Spoilers ahead
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Last Chance
Oppy:
"Francis, I don't know if you're listening."
Oppy:
"Awhile ago, you asked me why I cared so much about the Remnants."
Oppy:
"It's because..."
Oppy:
"Because I saw Allen. The night of the accident. During the Mass Hallucination."
Oppy:
"Except I'm not sure it was a hallucination."
Oppy:
"We had a tradition. When we were both working late, he'd swing by my lab for a coffee break at some ungodly hour."
Oppy:
"That night, he visited. We talked, the coffee burned my tongue, nothing out of the ordinary. Seconds later, the gamma-ray surge swept through the facility, and the roof caved in."
Oppy:
"I looked for him in the aftermath. I couldn't find him anywhere. Because he hadn't been in my lab. He was ground zero at the accident site, miles away in the Deep Zone."
Oppy:
"But I saw him, touched him, smelled his cologne. He was there. Impossibly there. More than a hallucination."
Francis:
"You never reported that."
Oppy:
"Admit to ARDA that I communed with my husband's ghost? When they were already looking for ways to push me out? Not a chance."
Oppy:
"I gave them my technology and my home. But I'd be goddamned before I let anything destroy my professional credibility."
Francis:
"And this Remnant..."
Oppy:
"Is my last chance to know if what I saw was true. If it came from The Well, or if it was all in my head. The things we spoke of, things I couldn't have made up."
Oppy:
"Never mind. I know how it sounds."
Francis:
"Like you've seen a ghost."
The Act Of Being Alive
Oppy:
"Good news. I can replicate Allen's suppression method. We'll stand some chance of halting the gamma-ray burst from the Well."
Oppy:
"30 years later, my late husband still manages to impress."
Oppy:
"Figuring out how to keep you alive once the reaction gets going, however, that's harder."
Oppy:
"But I have an idea."
Oppy:
"Francis, I need your ear."
Francis:
"Go on."
Oppy:
"We know that as soon as the car gets to the Well, the trigger will be instant. Once this Remnant expends its energy, gamma radiation will erupt from the Well. And the Driver will be at ground zero, taking the worst of it."
Francis:
"Can we activate the Gateway as soon as they make contact?"
Oppy:
"It's tricky. Too early, and we may interrupt whatever reaction process the Remnant carries out. Too late, and it's bad news for the Driver. There's too many unknowns."
Oppy:
"Only the Driver will know the right time to use it."
Francis:
"How can you be sure they'll live long enough to make that call?"
Oppy:
"The ARC Device has been transmitting data every single second since it was installed. Every drop of fuel, every spark plug that car's lit, I have on record."
Francis:
"You've been running an experiment this entire time. With the Driver as the guinea pig."
Oppy:
"The mere act of being alive is the biggest experiment of all, dear."
Francis:
"Is that another one of Allen's sayings?"
Oppy:
"That one's all mine."
Oppy:
"Driver. We've seen that car protect you this entire time. It's triggered a Gateway in your time of need, it's ferried you back to the Garage, through every circumstance and obstacle and bump in the road. So we can trust that it'll protect you long enough to get you away from whatever, and wherever you end up."
Francis:
"Still sounds like a heavy dose of blind faith to me."
Oppy:
"Could be."
Oppy:
"There's one last part to this, and it's waiting for you back at the Auto Shop. take your time. Enjoy the view."
Fresh New Upgrade
Oppy:
"Fresh new upgrade waiting for you, Driver. Straight out of the oven."