No, it isn't. - Cayde was an Exo, pre-collapse. - Cayde knew Maya, as an Exo, pre-collaspe. - Cayde can remember Maya, post-collaspe. - Ergo, Cayde cannot have experienced the collapse, (Re: Exo lore.) - Supposition: Cayde was in the machine during the collapse. - Cayde was with Maya at the machine facility with Maya, pre-collapse. - Maya was part of the team that could operate the machine. - Cayde does not mention anyone else from the team, post-collapse. - Supposition: Maya was the one who took Cayde, (and whoever else,) into the machine during the collapse. - Ergo, Maya had to be an Exo by then. - Maya worked with Rasputin, pre-collapse. - Organic material was used in a retina scan in Rasputin's bunker, following the collapse, to wake the facility up. - Supposition: anyone not in the machine during the collapse with military/scientific clearance is likely dead. - Ergo, Maya woke Rasputin. - Cayde has access codes to Rasputin's bunker, post-collapse. - Supposition: the above is correct, and Cayde was with Maya in the machine. - Ergo, Cayde was with Maya in Rasputin's bunker. or - Supposition: the above is incorrect, and Cayde experienced the collapse. - Cayde can remember his pre-collapse sweetheart, post-collapse. - Ergo, Cayde had to be with Maya, post-collapse. - Ergo, Cayde couldn't have experienced the collapse. - Ergo, the above cannot be incorrect. Perhaps Cayde crushed on lots of women? Perhaps Shim was at the facility and Exo'ed himself instead, (and fancied being a woman, after?) Perhaps Chioma built a second machine in Hyperion, and randomly opted to pop into it before the Hyperion facility was obliterated? Perhaps Exo lore is wrong, and they can remember pre-collapse events? Perhaps this is just one big red herring, and Bungie has written it all out already in the rush to fix SuperCut, and forgot to stop mentioning it in later grimoire entries? Realistically, the tidy solution is that Maya is the Stranger. (Also, if you're going to critique someone else's theory as incorrect relative to your own, at least be polite enough to read it :p You're posting questions that are clearly answered in the original text I linked you.)