I have transported you to the S'pht Citadel
of Antiquity. The primary tower is
inaccessible by direct teleportation,
evidently because some of the Citadel's
defenses are still functional.
This ancient Citadel was the site of the
conclusive battle in the short war between
the S'pht and the Pfhor.
Finding a way into the primary tower will
be difficult because the ground floor
entrance is locked and blocked by a moat.
You will have to overcome both of these
obstacles to gain entrance.
You cannot read this message until you have activated a switch (point A on this in-game map).
This not only opens two doors but changes the messages on all the terminals on this level (terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4).
Opening Connection to ß.4.5-23
05.10.2337
<Pragma Junction ^7921 Engaged>
CAS.qterm//CyberAcme Systems, Inc.
<931.461.60231.14.vt920>
UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override)
05.10.2337
<Pragma Junction ^7921 Engaged>
If you insist on stumbling around when our
time here is limited, I may just decide
that you're not all that special after all
and teleport you out into space.
When once S'pht fought in brutal combat,
when hatred burned the tissues of one's
enemy, one clan, the S'pht'Kr, reclusive
and solitary, abandoned Lh'owon.
The clan went forth and up, stopping on
K'lia the third sister of Lh'owon, to
build a new home, free from their warring
brothers.
For a thousand and one orbits, the clan was
forgotten, a memory lost upon the
battlefield smoke, until the all powerful
Yrro sent K'lia out to the stars.
You cannot read this message until you have activated a switch (point A on this in-game map).
This not only opens two doors but changes the messages on all the terminals on this level (terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4).
The blue text in the terminal is authentic but is a mistake caused by incorrectly typing
the code for yellow text, namely $C5. In the terminal code it is written as $5
causing the blue text to run on until the next colour code change.
You can see how this was correctly implemented in this S'pht message.
The fact that this was not spotted before release most likely reflects the fact that no beta tester
trekked all the way back to this terminal to check the second message.
Opening Connection to ß.4.5-23
05.10.2337
<Mnr *@1cz: 9cm2>
CAS.qterm//CyberAcme Systems, Inc.
<931.461.60231.14.vt920>
UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override)
05.10.2337
/-/Spht-Translator-Active/-/
Fires burned, and the marshes of the
western hamlets turned to ash, scorching
black the water.
The attacks were ruthless and cruel, not a
S'pht was left alive [?Coherent]$5
Thus began the first war between the
S'pht'Mnr and the S'pht'Lhar.
PgUp/PgDn/Arrows to Scroll
Return/Enter to Acknowledge
UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override)
05.10.2337
/-/Spht-Translator-Active/-/
After the marsh wars between S'pht'Lhar and
S'pht'Mnr left the battlefields choked with
dead, the marsh graves full-
High above K'lia refused to see the carnage
upon Lh'owon.
She fled to the farthest reach, leaving the
sacred marsh dry from the falling tides.
As the water receded, the red sand of the
dead, spread across Lh'owon.
We're going to have visitors soon. The
Western Arm of Pfhor Battle Group Seven is
en-route and should be here in about twenty
hours.
Battle Group Seven represents over ten
percent of active Pfhor naval strength. I
doubt whether even I can hold them back
with a single ship, but I will try.
You cannot read this message until you have activated a switch (point A on this in-game map).
This not only opens two doors but changes the messages on all the terminals on this level (terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4).
Opening Connection to ß.4.5-23
05.10.2337
<Pragma Junction ^7921 Engaged>
CAS.qterm//CyberAcme Systems, Inc.
<931.461.60231.14.vt920>
UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override)
05.10.2337
<Pragma Junction ^7921 Engaged>
Stop messing around. Didn't I tell you
that a significant portion of the strongest
nearby galactic navy is headed in this
direction?
You cannot read this message until you have activated a switch (point A on this in-game map)
which opens the door to the primary tower and changes the messages on all the terminals on this level (terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4).
Opening Connection to ß.4.5-23
05.10.2337
<Trn 36 ap&1cz:: 9cm2>
CAS.qterm//CyberAcme Systems, Inc.
<931.461.60231.14.vt920>
UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override)
05.10.2337
With the immnent arrival of the Pfhor
fleet, the humans and my S'pht have begun
enhancing the defenses of their
headquarters. Even if I have to abandon
them, they will be able to hold out for a
long time.
I am going to teleport you to the higher
levels of the Citadel. Hopefully, we can
find some useful information at the top.
We must determine what happened to the
eleventh S'pht clan.
This message appears on three terminals as you progress upwards through the Citadel of Antiquity.
There is one on the second floor and two on the fifth floor. Only one is shown here for brevity.
Opening Connection to ß.4.5-23
05.10.2337
D-over expires<3021.7.30.20.27.49>
CAS.qterm//CyberAcme Systems, Inc.
<931.461.60231.14.vt920>
UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override)
05.10.2337
During the final hours of the S'pht-Pfhor
war, the last free S'pht made a stand in
Citadel of Antiquity. We are searching the
Citadel to learn as much as possible about
these S'pht and what they did during their
final moments.
The Pfhor appear to have been reluctant to
attack the Citadel directly. Radiation
lingering in the area even after a thousand
years suggests that they irradiated the
Citadel and let the S'pht die slowly.
That is not their style.
Each of the ten clans was represented here,
and I hope that they discovered something
before being overrun by the Pfhor. Find as
many S'pht computers as you can, so that I
may search them for useful information.
This second "success" message is displayed once you reach the sixth floor and explore the area where the
S'pht terminals are located. Don't forget to visit the seventh floor and its panoramic views of Lh'owon.
Opening Connection to ß.4.5-23
05.10.2337
E-over expires<3021.7.30.20.27.49>
CAS.qterm//CyberAcme Systems, Inc.
<931.461.60231.14.vt920>
UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override)
05.10.2337
Battle Group Seven arrived sooner than I
expected. The Pfhor fleet consists of
seven corvettes similar to my own, four
destroyers, a battleship, and an assault
carrier.
They are passing the orbits of the outer
planets now, headed for Lh'owon.
It appears that the S'pht retreated into
bunkers under the citadel during the final
Pfhor bombardment a thousand years ago.
You are going to search these bunkers.
Often during the last minutes of life, the
truth is revealed. Perhaps before their
annihilation the S'pht realized something
that would help us.
Be warned that the approaching Pfhor fleet
has already begun to reinforce their
Lh'owon garrison by long range transport.
Only I grasped the significance of the
dissection of some of the captives. These
creatures, repugnant as they are, are
sentient, and yet their bodies are not
bonded to any mechanisms. They can survive
without their armor and their staffs.
Until now, sentience had always required
cyber-organic symbiosis. All of our
science has led to this conclusion.
We can even give our pets sentience with
cyber-organic implants. Yet, these vile
conquerors are sentient without any machinations.
PgUp/PgDn/Arrows to Scroll
Return/Enter to Acknowledge
UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override)
05.10.2337
/-/Spht-Translator-Active/-/
This leads to debate. Perhaps our own
sentience is induced by the birthing
operation, and that at some time, we were
no more sentient than a F'lickta.
If such a fundamental assumption of our
kind is wrong, then perhaps the myths were
true, and we were actual servants of Yrro
and Pthia.
Perhaps they built us, or we were part of a
larger group who came to Lh'owon.
Alas, I fear that we will never know these
things.
And if that wasn't enough, the vile bipeds
removed his sensory organs in order to make
room for this small oblong object that they
installed in his face- they didn't even do
it as a separate operation.
I guess they figured since the object would
displace them anyhow- why bother! The
thing that confused me though was how they
did it. It wasn't standard procedure,
though. I can tell you that.
PgUp/PgDn/Arrows to Scroll
Return/Enter to Acknowledge
UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override)
05.10.2337
/-/Spht-Translator-Active/-/
Report to Leader Questionable Surgical Procedures
Only one surgical instrument was used
during the procedure the device that held
the small oblong object- they tried to make
an incision in which to place the object
with their knuckles several times before
giving up and inserting the object anyway.
And it was inserted at a rather high rate
of speed. But I guess that was to ensure
that total displacement of the sensory organs
occurred.
You are in the old bunkers underneath the
Citadel of Antiquity. S'pht royalty from
each of the ten clans gathered here during
the final days of the war in which the
Pfhor enslaved the S'pht.
I believe that in their time of need these
ancient S'pht found a way to contact the
lost clan, but were killed before they
could use it.
Underground with you are two old S'pht
computers. Find them so I can download
their data. We must discover what the
warring clans learned after they were
joined.
I cannot accurately teleport you from a
terminal this deep under the Citadel so you
must find a position nearer to the surface
to minimize interference.
You must hurry. The Pfhor fleet is close
enough that I can identify its flagship as
the battleship Khfiva. If the Khfiva is
still admiral Tfear's vessel then there is no
chance that I can best him in the coming
battle.
Tfear is a brilliant strategist and the
Pfhor's oldest active admiral. I'm sure
his list of decorations and victories would
only bore you, so get back to work.
This is the terminal you must eventually
leave from, but we have not seen everything
yet.
Keep searching for old S'pht terminals and
return here when you have found them.
There are only two, and both are very near
to the computer where I first gave you
instructions.
Battle has been joined in orbit and Boomer
is taking heavy damage. I cannot hold out
for long, but the Pfhor will not soon
forget the day that a lone corvette
obliterated half of Battle Group Seven,
Western Arm.
We're getting closer and I have learned
much, but you must search even deeper
underground.
There are unstable magma intrusions in the
geothermal shafts under the Citadel. I
can't pinpoint a safe shaft, but we'll have
to take a chance and drop you down one.
Let's hope this world's secrets are hidden
in its bowels.
The Pfhor fleet has won, and Tycho is with
them. My ship is crippled. I am trying to
make an emergency landing on Lh'owon's
second moon, Y'loa.
Your current position is too deep
underground for me to teleport you out when
we are finished here. There is a series of
old S'pht terminals in the area, and if you can
find them I may be able use them to
amplify your teleport signal.
Look everywhere. The answer to our
questions must be here, but you must hurry.
It was night, I believe; although with all
the fires and without rest it was
indistinguishable from day. We are losing,
it is obvious, but none of the Olders have
shown it yet. The enemy does not appear
interested in arbitration, though we have
not sought it.
[?] believes that the invaders are slavers;
S'pht'Lhar was overrun last rotation and
tens of thousands of prisoners taken.
In primordial space, timeless creatures
made waves. These waves created us and the
others. Waves were the battles, and the
battles were waves.
Fleeing all W'rkncacnter, Yrro and Pthia
settled upon Lh'owon. They brought the
S'pht, servants who began to shape the
deserts of Lh'owon into marsh and sea,
rivers and forests. They made sisters for
Lh'owon to protect and maintain the paradise.
When the W'rkncacnter came, Pthia was
killed, and Yrro in anger, flung the
W'rkncacnter into the sun. The sun burned
them, but they swam on its surface.
UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override)
05.10.2337
/-/Spht-Translator-Active/-/
Yrro became an angry master, bleeding for
his failure, grieving for the loss of
Pthia. He broke the S'pht into eleven
clans, and spread them over Lh'owon.
And he spoke, yet covered in blood from his
exertion,
"I Yrro, who was your master, have failed
to preserve you. Take your royalty to
guide you, and live upon the paradise that
you built for me."
The royalty of the clans have shared their
knowledge of the S'pht'Kr, each Master
holding a line of the truth in secret and
another line in common.
Each clan possessed two pieces of the
whole, gifts from S'pht'Kr before
departing.
We know the truth of the Eleventh Clan,
that they awaited our unity to join us
again. These tunnels will be flooded and
sealed.
Any who find this place can learn the final
message of the S'pht'Kr, but we have no
time to decipher its meaning.
PgUp/PgDn/Arrows to Scroll
Return/Enter to Acknowledge
UESCTerm 802.11 (remote override)
05.10.2337
/-/Spht-Translator-Active/-/
K'lia, whom we have taken,
Between Y'loa and T'jia,
All in a line,
Replace K'lia with the marsh,
Take the place to be the mark.
Mark the time from our Exodus,
Every 459.231 rotations.
Search the T'jia side,
Quarter way to the sun,
Around and under the marshes,
When all are one,
The S'pht'Kr will return.
We have the answer, but I'm afraid that
like the ancient S'pht I may be destroyed
before being able to use it. I must bring
you up to Boomer.
The Pfhor clearly intend to capture my ship
intact, and I can't blame them for wanting
to reverse-engineer all the improvements
I've made to their stolen technology. I'd
have erased my seven times table to hear
what the combat technicians on the Khfiva
shouted when they learned I could focus a
particle beam at nearly twice their maximum
range.
Today I have forced the Pfhor Naval Academy
to update its curriculum. The Third Battle
for Beta Tear must be dropped from the
Seven Great Battles which every aspiring
Pfhor naval officer must memorize and
replaced with The Humbling of Battle Group
Seven at Lh'owon.
Terminal text decoding courtesy of Tim Kolar tkolar@cisco.com
Page maintained by Hamish Sinclair Hamish.Sinclair123@gmail.com
Last updated Feb 1, 2003
Project: Found Delivery terminal reformatting -
