Schaeffer

John Schaeffer is the only character besides the Warden and Henriksson whom interacts with the player characters during the events of the game. He was introduced in Rundown 004, possibly explaining its title: Contact.

## Description

Schaeffer was hired in 2050 as a Pit Boss during the construction of the Complex with the ID number C067. In this position, he held direct correspondence with Andrew Clinton, apparently his direct boss. He was friends with Artus Charapon, who was tasked directly by Andrew Clinton to install the Hearsay system in the Complex. Schaeffer later supposedly used a backdoor left by Artus in the system, and his knowledge from Computer Science studies in community college, to spy on a particular operation by Project Insight.

He was one of the two witnesses to the vanishing of the first two employees that discovered the Matter Wave Projector; the other witness being Phil Decker (C085).

Schaeffer left a large amount of audio messages, which are most likely directed at the player characters, as he keeps mentioning the terrible past of the people he is addressing. He is often heard talking to himself and, similar to the player characters, he also has problems with his long term memory; for example forgetting his own first name. Schaeffer mentions three other people he worked with: Cullen, Malice and Garret.

He is aware of the Warden and constantly urges the prisoners to work together against the Warden in his messages. In R5C2 he left a secret password to unlock a specific terminal in a different expedition below 1100 meters: R5C3. This terminal contained yet another message by Schaeffer about possible plans to create an army against the Warden.
Another recurring theme is his order to keep going deeper, which he believes will prevent the Warden from tracking/finding the prisoners.

It is later revealed that Schaeffer can be heard greeting the prisoners with “Hello” in R4B1 and telling them to "Escape" in ALT://R1D1 via morse code.

### During Rundown 6

Schaeffer begins to voice his concerns about the identity and motivations of the Warden in R6D1, even questioning if he himself could be the Warden.

In CX, the player finds a hidden section behind a wall that Schaeffer used as a hideout. Here, a large white-board with multiple names on it can be found. The list featured 11 names, with the only 2 of them not crossed out: Henriksson and Maddox. He can also be heard looking through what seems to be a list of KSOs on a terminal, apparently searching for potential allies against the Warden.

He reports that he has found another creature besides the sleepers. He is confident that the creature can't be human, besides its similar appearance and is determined to kill it. He can later be heard talking to and eventually killing said creature. This creature was later revealed to be "Unit 22", a result of the "Rise Project". A Project aiming to greatly accelerate the growth of human bodies to reach an adult state in under 2 months. At the moment, it is implied that the "Seeds" used in this process were artificially created.

### During Rundown 7

Starting with Rundown 7.0 Schaeffer becomes a lot more active in expeditions. In A1 he orders the players to input a command into a nearby terminal. This command grants Schaeffer access to two HSUs and the KSOs inside them. His first attempt at opening and interacting with the operative Richard Maddox fails horribly, with Maddox trying to attack and kill him and Schaeffer having to kill the attacker in self defense. He later learns that the proper procedure requires a hydrokinetic solution, among other things.

While the prisoners are advancing through B1, Schaeffer requests a Hydrokinetic fluid collection case to synthesize the needed solution. He then tries to move Maddox's body but encounters a Snatcher carrying it away.

In C1 he already successfully woke up the second KSO he selected: Klas Henriksson. After explaining the situation, they eventually make their way to a machine where Schaeffer removes the control chip from Henriksson's neck. Schaeffer claims that this frees him from the orders of the Warden.

Henriksson now wants to use the uplink that has to be established by the players in C3 to install a Sniffer tool to monitor the Warden's network. He succeeds but triggers an alarm, adding a steady flow of enemies to the second half of the expedition.

With their new-found knowledge, Schaeffer and Henriksson come up with a plan to install a Trojan in one of the Warden's networks; this however requires direct physical access to the mainframe itself.

While the prisoners are being deployed into D2, Henriksson and Schaeffer manage to manipulate the brakes of the elevator and stop the team close to the mainframe. After retrieving a memory stick with the Trojan on it, the prisoners make their way to the mainframe and successfully upload the Trojan into the Warden's network.

Judging by their message at the beginning of E1, Schaeffer and Henriksson now have control over the objectives given to the prisoners.

### ALT Rundowns

During the ALT Rundowns we learn about a different John Schaeffer. In the membrane of these Rundowns, he was originally working as an Operations Lead rather than a Pit Boss. Like the original Schaeffer, he made his way to KDS Deep after Garganta was overrun. A few years later in 2063, he was deployed similar to normal KSOs, receiving the designation T-3894. His three teammates were called Rodney Allen, James Cobb and Briana Elliott. After getting separated from his group he manages to remove his brain implant to get rid of the Wardens influence.

The ALT version of Schaeffer appears a lot more collected in his audio logs and even remembers his first name. He's trying to learn as much as possible about Garganta, different protocols and projects, the Warden and BIOCOM and eventually realizes that the Warden can't be a simple AI. Similar to the original Schaeffer he comes to the conclusion that he will need the help of a group of KSOs, the four main characters.

In a later audio log he explains that he figured out what the Rise project and the Units are about. The log also supposedly mentions the death of Unit 27 and different versions of Dauda and Bishop.
Eventually he manages to find a Unit and starts a conversation. He learns that the Warden was created by aliens that are currently known as "The Collectors" and that they want to bring the surviving humans into a membrane without the NAM-V virus. Schaeffer then informs our four characters about this plan and asks them to trust him.

## Relevant Logs

### Text messages

* BCOM-3EG-2419.LOG - Artus Charapon warns Schaeffer
* BCOM-3ED-0946.LOG - Schaeffer spies on Insight operation
* PRL-DAT7-RFF8.LOG - Schaeffer informs Clinton about drilling progress
* HOPO-BCD-002-L.LOG - Gianna Hilton asks Schaeffer for help
* EBDT-654-833-W.LOG - Correspondence with Clinton

* 78H-ERT-BG7 - Operations Lead position (ALT)
* 76Y-TTF-FWW - Schaeffer's Quad status (ALT)
* HFM-HQ2-67Z - Schaeffer informs Clinton about drilling progress (ALT)
* BMH-BRT-YEB - Artus Charapon warns Schaeffer (ALT)
* TH5-6HN-8KU - Schaeffer spies on Insight operation (ALT)

### Audio messages

**Rundown 004**

* Morse Code - HELLO
* SCHFR001.REC - First message
* SCHFR002.REC - Rundown 004 introduction
* SCHFR003.REC - Schaeffer proposes a plan

**Rundown 005**

* SQ5674\_Y.LOG - Secret code
* DTLA-SCH-4PR.LOG - Message in locked terminal

**Rundown 6.0**

* Schaeffer Messages R6A1 - Rundown 6.0 introduction
* Dr. Stokes Audio #1 - Schaffer and P. Decker witness MWP incident
* SC3-3BF-03 - First sighting of a Unit
* SC3-1BG-98 - First encounter with a Unit
* Schaeffer Audio R6D1 - Schaeffer talks about the Warden and the past
* TLK-WRL-295 - Garganta is overrun
* PRG-TLX-778 - Trying to get to KDS Deep
* QTS-BNN-996 - Schaeffer enters a HSU in KDS Deep to survive
* TY5-ERS-23B - Assembling a team against the Warden
* Y6T-UH7-811 - The Unit talks to a Scout.
* T43-777-45M - Second encounter with the Unit
* Schaeffer R6CX - Schaeffer describes the Unit
* Schaeffer R6DX - Schaeffer attacks and kills Unit 22

**Rundown 7.0**

* Schaeffer R7A1(1) - "Recycle Group 7A42"
* Schaeffer R7A1(2) - Waking up Maddox
* 209-K3R-5TV - Hydrostasis revival notes
* Schaeffer R7B1(1) - "We need a hydrokinetic fluid collection case."
* Schaeffer R7B1(2) - Case is delivered
* Schaeffer R7B1(3) - Snatcher encounter
* Schaeffer R7C1(1) - "I woke up Henriksson!"
* Schaeffer R7C1(2) - "No one calls themselves a fucking hacker."
* Schaeffer R7C1(2) - Henriksson has his "Slave collar" removed
* Schaeffer R7C3 - The uplink tripped an alarm
* Schaeffer R7D1(1) - Trojan plan
* Schaeffer R7D1(2) - "Brakes"
* Schaeffer R7D2(1) - Get the memory stick
* Schaeffer R7D2(2) - Reach the mainframe
* Schaeffer R7D2(3) - Upload the trojan
* Schaeffer R7D2(4) - "It was supposed to reboo–"
* Schaeffer R7E1 - We are in control

**ALT://Rundown 3.0**

* B94-E5W-52K - "I have to stop the voice."
* POI-M7Y-THE - Schaeffer removes his brain implant
* HW5-BI7-120 - Schaeffer describes the Wardens influence

**ALT://Rundown 4.0**

* 6J8-9NK-8YT - "My memory is coming back."
* 4HB-6UR-YTE - Schaeffer researches the connection between WRDN and BIOCOM
* M7B-NHG-F27 - Schaeffer realizes he's going to have to try and turn one of the mercenary groups into allies

**ALT://Rundown 5.0**

* F12-KLU-YN2 - "That is not the behavior of an AI."
* 235-EK9-8KJ - "I have selected the operatives I want to work with."
* 8EL-71W-3HW - Influx protocol

**ALT://Rundown 6.0**

* BBB-N12-LOW - Schaeffer enters a HSU in KDS Deep to survive
* FFW-HYY-6FL - Project Rise / Unit 27 encounters KSOs
* 8AA-FEE-EDD - Schaeffer talks to the Collectors through a Unit
* Schaeffer ALT://R6D1 - Schaeffer explains the situation to the main quad

## Trivia

* Schaeffer is voiced by Erik Braa, who is also known for his work as Draven in the game League of Legends.
* "Schaeffer" is a German surname. It is a variant of Schaefer, from Schäfer ("shepherd") and of Schaffer, from a noun (meaning steward or bailiff) derived from the Middle High German "schaffen".

## Gallery

* Schaeffers Redacted Candidate Record Sheet
* Schaeffers Full Candidate Record Sheet

1. ↑ R6C1 Dr. Stokes #1 Audio
2. ↑ Schaeffer's Quad status
3. ↑ Unit 27 encounters KSOs