He'd died six times already. And it was only fiveo'clock.

His hands flew over the keyboard. Stars roared pastas he accelerated out of the melee. It'd leave him shortof fuel, but by the time they caught up the shieldswould be back and he'd be ready, and two of themwould already have taken damage, and ... here theycome ... missiles away, wow, lucky hit on the firstone, die die die!, red fireball - swsssh - take shield losswhile concentrating fire on the next one - swsssh - and

now the last one was running, but he could outrun it,hit the accelerator - ggrrRRRSSHHH - and just keepit in his sights while he poured shot after shot into -swssh.

Ah!

The huge bulk of their capital ship was in the cornerof the screen. Level 10, here we come ... careful,careful... there were no more ships now, so all he hadto do was keep out of its range and then sweep in andWe wish to talk.

Johnny blinked at the message on the screen.We wish to talk.

The ship roared by - eeey000wwwnn. He reached outfor the throttle key and slowed himself down, and thenturned and got the big red shape in his sights again.

We wish to talk.

His finger hovered on the Fire button. Then, with-out really looking, he moved it over to the keyboard.and pressed Pause.

Then he read the manual.

Only You Can Save Mankind, it said on the cover.'Full Sound and Graphics. The Ultimate Game.'

A ScreeWee heavy cruiser, it said on page 17, couldbe taken out with seventy-six laser shots. Once you'dcleared the fighter escort and found a handy spot wherethe ScreeWee's guns couldn't get you, it was just amatter of time.

We wish to talk.

Even with the Pause on, the message still flashed onthe screen.

There was nothing in the manual about messages.Johnny riffled through the pages. It must be one of the