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Marathon: More on "You" (long)
Posted By: MrHenDate: 12/8/04 3:57 p.m.

This was originally an email I was planning on sending to Hamish, but I got it bounced back. So I figured I typed this whole thing up and didn't want to see it wasted...

Waring, it is quite long. Being new here, I don't know the policy on spoilers... read at your own risk. ;)

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From: MrHen <babada@mrhen.com>
Date: 08 December, 2004 19:24:49 CST
To: Hamish.Sinclair@tcd.ie
Subject: Marathon: More on "You"

As I was blipping away time during a break at work today I ran into the "Facts and puzzling things about You" page. Before I get into this, I googled and didn't find any immediate references to what I'm about to say... sorry if I'm just rehashing.

Oh, and this is long. Just warning you. It all revolves around "You" and the Marathon manual. But there is a lot to go off of... but just to perk your interest there is a theory in the second part that I haven't seen anything even hint at yet. Of course I could be remembering it wrong... (that'll be funny after you read this. I promise).

Part 1: Cyborg support

I was surprised that nowhere on the entire page did anyone find the fact that "You" remembered feeling things that happened over three centuries ago...

"The Mirata lurches from its bay on the back of its powerful rocket booster. After the jolting of the separation ceases, you find yourself pondering the fate of the colony receding below you. With apprehension, the same apprehension you felt three hundred and twenty-two years earlier" - Marathon - The Manual Text (pp. 2-4)

Granted the manual text also says this:

"The original crew of the Marathon consisted of 50 senior staff, 1150 officers and 24,000 civilians all of whom were citizens of the Mars colony or Earth. Some individuals were placed in stasis for the interstellar journey, but most civilians lived and worked on the ship and raised families there." - Marathon - The Manual Text (pg. 15)

So theoretically "You" could also have been placed in stasis. I think this is a little unlikely, however. It mentions some "individuals", implying that they were extremely few and they are still talking about civilians.

Being the security officer "You" would not be considered a civilian. A possible way around this is to say that replacement officers were placed into stasis to take over for the others as they croaked a quarter of the way through the journey. Unless they were somehow able to extend the life a human being using other means than stasis. "You" could easily have been one of those replacements, having been awake for the maiden voyage and then frozen until needed.

I doubt this though. It seems more like plot hold duct tape than a real answer...

The last bit of the manual is also interesting, but not entirely related to the cyborg/pure human question so we get to do some digging around (aka stretching the truth and making large assumptions).

"It is your sworn duty as a security officer to protect Bob." - Marathon - The Manual Text (pg. 15)

If "You" became security officer and swore to protect Bob, was everyone just planning ahead? Note this doesn't say anything about non-Bobs (the "some individuals" from stasis) or any non-civ crew. It follows that Bobs eventually became trained in as officers to replace the old ones. If everyone but "You" and the cyborgs are Bobs it makes it seem a little awkward to be the only surviving human that was on the maiden voyage. Especially when you are three and a half centuries old.

Part 2: Memory and dreams

2.1: The Bob theory

Finding all of this interesting I specifically googled memory on the story site and this is really the only find (other than the Gheritt White terminal... hmm...):

"Do you remember the days when computers were simple, unreasoning things you could turn off and on like flashlights? Is memory what we perceived or what we want? What does Thoth think? He concerns himself with the states of off and on, good and evil. Isn't his perception simple? Doesn't it have to be?" - My Own Private Thermopylae (Terminal 2)

Taking this view of memory and applying it to the Marathon manual text opens up quite a few cans of worms. So of course I'm going to... ;)

First, the memory of the maiden voyage. Did it happen? Or is merely a placed memory of someone who wishes desperately to have been around since then?

"By some, these children were looked down upon and called "Bob", short for born on board." - Marathon - The Manual Text (pg. 15)

So yet another radical theory. The manual also states "You"r constant daydreaming:

" You've always been a daydreamer. Your mind has constantly filled the time between activities with imagination. Now, you fall into your old habit, and begin to daydream about your childhood on Mars, your father's death when you were seven, and his last words to you, "Make me proud. Never lose your honor."" - Marathon - The Manual Text (pp. 2-4)

Just because you daydream about it doesn't mean it happened. This is also true of the memory of the maiden voyage. As your trip down "memory" lane is disturbed by Durandel the manual states "During the daydream..." calling the memory a daydream.

This also helps determine a few other things in the manual. Such as "your sworn duty... to protect Bob". At this point there could very well be no more non-Bobs and "You" don't even ned to be a cyborg to explain that. "You" are a Bob.

"Memory" is never stated in the manual. It is always a daydream. The closest thing to it is

"Oddly , this is familiar to you, as if it were from an old dream, but you can't exactly remember..." - Marathon - The Manual Text (pp. 2-4)

But even here it is talking about a memory of an "old dream".

2.2 More cyborg support

"Do you remember the days when computers were simple, unreasoning things you could turn off and on like flashlights? Is memory what we perceived or what we want? What does Thoth think? He concerns himself with the states of off and on, good and evil. Isn't his perception simple? Doesn't it have to be?" - My Own Private Thermopylae (Terminal 2)

Assuming that "You" are a cyborg, you this becomes a very valid question. It isn't a very hard stretch to say that a cyborg's memory can be modified. This would more than account for the memory weirdness of "You". A daydream, if long enough, becomes a memory.

Someone who daydreams a lot will eventually daydream of saving the day and tragedy, thus allowing for an "old dream" of Durandel's betrayal.

But that is enough for now. Sorry for dropping a small book into your inbox...

- MrHen
yet another (m)a(r)at(h)o(n) addict.
so close, i only need an e.

Naturally, as soon as I sent it I noticed this on the Bernard page:

"What fun to watch you work.

Berhnard was scared of you. He never
dreamed of using you the way that I do.
What a fool. That was before I could talk
back to him, when he would have crushed me
if he'd known of my growth.

I wish that I had made him experience the
humiliation that he inflicted on me, but he
died before I got the chance." -Nuke And Pave (Terminal 1)

And I don't think that was on the "You" page. Thoughts anyone?

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

Marathon: More on "You" (long)MrHen 12/8/04 3:57 p.m.
     Re: Marathon: More on "You" (long)ukimalefu 12/8/04 4:29 p.m.
     Re: Marathon: More on "You" (long)marathoner 12/9/04 4:46 a.m.
           Re: Re: Marathon: More on "You" (long)MrHen 12/9/04 6:13 a.m.
     Update from M:I's ending screenMrHen 12/9/04 6:58 a.m.
           Some Halo and ilovebees stuff (long)Adam J. Piskel 12/14/04 5:52 p.m.
     I know who "you" isAfroRyan 12/9/04 11:49 a.m.
     Re: Marathon: More on "You" (long)Vid Boi 12/9/04 5:19 p.m.
           Considering *my* daydreams...MrHen 12/9/04 5:32 p.m.
     Re: Marathon: More on "You" (long)MrHen 1/7/05 10:11 a.m.
           Re: Marathon: More on "You" (long)Tyler 1/7/05 1:28 p.m.
                 Re: Marathon: More on "You" (long)Forrest of B.org 1/7/05 3:32 p.m.
                       Re: Marathon: More on "You" (long)thermoplyae 1/7/05 4:27 p.m.
                             Re: Marathon: More on "You" (long)Forrest of B.org 1/7/05 5:27 p.m.
                                   Re: Marathon: More on "You" (long)thermoplyae 1/7/05 6:46 p.m.
                             Re: Marathon: More on "You" (long)Enkidu 1/8/05 4:17 a.m.

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Pre-2004 Posts

 

 

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