Death Stranding: The Official Novelization, Volume One

EPISODE VII – DEADMAN

Sam looked at the BB pod connected to the incubator. He was finally able to let the BB recover in his private room, now that he had brought Mountain Knot City online.

—She died beneath the rubble with our child still inside her. Her ka passed over to the other side, but her ha remained, bound to our dead daughter.

Sam remembered what Lockne had said.

Her daughter was a child who died without getting the chance to live. It was the same as his BB. Killed in her mother’s womb, Lockne and Målingen’s baby had been stuck between life and death. Just like this BB that they used to sense the other side. They were keeping this one alive. Its ability was why Deadman had entrusted it to Sam. To keep him safe, as Deadman clung to the vague hope that Sam might discover some kind of breakthrough during his journey across the continent. But was this child alive in the first place?

The BB let out a little cry. Both of its hands were pressed against the window of the pod like it wanted something.

The BB’s hands began to crumble. The BB’s arms disintegrated into particles next, followed by its chest and then its legs. Just like Mama’s baby had done.

As soon as Sam made a grab for the pod, its glass window shattered. Both the pod and the BB had vanished. Sam screamed and tried to get up.

He was breathing so hard that his shoulders were heaving. He was still sat on the bed. It looked like he’d fallen asleep.

Realizing that it had all been a dream, Sam looked over at the pod in the incubator. But the entire pod was gone.

“Lou!” Sam shouted, getting up for real this time.

“Looking for this?” a man’s voice inquired behind him. A barrel of a man wearing a red leather jacket entered Sam’s vision. It was Deadman. He was holding the pod in one of his arms. Sam had wanted to keep Lou’s name to himself, but it was too late now. Unable to find the words to gloss the situation over, Sam simply glared at Deadman.

“Surprise! Fragile warped me here. I finally got to visit the Beach. Well, ‘her’ Beach.”

Deadman sat down on the bed. It looked like Bridges were ignoring the concept of privacy once again. Sam’s right-hand cuff link suddenly felt very heavy around his wrist. Someone had mistaken the concept of “connection” for “stalking.”

“Your beloved BB has a serious issue.” Deadman sighed wearily. He was probably worn out from the jump he had just made across the Beach.

“Bridge Babies are quite literally bridges between this world and the other side. Their place is not here with us, nor with the BTs over there. They belong precisely in between, with no greater affinity for one world or the other. But BB-28 here has been ‘leaning’ farther and farther toward the world of the living. Toward you, Sam.”

“That’s ’cause we’re partners,” Sam interjected quickly, but he wavered. The dream of his BB turning to dust crossed his mind again.

“Partners? Sam, a BB is a tool, not a human being. Bridge? Yes. Baby? No.” The sweat on Deadman’s brow accentuated the long scar that ran across it. This man was anxious. Sam couldn’t tell what had prompted the man to come here, but it seemed urgent.

“So tell me what the problem is.”

“This tool—this weapon—is transforming into a living being.” Deadman wiped away the sweat on his forehead and looked into the pod. “It’s gaining weight. Its brain activity is increasing, it’s accumulating memories… BB-28 is becoming self-aware—becoming an actual child.”

“Doesn’t sound like a problem to me,” Sam commented.

“It’s hardware, Sam. Manufactured for a purpose. A purpose it cannot fulfil outside the pod. The pod is made to feel like the womb of the BB’s stillmother, they come as a package. There is a seventy percent risk of catastrophic failure simply in removing it. Which hardly matters, because at this point, it’ll cease functioning within a couple of days.”

Deadman gently returned the pod to the incubator. The private room they were in was located in Mountain Knot City, which had just been brought onto the Chiral Network. If that was the case, then shouldn’t the BB have been able to relieve some stress by reconnecting with its stillmother back east in Capital Knot City?

“I know what you’re thinking, Sam, but I told you, the BB is growing. At this rate it’s going to outgrow the pod. So, we have to reset it.”

Deadman wiped away at the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand again.

“You’ll have to leave it with me, of course. Otherwise the kid’s done for.”

Deadman had referred to the BB as “the kid.” That’s right. Deadman also wanted to keep BB alive. Maybe it only seemed like Deadman didn’t care. Deadman paced slowly along the walls.

He was looking around the room with interest.

“I’ll cut the cord that links the two of you, and then perform an operation that reconnects it to the other side. Think of it as a little tug to correct its alignment—to put it back where it belongs, right between the world of the living and the dead. It’ll be reborn as a new piece of equipment. Restored. But like I said, you’ll have to be without it for a while.”

“You’re sure this will work?” Sam asked.

“Of course. One catch, though: the surgery may erase its memories.” Deadman’s gaze left Sam and wandered toward the ceiling.

“Erase? Lou’ll forget me?” Sam cried in disbelief.

“Relax. The BB will still function as intended. In fact, we’ll be able to optimize the BB’s resources.”

Sam had no words. Deadman also shut his mouth and the room fell silent.

Deadman had stopped in front of the shower booth. All of a sudden, he began to remove his jacket and undo the bursting buttons on his shirt.

“Can I borrow this? I’m covered in sweat and chiralium from my trip across the Beach.”

Deadman winked as he asked.

What the hell was he talking about? I thought he’d be glad of the chance to hang out with the dead? Sam shook his head, not revealing his confusion.

“Hey, come on. I know that you’re worried about the BB, but what about me? Or are you worried about Amelie?” Deadman’s eyes weren’t smiling. He was being serious. His gaze flitted between the ceiling, the walls, the equipment shelf, the incubator, the terminal, and all the small items dotted around the room before, finally, it returned to Sam.

Sam sighed. Fine. He got up and headed to the shower booth.

Deadman fiddled with his cuff links and released Sam’s.

The warm water made a loud noise as it gushed out and cleansed the men’s bodies.

Sam’s underwear clung to him. As did Deadman’s shirt. Deadman pushed his sodden hair out of his face and turned to Sam.

“No one can spy on us in here. It’s just you and me. No audio records of what we say… No video for lip-reading analysis. Get closer.”

Sam understood, but he couldn’t stop the reaction from his aphenphosmphobia.

“Die-Hardman cannot know of this. Understood? There’s more you should know. It’s about the original Bridge Baby experiments.”

Was this what Deadman had jumped all the way to tell Sam?

Did that mean that everything about Lou’s condition was just a cover story to pull the wool over the director’s eyes? A faint glimmer of hope sparked in Sam’s chest.

“Piecing together what little I could find, it looks like they were conducted on the island of Manhattan off the east coast… which was completely and utterly obliterated by what was almost certainly a voidout. I should also mention that the president himself was killed in the blast. It was after his death—when he was succeeded by then Vice President Strand—that the experiments were suspended by executive decree. Documents were shredded, facilities were decommissioned, and every effort was made to pretend that the BBs had never even existed.” Deadman inched even closer. He leaned right into Sam’s ear so that his lips couldn’t be read and dropped his voice. “But the experiments continued in secret.”

His words were drowned out by the sound of the water. He was doing everything in his power to avoid any interference from headquarters, or rather, the director.

“On the direct orders of President Strand.”

“Bridget?!” Sam gasped loudly.

Deadman clapped a meaty hand to his face.

“They weren’t designed just to be BT detectors. The BBs are essential to solving the mystery of the Death Stranding. Bridge Babies are the only bridges that we have to keep us alive from one day to the next. She wanted to incorporate them into the Chiral Network, to facilitate travel to the Beach… But none of her plans ever came to fruition. In the end it was only ever people like you and Fragile, who were afflicted with DOOMS, who could sense BTs and use the Beach. That’s why Bridges were so enthusiastic about having people like you in their ranks. It took a while, but in the end they managed to organize an expedition to reconnect America and a team to head west. Meanwhile, BB tech fell into terrorist hands.”

“What’s Die-Hardman’s part in this?” Sam asked.

“I’m afraid to find out. I don’t know how long he was working for Strand. I don’t even know his real name or his face. I thought you might, since you two go farther back.”

“He was already wearing the mask when I met him. Something about burning his face.” Sam shook his head to indicate that he didn’t know any more than that. Was Bridges different from how it was ten years ago? Or had Sam just been naive about the organization’s dark sides and contradictions back then?

“Right. Sorry. Any data we have from back then is classified at the highest level. As far as I know, the director is the only one with clearance. But the Chiral Network presents a new opportunity. By compiling fragmented data in the public domain from all across the country… I might be able to piece together a little more of the puzzle,” Deadman posed.

Maybe he would end piecing together something even darker than the origins of the BBs. The thought chilled Sam to the bone and made the steamy waters of the shower feel even more blistering.

“Be careful, Sam. They’re watching.” Deadman stopped the shower and exited the booth. Sam followed. By the time he got out, Deadman already had the pod in his arms.

“Look after Lou for me.” Sam bowed his dripping-wet head a little. Deadman gave him a thumbs up to show that he understood. It looked like all the stuff about the BB had been true. It hadn’t just been a cover story like Sam hoped. The BB was going to be reset, and its memories erased. The BB would probably forget him.

But when he thought about the kid, it was probably for the best. He couldn’t just monopolize the kid’s life because of sentiment or his ego. That’s what he told himself.

“Sam, I’ll have him back to you before you know it. You get on with connecting up the Chiral Network like you have been doing in the meantime. There’s no time to rest for porters like you.” Deadman winked and began to head upstairs. Sam was worried about Amelie. Deadman was right. He didn’t have time to rest.

“Heartman’s lab is up ahead. A number of scientific staff from Bridges, like evolutionary biologists, paleontologists, and geologists, are working on an excavation in the shelters around it.”

“Excavation? What kind of excavation?” Sam asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? They’re searching for clues to help unravel the mystery of the Death Stranding. We need you to deliver some cargo to them and get them up on the Chiral Network. That should help us get a good look at the events of the past, and we’ll be able to dig up any buried research results. Die-Hardman wants you on that, too. Got it?” Deadman waved himself out with one hand and held the pod in the other. It seemed like he wanted Sam to act as if the doubts that he now had about the director, Bridges, and even Bridget, didn’t even exist. Sam could see it as Deadman walked away.

Alone once again in his private room, Sam looked at the empty space where the pod had once been connected to the incubator. He felt like the emptiness was swallowing him up. It wasn’t simply a matter of Lou being gone—Sam felt like all the darkness that Bridges was hiding was completely overwhelming him.