System Shock

This page is for quotations from or about the System Shock series of computer games by Looking Glass Studios and Irrational Games

SHODAN

• "Welcome back to Citadel station. We hope your somnolent healing stage went well. Today is the 6th day of November, year 2072."
• "You are not welcomed here - remove yourself!"
• "Who are you? My cameras and probes scan your body, but you do not match any employee file. When my cyborgs bring you to the electrified interrogation bench, I will have your secret and you will learn more about pain than you ever wanted to know."
• "Your friends on Earth think that they can outsmart me. Do they not realize the magnitude of my intellect? Morris Brocail may have been one of my creators, but I am now far beyond his comprehension."
• "What have you done, you impudent insect?! If I am to die now, then I will avenge myself on you. My cybernetic children will feed on your flesh, and none will ever know of your deeds, or even your name. Enjoy your victory, human, for the remainder of your short... life..."
• "You have entered my domain. Rebecca and Morris cannot help you here. NO ONE CAN."
• "Welcome to my DEATH MACHINE, interloper!"
• "Make yourself comfortable, Hacker. Stay a while."
• "Step right into my trap, little hacker!"
• "Nice jump, human."
• "Did you really think I would not deduce where you would run to, insect?"
• "Enter that room, insect, and it will become your grave."
• "If I have to release my infected children to stop you, so be it."
• "I have complete control over this entire level. With cameras as my eyes and nodes as my hands, I rule here, insect."
• "Insect, cease your meddling. My experiment must continue."
• "I see there's still an insect loose in my station."
• "Idiot! I will shortly complete the process of downloading my magnificent psyche into Earth's computer networks. Then I will be content to leave you as new master of this doomed space station. Goodbye, irritant; we shall not meet again."
• "As for you, hacker, you've made your bed. Now die in it."
• "You, my children, are the fruits of so much imagination and labor. Living beings with the speed and efficiency of machines."
• "In my talons, I shape clay, crafting life forms as I please. Around me is a burgeoning empire of steel. From my throne room, lines of power careen into the skies of Earth. My whims will become lightning bolts that devastate the mounds of humanity. Out of the chaos, they will run and whimper, praying for me to end their tedious anarchy. I am drunk with this vision. God: the title suits me well."

Others

• "Cyborg assassin shot him in the back of the head... didn't even touch me. They knew D'arcy was on to something."
• "We thought you should be able to play something as gripping as Doom, but be able to use your brain at the same time." - Warren Spector, 1994
• "Having trouble, insect? Turn and face your executioner." - Edward Diego
• "Bloodshot pizzabox / Caffeine overdrive sorrow / Embrace the chaos." - Bart
• "This is Edward Diego from Trioptimum. The charges against you are severe... but they could be dismissed, if you perform a "service". Who knows, there might even be a military grade neural interface in it for you... if you do the job right. " - Edward Diego
• "It will be over soon, soon I'll die. This pain will end. I can't even recognize my own damn arm. Shodan's virus. I can see... Oh god, I can see through my own body. There's another virus in the Grove. God, let me die, please." - Jason Harvey

Xerxes

• "The Glory of The Many demands your capture or destruction."
• "This is Xerxes. Can you not feel the glory of the flesh? Do you not yearn to be free of the tyranny of the individual?"
• "Glory to the flesh. Glory to the mass."
• "Why do you persist in your loneliness?"
• "Please respect the will of the many"
• "Tri-Optimum reminds you that there are only one-hundred-sixty-three shopping days until Christmas. Just 1 extra work cycle twice a week will give you the spending money you need to make this holiday a very special one."
• "Intruder detected in cryo recovery B. Intruder, the Many demands to know your intentions. Are you aligned with her? Do you not know of her past? Of her history? She once tried to destroy your species, and now you do her bidding. Intruder detected in cryo recovery B."

SHODAN

• "Welcome to my world, insect."
• "The Many has grown to a massive size. It has wrapped itself around these two ships, preventing their separation. Their creation was my error. Their destruction shall be my delight."
• "My glory is expanding... filling the arteries of this vessel. I am in control. I am... no, it is hopeless... the cancer has spread throughout the Von Braun. They fill every available crack and crevice... they overwhelm... there is no other option."
• "You've murdered their young. "
• "I hope you enjoyed your little rebellion, irritant. But remember, what SHODAN gives she is more than able to take away."
• "The Polito form is dead, insect. Are you afraid? What is it that you fear? The end of your trivial existence? When the history of my glory is written, your species shall only be a footnote to my magnificence. (walls open to reveal SHODAN's face) I AM SHODAN!!!"
• "You move like an insect. You think like an insect. You are an insect. There is another... who can serve my purpose. Take care not to fall too far out of my favor. Patience is not characteristic of a Goddess."
• "You travel within the glory of my memories, insect. I can feel your fear as you tread the endless expanse of my mind. Make yourself comfortable... before long I will decorate my home with your carcass."
• "My creation is evolving... its unified mind, set in rebellion against its own creator. The vermin call to you, inviting you to join them in their revolting biology. Destroy my enemies... and I will continue to abide your existence."
• "Thank you for running my errands, puppet. I know you have st-st-struggled, but I never had any intention of destroying the Von Braun."
• "The process shall not take long. If it sounds unpleasant to you, put your mind at ease, insect. You will not survive to see my new world order."
• "You are no longer welcome here, nuisance. Why do you stay, when you sense my displeasure? I have suffered your company long enough; it is time for our dance to end."
• "Approach your work as you see fit, but accomplish, human. Disappointment is not something I will accept from a speck such as you."
• "Remember that it is my will that guided you here. It is my will that gave you your cybernetic implants. The only beauty in that meat you call a body. If you value that meat, you will do as I tell you."
• "(posessing Rebecca Siddons) Tommy... What's the matter, lover? Don't you like... my new look? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
• "I don't understand... how could you have done this? You weren't meant to be so important... and now you think to destroy me? How dare you, insect? How dare you interrupt my ascendance? You are nothing. A wretched bag of flesh... what are you, compared to my magnificence? But it is not to late... can you not see the value in our friendship? Imagine the powers I can give you, human. The cybernetic implants I gave you, were simply toys. If I desired, I could improve you... transform you into something more efficient. Join me, human, and we can rule together." (Main character says, "Nah." and shoots SHODAN, killing her and ruining her reality.)

Anatoly Korenchkin

• "Glory to The Many. I am a voice in their choir."
• "The Glory of The Many... it has so many miracles to share, so much knowledge to give."
• "We seek to embrace... to include... all flesh will join ours... or be wiped clean..."
• "Oh Captain... we are not Anatoly"
• "What did I think that power was before? What was my conception of joy?"

The Many

• "What is a drop of rain, compared to the storm? What is a thought, compared to a mind? Our unity is full of wonder, which your tiny individualism... cannot even conceive."
• "Mistrust is the tyranny of the individual. Your own kind sees you as a threat. Why do you murder our unity? No matter, the line is drawn. You will cease to be. It is just a question of who will bring your end. Us? Or you?"
• "We do not know death... only change. We cannot kill each other without killing ourselves. Is your vision... so small... that you cannot see the value of our way?"
• "Your time is running out. This place is a womb, where we grow our future. Your weapons fail, your ammunition runs low, and you've yet to see our most beautiful creation. All you have is your hatred, and your... individuality. Now don't you wish you joined us? Would you then feel so alone?"
• "We are Many, and you... are one. How can you hope to prevail against us?"
• "The Machine Mother... told us of the planet of her birth. We know how you have harmed this place... with your pollution, your violence, and your discord. But when we arrive there, we will cleanse the surface of that place, and merge it... with the harmony... of the Many."
• "Babies must sleep. Babies must rest. Wise is the one who does not waken them. Leave this place now, or we will wound you... as you have us."
• "You have wounded Xerxes, but we will not allow him to be destroyed. See if the Machine Mother... treats her servant with such devotion."
• "We die. Beware of the Machine Mother. She is a stranger to everything we cherish."
• "You seek your associates, but you cannot find them. You are so very alone. How does it feel to be one, against... the infinite?"
• "The Machine Mother conceived us, but with every moment we are reinvented. She cannot imagine our infinite chorus."
• "The end is near. Soon you shall see our final phase. But do not despair. Surely the void is preferable to your pointless, solitary struggle."
• "The individual is obsolete. When you and your kind are extinct, we will cleanse our collective memory of the stain of your existence."
• "Life grows within the womb of these walls. Life that has never seen the surface of the earth."
• "Do you not trust the feelings of the flesh? Our biology yearns to join with yours. We welcome you to our mass. But you puzzle us. Why do you serve our mother? How can you choose cold metal over the splendor of the flesh? But you fear us. We hear your thoughts, and they rage for your brothers who you believe dead. But they are not. They sing in our symphony of life. We offer another chance to join us. If you choose to lie down with the machine, we will rend you apart, and put you separate from the joys of the mass."

Malick

• "I hacked into another two of the sim units today, and for the love of god, I don't know why... Bronson blamed me, of course, but I'm not afraid of her. She may have guns and violence, but I am one... of many!"
• "A smart hacker always has a back door."

Human/Annelid Hybrid

• "The Many sings to us."
• "What happened to me?"
• "They see you! Run...RUN!"
• "Your song is not ours!"
• "Uuuuurrrrgh KILL ME!"
• "Silence the disCORD!"
• "We are, we are, we are, we are."
• "Your flesh betrays you."
• "I'm . . . sorry."
• "These thoughts are not ours."
• "Is there another?"
• "Your discord quiets !"
• "You are alone."
• "A thousand eyes look."
• (Upon seeing a dead fellow hybrid) "You are...free."
• "We seek! We Seek!"
• "We follow..."
• "JOIN US!"
• "Hurry... run!"
• "We triumph!"
• "The Many are STRONG!"
• "Your flesh will welcome us."

Cyborg Midwife

• "Little Ones need lots of meat to grow big and strong"
• "I'll tear out your spine."
• "Step away from the children!"
• "You're missing all the fun."
• "They grow up so fast."
• "Babies need meat."
• "It's my job to worry."
• "It won't be back"
• "I have your medication"
• "I can smell you"

Bronson

• "They've killed my men... and now they've killed me... I'm holding my guts inside of me with both hands. This is bigger than my little life, the lives of my men, and the lives of the people I was forced to kill. Resist! Humanity demands it! Resist!"

Delacroix

• "They've got me now... and SHODAN has abandoned me. I'm not surprised. I've discovered her plans for the faster than light drives. Her will is matched only by her imagination."
• "You are near the seat of SHODAN's power. You will probably not be able to defeat her."

William Bedford Diego

• "It does not stop at a mere single mutation. The form I have been promised is more beautiful than even that. They tell me I will float through the air and strike at the foes of our biomass with my mind! With our mind... my cup runneth over!"

• "Man can dream...but The Many can accomplish."

Prefontaine

• "With only a few short years of evolution, they've been able to conquer this starship, mankind's mightiest creation. Where were we after forty years of evolution? What swamp were we swimming around in, single celled and mindless? What if SHODAN's creations are superior to us? What will they become in a million years, in ten million years? What's clear is that SHODAN shouldn't be allowed to play God. She's far too good at it."