[page="halt"]
[if_knowname][goto="startname"]
[goto="start"]
[endpage]

[page="start"]
[esc="goodbye1"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
[colour="#808080"]
You see a large reptillian creature in a neat uniform.
There is an emblem on the left of the breast and words
in a language that you cannot read.
[colour="#ffffff"]
[learn_name]

"Salutations, $PLAYERNAME.

 Welcome to our humble home.  I am Commander Gurd, of
 the Dra'kaan research ship Maxima.

 I wish to explain the origins of the malevolent god
 Xy'lan, who stalks this world, performing dark miracles."

[link="Tell me about the god."]
[linkto="xylan"]
[link="Tell me about the ship."]
[linkto="maxima"]
[link="Tell me about your people."]
[linkto="drakaan"]
[link="Er, goodbye."]
[linkto="goodbye1"]
[endpage]


[page="startname"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
[colour="#808080"]
You see Commander Gurd, of the Dra'kaan research team.
[colour="#ffffff"]

"Hello again."

[link="Tell me about the god."]
[linkto="xylan"]
[link="Tell me about the ship."]
[linkto="maxima"]
[link="Tell me about your people."]
[linkto="drakaan"]
[link="Goodbye."]
[linkto="bye"]
[endpage]


[page="goodbye1"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]

"No!  Please return!

 All our hopes depend on uniting against Xy'lan!"

[nextpage="exit"]
[endpage]


[page="bye"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"Go in peace, human."

[nextpage="exit"]
[endpage]



[page="xylan"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"Thousands of years ago our ship, the Maxima, was built.
 She was the third vessel to be equipped with a new type
 of drive system, and all the on-board systems were run
 by an experimental computer sentience called "Xy'lan".

 We took the Maxima on her maiden voyage to gather data
 about the worlds in a volume of space we could not
 reach before the new drive was invented.

 A repair was made to some auxiliary computer systems,
 and this impacted Xy'lan's datacore.  Something went
 wrong and he became psychotic and said he was God."

[nextpage="xylan2"]
[endpage]


[page="xylan2"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"When we refused to worship him, Xy'lan took command of
 the Maxima.  But before he did, we managed to stall the
 engines and the ship collided with this world.

 The Maxima's stasis fields protected us all from
 annihilation, but the impact must have rendered this
 continent uninhabitable for centuries.

 What happened next is unclear.  The Maxima had several
 independent stasis fields, and it seems that Xy'lan
 managed to prevent the crew stasis fields from shutting
 down, keeping us trapped in a zero-time state."

[nextpage="xylan3"]
[endpage]


[page="xylan3"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"We do not know if Xy'lan thinks he is a god, or if he
 simply wishes to be treated as one.  It doesn't really
 matter, since the Maxima contains a device that is able
 to perform what you would call 'miracles'.

 Xy'lan started looking for worshippers immediately, but
 at the time we crashed, this world had only primitive
 animal life.

 However, the Maxima was carrying universal nano-devices
 which could be used to stimulate the development of
 intelligence in the native fauna.  Xy'lan seems to have
 done this, for we detect other intelligent races."

[nextpage="xylan4"]
[endpage]


[page="xylan4"]
[set_pflag "xylan"]
[set miracle_machine]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"Then one day, you humans come along, a star-going race
 far more advanced than Xy'lan's own creations!

 As you can imagine, he dropped everything in a mad
 effort to gain the worship of your people, and later
 enslave them.

 That might also be how we were released from stasis.. a
 momentary lapse of concentration.  Or perhaps he needed
 to divert power away from the stasis generators to work
 enough miracles for the new religion.  We may never know.

 But now we are free, and Xy'lan must be stopped!"

[link="Oh all right.  What do you want me to do..?"]
[linkto="task"]
[if miracle_machine][link="Tell me about the miracle machine."]
[if miracle_machine][linkto="codec"]
[link="Tell me about your ship."]
[linkto="maxima"]
[link="Tell me about your people."]
[linkto="drakaan"]
[link="Goodbye."]
[linkto="bye"]
[endpage]


[page="task"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"Well, I was going to ask you to help us make contact
 with the aircraft-creatures in New Fairford.

 But we're just about out of time for this episode, so
 just do whatever you want.

 It might be an idea for you to locate and explore the
 Maxima.  You'll need to see the Pope first.

 If you can get to the Maxima without cheating, it would
 be a fantastic feat.  One worthy of informing IT-HE
 about, at jpm@it-he.org!

 If this prospect intrigues you, speak to Librarian Rulyz
 for more information about the Maxima."

[if miracle_machine][link="Tell me about the miracle machine."]
[if miracle_machine][linkto="codec"]
[link="Tell me about your ship."]
[linkto="maxima"]
[link="Tell me about your people."]
[linkto="drakaan"]
[link="Goodbye."]
[linkto="bye"]
[endpage]




[page="drakaan"]
[if_pflag "xylan"][goto="drakaan1"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"It would be more beneficial to discuss Xy'lan first."

[link="Okay, tell me about Xy'lan."]
[linkto="xylan"]
[link="First, tell me about your people."]
[linkto="drakaan1"]
[endpage]


[page="drakaan1"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"We are an ancient space-faring race.  Eons ago, we
 decided to to explore the galaxy and catalogue all
 life-bearing planets and their inhabitants.

 We also seek to document and preserve a record of alien
 cultures.  And occasionally we provide help.

 Of course, it didn't go down too well when we visited
 your home-world."

[link="You visited Earth?"]
[linkto="earth"]
[if miracle_machine][link="Tell me about the miracle machine."]
[if miracle_machine][linkto="codec"]
[link="Tell me about your ship."]
[linkto="maxima"]
[link="Goodbye."]
[linkto="bye"]
[endpage]

[page="earth"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"Indeed, we visited several times.

 The first time we visited was several thousand years ago.
 Your peoples were a bit primitive then.  The smartest
 people lived on a really huge continent and had funny
 eyes.

 When we introduced ourselves, they called us 'dragons'
 and worshipped us as benign deities.  It was all very
 flattering, but it caused such strong memories and
 legends that they still exist to this day, even though
 your lifespans are so short compared to ours."

[nextpage="earth2"]
[endpage]

[page="earth2"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"Anyway, we had to leave, but we came back a few millenia
 later on, and then we met up with this other kind of
 people.  They had normal eyes and they worshipped a
 creature called 'Ahura-Mazda'.  They didn't like us at
 all and said that we were evil serpents and daevas in
 the pay of the evil 'Angra Mainyu'.

 They were very rude to us and tried to kill us.  And
 because these people were so influential, all the bad
 things they wrote about us being evil dragons got put in
 the holy books and incorporated into all the religions,
 even the one that Xy'lan is supporting now."

[nextpage="earth3"]
[endpage]

[page="earth3"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"But we did manage to do some good things as well.
 In the minds of a few experimental subjects, we
 implanted design plans, data structures and theory.

 It became part of your race-memory, and it stayed
 dormant until about 1959 in your calendar, when your
 technology became good enough for it to be useful.
 It came alive in the minds of three of your greatest
 men, although they never knew it, and believed that they
 had invented it themselves."

[nextpage="earth4"]
[endpage]

[page="earth4"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"It was the design for the computer system that we use
 ourselves to this day, refined over the course of the
 centuries.  The system, and the languages needed to
 maintain and support it.

 We gave you alien technology.. UNIX!"

[link="Oh my god."]
[linkto="unix"]
[link="Heavy, man!"]
[linkto="unix"]
[link="I do not believe it."]
[linkto="unix"]
[link="So that's why it's so weird."]
[linkto="unix"]
[if miracle_machine][link="Tell me about the miracle machine."]
[if miracle_machine][linkto="codec"]
[link="Tell me about your ship."]
[linkto="maxima"]
[link="Goodbye."]
[linkto="bye"]
[endpage]


[page="unix"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"It's great!  It's one of the best ideas our race ever
 had!  We gave it to all the intelligent species we
 encountered.

 That way we can easily share data and programs.
 Of course, it also meant that Xy'lan was able to invade
 the data infrastructure belonging to your colony after
 only a brief period of handshaking."

[if miracle_machine][link="Tell me about the miracle machine."]
[if miracle_machine][linkto="codec"]
[link="Tell me about your ship."]
[linkto="maxima"]
[link="Goodbye."]
[linkto="bye"]
[endpage]



[page="codec"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"I'll just give you an overview.  Ask Librarian Rulyz if
 you wish to know more about the science involved.

 Basically, our race discovered a technique that allows
 one to affect the universe in interesting ways.
 It is very complex, but when controlled by a computing
 engine it allows arbitrary changes to reality itself
 on demand.
 
 The normal setup is to have a 'magic server' which
 listens out for prayers and incantations and carries
 them out."

[nextpage="codec2"]
[endpage]


[page="codec2"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"Users are granted different privilege levels, for
 safety reasons.

 Beginners can be restricted to the safest and easiest
 spells.  More dangerous spells need higher privilege
 levels to make them work.

 With enough privilege and access to the server itself
 it is possible to create new spells.

 Since this technique is so useful, it is used in most of
 our technology.  So the Maxima carries a magicserver of
 its own.  We called it 'The CoDec of ultimate power'.

 Now Xy'lan is misusing it for his own insane purposes!"

[link="Oh all right.  What do you want me to do..?"]
[linkto="task"]
[link="Tell me about Xy'lan."]
[linkto="xylan"]
[link="Tell me about the ship."]
[linkto="maxima"]
[link="Tell me about your people."]
[linkto="drakaan"]
[link="Goodbye."]
[linkto="bye"]
[endpage]



[page="maxima"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"The Maxima is a small scout ship, equipped for
 long-range missions, terraforming and various other
 tasks.

 It was really intended to orbit around a planet rather
 than land on one, but it is able to do so in an
 emergency.  Which is of course what happened.

 The impact crater we left is huge, and created a small,
 circular mountain range.  The ship is in the centre of
 the impact site.  If you want to know more about it, I
 suggest you ask Librarian Rulyz."

[link="Tell me about the crew."]
[linkto="crew"]
[link="Tell me about Xy'lan."]
[linkto="xylan"]
[link="Tell me about your people."]
[linkto="drakaan"]
[if miracle_machine][link="Tell me about the miracle machine."]
[if miracle_machine][linkto="codec"]
[link="Goodbye."]
[linkto="bye"]
[endpage]



[page="crew"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"There were six of us.  When we escaped from the Maxima,
 we took a council on what to do next.  Most of us agreed
 that our task should be to stop Xy'lan if at all possible.

 The only dissenting voice was Saxiis, who believed there
 was no hope of ever stopping Xy'lan or returning to
 known space even if we did.

 She chose to make her home on this world and live out
 her life best she can.

 Now we are only five, unless Saxiis can be persuaded to
 rejoin us."

[link="Why do you need her?"]
[linkto="saxiis"]
[link="Tell me about Xy'lan."]
[linkto="xylan"]
[link="Tell me about your people."]
[linkto="drakaan"]
[if miracle_machine][link="Tell me about the miracle machine."]
[if miracle_machine][linkto="codec"]
[link="Goodbye."]
[linkto="bye"]
[endpage]


[page="saxiis"]
[image="saxiis1.pcx"]
"No-one knows as much about Xy'lan as she does.  Saxiis
 was our chief software expert, and she was responsible
 for saving us when Xy'lan took control.

 And, she was part of the team who designed Xy'lan."
 
[link="Tell me about Xy'lan."]
[linkto="xylan"]
[link="Tell me about your people."]
[linkto="drakaan"]
[if miracle_machine][link="Tell me about the miracle machine."]
[if miracle_machine][linkto="codec"]
[link="Goodbye."]
[linkto="bye"]
[endpage]


[page="attacked"]
[image="saxiis3.pcx"]
[at_exit_call="player_killme"]

[colour="#808080"]
Before you have time to strike, the creature has whipped
out a small energy pistol and burned through a number
of vital organs.
[colour="#ffffff"]

[nextpage="exit"]
[endpage]



"Your ship doesn't look too advanced to me."

"We prefer the retro look."



"I thought advanced races would be vegetarian. "


"Only meat-eaters become tool users.  Carnivores are
 basically lazy and tend to develop short-cuts.

 Herbivores have to spend all their time eating and
 are therefore unable to develop instrumentality.
 There are some exceptions, of course."


"Don't worry.  We kill our meat humanely."




"Take this memory wafer.  If you can make it to the drive
 controller in both engine rooms, load it up."

The program uses the engines to do something other
than propel the ship.  You have to get both engines
working first, of course.

The first time you try to load the disk it doesn't work.
The drakaans ask you to come back, and they give you
another disk, which works.







