Thematic similarities between Tiberian Dawn and Stephen King's Insomnia?

[Eva]

I was looking through the audio files in the Command and Conquer Demo disk, and I found something really weird. In AUD.MIX, the files with ID FA2D0EBD and ID FC2D0EBD are both excerpts from Stephen King's Insomnia.

FA2D0EBD is a sped-up version of "but lack of sleep is the least of his worries," which seems to be an excerpt from the synopsis, while FC2D0EBD, when slowed down, says "that walking was not exactly what they were doing; it had seemed more like gliding. They went from the picnic area at the end of Runway 3 back to Strawford Park in that same fashion, only the glide was faster and more pronounced now. It was like being carried along by an invisible conveyor belt. As an experiment, he stopped walking. The houses and storefronts continued to flow mildly past. He looked down at his feet to make sure, and yes, they were completely still."

FE2D0EBD says the same, but reversed, while 002D0EBD seems to say something about "cortex stimulation" and "rapid neuroleptization," phrases that from my brief searches don't appear in the novel.

Having never read the book myself, I have to wonder if it in any way ties into the themes of Command and Conquer, or was it simply chosen as creepy throwaway dialogue?

[AchromicWhite]

That sounds really weird, but I don't have any info to give you in feedback, sorry...

Anyone else? Would you like to share the file etc?

  -Liam

[Eva]

It's from the demo, so I don't see any harm if I share it: AUD.MIX

[Nyerguds]

That's just from the install sequence. It's not just the demo; the normal DOS game has it too. It's played when the installer seems to go crazy at the end, to scare the user for a bit.

 

Nice to know where it comes from, though.

 

Full animation:

(You have to imagine this in DOS, before the days of bringing up task managers or alt-tabbing out, of course. It all just goes crazy and seemingly locks up on you, and there's nothing you can do about it. View this in fullscreen for the best immersion )

DOS C&C installation

It's kind of a pity how it smudges out in the end. The animation in the installer is pure lossless WSA, not VQA video, meaning all the text right up until the end is crystal clear as it rapidly flashes past.

 

Side note: the filenames are mangled because Olaf forgot to add them to XCC Mixer. I recently recovered the names, though, as seen in this topic.

[Eva]

Oh, I know it's from the install sequence, I was simply looking on the demo disk for it because I don't think the Worldwide Warfare compilation has the DOS installer's files. I watched the C&C64 version of it every time I started it up when I was a kid because I loved it. I was just wondering if there was a specific reason they used that passage rather than any other horror novel. I assume a Westwood employee had recently finished the book and when they needed some spooky filler text, they suggested a passage they found particularly moving.

[Nyerguds]

Well, thanks for identifying it

[Silent_Running]

I've read Insomnia. I can tell you there aren't any related themes, at least none that seem immediately obvious. The book is about an old person who can't sleep and starts having visions...