Check if a key is down, and which one is

Hi,

Can anyone help with a Hypertalk question?

I want to check if a key is down and, if yes, which key is (or are).
Something like "if the ****ftKey is down".  Actually I want to write a
'launcher' stack with a script along the following lines:

on openStack
  if Akey is down then  -- well, the idea is to see if the 'A' key is down
    open applicationA
  endif
  if Gkey is down then open applicationG
  if Zkey is down then open applicationZ
  etc...
end openStack

The idea is to put this stack in the startup folder, and hold the key(s)
corresponding to the application(s) I want to launch at startup while the
Mac is booting.

Ideally, it would be nice if I could check for several keys that are held
down together (up to 10, as that's the number of my fingers  :-)

The 'keydown' handler won't do, it's got to be a test in the openStack
handler.  I can't find a hypertalk command for this.
-- 
Fjordur