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	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - People Under Stairs - Num
	Posted By: Agent Shem	Date: 7/23/02 7:14 p.m.
	In Response To: Rubicon Volunteers - People Under Stairs - Numb (Steve Levinson) : After the blast killed four of my coworkers, the Wheeling Hubcap Factory : brought in another one like me. Paid top dollar, from what I heard. : Someone who could work just as hard, just as feverishly. Someone just as : insane as I was. Meet Kate. So is Kate real or metapfhor? I really can't figure that part out...We are told to look out for her in the Rubicon manual, but she is almost too mysterious. : : Hmm . . . The terminal text is exactly the same as what appeared in : Science , but the terminal pict is different. The image at the left is of : a printing press – early 20th century if I’m not mistaken. No real : connection to the plot, but then the whole Kate story is a bit of an : analogy. My best guess is that the Rubicon team was striving for something : in continuous motion – something akin to the running discussed on the : second screen, and nature of man and machine, discussed on the third. : Well, in any case, your objective is find your way to an open area, to the : portal to the next dream level, Comfortably Numb . This is one of the : weirdest levels in any Marathon scenario and, yet, it’s definitely the : most dream-like. Everything happens in slow motion. For the technically : inclined, the Rubicon team accomplished this by placing invisible : extravision power-ups everywhere. You start the level on top of a couple : of them and as soon as one wears off, you’re bound to encounter another to : return you to double extravision, maintaining the illusion. It is possible : to wait until the effect wears off, giving the player a more normal : perception of the level, but sooner rather than later, they’ll encounter : more power-ups and return to the dream state. There are some Kate : terminals here, too, these finish off the rest of the Kate story from : Science Stands Alone in the Pfhor Plank, and then continue with the start : of the Kate story from the Ascension Factor: : : They say that the most frequent psychological disorder of amputees is : 'phantom pains,' times in which the subject experiences sensation in parts : of them which are no longer attached. Kate became the surreal warmth in : the heart they had removed from my body long ago. I was an amputee. She : was my phantom. So...a friend? Or was she a spy? There was that one term (Might be ascention factor, can't remember) where some guys are demanding the "formula" and Kate is with them. Did they really take his heart out? Was he a civilian cyborg before he was Mjolnir Recon 54? The famed Gherrit White term hints at that. : : I won’t belabor the point of this here, as we already discussed it at : length in The Ascension Factor, but take a look at the associated picture. : We have a rather distinguished looking gentleman in a suit and tie – but : look at the eyes. Look at the right eye. The image is very unclear and : this is largely conjecture on my part, but haven’t we seen this before? : Could this be Arthur Frane, Petty Officer on the UESC Marathon, who was : abducted by the Pfhor, reclaimed by Durandal, served under Robert Blake on : Lh’owon and returned to Earth with Blake in a captured Pfhor refuling : ship? Could this Arthur Frane have gone on to become the genius behind the : Achilles virus? This line of thought brings up an entirely new line of : possibilities. We know that Frane was on the Pfhor ship that Durandal : later renamed Boomer . We know that he served under Robert Blake. What we : don’t know is how his existence may have differed in the final time line : in Infinity from that in M2. It’s quite possible that he came under the : influence of Tycho, just as you did, in which case Tycho may have had a : lot to do with the development of the Achilles virus. This is pure : speculation, but an interesting possibility in any case. Perhaps Chris or : Scott can enlighten us here. Actually, both his eyes look pretty screwed. As are yours in the Numb level with all those helpful goodies. As are the "blind leaders of the blind". What do eyes mean? Why do we have all these frightening images of eyes? And what's with the hollow suit on that other dream term? Is that more blindness? : There are also some other interesting picture-only terminals in this dream : level: : : These faces in their surgical masks looking down at you look rather cheery, : wouldn’t you say? Are you “comfortably numb?” Yes, yes, blind leaders of : the blind, tumbling down the spiral. yes, yes, you are a casualty. And : with that, you are transported away to the reality of waking up in a Pfhor : prison. It’s time for The Pfhor . It’s time for the Exit Door Leads In . Nice work, Steve! I am emensely enjoying this Volunteer's discussion! Agentus Shemulatus

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Replies:

	Rubicon Volunteers - People Under Stairs - Numb	Steve Levinson	7/23/02 5:07 p.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - People Under Stairs - Num	Agent Shem	7/23/02 7:14 p.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - People Under Stairs - Num	Steve Levinson	7/24/02 9:20 p.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - People Under Stairs - Num	Yossarian	7/23/02 8:01 p.m.
	oh, and...	Yossarian	7/23/02 8:27 p.m.
	Re: oh, and...	scott	7/23/02 9:08 p.m.
	Re: oh, and...	Steve Levinson	7/23/02 9:22 p.m.
	Re: oh, and...	Steve Levinson	7/24/02 11:00 p.m.
	Re: oh, and...	Steve Levinson	7/23/02 9:16 p.m.
	Re: oh, and...	Sean	9/20/02 7:10 p.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - People Under Stairs - Num	Steve Levinson	7/23/02 9:05 p.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - People Under Stairs - Num	Scifiteki	7/23/02 11:19 p.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - People Under Stairs - Num	Inverted Sock Puppet	7/24/02 12:33 a.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - People Under Stairs - Num	Agent Shem	7/24/02 6:34 a.m.

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