Code 42 is a very large, very complex vacuum level that can be exasperating. Think Acme Station on steroids. It's a lot of fun, but the room of rising and falling platforms (compression chamber) is something I could do without, as you have to go through it many, many times. There is a lot of potential backtracking involved elsewhere, too, but overall this is an enjoyable level. Unfortunately, there is a major bug on this level as documented in the Spoiler Guide, but there are a lot of minor bugs as well in the sense that it's all to easy to save one's game without adequate oxygen to make it back to the nearest O2 recharger. This is just plain poor planning. One other thing not mentioned in the Spoiler Guide is a major secret - one of many in the scenario that are undocumented, but we'll get to that later.
We have arrived at the home world of the Mystics and our mission is to wreak havock on their time-keeping system by disrupting their magnetic fields. A little sabotage is in order - we're going to tamper with a space station that keeps the orbit of a large moon in check. We start out in a small but heavily guarded area with lots of cyborgs and mystics, but no access to O2. Some friendly A-bobs will help us out in the beginning - or get us killed if one of them explodes backwards! Unfortunately, taking out all the monsters in this area can easily leave the player too oxygen-depleted to survive. Heading either to the terminal, which gives a clue as to the location of the exit, or the switch that opens the exit will subject the player to fighting everything around. Hitting the switch remotely with the Pfhor staff is the answer, but it often takes several attempts to realize this.
Once in the station proper and after taking out the welcoming party and inserting the ever-needed chip, there is a wordy terminal that explains what we are about to do. Read it for comprehension and you'll run out of O2. It reminds me of something funny Chris wrote as a placeholder for one of the Rubicon terminals on a vacuum level - the player won't have time to read this, so write a lot of technical jargon. In any case, there is an O2 recharger nearby, and a series of 4 well-guarded switches that need to be activated to get those infernal platforms moving. One interesting point - at first the drones are on your side, but this will quickly change.
There is a definite order in which things should be done, but there is nothing to stop the player from attempting things out of sequence, resulting in the player ending up in the wrong place with access blocked or without a needed chip, forcing them to backtrack or repeat a sizable portion of the level. The best strategy is to go straight across first to gain access to the one and only shield recharger and an additional O2 recharger. Having secured this area, the player can continue to explore this region of the map, where they will find a chip that will be needed later. Next, the player should go to the right side of the platform room, where they will gain access to the core. FM really f***ed up here - there are two doors that must be lowered by exploring the map and finding a couple of switches that are actually on the edges of the doors. This will open access to the core. If either switch is hit a second time (e.g. by hitting it with a bolt from the Pfhor staff while fighting a cyborg, the door will stop midway. Since these are one-time switches, the player will be blocked from proceeding. The fix for this would have been trivial and FM absolutely should have released a bug fix for this.
Once access is opened to the core, the player can jump down and make their way to an underwater passage. Jumping down activates a number of cyborgs and drones however - a neat trick is to leap off and back onto the overlooking platform, making it much easier to deal with all the monsters. Now, there is a major secret here. As soon as you flip the switch to lower the platform leading to the underwater passage, a second platform within one of the columns within the core will lower. You probably won't notice this unless you turn around, but the change is evident in map view. If you turn left at the bottom of the underwater passage, you'll see another passage that you can't get to. Going back up and using the new, lowered platform in the core is the way to get there. One can ride the platform up and then jump back down one of the other columns into a new underwater area. This seems to be a 5D effect as it occupies the same space as the core and seems to be level with it. There are no goodies here, but there are some playmates of the cybernetic kind to keep you company. One of the square holes in the floor is actually a passage to another underwater area that contains a pattern buffer and a secret terminal. There isn't much on the terminal except for this:
---<<< MYSTICS LANGUAGE >>>---
BTW: ><<,..,<>,., .,<>,.,><, ,<<<:,,;:<; ,><.,:<>,,.<, ;.:..,<,>,> >><>< :,,> <>:,..,< :<:<:<>.,<:., ,.<;.<,;<,;:<:><. ,.<,.:>,;><<;. <;.,:> ,:. ;. < >><, ><<>:., ,;:> ,:>,<: :means something.
I wonder if anyone has figured out what exactly this means. Any Human-Pfhor-Mystic dictionaries around?
Heading back into the core and heading down the right underwater passage, the player comes to a room with 3 holes to jump into, platforms to activate and headaches to enjoy. After taking out some mystics and drones, the player can access a pattern buffer, refill their oxygen tanks and read the terminal before heading to the 3rd area of the station. Ah yes, the famous coolant tube. I think that this was the first scenario to use a rapidly flowing water area in this way. The trickiest part is flipping those four switches while zooming by at 70 mph. Run-sidestepping against the current is the only way. This gives you access to a room with two chip slots and one chip (you did bring an extra chip with you, didn't you?). Exiting the room dumps you back to the place where you grabbed that chip way back when. Unfortunately, if you didn't grab the chip before, although you can now pick it up, you'll have to go back to the cooling tubes to insert it.
The final area of the station involves taking out a bunch of mystics and a couple of drones - piece of cake. Hitting a switch lowers a platform, revealing another chip. Inserting it literally moves a world, Funny that you don't feel anything in the process, though. A teleporting extravision chip would have done the trick IMO. Be sure to tank up on oxygen before leaving, as you'll need it on the next level.
