Noonlight Diagnostics Machine

"Step 1: Crawl inside. Step 2: The screws go tight, all around. Cross my heart and hope to die... Stick a needle in your eye."

—The ghost of Nicole Brennan to Isaac Clarke.

The Noonlight Diagnostics Machine inside the Project Telomere Interface Room.

The Noonlight Diagnostics Machine was a medical device used by Director Hans Tiedemann's science division to facilitate the creation of their own Red Markers, most notably the Site 12 Marker, during Project Telomere on Titan Station.

The machine was used to stimulate the lateral geniculate nucleus, the part of the human brain where the Marker signal stored its instructions, blueprints and knowledge. By inserting a needle through the ocular cavity to the LGN, this information could be accessed without the need to open the patient's skull, and its activation rendered the patient more susceptible to Marker influence.

Overview

"Step 4. She'll be waiting. She'll be waiting. She's always waiting. Staring. Asking. I don't know the answer. After the screws, after the needle, she'll be waiting."

—Nolan Stross, referring to the machine and his fear of seeing his dead wife, Alexis, after the sessions.

Drawings from the patients at Project Telomere alluding to the machine.

Isaac preparing to stick the needle in his eye.

"The World Must End"

The Noonlight Diagnostics Machine resembled a standard MRI machine in overall shape. Marker Dementia-afflicted survivors Isaac Clarke and Nolan Stross were both regularly subjected to the machine, being given memory suppressants in between the sessions so they would have no knowledge of the device or its capabilities. Stross seemingly required more trips to the machine than Isaac, as interrogations by the scientist Foster Edgars after the sessions ended with Stross rambling about his deceased wife and infant son rather than giving EarthGov the Marker information they sought.

During the Necromorph outbreak in 2511, the machine was first physically encountered by Isaac Clarke shortly after the Site 12 Marker began a cataclysmic Convergence Event, following the arrival of a Necromorph horde. A hallucination of Nicole Brennan, Isaac's deceased girlfriend, guided him to the machine in order to proceed with the "steps" that Nolan Stross had mentioned, which "Nicole" described as her and Isaac "working together". Clarke then entered the device to complete the first three steps.

The needle built into the machine stimulated the Marker-influenced part of his mind and caused great pain to Isaac. However, he successfully activated the Marker signal and instructions in his brain. When the needle penetrated Isaac's eye, a brief message flashed and said "The World Must End" in Marker symbols.

After Isaac used the machine, "Nicole" appeared bathed in a bright light, telling Isaac to "follow the light" and meet her at the base of the Marker for the final step, "Acceptance".

Strategy

Isaac will panic and move his eye around VERY erratically should his heart rate become too high. The needle should be moved very slowly and cautiously, even slower when it is within 1.0-0.1 inches of Isaac's eye. It is not recommended to proceed when Isaac's heart rate has exceeded 100 bpm, as it will not drop any lower than 90. Once this has happened and made it highly dangerous to extend the needle, it is recommended to reload the checkpoint.

Death Scene

Dead Space 2 - Stick a Needle in your Eye Success VS Fail

If the player does not successfully line up the laser to Isaac's pupil or allows his heart rate to become too high, the machine will suddenly malfunction. The entire needle apparatus is suddenly thrust downward and impales Isaac through his eye as he screams in pain. The needle attempts to retract, but ends up drilling in further, eventually piercing into Isaac's brain and causing his death. As Isaac dies, the screen to his left displays "alignment compromised, please call engineer".

Brant Harris Experiment

"God speaks through the Marker. It needs to be heard. But I can't give it to you. I try, but it slips away. Like it's stuck behind my eyes."

—Brant Harris to Dr. Mercer prior to the experiment.

Dead Space Remake- The Brethren Moons are coming (new dialogue)

During the events on the USG Ishimura following the rediscovery of Marker 3A on Aegis VII, Dr. Challus Mercer experimented on the patient Brant Harris using a method that was very similar to what would later be used with the Noonlight Diagnostics Machine. Using his tools, Mercer inserted a sample of Necromorph biomatter "in the right region of the brain" via a needle through Harris' eye, causing Harris to be able to see the codes that the Marker had stored in his mind while he was on the planet, as well as give him knowledge of the Brethren Moons.

Trivia

The cover of Dead Space: Aftermath, referencing the machine's needle.

The art of Dead Space (2023)'s "Reunion" achievement, earned for seeing the remake's secret ending.

• The machine is first referenced at the very beginning of Dead Space 2 on a holovid of an interview with Nolan Stross. Foster Edgars commented that Stross's eye was looking better, hinting that it hadn't been long since Stross's last use of the machine.
  • It seemed that Stross was completely obsessed with and afraid of the eye-poke machine, claiming that "she is in there." This was a reference to his wife, Alexis, whom he killed along with their son in a fit of dementia. He also wanted fellow survivor Ellie Langford to see "him" (his son) through "Step 3", which involved the needle in the eye.
• Surviving the machine will earn the player the trophy/achievement "Cross your Heart, Hope to Die."
• The machine is referenced in Dead Space 3, when Ellie mentions that the data needed for the Codex was taken out of "Rosetta"'s brain, to which Isaac replies, "That sounds familiar. At least they didn't poke her eye out."
• The cover of Dead Space: Aftermath references the machine by showing a Red Marker piercing someone's eye, symbolizing the needle that is used to access the Marker signal's information in the human brain.
• Much like the Aftermath cover, the art for Dead Space (2023)'s trophy/achievement "Reunion" earned for witnessing the remake's secret ending depicts an upside-down Marker to represent the machine's needle and the Marker's imprinted information, as the secret ending shows a crazed Isaac completely under the sway of Marker 3A and planning to build a new one for the apparition of Nicole Brennan.

Gallery

Noonlight Diagnostics Machine concept art.

"Nicole" guides Isaac into the machine.

Isaac emerges from the machine.

"Nicole" waits for Isaac at the Site 12 Marker after he uses the machine.

Scrawlings from Nolan Stross alluding to the machine. The Marker symbols translate to: "Cross my heart and hope to die", "If only they knew what I can't unknow", "Life to death to life eternal", "Stick a needle in my eye", and "This darkness is crushing me".