Her pyrokinetic capability was actually the first thing that they turned off the moment they brought her brain on board...

I was thinking along these lines too. I think Dr. Montgomery is in for a surprise. Perhaps the part of her that has been changing and growing is that "human" part. I'm guessing that what the previous clones' experience/learn with their human brain is stored in the satellite and then dumped into the clone brain, so maybe she has grown enough over the iterations to survive without the satellite.

Groovy. The main part of my spec, though, is that shutting off the satellite computer just "reboots" Oasis in her current body, without the connection to her clones, thus rendering her effectively mortal.

Plus we get a non-pyro tussle with Bun-bun at some point, so he can settle things with her.

I think a self-aware but potentially disoriented Oasis is a distinct possibility.

However I'm thinking we cut next to Torg & Gywnn looking for Zoe, Riff struggling to defuse the DFA about to remove LA (perhaps with help from Shankraft and/or Izzy), or Schlock turning up at sick bay to pickup Frog for his escape and opportunistically taking Zoe hostage in an escape capsule.

Then we have the Kusasha's, who know by now that they are the last of their line. Which might make them less inclined to take risks in battling Oasis and BunBun. I'm sure Kusari doesn't want to end up a lonely self-aware satellite. (Unless she/they see a way to hijack the Oasis satellite and clones by installing the Kusari program in the Oasis satellite).

There is also the possiblity of a backup computer in the rebirth facility.

I like where you're going with this.

Ditto

I think it's interesting what Dr. Montgomery said - Oasis has all the complexities of the human mind, but the most complicated part of the satellite is the part that connects to the human part of Oasis' brain. Since that sounds less complicated than the human mind (although still pretty complicated), it kind of suggests to me that most of her mind is elsewhere than the satellite (assuming Montgomery is correct and telling the truth). Maybe what Dr. Steve perfected is some way of keeping all the clones' brains in sync through some quantum mechanics/portal technology (which would be extremely impressive), but the satellite just facilitates the connection (and thus Oasis' immortality).

Which would go along with what randomlanguage and Thom Solo were saying.

I love all of these theories about Oasis being able to survive without a connection to her satellite, but remember that earlier in this chapter Dr. Montgomery said disrupting Oasis for "an hour at this stage would risk permanent damage to the parts of her we need to 'win the war'", insisting on a time limit of five minutes tops. I wonder if anything has changed then? Does Dr. Montgomery just not care if she permanently damages Oasis anymore? Is she planning on tying Oasis up and then rebooting her satellite within that five minute window? Or does she have some other trick up her sleeve?

Of course, it's quite possible that the satellite itself—not the "organic"—is the part of Oasis that Dr. Montgomery was saying hC needs to win the war. If so, I find it interesting that turning the satellite off would risk damage to the satellite rather than to the Oasis clones.

All that said, it may also simply be the case that Dr. Montgomery doesn't understand how Oasis works as well as she thinks she does…

Given that Dr. Schlock tried to kill the 'organic' and has generally just been wanting her out of the picture, it seems likely that is not the important part. I agree it seems strange that turning the satellite off would damage the satellite itself, though. Maybe the connection between the two would be damaged somehow?

Well, that's about how long a brain can last without oxygen. If they didn't yet have control of the logic that selects a new body, powering off the satellite too long could have potentially killed her current body and made Oasis unable to awaken a new one after rebooting. Now that Montgomery presumably has a grasp on most of how the satellite works, that should no longer be a concern.

Either that or Rana really is socked away in there somewhere, and Montgomery simply needed to hook up external power to the life support first. Yes I'm not letting that spec go :P

So you believe that cutting off the satellite connection will also shut down Oasis's autonomic nervous system? For some reason I thought that the satellite only controlled the conscious part of her brain...

I assume it's like going into a coma. Her meat brain is supposed to be part of a tabula rasa, so it shouldn't really "know" how to breathe on its own. But it might. In which case, spec part B.

What, Rana's imprisoned in the OASIS satellite? Does that mean Dunaloa is imprisoned in Kusari's satellite, in your theorizing? ;)

What if the satellite does more than they think? Maybe Rana/Dunaloa isn't trapped in the satellite. Maybe they've been Oasis the whole time, and the Oasis personality we know is just an imprint imposed by the satellite to control her. So if deactivating the satellite "reboots" Oasis, she'll snap out of it.

Of course, that would invalidate all of Oasis' personal growth over the years, so it's unlikely. But still, I think there's more to this whole thing.