Return to Ringworld - Solution You start the game as Quinn in his quarters aboard the Lance of Truth. As with almost all adventures, your first few tasks centre around the collection of artefacts for use at later stages in the game. First of all, click the right button and select the 'use' cursor (the hand) from the ensuing menu. Click this on the green object leaning against the desk-like unit at the right of the screen: it's a Tnuctipun Stepping Disk! Now click the same cursor on the top of the circular table-like piece of furniture centre-screen. As the General Purpose Table rises, the Stasis Negator Gun will be revealed. Click the 'use' cursor on this as well and you will collect it. Now click the 'use' cursor on the door on the back wall to exit Quinn's quarters. You are now at the Deck Two Corridor. Click the 'use' cursor on the Door labelled '1' (the one nearest the left-hand edge of the screen), and you will enter the General Purpose Lab. Once in there, click the use icon once on each of the following objects to collect them: the Reader Device (purple, on the third Storage Shelf up at the right-hand side of the screen); the Hyper-Conducting Attractor Unit (grey with a handle, on the floor by the Storage Shelves); and the Subminiature Sensor Probe (like a big needle, inserted in the Algorithmic Array Console by the Storage Shelves). Once all of these items are in your possession, click the 'use' cursor on the Door by which you entered the room to exit back out to the Deck Two Corridor. This time, click the 'use' cursor on the Door labelled '2' (the one in the centre of your screen), and you will enter the Elevator. Once in there, select the Bridge as your destination by clicking the 'use' cursor on the button by the label: 'Bridge'. When you reach the Bridge, click the right-hand mouse button again, and this time select the 'speech' cursor from the menu. Click this cursor on Miranda (the lady in pink sitting towards the left-hand edge of your view). As you will see, she wants you to find some way of disabling the Stasis Field on the Quantum Drive. That will be your second task after first extracting the Infodisk from Quinn's (your) body. When you have concluded your conversation with Miranda, turn your attention to Seeker (the bear-like creature sitting centre- screen). Click the 'speech' icon on him, and when presented with a menu of possible questions to ask him, select option '2'. After more discussion you will be presented with another conversation menu. This time select option '3'. When the conversation comes to an end, select the 'use' cursor again from the right-mouse-button-menu and click this on the Door on the far wall to re-enter the Elevator. This time select Deck Five as your destination. Upon arrival, turn your attention to the loose panel at the base of the wall towards the right-hand side of your view. First, click the 'use' cursor on the panel itself and you will shunt it out of the way. Now click again, this time on the Multi-Purpose Retention Clamp which had been hidden behind this panel. From this location you also need to retrieve some Isolinear Optical Fiber. To do this, click the 'use' cursor on the loose wires hanging from the hole next to the locked Door at the bottom-right corner of your view. When you have the Fiber, click the 'use' cursor on the Door at the left-hand end of your view to enter Sick Bay. Once inside Sick Bay, take a look at the back wall. There you will see a Storage Cabinet with five buttons visible just below it. Click the 'use' cursor on any one of these buttons and the door panel of the Cabinet will descend giving you access to the Com-Scanner contained within. Collect this by clicking the 'use' icon on it. Now click the 'use' cursor on the large(ish) red Button on the side of the Autodoc in the centre of your view. You will automatically climb inside. When presented with the menu of options, select 'Advanced Procedures' by clicking on the Button alongside this label. DAMN! - You need an access code, and you do not have one. Without the code you cannot continue, so click on 'open Door' and you will automatically exit the Autodoc once again. Now click the 'use' cursor on the Door of Sick Bay to exit back to the Deck Five Corridor, and then on the Elevator Door (the one marked '5' in the middle of your screen) to enter the Elevator. Once inside the Elevator, select the Bridge as your destination... When back at the Bridge, select the 'speech' cursor again and click this on Miranda. Select response '2' from the resulting conversation menu to ask her about the Autodoc. She says she wants a 'Reader', so select (by clicking on...) the Personal, Programmable Reader from your inventory, and click this on Miranda. When you get the Reader back, this time programmed to the Autodoc's requirements, click the 'use' cursor on the Door on the far wall to once again retire to the Elevator. From here you need to go back to Sick Bay. As before, to do this simply select Deck Five in the Elevator, then click the 'use' cursor on the left-hand Door when you arrive there. Back in Sick Bay, select the Isolinear Optical Fiber from your inventory and click this on the Autodoc's Connecting Junction (the hole with green wires already visible through it). Now select the newly re-programmed reader from your inventory and click this on area directly right of the Connecting Junction described as an 'ideal place to put a small device'. You are now ready for foreign-object extraction, so click once again on the red Button to enter the Autodoc, and re-select 'advanced procedures' from the menu. When the Infodisk has been extracted from your body, select 'open Door' again and you will climb back out of the Autodoc. Now turn your attention to the yellow Button below the red one on the Autodoc's exterior. Clicking on this with the 'use' cursor will result in a small Drawer opening which contains the Infodisk. Do this, then collect the disk by clicking on it with the 'use' cursor. That concludes you work in Sick Bay, so it is time to leave. Click on the Door with the 'use' cursor again to exit back to the Deck Five Corridor, then on the Elevator's Door to enter there. This time, select Landing Bay Two as your destination. Upon arrival, click the 'use' cursor on the Three Metre Cable Harness (the red/orange/yellow object coiled on the floor in the middle of the room) to collect it. Now click the 'use' cursor on the small Door on the far wall to enter the Vacuum Suit Room. Once inside, take a look at the 'wardrobe' towards the right of your screen, where the Vacuum Suits are stored. On either side of this are two Cabinets (appearing as darker grey squares with a red stripe down their right-hand sides). Click the 'use' cursor on the left-most Cabinet to open it, then on it's contents: the Sonic Stunner. Do the same for the right-most Cabinet and collect the Canister of Laser Diffusion Aerosol which is stored within. Now click on the Door to exit back out to Landing Bay Two. From back outside in Landing Bay Two, select the Cable Harness from your inventory, and click this on the Hand Grip (appearing as a light grey rectangle to the right of the Door to the Vacuum Suit Room). Now select the Hyper-Conducting Attractor Unit from your inventory, and click this on the other end of the now-tied- up Cable Harness. Next, bring up the right-hand-mouse-button menu again and select the 'walk' icon from it. Click this at the far right-hand edge of your view and you will see that as Quinn walks in that direction, your view scrolls revealing more of the room. When the right-hand wall of the room comes into view, stop and click the 'use' cursor on the Control Panel at the base of the wall near the right-hand end of your view. Clicking on this will unfold the Magnetic Crane controls which you will automatically then go and sit on. When the POV shot of Quinn sitting on the Crane controls comes up, click on the 'Operate Crane' Button and a new set of Buttons will appear. Click again, this time on the 'Tractor Field' toggle, so it reads 'Tractor Field On'. Now click on the 'right arrow' Button 4 times, then the 'up arrow' Button 14 times so that the Hyper-Conducting Electromagnet attracts the Hyper- Conducting Attractor unit tied to the end of the Cable Harness into the air. When the Cable Harness is pointing directly upwards, do not click on any further direction Buttons. Instead, click on 'Done' twice and you should stand away from the Crane controls just before they fold themselves away again. When this has happened, click the 'use' cursor on the now-vertical Cable Harness and you will climb up it to the Engineering Loft above. Once you get up to the Loft, click the 'use' cursor on the small- looking Door just visible at the left-hand side of your view, and you will enter the Engine Compartment. Stop when you enter this new location because the Laser is dangerous and will need disabling before you can turn your attention to the offending Stasis Field (the multi-shade grey rectangle above the laser) which Miranda told you to sort out when you were talking to her earlier. To disable the Laser, firstly select the Canister of Laser Diffusion Aerosol, and click this on the Laser itself. This will protect you from being hit...at least for now! Now select the Multi-Purpose Retention Clamp from your inventory and click this on the Laser as well. Next, click the 'use' cursor on the Door as if you were going to leave the room, and you will find that as you are about to do so, the Laser will try to shoot at you, and because it was restricted by the Clamp it will overheat and explode! What fun! With the Laser out of the way we can turn out attention to the Stasis Field which is engulfing this compartment of the Quantum Drive. First, select the Com-Scanner from your inventory and click it on the '?' icon beside the visual representation of your inventory at the bottom of your screen. This will open a close- up of the Com-Scanner with 'Talk' and 'Scan' buttons, a frequency slider, and a visual display. Click the 'use' cursor on the frequency slider at the bottom of the close-up and drag this one notch to the right. You should hear a noise similar to a telephone dialing-tone. Now click anywhere off the close-up to close it, before re-selecting the Com-Scanner from your inventory and this time clicking it on the Laser. Now select your Sonic Stunner from your inventory and click this on the Com-Scanner now affixed to the Laser. You will automatically take a few steps back before turning and shooting the Com-Scanner which will result in the cloud of Laser Diffusion Aerosol being dissipated. Click the 'use' cursor on the unharmed Com-Scanner to retrieve it, then get the close-up of it again and drag the notch back to its original position to turn off the annoying tone. Next, select the Programmable Sensor Probe from your inventory and click it first on the Stepping Disk, then on the Stasis Negator Gun, both also in your inventory. Now select the Fully Charged Power Capsule from your inventory and click this on the Stasis Negator Gun to power it up. Finally, select the Stasis Negator Gun itself from your inventory and click it on the Stasis Field. You will retreat a little again before turning and blasting the field away once and for all! You have finally finished here. Don't bother collecting the Canister of Laser Diffusion Aerosol or the Retention Clamp as these are no longer useful to you. Simply click the 'use' cursor on the Door and this time you will leave the room back to Landing Bay Two. Click the 'use' cursor on the Cable Harness again and you will climb back down to the main floor. Now click on the Elevator Door and you will retreat to the relative comfort and safety of the Elevator again. Select the Bridge as your destination again, and when you arrive, select the Infodisk and click this on Seeker. When you finish conversing, select the 'speech' cursor and click this on Seeker too. As you do this, you should automatically say "Success!". If not, click the 'speech' cursor on Miranda or Seeker and talk to them about anything and everything until this event does occur. As soon as you utter the word "success", you will lose control of the game (meaning that you have no control over the events for a short period of time) as the first out-scene rolls into action... !SAVE! When you recover control of the proceedings, select the 'speech' cursor and click this on Seeker to ask his opinion on what you should do next. He tells you to 'scan the underside for the opening'. To do this, click the 'use' cursor on the monitor of your workstation to your character's right, and you will bring up the DSBS Computer Menu. Click on the 'Scan Ops' Button, then the 'Passive Enabled' Button (it will toggle to 'Active Enabled'), then the 'Deep Scan' Button. Follow this with a click on the 'Geographical' Button, then when the picture on the display changes, a click on the page up Button (the Button furthest left on the display). The scan will now be made, and the computer will soon locate Fist of God. After a spate of talking between yourself, Seeker and Miranda which you have no control over, you and Seeker will eventually leave your ship and enter the Village of the Canyon People. Watch as you automatically investigate the dying village chief, then get shot at. When Quinn and Seeker dive into the Crater, you recover control. Quickly select the Stasis Negator Gun from your inventory and click this on the white Trooper standing on the cliff above you. This will dissipate his Stasis Field Armour. You can now kill him for good by selecting your Sonic Stunner from your inventory and clicking this on. With the Trooper gone, you and Seeker will automatically climb back out of the Crater. Select the 'speech' cursor again and click this on the Canyon Chief. First ask him what happened to his village by choosing option '1' from the conversation menu. When he has answered that question, click the 'speech' cursor on him again and this time ask him about the Tnuctipin Ship by selection option '1' from the new conversation menu. Finally, click the 'speech' cursor on him for a third time and after a few last words he will die... Yourself and Seeker will now automatically retreat to the Lance of Truth (your ship) and there will be an long, automatic conversation between the two of you and Miranda. When you are shown a conversation menu with three possible responses, select the option by which you tell the others that you will scan for the ARM's location. To carry out this scan as you have promised, first click the 'use' cursor on your Monitor to start up the Computer. Again, press the 'Scan Ops' Button, but this time leave the 'Passive Enabled' Button alone as Miranda advised, and only press the 'Short Scan' Button. This time you need to select the 'Technological' option when asked about the type of scan. After being given the results of the scan there will be a little more conversation after which you will be presented with a further conversation menu. From this, select option '3' - 'The most prudent course would be to go back out the way we came in'. More speech will follow, then you will fly the Lance of Truth back through the fist of God and onto a huge space ledge. Having arrived on the Space Ledge there will be more automatic conversation between the three of you, then you will be presented with another conversation menu from which you should select option '3'. After a quick argument with Miranda, Seeker will leave the Bridge for the Vacuum Suit Room, which is exactly where you must head for now. Follow Seeker by clicking the 'use' cursor on Elevator Door. Select Landing Bay Two as your destination from the Elevator, and once there click the 'use' cursor on the Door on the far wall to enter the Vacuum Suit Room When Seeker has finished moaning, click the 'use' cursor on one of the Oxygen Tanks (red, on he floor by the Vacuum Suit 'wardrobe') to take one. Now click the 'use' cursor on the Space-suit Storage Control Panel to the left of the left-most Storage Cabinet (also by the Vacuum Suit 'wardrobe'). When the close-up of this Control Panel appears, click the 'left' Button, then the 'select' Button. Now click anywhere off the close-up to close it. Have a quick look at the selected Vacuum Suit by clicking the 'eye' cursor on it. It should be a suit suitable for the average human male. If it is not, use the Control Panel again to find one that is suitable by scrolling through them with the 'left' and 'right' buttons, selecting them with the 'select' button, then viewing them with the 'eye' icon as we have done with this first one. When you find a suitable Vacuum Suit, select the Oxygen Tank from your inventory and click this on in, then click the 'use' cursor on it as well and you will climb inside. Finally, click the 'use' cursor on the air lock Door (the bulky Door at the left- hand side of your view), and you and Seeker will leave the Lance of Truth. Once outside on the Space Ledge, select the 'walk' icon and click it at the far left-hand side of your view. When you get into the next screen, do exactly the same again so you walk another full screen to the left. Keep walking in this same way to the left many times. Eventually, the ARM will land and invade the Lance of Truth with Miranda still inside! Do not worry about this event as it supposed to happen and will, believe it or not, end up to be vital to your success in the game. At this point in the proceedings you are automatically given momentary control of Miranda to make a conversation menu choice for her. Choose any of the responses from the menu as they all have the same eventual outcome. Soon the action will return to Seeker and Quinn on the Space Ledge floor and Miranda is taken away aboard your ship leaving you stranded on the giant Space Ledge. This part of the game is more difficult to explain that others as there is no set pattern of actions you must make to succeed, simply one goal which can be achieved in a series of different ways. Basically, you are stranded on an immense Space Ledge which you must escape from in order to continue your adventure. It is littered with space debris, most of which is useless. There are also, however, ten useful items which you must to collect from all corners of the Ledge to aid your escape. To do this, move Quinn and Seeker around the Ledge, find the objects, then click on them with the 'use' cursor and you will pick them up. Also on the ledge are various spaceships. Most of these are useless as they have crash-landed some time ago and their hulls are no longer intact. It is worth noting, however, that you will have to visit some of these crashed ships anyway because some of them house two or three of the 10 objects mentioned above which you will need to collect. One of the spaceships on the Ledge, however, has not crash- landed. It was built to transport 'people' around the Ledge and is therefore called a Ledgehopper. When you have found 8 of the 10 items I have mentioned above, you must go to this Ledgehopper with both Seeker and Quinn. As I will explain in due course, most of the items you have found on the Ledge, together with two more found inside the Ledgehopper, will then fit into various 'bays' on the side of the ship. When they are all fitted, the ship will then be ready to transport you off the Ledge. To help you find the ten items which you will need to collect, the Ledgehopper and the crashed spaceships on the immense area of the Ledge, you can use your Com-Scanner. First, select this from your inventory, then click it on the '?' icon at the bottom of your screen. When the close-up of the Scanner appears, select the 'scan' Button and it will perform a scan of the Ledge, the results of which can then be seen on the display above. Together with the perimeter walls, there are six other types of things which will show up on the scan. They are as follows :- RED DOT - Quinn ORANGE DOT - Seeker DULL GREEN DOT - One of the 10 items BRIGHT GREEN STRIPE - A crashed space-ship BRIGHT GREEN DOT - The Communications Tower BIG DULL _and_ BRIGHT GREEN DOT - The Ledgehopper Now I have explained the basic theory behind this section of the game, I will tell you exactly which locations to go to on the Ledge, which character to go there with, and which order to do this in. When describing the location which I want you to go to next, rather than telling you to go north, south, east, west etc., I will explain the location in terms of where it appears on the scan. Carry out a scan with your Com-Scanner as described above, then use the results of the scan to use as a guide to the direction you should then go in. When you know which direction to go in (get this by comparing where your current location is on the scan [either the red dot if you are Quinn, or the orange dot if you are Seeker] to the location of your destination), use the 'walk' icon to go in that direction until you arrive. If in doubt about whether you have arrived at the right place, check with another scan to see whether the dot representing your character is right on top of the dot representing the correct location. Okay, let's get movin'... First of all, move Quinn to the Communications Tower. This is represented by a bright green dot in the centre at the bottom of the scan. When you arrive, click the 'use' cursor at the top of the Ladder which extends up the Tower's side. When Quinn has climbed to the top of the ladder and you are shown the close up of the mechanism, click the 'use' cursor first on the lever, then on the red Button behind it. After closing the close-up, click the 'use' cursor right at the top of the Communications Dish to collect the Battery which has been inserted there. When you have the Battery, click the 'use' cursor back at the bottom of the Ladder, and after a moment you will be shown the close-up again. At the close-up, click the 'use' cursor on the lever to extend the Communications Dish back to the vertical position, then close the close-up and you will automatically descend the remaining distance to the bottom of the ladder. Your next location should be the dull green dot directly left on the scan from the red dot which represents you. This dot is between the one representing the Communications Tower, and the one in the lower-left-hand corner representing a crashed spaceship. When you arrive you will find the Guidance Control Module. Collect this by clicking on it with the 'use' cursor. Now continue left to the location represented by a bright green stripe at the far bottom-left-hand corner of the scan. This represents a smashed-up ship which in itself is useless, but which has three of the ten items you are going to need to collect to aid your escape off the Ledge. When you arrive at the Ship, you will see that it covers two screens. If you are not there already, go to the screen from which you can see the right-hand side of the ship at the left- hand edge of your view. Once there, click the 'use' cursor on the Airbag on top of the ship to collect this, then on the Functional Diagnostics Display on the ship's control panel beneath where you took the Airbag from. Now make your way around the ship and left, into the screen where you can see the left-hand side of the ship at the right-hand edge of your view. From there, click the 'use' cursor on the Navigation Gyro (appearing as a brown object near the top of your view poking out from the ship's left-hand side). When you have these three items you have finished at this location. Take another scan and locate the dull green dot at the left-hand side of the scan just below the wall which sticks into the scan near its top. Move to this location. Upon arrival you should find a Partially Depleted Fuel Cell. Collect this by clicking on it with the 'use' cursor. Now it is time to change the character which you are currently in control of for the first time. To do this, bring up the right- hand-mouse-button-menu and click on the icon with the outline of a single head on it. This, in turn, will bring up another menu with Quinn, Seeker and Miranda listed on it. Select Seeker. You will find that you are now controlling Seeker. Obviously, you will be at a different location than you were at a moment ago because you have now moved to the screen where Seeker has been standing for the past few minutes. You will see that Seeker also has a Com-Scanner which can be used in exactly the same way as Quinn's, together with an identical Sonic Stunner too. Take another scan in the same way as you did with Quinn to see where you are located on the Ledge now. Remember that you are now represented by an ORANGE dot because you have changed to Seeker. Now move to the dull green dot in the middle at the top of the scan. Getting to this will involve going in a general WNW direction. When you arrive at the right spot you will find a Radar Mechanism which should be collected by clicking on it with the 'use' cursor as usual. Now head back in the direction you came, towards the dull green dot the other side of the wall to where you are, close to where both characters started (this is SE from your present location). You will obviously have to make your way around the wall to get to this location. When you arrive you will see a bulky crate with a Directional Actuator jammed underneath it. Click the 'use' cursor on the Directional Aculator and you will automatically radio Quinn and ask him to help you get it out. Once you have the Directional Aculator you should have collected all the items you need to have in your possession before going to the Ledgehopper, so it is time to take first Seeker, then Quinn there now. It is represented on the scan by the biggest blip (also the only which shows as both shades of green). It is west and a little south from where you are standing when you collect the Directional Aculator. First move Seeker there, then when he is standing safely by its side, switch to the control of Quinn once again and do the same with him. When both Quinn and Seeker are standing by the Ledgehopper, switch to controlling Quinn if you are not doing so already, and click the 'use' cursor on the cockpit's hatch. When the view changes to an internal shot from inside the Ledgehopper, click the 'use' cursor first on the Door of the Storage Compartment near the right-hand edge of your view, then on the Spare Ignitor and the Thruster Control Valve within. You have now collected all ten items you need to get the Ledgehopper working - now it is just a matter of inserting them in their proper places and then you'll be able to escape this location at last. First you are going to insert the Functional Diagnostics Display. To do this, first click the 'use' cursor on the cracked, Non-Functional Diagnostics Display to remove this, then select the Functional Diagnostics Display from your inventory and click this in place of the cracked one to replace it. Now select the Directional Aculator from your inventory and click this in the small black 'socket' in the middle of your view at the bottom. (Where you would normally expect an aeroplane Joy- Stick to fit.) You will put this into place ready for use when you get the vehicle flying. Now exit the Ledgehopper again by clicking the 'use' cursor on the green Button towards the right of the ship's interior. When the view reverts to exterior again, take a look at the Ledgehopper. You will see a series of 'gaps' on its side, which are, in fact, bays into which you have to fit the various items you have been collecting on your travels around the Ledge. Insert the items into the Ledgehopper as follows, starting with the 'bay' at the far left-hand end of the ship and ending on the 'bay' in the nose of the ship at its far right-hand end (NOTE: You must change to Seeker when you come to fit the Radar Mechanism as he was the one who collected this item. Simply change to him when you come to this, number 6, then back to Quinn to fit number 7) :- 1) Battery 2) Partially Depleted Fuel Cell 3) Spare Ignitor 4) Thruster Control Valve 5) Navigation Gyro 6) Radar Mechanism 7) Guidance Control Module You should be controlling Quinn at this point, though it does not matter which character you are controlling. Simply click the 'use' cursor on the Cockpit Hatch and that character will enter the ship, then change to the other character and do the same with them. When both characters are sitting inside the Ledgehopper you are finally ready to take off and escape! To do this simply click the 'use' icon on the Button on the top of the Directional Aculator (Joy-Stick). Fortunately, there is just enough fuel for you to reach the Rim Wall. !SAVE! When you regain control of the action again, you next need to find some way of transporting yourself the long distance to the nearest Elevator. Fortunately, this is pretty easy because a Mag-Lev Transport Car has been provided for you. To get to this, move the cursor to the bottom of your view and find a point where it changes from it's current 'picture' (hand, crosshair etc.) to an arrow pointing downwards. When it does this it means this is a spot where you can exit into the screen south of your current location, so simply click and the characters will make their way down a screen. In the next screen go south again in the same way, and then again in the screen after that. You should now arrive at the Mag-Lev Transport Car's parking spot. Click the 'use' cursor on the side of this vehicle and you will both climb aboard. When you view reverts to a POV internal shot of the Car's controls, stop a moment and let me explain the controls :- At the bottom left-hand corner of the view is the Radar. The white dot in the middle of this is your car, and the vertical lines represent the road it can be moved along. To the right of this are a set of six green lights which graphically represent the movement of the car. Pay no attention to these! Next, further right still, comes two columns of several red lights each. A short time after you start moving, the bottom light of the left-hand column will light. This means you are approaching the first landmark on the road: an Elevator. As you get closer to this Elevator, this light will move up the column, until the top light is lit. At this point you are very near the Elevator. Because this Elevator is jammed we are going to drive straight past this one and go onto the next one. As you will see, when we go past this first elevator, the light will go out, and instead the top one on the right-hand column will light. As we go further and further away from the Elevator again, the light will move down the column until the very bottom light has lit and gone out again. Still further down the road, you will start approaching a second Elevator, so the light at the bottom of the left-hand column will light again and the whole process will start over. This time, however, you will need to stop when the light reaches the top of the column as, at this point, you will be outside the second elevator. Look further along to the right of the Car's controls. The white/grey Button is your forward/reverse toggle. The section which it white (lit up) represents the direction you are currently going in - top section=forward, bottom section=backward. Note that if you are going at full speed it will take some time for the ship to slow before it can change the direction it is moving in. Next to the forward/reverse toggle is, as you can see, a large red Button. Use this to stop, or, if the Car is already stationary, to exit the interior view back outside. Next to this, at the far bottom right-hand corner of your view is the acceleration slider. When the notch is at the top you are either stopped or slowing, drag it down to the bottom and you will increase to full speed. Now I have explained the controls you are ready to go :- First of all, drag the notch on the Acceleration Slider to the bottom and watch as you slowly increase to full speed. After a while, one of the red lights will light up as I have explained as above. Watch each light go on then off in turn as I described. When all the lights are unlit again, it means you are directly in between the two Elevators. Now get ready as you begin to approach the Elevator you need to stop at. When the lights start moving up the left-hand column again, pay attention. Use the acceleration slider to slow down a little, then when the second to top light is lit, slow right down so you are just trundling along and have greater control over your Car. Watch the Radar carefully. When you see a circular outline beside the road on it, allow your ship to approach this, then use the red button just before you get to it to slow, and hopefully stop right outside it. If you go past the outline, switch to reverse and approach it from the other side. Do not exit your Car until it is stopped directly outside the Elevator which you will be able to judge by checking with the Radar. Now click the red Button from a stationary position and you will exit the Car. When you get outside, take a look at the pathway on which you are standing. If it looks the same as it did when you entered the Car (ie, you can not leave the screen to the left because there is a seemingly bottom-less gap there), re-enter the Car and be more accurate in your positioning outside the Elevator. If, however, you can now walk left now do so by clicking the cursor at the far left-hand edge of the screen and you should arrive outside an Elevator. When you arrive outside the Elevator, first change the character you are controlling to Seeker if you are not doing so already, then click the 'use' cursor on the double-doors at ground level at the front of the Elevator. When Seeker is standing holding the doors open, quickly change back to controlling Quinn, and this time click the 'use' icon just below Seeker's right armpit where there is a lever inside the Elevator. This will result in the Steps leading up the the two upper doors extending so they can be climbed. Now click the 'use' cursor on either of the two upper doors and you will enter the Elevator. Change back to Seeker again when you get inside the Elevator, and click the 'use' cursor on the Robot. After struggling to hold the Robot, Seeker will drop it, but if you click on it again, this time he will manage to keep it up. Quickly change back to controlling Quinn, then select the Airbag from his inventory and click it underneath the robot to wedge it. After some conversation, you will automatically pressurise the Elevator with Seeker's air. When this has happened, select the Rebreater Tank from your inventory and click this on the Airbag to inflate it. When the Airbag has been inflated and all but pushed the Robot off the Elevator control's, click the 'use' cursor on the Button on the far wall next to the left-most Door, and the controls will come up, pushing the robot over as they do so. Now click the 'use' cursor again, this time on the internal Elevator's Doors, and a close-up of the controls will be shown. On this, click the 'use' cursor first on the second Button from the left, then on the central Button. The Elevator will finally start moving, and a moment later the scene will cut to Miranda's misfortunes with a dictator called Teal. When Teal offers you the drink, choose any of the responses from the menu as each will eventually result in the same outcome. Keep choosing responses from the menus until he momentarily leaves the room. Quickly click the 'use' cursor on the frayed wires just underneath Miranda's left arm and she will tug one of them out. As soon as she's done this, Teal will return, and a few moments later you will jump back to the action with Quinn and Seeker again. You and Seeker will automatically climb out of the Elevator and almost immediately collapse through lack of oxygen! When the scene cuts to the recovery room, click the use icon on the 'dressing gown' hanging on the pole at the base of your bed, then select the 'speech' cursor and click this on the caretaker (man standing nearest the chamber's Door). When he has finished talking, click the same cursor on him again to ask him a different question, and then a third time to thank him. Eventually you will automatically go and talk with Astor Pharisha, reciter of the Spill Mountain Folk. Click the 'speech' cursor on her and you will embark on a huge conversation. Listen/read this if you want to get involved in the story's plot, otherwise skip it as it is particularly boring! When it comes to an end, move the cursor to the bottom of your view where you entered this room and click to leave the cavern. You are now on a Spill Mountainside. There are many Bridges, pathways and Steps in this area so you can get around the Spill Mountain Folk's Village. You will see many men walking around just as you are doing. Ignore these as they won't talk or interact with you in any way. First of all you need to reclaim your Oxygen tank. To do this, walk left four screens, then go up the Bridge. At the top of the Bridge, walk back to the right two screens, then click the cursor through the Door (the cursor will change from a cross-hair to an arrow when you can click to enter). When you get inside the Storage Room above the Tanning Room, click the 'use' cursor on the winch handle by the hole in the floor to wind the rock down. When this is done, click back out of the room the way you came. Once back outside you need to make your way to the Tanning Room itself. To get to this room, go back the two screens to the left, make your way back down the Bridge, then go right two screens and enter the Door there. Inside, click the 'use' cursor on the Oxygen Tank and you will automatically throw it into the pit in the middle of the room. After a moment it should float to the surface so you can just see it in the hole. If this is the case, click the 'use' cursor on it to recover it. If not, leave then re-enter the room and this time it should be available to be taken. Now you need to fill the tank with helium. This is done in the Helium room! You can get there by first exiting the Tanning Room, then by going right one screen, down the Stairs, left two screens, down the Bridge, right a further two screens, down more Stairs, and then right two more screens. Now click through the Door at that location to enter the room with the Helium- Generating Machine housed within it. Select your Rebreater Tank from your inventory and click this on the small tap set in the side of one of the chambers of the Helium Machine. When the tank is filled, exit back outside and go right one more screen to the Balloon Launch Platform. Walk right to the edge of the platform, then select the Rebreather Tank from your inventory and click it on the Balloon. Astor Pharisha will walk in and talk to you for a moment, then you will take to flight on the Balloon. When the arial shot of you on you Balloon appears, turn your attention to the dial at the bottom of your view. The Button to the left of that increases your altitude, the one to the right decreases it. As soon as you begin to fly, click the left-hand arrow. If it is reported to you that you are already at maximum altitude, that's okay, otherwise keep clicking on this arrow until it does so. Now you must wait as your Balloon floats on the Spill Mountain currents. As you will see in time, the Balloon will not stay in the same position on the screen, but move around. When it reaches the far top-left hand corner of your view, quickly click the right-hand arrow as many times as you can until the balloon is at minimum altitude. Now wait as you float slowly down, and around, and around, and around, and eventually out of the screen completely. This will take a long time, so why not go off and make a cup of tea?! When you do eventually set down in the Desert, select the Com- Scanner from your inventory, and as you did so many times on the Space Ledge, take a scan. On the display you will find there will appear an arrow. Exit the location you are currently in, in the direction this arrow points. In the next screen, take another scan and leave, again in the direction the arrow points. Go through the same procedure in a further three locations (5 times in all), and you should eventually find yourself outside the forest. Click the cursor at the right-hand edge of the screen to enter the forest, then select Erjenta's Flute from you inventory and click this on yourself to attract Nej G'Lor. Watch as he tries to attack you, as you brush him off easily, and eventually as he leaves the screen to supposedly go and light a fire. Now click the cursor about half way up at the right-hand edge of the screen (just where he exited a moment ago) and you follow him. After a fireside conversation with Nej G'lor, the scene will automatically cut to outside the forest by the ARM Outpost. Wait until you regain control of the proceedings, then quickly select the Sonic Stunner from you inventory and click this on the ARM Trooper to zap him dead! You will now automatically change into his uniform, then Nej G'Lor will drag his body away never to be seen again. Now click the 'use' cursor on the ARM Outpost and you will take over the roll of the dead Trooper. Wait on top of the Outpost for the ARM Ship to land, then Quinn will automatically descend and enter it, leaving the other ARM Trooper for the night watch. The ship will take you to the ARM Base where you will automatically take on the zapped Trooper's roll of guard duty. You can do no more here for now, as in this uniform you are under strict control of Teal, so change characters back to Seeker. !SAVE! Select the 'speech' cursor again and click this on Astor. She will tell you a long story about some lusty Vampires living in caverns in the heart of the Spill Mountains, and you will automatically take on the challenge of banishing these evil characters. When you have concluded your long conversation, leave the room in the same manner as you did when you were controlling Quinn. When you get outside, go left four screens then take the Bridge to the next level up. Go back to the right two screens, then enter the room above the Tanning Room which you were in with Quinn earlier. Once inside, click the 'use' cursor on the blue Alcohol Flask on the shelf in the corner, then leave again. Retrace your steps back, two screens to the left and back down the Bridge. Now go right two screens and enter the Tanning Room. In there, click the 'use' cursor on the Tanner's Face Mask which is hanging on the far wall, then exit this room also. Continue right into the next screen and take the Steps downwards. When you get to the bottom of the stairway, head left one screen and go through the Door you find there. You should find yourself in some sort of bedroom! Click the 'use' cursor first on the pouch hanging on the pole just to your right, then on the Sherbergoat Oil Lamb on the cabinet below the window on the far wall. Now exit this room again, and go left one more screen before heading down the Bridge. Once at the bottom of the Bridge, head right one screen, then enter through the Door you find there. As before, click the 'use' cursor on the Sherbergoat Oil Lamp on the cabinet below the window on the far wall to collect it, then exit. Go right another screen when you have finished in that room, then head down the stairway. Go right when you reach the bottom, then right again, where you should then enter the room with the Helium Machine in. Click the 'use' cursor on the Glass Dome to collect that, then leave the room and go one more screen to the right where you should arrive at the Balloon Launch Platform (if not, go right another screen, and then you definitely will!) Take the stairs up at this point, and at the top go right and then up the Bridge. Once at the top again, go right on screen and enter the room there with the huge crack in the floor. Click the use icon on the rope hanging on the right-hand wall, then click somewhere down the crack and you will climb down the fissure. When you get to the bottom you will find a puddle of corrosive fluid which will need dealing with before you can get the key which floats in it. To deal with it, first select one of the Oil Lamps from your inventory and click this on the puddle. Now select the Glass Dome and click this on the Lamp you have just put in the puddle, and the vacuum which this creates will suck up the corrosive fluid. Now click the 'use' cursor first on the Scrith Key to collect it, then at the far top-left-hand corner of the screen to climb back to the room above. Upon arrival back at the top of the fissure, leave the room the way you entered it, then go left one screen, down the Bridge, left one screen, down the Steps, left three screens, up the Steps, left two screens, up the Bridge, right two screens, up the Stairway, left three screens, up the Bridge, and finally right four screens. You should now find yourself outside the Elevator. If not, either I've made a mistake or you did, in which case you'll have to find your way there yourself. (It is on the highest accessible level of the village, so just keep going up where possible, then take a look around.) When you do locate the Elevator, click the 'use' cursor on its left-hand Door and you will enter the shaft. Now click at the bottom of the ladder and you will descend into the screen below. Go down through a further three screens to the point where your passage downwards is blocked by think ice. Now select the Gun- Powder Pouch from your inventory and click this on the ice, then do the same with the remaining Oil Lamp in your inventory, and after retiring to a safe distance, you will smash this on the ice, igniting the Gun Powder as you do so. The resulting blast will melt away a section of the ice giving you passage through a door into the Vampire's lair. Click the cursor through this door to enter. Upon arrival in the first room, select the Scrith Key from your inventory and click this on the closed Door to the right. When that is unlocked, select the Alcohol Flask from your inventory and click this on the Tanner's Face Mask also in your inventory. Now select the newely-flavoured Face Mask, click it on your character, and you will put it on, masking the odour of the Vampires. You are now ready to continue into the caverns, so click the cursor through the Door to the right and you will advance... The following section of the game is a large maze of pipe- encrusted rooms in which a total of 18 Vampires roam. You must shoot all of these Vampires with your Sonic Stunner before you will be allowed to continue to the next part of the game. Some Vampires will die after one hit from the Stunner, but with others you will have to hit them three times before they die. Follow my directions as outlined below and you will successfully complete this maze. R means Right, L, left, U, up a ladder, D, down a ladder, F, through a Doorway in the far wall (thus, away from you), B, through a Doorway in the near wall (thus towards you). Those places in the directions where I write 'Vampire' indicate that there will be a Vampire in the _next_ room. By telling you this before you enter the room, it means you can ready yourself for the battle which will occur in a moment. In case you don't realise, to shoot, select the Sonic Stunner from your inventory, then click this on the Vampire in question. My directions will be in two sections because some distance through the maze you will come upon a room where some special instructions are needed. I make no guarantees about the effectiveness of these directions, by the way. Although I am almost certain that they will take you successfully along one possible route through the maze, I am also almost certain that there are quicker routes and possibly even safer routes through the maze which you may wish to investigate yourself. !SAVE! If you're sitting comfortably, then I will begin :- R, U, L, F, Vampire, R, Vampire, R, R, U, R, D, R, F, D, L, F, R, F, U, B, U, Vampire, L, Vampire, L, L, D, F, D, Vampire, L, L, U, U, R, B, D, B, R, D, Vampire, L, Vampire L, L, U, F, U, R, B, L, B, B, R, Vampire, R, Vampire, R, L, F, Vampire, L, B, L, F, F, R, Vampire, R, Vampire, R, R, D, R, F, F, D, L, B, Vampire, L, Vampire, L, R, R, F, U, U, Vampire, R, L, L. This final left move should take you into a room with a large number of scrolls lying on shelves on the back wall, together with a Containment Field protecting a cubic Gem from prying fingers in the middle of the floor! First click the 'use' cursor on the scrolls and you will take a couple of them, then on the keypad beneath the Containment Field in the foreground. On the close-up of the Keypad you will see 16 Buttons. Starting on the top row, click each Button once, and only once, going from left to right, top to bottom. When you have made the 16 clicks, all the buttons should be red and the Containment Field will disperse leaving you free to then click the 'use' cursor on the cubic Gem. When you have both the Scrolls and the Gem, continue following the directions as listed below :- R, D, D, R, U, B, B, L, U, L, L, L, F, L, D, B, D, R, R, R, U, L, F, U, F, L, D, D, R, R, U, B, U, R, R, R, D, F, D, B, L, B, R, U, B, L, U, L, D, L, L, L, B, R, D, R, F, R, Vampire, R, B, L, U, Vampire, L, R, D, R, F, L, L, L, Vampire, L, R, B, L, L, L. You should now find yourself back in the room where you had to unlock the door with the Scrith Key earlier. If you have not been allowed into this room it means you have missed a Vampire, so you will have to go all the way back and kill it! If, however, you are allowed in, it means you have completed the maze successfully and can now head back to Astor Parisha to give her the good news. (If you are not in the room I mention, go left once more and then you should be.) When you have completed the maze, click back through the door to enter the Elevator shaft, then climb back up the ladder by clicking at the top of the screen. Go up a further two screens until you reach the level with the door. When you reach there, click the 'use' cursor on the small red Button by the Door and you will climb back onto the Spill Mountainside. Now it is time to find Astor Parisha again. To do this, go left through four screen and descend down the Bridge. Now go right four times and enter the room there. Once inside, select the scrolls from your inventory, and click these on Astor. Now select the Sapphire-Blue Gem Cube and click this on Astor as well. She will not take this objects; just tell you about it. You have now completed all the tasks Seeker can do, and now he will have to wait to be picked up later. In order that he can be picked up he will need to wait at the Balloon Launching Pad where Quinn took off from earlier. To get to there, leave the room the way you went entered it, go left one screen, down the Steps, left two screens, down the Bridge, right two screens, down the Steps, and right three further screens. Now walk right, as far as you can, so you are standing right on the edge of the platform. This is vital for the continuation of Miranda's story. Now switch to Miranda. !SAVE! Once you have eaten the food and stood back up from the bed, you will recover control of the proceedings. You must now escape from this cell, and the way to do this is to kill the guard when he enters to reclaim your tray. Unfortunately you do not have any weapons, so this isn't as easy as it sounds. Instead you must be a little more ingenious! First of all, click the 'use' cursor on the empty Tray and the Pillow to collect them, then on the light above the Toilet to take out the bulb. Now select the Pillow and click this on the toilet to block it, then select the length of Superconductor Wire from your inventory and click this into the now-empty light shade to divert the electricity from this. Finally, select the tray from your inventory and click this on the pillow, then click the 'use' cursor on the Toilet Flusher and the trap will be set! The guard should now return to collect the tray. As he goes to pick it up he will make contact with the water and will be electrocuted! Now to make a getaway through the gate he has left open. Quickly click the cursor beyond the Gate to enter the corridor. Now click the 'walk' icon at the left-hand end of your view and as you walk along you will see that the view scrolls to reveal a 'normal' Door just right of some Security Beams. Click the 'use' cursor on this Door and you will enter the Guard's Station. Take a look on the floor near the top of your view, just left of centre. There you will see a Guard's Toolbox. Click the 'use' cursor on this and you will automatically approach it and take a Laser Hacksaw from inside. This is no longer a safe place to stay, so go back out of the Office the way to came, go back to the right, and re-enter your cell. Once back in the relative safety of your cell, select the Laser Hacksaw from your inventory and click this on Air Vent Grate just to the right of your bed. You will automatically climb up into the Vent Shaft. The next section of the game is also a maze of sorts, but one where the emphasis is on puzzles rather that complex path- finding. The puzzles involve the disabling of Anti-Pest Lasers, one of which is situated directly to your right, set in the right-hand wall. Click the 'use' cursor on this you will see a close-up of a bare panel with three red Jumpers on it. By clicking on the Jumpers with the 'use' icon, you can move them around into different patterns. You have to set the Jumpers to the correct pattern (combination) (there are 12 possible combinations in all), and then the Laser will be disabled allowing you to pass past it. Some of the Lasers in the Vent System have no combination and are put there simply to block your passage in that direction. Compare the pattern of this first Laser to the one drawn below and make changes where necessary to make it match. It will then be disabled :- o-----o-----o o-----o o When you have set the Laser to this combination you will be ready continue. Now select the 'walk' icon and click this at the right-hand end of the tunnel, past the Laser. Miranda will crawl along. Keep clicking to the right of Miranda, and she kill keep crawling forwards. Stop when you come across a junction to the left. Go left here and continue north. When you get to the next junction, go right and continue forward again until you reach the next Anti-Pest Laser. Now click the 'use' cursor on this to bring up the close-up, and set the Jumpers as follows to disable it :- o-----o-----o | | o o o Continue past the Laser, then go left round the corner. Go forward a few more steps, then take the passage to the right at the next junction. Now continue going forward again until you get blocked by another Laser. Click the 'use' icon on this and set the pattern as below :- o o-----o | | | | o o o Almost directly past the Laser is another Air Vent Grate set in the right-hand wall of the tunnel. Move so you are lying next to this Grill, then click the 'eye' cursor on it. The view will change to a POV through the bars, and you will see a short scene with Dr. Tomko talking to a Lab Assistant. When this has finished and you return to the tunnel view, click the 'eye' cursor on the Vent in exactly the same way again, and you will get another scene. Do it a third time and on this occasion you will see the two characters leaving. A fourth time will confirm that the coast is clear. This is your chance. Quickly select the 'use' cursor and click this on the grill. Once inside the Lab, click the 'use' cursor on the Door to the right and you will enter the Anatomy Laboratory. Click the 'use' cursor on any of the covered bodies, and you will automatically walk over to investigate one of them. Now click the same cursor on the computer against the back wall, and some the Ghouls will come alive and begin to chase you. At this point you lose control of the game as a long automatic scene rolls into action... Read through the conversation which takes place on the Ice Shelf back at the Spill Mountains between Seeker, Miranda, Quinn and the Puppet. When it is complete you will automatically fly the ARM's ship into the Flup Tube system. This is another maze in which you can see where you're going by watching the big overhead display at the bottom-right hand corner of your view. The grey bar is an Acceleration Slider and obviously the four red Buttons are directional controls. Slide the Acceleration Slider from the top speed which it begins at, to minimum speed (the next step up from stopped). Now make your way through the tunnels at this leisurely speed using the following directions, and you will eventually reach another exit from the Tubes :- Past Three Lefts, L, Past One Left, R, L, L, Past One R, R, L, L, R, Past Three Rights, L, L, R, R, L, Past One Right and One Left, R, L, L Past One Right, R, R. When you reach the exit, your ship will emerge from the sea bed and automatically enter Teal's lair - a futuristic water city. When you regain control of the action, click the 'use' cursor on the Door at the far end of the corridor and you will walk through to the next room. Now do the same there and you will walk through to the Circular Outer Hallway. Once there, click the cursor to our character's lefts so they walk left, around the perimeter of the Hallway and into the next screen, where you should do the same again so you enter the screen with the double doors leading into the Circular inner Hallway. Click the 'use' cursor on the double doors, and sit back and watch the plot take its final few twists. You have only one remaining action to do: when the ghoul has killed Teal and approaches you, click the walk icon into the white beam which appears and you will be transported away to...? CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE COMPLETED RETURN TO RINGWORLD!