some explanations please? [BLACK PLAGUE SPOILERS]

[roketto]

first: what is up with that first hallucination philip has, where he is back on the boat and then he goes out into a very strange bunch of rooms, with hands and fire and all that? is that in his mind? what is the symbolism behind it?

second: who is clarence exactly? we are told he is a virus but why is he so human-ish for a virus?

third: WHY does philip tell his friend to kill all the tuurngait?! he seemed like he was a guy who was trying to just do the right thing all the time, why would he not want to blow up that horrible place and let it disappear along with the demons?

fourth: why exactly were the dogs and spiders and people "infected"? did the tuurngait just infect whatever was around? were the worms infected as well? i am especially confused about all of this because it seemed like the facility was testing on animals/people and then they became mutated. but apparently it was just the tuurngait possessing them? i don't really get it.

i am even more confused by the ending. the tuurngait say they want mercy from philip. what do they mean by that? is it because they want him to destroy the facility?

lots of questions here and i do have more but i'll wait for some answers to these ones first...

[Yuhaney]

what is up with that first hallucination philip has, where he is back on the boat and then he goes out into a very strange bunch of rooms, with hands and fire and all that?

Clarence takes over some part of Philip's mind and makes him run through some puzzles.

who is clarence exactly?

Clarence is one (evil) part of the alien hive mind.

WHY does philip tell his friend to kill all the tuurngait?

"Tuurngait" asked for his mercy, but Philip decided not to co-operate with the aliens.

why exactly were the dogs and spiders and people "infected"?

"Tuurngait" said they lived peacefully with the inuit, but after humans started to expand through out the world, the "Tuurngait" buried itself underground.

After the Archaic Elevated Caste came to search for the "Tuurngait" and found it, it fought back as a self-defence and started to infect all personnel in the facility and animals around it.

the tuurngait say they want mercy from philip. what do they mean by that?

Quote from Wikipedia:

"The Tuurngait explains that mankind is intelligent and compassionate as individuals, but selfish, petty, and destructive as a whole. However, it believes that Philip is different from most of mankind. The Tuurngait puts itself at Philip's mercy, asking him to send a message to someone above ground, for them to destroy all information regarding the Archaic's research facility so that the Tuurngait may rest in peace.

This is the same request the Tuurngait made of Philip's father Howard, however Philip thwarted it by coming to investigate instead of following his father's instructions."