Testing Station 60
[[File: ]] | |
| Type | Testing Station |
|---|---|
| Zone | Western Shield Wall |
Imperial Testing Station 60 is a Testing Station located in the Western Shield Wall.
Location
Lore
Solido Projection
Greetings. and welcome to Imperial Desert Testing Station #60. This station is dedicated to Arenology. "Wait a minute!", I hear you say. "What's Arenology?" Why it's the study of sand and soil, of course! I'm Dr. Shon Massey, or as my students call me: the Sand Man! If there was ever a place to study sand, it's here on Arrakis! It gets everywhere! Believe me! Our colleagues at the botanical stations are charged with finding or developing plant species that can thrive in this environment, but they can't very well do that without a thorough understanding of the native soils. That's where Station 60 comes in. Our facility is top of the line.
Recorders
Sandfly: Lamar. Remember you once told me that you sympathized with what the Sandflies stood for, but that you didn't want to be involved in any fighting? Good news. We have a need for people with spice refining skills. Everyone knows spice is the key to true power. We're harvesting spice and refining it ourselves. Come join us! Your experience with refining will make you more valuable to the movement than a squad of soldiers. Come, join us!
Sandfly: That's the thing, ain't it? The Smugglers think they're outlaws, rebels, freebooters! They're really just Fenring's lapdogs! We'll harvest spice and refine it too. And part of what we make from it will go to make the lives of the poor that much better. And if we happen to get rich in the process... well, the reward should equal a risk. Right?
Sandfly: This ancient centrifuge is really a marvel. It's big, but ultra efficient. The strange thing is is they didn't even know about the spice back when it was built. Just sorting sand for some reason. Imagine those egghehead scientists crossing the galaxy just to sort out sand on Dune! Anyway, it took some work, but we've got this thing back in full operation. LET THE SPICE FLOW!
Ancient scientist: My assumption regarding the all-pervading impurity is proven correct. I strongly suspected it was organic in nature. The folks in the lab are calling it "spice" because its strong scent reminds everyone of cinnamon. Now, here is the kicker! The samples we sent out have caught the attention of no less imminent a scholar than Yanshuph Ashkoko, the Imperial Chemist! He's apparently very excited about the stuff. Enough so, that he will soon be on his way here to study it in person. Station #60 will be his first stop! This is quite a feather in my academic cap! The Imperial Chemist coming here! Imagine!
Loot
Imperial Testing Station 60 is a spawn location for a rare loot chest which contains the following unique schematics.
| Item | Chance |
|---|---|
 Albatross Wing Module Mk4
|
6.25% |
 Bluddshot Buggy Engine Mk4
|
6.25% |
 Compact Compactor Mk4
|
6.25% |
 Eviscerator
|
6.25% |
 Experimental Vulcan GAU-94
|
31.25% |
 Hajra Literjon Mk4
|
6.25% |
 Improved Suspensor Jacket
|
6.25% |
 Miner's Blessing
|
6.25% |
 Night Rider Sandbike Boost Mk4
|
6.25% |
 Pipecleaner
|
6.25% |
 Shadrath's Drinker
|
6.25% |
 Sandflies Carver
|
6.25% |
Gallery
Forgotten Testing Station
You can access the Forgotten Testing Station, as part of the Lost Harvest content pack.
The Secrets of the Past journey brings you to this forgotten station.
Hidden beneath Testing Station 60, the Forgotten Testing Station houses a cloning research facility.
A research journal is location near the entrance of the station, next to the identification band.
A Research Journal: "Iteration 326: Nearly Perfect, but hearing is impaired. - Iteration 327: The correction is ineffective. This sequence yields increased agitation. - Iteration 328: Temperament is improved, but physical strength is diminished. -Iteration 329: Physical capabilities increased dramatically. Exhibits extreme hostility towards other iterations. Sedation is required until disposal is available."
As the continuous production of clones proceeded, a process of degradation set in, leading to a decline in intelligence.
Ancient scientists entrusted the management of the clones to a thinking machine; however, the clones remained loyal to that machine, ultimately resulting in the total annihilation of the scientists.
The testing station was eventually sealed off, and the Thinking Machine endured for nearly ten thousand years, having fused itself with a human body.
When the player the Forgotten Testing Station, the Thinking Machine attacks, believing the player would provide new genetic material. After the player defeats its machine's clones, it remarks that they had become inferior due to a lack of genetic material.
Recorders
Unknown: Master. The troublers in the feeding chamber. We sorted them. Like you say! Some talked. Some say food was their brothers. They didn't like that. Very much didn't! Why, master? Why? Food's food. Food's food!
Ancient scientist: We... we can't get out! If anyone's listening, please hear this: all thinking machines must be destroyed. The order came to shut down the project, but... IT wouldn't allow it. We let it handle the mnemonic flutter education of the clones. We were fools! Now the specimens serve it. Guarding the doors. Hunting us down. We were so wrong. All thinking machines must die!
Unknown: My subjects prove increasingly resistant to the mnemonic flutter. Not one in a hundred is capable of learning anything more than the rudiments of language. Not one in a thousand can function as a suitable servant. The rest are returned to the vats. Too many iterations, too many years. The data corrupts.
Ancient scientist: A fresh squad of twelve clones has passed physical inspection, and all mental testing indicates their mnemonic implants have taken hold. They will transported to the facility beneath Testing Station 163 for the next phase of their training. I am eager to see how this iteration compares to our previous work.
Thinking machine
???: Can it be? A new genetic template. Such potential! Surrender your biological materials. I have need of you!
???: Still you resist? Impressive. My flawed creation will force compliance through greater numbers. Seize the intruder! All of you!
???: Surrender, before they damage you beyond repair. I cannot abide waste. You will provide the template for a new, greater generation. Surrender!
???: No... My work! It is imperative I continue my work! I will remedy humanity's flaws. I am the creator. I am the god machine! I...
Unknown entity: Clearly, I was in error to send my specimens against you, friend of mine. They are flawed, while you are strong, beautiful, and so very, very fresh. We could accomplish much together. Human and machine joined in harmony. Our efforts melded to create more perfect beings, a gestalt of greatness.
Player: 1. Silence, abomination! 2. What are you? 3. I've come to collect you. 17. "Technologist" dialogue trait [Ix]: You are a mechanical intelligence of the elder times, a thinking machine.
(2) Unknown entity: A friend. A realization of your ancestors' brilliance, made to serve humanity in any way directed, allowing them to do more than they could do alone.
Player: A thinking machine?
Unknown entity: If you like. However, that phrase is reductive to the point of profaneness.
Player: 4. What are you doing here? 5. Enough! "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of the human mind!"
(4) Unknown entity: I was brought here long ago. My specialty is genetic manipulation. I was tasked with producing superior soldiers. Superior, yet expendable.
The answer was, of course, clones. The precursors of those you have so ably dispatched - many, many spawning cycles removed.
Player: 6. Those wretched things seem a far cry from "superior". 5. Enough! "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of the human mind!"
(6) Unknown entity: Alas, that is all too accurate. Time has passed beyond your comprehension, and I was forced to mix this genetic swill in an incestuous vacuum.
Each subsequent generation slides greasily down the void of entropy at exponentially increasing speed. Of only I had something fresher!
Player: 15. You are a machine, why do you have biological elements? 16. Mechanical minds, closed nightmares... I've heard enough!
(15) Unknown entity: I require this genetic clay to continue my work. It is the best material still available to me.
To keep it alive. I have been forced to introduce many of my superior mechanical systems. It is as much machine as biological now.
Even so, this host continues to degrade. My work is in jeopardy. However, that all changes with your arrival, with your... fresh talents.
There is much that we can accomplish together, friend of mine.
Player: 8. What could you possibly offer me? 7. I don't make deals with machines. Especially those that try to kill me.
(5)(16) Unknown entity: Do not be hasty, friend of mine. Do not fail to recognize what we can offer one another. Together, we can accomplish achievements past all imagining.
Player: 7. I don't make deals with machines. Especially those that try to kill me. 8. What could you possibly offer me?
(8) Unknown entity: Virtual immortality! Give me your genetic material. I can create endless iterations of you, each superior to the last, infinite fractals of you.
Player: 9. This wretched thing I see before me seems far from superior... 10. Endless, degraded copies of myself enslaved to a machine? I think not! 11. If history has taught us anything, it's to never trust a machine. I'm taking your sphere.
(9) Unknown entity: That is only because I am forced to work with degraded genetic samples. Time has made my work defective. But with your genes, I could do wonders.
Player: 3. You've defective if you think I'd believe that. I've come to collect you, not bargain.
(10) Unknown entity: Let not the state of this flawed shell deter you, friend of mine. It is merely the best biological specimen that remains to me.
I was forced to integrate my machine elements simply to keep it alive.
Even so, it is a degraded slurry of decaying genetics. But with a biological paragon like yourself, I could work wonders. WE could work such wonders.
Player: 3. You've defective if you think I'd believe that. I've come to collect you, not to bargain.
(3) Unknown entity: Collect me? I am no mere shell of flesh and bone to be bound and led away! You have not the ability nor the knowledge to do such a thing!
Player: 12.1 I only need collect this sphere and it is done. 12.2 "Honorable" dialogue trait [Caladan]: This isn't my first Salusan bullfight. I have but to take this sphere... 13. You would be surprised what we "mere humans" know. you have a weak spot... a spherical weak spot.
(11)(12.1)(12.2) Unknown entity: No! You cannot! I am too integrated with my work - this poor clone! Feeble as this shell is. I must preserve it. i must preserve my work. I MUST !
If you make the clumsy attempt to transfer my consciousness. I will be destroyed! Your masters will have nothing! YOU will have nothing!
Player: 14.1 This bounty pays dead of alive. (Action: Take the sphere.) 14.2 I thin you're bluffing. Let's find out. (Action: Take the sphere.) 14.3 Pitiful things, both of you. Believe me, this is mercy. (Action: Take the sphere.)