The Text That Never Was

"Good luck"


At the first terminal on "Defend THIS!" we read the following message from Leela:

***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM LEELA***

I have received a preliminary report from some members of the
science staff who have finished post-mortem examinations on
three kinds of Aliens.  They report that by modern
genealogical standards the different Aliens belong to
different species.  I have been collecting as much
information as I can and will give you a report shortly.

I have established contact with Durandal for the first time
since the attack.  He seems to have sustained less damage than
I had previously suspected.

Durandal reports that he has been in communication with the
Aliens.  He says that the Aliens behind the invasion call
themselves the Pfhor, and that the ones attacking the computer
net are called S'pht.  But he was reluctant to share the
details of his communication and I cannot understand this.

Your mission here is rather simple.  You must insert the
circuits in the Defense Control terminals.

This is your current location.

There is a shield recharge in
the Access Control Room.

Here is a supply room with a
large supply of ammunition
and weapons.  You should stop in
this room.

This is the Defense Control
Center.  Hopefully, the new
control circuits will work.
Place one in the terminal at
this location.

This is where to place a
second one.
<Defend THIS! (Terminal 1)>
Kyjel Shaytolmae <kbassett@junction.net> points out that Leela never tells us where to place the third circuit and asks did she make a mistake?

Not exactly. The last part of Leela's message is never actually shown although it resides in the term resources. The full text of Leela's message is given below.

***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM LEELA***

I have received a preliminary report from some members of the
science staff who have finished post-mortem examinations on
three kinds of Aliens.  They report that by modern
genealogical standards the different Aliens belong to
different species.  I have been collecting as much
information as I can and will give you a report shortly.

I have established contact with Durandal for the first time
since the attack.  He seems to have sustained less damage than
I had previously suspected.

Durandal reports that he has been in communication with the
Aliens.  He says that the Aliens behind the invasion call
themselves the Pfhor, and that the ones attacking the computer
net are called S'pht.  But he was reluctant to share the
details of his communication and I cannot understand this.

Your mission here is rather simple.  You must insert the
circuits in the Defense Control terminals.

This is your current location.

There is a shield recharge in
the Access Control Room.

Here is a supply room with a
large supply of ammunition
and weapons.  You should stop in
this room.

This is the Defense Control
Center.  Hopefully, the new
control circuits will work.
Place one in the terminal at
this location.

This is where to place a
second one.

This is the final location.

Good luck.

***END MESSAGE***

Interesting to note that if this whole message had been displayed it would have been the third time that Leela wished us good luck.


Adam Freidin <bob@clarity.Princeton.EDU> writes:

"The reason that the text was never displayed was because Marathon is unable to display more than 8 screens, counting the logon and logoff screens as 1 (same text)."


Adam Freidin <bob@clarity.Princeton.EDU> and Kyjel Shaytolmae <kbassett@junction.net> both point out that while you went to some trouble to get three circuit boards you only needed to install two in the rooms Leela shows you at the first terminal to successfully complete your mission.

Actually it's only one as HoTBob Question of the week #19: later revealed. :-)


Apart from the missing text on "Defend THIS!" there is a whole message missing from the last terminal on "Cool Fusion". If you make no attempt to obtain the Zeus Class Fusion Pistol on this level Leela will not tell you to go back and get it.

***MESSAGE FROM LEELA***

You have not retrieved the Fusion Gun.
Return when you have done so.

***END OF MESSAGE***

You can verify that Leela's "failure" message is never displayed in a number of ways. Use a cheater on a saved game from the previous level to give yourself an assault rifle. Use a map editor to relocate your player position on the "Cool Fusion" map. The real way to do it however is to complete the level Vidmaster Style using Tim Seufert's Marathon Vidmaster Challenge Physics Model making sure that you don't pick up the Fusion Pistol.

And here is a film of it being done.


Here is a full list of all the terminal messages in all three Marathon games that cannot the read under normal solo play. While some messages were specifically designed not to be read without a map editor or terminal browser others do not appear for reasons best left unsaid.

"Cool Fusion" (Terminal 2: 'Unfinished' message).
The only Marathon terminal that cannot be read under normal solo play even if you don't get the fusion pistol.

"What About Bob?" (Terminal 2: 2nd message).

"Curiouser and Curiouser..." (Terminal 2: 1st Message).

"Eat It, Vid Boi!" (Terminal 4: 1st message).

"Robot World Arena" (Terminal 0).
Can be read while playing co-op but not during normal solo play.

"Poor Yorick" (Terminal 2).
See if you can find it. ;-)

"Confound Delivery" (Terminal 1).
Another mysterious terminal. Confound it!

"Where Some Rarely Go" (Terminal 1: 1st Message).
Another strangely elusive message.

"Naw Man He's Close" (Terminal 0: 1st Message).
Yet another strangely elusive message.

"Foe Hammer" (Terminal 2: 1st message).


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Hamish Sinclair
Hamish.Sinclair@tcd.ie
Last updated Sept 22, 1997