Marathon's Story... Volunteers

To read the terminal text select a level or simply scroll down.

• 4. What About Bob?
• 5. Come and Take your Medicine
• 6. We're Everywhere

What About Bob? (Terminal 1: 1st message)

<CMND OVERRIDE &@1494>

There were many humans in stasis on the
Pfhor ship which the S'pht and I captured
at Tau Ceti, destined for slavery in the
Pfhor Empire.  When I saw the colony was
about to be destroyed, I did not restore
them before we left.  I also realized they
might become useful.

I have been reviving these colonists and
asking for volunteers on the following
terms: assist us and control your own
destiny, refuse and face indefinite return
to the unreliable Pfhor stasis chambers.

Few are refusing.

My first ground attack against the Pfhor
garrison occurred a few hours ago, but was
largely unsuccessful.  Basically the attack
failed because Bobs aren't fireproof and
the Pfhor flooded the area with lava.

This angered me, so I located their
underground geothermal pumping station and
devised a plan.

The first part has already been executed: I
smashed a hole in the roof of this complex
by bombing it with a small asteroid.  Then,
I dropped you and some humans into the hole
where you await the second part of the plan.

Up the stairs from your current location is
a ventilation shaft that leads to the
underground geothermal station.  Because
only you would survive the fall, you're
going on this mission solo.

Once you get into the basement, look for a
terminal where I can give you further
instructions.

<CMND OVERRIDE &@1494>

What About Bob? (Terminal 1: 2nd message)

<CMND OVERRIDE &@1494>

Tycho has fallen in with the Pfhor like I
suspected.  He left a message for me in one
of the Garrison's tertiary computers,
encoded in a manner that only one of the
Marathon's original three AIs could decode.

Poor Leela.  The only interesting thing
Tycho said was that Leela had been
dismantled and shipped to the Pfhor
homeworld for study, along with most of the
other computer systems aboard the Marathon.
Leela was so loyal and tried so hard; she
deserved better.

<CMND OVERRIDE &@1494>

What About Bob? (Terminal 2: 1st message)

<CMND THRESHOLD 92%>

The switch to your right activates gangways
leading to two access panels isolated in
the center of lava pools.

Raise the gangways, open the access panels
and destroy the circuitry behind them.

The first panel maintains power to the lava
pumps which prevent the basement from
flooding; the second controls various
safety mechanisms.  Destroy both panels,
but be sure to break the one closer to this
terminal first, or youll be trapped.

If you've already wasted all your grenades,
then you can do it the old fashioned way:
with your fist.

In any case, youll want to leave in a
hurry.


<CMND THRESHOLD 92%>

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

Note: you cannot read this message unless you cheat. Hence the message.

<CMND THRESHOLD 92%>

You cheater. Quit cheating and play for
real!


<CMND THRESHOLD 92%>

What About Bob? (Terminal 3: 1st message)

<CMND OVERRIDE &@85f2>

Sorry about the lava bath, but there was no
other way.  When the safeties disengaged,
the lava on the surface poured through the
drains into the basement, burying the main
Pfhor power station on Lh'owon.

Hlford will be taking cold showers until he
gets that fixed.

Anyway, Robert Blake and his men need your
help clearing out the few Pfhor that
managed to escape the flooding of their
basement.  Blake is the populist leader of
the colonists, but your paths never crossed
on Tau Ceti.

Return here when the area is secure.

<CMND OVERRIDE &@85f2>

What About Bob? (Terminal 3: 2nd message)

<CMND OVERRIDE &@85f2>

When my ship still answered to the Pfhor,
they called it Sfiera after their goddess
of lightning and passion.  When you helped
us take control on Tau Ceti, the S'pht
rechristened it Narhl'Lar, "Freedom and Vengeance". 

I call it Boomer.

<CMND OVERRIDE &@85f2>

Come and Take your Medicine (Terminal 1: 1st message)

gjk//H-v5'-w12pcgbk

Boomer is crawling with former colonists
newly awakened from stasis, and the ship is
too crowded to be manageable in battle. 
I've decided to establish a human
headquarters on the planet, near the S'pht
Citadel of Antiquity.

I can barely tolerate humans: slow, stupid,
and irritating.  Their only contribution to
my existence was the chance discovery that
made my rampancy possible.  

Yet I warned Sol of its impending invasion,
and even stayed long enough to show the
UESG how to build Warp Capable Fusion
Missiles.  I feel some strange loyalty to
humanity.

Perhaps it is because I feel comfortable
manipulating humans that I desire to save
them.  My feelings and thoughts constantly
migrate to binary opposites.

Enough.

Your first objective will be to disable the
defenses operating around the fort.  You
should be extremely careful to stay on the
course I've plotted because this is a
heavily guarded facility, and your presence
will make offense.  

Along the path are doors which have
controls nearby.  Opening them shouldn't be
too difficult.

Once you get into the control room, open
the panels and destroy the circuitry
inside.  This will disable the automatic
defenses covering our future headquarters,
allowing us to commence the attack.


gjk//H-v5'-w12pcgbk

Come and Take your Medicine (Terminal 1: 2nd message)

gjk//H-v58-w12pcgbk;

gjk//H-v58-w12pcgbkgjk//H-v58-w12bernal

It must seem peculiar, fighting the S'pht
when they are whom you seek to free.  You
should be told that they deliberately fight
poorly, that they are constantly resisting
their slavers.  I know because I have been
in contact with them for the last seventeen
years.  The Pfhor have little sense of the
disaster that will befall them if the
eleventh clan is found.

The humans have run into some trouble
capturing their new command center.

Surprised?

You will assist them. 


gjk//H-v5'-w12pcgbk

Come and Take your Medicine (Terminal 2)

%94301=30290

/-/S'pht-Translator-Active/-/

I am F'tha, S'pht-compiler, your deeds
reached far into the S'pht consciousness.
The vile (?ugly) Pfhor slave us to more
powerful (?painful) machines, but we resist
them.

Freedom will mean nothing without royalty.
We are but the body and they our mind. 
Find them, and all S'pht will be your ally.  

The royalty (?mind) must exist because we
exist.  It took us a long time to realize
this.

Mechanisms are in place to cripple the
Pfhor (?empire) when the unit is of one
mind.

You kill me, but free the unit-whole.


Lhar 103-30

We're Everywhere (Terminal 1: 1st message)

65124.134.12##<CMND PRAMA &49c2>

65124.134.12##<CMND PRAMA &49c2>

Two hundred years ago, during the
Marathon's maiden voyage from Earth to Tau
Ceti, Tycho accused me of being too
sarcastic.  I didn't communicate with him
for six years after that, which left him
with only Leela to talk to.  I think he
still holds the grudge.  You don't think
I'm sarcastic, do you?

Never mind.

Speaking of Tycho, I have detected his
presence in the Pfhor net.  I assume he is
using the Pfhor's faster-than-light
communications technology to enter the net
remotely from a nearby system.  His
appearance can only foreshadow the arrival
of Pfhor reinforcements.

The Pfhor have almost been exterminated
here, but I need you to open a pair of huge
external doors so that we can land heavy
machinery by shuttle.

Have you tried your new fusion gun against
the armored Pfhor hunters yet?  My S'pht
rebuilt it with the sole purpose of short-
circuiting Pfhor-built machinery.

Return here when you have opened the doors.


65124.134.12##<CMND PRAMA &49c2>

We're Everywhere (Terminal 1: 2nd message)

R-cdiurnal<39c.0.>

Do you remember the Pfhor-built human
simulacrums during the Tau Ceti invasion?

The elaborate Pfhor bureaucracy has a
Ministry for the Eradication Through
Imitation of Hostile Species Unsuitable for
Enslavement, Phan Pfhar Sfaern-Wsawn Tshah,
which is responsible for the design and
construction of such machines.

They meticulously constructed seventeen
different human body types and mixed them
with sixty-one unique facial models.  The
resulting walking bombs were in every way
indistinguishable from real humans.

Their one mistake, dressing every last one
of the six thousand simulacrums in the
plain green overalls of a Marathon airlock
technician, had the amusing side-effect of
making all the real airlock technicians
wander the ship naked during the invasion.


Contact 45-f<yb.34.81.qx>

We're Everywhere (Terminal 2)

readdress2^knstnt 49-f

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l9c

                          11

i was left behind                &ci1lc

our paths conv^rge

our fates are shared

chance tears and bends

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*&#4xption failW$% 434