The Sarcophagus is a device which allows a human mind to be digitized and loaded into a robot, or to the network. One is found in the B-12 Flat in Chapter 3: The Flat with an "I hope this will work" post-it and with a robot body nearby, and one at the beginning of Antvillage in Chapter 9: Antvillage.
It is possible that some Companions (at least most likely Sores and Mattbee) are Humans scanned with these devices, though this is never explicitly stated. If they are, it seems that they have the same amnesia about the scanning as B-12 has: this might be a deliberate side-effect of the scanning, or just a limitation of the technology ("But the upload, something went wrong. He was stuck for hundreds of years.").
Theories[]
The Sarcophagus presents us with multiple problematic theories about the lore in Stray.
Theory: Every Companion is a scanned human.
Supportive arguments: 1. Humans would have wanted to be scanned to survive the deadly pandemic within the sealed, dying Walled City 99. 2. This explains why the robots mimic unnecessary human customs. 3. The robot population we see in Stray is low compared to the size of the city, indicating only a few lucky ones were scanned.
Problems: 1. We only ever see two sarcophagus in the game. One is specifically within the Scientists lab. 2. We know that B-12 corrupted his memories in the process and only regained them upon seeing the Sarcophagus. Therefore, all other robots in Stray either succeeded in the memory transfer but live in ignorance, which wouldn't make sense, or they are all corrupted, in which case surely at least one would have seen the Sarcophagus at some point and regained his full memory. The theory falls apart.
Theory: The scientist created the Sarcophagus.
Supporting arguments: 1. We only see the Sarcophagus in the Scientists own lab, and in Antvillage. The machine might have been developed and tested within the Outsider faction (since Zbaltazar moved to Antvillage). 2. The Control Room and Midtown do not have any known Sarcophagus, indicating that the Sarcophagus was invented without the knowledge of the corrupt government. 3. As far as we know, only the Scientist was scanned. Perhaps he used his own invention and was the only one (see point above about other robots seeing the Sarcophagus).
Problems: 1. B-12 would have mentioned the fact he invented the Sarcophagus in-game. 2. Other Sarcophagus might be out of sight in the city. 3. The fact that a Sarcophagus exists in Antvillage is problematic.
Gallery[]
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| Items | |
|---|---|
| Inventory Items | Atomic Battery • Broken Tracker • Fixed Tracker • Cassette Tape • Clementine's Picture • Contact Message • Electric Cable • Energy Drink • Fuse • Jacket • Keys (B-12 Flat) • Keys (Library) • Lever Handle • Music Sheets • Mysterious Message • Poncho • Postcard • Purple Plant • Red Plant • Yellow Plant • Safe's Mysterious Password • Strange Drink • Subway key • Super Spirit Detergent • Transceiver • Worker Hat • Worker Keys |
| Non-Inventory Items | Ancient Relic • Backpack • Book: Volume 42 • Boxes • Bucket Pulley • Bucket-Zip-Line • Cat toys • Defluxor • Devices • Electrical Box • Gravity book • How to be a Ninja • Keys (Jail) • Paint Bucket • Paper Bags • Radio • Sarcophagus • Small Bucket • Vinyl record |
| Notebooks | Clementine's Notebook • Doc's Notebook • Momo's Notebook • Zbaltazar's Notebook |
| Badges | Music Badge • Outsider Badge • Plant Badge • Cat Badge • Police Badge • Neco Badge |
| Collectables | Memories |