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	Message: : TOUR OF DUTY: : Couch Fishing. Fishing for Couches. Fishing with Couches. Couches going : Fishing. There's a multitude of ways to explain the title of my least : favorite level. Why is it my least favorite, you ask? First off, it's : grey. I don't like grey levels. I like at least a little color. Second, : it's dark at parts. I prefer at least a little bit of light. Third, the : music for this level is really depressing. I like a bit of action. : Combine the three, and you've got the most depressing level in the whole : game. Add a bunch of scary Troopers, and I'm ready to call it my least : favorite level in the whole series. I can't call it bad design; the HBO : series ' John Adams ' is sort of depressing in the later parts, but it's : really quite good. However, Couch Fishing is just really annoying to go : through. So, let's get it over with. : We pop into a grey corridor (seems just about the whole level is lacking in : saturation) with a Terminal right next to us. Let's read it, shall we? : [security channel open] : [defense priority 120-f] : ***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM LEELA*** : I have some bad news: Durandal has gone Rampant, and he is in : the Angry stage. This explains how Duran-- : After reading for a minute, we'll probably hear the sound of Pfhor. We : quickly tap the Spacebar a few times to get out, and then spin to our : right. My god, it's full of-- : *BLAM!* : Meet... the Trooper! 300-some pounds of Pfhor, complete with an Assault : Rifle and a barely-see-through dome over his head. Leela told you about : them earlier: Only two clans of the Pfhor have been examined. The Fighter : carries a shock staff, which is capable of attacking at : different settings. The Trooper is armored for vacuum : conditions and carries a combination explosive and impact : projectile weapon which is similar to your AR-75. : Indeed, the 'blamite' grenades are truly nasty. But that's not the worst : part; purple Troopers (basically, every Trooper you find on Total Carnage) : can go berserk . If you haven't noticed, heavily damaged purple or blue : Fighters will often go nuts and start moving around faster, attacking more : often and, if they get the chance, shooting their own buddies : intentionally . Same goes for purple Troopers. So, if you can get one hurt : bad, hopefully you'll be using an AR to deal with him fast, or you better : have a nice corner to get behind. Now what does that remind me of? : We never stopped firing at it. Back up : around a corner, fire, back up, fire. It's : gotta be hurting. You can kill it. : : Can't daydream too long though, because the starting attack comes from both : corridors, if I remember correctly. Yeah, talk about carnage. Still, we've : got an Assault Rifle, and we know how to use it, right? No? Okay, maybe : you're not cut out for this job. ;) : Once we've handled the Pfhor, we can get back to reading that terminal. Okay, : what was that about rampancy again? : [security channel open] : [defense priority 120-f] : ***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM LEELA*** : I have some bad news: Durandal has gone Rampant , and he is in : the Angry stage. This explains how Durandal was able to : communicate with the Pfhor and the S'pht, while I have not. : Theoretically, the Marathon Computer Net is not big enough to : sustain Rampant growth for very long. This means that as : Durandal grows into the Computer Net, he will begin to affect : all aspects of the ship, resulting in unpredictable failures : of otherwise benign computer systems. : I have teleported you here to make sure that Durandal cannot : gain access to a vital section of the ship. There are a : series of control switches that you will need to activate : to block his access. : Crud. Cleaning up more messes, are we? And I thought this was supposed to be : the counterattack . Apparently Bungie deceived us. ;) : Funny thing, here. If you'll remember the last level we did, we were told : to pop three Defense Circuits into three slots. Strangely enough, we only : had to pop one into the 'middle' slot, and Leela would then teleport us : off the level. Same thing goes for this level; while we are told to hit : three switches, we only need to hit one of them! You can see it at point A : on the map below: : Yes, I got this from that lion's den known as the Marathon Vidmaster's page. : ;) : Of course, you don't know any of this, so you'll probably just go about : getting shot up by Troopers and Fighters. Also, don't forget about the : secret ammo cache at point C on the map above. Guess it's not so secret : now that it's open. : After a bit, we'll probably find another terminal. But what secrets might it : hold? Let's read and find out: [ Unauthorized access -alarm 2521-] : [Security Breached 24-f[434.87.18.198]-] : [Data Transfer Cohesion E3F04C] : [Search String "crist"] : The CRIST Sol Orbiters: The CRIST Sol orbiters, or Cargo and Resources : In-System : Transports were huge ships shaped like a hollow potato and : designed to be able to move huge amounts of material between : Earth and Mars with low cost and, theoretically, low : maintenance. The system was simple. The CRIST was put into : orbit around SOL on the plane of the ecliptic. Built with a : powerful solar sail, the CRIST could change its orbit easily : to pass by the Earth or Mars. On a flyby, materials could be : loaded or offloaded. The energy used to accelerate or : decelerate the materials would be supplied by the solar sail. : Loading was accomplished with a giant tether and reel system, : which would swing the material into orbit behind the CRIST and : then reel it in slowly. Offloading was accomplished with a : powerful ion beam which would pound the offloading material : with a steady stream of ion particles. : The design of the CRIST was innovative and useful, but it was : not low-maintenance. Of the five CRISTs that were built, four : lasted around one hundred years, and the other one only : seventy three before they needed to be brought back to Earth : and refitted. Each refitting took about fifteen years, and : completely occupied the Earth-Space Shipbuilding Facility for : that time. The result was that no more than five CRISTs could : be kept in service at any time. No CRIST was ever built after : 2310. : The CRIST failures devastated Mars. As the first five CRISTs : were built, Mars colony grew quickly, confident that the : growth would continue. But when the source of Mars' resources : failed, the colony found that it had overgrown its supportable : size, and extreme poverty struck most of the population. Each : time that a CRIST broke down, the result was famine on Mars. : The conversion of Deimos into the Marathon began when the Mars : colony was at the height of its power. By the time it was : completed sixty four years later, the decline of Mars was well : advanced. During that time, the Martian population had : seen its standard of living drop by eighty percent. On top of : oppressive poverty, Martians saw one of their moons being : converted into a colony ship in an expensive and risky colony : venture which was predominantly funded by a ruling foreign : power. The argument to make the Marathon into a CRIST became : more and more popular, but the UESC never seriously considered : this an option. The farther that Mars sank into the depths of : poverty, the more that the Marathon became a symbol for the : oppression of the Martian people. : The Declining Martian World: After the Marathon left Mars, the UESC's : attentions focused : primarily on technological development, and the upkeep of the : CRISTs. Mars was left to decay. Population continued to : increase as attempts at mandating abortion or sterilization : always started revolt. : [Spurious Interrupt- Breach Disabled ] : [Further Access Denied] : [Access Denied : [Access Denied : [Access Denied : I think we're getting a nice taste of history. But here's an interesting : fact: the terminal says [Search String "crist"] . Who was : looking for history about CRISTs? And furthermore, why can't we do our own : searches? BoBs get a great many privileges, eh? ;) : After we've punched all the switches and maybe scorched our face with grenade : smoke, we'll probably return to the Leela terminal to try and find our way : out. Sadly, we need to find another way out. Eventually, we're bound to : find a door leading to the walkway of some huge room containing not just : Fighters, but also Troopers and Compilers! And to top it all off, the : door closes behind us, trapping us in the company of the enemy! No escape : for you, monkey boy! : Assuming we're not vidding the level, we've still got our trusty AR, and : assuming you haven't wasted all your ammunition firing into a wall, we can : still mop up these boys with it. Once that's over with, we jump down into : the big pit and find some ammo. Sweet! Then, we head back up to the : walkway, into the next room and... oh not again! : Sure enough, there are two more big rooms, with similar layout to the first : one. A walkway, a big pit in the middle, and a bunch of monsters crawling : all throughout the area. The third room is the worst, with a bazillion : monsters all through, and a huge gauntlet to run through. And then, : there's the moment of judgment... : We pop open the terminal, expecting to get teleported off. But suppose we : didn't flip the necessary switches? : ***MESSAGE FROM LEELA*** : I have detected no change in the status of the control : circuitry. You must return and make sure that all of the : switches were activated. : ***END OF MESSAGE*** : NOOOO!!!!!! : Sad thing is, we're stuck. And Leela isn't taking us back. We tap all the : walls... and find nothing. : We re-do the level, flip all the switches, read the terminal, and expect : disaster to strike again. : ***MESSAGE FROM LEELA*** : Durandal has been denied access to some of the critical : computer systems. This should insure the mobility and : reliability of the Defense Drones. : Unfortunately, I have received a distress signal from some : crew who had sealed themselves off in one of the nearby access : areas. They say that they have lost control over the doors : and elevators on the level, and that the Pfhor have access to : the area. : It appears that Durandal has reacted to our move against him : by giving the Pfhor access to a formerly secure area. : We will have to deal with Durandal sooner or later, but we : can't be distracted from the Pfhor attack. I only hope that : his Rampant behavior won't continually sabotage our defense : efforts. : I am sending you to go and save these crew. Clear the area of : Aliens. If enough of the crew survive, then perhaps we can : get an intelligence report from them. : ***END MESSAGE*** : ***JUMP PAD ACTIVATION INITIATION START*** : ***TRANSPORT WHEN READY*** : *WOOSH!* : Not to mention that we get to meet BoB for the first time. Stuff a clip in : that AR, soldier! : Vale, : Perseus
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