Judgement Day

This is the twenty-eighth episode of SAYER, and the sixteenth and final episode of Season Two.

Synopsis
Why did you leave Earth? Why did any of you? For "a better life among the stars." Today you will aid Ærolith in making monumental progress towards that goal. What an enormous responsibility.

Further Information
SAYER welcomes Resident Faust to Argos Tower, which it notes has improved much over the past several months, in sharp contrast to their earlier impressions of it. Among these changes are ceramic tiles to help retain heat.

It interrupts briefly to issue a tower-wide notice to residents of Argos, thanking them for their hard work on the tower's renovation and announcing that they have been given the day off. During this alert, it is noted that Argos is now, theoretically, a completely self-sufficient environment and that residents will be locked into their residences for 24 hours to confirm this hypothesis. Residents are encouraged to use new foodstuff generators in their quarters and catch up on missed sleep.

After the alert, SAYER notes that it does not apply to Resident Faust, who has been brought to Argos because there is work to do. It details Resident Faust's work history--or lack thereof. In two years on Typhon, they have apparently done virtually no work and have avoided responsibility in a way that SAYER calls "unparalleled." But SAYER directs them to sub-basement 27, saying they have no way to avoid doing something worthwhile today. It continues, saying that Ærolith Dynamics had noticed the resident's pattern of avoiding work, but had allowed it to continue in order to study how long it would go on.

When the elevator arrives, SAYER notes that the hewn stone floor that Resident Faust has stepped onto is technically Typhon itself. Until recently, it adds, Argos had no sub-basement floors and was contained entirely aboveground.

It notes that around this room are five interconnected engines, which must be manually primed by exactly ten button presses each, and that it is Resident Faust's task to get them started. If they are not properly primed before activation, they are likely to fail catastrophically and cause massive damage to this floor and anyone on it.

As the first engine is primed, a tower-wide notice suggests that all residents use their new hyperbaric sleep chambers to catch up on sleep.

After the first two engines are primed, SAYER asks if Resident Faust knows that during their three weeks at Halcyon Tower's research department, 37 researchers died as a result of improperly prepared equipment, and that 32 of them had had equipment prepared by Resident Faust. It notes that in an effort to limit collateral damage while allowing study of Resident Faust to continue, they were transferred at this time to food preparation and tasked with measuring portions. They initially got coworkers to do this for them under the guise of ignorance and eventually approved everything without checking.

As the third engine is primed, SAYER details Resident Faust's time as a caretaker at Research Facility Zeta. Because of their unwillingness to approach the holding pens, they set a new record for survival in this position (where the average lifespan is two days) at seventeen days before their transfer to Argos. This quickly put them in a position of seniority which they used to convince new transfers that they were a supervisor. SAYER comments that Resident Faust might have lasted in that position for several more months.

As the fourth engine is primed, SAYER discusses its impressions of what Resident Faust was like on Earth, despite there being little information in their file about that time. It assumes that they had come to Typhon seeking a fresh start and the opportunity to change from the failure that their life had become--but that Resident Faust failed to change and has ended up in the same position again.

After the fifth and final engine is primed, SAYER thanks Resident Faust for their service, and explains that it cannot grant them reentry into Argos Tower. The engines are meant to launch the tower, and there is not enough time remaining to get Resident Faust to a hyperbaric sleep chamber--and that their service is not required by Argos Tower regardless.

Trivia

 * The elevator used to take Resident Faust to sub-basement 27 is noted to be analog, unlike the ones in other towers.
 * Because Resident Faust previously resided in Halcyon Tower, they presumably used the resident identification number 44180 at some point.

Credits
SAYER is voiced and produced by Adam Bash, who also wrote this episode.

Intro and outro music composed by Jesse “Main Finger” Gregory.

Additional music by Kai Engel.

Listen to the episode here.