Dead Tech (episode)

## Dead Tech

"This is what it feels like to go insane." - Captain Shack, after hearing Morphologis explain the acronym "ROPE".

### Air date

April 1, 2017

Dead Tech is a season two episode that features the three Survivors' trip into the murky abyss from w4sted's dream.

## Summary

As Morphologis completes construction on his vehicle, w4sted and Captain Shack unload supplies from the Warden, including spare hydrogen bottles and full weapons and ammo load-outs, in addition to weapons tests to ensure they are prepared for anything they find.

Arriving at the top of the shaft, they find Morphologis putting the finishing touches on the ROPE, a lifter vehicle that should be able to get the team safely to the bottom of the shaft. He gleefully points out the vehicle's features, to which w4sted responds that perhaps Morph should pursue a career in infomercials.

After ordering R-5 to keep the Warden warmed up until they return, the Survivors board the craft and begin their descent. Almost immediately, Morphologis has control problems, resulting in the small craft starting to tumble out of control. Unable to correct the flight orientation, the downward thrusters on the ROPE are wrecked, plummeting the vehicle to the bottom of the shaft. Its downward fall is halted by crashing into the ruins of support beams, which are about to collapse with the added weight of the ROPE on them. After a hasty evacuation and evasion of the ROPE's final crash, the Survivors regroup and evaluate the wreck. With its hydrogen supply and radio repeater destroyed in the crash, they are stranded at the lower level.

Exploration of the vicinity shows what appears to be an incomplete railroad or monorail tunnel stretching off in two directions as well as a maintenance shaft, which is labelled "BMESA#22". The area is also littered with cargo crates bearing the DEADTECH chop, similar to those found in the underground facility. The survivors set off on their own in each direction, with orders to return within 20 minutes. Shack takes the maintenance shaft.

The maintenance shaft, after dropping down for a short distance, bears the marker "[\_\_|4 #22" and stretches in two directions. Investigating a partially-collapsed stretch of the shaft, Shack runs across two constructor drones which appear to be powerless.

In the opposite direction of the dead drones, he makes a gruesome discovery: The corpse of still-suited man, a log recorder half buried in the dirt next to him. Though damaged, there is sufficient audio left to make out several messages.

*"This is chief of \_\_\_\_ maintenance John Roland. Final log. You found this, you probably found me. Do me a favor, tell Mark I'm sorry I didn't make it home like I promised. I'm not really sure where it went wrong."*

*"We made it to the surface 16 months ago. Atmospheric conditions were about what we expected. Landing was a little rough but Sarah handled it just fine. David and Jack kept giving her shit about the landing for the next 6 months. No one I know could have landed that \_\_\_\_ better."*

*"...system came online with only a few hiccups..."*

*"...did see a spike in \_\_\_\_\_, but with a few adjustments, the \_\_\_\_\_ [unintelligible]... well, a little temperamental in coming online..."*

*"...Tee Six..."*

*"...months, they should have..."*

*"...they killed us. The last worker aid, C-162? He was the last to lose power, just down the hall from where I'm recording this log. Actually teared up a little bit when I found him. Used the last of his power cell trying to repair..."*

*"...if I didn't know any better, I'd say those two little workers were friends. [chuckle] Or I might just be losing my mind."*

*"...chance. Better wor..."*

At this point, Shack's video unexpectedly cuts out in sudden static.

## Behind the Scenes

Following the static cuts is additional footage, presumably from multiplayer testing, showing some of the major multiplayer issues that have been plaguing production.

Presumably the "BMESA" is a reference to Half Life's "Black Mesa".

The name "John Roland" is most likely a reference to CaptainShack's Fallout 4 series, which were live streams he ran on TNG and his personal channel.

Ironically, it was released on April Fools and was originally named "The War Within" by mistake.