This adventure takes place around the  
planet Venturi in the Belnafaer star  
system (see SYSTEM BRIEF - page 3),  
and begins when the characters are  
passing through the system as passen-  
gers on a starship en route to some other  
destination.  

A small starship freighter belonging to a  
person or company with whom the  
characters have had no previous dealings  
is the best kind of vessel on which to  
begin the adventure. Ideally the char-  
acters should be the only passengers.  

Stop-off for repairs  

The characters' ship will experience  
engine problems when it enters the  
Belnafaer system. At first Captain Akizk  
on the Moneyspider will be reluctant to  
allow a ship of a potentially rival company  
to dock at Snobol, because of the secrecy  
surrounding the Venturi Project and the  
need to conceal the problems which the  
Project is experiencing. his conscience  
will not allow him to refuse aid to a ship in  
distress, however, and so he will even-  
tually allow the ship to dock in the  
starship bay (area S1 - Plan VP/S/02).  

The ship will arrive at Snobol on Day 72  
(see the TIME CHART - page 4), 4 days  
before Snobol reaches its point of closest  
approach to Venturi (see THE VENTURI  
PROJECT - page 2). Snobol and Money-  
spider are fully described in  DELTA  
SECTION - SNOBOL & MONEYSPIDER  
(page 18.) details of the crew are given in  
CREW OF THE MONEYSPIDER (see  
Pull-out Sheet - IV to V).  

The Invitation  

At first, Captain Akizk's desire for secrecy  
means that he will allow nobody from the  
freighter to leave the starship dock, and  
the characters will be confined to the ship  
while the crew carry out repairs. Three  
days later (Day 75), Captain Akizk will  
discover that the ship has passengers.  
Realizing that these may be able to help  
him without the need to involve a rival  
company, the captain will send a message  
to the ship, inviting the characters to dine  
with him on the Moneyspider at 1700 hrs. 
 

Captain Akizk will wait for the characters 
in the starship dock control (area S2) at 
1700 hours as arranged. With him will be 
Castuss Wallorr, the Yazirian sape hand- 
ler. Both will be wearing the uniform of 
the ByChem Corporation. These uniforms 
are actually civilian skeinsuits, and each 
has a vibroknife in a concealed pocket 
(see Uniforms - Pull-out Sheet IV). 

Akizk and Castuss will conduct the char- 
acters speedily to the Moneyspider via 
the transport tube and elevator (area L3). 
When they reach the Moneyspider, the 
captain will invite the characters to his 
cabin (area M5b - Plan VP/M/03), and 
Castuss will leave. 

Dinner 

Dinner will be a simple but elegant meal. 
During the meal, Captain Akizk will 
explain the workings of the Venturi 
Project, asking that the characters treat 
the information as being strictly con- 
fidential. The referee should use the 
information in the SYSTEM BRIEF (page 
3) and THE VENTURI PROJECT (page 2) 
during this conversation. Akizk has ab- 
solutely no knowledge of the Matrix and 
no hint of its existence should be given to 
the players. 

After dinner, the Captain will assume a 
graver expression and tell the characters 
that the Venturi Project is close to 
complete failure. 

Akizk will tell them as much as he knows 
about the disaster on Jetsom and the 
events before and after it. The referee 
should use the TIME CHART (page 4) 
and the information in BUGS IN THE 
SYSTEM (page 3) for this conversation, 
remembering that Akizk has no detailed 
information about the events on the platform. 
He knows about the minor faults which 
occurred before the crew change-over, 
and can guess at the fate of Parl Kiopta 
and the shuttle, but he has only the 
following garbled, subspace radio mess- 
age transmitted during the magnetic 
storm (he will play a recording of it to the  
characters) to tell what happened: 
 

The disaster has left the Moneyspider 
with only sex crew, including the captain; 
barely enough to run the ship and far too 
few to mount any further rescue/salvage 
attempts. 

The Moneyspider's sensors show that 
Jetsom has not broken up and is holding a 
stable position. The ship's heat-sensing, 
infra-red detectors also show that the 
buoyancy bags and distillation column 
are still working, which means that the 
atomic reactors are still providing power. 
It is, therefore, possible that some of the 
crew have survived, making speed vitally 
important. 

The Offer 

Once the characters fully understand the 
situation, Captain Akizk will ask for their 
help in saving the Venturi Project from 
disaster. Their task would be: to descend 
to Jetsom the next morning (0500 hrs, 
Day 76) at the time of Snobol's closest 
approach to Venturi; restore the plat- 
form's systems to working order; rescue 
any survivors of the disaster; and bring 
back as many tanks of crude bio-chemical 
as possible at the next close approach of 
Snobol 38 days later (day 114). 

The following are Captain Akizk's terms: 

1.  The characters should not return to 
     the freighter but should remain on the 
     Moneyspider occupying the empty ca- 
     bins (areas M16, M17, M20 and M22) 
     until it is time to descend to Jetsom. 
     Any baggage which the characters 
     have on the freighter will be trans- 
     ferred to the Moneyspider. 

2.  The entire incident must be kept secret 
     by the characters after that leave the 
     Belnafaer system. The crew of the 
     starship freighter will be told that the 
     characters have accepted jobs with 
     the ByChem Corporation and will not 
     be continuing their journey. After the 
     mission, transport from Belnafaer will 
     be provided for the characters.