Wop Gamma – The
beginning.
Imagine a
distant place where nothing is as it seems, where godlike beings
struggle for power, clashing in the great voids between the stars and
toying with the fates of mortals as children might torment ants.
Now forget
it, because it’s not like that, at least not round here.
Somewhere on
the fringes of the constellation of Underpaid Minor lay the star of
Wop. It was unremarkable, round, and yellow, and had been there
for millions of years quite happy with its own anonymity until it was
discovered by itinerant shoe-salesman H.D.Teabag. He was on a
long quest for a legendary planet populated by great mutant millipedes
with a penchant for beach holidays, and he arrived with four hundred
million pairs of size 7 flip-flops. Unfortunately there seemed to
be no mutant millipedes and he was beginning to think that his mates
down the pub had been pulling his leg.
Wop is
orbited by a single planet, Wop Gamma, named by Mr. Teabag who
henceforth insisted that it is in fact the third planet in the
system. Many suspect this contradiction is the result of a new
Wodkatea vintage that has the effect of treble vision, but curiously
even Mr. Teabag’s photos of the system also show three planets, all of
which appear very different. When challenged, Mr. Teabag refused
to comment, and Greenspace, the galaxy’s militant conservation
organization, insisted that he must be responsible for the wanton
destruction of the other two planets.
As for Wop
Gamma, after initial disappointment Mr. Teabag was delighted to find
that it was the second most radioactive place in the known galaxy, and
probably a splendid place for beach holidays. The first most
radioactive place was somewhere known as Cellarfield, but not much else
is known since no one dares go within a million miles of it.
Despite the
radiation, Wop Gamma was inhabited by a rare species of Pterydactyloid,
which thrived in the safe U238 saturated atmosphere. H.D.Teabag
tried in vain to sell them flip-flops, but Pterydactyloids don’t have
feet and failed to see the benefit of such attire, although they did
find that flip-flops taste nice (if a little chewy) if cooked on gas
mark 4 for three weeks.
Mr. Teabag
left Wop Gamma in disgust but eventually found a planet populated by
great mutant millipedes with a penchant for beach holidays,
unfortunately they were all size 10.
Several years
after its discovery, Wop Gamma was designated a toxic waste dump by the
government of Cellarfield, who dispatched a staff of Schriverbuds, the
most brain-dead species in the galaxy. This did not gladden the
hearts of the Pterydactyloids of course, who were quite happy going
exactly where they pleased and they went on strike, but since they
didn’t work anyway they soon realised it was pointless and went for a
walk in the mountains instead.
It took them
a while to figure out how to walk without feet and thus a year passed
even though it would have done so even if they hadn’t gone.
Radium dumping began and the Pterydactyloids were helpless to prevent
it. They sent out word by morse and carrier pigeon, but Morse was
too busy investigating a murder and carrier pigeons only fly during the
day, which is a bit of a problem in deep space.
Yet one
pigeon got through and encountered our hero, bounty hunter and
self-styled, coconut eating, interfering busybody, Benny the Bod who
almost missed the message after he cooked the pigeon with a nice
coconut marinade for lunch.
He came to
the rescue in his 2CV, but finding it impractical, he brought a
Quasi-Probabilistic Fusoplasmoidal Hydroventiliated Hypercubic pair of
Furry Dice and a space ship to put them in all for 5.99 from a man in a
trenchcoat down the market, while stocks lasted. Which was lucky
since corporal punishment was still enforced and stocks sold very
quickly along with large supplies of rotten Opal Fruits (technology
changes but the idea’s the same.)
However there
were a few nasty surprises in store for our hero; a blockade of
shopping trolleys took over 1000 Twips to clear and that was all in
coins. Then there were strange hallucinations induced by the
radiation levels, which caused canisters of radium to appear like
sanity pills, or transistors or who knows what. Yet he struggled
onwards, knowing that his efforts to rid the planet of the lethal
radium could mean the end of his life and the ultimate doom for all
life on Wop Gamma.
But
unfortunately it’s not as easy as all that. The Schriverbuds were
convinced that their services were required to prevent any canisters
from running away and leaving the planet. Thus they roamed in
their Grabanassas and Phut-deluxes, running over whatever crossed their
paths. They were however, brain-dead and could be lured even into
fatal traps.
As for
H.D.Teabag, he is still on the run from Greenspace, and having joined
up with an exiled and now piratical band of t.v. chefs he is intent on
finding new ways to cook flipflops.
Wop Gamma -
Manual, Semi-automatic, automatic, and they’re off
Method 1:
Press fire to start and complete the game. But this is of course
impossible.
Method 2: The
object is to clear each level of its hoard of radium and escape through
the exit. Progress is improved by learning the action of each
type of object and its various appearances on other levels. Above
all learn to manipulate the traps as some ideas are used in later as
well as earlier levels.
Disclaimer of
responsibility
Quantum and
Revelation will not accept responsibility for anything whatsoever,
including but not limited to insomnia, insanity, irritability, loss of
hair, arthritis in the fingers or wrists, indigestion, athletes foot or
any other condition caused while playing this game. The
management will also not accept responsibility for hair pulling
sessions or damage to computer equipment due to inability to complete
any or all of the levels. The management would like to emphasize
that all the levels have been completed under test conditions, although
not necessarily in sequential order. Unfortunately they now fail
to recall how they did so, mostly because of post-traumatic stress
disorder, so do not send us any letters as we won’t answer unless a
cheque for 10 pounds is enclosed, made payable to Mr A.Fish Esq. or Mr
P.Symons. Note: £10 is a minimum suggestion since padded
cells are expensive to run.
Happy
frolicking and may you succeed in your quest to demonstrate your
ineptitude and complete lack of skill. Incidentally, beware of
the frog. I’m sure it’s not really worth mentioning, but you’d
better beware of it just in case. On last inspection I didn’t see
one, although you never can tell.