An even Darker SOMA [ending spoilers]

[i3670]

I'd say you're assigning to much cognition to the WAU. Catherine said that it's not a persona or an AI but more like a cancer which I interpret like it having no own thoughts and only follows its single order: maintain the survival of humans/biological life. So when the meteor hit Earth's surface the WAU kind of panicked and just went AWOL and just mashed people, machinery, circuitboards and AI together. It doesn't care what the result is as long as it views it as alive. Manipulating and creating mental illusions would demand a high amount or level of cognitive thought, which I don't think the WAU is capable of.

Question regarding your playthrough. I think it was Delta, the place where you call the underwater zeppelin. Next to the landing platform there was a person, was he alive or dead? Could you read his blackbox? Because I did a no-kill run (I didn't kill Wrangler(I just tortured him), didn't kill the lady in the subway, unplug the one outside theta, delete the Scans or kill the WAU) and I think that that person was alive. I couldn't read his blackbox and he caused static when I looked at him.