Episode 8 of 1899 commences with Elliot in a frantic rush to find his mother, clutching a verdant insect in his palm. He decides to name the creature Alfred, yet before sealing it in a lockbox, Maura dissuades him, urging him not to imprison it within a confinement. Spurred by her words, Elliot opts to release the bug, and as he does, his eyes flutter open, revealing a bizarre pyramid looming in the shadows. Henry awaits his awakening, boasting about the monitors and claiming that Maura has deceived them all. However, he insists that only she can lead them to freedom. "If you dare, I shall unveil the truth before you," Henry declares. With a few deft presses of buttons, he transports Elliot into Maura's memory of the hospital.
Eyk Larsen arrives on the Kerberos, having somehow swam across, yet remarkably dry. He queries Maura about the current predicament, and she confesses her memory is frayed. She divulges what she knows about Henry and the boy, acknowledging that the world seems senseless, a mere simulation. The lack of recollection about boarding the ship strengthens this hypothesis, though the language barrier poses a challenge.
Each remaining passenger possesses an envelope, hinting at a higher purpose for their presence. As they ponder the significance of these envelopes, Daniel attempts to restore the electricity with his contraption. However, upon hearing Maura's revelations, the passengers become disillusioned and gradually abandon her, arguing that they cannot trust her and must escape the ship. Only Eyk Larsen remains, having witnessed the hatches and the mysteries beyond.
Maura strives to comprehend this surreal reality, speculating that it might be a manifestation of the mind, structured similarly to the brain itself. They uncover a hollow panel concealed behind a wall, accompanied by a torch and a hidden passage. As they traverse the corridor, Daniel gains control of the electrical panels, causing the mysterious black metal substance to proliferate, engulfing the ship and distorting its cabins and passageways.
Henry guides the boy to Room 1011, intent on revealing the truth. He encourages Elliot to take a seat and injects him with a substance that transports him into another memory. In this vision, Elliot is on the verge of death, and Maura intends to save him. However, rather than letting him fade away, she promises to erase his memories, ensuring they can be together forever.
As Maura administered the injection into his neck, Elliot's mind drifted back to Henry's words. He realized he was trapped in a meticulously crafted simulation, a construct designed solely to sustain his life, much like Plato's allegory of the cave, where knowledge is bound by limitations. This, according to Henry, was Elliot's very own "Doll's House" — a fabricated reality tailored specifically for him.
Elliot's parents' facade of honesty had been shattered. A path to escape existed, but only Maura possessed the crucial key. That key was also the lifeblood of the pyramid, and as its black facade unfolded, a keyhole revealed itself, inscribed with the words "Wake Up."
The simulation itself was being reshaped from its core by Daniel's meddling, as he warped the ship's world and scattered its passengers across varying simulations. The code was being manipulated, spreading a virus — presumably that ominous black substance — throughout the vessel. Henry's confusion deepened as he witnessed this strange phenomenon, wondering what it all meant.
Amid fleeting visions of horror across various worlds, the survivors gathered once again in the ship's hallways. Meanwhile, Eyk and Maura ventured deeper into the mental hospital, only to be intercepted by the treacherous officer. He demanded the key from Maura, and with the simulation unraveling, he pressed buttons on his device, compelling her to surrender it. He apologized to the captain before pressing another button, sending him crashing to the ground.
Maura was escorted to her father, who continued to manipulate buttons on a handheld console. She was then led to the mental hospital and restrained in a chair. Elliot watched silently as Henry revealed the truth: Maura was the mastermind behind this simulation. She had crafted it with Daniel, forcing everyone into this endless cycle.
Henry was adamant about escaping, but to do so, he needed to coerce Maura into reentering the simulation. The key was turned in the pyramid, yet nothing happened. Daniel had altered the code, corrupting the simulation entirely. As the remaining passengers gathered, the simulation itself vanished into oblivion.
Daniel and Maura stumbled upon each other outside the confines of the mental hospital, unexpectedly finding themselves in a secluded child's bedroom, hidden beneath a hatch. Daniel's ingenious manipulation of the code seemed to have succeeded, and he divulged that this was their first collaborative simulation ever crafted. Initially, the syringe was intended as a device to propel one back into the simulated realm, but this time, Daniel had tweaked the code to summon Maura to this hidden sanctuary. He further revealed that he had also switched the values within the pyramids, rendering the one in Henry's possession utterly ineffective. The genuine code, he explained, resided in the wedding ring, a token that held the key to escape. Surprisingly, it wasn't Henry, Maura, or even Daniel who commanded this elaborate simulation; it was Maura's own brother who stood at the helm.
"This is a matter of far greater consequence than you can fathom," Daniel pleaded, urging Maura to awaken and join him in halting her brother's scheme before it's too late. Upon pressing the ring, Maura jolted awake, finding herself tethered to an unfamiliar contraption. All the other passengers and characters were similarly immobilized, machines clamped to their heads, and Maura's wedding ring still adorned her finger.
Peering through the window, the camera panned out to reveal her aboard a mammoth spacecraft named Prometheus, which housed numerous other chambers. A message flashed on the monitor, identical to the one glimpsed in the books on the Kerberos: "May your coffee kick in before reality does." This entire ordeal seemed to be a survival mission dubbed Project Prometheus. The monitor continued to flicker with revealing tidbits, informing that there were 1423 passengers and 550 crew members on board. The date was shockingly October 29th, 2099, not 1899. A greeting from Ciaran echoed through the speakers, welcoming Maura to reality... but was it truly so?
