JUXTAPOSITION is the first Dragon adventure to use Panoramic Graphics. You take on the rose of Cross, a lowly servitor forced to undertake a seemingly impossible mission. Within the cities, fortresses and mine works of Ceti V there are 600 locations to explore. Outside, the hostile planet's surface is spectacularly represented by a 4000 location map with 32,000 panoramic views of your surroundings. The following instructions will ensure that you get the most out of the game.
The planet Ceti V is owned by eight fabulously wealthy mining Barons. Between them they control the Galaxy's prime source of Cetite ore, the fuel for hyperspaceships. The Barons run their planet on feudalistic lines. Their employees, known as servitors, have very few rights and no freedom outside the confines of their master's Baronial lands, but they are well paid and well treated. A servitor can easily make his fortune in ten or fifteen years of adult service, after which he is retired to a planet within the Federal Democracy.
The insistent thrill of the vidphone finally dragged Cross from a deep and satisfying slumber. He groaned, set up, discovered it was still the middle of the night, and groaned again. Yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he stumbled over to the phone and flicked the receive button. An elderly man, white-haired and frosty bearded, appeared on the tiny screen.
"I trust I'm not disturbing you, servitor Cross," said the old man. A suitably flippant reply sprang to Cross' mind, but was choked back when he realised the caller's identity. It was none other than his employer, the Baron of Sector White.
"No, sir," he replied flatteringly, his sleepiness instantly replaced by nervous apprehension.
"Good," Baron White continued. "I've been reviewing your excellent record as a mine troubleshooter, and I have a new assignment for you. The Baroness of Sector Black has been absent from our baronial meetings for the past two months. I'm sure she's up to no good - it's well known that she's been experimenting with the Juxtaposition."
"I thought the Juxtaposition was a myth, sir," Cross interrupted boldly.
An impatient scowl further creased the old man's wrinkled brow. "It's a scientific fact that a line of dimensional instability passes right through this planet. Baroness Black may have found a way to cross that line to a world in some parallel universe. As usual, the Barons refuse to take any official action to discover the truth of the matter, it would be unseemly for one Baron to spy on another. Unofficially, they're willing to help an independent party - in return for some small services."
"You want me, unofficially, to find a way into Baroness Black's fortress and discover whether she has control of the Juxtaposition," Cross said incredulously. "That's a suicide mission!"
"You're probably right, but you'll do it anyway," Baron White pointed out fatalistically. His eyes narrowed with a look of mild concern. "Your problems have already begun, troubleshooter. This call is being monitored by someone. If they're agents of Baroness Black they'll send an assassin droid to take care of you. At first light you must come straight to my fort."
The screen flickered and went blank. Quickly, Cross dressed and prepared for his long trek over the airless, polluted planet surface to his employer's fortress. He would need warm clothing, some food, and...
What was that strange clanking noise?
Whenever the computer is waiting for you to do something it will ask: "What now?"
The advanced Wordtel system incorporated in this adventure allows you to use complete sentences to tell the computer what you want to do. The computer interprets your sentences and executes them. If it does not understand a command, or if your request is ambiguous, it will ask for clarifications (such as AND and THEN) may be used freely. Here are some examples:
PICK UP THE BOOK
PUT THE PEN, THE INK AND THE PAPER IN THE BOX
TAKE THE BAT AND THE BALL, THEN GIVE THE BALL TO KEVIN
Different sentences must be separated by some form of punctuation. Use AND, THEN, commas, semi-colons, and full stops for this purpose. Sometimes the composition of a sentence can confuse the computer. For example, it will understand TIE THE STRING TO THE KITE but not TIE THE STRING AND THE KITE TOGETHER because it sees the AND in the second example as the start of a new sentence. Always try rephrasing your sentence if you don't get the desired response.
To save time when dealing with several items you may use the words ALL, EVERYTHING and EXCEPT. e.g. PUT EVERYTHING EXCEPT THE BAT ON THE TABLE
There are several sophisticated Actel characters in the game. You communicate with these characters using the verb SAY. e.g. SAY TO JANE "GIVE ME YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER" The quotation marks are optional.
The computer remembers the last object or person mentioned, which allows you to use IT, THEM, HIM or HER in your sentences. e.g. GIVE THE TINY YELLOW BIKINI TO JANICE, THEN SAY TO HER "WEAR IT". You may use abbreviations, so you could refer to THE TINY YELLOW BIKINI as just BIKINI. However, if the computer can also see a LARGE RED BIKINI it will ask you to use full descriptions.
In locations where your paths of exit are described (e.g. EXITS GO NORTH, NORTHEAST AND SOUTH), you move by specifying a direction in a sentence. For example, GO NORTH, N or GO THROUGH THE DOOR (if there is one).
Outside, on the graphical planet's surface, you will see a landscape view of the direction in which you are currently facing. Using the right arrow key (to turn right and the @ key (to turn left, as the left arrow is reserved for letter deletion) you may turn to face in any one of the eight compass directions (north, northeast, east, southeast, etc). The down arrow key can be used to turn about face in one go (e.g. from facing north to facing south). You move forward in the direction you are facing by pressing the Up arrow key.
The planet Ceti V has twenty standard hours in its day. Each forward movement on the planet's surface uses up one hour of the day, but turning movements, and all movement between internal locations, use little or no time.
SEARCH, EXAMINE and LOOK. The computer's initial description of a location is only superficial. There may be hidden items that require a more detailed examination of your surroundings. The commands SEARCH or LOOK, when applied to the general location, do a double take of your surroundings, but you may also need to specifically examine any objects or characters in the location to get the full picture. E.g. EXAMINE THE CUDDLY TOY.
Q (Quick Door Open). There are lots of doors in the game. This command saves you typing OPEN THE DOOR all the time.
SCORE. You are given a report on your state of health, and a percentage score based on your progress so far.
ENTER. The command ENTER is reserved for entering places from the 3D map.
INVENTORY. Lists all the objects that you are carrying. Specify a name to find out what another character has, e.g. INVENTORY WILLIAM.
HOLD. The game has a real time feature, which means time will pass after every 30 seconds of inactivity. Use HOLD to suspend this whilst you make the tea, etc.
Note: If you wish to force the passage of time, simply press ENTER after the "WHAT NOW?" prompt. You will see the message "TIME PASSES..."
SAVE. Records your current state of play on a blank cassette so you can switch off and go to bed.
LOAD. Retrieves a previously saved status from cassette.
QUIT. Abandons your current game and starts a new one.
The CLEAR Key. This useful commands automatically repeats the last command that you entered. It does not require ENTER to be pressed.
DOWN (D), EAST (E), NORTH (N), NORTHEAST (NE), NORTHWEST (NW), SOUTH (S), SOUTHEAST (SE), SOUTHWEST (SW), UP (U), WEST (W)
Use the arrow keys and @ to move on the planet's surface.
HOLD, INVENTORY, LOAD, Q, QUIT, SAVE, SCORE
ATTACK, BLOW, CLIMB, CLOSE, DANCE, DIG, DROP, EAT, ENTER, EXAMINE, FILL, GET, GIVE, GO, INFLATE, JUMP, KILL, LIE, LOCK, LOOK, OIL, OPEN, PICK, PLANT, PRESS, PUSH, PUT, READ, REPAIR, SAY, SEARCH, SPRAY, STAND, SWIM, TAKE, TIE, TURN, UNLOCK, USE, WEAR
CLOADM (ENTER)