- Simon Jarrett finds himself in a mysterious, ravaged facility after seemingly losing consciousness during a new, experimental brain scan which was suggested to him for his brain damage after his car accident.
- SOMA takes place in an underwater research facility called PATHOS-2. Some time after the surface of the earth was devastated by meteor collisions. Where the last human scientists survive on a day to day basis, fighting off their isolation. But soon, the machines in the facility begin to take on human characteristics, and consciousness. The main protagonist Simon Jarrett starts off in May 2015, where he was in a fatal car crash that killed his friend and passenger Ashley, and left him with severe brain damage and cranial bleeding. Jarrett agrees to an experimental brain scan in a run down medical lab, during which he blacks out, awakening in the Upsilon branch of PATHOS-2 with no knowledge of how he had gotten there.—sandyk62
- The story begins in 2015 where Simon Jarrett, a Toronto resident and book store worker is injured in a car crash that kills his passenger and leaves him with chronic brain hemorrhaging. Simon is invited to partake in an experiment operated by a university graduate, David Munshi, David's experiment is presented as a simple brain scan and Simon takes a seat in the scanning machine, a visor covers his face and takes a snapshot, Simon blacks out. Simon wakes up some time later in an unfamiliar location, an underwater facility that is in disarray. From what he can determine the place is PATHOS-II, an underwater research facility in the Atlantic ocean, it was built as a thermal mining site in the 2060s by a Japanese conglomerate Haimatsu and European conglomerate Carthage Industries and he is currently in Site Upsilon. Furthermore much time has passed, the year is 2104 and the surface world was destroyed by a comet the previous year.
The occupants of the facility are the last survivors of the human race, scientists developing a Project known as ARK, which is a black box loaded with the consciousnesses of the scientists, the ARK is to be launched into space via space gun to a satellite where the humans can live in a digital world. However the facility has been overtaken by the station's artificial intelligence, Warden Unit (WAU), the intelligence went haywire and attempted to preserve the human race through bio-mechanical integration with a concoction known as structure gel leading to hostile hybrid mutations. Simon encounters robots that believe they are human and other simple working robots, a female voice communicates with him, Catherine Chun, she directs him to her at Site Lambda and he discovers she is a brain scan of a PATHOS employee occupying a robot form, he removes the cortex chip fit onto a smart tool he wields to access areas of the facility and converse with Catherine when uploaded to a console. Simon himself is not the original from 21st century Toronto, the brain scan technique he underwent creates copies of the patient's mind and his conscious is occupying the body of a dead PATHOS employee, Imogen Reed.
The ARK has not been launched into space, Simon agrees to help Catherine launch it from Site Tau at the bottom of the ocean, getting there requires equipment capable of reaching abyssal depths. One suggestion is the DUNBAT, a deep sea submersible located a Site Theta, however when Simon activates it, the WAU has corrupted its intelligence and the DUNBAT plunges into the ocean. Catherine has an alternative, a diving suit located at Site Omicron. The suit has an owner, the late Raleigh Herber. Simon has to rebuild the body and suit with retrieved components, as he does a bio-mechanical hybrid keeps appearing before him, talking in incomplete sentences. Simon repairs the suit and takes another brain scan to load his mind into it. He does and discovers his previous form is alive, Catherine reminds him the brain scan merely copies minds, not transfers them, Simon is disgusted at the moral implications and Catherine offers him the choice to euthanize his previous form.
Whatever choice is made Simon descends to the depths of the ocean aboard the Climber, an elevator that reaches down to the depths. On the ride down the hybrid person appears again, Johan Ross, another employee, he says he'll make "preparations" then jumps into the abyss.
Simon and Catherine reach the ocean floor and travel to Site Tau where the ARK is kept, it is in the possession of Sarah Lindwall, the last surviving human on Earth, she is plugged into a life support machine, she offers the ARK and requests to be euthanized, Simon can choose to do this and stay a little longer in her final moments. The Ark is transported to Site Phi where the space gun resides. Simon has take a detour through Site Alpha past debris where Ross confronts him again, he asks Simon to eliminate the heart of WAU, Simon's suit contains the modified structure gel to kill it, removing its presence and preventing further mutation of the marine life. Once again, Simon can accept or refuse this option, regardless, Ross intends to kill Simon immediately afterwards to remove the last source of structure gel, but a mutated Leviathan devours Ross.
The creature chases Simon who make it to Site Phi and loads the ARK into a pre-programmed course for the satellite, Catherine is plugged into the launch module to upload their minds onto the ARK. Both are loaded onto the ARK seconds before launch and the ARK disappears in a bright flash, the light fades and Simon sees that he and Catherine are still underwater, Simon feels bouts of disappointment, anger and betrayal, Catherine has to reiterate that the method only copies minds, not transfer them and that she's glad that versions of them made it out. Simon is furious and they argue before the power cuts out and Simon is left alone in the darkness.
A post-credits epilogue shows Simon's copy inside a digital simulation in the ARK taking the form of a lush world where Catherine is nearby, the final shot is of the satellite flying off into space leaving the ruined Earth behind.
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