ED-NA. Begin recording. The last couple years have been- interesting. Four hundred miles
from the Citadel to the Commonwealth on foot. I made it to the south-west edge of the Glowing
Sea after 20 days of hell, but that was the easy part. The radiation levels shot up shortly
before the Commonwealth treated me to one of its infamous radiation storms. My armor
provided enough protection to cross safely. Lucky too. Only the meanest survive out here.
How did that old phrase go? “Yea, though I walk through the valley in the shadow of
death, I shall fear no evil because I'm the meanest m--" Can I help you? We would like
to enter your fair city to stock up on ammunition, and maybe purchase some delicious noodles.
Did you know that Takahashi has been running that ol’ noodle stand for over fifteen years
now? Before his time in Diamond City he-
Let him in!... before he talks my damn ears off.
Kon’nichiwa Takahashi, men kudasai.
Nan-ni shimasho-ka.
I've walked the Commonwealth
long enough to learn a few things Takahashi. For starters, Boston must have been a sight
to behold in its heyday. It was here that the Old World discovered new frontiers in
science, both theoretical and applied. Fusion, robotics, personal protection, weapons...
And rumor says that Boston is still the center of technological development in the new America.
But, I suppose you know all about that, don't you? Nan-ni shimasho-ka. Yes, I'm talking
about what has emerged out of the ashes of CIT, the Commonwealth Institute of Technology-
this “Institute” that so many fear. I’ve already run into a couple Synths myself, and
I'm convinced that the Institute is as ingenious as ever. I haven't seen beings like these
since- well, since that 'incident' that started my journey to this end of the country. From
what scraps of data I’ve gathered, Boston was a city 'prepared for the future'. Military
checkpoints, bunkers filled with packaged food and water for an entire city, infantry
fighting vehicles, tanks, Vertibirds, troops in power armor, Pulowski Preservation shelters,
the whole nine yards. A lot of good it did them when the nukes fell… Speaking of nukes,
did you know that it's here in Boston that the Fat Man was born? The M42 tactical nuclear
launcher was developed at Fort Strong on Long Island. They were shipped to Anchorage and
other places across the United States, but that didn't stave Doomsday off. America was
unable to counter the Chinese where it mattered. The public didn't know it, but there were
rumors, reports even, that the People's Republic was beating them in the arms race. America
had power armor and energy weapons, but you can't defeat what you can’t locate. As big
and unmissable as China was, you can hide an awful lot of things in such a big country.
Like experiments in stealth technology that give you a fleet of undetectable submarines
capable of coming right up to your doorstep and setting nuclear fire to your home.
Two centuries down the road it's a moot point who brought the apocalypse upon us.
We do have the logs though. Chinese bombers were the first to come, followed by their
missiles. And as America burned, the dying Eagle put the Dragon to the sword. Both died
after a decade of pain, war, and suffering. All for a fistful of-
Nan-ni shimasho-ka.
I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this Taskahashi, but you’re quite the talker.
Let's get these noodles out of the way and hit the road. Got any ideas on where to go next?
*happy beep* I think the Mass Fusion tower isn’t far from here. It was once home to a mighty
corporation that was on the verge of--
*homing beacon*
ED-NA?
ED-NA!
Nan-ni shimasho-ka.
ED-NA, where'd you go, girl?! This static is driving me crazy.
What made you take off like that?
*happy beep*
This old corpse…
Wait, that's an Institute synth. And it's still broadcasting.
Most of the data on its internal memory was wiped.
*inquisitive beep*
Well, there is something on the disk. Something about Mass
Fusion… And a thing called the "beryllium agitator”. Ah, and here it is. Mass Fusion.
If not the biggest, then definitely the most important corporation in pre-War Massachussets.
*happy beep*
Power was their business ED-NA, power in the most literal sense.
Mass Fusion was providing
electricity to the whole of Boston. With their line of reactors and municipal plutonium wells,
it was the quintessential example of America’s mad appetite for engery. Its founder, Karl
Oslow, might as well have been a capitalist saint. He was a six year veteran of Poseidon
Energy when he set up Mass Fusion… In 2043, if I recall. Ten years later he threw the
switch on the first power plant of his ”Cleanpower Initiative”. Clean power, love, safe and
sustainable, in the age of Resource Wars. It’s no wonder that by 2070 he was supplying
power to the whole of Massachussetts.
*inquisitive beep*
You’re right, fusion power only really started in
2066, with the power armor breakthrough and that first crude fusion cell the entire project
produced. Oslow was a damnable liar. Fusion is clean and requires no shielding.
Mass Fusion tech? That's fission.
Their "fusion” distribution boxes were lead-shielded and if any component leaked,
you'd suffer the wonders of radiation sickness. He may have left Poseidon and ran them out
of state with his financial talent, but he was the same greedy man inside. Maybe he was
charming? Certainly managed to get that fellow, Noel Chandrich, on board to helm his project.
Now I remember where I heard the name. The „beryllium agitator” was related to an
actual clean power initiative Mass Fusion worked on. Chandrich helmed the project, which
would have resulted in Cleanpower living up to its name: A clean fusion power plant, with
the beryllium agitator acting as a "spark plug” for the entire thing. But Oslow couldn’t
keep a lid on his nationalism. He accelerated the development of the agitator, forcing them
to make it so that he could hand the entire project to the military, perhaps to fuel one
monstrosity or another.
Communism is a lie!
They fired it up in July, and by August the first completely clean
fusion reactor was confirmed to be operational. Naturally, Chandrich opposed militarizing
it, and promptly got fired for his trouble. Calm down, Noel. You know this was coming.
I don't understand why you're acting this way. Don't tell me to "calm down", Karl! When
we started designing the beryllium agitator, you said it would be for the benefit of mankind.
Instead, I find out that you've been planning on turning it over to the military all along.
You lied to me! Don't give me that high-and-mighty attitude. Have you picked up a newspaper lately?
There's a war going on out there, Doctor... and if our side's going to win, it needs all
the help it can get. I can't beleieve what I'm hearing. Since when did science start
taking sides? What did they promise you, Karl? Money? Political favors? A goddamned medal?
That's enough! Like it or not, when the testing cycle is complete, I'm crating up the agitator
and sending it off to Washington. Now you have two choices. Either you can get back
to work or you can get the hell out of my building.
*inquisitive beep*
Why did he leave Poseidon in the
first place? Because that company was working for the military too. Oslow's Mass Fusion
is just the tip of the iceberg, all of these pre-War corporations were corrupt beyond measure,
and it costed everyone in the end.
Whomever designed these hydraulic absorbers deserved
a better fate. As far as evil corporations go, Mass Fusion was actually fairly benign.
But some of the giants, like Poseidon Energy and RobCo. the former had its fingers in a
lot of pies and tried to corner the energy market and then some. Remember Helios One?
For them, safe, sustainable energy in a new age meant powering up an orbital laser cannon.
Then there was RobCo together with General Atomics,
they are responsible for Robobrains, those robots using human brains as processors.
In order for a brain to fit into those machines you need to rip it out of the
skull. Apparently the spinal cord was causing them problems with the nerve connection rate.
And then they wipe the brain with something called CODE. Everything that makes a man human
is gone, and they turn you into a glorified CPU. The government worked very closely on
this project. And in case you were wondering, no, these weren't volunteers giving up their
brains. Prisoners, military and otherwise, disappeared and were never heard from again.
And if a brain doesn't fit the project? Tough luck. In the furnace you go. Imagine how many
hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, were harvested for the project.
*inquisitive beep*
Was every corporation evil? No. I’m sure there were good ones, but Pre-War
America was corrupt to the bone. When Project Safehouse, the salvation of the American people,
is turned into a vile social experiment and kills those it protects… The bar is set
exceedingly low. Look at this, ED-NA, Mentats. Harmless party drugs that expand your psyche
and worldview, right? Med-Tek was another company experimenting with things they should
have left well enough alone. West-Tek may have given us FEV, but Med-Tek was experimenting
with tailor-made viruses, designed to target specific groups of people, even by age. Imagine…
An infectious viral disease that can wipe out an entire group of people… say… the
Chinese… But that- is a story for another day...
Hello? I know I just saw someone else out there.
No need to hide. I'll make it nice and quick!