Weren't the crew already doomed before WAU

[GhylTarvoke]

Very insightful post.

I agree that Catherine's saneness is due to her personality, rather than the WAU. She almost seems happy with being a robot. ("I never felt that comfortable being human in the first place. This isn't much worse.")

Ross is indeed a strange case. He's the most unstable of the three, but he's also the only one who's gained superhuman abilities: interfering with electronics, communicating with Simon telepathically, and surviving in the abyss without a suit. Is this because he's more intelligent than Catherine? More adaptable? More familiar with the WAU? Beats me.

[Abion47]

I've got no idea. The super-human abilities of some of the WAU monsters (notably Ross and the Jiangshi) are completely unexplained. Everything else has a logical explanation, or at the very least an explanation that can be argued based on different people's interpretations of what we are presented. Those guys can teleport because... why?

[SlackerinDeNile]

Love Albion's posts and viewpoints. Regarding the 'superhuman' abilities, it's hinted in a few places that the 'teleporting' monsters do not actually teleport and only interfere with Simon's artificial senses due to their outward electromagnetic properties. Time literally skips for Simon when this happens, kind of like what happens to Catherine when she's plugged in and out of computers, but much less time passes.

I don't believe Ross communicates with Simon telepathically, it's possible he is broadcasting messages to him electronically somehow, maybe both he and Simon have built in wireless communication devices.

As for why Ross can survive in the Abyss? Perhaps the WAU remade him in order to be able to do so, but I think that was just a lapse in physics by the developers.

[Abion47]

Albion

Abion*

Regarding the 'superhuman' abilities, it's hinted in a few places that the 'teleporting' monsters do not actually teleport and only interfere with Simon's artificial senses due to their outward electromagnetic properties. Time literally skips for Simon when this happens, kind of like what happens to Catherine when she's plugged in and out of computers, but much less time passes.

That makes sense, actually, and since Ross was created due to the WAU using electromagnetism to command the structure gel in his body, it makes sense that Ross would be able to do it too.

Then again, the times that show him "teleporting" are the times in which he is briefly talking to Simon at Omicron and Tau, so maybe it's not him teleporting at all, but like you said, merely using his electromagnetic abilities to project his voice and an image of himself onto Simon's consciousness.

[GhylTarvoke]

I don't believe Ross communicates with Simon telepathically, it's possible he is broadcasting messages to him electronically somehow, maybe both he and Simon have built in wireless communication devices.

That's what I meant. Not a mystical kind of telepathy, but one that takes advantage of Simon's roboticization.

Hmmm... that doesn't explain how Raleigh Herber can hear him.

As for why Ross can survive in the Abyss? Perhaps the WAU remade him in order to be able to do so

Interesting theory, especially since his body was found on the Climber.

Then again, the times that show him "teleporting" are the times in which he is briefly talking to Simon at Omicron and Tau, so maybe it's not him teleporting at all, but like you said, merely using his electromagnetic abilities to project his voice and an image of himself onto Simon's consciousness.

He doesn't always communicate with Simon when he's teleporting. (In the Abyss, for example.)

[Abion47]

He doesn't always communicate with Simon when he's teleporting. (In the Abyss, for example.)

So? He can still be projecting his image into Simon's visual field, even if he isn't actively communicating.

[GhylTarvoke]

That's still possible, but I'm not sure why he would do it when he's not communicating. When he's communicating, it could be like: "Hey, this is Johan talking to you!"

[Abion47]

It's possible that he isn't doing it consciously. His creation was entirely unorthodox, and his character isn't the most emotionally stable in the world. It's entirely possible that he is subconsciously letting out electromagnetic signals wherever he goes, which grows in intensity when he gets excited. Likely, even, as it would explain the lapse of power when he appeared on the climber and the explosion at the end of Omicron.

[GhylTarvoke]

That makes sense.

[SlackerinDeNile]

Wait, i've just realised something. This isn't related to what you were asking before though.

If Simon was not present in Post Apocalyptic PATHOS-II or if he had died during the events of the game, would Catherine have eventually gone insane? Granted, she would have to be activated and plugged in somewhere.

I think Simon setting up communication between Upsilon and Lambda was what activated her device in the first place, although i'm not sure how or why that was set up. Still, she didn't strike me as the most patient person around and despite her anti-social tendencies she would probably need other people around to keep her focused and lucid.