#also how is everything in the ship? what are the beetles? why does Daniel have a torch? what’s with the weird crystal stuff and why did it

[mintmentos]

So Eyk is now on the Prometheus, which is in some kind of ship graveyard for previous experiments presumably. But how is the Prometheus there when it was the Kerberos that went somewhere else when the machinery kicked in?

[lafiametta]

I'm rewatching Episode 1 and I noticed a bunch of things I'd like to discuss, if you don't mind! (This will be long, hang in there!)

The one that intrigued me most is when they found the Prometheus. There was something off about how it looked from the start. Firstly, it didn't look like a ship that had been missing for only 4 months, but much longer. And secondly, and worse of all, is that it looked like it had been sunk, and then submerged. And when did we see a ship sink? In the last episode, where the vortex swallowed Kerberos, and it came out in that other "sea" with the other failed simulations. However, there's something about both ships that I don't get. At first, I thought the Prometheus acted as a bait, reeling in the Kerberos to its location over and over again to kickstart the simulations, especially because at some point its equipment sends those messages with only triangles, rather than the Morse code. So it was clearly a tool in the program. But then, in the show, when they started to toll the Prometheus back to Europe, it was Daniel that used that device that made the fog swallow the Kerberos and send it back to its original location. I can't tell how much Daniel did in this simulation (I don't believe he started The Calling, for example), but his impact on the Prometheus (his coming from there) and then the Kerberos (spiriting it away to somewhere else, letting it be engulfed by the fog) was definitely something he did. Where was the Prometheus before the Kerberos found her? Is it possible that its 'disappearance' is where the failed Kerberos ships go to? And if Daniel, if real, is not part of the simulation, did he get inside it by accessing it through the archive of failed simulations and went inside the 'test zone' with an empty ship, that turned out to be the Prometheus? Could this simulation have been the first one where they found the missing sister ship?

The storm still happened, though, so he couldn't control everything, as we obviously saw how he had to hack into the simulation to make changes in there, but now I'm wondering what is the purpose of these two ships - and, most interestingly, in 2099 they are travelling aboard the Prometheus, not the Kerberos. And it is called the Prometheus Project. So... Could the spaceship also not be reality???

And what about the third, mysterious ship that is part of this triangle? Eyk said the 'company bought three ships, and they spent three months docked while a new system was installed'... So???? Hello???? What does all this mean!!!

So I don't know if I have all the answers you're looking for — in fact, I know I don't! — but I'm going to do my best to walk through some of what I think is going on.

The simulation begins on the morning of the second day of the voyage, before the message comes from the Prometheus. It's unclear whether or not a message comes from the Prometheus during every simulation, but in this one, the message is coming from a specific sender: Daniel.

Daniel is trying to reach Maura, to tell her that she needs to wake up, to remember who she is (and their life together), which will somehow free her from being stuck in the simulation, which just seems to run again and again. In this, he also enlists the help of Elliot, who he knows will trigger Maura's natural protectiveness and her forgotten maternal instincts. Elliot's also meant to use access to Maura and her stateroom to look for the key. (The fact that they both can use the beetles/bugs to open doors or know what direction to follow is a clue that they're working together.)

For some reason, he can't bypass the programming and get the two of them directly on board the Kerberos. Instead, he gets them onto the Prometheus (which I suppose was just hanging out in the simulation graveyard; this one, I have to assume, must have sunk four months earlier, which explains why it looks so rusted and dilapidated), brings it through the whirlpool wormhole, and then secretly sends a signal to the Kerberos, hoping that it will be enough to send the Kerberos on a rescue mission. (The original message gives coordinates of longitude and latitude, not triangles, so the crew and the captain know where to go to find it.) While Eyk, Maura, and the rest of the lifeboat squad are searching through the Prometheus (and successfully discovering Elliot, who was left there to be found), Daniel is making his way over to the Kerberos. (I have to assume he rowed, but he's so soaked that maybe he swam??)

(By the way, Nina's hair ribbon, the one that so freaked out Eyk when he found it on the Prometheus? I suspect he left it there himself when he was there during a previous simulation, or maybe it was in his possession and it got lost ["what is lost will be found"?]; he just forgot that he had ever had it, much like he forgets everything from each simulation.)

Clearly, Daniel is hoping that Elliot's presence is enough to get Maura to start remembering things, even though the boy is kept from speaking (I suspect because doing to will bring him to the attention of either Henry Singleton or a different "Creator" — perhaps Ciaran? — who then will be clued into Daniel's plan). Elliot's role is also vital because he's got the pyramid (it's not entirely clear what his connection to it is; it's clearly important that it stays in his possession) and the pyramid holds the lock that can be opened to shut down the simulation. Eventually, it's clear to Daniel that Elliot on his own will not be enough to get her to remember, so he starts spending more time around her, hoping to trigger some long-lost feelings or memories. (Too bad for him that she seems to prefer hanging out with Eyk, either exploring each other's memories or the ruined engine room of the Prometheus!)

I'm still not entirely clear why Daniel killed ("killed") Ada. He's responsible for the mysterious collapse/death of many of the other passengers and crew, so it's possible he did it to sow confusion and panic among the remaining ones, enough so that Eyk will abandon his plan of towing the Prometheus back to Europe. (The only other person who has the capacity of "killing" the passengers is Sebastian, and he and Daniel seem to be working at odds for much of the series.) And perhaps Ada's death being first is meant to be symbolic; she acts as a prophet in the first episode, talking about the "ghost ship," so maybe she's meant to be the first sacrifice.

Daniel also summons the fog, meant to stymie the Kerberos and stop it from returning with the Prometheus back to Europe. It gives the plotters of the mutiny enough time to put their plan into action, taking weapons and arming the lower-class passengers, and it's at that moment that Daniel uses his sliding puzzle controller to turn the mainframe of the simulation on, which zaps the Kerberos back to its original position before it went in search of the Prometheus in Episode 1. He, like everyone else (with the exception, it seems of Eyk), wants to get the ship back on track and not run the risk that it could be shut down by Henry Singleton (who may or may not be the mysterious "Creator"). Essentially, he's buying more time with Maura, hoping that eventually she'll begin to remember and then recall where the key is, allowing her to wake up (and stop the simulations).

I agree with you that the Calling and the storm were not Daniel's doing; those, I think must have been externally created, I suspect by Henry Singleton, who is still trying to test out his theory about human behavior and whether we are still ruled by our emotions. At Singleton's behest, the simulation is also shut down in Episode 7, with the Kerberos going back through the whirlpool wormhole to the simulation graveyard, where it meets up with the Prometheus (although it might not be the same Prometheus from Episodes 1-3). It doesn't work entirely, though, because there are still a handful of passengers (Maura, Eyk, Ling Yi, Ramiro, Clémence, Tove, Virginia, and Jérôme) that are still existing within it. Daniel takes the opportunity to hack into the mainframe and change the structure of the simulation, one final attempt to save Maura and help her wake up. (He needs to keep her safe until Singleton uses the fake key in Elliot's pyramid and the final countdown ends, at which point, he hopes, she'll wake up again in her own memory, which is tied to Elliot's playroom — their first simulation. The new key — her wedding ring — can be used in the puzzle pyramid that's also been in Elliot's possession, but in his playroom, not his hands.)

Anyway, that was a long discussion, and I'm not sure it made much sense, but my best guess for the existence of two ships is that the Prometheus (through Daniel's intervention) saves the Kerberos. To take a clue from the mythology, Prometheus (who brings the light of fire) illuminates the darkness that the three-headed dog guarding hell is mired in. And the Prometheus Project is a rescue mission, much like the Prometheus ends up saving the Kerberos (even though it was the Kerberos that first deviated from its course to come to the aid of the Prometheus).

As for the third ship, hell if I know. My brain hurts just having gotten this far... :)