Return to Space (Final)

The one lead players have at this point is a "Genetix" logo and stellar coordinates they found printed on one of the toxic waste containers discovered back at Klorox II.  This brings our team to what looks like the space station from "Silent Running."  For those who might not be familiar with the 1972 sci-fi film of that name just know that it's a huge greenhouse in space.

Roger tries to beam aboard the abandoned station to investigate further, but a transporter malfunction causes his head to be swapped with that of a fly.  Unlike the black-and-white classic horror movie "The Fly," Wilco's consciousness also transfers over to his much smaller insect body.  With some ingenuity and effort our hero is able to get in contact with Flo on the Eureka and have Cliffy beam over to set things right.  The whole misadventure actually serves as the impetus for curing the mutagenic infection.  The transporter can be jury-rigged to remove corrupted DNA.  Roger examines some old Genetix research logs, which basically read like something written by the Umbrella Corporation from Resident Evil, as well as financial accounting information that includes bribes made to Captain Quirk.  Wilco also manages to requisition two tanks of liquid hydrogen.  The Genetix research data confirms that extreme cold is an effective way to temporarily paralyze mutated lifeforms.  Roger gives the tanks to Cliffy who plans on making them into a non-lethal weapon.  The two of them then beam back to the Eureka to perform the transporter cure on Beatrice (credit to Spike for prompting the idea).  The operation is a success, but Beatrice is still exhausted and asks to be returned to the stasis pod in order to make a full recovery.  Our team has the tools to defeat the mutants and recover the Goliath.  

Using the cloaking device salvaged from WD-40's starship, the garbage scow is able to sneak up on Quirk's vessel undetected.  Roger then slips through the Goliath's shields via the Eureka's EVA pod and gains access to the relatively deserted engineering deck.  Here, he reattaches the ship's warp distributer cap before crawling and climbing through a maze of maintenance shafts all the way up to the bridge.  Wilco is able to deactivate the ship's shields, but his plan is quickly knocked sidewise when he is discovered by the mutated bridge crew (including Quirk).  All seems lost until WD-40 suddenly beams aboard and opens fire with twin cold rays mounted in her torso.  The freezing effect only momentary stuns the mutants so the two of them make a hasty retreat down to the transporter room.  Cliffy, having already beamed aboard here, has modified the transporter system to remove corrupted material from infected individuals.  The mutants, using the ship's internal sensors, converge on the transporter room in search of our hero.  Hiding behind a bulkhead, Roger is able to signal Cliffy to activate the transporter once all the mutants have piled into the room.  Assuming players time it right, the trick works.  All the Goliath's crew are cured...except for Quirk.

Because there was so much corrupted tissue, Cliffy was forced to beam it out as a big glob drifting nearby in space.  Quirk boards a shuttle and crashes directly into the mass of material, turning himself into a kind of sentient space blob...that promptly attaches itself to the Goliath's hull in an attempt to get inside.  Roger transports back to the Eureka and rushes to the bridge.  Acting quickly, he orders Droole to open fire on the creature.  The attack doesn't seem to do much harm, but it does get the blob's attention.  The Quirk-thing detaches from the Goliath and makes its way toward the Eureka.  Being a fragile garbage scow the situation looks pretty dire, but the Eureka does have an integrated system specifically designed to deal with loose trash - the RRS.

The surprised looking blob is quickly sucked up into the ship's refuse container.  Unfortunately, the system was never designed to hold such an unruly mass of sentient toxic waste.  The only option here is to activate the Eureka's self-destruct sequence.  Droole and Flo make a break for the transporter room and beam over to the Goliath.  Roger is fast on their heels, but first has to let Beatrice out of her sleeping chamber.  She spring out of the pod looking as lively as ever although there does seem to be some residual disorientation.  After she beams over to the Goliath, Roger grabs Spike out of his tube and steps onto the transporter pad...only to have it blow a fuse.  The junction box is in the adjoining hall, so our hero has to rush over there and swap out the dead plug for a fresh one.  On his way back to the transporter room, the hatch to refuse storage area bursts open and the Quirk-thing spills partially out across the deck.  With a heroic leap Wilco is able to jump over a grasping hand-like appendage protruding out of the blob, thus gaining access to the now functioning transporter.  Beaming aboard the Goliath, Roger orders Droole to take the helm and get the ship to safety.  The Goliath accelerates away just in the nick of time, as a massive blast destroys the Eureka and what remained of Captain Quirk.  Having saved the day Wilco orders Droole to set course for home while Beatrice gives him an affectionate peck on the cheek...

...and that's all for Space Quest V: The Next Mutation.  It's also the end of this series retrospective.  Technically, there is a sixth installment in the franchise, but it is so awful I can't bring myself to write about out.  As for the fifth one, I've seen fans and reviewers criticize it for being too much like Star Trek, but a group of intrepid adventurers galivanting through space is really only overused in television and movies; for video games it's actually a fairly uncommon sub-genre.  The Mass Effect series is the only recent IP that stands out as thematically similar in concept, and even then it is much more somber and action oriented than Space Quest.  As I said before it's my favorite in the franchise, not to mention the longest (demonstrated by the fact that it took me three blog posts to summarize rather than the usual two).  Truth be told though, the first through fifth were all great as far as games of this style go; a rare feat when it comes to long running video game franchises.  Because of that, I really wanted to do a proper revisit even if it ended up being very time consuming.  Anyway, I hope it was as enjoyable for you to read as it was for me to write.