You are Mike Erlin, second Lieutenant of the United Planets Survey Service Spaceship, 'Stellar Queen'. After your adventures on and under the Magnetic Moon, the Stellar Queen has been ordered to proceed with all speed to the Survey Base on Ultima Prime.

You have been talking to the Captain of the Solar Princess, safe after being rescued by you from the wrech of his command. He tells you that his crew had detected a huge city and spacefield on one of the continents of the planet the Magnetic Moon orbits, but before they could land and survey them, the Solar Princess had been dragged out of space by the tractor beam that also seized the Stellar Queen, hours later.

You realise that this city could be the course of the 'vast knowledge' that Jaelaine, the High Priestess of the Larrians, told you of in the Temple on the Magnetic Moon. You tell your captain about the city and spacefield. He tells you that, no matter how much he would like to stop and send down an exploration party, his orders are specific!

You are determined not to let this opportunity pass you by! The Survey Base on Ultima Prime is 40 light years from the planet below and the survey will now be done by another ship. You must find a way off the ship and down to the planet which the Queen is moving further away from every second!

Time is vital, as the Queen has to make a Hyperspace Jump to Ultima Prime, and once the Queen is in Hyperspace, you'll never be able to get off the ship!!

You have only one minute to get some equipment and get off the Queen!!

You move around using the usual single letter directions: N, S, E, W plus U and D.

In various places you will get useful information about your surroundings by typing LOOK UP, DOWN, AROUND or ACROSS.

To redescribe your present location, type R. Your current inventory can be displayed by pressing I.

This adventure is in three parts and when you have completed parts one and two, you will be given a password in order to access the subsequent part. You need only type the first four letters of any verb or noun while playing.

Starship Quest is dedicated to Chris, Lisa, Terry and my wife Glenda - for putting up with me while I wrote it! Thanks also to Harry, Paul and Chris. This adventure was written using The Quill from Gilsoft, and inspired by the Sci-Fi works of Andre Norton, in particular the story "Galactic Derelict".