Space Station Zulu

Somewhere in space, far from Yarg.

Just another routine tour, you think, as you settle back in the plush comfort of the captain's chair. On the bridge of Space Station Zulu you find the familiar clicking and purring of the bridge's complex machinery soothing to your nerves. Half in a trance, you look forward to this evening's Yargian gambling game, Snirt.

ALARM!!! You are jolted to your senses by the shrill blaring of the main alarm system. Suddenly the bridge is in pandemonium. Crew members bustle about to battle stations. In front of you Computer #1 is spurting out a disturbing message:

SECURITY BREACH!! REPEAT: SECURITY BREACH ALIEN LIFE FORMS DETECTED ABOARD ALIENS ARE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN AND NATURE METHOD OF INTRUSION: SPORE TRANSPORT LIFE FORMS SEMI-INTELLIGENT AND CONSIDERED HIGHLY DANGEROUS ALIENS APPEAR TO BE MULTIPLYING RAPIDLY REQUEST IMMEDIATE INSTRUCTIONS.

So much for the routine tour of duty, you grimace, as you hastily begin to issue orders to your frightened crew. Thanks to the newly-developed Commpak you know the location of all your crewmembers with a glance at the Telemuter screen in front of you. Quickly you instruct your tough robots to grab available weapons and engage the aliens in hopes of finding their weaknesses. Orders are also issued to your faithful and obedient crewmen:

PICKUP NEAREST WEAPON ENGAGE ALIEN LIFEFORM REPORT BACK IMMEDIATLEY

Soon individual reports are filtering back. A robot in Landing Dock 3 reports a large concentration of what appear to be larva-stage aliens. In Room B, Sgt. Olmm announces the presence of several very large life forms and adds that the Noise Bomb is totally ineffective. An instant later Olmm's life-light is flashing orange, then blinks out, black. The first casualty. It won't be the last either, you silently predict.

From the captain's chair the situation looks grim indeed. Computer #1 calculates your odds to be slim. Certainly, success will depend on your daring, cunning, tactics and ability to make quick decisions. Now, you realize, a real-life gambling game has begun and the lifes of your crew are in the pot.