BCCH, ED'S WARD
Checking on Ed for a while, and chatting some more with Meryl (during which they have a touching moment where Jonathan gives her... his cigarettes, "and everything I've lived with up until now"), Jonathan resolves to finish this vicious little game. He loads his gun, experiencing a series of flashbacks from throughout the story, then heads off to get Gates Becker's bone marrow to save Karen.

TOKUGAWA H.Q.
"So, you showed up, Policenaut! Welcome! Now die!"
This bit is so simple, and yet quite hard... Basically, it's a mammoth shoot-a-thon through the building, as described in Gunfight Sections. When you get up to the top, you're confronted by Gates Becker in the new, gold military EMPS - the Vonbrawn.

You get to fire one shot, which propels you back into a wall, thanks to the lack of gravity, then Gates pumps you full of lead. He avoids hitting anything vital, saying Tokugawa wouldn't be happy if he'd damaged anything - they could get a good price for Jonathan's organs. As is traditional with stories like this, Gates then goes into a lengthy explanation of the reasons behind... well, everything:

"You guys only see the surface of space development. Mankind was not intended to live outside of earth. Outer space keeps us in containment. That's the kind of body that God gave us. We have spent the last 4 and a half billion years evolving. But science has surpassed the rate of evolution. Our bodies were not yet ready to live in space.

"The dawn of the space age. Man has broken through the barrier that once existed between earth and space. Constructing a space colony has been theoretically possible since the end of the 20th century. But, we ourselves were the problem. The harsh environment of space has many negative effects on us. To our minds, our bodies, our organs, our genes. Now, halfway through the 21st century, a more large-scale colony than Beyond still isn't feasible. It seems that we really can't survive outside of earth. Our life's rhythm is governed by earth's gravity. On Beyond, the number of children born with various diseases is increasing rapidly every year, due to the effects of radiation from solar wind and cosmic rays. Up until now, space development has had no way of tackling the radiation problem. And space doesn't just affect our bodies, but our minds as well. Calcium and nitrogen losses due to weightlessness and the radiation problem, those can be solved technologically. But the mental effects still pose a major problem. The world is different today than it was back during the Policenauts program. Anyone can go to space nowadays. The emergence of latent mental disorders, the delusions and hallucinations that stem from isolation and claustrophobia... And that inescapable feeling of loneliness. No amount of training can prepare someone for that. Space will always be a destination, not a home. It's only suited for applied uses and scientific research. The idea that we could adapt to this kind of environment and advance will forever remain a dream. That was the conclusion drawn by the scientific community at the beginning of the century.

"History isn't written by people like you who are afraid to move forward! Mankind needs drugs and spare organs. I joined together with Tokugawa and with his assets and connections, we overcame those problems. It's taken the last 30 years to get to this point. 30 years! Man will start to move out more and more into space. Inevitably, more problems will arise. But soon, everyone will recognize how brilliant we really are. Tokugawa and I are just giving to mankind what God forgot.

"We didn't just think up this system yesterday or last week. We've been carefully putting the pieces in place since we came to Beyond as Policenauts 30 years ago! Everything was going according to plan. Until that coward Hojo disrupted things.

"He tried to pull out of the DDS project. The old man wanted his own way. Then Tokugawa told him about the organ trafficking. He told him that his daughter wouldn't be saved if they went through the registered organ bank, but that it would be possible through Tokugawa's trading routes.

"It's not a good idea to try and go against us. But who could have imagined that his wife was Jonathan's, your, ex-wife..?"

Jonathan reveals that everything Gates has said has been broadcast throughout Beyond, and Gates decides to kill him. A shot rings out, and Gates dies. Ed has struggled to your rescue!

As they help each other back downstairs, Ed tries to tell Jonathan something about Gates's bone marrow, but they're interrupted. Tokugawa - a really bad loser - is waiting for them with a squad of guards. Just as he's about to put an end to the two of you, Meryl turns up with the cavalry. Phew. In a voiceover, Dr. Collins from BCCH tells Jonathan the results of his blood test:

"We can use your bone marrow to save Karen. We should get ready."

All that remains is to save off proof that you've completed the game and to sit through the...

EPILOGUE>>>

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