In 2623 Ralston-Purina Foods, now back in the business of food production for human consumption, purchased General Mills' cereal division. This of course included their beloved Chex brand, which Ralston sold to General Mills way back in 1997. General Mills welcomed the purchase as they had been struggling for decades with declining revenues. It was becoming ever more costly to provide the raw materials for products suitable for people to eat. Centuries of pollution and nuclear accidents had wreaked havoc on lands once renowned for their fertile quality. New decontamination processes on ingredients were strictly regulated and enforced to keep the public as healthy as possible. Unfortunately, those processes weren't cheap. For Ralston however, things were not as bleak. Regulations for animal feed, their bread and butter business, were not as restrictive and that helped them stay profitable. Desperation eventually led to corporate corruption at General Mills which only made things worse.


To rise above the challenges now inherent with food production, Ralston was able to secure the rights to a new factory. This would be like no other factory before. It would be state of the art in ways never before dreamed possible. It was a breakthrough that would allow Ralston to pioneer what could become the latest trend in manufacturing: Off-Planet Production.


The effort by NASA to put a man on Mars in the twenty-first century, led to a chain of new technologies that eventually allowed a newly formed group called UNASA (United Nations Aeronautic and Space Administration) to perfect inter-galactic space travel. Contact with other worlds yielded even further advantages in all areas of technology. Teleportation became a standard means of short-range mass transportation. Renewable fuel sources eased energy concerns, but still somehow managed to be mis-used. Advances in robotics began to spare many from the more mundane aspects of life thus freeing them to become ever more obsessed with material pursuits. Even weaponry was becoming safer with the development of Zorch technology. Instead of causing bodily harm, Zorchers would have the ability to send someone to another dimension, safely and humanly removing them from the present situation.


For over a century UNASA had been working to refine their methods of space transportation to make it both safe and affordable for the transportation of personnel and cargo to planets not just in our solar system, but to other solar systems as well. Several uninhabited yet habitable planets were found to exist in the Milky Way galaxy ripe for business development. New partnership opportunities with inhabitants of other worlds began to be considered. Eager to unite these worlds into a peaceful coalition, UNASA proposed the formation of a new federation of intergalactic proportions. They suggested naming this new organization the Intergalactic Federation of Planets but no one could agree on the exact definition for a planet. In fact, the debate on planet Earth as to whether Pluto should be considered a planet or not was still being hotly contested.


Since it would be difficult to establish unity without a branding name, a search was conducted throughout all of the worlds inhabited with intelligent life. Amongst all of the obvious differences one point of commonality stood out loud and clear: everyone loves breakfast cereal. It was therefore unanimously decreed to unite the worlds together through this common ground and form the Intergalactic Federation of Cereal Lovers. This moniker was later shortened however to the Intergalactic Federation of Cereals due to the concerns of some influential individuals as to the suggestive nature of the last word in the name.


The IFC (Intergalactic Federation of Cereals) began a search for a base of operations that would serve as their headquarters. They finally settled on a peaceful looking planet centrally located between the galaxies. It was uninhabited, rich in natural resources, and best of all not claimed by anyone (or so they thought). The planet was named Bazoik to honor the man who pioneered the technology for intergalactic travel, Dr. Henry T. Bazoikenhammer.


Scientists from several worlds were stationed on Bazoik to staff the new Bazoik Nutritional Development Center. The intention for this facility was to research ways that cereal could be developed for mass production that would satisfy the nutritional requirements for people of many worlds. To help fund the program, they needed a corporate sponsor to partner with them to actually produce the cereal. Ralston was very eager to forge ahead into this new venture and thus get the Chex brand name into Every Home in the Universe.


Plans proceeded quickly and nutritional studies yielded very promising results. Ingrediants that could not be produced on Bazoik where shipped in from outlying planets. A new cereal production plant was created and everything was a go. But just as cereal production began to ramp up, strange sightings were noticed throughout the factory. Green slimy goo began to appear on random walls and doorways. This was immediately reported to the IFC and samples were sent to a lab on planet Earth for further analysis. The factory was placed on yellow alert and the workers informed to be on the look out. As goo sightings became more prevalent over the next several days, the crew once so excited about the new opportunity became evermore concerned. And then the first Flemoid was spotted. You could hear the panic in his voice as the crew member reported a large green goo covered being scooting across the floor. It appeared to sling goo at the walls through its nose for no apparent reason. The planet had apparently been invaded somehow with a creature previously unknown to UNASA. How many more were there? Were they friendly? Did the construction materials used to build the research facility and the factory give them violent allergic reactions that caused them to sneeze large volumes of whatever it is they sneeze?


Desperate to avoid an embarrassing incident that could jeopardize the future of Off-Planet Production, the IFC chose to evacuate all personal as quickly as possible. At the same time, they asked UNASA to get involved with the situation. A small team of specialized tactical agents from a planet in the Delta quadrant were sent to Bazoik to gather as much information about the goo slingers as possible. The team was a rather interesting crew as they all looked like giant pieces of cereal (taking cereal loving a bit far if you ask me...) Armed with a variety of Zorchers the agents we instructed to study first and Zorch only as a last resort. Hopefully the odd looking green slimers were peaceful after all.


The agents are good at what they do and were able to observe the Flemoids in an undetected environment as they gathered some good intelligence information. Unfortunately, they found other greenish creatures even more concerning than the first Flemoids. Some were larger with longer noses and some actually wore armor. Others floated about in small mechanical spheres and looked quite menacing. The team documented all of their findings and prepared their report. When they uploaded their data back to UNASA's headquarters, they apparently alerted the Flemoids to their presence.


The last communication we received from one of their mobile communication devices informed us that the agents have all been taken hostage. It appears that the Flemoids want to study them to figure out what they are. I say last communication because the mobile device was presumably damaged when the agent was dunked into a large bowl to see if he would get soggy in milk. Which is where you come in Special Agent!


Your mission is to go to Bazoik and rescue the agents taken hostage. We plan to bargain with the Flemoids so that they will allow us to continue using our facilities unimpeded. If they have some of our men, that puts us at a bit of a disadvantage. We don't know what they would take in trade yet, but perhaps you can provide us with that knowledge as well. We only have one Zorcher left on hand to send with you, and it's not a very good one. But we do know that the Flemoids scattered many of the agents' Zorchers and energy cells around the area. Apparently tidiness is not an attribute of Flemoid culture. You will be able to pick up additional Zorchers and make use of them. Some of the Flemoids carry large Zorchers and energy cells around with them, perhaps as a souvenir or maybe even as a good luck charm. If you Zorch a Flemoid carrying those items, he'll drop them before being transported to the other dimension. They were designed to function this way so as to prevent Zorched people from Zorching themselves right back to our dimension again.


There is one other little detail that I unfortunately must share with you. You will be required to wear a cereal costume, in the shape of a giant Chex. Now, I know what you're thinking, but this is how it must be. Ralston has stipulated this requirement. It seems that they want the product placement when news of the situation eventually leaks out. They are funding the rescue operation and the ensuing bargaining sessions and they want to at least capitalize on some advertising results from their investment if nothing else.


So, get going Agent. Your spaceship is fueled and ready to go. Oh, and agent, Good Luck!


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