Starcross takes place in the year 2186, when the player's character is a lone black hole miner exploring an asteroid belt.

[1] The player's ship, the Starcross, is fitted with a mass detector to look for "quantum black holes", which are such powerful sources of energy that one could provide a wealth of riches.

When the mass detector finally discovers an anomaly, however, it is not a black hole but something else entirely: a massive craft of unknown origin and composition.

Once inside, the player discovers a wide variety of alien plant and animal species and an array of unfamiliar technology.

[3] Besides the disk and manual, it contained some physical items: Jerry Pournelle wrote in BYTE in 1983 of Starcross, "I am not fond of it as I am of Zork, but a number of science-fiction fans like it very much".