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In the early 1900s Mur created a computer software that could alter reality called Submachine. It was able to teleport objects instantly between many different locations of the Root, Mur and his scientists’ underground headquarters. (Notice how the Root seems to be in a cave, so the teleportation is limited.)

Teleportation was a great discovery, however Submachine was just a prototype. There was a major glitch in the software that caused it to become a virus taking control of every teleported location in the Root. There was no stopping it. Mur was afraid that Submachine would spread through more than just the Root, so he and his group of scientists deserted their headquarters immediately because they didn’t want to become trapped in the Root with the virus controlling them.

Over time, Submachine took over more and more until anything and everything underground became a part of the Submachine Network.

When the lighthouse was buried, it slowly decayed and turned into a part of Submachine.

In the very beginning of Submachine 4, you land on the rooftop. This part is not actually a part of the Submachine Network since it is above ground, however it is still connected to it. As you go down the stairs, notice how the farther down you go, the cleaner and neater the Lab appears. This is because Submachine is a computer software, so therefore it is not affected by age, whereas the rooftop is above ground, so it is not a part of the Submachine Network, and therefore it can be affected by age.

When you talk to Mur using the old-style computer from the Lab, you are not technically in the Sub Net because you can clearly see a window behind it, meaning you are still above ground. When within Submachine’s barriers, you couldn’t contact anyone because it would isolate you from anything outside of the network.

In the very end of Submachine FLF, you see a man and a few kids digging a hole by the beach. I assume he is trying to reach the Root because the following words are “I know where I must go now...To find the Root of all this.”

The Submachine Network was originally an undergorund facility used to conduct experiments on humans. But the scientists (Mur and his team) controlling it found a glitch that caused the network to shut down, lock their test subjects in, and take control over any humans currently in the facility. Mur immediately lost all contact with all of them. The player is one of the test humans that were caught in the Submachine Network when Mur lost control of it.

In Submachine 4, though, Mur did make contact with the player (the old-style computer), which means the Lab must be a weak spot in the Submachine Network, or not a part of it at all (see Submachine Software Theory).

Mur was in the facility when he discovered the major glitch that caused it to malfunction, so he wrote notes and placed them throughout the Submachine Network to guide the humans out.

As mentioned in the end of Submachine 5, there are defense systems on the outskirts of the Submachine Network. They are designed to keep people from entering the facility, so this mistake will never happen again. However, they could have also been used by the Submachine Network as a way of keeping the test subjects from exiting.

Also at the end of Submachine 5, you are being taken to the outskirts of the network. When you put the three wisdom gems into the three slots, you create a path for yourself to reach the outskirts. Mur placed the wisdom gems in the facility for you to access the outskirts, and eventually guide you completely out of the Submachine Network.

Mur originally lived in the lighthouse when he was conducting the experiments on the humans. When the citizens of Kent buried the lighthouse, it slowly became a part of the Sub Net, since the network is underground. Mur didn’t want to be trapped, so he created the teleportation device for him and all of the test human to escape from the network.

He didn’t have the materials to create an advanced teleporter like the one in Submachine 4 (where you could control the X, Y, and Z axes) so when you use the teleporter in the lighthouse, you don’t know where you will end up, all you know is it will lead you somewhere else.

During Submachine 5 you visit the Observation Room located in the Root. This room was used to observe (hence the name) the test humans in the facility and communicate with them. This room was abandoned after all communication was lost.

In the very beginning of Submachine FLF, you are in a small padded cell probably because you (the player) lost his/her mind when the Submachine Network took control of the facility. As seen in the Submachine FLF intro, the player has forgotten all about the Submachine, but at the end you start to remember the incident and you head out and try to find the root of all this...

In the early 1900s there was a huge war going on between the humans and another alien life form that was more technologically advanced than the humans. The war was called the First World War because the entire world was at war. During this time, there was a scientist named Mur who lived in the small town of Kent. No one had ever heard of him and he never showed any of his inventions to the public. In fact, he hardly ever appeared in the public himself. He was working in his lab one day when it occurred to him that while the First World War was going on, he could find a solution to the war that would save humanity. It would be the perfect chance to show everyone what he could do. He went to work immediately in his lab. It took him many months to finish his project. When he was done, he explained it to everyone, but nearly all of them just laughed at his project. He knew that if he showed them what it was capable of, they would be amazed. What he created was a completely new dimension called Submachine. He started creating the core and worked his way out from it. It could supply all the necessities for humans for years to come. It established its own set of physics and laws that it had to follow. Unfortunately, it was unknown at the time that he created it completely out of unstable matter.

His plan was to use Submachine as a place to hide all of humanity until the First World War was over. He chose random objects as portals to access Submachine, objects that the aliens wouldn’t be able to find. An example of an object that was used as a portal is the Submachine arcade game in the lighthouse. He eventually convinced a lot of people to hide in Submachine, but several were skeptical, thinking that his creation would only kill them.

Over the years, Mur noticed something strange. Submachine was continuing to grow outwards and slowly got bigger and bigger. As this happened, those who entered Submachine first got sucked further toward the core, and those who entered later were farther away from the core. It seemed like every day Submachine would grow at a more rapid pace than the day before. When the war was over many, many years later, Mur called everyone to exit Submachine, but it seemed as though they were trapped. Every day they found themselves closer and closer to the core and it seemed that they couldn’t go outwards. Submachine was trapped inside the earth, so it was completely underground. Anyone who never entered Submachine could now access this dimension of unstable matter by simply going underground. It was just a matter of time before it took over the entire Earth. Submachine created its own artificial intelligence that made Defense Systems, which prevented people from escaping, not because it was evil, but because it wasn’t aware that the war was over. It never would be. It was trying to protect humanity.

Since everyone was scattered around the Submachine, Mur created the Observation room (Submachine 5) in the 1950s, which could check on other people in other parts of Submachine. Necessities were dangerously low by this time.

You (the player) were hired by Mur to investigate the core of Submachine and turn off its Defense Systems and destroy the entire dimension. I know I end all my theories like this, but in the end of Submachine FLF, it says “I know where I must go now... to find the Root of all this...”

Okay, here’s how my theory goes: The Sub-Net is divided into two timelines. Not two separate areas or two separate dimensions, but two separate timelines within the same space. The first contains the Submachine locations found in Submachine 1-5. The other contains Submachine 0 and FLF. The first timeline of the Sub-Net was created in the early 1900’s.

Submachine started out as a top secret government project created by a young man known by hardly anyone: Murtaugh. Many would call him a genius.

His mission was one that was never attempted by any human: To create a dimension within a dimension, a world he could control with the touch of a button. One where he could command his own army to do whatever the government wanted. Those who worked on Project Submachine were part of the innermost sanctum of our government; underground and in the most remote locations of our country. Kind of like Area 51. The leaders of these secret government organizations were ones you might call “evil” or “corrupt.” Mur would never intend for anything bad to happen, but this was just part of his job.

Once the Sub-Net was nearing completion, Mur began to design his army. Androids were the only thing he knew he could use, because there was no chance of him convincing so many humans to join. Plus, they wouldn’t be nearly as strong. He called the androids Sub-bots. They would be the main (or only) inhabitants of the Sub-Net. Mur watched the Sub-Bots, and they seemed to function fine, so he left the Sub-Net under their control, sure they couldn’t make any mistakes. He didn’t program them with an artificial intelligence, so he had nothing to worry about. He only programmed them with a job to do and nothing else...

Mur created portals for the Sub-Bots to jump around the Sub-Net scanning the area for any changes. If any changes were found, Mur would immediately be contacted. Any necessary steps were taken to ensure that the Sub-Net return to normal. The Observation room in Submachine 5 was also used to scan for changes. They also had technology that allowed them to travel through time.

Over time the Sub-Bots began to increase their intelligence with things they heard and saw, and all data they collected was stored in their memory, which was linked to Mur, so he could see what was going on. All the data they collected was then processed by the Sub-Bots and recorded. They used a circuit that gave them instructions as their own AI. Every bit of information they took in made them smarter. Instead of just simply doing their job, which is what these large chunks of metal were intended for, they understood why they were doing their job.

Since the government was always expanding the Sub-Net, enemies began to find out about it, and a few years later it was well known around our country and even around the world.

The army of Sub-Bots wanted to make sure that Submachine would be a part of history itself. Instead of enemies hating or wanting to destroy the new government project, the Sub-Bots wanted them to be a part of the Sub-Net, so our government would never have enemies and they would practically rule the earth from the beginning of time. They made a dangerous mistake, though...

They went to prehistoric times and built their first part of the Sub-Net (the area found in Submachine 0) there. They thought that that would ensure that everyone would be with the Submachine, not against it. What it actually did, though, was change all history from then on, thus creating an alternate timeline within the same space that the original was in. Since the changes were made to prehistoric earth, the timeline became more and more different than the main one as time went on and our history had been dramatically changed.

Although the Sub-Bots weren’t expecting this, they were able to use the technology from the teleporters to create a new technology to travel between timelines, which is possible using the portals.

Mur realized that the Sub-Bots were turning evil, so he had to get rid of them. You (the player) and Mur are the only ones who retained their knowledge from the previous timeline. You somehow found yourself in the Sub-Net and Mur found you and gave you a mission: to destroy the Sub-Net once and for all, so that normality will be restored and the alternate timeline will have never existed.

Your current assignment from Submachine 5 is: 1. Power up the machine in the corridor, 2. investigate the far side of the net, and 3. return unharmed. The last one is tricky because the defense systems mostly contain of Sub-Bots, which are programmed to scan the entire Sub-Net and keep everything perfect. If they find anything unusual, such as the presence of a human life form, they are programmed to terminate them if the Sub-Bots detect them as an enemy or a threat.

The Loop, also known as the Looping Traps, is another part of the defense systems, so if an enemy entered the Sub-Net, he/she might get stuck in the loop, with no way out.

Mur tried to stop the Sub-Bots himself, but since his intent was to destroy them, they obviously classified him as an enemy. So, Mur placed notes throughout the Sub-Net, guiding you on your mission. Now you are the only person who can stop them...