**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 95.07.16 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> CRAWLING ROUND THE PUBS Next Sunday, July 23, Grannie will be conducting one of her popular pub crawls, discovering all the out-of-the-way bars, cafes and restaurants in Fed DataSpace. Join her for an entertaining crawl around the Galaxy, at 7.00pm eastern. **>> SEX AND SECRETS It seems Goddess has been employing the old trick of using her feminine wiles (and very impressive they are!) to persuade Pyke to give out puzzle secrets. Pyke, however, is made of stern stuff and has been refusing to give in, even when she promised him [...CENSORED...] and even [...CENSORED...]! Guess she'll just have to work things out for herself. **>> SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM Oxcart is still shackled (literally) to Aja in his role as her sex slave, and by all accounts he's loving every minute. She's been putting him to work; not only using his body in all kinds of bizarre ways but also making him wash her spaceship, clean her house, dust all round the duchy, and keep her warehouses in order. He is turning out to be surprisingly good at household chores and she's thinking of hiring him out to interested parties for a large fee. Ox is not averse to this idea, so long as he can take his rubber chicken. **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES Skurge's Vannitel took a sudden leap, moving from a lowly Agricultural world at the beginning of the week to a complex Technical world at the end. Oxcart's Jinx has been reinstated after its terribly, terribly long absence (see below) and he has joined Aja's duchy of Sphinx. Neuromancer's Paradigm has also joined Sphinx. At last, we finally got our explorerdroid to venture out of the Solar System (or more precisely, out of CDs) and do its job by exploring some planets! **>> SEAWORLD The explorerdroid's first stop was Greybeard's Atlantis, a world shrouded in thick cloud, making landing a somewhat chancy proposition. Once on the ground, we explored the surrounding services but wondered just why the inhabitants seemed so uneasy. Perhaps this was an indication that there was a mystery waiting to be solved? The tolling bell of the exchange left us in no doubt of its location to the east of the landing pad. Moving towards the port, we were struck by the tempting odour of seafood... shame that droids don't need to eat, or we would have stopped to sample some. One of our number took it into its head (or equivalent) to take a sea voyage on one of the vast ships moored in the harbour, but although there were berths available for those with the right equipment it just didn't have what it takes to be a sailor. Disgruntled, it wandered off to take up a career as a deepsea diver... and much to its surprise, found itself in a strange underwater city! Following our lost droid, we discovered that there is indeed a mystery to Atlantis. Something important had been lost from the city and a large reward awaits the person (or droid) who could return it. Sadly, our Editrix has decreed that we're not eligible for such prizes, so it remains to be claimed by an enterprising player. Greybeard's planet is marvellous. He has done an excellent job of constructing a believable world, writing evocative location descriptions, and making intelligent use of events to create an interesting puzzle. We have no hesitation in awarding the planet the coveted Walrus of Merit. Well done! **>> INCOMPLETE ABSOLOM Next the droid went to Draco's new planet, Absolom, but it didn't stay long because the planet hasn't been completed yet. The spaceport and all the essential services are there but the surrounding locations with the expected puzzle are still being worked on. We look forward to seeing the finished result, because the quality of the locations that are there is high! We were particularly impressed by the friendliness of the droids, so much so that our junior copydroid formed a lasting attachment to a nursedroid and decided to resign from his post and stay on the planet! **>> JINXED BY OX Finally, we took a look at Jinx, Oxcart's world. It's been so long since Jinx was last available in its full glory that we've all but forgotten it, so we have no idea if the current planet is the same as it was before! However, anyone who remembers Oxcart or has come across him in the few weeks since he returns will probably know what to expect... The planet Jinx is known locally as Bessy's world. Old-timers may remember why; for those that don't know, Bessy was once Oxcart's great love and after her death Ox was never the same. The landing pad has all the facilities you could want in close proximity, although the easiest way to get to the exchange seems to be to clamber through an access tunnel. If you wish to see more of the planet than just the essentials, you have to go and get decontaminated. It seems the inhabitants of Jinx are worried about germs, dirt and disease from other planets, which seems a bit strange given what we know of its owner! Once through the tedious but necessary cleansing, we found that the planet roughly splits into two parts: the government and bureacratic area to the east, along Pennsylvania Avenue, and the rest to the west, accessed via the Bessy Memorial Freeway. Delicious icecream they do on this planet, too! Ox's planet is a delight to explore, with many surprises and shocks! If this was an original planet we'd definitely give it a Walrus... since it's not new, we'll give it an Honorary Walrus. We hope you enjoy exploring it as much as we did. **>> SPYNET REVIEW Alas, poor Siobhan... for reasons unknown, she snuffed it during the week. Congratulations to everyone who gain a promotion. The new Captains were Galiao, Iceman, Briarrose, Amanos and Batsuo. Ashley, Casper, Redbeard, Amanos, Torinmac and Douglas all promoted to Adventurer. Space advanced to Merchant. Skurge advanced his planet three times, ending up as a Technocrat. **>> CONTACTS The following information will appear at the end of every News Bulletin, so you don't have to read it if you already know it. The current Federation Game Hosts are: Freya, Egg, Lyrynna, Grannie, Sparky, Zzzax, Geezer and Magneto. Their function is to answer questions, help new players get started, and make fun things happen. In the event of a problem or question, you can: * talk to Hazed or one of the Game Hosts in the game * a message to Hazed * send mail on your host system to the Federation team: on GEnie, mail FEDII.2 or use the option on the main Fed page on Delphi, mail FED2 or use the option on the main Fed page on Cris, mail FEDERATION2 You can buy a copy of the very excellent Idiot's Guide to Federation for the paltry sum of $15.95. On GEnie, type ORDER from any main menu page. On Delphi and Cris, send a check for $15.95 to: Leah Parker, 4543 La Crescenta Avenue, La Crescenta, CA 91214-2912. **>> BULLETIN ENDS