; ; Sid Meier’s ALPHA CENTAURI ; ; Backstory Interludes ; ; Copyright © 1997, 1998 by Firaxis Games, Inc. ; #INTERLUDE #xs 400 ^^ ^^INTERLUDE ^ ^^from ^ ^^The Book of Planet ^ ^^M.Y. $NUM0 ^ ^ #EPILOGUE #xs 400 ^^ ^^EPILOGUE ^ ^^from ^ ^^The Book of Planet ^ ^^M.Y. 1,027,823 ^ ^ #EPILOGUE2 #xs 400 ^^ ^^EPILOGUE ^ ^^from ^ ^^The Book of Planet ^ ^^M.Y. $NUM2 (Seed Year 1) ^ ^ #EPILOGUE3 #xs 400 ^^ ^^EPILOGUE ^ ^^from ^ ^^The Book of Planet ^ ^^M.Y. $NUM2 ^ ^ #INTERLUDE0 #xs 500 #caption Interlude: Victory is Sweet ^ You wonder if, in your subconscious mind, you ever really thought you’d see this day. Then you put that thought aside, for the last disc is spun. The last rivet is in place. The last steel veneer has been polished. It is time. ^ “Leader.” Your assistant’s head is bowed, waiting dutifully. Her emanations are formal and rich with meaning. “Will you add the power and deliver us from exile?” ^ You shake your neck in assent, and close the connection. The Subspace Generators grab hold of the string resonance fields, and quantum levels of power begin to course through the individual parts. Soon their beams will arc high above your nation, and there a hole will be driven into subspace. Through that hole, across distances immeasurable to any brain, a message will fly. The Resonance Communicator will sends its distress beacon to the homeworld, and they will know your voice. ^ Green light begins to glow. Soon. Soon, you will see your beloved Kenal K’esh again. Soon you will find your brethren. And when you find them, they will come to your aid with ships and soldiers, and every other living being on Manifold Six will know your power. It has been so long in coming. ^ Green light arcs up into the sky, and the world is forever changed. #INTERLUDE1 #xs500 #caption None Can Stop Us Now ^ You ride the howling needlejet and land back in the capital in record time. The pilot was obviously trying to impress you, and he’s succeeded. You hurry into the command room and savor the waves of resonance as they show you the surface of Manifold Six: everywhere you look, you see your own forces. There are a few shattered remnants of enemy resistance, but they are mere pockets of color in an otherwise clean wash of the Progenitor tide. ^ When all else fails, you reflect, simply remove all opposition. Then there is time enough for any plan. You’re not sure if you want to contact the homeworld right away, or further your own power a bit first—but it doesn’t matter, does it? There’s nothing to stop you no matter what you decide to do. ^ It’s a very, very good feeling. #INTERLUDE2 #xs 500 #caption Interlude: Shrunken Heads ^ The field tanks resonate with spectral pictures of the alien intruders, captured during that first encounter. If you squinted, you might mistake them for Progenitor younglings—but with diseased, shrunken heads. They look like the entertainment story conjurations of primitive tribal feeders in the dark parts of the homeworld. They look disgusting. ^ Their primitive nature is nowhere so apparent as in their inability to communicate—they can make noise, but they cannot alter it properly. This is bad, because you have no idea how in the Six Manifolds they got here, and you’d desperately like to know. ^ “Tell me your theories,” you alter. The steady resonant hum of the room hangs empty for several circulatory pulses. Then, the junior stochastic resonates. ^ “They are a creation of the Manifold,” she vibrates hesitantly. There is general scoffing. You try to be more gentle. ^ “No, Canla, this cannot be,” you alter. “Their biology is DNA-incompatible. They must be from off-world.” There is a general alteration of assent. ^ “But how can a race sophisticated enough to traverse the stars be in such a primitive state?” resonates the general. ^ There is more empty humming. Then Canla, undaunted, speaks again. ^ “Perhaps they suffered a fate similar to ours,” she alters. “After all, look at the state we’re in.” ^ The pain of that is incontrovertible. And somewhere out there is the hated $OTHERALIENS6. You wonder if you can make these offworlders your allies, before the enemy does. Your first task, then, is to learn how their minds work so you can communicate with them. You wonder how difficult it could be to think like an alien. #INTERLUDE3 #xs 500 #caption Interlude: Ancient Ones ^ The council might as well be dipped in a vat of flaming vegetable matter— the resonations of fear are as intense. You try to remain calm, to show a cool leadership you do not feel. Somehow, from somewhere, offworlders are occupying the precious Manifold! ^ “The key is continued communication,” you alter. “Their ability to make wave-forms in the atmosphere is useful, but their understanding of the alteration process is key. If they can be reasoned with, they can be made ally. If they can be made ally, they can aid us against our enemy.” ^ The general nods, and resonates an aura of confidence for the first time. “True,” he alters. “But I fear; though they look like ancient, feeble members of our race, they are totally alien. What if their cause and our cause do not coincide?” ^ “Then we must find out their cause,” you alter, “and appeal to it. Become what they want us to become. All the while, we must continue to further our own aims.” ^ The xenobiologist—the closest thing you’ve got to a xenopsychologist—flutters his mandibles. “But they claim they are here as colonists! Our aims do not and cannot coincide with this! Sooner or later, we must destroy them in order to $EXPLOITORPRISTINE7!” ^ You alter the biologist’s words with smooth calm. “I hope that this can come later—far later. We must use them first if we can … and if we cannot, then we must destroy them swiftly, and without mercy.” ^ The alterations to [that] are [very] positive. #INTERLUDE4 #xs500 #caption Interlude: Monkey See, Monkey Do … What? ^ “Look carefully,” the biologist alters so softly you can barely distinguish the change. “Watch what it does.” ^ You find that difficult—the captured human is as ugly as a new hatchling, but without the pleasing sliminess. You force yourself to observe, however, for observation—and understanding—are one of the keys to survival on Manifold Six. ^ The human has been starved for several days. Now, food is placed at the top of the room, hanging from a hook. Several boxes have been scattered about the room as well. Presumably it will build some sort of tower to gain access to the food. ^ “What will this prove?” you alter, bored. ^ “Watch! Watch!” the biologist alters excitedly. ^ The human looks around the room a while, then sits motionless. It makes sound waves with its breathing apparatus. It sits and stares about the room. ^ “Is it stupid?” you alter. ^ “No!” alters the biologist triumphantly. “It’s defiant! The sound waves are its language—it’s saying something along the lines of “Put a sporeflower up your chlo! I’m not eating for your entertainment!” It knows we’re watching it.” ^ So the human would rather starve than be treated like a lab animal, eh? Interesting … very interesting. You’re not sure whether this is very very good— or very very dangerous. “Learn its language immediately!” you snap. “We must communicate as soon as possible!” #INTERLUDE5 #xs 500 #caption Interlude: Flight of the Razorwings ^ It gives you no particular pleasure to kill. You almost wish you could communicate directly with the humans, explain to them the necessity of the forced relocation—explain to them the necessity of their deaths. ^ “Reporting, $TITLE0 $NAME1,” resonates the Force Commander of the occupation army. “Human colonists are fleeing now from the base they call ‘$BASENAME5.’ Those that chose to remain behind have been assimilated and reconstituted.” ^ It gives you no particular pleasure to kill. But it is the way of the Human and Progenitor mind. They cannot coexist under one government; they cannot eat each other’s food, nor use each other’s facilities. ^ It gives you no particular pleasure to kill. But they are the enemy, and it is the only way. #INTERLUDE6 #xs 500 #caption Interlude: So Near and So Far ^ With your own hand, you spin the last disc into place on the first of the Resonance Communicators. It has been a long, difficult trek to get to this point— to recapture that which was lost. But slowly, like primitives (but accelerated by tens of thousands of years), you’ve managed to recreate the discoveries of your ancestors, and hammer out the materials on this strangely hostile world, and now the time has come. ^ “You don’t look happy, Leader,” resonates your assistant. “Isn’t this a great day?” ^ “I suppose so,” you alter, feeling at that moment a strange lack of elation. After a moment’s thought you realize why: for all these years you have been supreme leader of your own world … your own people. Now it will end, with the summoning of the home world fleet. Greater leaders than you will come and destroy what’s left of the opposition; they’ll come and claim your triumph for their own. You almost wish it could go on, but you know that your duty is to $EXPLOITORPRISTINE7, and you must be true to that mission. “I suppose so,” you alter again. “We have triumphed, all of us. It’s just a matter of time.” With a sigh, you pick up the spinner and turn away. #INTERLUDE7 #xs 500 #caption Interlude: Civil War ^ “Yes, they are here.” ^ All assembled in the room expected this news. Yet it sends a ripple of alteration through the room as though you had announced the death of the entire Council of Overlords. Secretly, you and everyone else here had been hoping that the hated Usurpers died upon Planetary entry. Now you know this is not the case. ^ “This changes nothing!” Smoothly you alter the entire hum of conversation, to lend emphasis to your meaning. “The plan goes forward as we agreed. The Usurpers must die, and we must continue our quest to contact the Homeworld, that Manifold Six may remain pristine. Are we committed unto the death of one or the other of us?” ^ Many on the council look uncomfortable, their eyes blinking rapidly. You can understand their feelings—the Caretaker cause is dedicated to peace and the status quo. This destructive posture is not in keeping with your stated goals. Finally, Kaala L’mota articulates what the others are obviously thinking. ^ “Can we not try once more to reach an accord with the Usurper leader, Marr? In such a dire circumstance, even he might see the wisdom of cooperation.” ^ “I am sorry, my friends,” you alter sharply, expressing your regret and displeasure at the same time. “Think of the Usurper cause: they wish to gain Transcendence with Manifold Six. We know what happened at Tau Ceti when the Flowering was allowed to occur. Destruction. Death.” ^ You see the fear on all faces, their mandibles drawn tight to their mouths. “We all know this—including the Usurper, Marr,” you continue. “And yet they continue on their quest for Transcendence. We cannot understand this. They move inexorably toward death! We have asked, begged, fought, and died to prevent this, and still they come. Surely, a small thing such as this shipwreck will not alter their plan. No, my friends, we must be firm in our resolve. Death, or freedom for Manifold Six. Do you agree?” ^ Your words are altered, one by one, by each member of the council. They all assent. #INTERLUDE8 #xs 500 #caption Interlude: Civil War ^ “Yes, they are here.” ^ All assembled in the room expected this news. Yet it sends a ripple of alteration through the room as though you had announced a sneak attack on the home world. You know many of them were convinced the Caretakers had been destroyed during the space battle. Now it’s clear this is not the case. ^ “This changes nothing!” Smoothly you alter the entire hum of conversation, to lend emphasis to your meaning. “The plan goes forward as we agreed. The Caretakers must die, and we must continue our quest to contact the Homeworld, or to reach the Flowering with ourselves in power over Manifold Six. Are we agreed?” ^ One on the council looks uncomfortable, his eyes blinking rapidly. He stands and formally alters your words, requesting permission to speak. You shake your neck at him, and he proceeds. ^ “You know me,” he alters. “I am no coward, yet I counsel one last attempt to reason with the Caretakers and their leader H’minee. We are all Progenitor together here, trapped on Manifold Six until such time as we can re-implement our lost technologies. Until then, should we not attempt to live together under one skin?” ^ Others alter his words in subtle ways, expressing doubt or tolerance for this idea. You step in quickly. ^ “No, my friends!” you alter roughly. “Remember with whom we are dealing. H’minee and her followers have seen the incredible power of the Manifolds, and yet they reject them. They have read the ancient books, and the plans our ancestors made for the Manifold Experiments. Yet they reject those as well. They live in fear—and a Progenitor who lives in fear is one that may as well be dead. Our race has declined since the time of the ancestors, and it is because of the timidity and fear of the Caretaker faction. We must move forward boldly, and fulfill the destiny spelled out for us so many thousands of orbits ago. Do you agree?” ^ Your words are altered, one by one, by each member of the council. They all assent. #INTERLUDE9 #xs 500 #caption Interlude: The Nexus ^ Imagine six Progenitor in a room. They would alter the resonance of the room, and alter the alterations, in a smooth and free-flowing conversation. The sheer complexity of it gives you a pleasant feeling in the brain pan. ^ As you gaze out on the weathered walls of the Manifold Nexus, you get that same feeling, magnified a million times. You imagine not six Progenitor, but six Planets—six minds almost godlike in their powers, but almost infantile in their knowledge of the world, and of Progenitor ways. ^ “Almost like being a nursemaid to a god,” you resonate softly. Your assistant, standing nearby, gives you a quizzical wave of the mandibles. “What did you alter, Leader?” ^ You flap your neck lightly, cupping the assistant’s words, altering them, and sending them back. “That,” you resonate, pointing at the Nexus. “During the First Era, it was built to be the control center for the Manifold Experiment.” ^ Your assistant looks in awe at this relic of the past. “Does it still function?” ^ “Yes.” You shake your neck at the report you’ve just been handed. “It still works perfectly. Our harmony with Manifold Six is even greater now than it was before.” You look in silence at the temple, then turn away. You’ve gained a small measure of power over six gods. You must be careful. #INTERLUDE10 #xs500 #caption Interlude: A Change of Plan ^ You can barely believe it. You insisted on joining the search parties sifting the wreckage of the last $OTHERALIENS6 base, not because you felt your minions were incompetent, but because you had to see for yourself that the final victory was at hand. ^ And what glorious wreckage! The dead bodies of $OTHERALIENS6 followers litter the ground. Destroyed weaponry and the rubble of embattled buildings litter the streets. Even amid the death and destruction of your distant kinfolk, you feel an odd sense of elation. The hated enemy is destroyed! ^ “Leader,” the force commander alters the sounds of distant explosions coming to you, for extra emphasis to his words. “This is a great day. What do we do now?” ^ You know that he means ‘what steps shall we take at this time,’ but his words do raise a deeper question: what is the fate of your own people, now that their primary goal is accomplished? ^ “We build,” you alter, surprising him. “We build toward the day of summoning of our allies, or toward ultimate conquest. The fate of Manifold Six is waving in our hands. We must not falter.” #INTERLUDE11 #xs 500 #caption Interlude: Familiar Faces ^ The reports of attacks, and deaths, are quite disturbing. ^ “How can this be?” you alter, turning on the xenobiologist. “None of our records show such hostility from the native life-forms in the era of the beginnings of the experiment!” ^ “The current records do not lie, though,” she counters. “The mindworms and spore launchers are definitely out to kill us. In the past …” The hum of the thought hangs for a while, and you prompt gently. “In the past?” ^ “Yes, leader.” The biologist seems very unhappy. “In the past, we were the gardeners. We were here only to tend, and then to leave. Now we are here to live. Manifold Six—the whole planet—doesn’t like that. It cares not for our politics. It just doesn’t like us being here.” ^ “You realize the implications?” you alter, feeling but not showing a touch of fear. “We are at the mercy of an entire world. It is not intelligent enough to negotiate with … it will simply try to kill us.” ^ “Yes, leader,” the biologist alters. ^ And, truly, there is nothing whatsoever you can do that you are not already doing. You put the problem from your brain, and stride from the room. #INTERLUDE12 #xs 500 #caption Interlude: Tower of Strength ^ You stand at a goodly distance, examining the strange formation through a resonance-gathering device cobbled together by one of the techs. It’s quite serviceable, and you’re able to see the distant object as though it were just a few feet away. ^ “It looks like a heat rash on the skin of Manifold Six,” you say, and those gathered around you alter your resonance to show humor. “What is it?” ^ The xenobiologist pulls back the flaps of his neck, and alters stiffly: “We don’t know, Leader. There are no reports of these objects in the Manifold files handed down to us from the original creators. These seem to be something new.” ^ You clack your mandibles like a baby as you lower the gathering device. “That’s bad. Very bad. The presence of the offworlders has caused this, hasn’t it.” ^ The biologist shakes his neck again in assent. “Somehow the latent intellect of Manifold Six has created these … towers … in response to irritations caused by the ecological ravages of the offworlders; and, I hesitate to alter, our own presence as well. They generate the fungus at an increased rate, and may be a conduit for mindworm and sporerunner activity. Those tendrils you see—” here he waves one arm “—have a reach of several hundred yards. It’s dangerous to get too close to the thing.” ^ You bug your eyes in a laugh as you alter his words to show humor. “Ho! Then I was right the first time. It [is] like a giant heat rash!” ^ You only wish it was as funny as it resonated. The fact is, unchecked, these things would take over the Manifold. Would that bring the Flowering? Or would it bring instead another destruction, like that of Tau Ceti? ^ “Keep an eye on it,” you sigh. “We’ll destroy it if we have to.” ^ If it doesn’t destroy us first, you think—but don’t dare to say. # ; This line must remain at end of file.