From b7cb80d3a98b803ad7f6eb07ff099bc2e0293ac1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: s00ner Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2021 16:54:13 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] added blurbs --- Game Files/blurbsx.txt | 1786 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 1786 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Game Files/blurbsx.txt diff --git a/Game Files/blurbsx.txt b/Game Files/blurbsx.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..35d0520 --- /dev/null +++ b/Game Files/blurbsx.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1786 @@ +; +; Sid Meier’s ALPHA CENTAURI +; +; Background Story & Character Quotations +; +; Copyright © 1997, 1998 by Firaxis Games, Inc. +; + +##Opening Quotation +#OPENING +Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden. +He drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden +of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to +keep the way of the tree of life. +^ +^ —The Conclave Bible, +^ Datalinks + +##Biogenetics +#TECH0 +We hold life to be sacred, but we also know the foundation of life +consists in a stream of codes not so different from the successive +frames of a watchvid. Why then cannot we cut one code short here, and +start another there? Is life so fragile that it can withstand no +tampering? Does the sacred brook no improvement? +^ +^ —Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, +^ “Dynamics of Mind” + +##Industrial Base +#TECH1 +Resources exist to be consumed. And consumed they will be, if not by +this generation then by some future. By what right does this forgotten +future seek to deny us our birthright? None I say! Let us take what is +ours, chew and eat our fill. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ “The Ethics of Greed” + +##Information Networks +#TECH2 +The righteous need not cower before the drumbeat of human progress. +Though the song of yesterday fades into the challenge of tomorrow, +God still watches and judges us. Evil lurks in the datalinks as it +lurked in the streets of yesteryear. But it was never the streets +that were evil. +^ +^ —Sister Miriam Godwinson, +^ “The Blessed Struggle” + +##Applied Physics +#TECH3 +Scientific theories are judged by the coherence they lend to our +natural experience and the simplicity with which they do so. The +grand principle of the heavens balances on the razor’s edge of truth. +^ +^ —Commissioner Pravin Lal, +^ “A History of Science” + +##Social Psych +#TECH4 +If you can discover a better way of life than office-holding +for your future rulers, a well-governed city becomes a possibility. +For only in such a state will those rule who are truly rich, not +in gold, but in the wealth that makes happiness—a good and wise +life. +^ —Plato, +^ “The Republic”, Datalinks + +##Doctrine: Mobility +#TECH5 +Once a man has changed the relationship between himself and his +environment, he cannot return to the blissful ignorance he left. +Motion, of necessity, involves a change in perspective. +^ +^ —Commissioner Pravin Lal, +^ “A Social History of Planet” + +##Centauri Ecology +#TECH6 +Planet’s atmosphere, though a gasping death to humans and most animals, +is paradise for Earth plants. The high nitrate content of the soil and +the rich yellow sunlight bring an abundant harvest wherever +adjustments can be made for the unusual soil conditions. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “A Comparative Biology of Planet” + +##Superconductor +#TECH7 +Important? Yes! Critical? Absolutely. I would go so far as to say +that Superconducting Fiber alone makes our present economy possible. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ MorganLink 3DVision Live Interview + +##Nonlinear Mathematics +#TECH8 +There are two kinds of scientific progress: the methodical +experimentation and categorization which gradually extend the +boundaries of knowledge, and the revolutionary leap of genius +which redefines and transcends those boundaries. Acknowledging +our debt to the former, we yearn nonetheless for the latter. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “Address to the Faculty” + +##Applied Relativity +#TECH9 +You ivory tower intellectuals must not lose touch with the world +of industrial growth and hard currency. It is all very well and +good to pursue these high-minded scientific theories, but research +grants are expensive and you must justify your existence by providing +not only knowledge, but concrete and profitable applications as well. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ “The Ethics of Greed” + +##Fusion Power +#TECH10 +Our ancestors harnessed the power of a sun, and so again shall we. +^ +^ —Commissioner Pravin Lal, +^ “The Science of Our Fathers” + +##Silksteel Alloys +#TECH11 +Until quite recently, spider silk had the highest tensile strength +of any substance known to man, and the name Silksteel pays homage +to the arachnid for good reason. +^ +^ —Commissioner Pravin Lal, +^ “U.N. Scientific Survey” + +##Advanced Subatomic Theory +#TECH12 +The substructure of the universe regresses infinitely towards +smaller and smaller components. Behind atoms we find electrons, +and behind electrons quarks. Each layer unraveled reveals new +secrets, but also new mysteries. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “For I Have Tasted The Fruit” + +##High Energy Chemistry +#TECH13 +At atrociously high energy states, the properties of matter +change subtly and new miracles become possible. The Plasma +Accretion process is now dangerous and difficult to control, but +its products will soon become commonplace in our society. +^ +^ —Sister Miriam Godwinson, +^ “The Lord Works” + +##Frictionless Surfaces +#TECH14 +As I stepped onto the Magtube, a thought struck me: +Can there be friction where there is no substance? +And can substance be tricked into hiding from itself? +^ +^ —Dr. Gayle Nambala, +^ Morgan Industries Researcher + +##Nanometallurgy +#TECH15 +Our scientists now use fractal theory to “teach” the molecules to +assume, or resume, a particular form. Substances of amazing +strength become simple once the formulae are properly computed. +^ +^ —Colonel Corazon Santiago, +^ “The Council of War” + +##Superstring Theory +#TECH16 +A brave little theory, and actually quite coherent for a system of +five or seven dimensions—if only we lived in one. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “Now We Are Alone” + +##Advanced Military Algorithms +#TECH17 +Man has killed man from the beginning of time, and each new frontier +has brought new ways and new places to die. Why should the future +be different? +^ +^ —Colonel Corazon Santiago, +^ “Planet: A Survivalist’s Guide” + +##Monopole Magnets +#TECH18 +I maintain nonetheless that yin-yang dualism can be overcome. +With sufficient enlightenment we can give substance to any +distinction: mind without body, north without south, pleasure +without pain. Remember, enlightenment is a function of willpower, +not of physical strength. +^ +^ —Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, +^ “Essays on Mind and Matter” + +##Matter Compression +#TECH19 +Preliminary analysis indicates that our rivals have developed +a safe and reliable method to simulate conditions existing on the +interior of a stellar mass. The fabrication and transmutation +of materials possible in such an environment guarantees significant +industrial and military applications. +^ +^ —Probe Team Operations Directorate, +^ Top Secret Report + +##Unified Field Theory +#TECH20 +Beware, you who seek first and final principles, for you are +trampling the garden of an angry God and he awaits you just +beyond the last theorem. +^ +^ —Sister Miriam Godwinson, +^ “But for the Grace of God” + +##Graviton Theory +#TECH21 +This unusual specimen is not so much a classic particle as a +connector—a kind of string attaching two particles. As distance +increases the connective power becomes attenuated, but if it is +cut the power vanishes: forever. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “For I Have Tasted The Fruit” + +##Polymorphic Software +#TECH22 +Technological advance is an inherently iterative process. +One does not simply take sand from the beach and produce a Dataprobe. +We use crude tools to fashion better tools, and then our better +tools to fashion more precise tools, and so on. Each minor refinement +is a step in the process, and all of the steps must be taken. +^ +^ —Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, +^ “Looking God in the Eye” + +##Applied Gravitonics +#TECH23 +“What goes up … better doggone well stay up!” +^ +^ —Morgan Gravitonics, +^ Company Slogan + +##Inertial Damping +#TECH24 +Until now the battle had been proceeding smoothly: the enemy +was outflanked and had been driven from the reactor housing. But +against the reactor itself the matter cannon were strangely +ineffective. Rounds simply … stopped. In mid-air. +^ +^ —Colonel Corazon Santiago, +^ “A Tactical History of Sparta” + +##Quantum Power +#TECH25 +^^Heaven lasts long, and Earth abides +^^What is the secret of their durability? +^^Is it because they do not live for themselves +^^That they endure so long? +^ +^ —Lao Tzu, Datalinks + +##Singularity Mechanics +#TECH26 +Yes, yes, we’ve all heard the philosophers babble about “oneness” +being “beautiful” and “holy”. But let me tell you that {this} kind +of oneness certainly isn’t pretty and if you’re not careful it +will scare the bejeezus out of you. +^ +^ —Anonymous Lab Technician, +^ MorganLink 3DVision Live Interview + +##Controlled Singularity +#TECH27 +Some would ask, how could a perfect God create a universe filled +with so much that is evil. They have missed a greater conundrum: +why would a perfect God create a universe at all? +^ +^ —Sister Miriam Godwinson, +^ “But for the Grace of God” + +##Temporal Mechanics +#TECH28 +Time travel in the classic sense has no place in rational theory, +but temporal distortion does exist on the quantum level, and more +importantly it can be controlled. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “For I Have Tasted The Fruit” + +##Probability Mechanics +#TECH29 +Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play +dice, the dice are loaded. +^ +^ —Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, +^ “Looking God in the Eye” + +##Pre-Sentient Algorithms +#TECH30 +Begin with a function of arbitrary complexity. Feed it values, +“sense data”. Then, take your result, square it, and feed it back +into your original function, adding a new set of sense data. +Continue to feed your results back into the original function ad +infinitum. What do you have? The fundamental principle of human +consciousness. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “The Feedback Principle” + +##Super Tensile Solids +#TECH31 +Optical computers, genetic catalogs, nanorepair modules—forget +all of that. It’s when you see a megaton of steel suspended over +your head by a thread the thickness of a human hair that you +really find God in technology. +^ +^ —Anonymous Metagenics Dockworker, +^ MorganLink 3DVision Live Interview + +##Planetary Networks +#TECH32 +If our society seems more nihilistic than that of previous eras, perhaps +this is simply a sign of our maturity as a sentient species. As our +collective consciousness expands beyond a crucial point, we are +at last ready to accept life’s fundamental truth: that life’s only +purpose is life itself. +^ +^ —Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, +^ “Looking God in the Eye” + +##Digital Sentience +#TECH33 +We are no longer particularly in the business of writing software +to perform specific tasks. We now teach the software how to learn, +and in the primary bonding process it molds itself around the task +to be performed. The feedback loop never really ends, so a tenth year +polysentience can be a priceless jewel or a psychotic wreck, but it +is the primary bonding—the childhood, if you will—that has the most +far-reaching repercussions. +^ +^ —Bad’l Ron, Wakener, +^ Morgan Polysoft + +##Self-Aware Machines +#TECH34 +Without sensibility no object would be given to us, without +understanding no object would be thought. Thoughts without content +are empty, intuitions without concepts are blind. +^ +^ —Immanuel Kant, +^ “Critique of Pure Reason”, Datalinks +^ +^ +^I swear sometimes they’re watching me. +^ +^ —Bozon Pete, Shift Foreman, +^ Metagenics Biomachinery Division + +##Doctrine: Initiative +#TECH35 +A ship at sea is its own world. To be the captain of a ship is +to be the unquestioned ruler of that world and requires all of +the leadership skills of a prince or minister. +^ +^ —Colonel Corazon Santiago, +^ “Leadership and the Sea” + +##Doctrine: Flexibility +#TECH36 +He held his arm too stiffly, and so was thrown back repeatedly, +until at last I seized his forearm and snapped it back against +itself. His training suffered while the arm healed, of course, +but I felt this was a lesson he must learn early, and well. +^ +^ —Spartan Kel, +^ “Honing the Ki” + +##Intellectual Integrity +#TECH37 +Man’s unfailing capacity to believe what he prefers to be true +rather than what the evidence shows to be likely and possible has +always astounded me. We long for a caring Universe which will save +us from our childish mistakes, and in the face of mountains of +evidence to the contrary we will pin all our hopes on the slimmest +of doubts. God has not been proven not to exist, therefore +he must exist. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “For I Have Tasted The Fruit” + +##Synthetic Fossil Fuels +#TECH38 +Fossil fuels in the last century reached their extreme prices +because of their inherent utility: they pack a great deal of +potential energy into an extremely efficient package. If we can +but sidestep the 100 million year production process, we can corner +this market once again. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ Strategy Session + +##Doctrine: Air Power +#TECH39 +Air Power rests at the apex of the first triad of victory, for it +combines Mobility, Flexibility, and Initiative. +^ +^ —Spartan Battle Manual + +##Photon/Wave Mechanics +#TECH40 +Time dilates as the speed of light approaches. To the extent that +light consists of particles, it is in its own way timeless. Through +simple perturbations of the temporal manifold, we can refract or +repel photons most efficiently. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “Now We Are Alone” + +##Mind/Machine Interface +#TECH41 +The Warrior’s bland acronym, MMI, obscures the true horror of +this monstrosity. Its inventors promise a new era of genius, but +meanwhile unscrupulous power brokers use its forcible installation +to violate the sanctity of unwilling human minds. They are +creating their own private army of demons. +^ +^ —Commissioner Pravin Lal, +^ “Report on Human Rights” + +##Nanominiaturization +#TECH42 +Objects once measured in meters have become so small that they cannot +be seen by the naked eye, with revolutionary applications across +the board. Gentlemen, forget what your courtesans have told you: +size does matter! +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ Morgan Industries Annual Report + +##Doctrine: Loyalty +#TECH43 +Therefore a wise prince will seek means by which his subjects +will always and in every possible condition of things have need +of his government, and then they will always be faithful to him. +^ +^ —Niccolò Machiavelli, +^ “The Prince”, Datalinks + +##Ethical Calculus +#TECH44 +Some vices miss what is right because they are deficient, others +because they are excessive, in feelings or in actions, while virtue +finds and chooses the mean. +^ +^ —Aristotle, +^ “Nichomachean Ethics”, Datalinks + +##Industrial Economics +#TECH45 +Our first challenge is to create an entire economic infrastructure, from +top to bottom, out of whole cloth. No gradual evolution from previous +economic systems is possible, because there IS no previous economic +system. Each interdependent piece must be materialized simultaneously +and in perfect working order; otherwise the system will crash out +before it ever gets off the ground. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ “The Centauri Monopoly” + +##Industrial Automation +#TECH46 +In the borehole pressure mines 100km beneath Planetsurface, +at the Mohorovicic Discontinuity where crust gives way to mantle, +temperatures often reach levels well in excess of 1000°C. +Exploitation of Planet’s resources under such brutal conditions has +required quantum advances in robotic and teleoperational technology. +^ +^ —Morgan Industries, Ltd., +^ “Annual Report” + +##Centauri Meditation +#TECH47 +The Isle of the Deep is really not a single creature but a colony +of thousands of individual tubules, an aquatic vector of the Mind Worm +which terrorizes Planet’s continents. Over its lifetime certain tubules +secrete a tough, gluelike substance which hardens to form the +characteristic shell that floats the colony and creates the appearance +of a rogue island. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “A Comparative Biology of Planet” + +##Secrets of the Human Brain +#TECH48 +There are only two ways in which we can account for a necessary +agreement of experience with the concepts of its objects: either +experience makes these concepts possible or these concepts make +experience possible. +^ +^ —Immanuel Kant, +^ “Critique of Pure Reason”, Datalinks + +##Gene Splicing +#TECH49 +The genetic code does not, and cannot, specify the nature +and position of every capillary in the body or every neuron +in the brain. What it {can} do is describe the underlying +fractal pattern which creates them. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “Nonlinear Genetics” + +##Bio-Engineering +#TECH50 +Why do you insist that the human genetic code is “sacred” or “taboo”? +It is a chemical process and nothing more. For that matter [we] are +chemical processes and nothing more. If you deny yourself a useful +tool simply because it reminds you uncomfortably of your mortality, +you have uselessly and pointlessly crippled yourself. +^ +^ —Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, +^ “Looking God in the Eye” + +##Biomachinery +#TECH51 +I loved my chosen. How then to face the day when she left me? +So I took from her body a single cell, perhaps to love her again. +^ +^ —Commissioner Pravin Lal, +^ “Time of Bereavement” + +##Neural Grafting +#TECH52 +I think, and my thoughts cross the barrier into the synapses of the +machine, just as the good doctor intended. But what I cannot shake, +and what hints at things to come, is that thoughts cross back. In my +dreams, the sensibility of the machine invades the periphery of my +consciousness: dark, rigid, cold, alien. Evolution is at work here, +but just what is evolving remains to be seen. +^ +^ —Commissioner Pravin Lal, +^ “Man and Machine” + +##Cyberethics +#TECH53 +The wicked have told me of things that delight them, but not +such things as your law has to tell. +^ +^ —Saint Augustine, +^ “Confessions”, Datalinks + +##Eudaimonia +#TECH54 +The happy life is thought to be one of excellence; now +an excellent life requires exertion, and does not consist +in amusement. If Eudaimonia, or happiness, is activity in +accordance with excellence, it is reasonable that it should +be in accordance with the highest excellence; and this will +be that of the best thing in us. +^ +^ —Aristotle, +^ “Nichomachean Ethics”, Datalinks + +##The Will to Power +#TECH55 +Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman—a rope +over an abyss. A dangerous across, a dangerous on-the-way, +a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous shuddering and +stopping. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and +not an end: what can be loved in man is that he is an overture +and a going under. I love those who do not know how to +live, for they are those who cross over. +^ +^ —Friedrich Nietzsche, +^ “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, Datalinks + +##Threshold of Transcendence +#TECH56 +And when he has brought forth and reared this perfect virtue, he +shall be called the friend of god, and if ever it is given to man +to put on immortality, it shall be given to him. +^ +^ —Plato, +^ “The Symposium”, Datalinks + +##Matter Transmission +#TECH57 +The first living thing to go through the device was a small white +rat. I still have him, in fact. As you can see, the damage was +not so great as they say. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “See How They Run” + +##Centauri Empathy +#TECH58 +Observe the Razorbeak as it tends so carefully to the fungal blooms; +just the right bit from the yellow, then a swatch from the pink. +Follow the Glow Mites as they gather and organize the fallen spores. +What higher order guides their work? Mark my words: someone or something +is {managing} the ecology of this planet. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Planet Dreams” + +##Environmental Economics +#TECH59 +^^We sit together, +^^the mountain and I, +^^until only the mountain remains +^ +^ —Li Po, +^ From the Yang Collection + +##Ecological Engineering +#TECH60 +The prevalence of anoxic environments rich in organic material, +combined with the presence of nitrated compounds has +led to an astonishing variety of underground organisms which live in +the absence of oxygen and “breathe” nitrate. Likewise, the scarcity +of carbon in the environment has forced plants to economize on its use. +Thus, all our efforts to return carbon to the biosphere will encourage +the native life to proliferate. Conversely, the huge quantities +of nitrate in the soil will be heaven to human farmers. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “The Early Years” + +##Planetary Economics +#TECH61 +The Morgans fear what may not be purchased, for a trader cannot +comprehend a thing that is priceless. +^ +^ —Sister Miriam Godwinson, +^ “The Collected Sermons” + +##Adv. Ecological Engineering +#TECH62 +^ You are the children of a dead planet, earthdeirdre, and +^ this death we do not comprehend. We shall take you in, but +^ may we ask this question—will we too catch the planetdeath +^ disease? +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Conversations with Planet” + +##Centauri Psi +#TECH63 +The Mind Worms are the natural defenses of the living Planet—the +white blood cells, if you will. In a world in which unassimilated +thought represents danger, the Mind Worm seeks out concentrations of +sentient mental energy and destroys them, ruthlessly and efficiently. +^ +^ —Commissioner Pravin Lal, +^ “Mind Worm, Mind Worm” + +##Secrets of Alpha Centauri +#TECH64 +^ You waited so long to heed us, earthdeirdre, +^ Almost we pruned you, as we may yet prune your branches. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Conversations with Planet” + +##Secrets of Creation +#TECH65 +And when the hourglass has run out, the hourglass of temporality, +when the noise of secular life has grown silent and its restless or +ineffectual activism has come to an end, when everything around you +is still, as it is in eternity, then eternity asks you and every +individual in these millions and millions about only one thing: +whether you have lived in despair or not. +^ +^ —Soren Kierkegaard, +^ “The Sickness Unto Death”, Datalinks + +##Advanced Spaceflight +#TECH66 +And so we return again to the holy void. Some say this is simply our +destiny, but I would have you remember always that the void EXISTS, +just as surely as you or I. Is nothingness any less a miracle than +substance? +^ +^ —Sister Miriam Godwinson, +^ “We Must Dissent” + +##Homo Superior +#TECH67 +Companions the creator seeks, not corpses, not herds and +believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks—those who write +new values on new tablets. Companions the creator seeks, and +fellow harvesters; for everything about him is ripe for the +harvest. +^ +^ —Friedrich Nietzsche, +^ “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, Datalinks + +##Organic Superlubricant +#TECH68 +Organic Superlube? Oh, it’s great stuff, great stuff. +You really have to keep an eye on it, though—it’ll try and slide +away from you the first chance it gets. +^ +^ —T. M. Morgan-Reilly, +^ Morgan Metagenics + +##Quantum Machinery +#TECH69 +Men in their arrogance claim to understand the nature of creation, +and devise elaborate theories to describe its behavior. But always +they discover in the end that God was quite a bit more clever than +they thought. +^ +^ —Sister Miriam Godwinson, +^ “We Must Dissent” + +##Global Energy Theory +#TECH70 +“Energy is the currency of the future.” +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ “The Centauri Monopoly” + +##Nanomatter Editation +#TECH71 +‘Abort, Retry, Fail?’ was the phrase some wormdog scrawled +next to the door of the Edit Universe project room. And when +the new dataspinners started working, fabricating their worlds +on the huge organic comp systems, we’d remind them: if you see +this message, {always} choose ‘Retry.’ +^ +^ —Bad’l Ron, Wakener, +^ Morgan Polysoft + +##Optical Computers +#TECH72 +We have reached an informational threshold which can only be crossed +by harnessing the speed of light directly. The quickest computations +require the fastest possible particles moving along the shortest +paths. Since the capability now exists to take our information +directly from photons traveling molecular distances, the final +act of the information revolution will soon be upon us. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “For I Have Tasted The Fruit” + +##Industrial Nanorobotics +#TECH73 +Already we have turned all of our critical industries, all of our +material resources, over to these … things … these lumps +of silver and paste we call nanorobots. And now we propose to teach +them intelligence? What, pray tell, will we do when these little +homunculi awaken one day and announce that they have no further need +of us? +^ +^ —Sister Miriam Godwinson, +^ “We Must Dissent” + +##Centauri Genetics +#TECH74 +Remember, genes are {not} blueprints. This means you can’t, for example, +insert “the genes for an elephant’s trunk” into a giraffe and get a +giraffe with a trunk. There [are] no genes for trunks. What you {can} do +with genes is chemistry, since DNA codes for chemicals. For instance, +we can in theory splice the native plants’ talent for nitrogen fixation +into a terran plant. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “Nonlinear Genetics” + +##Sentient Econometrics +#TECH75 +The fungus has been Planet’s dominant lifeform since about +the time of the Lower Paleozoic on Earth. But when, once every +hundred million years or so, the neural net at last achieves the +critical mass necessary to become sentient, the final metamorphosis +kills off most of the other life on the planet. It is possible that +we humans can help to break this tragic cycle. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Planet Dreams” + +##Retroviral Engineering +#TECH76 +The Academician’s private residences shall remain off-limits to +the Genetic Inspectors. We possess no retroviral capability, +we are not researching retroviral engineering, and we shall not +allow this Council to violate faction privileges in the name of this +ridiculous witch hunt!” +^ +^ —Fedor Petrov, +^ Vice Provost for University Affairs + +##Satellite Reconnaissance +#TECH77 +I have often been asked: if we have traveled between the stars, +why can we not launch the simplest of orbital probes? These fools +fail to understand the difficulty of finding the appropriate +materials on this Planet, of developing adequate power supplies, +and creating the infrastructure necessary to support such an +effort. In short, we have struggled under the limitations of a +colonial society on a virgin planet. Until now. +^ +^ —Colonel Corazon Santiago, +^ “Planet: A Survivalist’s Guide” + +##Progenitor Psych +#TECH78 +And I stood before him, and I sang unto her, and it appeared to +listen. His very countenance rippled like the sea, and the sound +of my own voice came back to me, distorted. For a moment I thought +she was mocking me, or it was non-sapient and mimicking me. Then I +understood: the sounds were not important; it was how I affected +his sounds and how she affected mine that transmitted the message. +^ +^ —Prime Function Aki Zeta-Five, +^ “One Future” + +##Field Modulation +#TECH79 +The Progenitor race appears to sense, and possibly even manipulate, +local fields an untrained human cannot perceive without mechanical aid, +including at the very least electricity and magnetism. This sensitivity +creates entirely new worlds of artistic endeavors for the race-or it may +be developed into a powerful combat awareness that can foil any attempt +at surprise. +^ +^ —Prime Function Aki Zeta-Five, +^ “Alien Analysis” + +##Adaptive Doctrine +#TECH80 +War is war; destruction is destruction. You think this is obvious. +But war is not destruction, it is victory. To achieve victory, simply +appear to give the opponent what he wants and he will go away, or join +you in your quest for additional power. +^ +^ —Datatech Sinder Roze, +^ “Information Burns” + +##Adaptive Economics +#TECH81 +Humans : correct in making the leap from wealth as currency to wealth as +energy. But logic failure : wealth ultimately is extension of desire, fluctuating +with emotions and state of mind. Desires : when all are supported in purely adaptable +system, true wealth is achieved. +^ +^ —Usurper Judaa Marr, +^ “Human : Nature” + +##Bioadaptive Resonance +#TECH82 +I saw the alien phalanx coming toward us, and I calmed my mind as Kri’lan had taught +me. And what I saw next to the phalanx was a shadow regiment, half-formed from the +resonance around them. I cursed the aliens...with power like that, each one could fight +as many, and I thanked Planet for sending us the betrayer. +^ +^ —Prophet Cha Dawn, +^ “The Betrayer and I” + +##Sentient Resonance +#TECH83 +And here we tinker with metal, to try to give it a kind of life, and suffer those who +would scoff at our efforts. But who’s to say that, if intelligence had evolved in some +other form in past millennia, the ancestors of these beings would not now scoff at the +idea of intelligence residing within meat? +^ +^ —Prime Function Aki Zeta-Five, +^ “The Fallacies of Self-Awareness” + +##Secrets of the Manifolds +#TECH84 +Kri’lan taught me of the resonance and how to feel it. After much training, I could +see—the very surface under our feet, Planet itself—is a living, fluctuating nexus +of energy, violent, beautiful and quite unstable. And I could also feel its +cousins—distant mirrors on the other side of the space-time continuum—the +far-flung Manifolds. +^ +^ —Prophet Cha Dawn, +^ “The Betrayer and I” + +##N-Space Compression +#TECH85 +Humans : there is no space inside rocket. Progenitor : space exists around all things +with mass. Space : “here”. Inside rocket : “there”. Secret: bring here to there. +^ +^ —Caretaker Lular H’minee, +^ “Secret : Space” + +##String Resonance +#TECH86 +To understand a thing is to know the manner by which it might be destroyed. A fundamental +understanding of the basic building-blocks of the Universe is essential, then, to the total +destruction of everything. +^ +^ —Foreman Domai, +^ “One Tool, One Thought” + +##Transcendent Thought +#TECH88 +^ Eternity lies ahead of us, and behind. +^ Have you drunk your fill? +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Conversations with Planet”, Epilogue + +##The Human Genome Project +#PROJECT0 +To map the very stuff of life; to look into the +genetic mirror and watch a million generations +march past. That, friends, is both our curse and +our proudest achievement. For it is in reaching to our +beginnings that we begin to learn who we truly are. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “Address to the Faculty” + +##The Command Nexus +#PROJECT1 +Information, the first principle of warfare, must form the +foundation of all your efforts. Know, of course, thine enemy. +But in knowing him do not forget above all to know thyself. +The commander who embraces this totality of battle shall win +even with the inferior force. +^ +^ —Spartan Battle Manual + +##The Weather Paradigm +#PROJECT2 +I shall not confront Planet as an enemy, but shall accept +its mysteries as gifts to be cherished. Nor shall I crudely +seek to peel the layers away like the skin from an onion. +Instead I shall gather them together as the tree gathers the +breeze. The wind shall blow and I shall bend. The sky shall +open and I shall drink my fill. +^ +^ —Gaian Acolyte’s Prayer + +##The Merchant Exchange +#PROJECT3 +Human behavior is economic behavior. The particulars may vary, +but competition for limited resources remains a constant. Need +as well as greed have followed us to the stars, and the rewards +of wealth still await those wise enough to recognize this deep +thrumming of our common pulse. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ “The Centauri Monopoly” + +##The Empath Guild +#PROJECT4 +Symbols are the key to telepathy. The mind wraps its +secrets in symbols; when we discover the symbols that shape +our enemy’s thought, we can penetrate the vault of his mind. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Our Secret War” + +##The Citizens’ Defense Force +#PROJECT5 +As the writhing, teeming mass of Mind Worms swarmed over the outer +perimeter, we saw the defenders recoil in horror. “Stay calm! Use +your flame guns!” shouted the commander, but to no avail. It is well +known that the Mind Worm Boil uses psychic terror to paralyze its +prey, and then carefully implants ravenous larvae in the brains of +its still-conscious victims. Even with the best weapons, only the +most disciplined troops can resist this horrific attack. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Our Secret War” + +##The Virtual World +#PROJECT6 +What do I care for your suffering? Pain, even agony, is no +more than information before the senses, data fed to the +computer of the mind. The lesson is simple: you have received +the information, now act on it. Take control of the input and +you shall become master of the output. +^ +^ —Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, +^ “Essays on Mind and Matter” + +##The Planetary Transit System +#PROJECT7 +As distances vanish and the people can flow freely from place +to place, society will cross a psychological specific heat +boundary and enter a new state. No longer a solid or liquid, +we have become as a vapor and will expand to fill all available +space. And like a gas, we shall not be easily contained. +^ +^ —Sister Miriam Godwinson, +^ “But for the Grace of God” + +##The Xenoempathy Dome +#PROJECT8 +I believe Planet will talk to us if we are willing +to listen. These fungal stalks behave as multistate relays: +taken together, the neural net connectivity must be staggering. +Can a planet be said to have achieved sentience? +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ Arguments in Council + +##The Neural Amplifier +#PROJECT9 +Against such abominations, we organize our defenses on the +principle that one strong and able mind can shield the many. +^ +^ —Spartan Battle Manual + +##Maritime Control Center +#PROJECT10 +It is altogether fitting that we who have sailed the deeps of +space now return again to the sea. This is in many ways a water +planet, and it can be ruled from the waves. With sea power, rugged +terrain can be bypassed and enemy strongholds isolated. Once +naval superiority is achieved, Planet is ours for the taking. +^ +^ —Colonel Corazon Santiago, +^ “Planet: A Survivalist’s Guide” + +##The Planetary Datalinks +#PROJECT11 +As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth’s final century, +free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. +The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on +information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but +the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse +has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would +deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself +your master. +^ +^ —Commissioner Pravin Lal, +^ “U.N. Declaration of Rights” + +##The Supercollider +#PROJECT12 +^God does not play dice. +^ +^ —Albert Einstein, Datalinks + +##The Ascetic Virtues +#PROJECT13 +Learn to overcome the crass demands of flesh and bone, for they +warp the matrix through which we perceive the world. Extend your +awareness outward, beyond the self of body, to embrace the self +of group and the self of humanity. The goals of the group and the +greater race are transcendent, and to embrace them is to achieve +enlightenment. +^ +^ —Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, +^ “Essays on Mind and Matter” + +##The Longevity Vaccine +#PROJECT14 +I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that I’d +settle for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be +pretty nice. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ MorganLink 3DVision Interview + +##The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm +#PROJECT15 +If I determine the enemy’s disposition of forces while I have +no perceptible form, I can concentrate my forces while the enemy +is fragmented. The pinnacle of military deployment approaches the +formless: if it is formless, then even the deepest spy cannot +discern it nor the wise make plans against it. +^ +^ —Sun Tzu, +^ “The Art of War”, Datalinks + +##The Pholus Mutagen +#PROJECT16 +^ We welcome you, earthdeirdre and earthwheat and earthtree as +^ honored guests, for you add great power to our ancient song— +^ planetfungus and planetworm and planetmind sing and play +^ here, and you are welcome among us. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Conversations with Planet” + +##The Cyborg Factory +#PROJECT17 +^^A handsome young Cyborg named Ace, +^^Wooed women at every base, +^^But once ladies glanced at +^^His special enhancement +^^They vanished with nary a trace. +^ +^ —Barracks Graffiti, +^ Sparta Command + +##The Theory of Everything +#PROJECT18 +The Earth is the cradle of the mind, but one cannot stay in the +cradle forever. +^ +^ —Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, +^ The Father of Rocketry, Datalinks + +##The Dream Twister +#PROJECT19 +^ Mary had a little lamb, +^ Little lamb little lamb, +^ Mary had a little lamb, +^ whose fleece was white as snow. +^ +^ —Assassins’ Redoubt, +^ Final Transmission + +##The Universal Translator +#PROJECT20 +And the Lord said, “Behold, the people is one, and +they have all one language; and this they begin to do: +and now nothing will be restrained from them, which +they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and +there confound their language, that they may not +understand one another’s speech.” +^ +^ —The Conclave Bible, +^ Datalinks + +##The Network Backbone +#PROJECT21 +Of course we’ll bundle our MorganNet software with the new +network nodes; our customers expect no less of us. We have never +sought to become a monopoly. Our products are simply so good that +no one feels the need to compete with us. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ Morgan Data Systems press release + +##The Nano Factory +#PROJECT22 +Industrial Grade Nano-Paste, Planet’s most valuable commodity, can also +be one of its most dangerous. Simply pour out several canisters, slide +in a programming transponder, and step well away while the stuff cooks. +In under an hour the nano will use available materials to assemble a +small factory, a hovertank, or enough impact rifles to equip a regiment. +^ +^ —Colonel Corazon Santiago, +^ “Planet: A Survivalist’s Guide” + +##The Living Refinery +#PROJECT23 +We estimate that during the next mission century most of +Planet’s industries will be moved off-planet to Nessus Prime and +other orbital facilities. Many of our industries will benefit +greatly from the low gravity environments available in space, +particularly those involving genetically engineered microbes. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ “The Centauri Monopoly” + +##The Cloning Vats +#PROJECT24 +We shall take only the greatest minds, the finest soldiers, +the most faithful servants. We shall multiply them a thousandfold +and release them to usher in a new era of glory. +^ +^ —Colonel Corazon Santiago, +^ “The Council of War” + +##The Self-Aware Colony +#PROJECT25 +Will we next create false gods to rule over us? How proud +we have become, and how blind. +^ +^ —Sister Miriam Godwinson, +^ “We Must Dissent” + +##Clinical Immortality +#PROJECT26 +And the Lord God said, “Behold, the man is become as +one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth +his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and +live forever, we must send him forth.” Therefore the +Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till +the ground from whence he was taken. +^ +^ —The Conclave Bible, +^ Datalinks + +##The Space Elevator +#PROJECT27 +In one moment, Earth; in the next, Heaven. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “For I Have Tasted The Fruit” + +##The Singularity Inductor +#PROJECT28 +What actually transpires beneath the veil of an event horizon? +Decent people shouldn’t think too much about that. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “For I Have Tasted The Fruit” + +##The Bulk Matter Transmitter +#PROJECT29 +And what of the immortal soul in such transactions? Can this +machine transmit and reattach it as well? Or is it lost forever, +leaving a soulless body to wander the world in despair? +^ +^ —Sister Miriam Godwinson, +^ “We Must Dissent” + +##The Telepathic Matrix +#PROJECT30 +^ From the delicate strands, +^ between minds we weave our mesh: +^ a blanket to warm the soul. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “The Collected Poems” + +##The Voice of Planet +#PROJECT31 +Imagine the entire contents of the planetary datalinks, the sum total +of human knowledge, blasted into the Planetmind’s fragile neural +network with the full power of every reactor on the planet. Thousands +of years of civilization compressed into a single searing burst of +revelation. That is our last-ditch attempt to win humanity a reprieve +from extinction at the hands of an awakening alien god. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “Planet Speaks” + +##Ascent to Transcendence +#PROJECT32 +No longer mere earthbeings and planetbeings are we, but bright +children of the stars! And together we shall dance in and out +of ten billion years, celebrating the gift of consciousness until +the stars themselves grow cold and weary, and our thoughts turn +again to the beginning. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Conversations with Planet” + +##Manifold Harmonics +#PROJECT33 +Manifold harmonic fields : within, the true nature of the universe becomes +apparent. Layers : within layers. Worlds : within worlds. Inside : the heart +of everything opens, and everything opens to it. +^ +^ —Caretaker Lular H’minee, +^ “Resonance : Power” + +##Nethack Terminus +#PROJECT34 +By creating a planetary network, mankind on Planet now has the ability +to share information at light-speed. But by creating a single such network, +each faction has brought themselves closer to discovery as well. At the speed +of light, we will catch your information, tag it like an animal in the wild, +and release it unharmed-if such should serve our purposes. +^ +^ —Datatech Sinder Roze, +^ “The Alpha Codex” + +##Cloudbase Academy +#PROJECT35 +In one dimension I find existence, in two I find life, but in three, I find freedom. +^ +^ —Foreman Domai, +^ Cadet Induction Ceremony, Mission Year 2216 + +##Planetary Energy Grid +#PROJECT36 +“The ancient Chinese had a name for it: Feng Shui. We call it energy flow. It is the +same thing, the same thought: energy is everywhere, but only a fraction of it is tapped +by humans for their purposes. Now the Progenitors have taught us that we can tap not only +our own latent abilities, but the latent abilities of the Universe itself.” +^ +^ —Prophet Cha Dawn, +^ “Planet Rising” + +##Headquarters +#HELPFAC1 +As we approached we were confronted by the ruined splendor of +Sparta Command. The true immensity of the place became instantly +apparent as our Quantum Tank crunched over the rubble and parked next +to a shattered bunker, but the extent of the destruction +took weeks to assess. The shielded datacore had sustained several +massive breaches and smoke still billowed from the numerous cannon +ports. There were few signs of human life. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Our Secret War” + +##Children’s Creche +#HELPFAC2 +Proper care and education for our children remains a cornerstone of +our entire colonization effort. Children not only shape our future; +they determine in many ways our present. Men and women work harder +knowing their children are safe and close at hand. And never forget that, +with children present, parents will defend their home to the death. +^ +^ —Colonel Corazon Santiago, +^ “Planet: A Survivalist’s Guide” + +##Recycling Tanks +#HELPFAC3 +It is every citizen’s final duty to go into the tanks and +become one with all the people. +^ +^ —Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, +^ “Ethics for Tomorrow” + +##Perimeter Defense +#HELPFAC4 +Having now established a secure perimeter, we have made ourselves +relatively safe from enemy incursions. But against the seemingly +random attacks by Planet’s native life only our array of warning +sensors can help us, for the Mind Worms infiltrate through every crevice +and chew through anything softer than plasmasteel. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “The Early Years” + +##Tachyon Field +#HELPFAC5 +The klaxon began to wail, but we felt the reassuring tingle of +the Tachyon Field crackling to life around us, encasing the +entire base in its impenetrable glow. +^ +^ —Spartan Kel, +^ “The Fall of Sparta” + +##Recreation Commons +#HELPFAC6 +The entire character of a base and its inhabitants can be +absorbed in a quick trip to the Rec Commons. The sweaty +arenas of Fort Legion, the glittering gambling halls of +Morgan Bank, the sunny lovers’ trysts in Gaia’s High Garden, +or the somber reading rooms of U.N. Headquarters. Even the +feeding bay at the Hive gives stark insight into the sleeping +demons of Yang’s communal utopia. +^ +^ —Commissioner Pravin Lal, +^ “A Social History of Planet” + +##Energy Bank +#HELPFAC7 +Life is merely an orderly decay of energy states, and survival +requires the continual discovery of new energy to pump into the +system. He who controls the sources of energy controls the means +of survival. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ “The Centauri Monopoly” + +##Network Node +#HELPFAC8 +^^I don’t know but I’ve been told, +^^Deirdre’s got a Network Node. +^^Likes to press the on-off switch, +^^Dig that crazy Gaian witch! +^ +^ —Spartan Barracks March + +##Biology Lab +#HELPFAC9 +Although Planet’s native life is based, like Earth’s, on right-handed +DNA, and codes for all the same amino acids, the inevitable chemical +and structural differences from a billion years of evolution in an +alien environment render the native plant life highly poisonous +to humans. Juicy, ripe grenade fruits may look appealing, but a +mouthful of organonitrates will certainly change your mind in a hurry. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “A Comparative Biology of Planet” + +##Skunkworks +#HELPFAC10 +The popular stereotype of the researcher is that of a skeptic and a +pessimist. Nothing could be further from the truth! Scientists +must be optimists at heart, in order to block out the incessant +chorus of those who say “It cannot be done.” +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ University Commencement + +##Hologram Theatre +#HELPFAC11 +Richard Baxton piloted his Recon Rover into a fungal vortex and +held off four waves of mind worms, saving an entire colony. +^ We immediately purchased his identity manifests and repackaged him +into the Recon Rover Rick character with a multi-tiered media campaign: +televids, touchbooks, holos, psi-tours—the works. +^ People need heroes. They don’t need to know how he died clawing his +eyes out, screaming for mercy. The real story would just hurt sales, +and dampen the spirits of our customers. +^ +^ —“Mythology for Profit” +^ Morgan Stellartots Keynote Speech + +##Paradise Garden +#HELPFAC12 +^^That sunny dome! Those caves of ice! +^^And all who heard should see them there, +^^And all should cry, Beware! Beware! +^^His flashing eyes, his floating hair! +^^Weave a circle round him thrice, +^^And close your eyes with holy dread, +^^For he on honey-dew hath fed, +^^And drunk the milk of Paradise. +^ +^ —Samuel Taylor Coleridge, +^ Datalinks + +##Tree Farm +#HELPFAC13 +In the great commons at Gaia’s Landing we have a tall and particularly +beautiful stand of white pine, planted at the time of the first +colonies. It represents our promise to the people, and to Planet +itself, never to repeat the tragedy of Earth. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Planet Dreams” + +##Hybrid Forest +#HELPFAC14 +You see in this dome the intermingling of native and earth plants. +Outside, they are competitors, struggling over the trace +elements required for life. Often, one destroys the other. Here, +they are tended with care and kept well nourished. They thrive +together, and the native fungus does not unleash its terrible +defenses. As you can see, competition is unnecessary when resources +are plentiful and population growth is controlled. +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Planet Dreams” + +##Fusion Lab +#HELPFAC15 +It will happen, and it will happen in our lifetimes. Fusion +Power isn’t just the future. Fusion Power is now. +^ +^ —T. M. Morgan-Reilly, +^ Morgan Metagenics + +##Quantum Lab +#HELPFAC16 +Have you ever wondered why clouds behave in such familiar ways when +each specimen is so unique? Or why the energy exchange market is so +unpredictable? In the coming age we must develop and apply +nonlinear mathematical models to real world phenomena. We shall +seek, and find, the hidden fractal keys which can unravel the chaos +around us. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ University Commencement + +##Research Hospital +#HELPFAC17 +Some civilian workers got in among the research patients today and +became so hysterical I felt compelled to have them nerve stapled. +The consequence, of course, will be another public relations nightmare, +but I was severely shaken by the extent of their revulsion towards a +project so vital to our survival. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ The Personal Diaries + +##Nanohospital +#HELPFAC18 +It is a medical commonplace that the tissues of the human body +replace themselves regularly, essentially creating an entirely +new body every seven years. From whence then come cancer and the +slow degeneration of age? They exist as faults in the patterns of +intelligence within the genes themselves; by reprogramming these +smallest parts, the whole becomes well. +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ “Nonlinear Genetics” + +##Robotic Assembly Plant +#HELPFAC19 +^^Captain said to big old John Henry, +^^That old drill keeps a-coming around. +^^Take that steam drill out and start it on that job +^^Let it whop, let it whop that steel on down +^^Let it whop, let it whop that steel on down. +^ +^ —Traditional, Datalinks + +##Nanoreplicator +#HELPFAC20 +Look at any photograph or work of art. If you could duplicate +exactly the first tiny dot of color, and then the next and the +next, you would end with a perfect copy of the whole, +indistinguishable from the original in every way, including +the so-called “moral value” of the art itself. Nothing can +transcend its smallest elements. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ “The Ethics of Greed” + +##Quantum Converter +#HELPFAC21 +And when at last it is time for the transition from megacorporation to +planetary government, from entrepreneur to emperor, it is then that the +true genius of our strategy shall become apparent, for energy is the +lifeblood of this society and when the chips are down he who controls +the energy supply controls Planet. In former times the energy monopoly +was called “The Power Company”; we intend to give this name an entirely +new meaning. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ “The Centauri Monopoly” + +##Genejack Factory +#HELPFAC22 +My gift to industry is the genetically engineered worker, or +Genejack. Specially designed for labor, the Genejack’s muscles and +nerves are ideal for his task, and the cerebral cortex has been +atrophied so that he can desire nothing except to perform his +duties. Tyranny, you say? How can you tyrannize someone who cannot +feel pain? +^ +^ —Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, +^ “Essays on Mind and Matter” + +##Punishment Sphere +#HELPFAC23 +It is not uncommon to see patients undergo permanent psychological +trauma in the presence of the Sphere, before the nerve stapler has +even been strapped into position. Its effect on the general +consciousness of the culture is profound: husbands have seen +wives go inside, and mothers their children. Dr. Xynan left the +surface of the sphere semitranslucent for a reason. You can hear +them in there; you can see them. It is a thing of terrible beauty. +^ +^ —Baron Klim, +^ “The Music of the Spheres” + +##Hab Complex +#HELPFAC24 +The chief aim of their constitution and government is that, +whenever public needs permit, all citizens should be free, so far +as possible, to withdraw their time and energy from the service of +the body, and devote themselves to the freedom and culture of the +mind. For that, they think, is the real happiness of life. +^ +^ —Sir Thomas More, +^ “Utopia”, Datalinks + +##Habitation Dome +#HELPFAC25 +^^I sit in my cubicle, here on the motherworld. +^^When I die, they will put my body in a box and +^^dispose of it in the cold ground. +^^And in all the million ages to come, I will never +^^breathe or laugh or twitch again. +^^So won’t you run and play with me here among the +^^teeming mass of humanity? +^^The universe has spared us this moment. +^ +^ —Anonymous, Datalinks + +##Pressure Dome +#HELPFAC26 +When beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean’s +skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would +not willingly remember that this velvet paw but conceals a +remorseless fang. +^ +^ —Herman Melville, +^ “Moby Dick”, Datalinks + +##Command Center +#HELPFAC27 +Superior training and superior weaponry have, when taken together, +a geometric effect on overall military strength. Well-trained, +well-equipped troops can stand up to many more times their lesser +brethren than linear arithmetic would seem to indicate. +^ +^ —Spartan Battle Manual + +##Naval Yard +#HELPFAC28 +The sea is everything. It covers seven-tenths of the globe. Its breath +is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert where a man is never +alone, for he can feel life quivering all about him. The sea is only +a receptacle for all the prodigious, supernatural things that exist +inside it; it is only movement and love; it is the living infinite. +^ +^ —Jules Verne, +^ “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea”, Datalinks + +##Aerospace Complex +#HELPFAC29 +You are orphans, earthdeirdre, your homeworld already buried +so young among the aeons. Yet now you fill the skies where +we watched a million sunsets with flame and contrails, paying +no heed to the hard lessons the universe has tried to teach you. +Are you a breath of life to invigorate a complacent world, +you earthhumans, or an insidious cancer which must be excised? +^ +^ —Lady Deirdre Skye, +^ “Conversations With Planet” + +##Bioenhancement Center +#HELPFAC30 +We are all aware that the senses can be deceived, the eyes fooled. +But how can we be sure our senses are not being deceived at any +particular time, or even all the time? Might I just be a brain in +a tank somewhere, tricked all my life into believing in the events +of this world by some insane computer? And does my life gain or lose +meaning based on my reaction to such solipsism? +^ +^ —Project PYRRHO, Specimen 46, Vat 7 +^ Activity Recorded M.Y. 2302.22467 +^ TERMINATION OF SPECIMEN ADVISED + +##Centauri Preserve +#HELPFAC31 +In the years since our arrival, we have foolishly disrupted so +many of Planet’s ecosystems that entire species may vanish +without our ever having understood, or even known them. We must halt +this plunder, and halt it immediately, for our own survival as a +species depends on our ability to strike a balance on this world. +^ +^ —Commissioner Pravin Lal, +^ “Mind Worm, Mind Worm” + +##Temple of Planet +#HELPFAC32 +Let the Gaians preach their silly religion, but one way or the other +I shall see this compound burned, seared, and sterilized until every +hiding place is found and until every last Mind Worm egg, every last +slimy one, has been cooked to a smoking husk. That species shall be +exterminated, I tell you! Exterminated! +^ +^ —Academician Prokhor Zakharov, +^ Lab Three aftermath + +##Psi Gate +#HELPFAC33 +Go through, my children! The time of miracles is upon us. Let +us cast off sin and walk together to the Garden of the Lord. +With God’s mercy we shall meet again on the other side. +^ +^ —Sister Miriam Godwinson, +^ “Last Testament” + +##Covert Ops Center +#HELPFAC34 +The idea first of all was to create a center without a physical +location, more of a nexus of thought where we could trade intelligence, +turncodes and technique. The second goal was to hide it from the very +probe teams that used it. Nothing could be more secret than a collection +of information that spends 99% of its existence dissolved into the ether. +^ +^ —Datatech Sinder Roze, +^ “Putting the Covert in Covert Ops” + +##Brood Pit +#HELPFAC35 +Of all the employments, working in the brood pit was considered +at once the most horrific and the most desirable. Horrific because +of what we saw occur day after day, and because of the very nature +of the sessile native lifeforms. Desirable because, having been chosen +to work in the pit, you were highly unlikely to become one of its victims. +^ +^ —Captain Ulrik Svensgaard, +^ “The Shadow Resonance” + +##Aquafarm +#HELPFAC36 +Juvenile Sealurks, when isolated from the collective planetary +consciousness, perform astounding feats as underwater sheepdogs. +Vasts schools of calorie rich Sporefish may be herded by only a +few well trained specimens. Just don’t let them get too close to +the fungus or they’ll turn on you like a Razorshark. +^ +^ —Captain Ulrik Svensgaard, +^ “Tending the Sea” + +##Subsea Trunkline +#HELPFAC37 +Each individual pipe contains a hot slurry of minerals drawn from +Planet’s crust, and makes a sound like rain falling on a tin roof. +When they converge at the trunkline, the sound becomes a terrifying +thunder, a thunder of untold wealth and power. +^ +^ —Captain Ulrik Svensgaard, +^ “Tending the Sea” + +##Thermocline Transducer +#HELPFAC38 +The boundary between cold water and warm, the thermocline, has been +important to undersea warfare for hundreds of years of man’s history. +Now we have found a way to harness that power for constructive purposes. +What once cloaked us can now feed us, what once shielded us from death, +now brings us life. +^ +^ —Captain Ulrik Svensgaard, +^ “The Ripple and the Wave” + +##Flechette Defense System +#HELPFAC39 +Missile attack on Zeta-5. Humans activate : first defense successful. +Afterwards : danger posed by innovation suddenly clear. +^ +^ —Usurper Judaa Marr, +^ “Human : Nature” + +##Subspace Generator +#HELPFAC40 +Resonance : comes not from individual beings, rather city as whole. +Progenitors : not separate, lines between us blur. Resulting power : +exponential. Brilliant beacon even in vast universe. +^ +^ —Caretaker Lular H’minee, +^ “Resonance : Power” + +##Geosynchronous Survey Pod +#HELPFAC41 +The managers always talked about having the view from 30,000 feet. +The only problem with having the view from 30,000 feet, is that at +that height, everyone looks like ants. +^ +^ —Foreman Domai, +^ “Genejack and the Beanstalk” + +##Sky Hydroponics Lab +#HELPFAC65 +Sky farms are fantastically beautiful, with their kilometer long +networks of glass framed in grids of metal, and the sunlight +shining through jungles of vegetation inside. When one of them +catches the light, you can see the refracted beauty for miles; +they are life-giving stars on a desolate planet … gardens on +the wing. +^ +^ —Lady Deidre Skye, +^ “Planet Dreams” + +##Nessus Mining Station +#HELPFAC66 +Red-hot iron, white-hot iron, cold-black iron; an iron taste, +and iron smell, and a Babel of iron sounds. +^ +^ —Charles Dickens, +^ “Bleak House”, Datalinks + +##Orbital Power Transmitter +#HELPFAC67 +Planet’s Primary, Alpha Centauri A, blasts unimaginable quantities +of energy into space each instant, and virtually every joule of it +is wasted entirely. Incomprehensible riches can be ours if we can but +stretch our arms wide enough to dip from this eternal river of wealth. +^ +^ —CEO Nwabudike Morgan, +^ “The Centauri Monopoly” + +##Orbital Defense Pod +#HELPFAC68 +God, from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top +Shall tremble, he descending, will himself, +In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpets’ sound, +Ordain them laws. +^ +^ —John Milton, +^ “Paradise Lost”, Datalinks + +##Mass to Energy +#HELPFAC69 +I hold a scrap of paper in the darkness and +light it. I watch it burn bright and curl, disappearing +into nothingness, and the heat burns my fingers. +Where has it gone? What has it become? I cannot shake +the feeling that I have witnessed a form of transcendence. +^ +^ —Commissioner Pravin Lal, +^ “The Convergence” + +# ; This line must remain at end of file \ No newline at end of file