text: west
  You are in the main entryway of the house. Aside from its functional purpose as the central hub of the building, it also serves as a showcase of the owner's prowess as a decorator. This room is tasteful and ornate. A coatrack stands abandoned in a corner, beside a highly polished small wooden table. The front door is due south, and the hallway opens west onto the kitchen, and east to the living room. A large staircase to the north leads up to the second floor, and down.
  
  On the wooden table is a letter.
  
  The house is even bigger than you initially thought; this level is not a basement. Standing at the foot of the stairs, the door leading to the basement proper is in front of you  [Footnote 1], while fully-fledged rooms lie in the other cardinal directions. Another, smaller room lies to the northwest.
  That door is locked.
  
  You manage to unlock the door with the antique key.
  
  The small office is furnished much as you'd expect for an office of this period. There is a bookshelf along one wall, furnished more with office supplies than with books. The only exit is east.
  
  You can see a computer here.
  
  > Research united earth
  Cylinians (United Cylinz Confederation)
  The first contact between Humans and non-human intelligence came in the form of a Concordance delegation sent to meet the first superluminal Earth ship. The Concordance had monitored Earth for some time, and chose to send a delegation composed primarily of Cylinians, due to the marked similarity between the two races.
  
  Physically and socially, Cylinians are almost identical to Humans. The only external physical differences deal with pigmentation (All Cylinians have blue or brown eyes, and the skin around their eyes is darker. Otherwise, they are identical to Humans native to southern Europe. With a minimum of cosmetics, a member of one species could easily pass for the other), and the two species are even capable of interbreeding [Footnote 7].
  
  Source: CASFR member race database
  
  > Footnote 7
  [Footnote 7]
  In fact, Cylinians and Humans are not truly different "species", according to the traditional definition of the word. The fact that two races on different planets could develop nearly identical genetic code has led many to postulate the existance of some older "parent" species.
  
  > Go upwards
  The house is even bigger than you initially thought; this level is not a basement. Standing at the foot of the stairs, the door leading to the basement proper is in front of you  [Footnote 1], while fully-fledged rooms lie in the other cardinal directions. Another, smaller room lies to the northwest.
  
  You are in the main entryway of the house. Aside from its functional purpose as the central hub of the building, it also serves as a showcase of the owner's prowess as a decorator. This room is tasteful and ornate. A coatrack stands abandoned in a corner, beside a highly polished small wooden table. The front door is due south, and the hallway opens west onto the kitchen, and east to the living room. A large staircase to the north leads up to the second floor, and down.
  
  On the wooden table is a letter.
  
  > examine Letter
  Dear Julia,
  I hope to God you get this letter. We waited for you as long as we could, but they're saying that the bombs could fall any day. There's a shelter out in New Calvert, we're going there. Daddy says its the safest place in a hundred miles. Try to get there if you can, but don't take any risks. The most important thing is that you stay safe. I left some money and your grandmom's jewels in the hidden place for you. Your dad bought a gun and bullets, and put them there too, but be careful. We all love you and hope to see you again.
  
  Love,
  Mom.
  [The document "Letter to Julia" has been added to your DataStore.]
  
  > Go west
  The very name "living room" is a subject of some consideration: what does it mean to be a "room for living". Obviously, one "lives" in every room of a house. Practically speaking, during this time period, the "living room" was the room in which one entertained guests, watched video transmissions, and interacted with family. Nevertheless, the living room was primarily the adults' domain. This living room is not an exception. The atmosphere is one of maturity; the lack of wear on the furniture and prominence of fragile art objects suggests that it is a room not accustomed to children's play. A couch and several armchairs are arranged in a rough semicircle, a superficial attempt at creating the illusion that its occupants are generally interested in conversation rather than watching the screen, which one assumes is in the cabinet situated along the southern wall. The louvered doors of a closet are set in the east wall, and the wall opposite opens into the foyer. Along the north wall, a section opens into another hallway.
  
  You are in the main entryway of the house. Aside from its functional purpose as the central hub of the building, it also serves as a showcase of the owner's prowess as a decorator. This room is tasteful and ornate. A coatrack stands abandoned in a corner, beside a highly polished small wooden table. The front door is due south, and the hallway opens west onto the kitchen, and east to the living room. A large staircase to the north leads up to the second floor, and down.
  
  On the wooden table is a letter to Julia.
  
  The stairs from the ground floor land in the middle of a long hallway which extends east and west from your current position. There is a door in the north wall, slightly narrower than usual. From here, you can see three doors at each of the two ends of the hallway.
  
  Hallway, west end
  The upstairs hallway begins here, or ends here, depending on your point of view. You can see where the stairway meets the hall to the east, and doors are located along the north, south, and west walls.
  
  A framed photograph of a young woman graces one wall.
  
  Generally speaking, you learn more from a dirty house than a clean one; intensive cleaning tends to remove much of the anthropological evidence about the day-to-day affairs of the occupants. You can tell that whoever lived here had some warning before they evacuated, time enough to at least do some preliminary straightening up. The bed, which is opposite the door, under the smaller of the room's two windows, is neatly made, the wastepaper basket between the door and the dresser is empty, and the two night tables on either side of the bed are both clean and freshly polished. A full-length mirror hangs on a door to the north. The hallway is east.
  
  You can see an autokey here.
  
  > go to the east
  Hallway, west end
  The upstairs hallway begins here, or ends here, depending on your point of view. You can see where the stairway meets the hall to the east, and doors are located along the north, south, and west walls.
  
  A framed photograph of a young woman graces one wall.
  
  The stairs from the ground floor land in the middle of a long hallway which extends east and west from your current position. There is a door in the north wall, slightly narrower than usual. From here, you can see three doors at each of the two ends of the hallway.
  
  You are in the main entryway of the house. Aside from its functional purpose as the central hub of the building, it also serves as a showcase of the owner's prowess as a decorator. This room is tasteful and ornate. A coatrack stands abandoned in a corner, beside a highly polished small wooden table. The front door is due south, and the hallway opens west onto the kitchen, and east to the living room. A large staircase to the north leads up to the second floor, and down.
  
  On the wooden table is a letter to Julia.
  
  The very name "living room" is a subject of some consideration: what does it mean to be a "room for living". Obviously, one "lives" in every room of a house. Practically speaking, during this time period, the "living room" was the room in which one entertained guests, watched video transmissions, and interacted with family. Nevertheless, the living room was primarily the adults' domain. This living room is not an exception. The atmosphere is one of maturity; the lack of wear on the furniture and prominence of fragile art objects suggests that it is a room not accustomed to children's play. A couch and several armchairs are arranged in a rough semicircle, a superficial attempt at creating the illusion that its occupants are generally interested in conversation rather than watching the screen, which one assumes is in the cabinet situated along the southern wall. The louvered doors of a closet are set in the east wall, and the wall opposite opens into the foyer. Along the north wall, a section opens into another hallway.
  
  A poorly-lit length of hallway begins here and continues west. The southern wall is open to the living room. A door leads east.
  
  A painting on the wall depicts a nautical theme.
  That door is locked.
  
  You manage to unlock the door with the autokey.
  
  You are in a very small bathroom, fitted out as you would expect, in a pastel decor. A number of decorative touches lead you to surmise that this bathroom was intended primarily for guests. A gentle breeze issues from a vent high on one wall. The exit is west.
  
  On the fixture is a scientific journal.
  
  > look at the journal
  This is a magazine whose articles showcase current events in the scientific community. It is written to a target audience of educated, but not scientifically trained, readers.
  You browse through the magazine, looking for anything of interest. You are not disappointed. There is a short article, all the way at the back, summarizing the doctoral thesis of one Emmanuel Kaldeki.
  This is quite a find; Kaldeki's original thesis has long been lost, and it has long been assumed that he had not pursued the line of research that would eventually lead to StreamDive technology until after the war. You read the article...
  
  Physicist Emmanuel Kaldeki created a buzz in the scientific world early this month with the delivery of his PhD thesis, "Mathematical Modeling of Non-Temporal Quantum Particles" at the Pacific Institute of Technology. The paper describes a set of mathematical formulae which model a theoretical particle called "Q-omega". The Q-omega particle, according to Kaldeki's model, behaves in most respects like a strange-matter quark, but also exhibits properties previously only modeled in tachyons. Specifically, it reacts in unusual ways to space-time curvature. The Kaldeki model suggests that that at relativistic velocities, the Q-omega particle would "plane" on highly curved space-time, in much the same way that the hull of a speed boat planes over water.
  
  Most of the excitement over Kaldeki's paper comes not from the modeling technique itself, but from the two major example models included. The first demonstrates how the non-temporal nature of the Q-omega particle renders it immune from the effects of time and mass dilation occurring at speeds near that of light. Indeed, because of their unique nature, the model shows that Q-omega particles can be accelerated above the speed of light, a possibility generally disallowed by the theory of relativity.
  
  The second, and more impressive example studies the behavior of Q-omega in the vicinity of a black hole. Under such extreme space-time curvature, Kaldeki predicts that the Q-omega particle would completely disassociate itself with conventional space-time, being displaced along a predictable path to some distant point in the universe instantaneously. Because the path of the particle does not go through space-time during this journey, it is possible for Q-omega to re-enter normal space at a point in time prior to its departure.
  
  The scientific community is excited about the implications of this theory: several researchers have suggested that Kaldeki's findings may open the way to faster-than-light travel, matter transmission, and time travel. Asked about these possibilities, Kaldeki said, "I think it's a bit early to start talking about applications; we don't even know yet if the particles I've modeled can be created. There's nothing in the mathematics that would prohibit [these applications], but actually doing it is a long way off. You've got to remember, we're talking about sub-atomic particles, and if we could scale the effect to something the size of, say, a man, it's not very likely that a living creature could survive being moved around like that."
  
  Kaldeki has received a grant for an undisclosed amount to pursue the fabrication of these particles. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Quantum Physics will be conferred upon Emmanuel Kaldeki by the Pacific Institute of Technology during commencement exercises next month.
  [The document "Kaldeki Article" has been added to your DataStore.] Somewhere near the coast of Alaska, an intercontinental missile generates a high-frequency electrical field, rendering it invisible to the defensive screen covering much of the North American continent.
  
  > examine the photograph
  A poorly-lit length of hallway begins here and continues west. The southern wall is open to the living room. A door leads east.
  
  A painting on the wall depicts a nautical theme.
  
  The ceiling over this stretch of hallway slopes upward where the stairs cut into it. Along the south wall, just before the ceiling becomes too low to make a serviceable hallway, a low, louvered door marks a small closet. The hallway continues east, and to the west it ends in an archway leading to the dining room.
  
  When this house was first built, conventions of style dictated a degree of spartan functionality from the dining area. The construction of this room has a sort of tacit apology built into its architecture, as if the dedication of an entire room to dining facilities was seen as an undesirable extravagance. The twenty years that followed saw a reversal of the cultural mores which had all but done away with a fixed dining area. The net result is that this particular dining room has an uncomfortable blend of styles. A small, nondescript table shows signs of heavier wear than it was meant for. An ornate china cabinet stands in one corner, looking very out-of-place. The buffet counter, again nondescript and too small to be really serviceable, stretches across a portion of the north wall. Open archways lead south and east, and a small door is west.
  
  On the buffet are two oil lamps.
  
  You can see a photograph here.
  This is apparently a visual of the family that lived in this house. In the back stand two adults, a man whose receding hair looks unnaturally dark, wearing thick, horn-rimmed eyeglasses, and a woman, much shorter, who looks about the same age. She too wears glasses, with a more fashionable wire frame. Her front teeth, visible in what looks like an unaccustomed smile, are stained and crooked. A small scar is visible near the corner of her mouth. Before them are two children. On the right, a boy about ten, has a ridiculous smile and equally ridiculous bowl-cut. Beside him is a girl, probably a few years his senior. You aren't sure, but you think you see a glint of something reflective near her temple, where her hair is awkwardly combed over a bald patch. Her eyes are not quite the same color, though that may be a blemish on the photograph. There does certainly seem to be something odd about her right eye, but you can't tell on a photograph this size.
  [The document "Family Photo" has been added to your DataStore.]
  
  > examine the Card
  In the days before all food could be prepared by an automated processing unit, the kitchen was often considered the center of family life. This kitchen is decorated in a country style that was archaic even when it was built. Woodgrain paneling and prominently displayed kitchenwares give the room a rustic look. The stove, refrigerator and other appliances have a more modern look, but clashing with the predominant style is kept to a minimum. Heavier items and food supplies are kept in the pantry to the west, while archways lead north and east.
  
  On the refrigerator door are a report card and a receipt.
  A grade report has been affixed to the refrigerator door:
  Donald Woods High School
  Interim Grade Report
  
  Term: Spring
  Name: Stephen James Wallace
  Grade: 10
  
  Class: Calculus        Instructor: Nelson    Grade: 99
  Class: Journalism Tech Instructor: Kryzac    Grade: 100
  Class: English II      Instructor: Celsius   Grade: 89
  Class: AP Physics      Instructor: Cornell   Grade: 98
  
  Please report any errors to guidance office immediately.
  This is an interim grade report. Official grades will be available at end of semester.
  [The document "Report Card" has been added to your DataStore.]
  
  > examine the receipt
  day!
  Store #10191 Checker 7 6:27 PM
  
  BJ ICE CRM 1GAL            7.74
  FW TOWELL 6PK         SB   4.80
  FW 2PCT MLK 1GAL           4.88
  FW TRASH BAG               5.54
  PRODUCE               SB   9.34
  PRODUCE                   16.33
  AP XS CH COL               9.72
  POLISH SAUS               10.21
  1DOZ EGG                   8.35
  FLNK STK                  18.22
  PRD WHOLE CHKN            12.77
  FC BREAD                   1.94
  COKE 2LTR          6      18.06
  MTN SPR WTR 1GAL   4      12.44
  TT DONUT                   4.33
  MARLB MEN UL CRT          52.00
  AA BATT 12PK              16.32
  CP SOUP            5  SB  10.35
  APL JCE                    5.10
  MX TMPN 30                 6.77
  
  BAL                      235.21
  
  SB FW TOWELL 6PK           2.20-
  SB PRODUCE                 1.21-
  SB CP SOUP                 1.00-
  BAL                      230.80
  TAX  11.54     BAL       242.34
  Debit Card               242.34-
  
  FoodWorks 10191
  Debit Card     XXXXXXXXXXXXX1332
  $242.34
  BIOMETRIC SCAN CONFIRM:
  James Robert Wallace
  AUTH OK
  
  Authentication verified by DAVS
  YOUR TOTAL SUPER BONUS SAVINGS
  TODAY ARE: $4.41
  
  day!
  
  [The document "Grocery Receipt" has been added to your DataStore.]
  
  > E,E,E
  You are in the main entryway of the house. Aside from its functional purpose as the central hub of the building, it also serves as a showcase of the owner's prowess as a decorator. This room is tasteful and ornate. A coatrack stands abandoned in a corner, beside a highly polished small wooden table. The front door is due south, and the hallway opens west onto the kitchen, and east to the living room. A large staircase to the north leads up to the second floor, and down.
  
  On the wooden table is a letter to Julia.
  
  The very name "living room" is a subject of some consideration: what does it mean to be a "room for living". Obviously, one "lives" in every room of a house. Practically speaking, during this time period, the "living room" was the room in which one entertained guests, watched video transmissions, and interacted with family. Nevertheless, the living room was primarily the adults' domain. This living room is not an exception. The atmosphere is one of maturity; the lack of wear on the furniture and prominence of fragile art objects suggests that it is a room not accustomed to children's play. A couch and several armchairs are arranged in a rough semicircle, a superficial attempt at creating the illusion that its occupants are generally interested in conversation rather than watching the screen, which one assumes is in the cabinet situated along the southern wall. The louvered doors of a closet are set in the east wall, and the wall opposite opens into the foyer. Along the north wall, a section opens into another hallway.
  That door is locked.
  
  You manage to unlock the door with the autokey.
  
  This was originally a walk-in closet, but with the quantity of items which have accumulated here, it has become more of a stand-in closet. You are sure that if the building weren't doomed, it would eventually have turned into a lean-in closet. Between the well-stocked coat rod and a number of boxes, there is just enough room for you to turn around if you feel like returning west to the living room.
  
  On the coat rod are a winter coat (in which is a sales brochure), a light jacket (empty), a windbreaker (empty), a gray suitcoat (empty), a black suitcoat (empty) and a smoking jacket (empty).
  
  > Go upward
  The very name "living room" is a subject of some consideration: what does it mean to be a "room for living". Obviously, one "lives" in every room of a house. Practically speaking, during this time period, the "living room" was the room in which one entertained guests, watched video transmissions, and interacted with family. Nevertheless, the living room was primarily the adults' domain. This living room is not an exception. The atmosphere is one of maturity; the lack of wear on the furniture and prominence of fragile art objects suggests that it is a room not accustomed to children's play. A couch and several armchairs are arranged in a rough semicircle, a superficial attempt at creating the illusion that its occupants are generally interested in conversation rather than watching the screen, which one assumes is in the cabinet situated along the southern wall. The louvered doors of a closet are set in the east wall, and the wall opposite opens into the foyer. Along the north wall, a section opens into another hallway.
  
  You are in the main entryway of the house. Aside from its functional purpose as the central hub of the building, it also serves as a showcase of the owner's prowess as a decorator. This room is tasteful and ornate. A coatrack stands abandoned in a corner, beside a highly polished small wooden table. The front door is due south, and the hallway opens west onto the kitchen, and east to the living room. A large staircase to the north leads up to the second floor, and down.
  
  On the wooden table is a letter to Julia.
  
  The stairs from the ground floor land in the middle of a long hallway which extends east and west from your current position. There is a door in the north wall, slightly narrower than usual. From here, you can see three doors at each of the two ends of the hallway.
  
  Hallway, west end
  The upstairs hallway begins here, or ends here, depending on your point of view. You can see where the stairway meets the hall to the east, and doors are located along the north, south, and west walls.
  
  A framed photograph of a young woman graces one wall.
  That door is locked.
  
  You manage to unlock the door with the autokey.
  
  You are in a small, dark room that appears to have been unused for years. The only feature worth noting is a wooden ladder which leads to an opening in the ceiling. The exit is north.
  
  There is barely enough room to stand upright in the attic. It certainly looks too small to be of much use for storage. It's nearly impossible to move without clocking yourself on a supporting beam.
  
  You can see an unlabeled data disc here.
  
  > Interface disc
  Attempting to interface...
  Interface established.
  Examining device...
  Selecting protocol...
  Compatible protocol found.
  Device: Optical disc, Joliet encoding.
  
  Scanning. Text message found:
  By now, the political alliance of European and American countries is engaged in a war against countries in the middle and far east. This conflict will last several years, and result in several billion deaths. The war will be ended when Space Station Kennedy crashes near the Chinese capital city.
  
  However, the war can be ended more quickly, and with a reduced loss of life if nuclear weapons from the United States can be effectively deployed in the Chinese mainland. The defensive screen which prevents nuclear weapons from reaching Chinese soil uses a simple 512-bit identification code to differentiate between friendly and unfriendly missiles. If a nuclear missile were to transmit the data sequence generated by the Plotnitz-Leibkin algorithm at a frequency of 906.4 MHz, Chinese countermeasures would mistake the missile for a Chinese launch, and would be unable to eradicate it before it reached its target. The tactical advantage afforded by this ability will undoubtedly force the eastern alliance to capitulate with a substantially reduced cost in both lives and damage to the world ecosystem.
  [The document "Data Disc Message" has been added to your DataStore.]
  
  You blink. This doesn't make any sense. The disc is contemporary, but it seems to contain information about events in the future. This can't be... Has history somehow been altered?
  
  > go east
  You are in a small, dark room that appears to have been unused for years. The only feature worth noting is a wooden ladder which leads to an opening in the ceiling. The exit is north.
  
  Hallway, west end
  The upstairs hallway begins here, or ends here, depending on your point of view. You can see where the stairway meets the hall to the east, and doors are located along the north, south, and west walls.
  
  A framed photograph of a young woman graces one wall.
  
  The stairs from the ground floor land in the middle of a long hallway which extends east and west from your current position. There is a door in the north wall, slightly narrower than usual. From here, you can see three doors at each of the two ends of the hallway.
  
  Hallway, east end
  You are at the east end of the main hallway on this floor. The hallway ends at a door on the east wall, and another door is north. A doorway to the south has no door, though it looks as if it were designed for one.
  
  A framed photograph of a young man is affixed to the wall.
  
  Coming, as you do, from an enlightened time period where man has, by and large, learned to overcome prejudicial assumptions about people on the basis of gender or background [Footnote 5], you know better than to jump to conclusions about the occupant based on the cultural stereotypes of their living space.
  Nevertheless, you can always tell a girl's room. It isn't some particular thing [Footnote 6]; rather, an air of femininity issues more from the juxtaposition of objects than the contents themselves. The dollhouse; the partially completed watercolor on an easel in the corner; the ornate, hand-carved chest at the foot of the bed; the paper ribbons affixed to the vent cover on the floor, all suggest, but do not insist that the occupant of this room is female. And yet, there is a certain something about this space that rarely arises in a man's quarters.
  The walls are a soft, uniform pastel. The desk stands opposite the bed, well stocked, but uncluttered. There is a closet door on the east wall. The exit to the hall is south.
  
  On the nightstand is a charger.
  That door is locked.
  
  You manage to unlock the door with the autokey.
  
  From the architecture of the house, you can tell that this is the only bedroom to have its own walk-in closet, which no doubt was an issue of some discussion when bedrooms were assigned. The majority of the closet is taken up by clothing, but you can see a few boxes toward the back.
  
  > move the boxes
  You are unable to.
  
  > Search boxes
  Pushing a box to the side, you discover a thin composition book, which had been secreted between two of the boxes.
  
  > read the thin Book
  Page: 0 Fake Diary
  
  P = previous page    N = next page
  Q = resume story    G = Go to page
  
  > encode the blank chip
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  pelmrptfju
  
  > Encode qwertyuiop
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  iplmughkrv
  
  > Encode qwertyuiop
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  jqmnvhilsw
  
  > Encode qwertyuiop
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  krnowijmtx
  
  > Encode qwertyuiop
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  lsopxjknuy
  
  > Encode qwertyuiop
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  mtpqyklovz
  
  > Encode qwertyuiop
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  nuqrzlmpwa
  
  > Encode qwertyuiop
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  ovrsamnqxb
  
  > Encode qwertyuiop
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  pwstbnoryc
  
  > Encode qwertyuiop
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  qxtucopszd
  
  > Encode qwertyuiop
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  ryuvdpqtae
  
  > Encode qwert
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  szvwe
  
  > Encode qwert
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  tawxf
  
  > Encode qwert
  Selecting cipher...
  Using RUR-14.
  Output:
  ubxyg
  
  > examine library
  This chip contains a library of data, tailored to your current mission parameters.
  Commands Provided:
  RESEARCH X -- Search library for given term
  BROWSE -- Display relevant entries
  
  > browse
  Press the number of your selection, 1-6, 0 to redisplay or Q to quit.
  
  3     Cylinians
  4     Historical Period: The Seventy Days
  5     Historical Period: ca 865600-866300 UDC
  6     Stephen James Wallace
  
  > 5
  Historical Period: ca 865600-866300 UDC
  Historical Period: ca 865600-866300 UDC
  Possibly the darkest period in recent history, this period contains the last and largest of the intercontinental wars. Several Middle Eastern nations formed a military alliance, and began imposing expansionist policies on neighboring countries. When the United States threatened to cut off trade relations with these countries, the formed a lucrative trade alliance with China. Because during this period, industrialized nations were still highly dependent on fossil fuel, an alliance of western nations declared war on China and the Arabic alliance. Tactical nuclear warheads were used by both sides, resulting in the near-total annihilation of many US-sympathetic countries in southeast Asia. Though US nuclear weapons were unable to breach Chinese countermeasures, several Chinese nuclear missiles did penetrate the US defensive system, obliterating a number of cities. The war was finally ended when the massive space station Kennedy crashed to Earth near the Chinese capital. The resulting explosion killed over two billion people, forcing the Chinese government to capitulate. However, widespread environmental and war damage left the entire world badly crippled. Reconstruction would take much of the next century, and the extensive costs of rebuilding the damaged world forced the beginning of governmental alliances that would eventually lead to a United Earth Government.
  
  Your mission occurs during the opening of the nuclear phase of the war. At 785278.83 UDC, a missile launched from China will exploit the breach in the US missile shield. Nine hours later, its course will be diverted away from Washington, DC to avoid US countermeasures. It will narrowly miss a secondary target, several miles from your Dive site, at 865741.8 UDC.
  
  Source: Zanxq's Brief Guide to Human Civilizations, vol. 72
  
  SEE ALSO: Space Station Kennedy
  
  > Research space station kennedy
  Press the number of your selection, 1-7, 0 to redisplay or Q to quit.
  
  3     Cylinians
  4     Historical Period: The Seventy Days
  5     Historical Period: ca 865600-866300 UDC
  6     Space Station Kennedy
  7     Stephen James Wallace
  
  > 6
  The first orbital platform intended for permanent occupation, Space Station Kennedy was assembled in Earth orbit in the second quarter of the twenty-first century. Compared with earlier projects, Kennedy was ambitious; it contained living facilities for twenty-five families, and, unlike earlier space stations, its primary function was not scientific, but industrial. Methods of zero-gravity production which had previously been tested on earlier space missions were implemented on a grand scale. It was also the first space vehicle to be equipped with a synthetic gravity system. After two decades of service, the station was badly damaged during the intercontinental war of the mid twenty-first century. Its crew were not able to prevent a forced re-entry, and chose to direct the crashing space station to a heavily inhabited area of China. Everyone aboard the station was killed in the resulting explosion, which also resulted in severe environmental catastrophes in Asia, prompting the end of the war.
  
  Source: The Space Pioneers, vol. 9
  
  BROWSE
  Press the number of your selection, 1-7, 0 to redisplay or Q to quit.
  
  3     Cylinians
  4     Historical Period: The Seventy Days
  5     Historical Period: ca 865600-866300 UDC
  6     Space Station Kennedy
  7     Stephen James Wallace
  
  > Research streamdive
  (the StreamDive console)
  No relevant entry found.
  
  > Wait
  Time passes.
  Time passes.
  Time passes.
  Time passes.
  Time passes.
  
  > wait
  Time passes.
  
  Time passes.
  
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  In the distance, you think you hear someone trying to force the lock on the front door. Better stay out of sight.
  
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  In the front hall, you hear the sound of cracking wood as the door is forced open. There's someone else in the house.
  "Alert:", the console beeps, "Human presence detected within building."
  
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  > check your inventory
  You