NMLevesque
Commie Ghost
Somehow Old World Blues just gets more confusing the closer you look at it. One might assume that it's what happens when a story centers around senile mad scientists, whose memories and senses were altered to confuse them. However, the weirdest part of OWB has nothing to do with such handwaves (that aren't as necessary as you might think). The Courier's brain somehow developed an independent sense of self and awareness before/during brain surgery; perceived the procedure on itself well enough to reverse it, despite not even knowing of the three technologies needed to do it* (which the Think Tank didn't even possess), and in the process learned how to shut off the entire radar fence in the process (an alternate method of escape that the Think Tank isn't aware of). So getting surgically removed and replaced let it understand four pieces of unique, extremely advanced tech that weren't involved in the process (as far as I can tell).
*Possible with a 1 intelligence, minimum science and medicine skill Courier. So I doubt it can be explained as conceptual knowledge, that would serve as the missing piece for the Think Tank.
The only clue I could find as to how, is the surgery code Klein mentions. Which Mobius is apparently responsible for. I suspect it has to do with Mobius' plan 9's: that he expected his auto-doc would get used, set up a pipe connecting the Forbidden Zone to the Think Tank (that's what it looks like is happening in game, but it could also be teleportation, which explains how you end up at the Sink balcony if you go passed the radar fence), and maybe even sabotaged it to remove the procedural data. Presumably then, he left the auto-doc functional when he first left so that they would use one that one which he boobytrapped/has control over.
"...You're really {"quite"}quiet special, and not in the cranially-challenged way. You see, you are the most successful brain extraction experiment ever performed here at Big MT...If you were to go back with what your brain knows about the procedure, well...your brain could be popped back in and you could walk right out of here..."
"...because you had suffered a cranial injury in just the right place...it was enough for the Auto-Doc in the Sink to change its programming to fix the problem. And the brain extraction technology for once, worked. That gave the Think Tank the knowledge its brains shouldn't... couldn't...sh'couldn't possess. With that knowledge, the procedure can be reversed. If they obtain that procedural data, they can use it to mush and modify their cranial selves into hosts to slip past the Radar Fence, I'm sure of it." Mobius
"I have some questions about this "brain extraction" you all performed." Courier
"WELL, WE DIDN'T ACTUALLY DO IT. WE TRIED TO CLEAN UP AFTER, AS ALWAYS, BUT USUALLY THE AUTO-DOC RUNS ON REMOTE. BUT WE PROGRAMMED IT. OR, MOBIUS DID. STILL, THIS NEW WRINKLE WITH THE TESLA COILS IN YOUR SKULL WAS UNEXPECTED. I MEAN WE PREDICTED WE'D HAVE A BREAK-THROUGH EVENTUALLY"
"...THAT IT MAY HAVE GONE TO MOBIUS IS MERELY AN INKLING. I DON'T KNOW WHY, BUT IT MAY BE SOMETHING INVOLVING THE SURGERY CODE. ACTUALLY, I DON'T KNOW. ALL I KNOW IS IT MISPLACED ITSELF. OR IT FLOATED OFF. THEY GET INTO ROBOTS SOMETIMES AND GO ON A TEAR."
"MOBIUS' LEGACY CODE WAS IN THE OLD AUTO-DOC, YES. IT FRIED ITSELF AFTER YOUR PROCEDURE, SO WE COULDN'T TELL FOR SURE. IT IS UNFORTUNATE. WE WOULD HAVE BENEFITED FROM KNOWING HOW THE BREAKTHROUGH OCCURRED. EVEN IF WE INSTALLED ANOTHER CHIP, THE INFORMATION IS LOST." Klein
"So if I don't get my brain back in my head, I can't leave, ever?" Courier
"Oh, no. I doubt your brain would be so unraisinable. It already knows the trick of it, you see. Doesn't need to be in a host body at all. If you become friends or exist in an uneasy truce with weapons aimed at each other, it would unlock the fence for you. Well, once the Think Tank was...dealt with, of course. Your brain is a responsible sort, doesn't want mad scientists running around everywhere!" Mobius
I was more baffled by the coincidence part for a while, but I figured it out. That the three technologies can be used to reverse brain extractions and open the Forbidden Zone dome was intentional. So the Think Tank would inadvertently bring them to Mobius if they ever got their hands on them. While the Courier's brain is a great help, it's stated they would eventually solve the problem anyway by Mobius and Klein.
"And coincidentally... pardon my language... all those technologies are needed to put a brain, your brain, back into its skull. Properly." Mobius
"But the Think Tank downloaded the schematics, not the items. They can rebuild them." Courier
"Oh. That means my plan is a total failure. That is unfortunate." Mobius
"Was there any other data transmitted in your threat broadcast?" Courier
"Without something to distract them, make them afraid, they would simply de-deuce what had happened. And when they start deucing it up..."
"...Oh, and the "get me the things to castrate your only possible escape attempt."" Mobius
*Possible with a 1 intelligence, minimum science and medicine skill Courier. So I doubt it can be explained as conceptual knowledge, that would serve as the missing piece for the Think Tank.
The only clue I could find as to how, is the surgery code Klein mentions. Which Mobius is apparently responsible for. I suspect it has to do with Mobius' plan 9's: that he expected his auto-doc would get used, set up a pipe connecting the Forbidden Zone to the Think Tank (that's what it looks like is happening in game, but it could also be teleportation, which explains how you end up at the Sink balcony if you go passed the radar fence), and maybe even sabotaged it to remove the procedural data. Presumably then, he left the auto-doc functional when he first left so that they would use one that one which he boobytrapped/has control over.
"...You're really {"quite"}quiet special, and not in the cranially-challenged way. You see, you are the most successful brain extraction experiment ever performed here at Big MT...If you were to go back with what your brain knows about the procedure, well...your brain could be popped back in and you could walk right out of here..."
"...because you had suffered a cranial injury in just the right place...it was enough for the Auto-Doc in the Sink to change its programming to fix the problem. And the brain extraction technology for once, worked. That gave the Think Tank the knowledge its brains shouldn't... couldn't...sh'couldn't possess. With that knowledge, the procedure can be reversed. If they obtain that procedural data, they can use it to mush and modify their cranial selves into hosts to slip past the Radar Fence, I'm sure of it." Mobius
"I have some questions about this "brain extraction" you all performed." Courier
"WELL, WE DIDN'T ACTUALLY DO IT. WE TRIED TO CLEAN UP AFTER, AS ALWAYS, BUT USUALLY THE AUTO-DOC RUNS ON REMOTE. BUT WE PROGRAMMED IT. OR, MOBIUS DID. STILL, THIS NEW WRINKLE WITH THE TESLA COILS IN YOUR SKULL WAS UNEXPECTED. I MEAN WE PREDICTED WE'D HAVE A BREAK-THROUGH EVENTUALLY"
"...THAT IT MAY HAVE GONE TO MOBIUS IS MERELY AN INKLING. I DON'T KNOW WHY, BUT IT MAY BE SOMETHING INVOLVING THE SURGERY CODE. ACTUALLY, I DON'T KNOW. ALL I KNOW IS IT MISPLACED ITSELF. OR IT FLOATED OFF. THEY GET INTO ROBOTS SOMETIMES AND GO ON A TEAR."
"MOBIUS' LEGACY CODE WAS IN THE OLD AUTO-DOC, YES. IT FRIED ITSELF AFTER YOUR PROCEDURE, SO WE COULDN'T TELL FOR SURE. IT IS UNFORTUNATE. WE WOULD HAVE BENEFITED FROM KNOWING HOW THE BREAKTHROUGH OCCURRED. EVEN IF WE INSTALLED ANOTHER CHIP, THE INFORMATION IS LOST." Klein
"So if I don't get my brain back in my head, I can't leave, ever?" Courier
"Oh, no. I doubt your brain would be so unraisinable. It already knows the trick of it, you see. Doesn't need to be in a host body at all. If you become friends or exist in an uneasy truce with weapons aimed at each other, it would unlock the fence for you. Well, once the Think Tank was...dealt with, of course. Your brain is a responsible sort, doesn't want mad scientists running around everywhere!" Mobius
I was more baffled by the coincidence part for a while, but I figured it out. That the three technologies can be used to reverse brain extractions and open the Forbidden Zone dome was intentional. So the Think Tank would inadvertently bring them to Mobius if they ever got their hands on them. While the Courier's brain is a great help, it's stated they would eventually solve the problem anyway by Mobius and Klein.
"And coincidentally... pardon my language... all those technologies are needed to put a brain, your brain, back into its skull. Properly." Mobius
"But the Think Tank downloaded the schematics, not the items. They can rebuild them." Courier
"Oh. That means my plan is a total failure. That is unfortunate." Mobius
"Was there any other data transmitted in your threat broadcast?" Courier
"Without something to distract them, make them afraid, they would simply de-deuce what had happened. And when they start deucing it up..."
"...Oh, and the "get me the things to castrate your only possible escape attempt."" Mobius
