You know, I wasn't exactly sure what I was expecting when I first played System Shock 2 during 2017. But peak doomed yuri made in the year 1999 definitely wasn't one of them.
And I'm not complaining btw!! Like, you mean to tell me that Janice Polito and Marie Delacroix, two very brilliant and capable scientists that made two absolutely world changing and revolutionary technology with the intention of making the world a better place trusted and depended on each other enough to share their LIFE'S WORK together??!?!!
What do you mean Marie created the FTL drives but it needed an advanced ai to manage it aboard the Von Braun, and what do you mean that aside from Janice's own team Marie was one of the few people who knew about the creation of XERXES since Janice made it classified work until XERXES was deemed safe enough to share to the world?!??! what do you mean?????!!!
Also, that scene in the System Shock 2 fiction by Ken Levine with Marie defending Janice in front of the entire committee room when Cal McGill exposed XERXES to the public?!?! and how Janice's first thought was to turn to face Marie for reassurance, and Marie immediately there by her side?!?!?!?
It's stated that they are close friends, and when things got real bad on the Von Braun Janice said in her audio log that Marie was the only one she could trust. Marie was also planning to remove Anatoly from his position as Captain after he started acting weird, and who was the person she sent the audio log to? Janice.
This to me, is the core of what their relationship is built on: trust. In a world as cold, harsh, and unforgiving as System Shock, they have trusted each other to rely and depend on. Despite their differences, they are also similar.
Marie, despite her fame, wealth, recognition, and achievements, is pessimistic (to an extent) and skeptical of her work, even labelling herself a hypocrite for creating the FTL drive, knowing it can be dangerous. She can come across as sarcastic and cold at certain times, maybe as a form of coping or a defense mechanism. But even so, she wants to help others and the world with her creation.
Then we have Janice, who the committee thinks is naïve because she is soft and empathetic, and wants to make an ai that is safe and can help humanity progress towards a brighter future.
Janice, who was labeled a hypocrite for creating XERXES and escorted out of the committee room, Janice who was probably crying as Marie observed when Cal McGill announced they had only 3 months to rush the project regardless if it was ready or not. Yet despite receiving backlash for her hypocrisy, despite the setbacks, and despite being fearful of the future and the dangers of trying to harness technology they don't trust, she was still optimistic or at least was trying to be despite the situation.
They both know they are hypocrites, they are both creating world changing technology, they both want to help. One receives praise in the public eye and the other stays in the shadows. Yet, despite this, one cannot be without the other. Marie's FTL drives need Janice's ai XERXES, they balance each other. And to me personally, there is something very poetic about the way even their research mirrors their dynamic.
Don't even get me started with that first real audio log we hear from Janice. Apologizing for being out of touch suggests that before Janice got busy with trying to analyze the data fragment, she and Marie were in frequent communication with each other. Given their roles as senior crew members on the Von Braun, that's understandable. But who's to say that communication didn't extend outside work, given that they seem to have known each other for quite some time before the events of the game.
Also!!! just Janice being so excited and happy to share her discovery with Marie, like she's someone she can confide with, someone she can rely and depend on, share her interests and joys with. That line, "I'll let you be the judge", Janice wants to hear Marie's opinion and thoughts because it's important to her. Because she's important to her.
Forgive me for rambling, this is all probably too much of a stretch, and of course this definitely isn't the only way to see their dynamic. This is all just my interpretation and understanding, because to me their implied history feels too loaded to just be professional. Regardless if it's read in a platonic or romantic lens, I think what these two characters share together is something really beautiful and special. Again, I could just be yapping nonsense right now. But I just gotta say, that the way System Shock 2 presents us with its characters and gives us snippets of their lives before the events of the game and lets us interpret and imagine how these characters interact with others and the world around them is one of the many reasons why I love this game to bits.
