15. Tadpole Dock Control Room (Korla Key) & Story Summary

Tadpole Dock Control Room (Korla Key)

Prerequisite: Finding Black Box - Xi Dama automatically grants the Korla Level Access Key.

1. Head to the Tadpole Dock (signal mark in the Signals page)
2. Enter through the main hatch
3. In the first room, left half — press the red button after scanning to open the key door

Inside the room:

• Left wall: scan Power Storage
• Far wall by the window: scan Scout Ray Poster
• Right small room: scan decorative items
• Climb the red ladder to the upper level (oxygen refill)

Upper Room — NoA Terminal:

• Climb the red ladder to the upper room. Interact with the NoA terminal
• Multiple dialogue options — you can only choose one path (all explain the story)
• After viewing all options and saying goodbye to Sophie → triggers the next signal: Alien Ruins
• The giant glass window occasionally shows Abyssal Tentacles moving outside
• Return to base when done

Story Summary: Sophie’s Recording

Sophie’s Identity The NoA terminal in the Tadpole Dock control room reveals a “terrarium” — a virtual personality of Dr. Sophie Boucher, the colony’s surgeon. She left this recording to warn future survivors and guide their actions.

The Situation

• You were meant to go to the desert planet Zezura, but crashed on the ocean planet Proteus
• The colony is destroyed: Chap blew up a bio bed, starting a fire; NoA was forced to open seawater valves, flooding the base. Most colonists died
• Only you and a few survivors remain (Ganzhuo, Liangjingjing, etc.), most missing or driven mad

Macefield Syndrome

• A progressive delusional disorder caused by Proteus’s oceanic environment
• Victims are drawn by the “call of the ocean,” obsess over the distant World Tree, and eventually fall into a trance and drown
• NoA resets severe cases (rolls back to earlier memories), but can’t cure them
• Sophie herself has the syndrome but remains lucid

Nashima

• The colony’s ecologist, also suffering from Macefield but has gone to extremes
• Believes humans don’t belong on Proteus and should be completely eradicated
• Plans to destroy the World Tree (a giant organism supporting a hundreds-of-kilometers ecosystem), causing the food chain to collapse
• Has left the habitat and is heading to the World Tree

The World Tree

• Not a real tree — a giant lifeform, the core energy source of the planet’s ecosystem
• If the World Tree dies, all life dependent on it dies, and humans can’t survive long-term
• It’s also the source of Macefield — its “call” causes the delusions

Your Mission

• Stop Nashima — Sophie believes she’s going to poison or destroy the World Tree
• Head to the eastern Sanctuary, where alien Aksum ruins called “Karakoram” are located
• Install a Depth Module on the Tadpole to reach deep enough areas
• Gain adaptations through Angel Combs and other lifeforms (Digestive, Heat, Pressure)
• Final goal: find Nashima and stop her, while finding a way for humans to survive long-term on Proteus

The Aliens and Sanctuary

• The Sanctuary contains intelligent alien species “Tail Tribe” (Aksum descendants), hostile to humans
• “Sanctuary” is the area around the ruins — humans entering are attacked; Singer was impaled in the chest by a spear
• The World Tree is in the Sanctuary direction
• The ruins may have been left by a civilization older than humanity — possibly also destroyed by Macefield

Farewell

• Sophie admits she may have already died or gone to the World Tree; this recording is just the information she left behind
• She begs you not to give up — the Mingchan still carries 40,000 colonists awaiting a safe home
• “You may be the last human in the entire universe”

Core Mission: Head to the Sanctuary, stop Nashima from destroying the World Tree, while seeking adaptations and the Depth Module to secure humanity’s future on Proteus.