Wow, in Wading in Vitriol we single-handedly defeated the Pfhor empire! Well, we did have a little help from Durandal and, like it or not, Tycho. What would the UESC have done without us? Well, we’ll soon find out, but before we do that, there is the little matter of the Pfhor Plank epilogue, Toadstools. This is apparently a dream level that takes place on the Chimera several hundred years after the end of the Pfhor war. There is little left of the Chimera at this point – just a waterlogged, fractured hulk of a ship with a few lookers to keep us company. In some ways, it’s reminiscent of the Chimera seen in the first dream level, We Dream You. Just a few functioning terminals remain, but these terminals tell quite a story. The first two of these contain future archives relating historical events that occurred after the Pfhor war:
Only a few short months after the long Human / Pfhor conflict came to a halt, a horrific plague broke out on numerous outerworld UESC planets. . . When the first cases appeared in Europe, the UESC unanimously voted to sterilize the entire subcontinent via low-orbit satellites. . . Wherever the plague appeared, UESC sterilizations were sure to follow. . . The UESC's draconian measures against the plague slowed its spread enough for the Dangi Corporation to find a vaccine.
Although hailed at the time as medicine's finest hour, the Achilles vaccine that the Dangi Corporation developed was used for sinister purposes. With the Achilles vaccine as a bargaining chip, the Dangi Corporation maneuvered itself into a position of power that gradually evolved into an all-out corporate dictatorship lasting nearly three hundred years. The conspiracy behind this coup remained a secret for many centuries, carried to the graves of the powerful men who were responsible for its execution.
The UESC victory on Pfhor Prime in 2862 may have been the most costly in human history, but it was also the most complete. The High Pfhor Council was defeated, and with it the foundation of pfhor society. The slaver empire would fade into the background of history, never to rise again.
Hmm . . . This isn’t exactly the way we’d intended things to turn out! We defeated the Pfhor, only to find at least as great an enemy at home. But what did we expect? The Jjaro told us everything we needed to know and then some in our dreams and, yet, we ignored their warnings. They gave us three opportunities to switch to the Salinger Plank and alter the course of events, preventing the Dangi Corporation from using the Achilles virus to blackmail the UESC. But what of the Dangi Corporation’s plans to develop a cure before releasing the virus? Did they decide to take a chance that they couldn’t find a cure and might wipe out all of humanity, including themselves, or was some other sinister force at work – perhaps another deranged AI? We’ll never know the answer to that one, but we can certainly speculate, and we’ll do so at the appropriate time in the Salinger Plank. And what would have been the outcome of the war had we not played a role in defeating the Pfhor high council? For that we will find an answer in the Salinger Plank, and the result will be surprising, and humbling to a certain Mjolnar Mark IV cyborg.
There is a third terminal on Toadstools that is worth reading, which serves as the exit to the Rubicon Final Screen. This is a final message from the Jjaro, and it is duplicated in the Salinger Plank level Hard Vacuum. Let’s wait to discuss it then, when we’ll be able to place it in the context of the entire scenario. So let’s now go back and start over. We don’t need the Jjaro’s help to replay the game and, hence, we have the opportunity to explore an alternative scenario to the one we just played. Let’s go back to the end of the Chimera Plank, to the level Hairy Legs. This time, let’s succeed in shutting the Chimera’s reactor down. After we do, Durandal will tell us:
Good work. There was never a doubt in my mind that you were going to come through in flying colors. The main reactor has been shut down, and the UESC will be showing up in force momentarily. Things seem to be working out aboard the Chimera, and I caught sight of something starside that merits investigation. A fleet of Pfhor fighters, in the midst of battle, turned around and folded out of the system. Unorthodox tactics, to say the least. We can't have the Pfhor knowing something we don't, now can we?
Hmm . . . What could that be about. Let’s go to the first chapter of the Salinger Plank, to The Salinger Incident, to the levels Rozinante II and Blasted Vent Cores to find out.
