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Dr. Francis Cooke is a main character in Pacific Drive, and one of the three characters who regularly speak to The Driver via radio.
Before the Zone was decommissioned, Francis was a researcher in ARDA's R&D department. Afterward, he lived in Sector B of the Mid-Zone with his romantic partner, Tobias,[1] investigating the Zone's many stories and mysteries.
History
Francis began work at ARDA in October of 1960. He was assigned to a small team researching the use of LIM technology to power devices from a distance.[2]
He first met Oppy the week of May 2nd, 1961, while working on technology to repair metal alloys from a distance.[3]
For a period of time before the Red Meadow Research Facility destruction, Francis worked there alongside Oppy and Tobias.
Francis was awake and within range of the Mass Hallucination on September 14th, 1961. He reported seeing "disembodied arms. Tons of them, grasping, crawling." Two weeks later, on September 30th, he noted ARDA's growing paranoia and surveillance over its employees, and reported that his team's budget for their projects had been cut so far that they could no longer afford to maintain their two Full Service Stop prototypes. He tried to reach out to Oppy about this problem, but was unable to get ahold of her.[4]
In August of 1964, Tobias called Francis to inform him that he and some other employees had discovered Bubblegum Buddies stealing equipment. Tobias insisted on delivering the notes on Bubblegum Buddies in person, allegedly due to issues with the Pneumatube system.[5]
In September of 1964, Francis called Tobias to inform him that the drums of experimental gravity gel his team was delivering back to Maintenance had spilled across a long strip of road, creating the Airstrip anomaly.[6]
In June of 1966, Francis reports frustration with ARDA's handling of Anomalies following extensive trouble with boulder-shaped Ticking Tumblers.[7]
While at ARDA, Francis theorized that Zone phenomena left behind electromagnetic imprints that could be traced. He researched this phenomenon for 8 years and invented the Optical Bassilizer to prove his theory. When his funding ran out, he forged experiment data to justify more time. Ultimately, he was caught. Oppy led a disciplinary committee against him for falsifying data and found him guilty. As penalty, the committee revoked his security clearance and reassigned him to a different lab.
Francis packed up when he was ordered to evacuate the Zone, but Tobias refused to go. He convinced Francis to stay behind with him to investigate the Zone's stories. They went without electricity for four months to avoid detection.
Events of Pacific Drive
References
- ↑ Ironwood Studios [@ironwoodtweets] (Jun 1, 2024). https://twitter.com/ironwoodtweets/status/1796981289075306859
- ↑ Charge Stop log entry.
- ↑ Repair Stop log entry.
- ↑ Full Service Stop log entry.
- ↑ Bubblegum Buddy log entry.
- ↑ Airstrip log entry.
- ↑ Ticking Tumbler log entry.