblies or sub-systems of the craft. Tim may, therefore, decide to phone the US Navy in Washington for help. Its nuclear subs are at least capable of diving to the depth of the Aquadome. But none may be close enough to dispatch on such a mission. On the other hand, if Tim and Buzz themselves take off in the Ultramarine Bioceptor, they run the risk of encountering operation trouble en route. When the boys do embark in the UB, the test pen must first be flooded before the craft can be taken out to sea. They then discover that its jet engines won't start. It turns out that this is due to the fact that a CATALYST CAPSULE was not installed in the reactor--altho Tim had instructed Shana to do so that morning, in preparation for a power test of the hydrojets. If Tim cares to pursue the question of why she didn't install it, he may have another chance of discovering that Shana is now, in effect, an enemy agent--or at least an enemy stooge. @heading (Summary of Remainder) (NOTE: I have tried to imagine the opening setting and actions in some detail, but the remainder of the game will just be outlined briefly.) At Buzz's suggestion, Tim may take along (purely as a distraction) a copy of a magazine called SCIENCE WORLD. The idea is that this will give him something to peruse en route, to relax his mind and ease the tension of the situation, while the UB is operating on auto-pilot. If Tim does take along the magazine, he may learn from its cover story that a distinguished marine biologist, DR JEROME THORP, has reportedly created synthetic forms of marine life by means of genetic engineering. Reading further, Tim may also learn (1) that Dr Thorp has disappeared and apparently gone into hiding to duck the publicity resulting from his sensational feat--and (2) that before going into hiding, Thorp confided to close friends that he would soon marry a young American woman, Shana Kemp. Obviously this story may have implications with regard to the Snark's attack on the Aquadome, and the strange behavior of Shana Kemp. En route, the sub's control circuits show signs of overheating. This is due to the fact that the lasers in the operational computers are over-charging. This could lead to a breakdown of the UB. Since the craft's external communications system also depends on underwater laser beams, Tim and Buzz may even lose contact with Quick Enterprises--or with the Undersea City as they dive toward the Aquadome. Tim may decide to turn back to Quick Enterprises--or else try to trace and correct the trouble en route--or simply continue despite the overheating problem. On reaching the Undersea City, the boys learn to their relief that the Snark has temporarily given up its attack. But, of course, it may return and renew its savage assault at any time. There are four main buildings in the Undersea City: the ADMINISTRATION BUILDING containing an office, communications center and storeroom . . . the DORMITORY . . . the SCIENTIFIC LAB . . . and the POWER PLANT, containing a reactor and the air-conditioning system, which is based on extracting oxygen from the surrounding sea water. It turns out that the failure of the video transmitter was due to sabotage. Besides Commander Brent herself, who's in charge of the Aquadome, two other persons had access to the communications center, where the transmitting equipment was stored: MICK CASEY, a frogman-technician who's also a laser expert--and DR WALT NOVAK, a young marine biochemist. Tim learns that Casey is feuding with Commander Brent, who's a hard-nosed, up-tight disciplinarian . . . and that Dr. Novak frequently dated Shana Kemp before he signed on for a six-month hitch underwater in the Aquadome. It appears that Brent may have become somewhat paranoid due to the strain of her undersea duties. Tim also learns that a chemical substance called AMINO- HYDROPHASE (or AH) has been detected in the sea water. Apparently this stuff is secreted by the Snark. Yet it's also a synthetic compound not known to occur elsewhere in nature. This may help to clue Tim in to the fact that the Snark is a man-made monster, artificially created by Dr. Thorp. Based on certain information in the magazine article about Thorp's experiments, Tim reasons that another chemical, called Dormiphen, may be just the right drug to tranquilize the creature. At this point, Tim has the option of (1) setting out at once in his Ultramarine Bioceptor to hunt down the Snark, rather than wait passively for it to attack the Aquadome again . . . or (2) take time to trap the traitor who sabotaged the video transmitter, and who may therefore be in league with Dr. Thorp . . . or (3) concentrate on devising an underwater tranquilizer dart gun which can be mounted on the UB, while Dr. Novak is synthesizing some Dormiphen, and Mick Casey is repairing the computer lasers which caused the UB to overheat--and meanwhile, perhaps, let Buzz venture out either in scuba gear or deep-sea diving armor, to scout for the Snark. Eventually Tim and Buzz embark together in the Ultramarine Bioceptor to hunt for the Snark. Their hydrophones detect another sub in the vicinity. If they try to communicate with it by sonarphone, it may or may not respond. Conceivably it may be a Russian spy craft, prowling around the Aquadome area--or it may be Dr. Thorp's sub. And Tim may or may not take the time to find out its intent. The boys finally encounter the Snark and a ding-dong battle ensues. Before the creature is subdued by tranquilizer, they have to battle it with their sub's grappler arms. Conceivably the battle may end either in victory or disaster for Tim and Buzz.