SUBMACHINE 5
THE ROOT
1947
The scene starts with what it seems to be the Observation Room of The Root, but looking new and functional. Two men, Dr. James Manfield and his son, Clark, are discussing about the new projects being done in that room. James, the father, is retiring from work, and the charge passes to Clark, which will now work in achieving time travel with the new set of structures they built.
2039
The scene flashes to Mike arriving through the 496 Exit portal to the Lab Facility #493. He decides to eat something from the small kitchen, and he sleeps in the small bed. Mike realizes his clock stopped working, and as there is no way to determine which time it is, he decides to sleep until he wakes up.
The loud beep of a computer near him wakes him up. It's 'M', telling him some coordinates to find three wisdom gems (he explains it all through chat). When Mike asks what for, M replies: "JUST GET THEM". That stranges Mike. He asks who he really is, but he gets no more answers.
Mike decides to go find the wisdom gems through the given coordinates. He finds a backpack with food inside, a but out of date, but he doesn't care.
On the other side, in the Corridor, Murtaugh's twin brother has taken the chance Mollock is not on his computer, to take it and chat with Mike. It is revealed it's him who is giving Mike the coordinates and info, but he has to interrupt the conversation because Mollock almost discovers him.
We will talk now about Murtaugh's twin brother as just Murtaugh, and the real Murtaugh as 'Real Murtaugh'.
During the film, Mollock, Murtaugh, Lisa and Hugh discuss about what they're gonna do when Mike arrives to the Corridor. Mollock wants Murtaugh to teach Mike all his scientific knowledge, and making him be his assistant in the trip to finding Real Murtaugh. Of course, Murtaugh doesn't want that, so he doesn't reveal he is helping him escape. Lisa doesn't agree with Mollock, and always confronts him, telling him if he can't find Murtaugh alone is because he doesn't have balls to do it. Mollock says he only keeps Lisa alive because he needs her mathematical knowledge. Hugh doesn't care, he seems more interested in gaining Mollock's respect, and lacks personality. When Lisa and Hugh are alone, although they are romancing, Lisa always retreats that to him.
Bob also appears in the Corridor, meaning he is another assistant, so we can deduce all what he said to Mike in the Loop was a lie.
~
While Mike explores the Root, we see who James and Clark Manfield were, what he did, and how humans started building the first Submachines; also the invention of the Cipher plates. The Core is not yet mentioned. Through flashbacks, we see the story of Clark Manfield, who arrived to the Lighthouse to work on time travel, at the same time he had to hide from Wolfgang, the lighthousekeeper, because those experiments were confidential.
One day, he accidentally invented a device that made tiny objects travel in time and teleport at the same time. He improved it until he was able to made him work this way:
- The original time in which you travel from is where the device is located.
- You can access the new place and time through a simple door aperture. The device doesn't move.
- You can stay the new place and time the time you want, but the device can only be deactivated from the original location.
- If someone deactivates the portal when you're on the other side... well.
That's how Clark achieved to make a connection between 1973's lighthouse and 2039's root. And when Mike arrives to the Pipe Room (2,0), he is actually on the other side of that spacetime travel device. When he crosses the device, he is in 1973's lighthouse, but he doesn't know. Somehow, he gets frightened by the oddness of the device and decides to step back to 2039's Root.
Clark kept doing experiments with spacetime travel, but instead of with objects, with himself, and eventually Wolfgang, who doesn't know who he is, notices him. (
That's the same Submachine 3 flashback). He decides not to show his discovering until he can fully control it. But one day, the device breaks and he disappears in time.
In the Submachine Universe timeline, space travel was discovered and implemented through the Cipher Plates. Then, time travel was discovered, the kind of which Murtaugh works with in early 2000's. Space+time travel was accidentally achieved, the experiment in which Clark Manfield disappeared. Due to this, space+time travel discovery was occulted. Much later, Murtaugh improved space travel with the 3-axis portal. So, until now, only space+time travel isn't officially known.
~
Another story shown in the film is the one of Murtaugh (the fake one) and Mollock after the kidnapping. Since
2021 to the present, they hired exploration teams for the Subnet.
- The
Ship team, which failed their mission and died (when Mike arrives to the Ship he learns the story through the notes left there).
- The
Basement exploration team, which disappeared in the Subnet (when Mike teleports back to the Basement he learns this through the notes left there. He thinks about finding the Sub1 room with the elevator to go again to the Hut, but he doesn't find it.)
- The
Tomb Trap team, which died of dehydration (when Mike arrives to the Tomb Traps he learns the story through the notes left there).
- The
Ancient Section team, which also disappeared in the Subnet (when Mike arrives to the Ancient Section he learns this bla bla)
All teams complained about all the hard work they had to do and how bad Mollock and Murtaugh treated them, not to mention the salaries. Specially the Ancient Section team got very angry and confronted them most of the time.
The Ancient Section team also found the missing 4 of 6 Cipher plate models, but couldn't give them back to Mur because they broke their teleporter and disappeared.
Tension and differences between Murtaugh and Mollock augmented, as for example Murtaugh at first didn't tell Mollock about the existence of some locations. When Murtaugh was forced to reveal he wasn't the real Murtaugh he kidnapped, Mollock became mad and decided to get Mike to work for him. When planning the kidapping, Murtaugh asked why he wouldn't directly force-lead him to the Corridor when he found where he lived, instead making him go through all the locations: Mollock answered "We all love playing games, you know". Mollock had already lost his mind at that point.
~
2039
When Mike solves all the puzzles and gets the three wisdom gems, he wonders what to do with them. He hasn't received the Corridor's coordinates, as Murtaugh didn't give them, because he didn't want Mike being caught by Mollock.
He returns to the Lab Facility (which, in fact, is an Area next to the Corridor, both forming part of the Lab, but Mollock doesn't know they are connected. Mike has actually been so near Mollock and Murtaugh most of the time), and he finds a message sent by Murtaugh earlier. That message says he is actually Murtaugh and he is helping him. In order to escape Mollock, Mike has to make the sacrifice of not being able to see Murtaugh (who Mike still believes is his father) so he can take advantage. He has to place the gems inside the Mover, a hidden device that Mollock thinks it's just another room. Then he will arrive to the Defense Systems of the Subnet, which he has to deactivate to keep moving. He has to get to the Mover fast so Mollock doesn't catch him.
Mike accepts, and he receives the Corridor's coordinates. When he teleports, no one is around, so he opens the Mover, places the gems and starts his travel, leaving the void visible.
When Mollock comes back to the Corridor, he sees the void and gets so wtf, and the movie ends.
~
CHARACTERS
Mike: main character (alive)
Fake Murtaugh: Murtaugh's brother (alive)
Mollock: Murtaugh's ex assistant (alive)
Lisa: Real Murtaugh's daughter / Mike's sister (alive)
Hugh: Mollock's assistant (alive)
Bob: Mollock's assistant (alive)
Clark Manfield: (state unknown)
James Manfield: (†)
Wolfgang: lighthouse keeper (†)
Ship Team: (†)
Basement Team: (state unknown)
Tomb Trap Team: one person (†)
Ancient Section Team: (state unknown)
Real Murtaugh: Mike's father (presumably alive)
Einstein: lighthouse cat (state unknown)
Sir Henry o'Toole: lighthouse architect (†)
Liz: Wolfgang's friend (state unknown)
Anna: Murtaugh's wife (†)