Part 80: Force Quit: Q

Part 80: Force Quit: Q



On to our second Force Quit fragment. Q-Team gets an extra scene on their version of this fragment, but it's still a straight shot.



Music: CQD Ward BGM 1





Very natural standing motions.



Computer lady chimes in right away again.







Still have to have the dramatic pause, though.





Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but Mira almost looks disappointed here.









Har, har.



Yeah, you'd probably starve first. If you survive your murder-machine girlfriend, anyway.



Oh, but I guess the vote at 13:30 went really well.

Sounds like everyone spread the votes out.

Wait, forget that for now. Look at your bracelets!



00:03...?!



Yeah, there's nothing to be happy about.



The death count is zero. That's plenty to be happy over.





That being said, how about a celebratory shot?



Guess it would be pretty hard for him to have a drink.







He's got a giant metal orb on his head, remember?



Oh, that thing...



No. Of course I don't.





...It's open.







Let's check it out!

Music: Aftermath (Decontamination Room)





Why is it open...?

And what's up with this weird device...

Something's displayed on the monitor here...



It says, [To execute the Force Quit program, the central control computer must be booted.]



Central control computer?



What if... Maybe it's...



Hey! Where're you going?!



Mira turns to follow.





Poor Gab is left behind. These fragments are full of hints that won't really register if you do them early. For instance, wasn't Gab also in this part of the fragment for C-Team? That's a hint that they aren't really at the same time. The fact that C-Team's task was to open the box, and Q-Team now has it open, is another subtle hint; you can still see this scene even if you haven't completed C-Team's Force Quit fragment. When I played these originally, I didn't even come close to picking up on either of those.

Music: Mischievousness (Consternation Remix)





Where...are we?

The map says we're in...

The Quantum Computer Dome.







What?



Anyway, I think they mean this when they say "central control computer".



A console pops out of the floor as we approach.





Looks like we're gonna need another password.

So what about that thing?

Wait...







Another white flash of morphogenetic insight!



Know what?

The way you start up the system!



First, we need to get the cover off. There's no way we can insert the plug if we don't...

The plug?





I think...the number is...



Heartbeats.



Again, this isn't really a decision.

Music: Ambidexterity 2nd Mix



We either know the code, or we don't. So let's see what happens if we don't enter it, or get it wrong a few times:



Music: Bereavement



Um... What was it?



Eric groans.

Come on...



Slow fade back to Team Select.



However, if we followed the Q-Team: Transporter Room fragment all the way to the end, we instead get reminded of where we learned the proper code.

What's the code?

Code?

Don't play dumb. The code to open the damn cover.





Then put it in.



And we're looped right back to the decision screen again.



I wrote this one down, too. We want the second set of numbers.



I figured out what this code means, by the way. If you divide it by two, you get 19040416, which is the same as the helmet code but reversed. So another reference to Delta's probable arrival date via the transporter - April 16th, 1904.



We choose...to proceed with the story, I guess.

Music: Initiation (Preamble)





Ah! It opened!

Now all we have to do is insert the plug here.







Oh, right, this again.

If we input the right numbers here...

...What?

W-Wait.





Um...





Do you even know what should go there?



Helmet-head nods.



The numbers... The numbers are, um...



More heartbeats. Are they really going to make us put this code in again?



Ugh, guess so.

Music: CQD Ward BGM 3



This decision is kind of dumb. The only way we could have gotten the previous code was to enter the helmet code in that fragment in the first place. Whatever, let's see what happens if we forgot it or something.



Music: CQD Ward BGM 2



Wait. What were they again?





Kind of.



At this point I assume we'd go back to Team Select, if we cheated on the first code and never saw the helmet code scene in the Quantum Computer Dome fragment.



Instead we get the flashback to when we learned the code again.

Wh-What are you saying...

Be sure you remember that number. A time will come when it will be handy.





Re-routed back to the decision screen again.



We want the top set of numbers this time.





Music: Aftermath (Decontamination Room)







Eric watches Sean's head roll by.



You're... You're...



Eric screams, freaking out a fair bit here. Which is fair, really. We fade to black to give Eric time to recover...

Music: Clarification 2nd Mix





How can I?!





For real, could you maybe do something about it...?













That's a good point. We just learned that Mira is Zero's accomplice, at least to some extent. So did she already know about Sean?

Well, I...







I thought my heart was in my throat...



Or a throat, for that matter. Did you see the dude's neck?



Did you say when you "first" found out?

It's not clear how much Mira knows about the morphogenetic field shenanigans going on here, either.



In the past...in another history...





When I saw what I looked like earlier...

Another rapid-sequence flash incoming...



That looks like at least one shot from every Q-Team fragment, just like with C-Team.

• Q-Team's execution, featuring Sean
  
• Decontamination Room, examining the button
  
• Decontamination Room, acid shower
  
• Biolab fragment, Mira stabbing Eric after we injected ourselves with Radical-6
  
• Biolab fragment, talking to the "old man" after not injecting ourselves with Radical-6
  
• Pod Room fragment, discovering the strangled Mira
  
• Pod Room fragment, facing down Eric's shotgun
  
• Pod Room fragment, finding the yellow door and the hint at the bottom of it
  
• Study fragment, the triangle face-off (I still think Eric is actually aiming at Delta, here)
  
• Study fragment, after shooting Eric and learning Mira's back story
  
• Quantum Computer Dome fragment, learning Sean's story
  
• Transporter Room fragment, after Eric shoots Carlos
  
• Transporter Room fragmetn, after Delta is revealed

Q-Team has two fewer puzzle rooms than the other teams. Two fewer fragments overall than C-Team, too.

Music: Quantum Computer Dome (Q)



Anyway, we've still got a job to do here.







That is where I think, perceive, and send command signals to this body.





I'm not sure I've ever been talked down to that hard before. I guess Eric does need it broken down pretty thoroughly, though.



Did you know? A quantum state is one where all possibilities overlap and co-exist. This Quantum Computer then, is able to use this state and run, say, simulations A, B, and C simultaneously.



Basically, my brain is in an infinite number of worlds and possibilities. So I can use that framework and...











There's a theory... Human consciousness may be a result of quantum effects in the brain. It's called "Quantum Mind"... It's more or less suggesting a human brain is a form of quantum computer.







Sean nods.









I guess I should explain everything then...





Fade to black...



Sean entered the code off-screen for us this time.



His head makes a heavy clunk each time it falls off and hits the floor. Why doesn't he catch it or something? Is it just that durable that it doesn't matter?



We mercifully look away while the cables snake out of Sean's neck and into the console.



What did you just do...

Eric is properly horrified-sounding here.



Ah, just a little something.



Some serious techno-magic going on here I guess.



Interference causing a camera to go out, maybe?



Oh, it happened here, too.



Maybe all the cameras in the room are going down. Come to think of it, where is our fourth team member right now?



And they're offline entirely. I forgot one of the biggest hints for Delta. The whole fade to static motif after each team is knocked out at the end of a fragment is a sign that you're watching them through cameras.

Music: Solitary Snail



We're stuck at a black screen for several seconds, then we return to the Lounge.

Nothing changed, huh...

That we can see. But it looks like the message changed?



Yes. I started up the system earlier.



It says, [Force Quit program on standby. To initiate, two key items must be set.] What does that even mean...





The key items are...

A mother's mementos...?









Does that mean they're hidden around here somewhere?





I don't think we have the time.

Looks like it's time to pass the baton to D-Team!



Damn, guess our time's up...









Bodies fall.



Fade to static...



Two down, one to go!



D-Team will be up next. I don't have anything handy written down for this one, but we already know what we're looking for. What are the mother's mementos?