44: Sucking Cherries

Hang in there - I believe the UESC is sending in some troopers to help you out. Mind whom you shoot though, they still aren't sure which side you're on. I have found out what sort of process Lysander started; the assembly of the new line of Autonomous Military Dangi Droids (AMDDs). I've already shut it down, but not before somewhere between 150 and 200 AMDDs were cranked out. You've already met some of them, I gather. Quit complaining. If the AMDDs had been beyond prototype and the mass assembly line had been completed, you'd be taking on a hundred times the number.

This wasn't where I wanted you to end up. Not that I expected that teleport to go through flawlessly, under the stress the station is currently experiencing. I'm surprised the situation isn't worse, considering the pummeling the Salinger has received in the past standard day or so. The lack of a stable AI onboard doesn't make things any better. Since you're here, you may as well have a look around. My sensors tell me that a lot of fighting is going on not too far away from your current location. Have fun.

time to give a big hand to the man in the arena, mr lund over there. he's the real driving force behind the completion and success of this scenario in more ways than i can count. if anyone deserves the gold star for the way this whole thing turned out, it's chris. thanks for putting up with me dude. how about another round of retexturing? :)

speaking of boundless toleration, i owe a few more people & things mention for contributing, directly or indirectly, to my role in this scenario. tipped hats and applause to my adorable girlfriend whitney, the corpnews bandits, vrhl's nonstop good humor, magicelbow nadsat and the deaf palm trees, apple for making such kickass machines, forrest & svy oh so long ago, bungie for the obvious, mom and dad for bringing me kicking and screaming into this cold unforgiving world, and the green paper the government prints for making my existence as a big pink monkey worthwhile.

i hope you've enjoyed our little project, i know it's been a blast for me to help make. keep on vidding. scott

No, this is not what lutefisk looks like, even though I did seriously consider putting a picture of lutefisk here. So here's the ceremonial round of long and boring thankyou's: -Scott Brown, for being such a picky bastard. If it wasn't for him the monsters of Rubicon would have been of the "it looks good if you squint" quality. -Sean Wallich, for giving us server space for what must have felt like forever to someone that young. ;) -Dan Rudolph, for starting the Salinger Incident so long ago, thus dragging me into

the frustrating amazing and wonderful world of scenario making. -Bill Gates: For being the Darth Vader of the IT industry. Life without a villain is boring. But didja really have to buy Bungie? DOA - who made two great solo levels and a bucketload of network levels and had to leave because he got himself a life. Olivier Jansem - who gave us the new pistol and had to leave because he got a life. Grag - who gave us lots of great 3d renderings and then just left. Elohymn Vilhaven - who gave us the title theme and the Ascension theme. She left 'cuz she finished what she came for. Tim Thomas - who gave us two of his trademark Insane Mazes. Once again, Real Life cost us a good contributor.

And finally a round of thanks to all those other people: Parents, friends, colleagues, Bungie, my budgies Viggo and Nina (even though they sometimes make an infernal racket), alt.games.marathon, my siblings, Apple Computers, the Norwegian Postal Service ('cuz they take their employees seriously), everybody who makes software for the Macintosh, anybody who likes lutefisk, and a bunch of other people I can't remember or find the space to mention. People I don't thank include Microsoft, my former boss, the person who invented chewing gum (ever tried separating a bunch of letters from a wad of bubblegum? Yechh), people who smoke in non-smoking zones, Sea Shepherd, Greenpeace, and that shithead who wrote the Sevendust virus.

Also worthy of mention are our betatesters (in no particular order): Jane Davison, Rainer Udelhoven, and Candace Sherriff. C Lund clund@notam.uio.no 29.08.00

First off, thanks to Scott for involving me in this wonderful project, even when it become apparent I possessed no actual skills. Then, thanks go to clund- who never EVER screamed in our presence after being asked to retexture ANOTHER level to meet the new texture set (we did this about 5 times I think?)

Other thanks go to the people I actually know in real life, who put up with me on a day to day basis: Sarah, Michele, Micah, Heather, Emma, Danielle, Kris, Megan, Brian & Brian, Akiyo, Linda, Leyna, Jamin, Dori, and Ashley This is Sean signing off.. may marathon live in the hearts of a true vidmaster forever and never be forgotten.

My part in Rubicon started back in 1996 when, impressed by the work of other mapmakers, I decided to make a scenario of my own. I turned out to be a frankly crappy mapmaker, and then the long string of team members and mergers began. What you're playing now is the end result of at least three scenarios and dozens of contributors. Most of the work was done by Chris Lund and D. Scott Brown, as I had few applicable skills. Props also to my dad, who let me use his computer until I got my own and ig98 who ran the Hotline server. Hope you enjoyed Rubicon. Please send fan/hate mail. Just so long as we know you're playing. Dan "7thFace" Rudolph Ace_of_Sevens@mac.com

Entering UESC Sector 17a Please wait for identification...

Entering UESC Sector 17a Please wait for identification... //////processing UESC access request///////

Entering UESC Sector 17a Please wait for identification... UESC Identification has failed. If you are attempting to access a UESC Sector and have a valid ID, please contact Charlie or a system operations official. This entrance attempt has been logged.

You should be thankful that the remaining Pfhor have decided to join the battle; they've done a lot of your dirty work for you. The Pfhor and the AMDDs have been busily massacring each other all over the DANGI sector. Some of it has spilled into the UESC sector as well, but the UESC seems to be capable of cleaning up that bit on their own. If you're curious about where the fresh Pfhor units are teleporting in from, I discovered a small scoutship that evaded my sensors earlier. It was concealed in the debris of the N'far'l. I'm taking care of the situation, right...

...now.

I love being in charge.

Don't relax quite yet. There are just a few more areas to clear out before I teleport you back to the Rozinante. ___________________________________________ ##internal salinger teleport active ##return/enter to acknowledge, esc to abort ___________________________________________

When we (Jeff Schwartz, Chris Wondra, Tim Thomas and I) made these levels, we made them so they would be challenging for us, so we wouldn't be able to stroll through the levels blindfolded. As it turned out, this was too tough for the betatesters. Way too tough. They completed the levels by cheating or by playing on kindergarden, swearing at the mapmakers every time they had their posteriour handed to them. So the monsters had to be pruned (meaning 20-25% of the monsters are gone in most levels), and the result are levels that won't kill you before your feet hit the ground.

But two of the levels were kept in their original lethal state, as a reward to anyone clever enough to find this terminal. You are about to enter one of those levels. If you're not sure you're up to it, then press [esc] now and return to the kinder, more gentle levels.

But two of the levels were kept in their original lethal state, as a reward to anyone clever enough to find this terminal. You are about to enter one of those levels. If you're not sure you're up to it, then press [esc] now and return to the kinder, more gentle levels. Are you sure you want to continue? The next level is very difficult.

But two of the levels were kept in their original lethal state, as a reward to anyone clever enough to find this terminal. You are about to enter one of those levels. If you're not sure you're up to it, then press [esc] now and return to the kinder, more gentle levels. Are you sure you want to continue? The next level is very difficult. It made some of the betatesters cry.

But two of the levels were kept in their original lethal state, as a reward to anyone clever enough to find this terminal. You are about to enter one of those levels. If you're not sure you're up to it, then press [esc] now and return to the kinder, more gentle levels. Are you sure you want to continue? The next level is very difficult. It made some of the betatesters cry. So be it. Prepare to drink vitriol.