October 13, 2198

To the President of the Council of Exiles:

... It is of no use. Before the Battle of Philoxeres there was still hope, but now all hope is gone. Our enemies are too strong for us: not only are their resources and technology far superior to our own, but the star systems they hold outnumber ours four to one. Given our present situation, we can never hope to overcome them. Unless something is done quickly, the ancient tyranny will retake the galaxy and this time we may not survive.

It is a shame that we are losing. The ancient starships we have, as we all know, are each more powerful than the combined forces of our enemy -- and yet the ships lie rusting on the Field of Arbol, their power cores silent. Only the fabled Key itself can re-awaken them, and the Key, along with the science to build such ships, was lost a thousand years ago in the great downfall of the Empire.

Our only hope is to send someone to the gateway planet Arcadia to search for the missing Key. The person must be a human, for none of our race have ever been able to survive passing through the centuries-old Barrier that surrounds her. An Earthman would serve our task well; if a willing human could be found.

But it is a great risk. Arcadia has been deserted for centuries, and her cities lie at the bottom of an ocean. No one knows what dangers might lie there, or even if the fabled Gateway still works. We must warn the volunteer that if his mission fails he will be forever trapped...

Demo: Don't want to download the entire game first to see if it's your kind of game? Well, you don't have to: you can just download the 4 megabyte demo instead.

Part I: Flight from Arcadia: After making contact with the Exiles, you find yourself in a city deep underwater. You have to find a way to reactivate the ancient machines and get Arcadia functional again so that you can find the missing Key.

Part II: The Valley of Stars: Your have at last made your way to the Valley of Stars -- a portal of sorts that offers access to many long-forgotten planets. What you need now, however, is power: the old reactor on Arcadia is simply too weak to unlock the Vault. Is there a way the worlds could be reconnected and the old communications system reestablished?

You can also download sections I and II together.

Part III: Quest for the Key: At last, you have made your way inside the Vault -- only to find, as the Empire did a few decades before, that the way to the galactic core is being protected by a gate, and the four crystals that are needed to activate the gate are gone. There are millions of worlds throughout the galaxy; how could one ever search through them all? There must be a way to get past the gate, and it is up to you to find it.

You can also download sections I II and III together.

Extras: Click here for troubleshooting, walkthroughs, trivia, game secrets, and more.