THE PART THAT NEVER RUNS

The loader lists every executable it chain-loads with the part’s name in a comment beside it. One entry is not like the others:

  ;txthid  db      'Hidden part',0
  exehid                          db 'DDSTARS.EXE',0

DDSTARS.EXE is in the archive — 10,573 bytes — and a normal run never touches it. Which parts run is decided by one byte, whattorun, which starts life at 07fh: bit 7 is the only route to the hidden part, and the comment listing what the bits mean does not mention bit 7. README.1ST documents the digits 1 to 5 as start points; the parser takes one more character it never mentions, and U selects the table entry 80h — bit 7 and nothing else. So SECOND U runs “Desert Dream Stars (PSI)” and no other part of the demo.

It is a message. Two screens of text rise through a mirrored starfield, and they have not been read much since 1993:

  “A hidden part? No, just an experiment we left out... Looks
   familiar? Well, it should (in case you watch Amiga demos as
   well). Since it's so hard to think what to say here, let's tell
   you the reasons why...  the demo was late:  1) The FC tradition
   of finishing projects just a very little bit late  2) Trying to
   get too many things done at once  3) And of course being lazy...”