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	Rubicon Volunteers - Revenge of the Lysol Lady
	Posted By: Steve Levinson	Date: 8/2/02 9:40 a.m.
	Revenge of the Lysol Lady. This takes me back – way back. I have distant memories of the Lysol Lady in TV commercials back in my youth, which is a lot longer ago than I’d like to admit. In any case, Lysol, in case you aren’t from this planet, is a brand name for a series of disinfectant products for the home, including household detergents and that ever-present room deoderizer that clears the air of all sorts of unlpeasant orders and unwanted pests, such as Pfhor, of course. In Rubicon, I think that the particular pest we’re talking about is the Achilles virus and the Lysol Lady is taking her revenge. The strange thing is that this is a Chimera-style level, with Chimera textures, terminals and landscapes. We also have a new weapon on this level not seen anywhere else in Rubicon, or in the Marathon Universe, for that matter. There is a cannon that fires some sort of energy projectile that packs an incredible wallop. You need triple shields to survive one and only one of these, and you’ll likely find yourself blasted off the map if you survive. If you haven’t noticed, the Salinger and Pfhor planks are parallel tracks with paired levels that, in many ways, complement each other, with the Pfhor levels generally being the more difficult (a notable exception being Hell Pfhor You vs. Breathing Nothing at All/Canned Air). The dream levels are particularly well paired, with the story of Kate being identical or nearly identical between them. In fact, the text of Kate’s story is absolutely identical in the two planks – it’s just the terminal picts and the times at which parts of the story are told that differ. The story of Kate concludes here, with the same text that is displayed in the Pfhor level, The Ascension Factor. I won’t bother to repeat that text or its analysis, as this was very well-discussed in the volunteers posts for that level. Besides which, there are some much more interesting things to discuss this time. Getting to the end of Lysol is difficult, but not nearly so difficult as in the Ascension Factor. Once you reach the end, you are presented with this terminal: This terminal doesn’t take you to the next level – to go there, you need to actively enter and jump into a rift in the Chimera. Once again, Lysol is a pivotal level – the player has a choice of continuing in this plank or switching to the Pfhor Plank at this point. The text on this terminal is a reflection of this, literally. Although the Jjaro have been steering you to the Salinger Plank so that you can put an end to the Dangi plot, you do have the option, now that you have kept the virus out of the hands of the Pfhor, to return and finish the Pfhor off, leaving the Dangi board to do what they will. Now this is where it gets interesting. In The Ascension Factor, it was horrendously difficult to get to the top, but very easy to return to the bottom to switch planks. In Lysol, the situation is reversed. It’s fairly easy to get to the end of the level, but devilishly hard to go back to the beginning. In order to do so, you have to be exceptionally quick and to dodge cannon fire that will be coming right at you. If you can successfully do this, you can indeed go back to the first terminal, where you will read: With that, you’ll be taken back to the Pfhor plank level Rozinante V and Hex Level 73. Ah, but you still have the Achilles virus chip! Whatever happens to it?! Well, you keep the chip with you until Rozinante VI, which is a rebellion level, where Durandal supposedly misplaces your gear. The Rubicon Team had to do this – otherwise you couldn’t have completed the Frog levels, but from a plot perspective, the implications are fascinating. You do retrieve your gear, but you don’t retrieve the chip, which can only lead to the conclusion that Durandal has it. Perhaps this is why he misplaced your gear – he realized that you had the chip and he wanted it. But he supposedly doesn’t know about Dangi or the Achilles virus yet, or does he . . . The Jjaro have undoubted gone out of their way once again to try to steer you to continue in the Salinger Plank. But why do they want to do this? As has been stated many times before, the Jjaro seem more interested in maintaining balance. If you return to the Pfhor Plank, that balance almost certainly will be upset. With the Pfhor defeated and humanity brought to it’s knees by the Dangi Corporation, the Dangi Board will become an exceptionally powerful, dominant factor in the galaxy. They will be a power much greater than the Pfhor High Council or anything seen before. Defeat the Dangi Board and you’ll prevent that from happening. The Pfhor might even come to a truce with the UESC, for all we know. You need to stay the course if the balance of the Universe is to be maintained. So let’s stay the course. Let’s continue on to Rozinante XI and then the final chapter in the Salinger saga.

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Replies:

	Rubicon Volunteers - Revenge of the Lysol Lady	Steve Levinson	8/2/02 9:40 a.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Revenge of the Lysol Lady	Scifiteki	8/2/02 6:31 p.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Revenge of the Lysol Lady	Mazilurik	8/2/02 7:10 p.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Revenge of the Lysol Lady	Scifiteki	8/2/02 7:19 p.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Revenge of the Lysol Lady	Sean	9/20/02 8:00 p.m.

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