Having completed their first assignment, the crew of the Eureka decide to take a break at the only local establishment for such purposes - "The Space Bar" (no relation to that wide button at the bottom of every keyboard). After beaming aboard this deep space watering hole, Droole, Flo and our hero settle down at the table and order some drinks. Cliffy excuses himself and Captain Quirk inexplicably shows up to exchange petty insults with Roger until the situation escalates into a one-on-one duel of "Space Battleship"...it's basically the same as the classic Milton Bradley board game just with a more sci-fi aesthetic. Win or lose, Wilco finds himself saddled with another problem. Cliffy has gotten into a fight with another Space Bar patron and landed himself in the station's brig. Now it's up to players to find a way to bust Cliffy out of jail. In a bizarre coincidence, a rather sleazy looking salesman happened to give our hero a sample packet of "Space Monkeys" just a short while ago. What are Space Monkeys? Well...I'm not entirely sure, but I think they're a spoof on the real-life novelty children's toy called "Sea Monkeys." Unlike the aquatic variant though, Space Monkeys come with an explicit label on the packet warning not to mix them with alcohol. So, what happens next? You guessed it! The whole packet goes straight into a cocktail drink. With disturbing speed, these strange little floating green creatures begin to infest the Space Bar. An evacuation alarm goes off and this gives Wilco a chance to bust Cliffy out of the slammer (with a little help from Spike and his acidic secretions). Meanwhile, the Space Monkeys continue to multiply at an exponential rate leading to over pressurization of the station's internal atmosphere and a catastrophic explosion. Thankfully, everyone is able to evacuate in time. You'd think an incident like this would lead to a board of inquiry, but the crew of the Eureka don't seem at all concerned. In fact, they are overjoyed by their captain's handling of the situation. What's more, there is a new addition to the crew; a science officer with the designation "WD-40" (yet another reference to household cleaning products). She is a rebuilt version of the droid that Roger had defeated earlier in the game. Luckily for our hero, Cliffy reduced her hostility settings before reactivating her.
From here on out Space Quest V takes on a more unsettling tone. The crew of the Eureka find themselves drawn into a investigation of the "Sludge Bandits" and their unwholesome activities. Players, by this point, will have probably figured out that Captain Quirk is a co-conspirator in their evil machinations, but lack any hard evidence. On the planet "Klorox II" (even more cleaning product jokes!) Roger and Droole find out that the few colonists on this remote outpost were horribly mutated by exposure to a toxic substance dumped in canisters across the hills near the base. All but one of the mutated residents boarded a shuttlecraft and were able to infiltrate the Goliath (possibly under the ruse that they were in need of aid). Upon returning to the Eureka, Flo reports to Roger that they are receiving an emergency broadcast. A distraught looking Captain Quirk appears on the display, but his message is cut a bit short when part of his jaw begins to pulse unnaturally. It appears that the entire crew of the Goliath has been infected, including the ship's captain. Rushing to provide whatever aid it can, the Eureka arrives in orbit around the giant fungal forest planet "Thrakus." Our hero beams down to the planet surface to investigate the source of an automated distress beacon. He finds an abandoned escape pod and is then promptly ambushed by Beatrice. However, moments later the two of them are subsequently ambushed by mutated members of the Goliath's crew armed with super soakers. Unlike traditional water guns though, these are filled with infectious slime. Roger and Beatrice are able to beam back up to the Eureka, but not before Wilco's wife-to-be is hit by some of the goop.
Onboard the garbage scow Beatrice reveals that she stole the Goliath's warp distributer cap before fleeing the vessel. Without this critical piece of machinery Quirk's ship is stuck in the local vicinity. Exhausted from her ordeal and slowly succumbing to infection, our hero has no choice but to place Beatrice in cryostasis until a cure can be found.
Once Roger ha s made his way back to the bridge it becomes clear that they have been spotted by the lurking Goliath. Raising the shields buys the crew of the Eureka a little time, but the garbage scow is hopelessly outmatched by the larger starship. The only option is to take refuge in the planetary rings around Thrakus. Here, the small size of the Eureka works to its advantage. The Goliath is unable to pursue and slinks away like a disappointed predator. Safe for the moment, Cliffy suits up and goes out on a spacewalk in order to repair some damaged systems. Unfortunately, while returning to the ship's airlock he loses his perch and ends up drifting helplessly into the asteroid field. It's up to the captain, and by extension the player, to make a rescue attempt using the Eureka's emergency EVA pod (basically a small self-contained spacecraft with a robotic claw arm and very limited range).
The mini-game that follows is pretty straight forward: pick up Cliffy and get back to the garbage scow. If the player doesn't get a handle on the pods controls though, it can be very easy to wind up all turned around and out of fuel. Assuming this happens, players are treated to a failure state cutscene involving a native of Thrakus pointing out a falling star to another of its kind. Presumably, this is Roger's dead EVA pod burning up in the upper atmosphere. Alternatively, if players are able to rescue Cliffy and return to the ship safely, then the garbage scow is free to roam the stars again. The Goliath, on the other hand, is unable to go to warp although it is jamming all communications in the sector. Oddly enough, why Captain Wilco can't simple order the Eureka back to base and report to StarCon directly is never really addressed. Apparently, it is up to Roger, our hero, and his band of misfits to solve this problem on their own.
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