Chapter 11
as the months moved on Nora kept up her search for the parts needed to build this relay she had been told about by Dr. Virgil and even though it had been a tough search she had finally managed to track them all down. The chill december air nipped at her the exposed skin not covered by her jacket, but it barely registeed on her as she helped sturges build the machine that would lead her to her child. "Hey Nora, go over to that panel there and tell me what the output says will you?" Sturges asked and Nora dutifly read them off for him. "Hmmm we still seem to be having the power distribution issue like that last few times." He said as he scratched his head. "Well what if we connect everything on one circut, do you think that might solve it?" Nora asked politely after all she was a lawyer not an electrician and honestly this all seemed above her head. "I'd thought about that but it seems a bit risky honestly, tho at this stage i'm willing to try anything, shut it down so we can make the modfications." After an hour and a half of rewiring all the components to fire off a single circuit they fired up the system once again. A smile a mile wide appeared on Sturge's face as the lights on his console all turned green, "I'll be damned that did it." Nora walked over heart thumping in her chest," Is it ready?" She asked nervously "I'd say so tho I'm still not sure if this hokey thing will actually work." "Have faith in your work Sturges, i couldnt have done this without you, Literally." Nora said lightly going over exactly what she was about to do in her head. "Alright make sure you've got everything you need before you step on that platform cause I highly doubt i'll be able to pull you back once you leave." "You mean its a one way trip?" Nora asked nervously starting to doubt if this would work or not.
"I'm sure you'll manage to find a way out, after all you will be the first person who doesnt live there or come from there to enter the blasted place." Sturges said somewhat proudly as he admired the machine he had assembled to help infiltrate the mysterious Institute. Nora double checked her ammo and chosen weapons to make sure they wouldnt jam or otherwise fail when she arrived, double counted her stims and and steeled herself for this very important but dangerous moment. Once she was sure she had everything she needed she took a deep breath and stepped onto the platform .44 in hand. Sturges walked forward and handed her a holotape, "When you get there try and find somewhere to put this, it will automatically download anything it can from the Institutes computers, which I dont have to tell you will be absolutely invaluable to us here and throughout the commonwealth." "Right, find a terminal load the holo tape, and then make sure i retrieve it before i leave." Piper stepped forward and Kissed Nora soflty on the lips "Just a little something to remind you what you're fighting for here, come back to me Blue" "I'll see you tonight love, count on it" Nora replied as Piper stepped back from the machine and Nora gave the signal to fire it up.
Around her the machine began to hum and the arms surrounding the platform began to spin, slowly at first but with each second that passed the speed increased. Her hair begain to stand up on her arms and on her neck as she could feel the electrical charge building and then in a brilliant flash of Blue White light Sanctuary Hills disappeared to be replaced by cold sterile steel walls. A moment of disorientation was quickly replaced by a surge of adrenaline and Nora quickly raised her weapon and scanned the surrounding area for any oposition. As she scanned the area a voice came on over the loudspeaker she noticed in the corner of the room. "Hello, I wondered if you might make it here,You're quite resourceful." "Whos there?" Nora asked aloud "I am known as Father, The Institute is under my guidance. I know why you're here and I'd like to discuss things with you face to face, Please step into the elevator." as the faceless voice fiinished speaking lights came on in a line that seemed to lead down a stairwell, Cautiously Nora followed keeping her weapon raised and ready to fire at a moments notice.
As she walked down the stairwell the elevator came into view and despite her better judgement she moved towards it, out of the corner of her eye she spotted a small terminal and before stepping into the elevator loaded the holotape that Sturges had given her into it. Once she was in the elevator the door slid shut with a whisper and the disembodied voice began speaking again. " I can only imagine what you've heard, what you think of us. I'd like to show you that you may have the wrong impression. Welcome to the Institute." "Wrong impression huh? that you're nothing but a bunch of murdering kidnapping bastards?" Nora retorted hotly, "I recognise you are angry, but please try to keep an open mind at least until we've had a chance to talk face to face." Nora said nothing but heavily regretted getting into this elevator as it slowly became clear she was in little more than a glass tube with nothing to use as cover were this to turn out to be a trap.
As the elevator sank slowly downwards she silently marvelled at her surroundings as what she saw was no where near what she had expected for a base full of evil scum. Instead she saw people in white lab coats going about their day and talking amongst themselves as they watched the elevator slowly move down, and Nora noticed that not one of them appeared to have a weapon of any kind. "This is the reality of the Institute, This place, These people, The work we do." The disembodied voice continued "For over 100 years we have dedicated ourselves to Humanities survival, Decades of research, countless experiments and trials, a shared vivion of how science can help shape the future." The voice continued as the elevator continued to move ever downwards. "It has never been easy and our actions have always been misinterpreted by those above ground. Someday perhaps we can show them what we've accomplished but for now we must remain underground."
The elevator finally came to a stop and the door opened with a quiet swish, infront of Nora was a small hallway with no door ways to be seen. Nevertheless she continued forward with a singular purpose in mind, that of finding her son and killing any one who got in her way, weather metalic or human she didn't really care. "There's too much at stake here to risk it all, as you've seen things above ground are..unstable, I'd like to talk to you about what we can do for everyone but that can wait. You're here for a specific very personal reason." "You're god damn right I am mother fucker" Nora spat back vehemently feeling the rage boiling in her chest. "You are here for your son." The hallway ended with a small door to the left and upon opening it she saw another elevator, seeing no other option she stepped in and pressed the only switch in sight, the door closed with a swish and then the elevator began to move upwards.
When it stopped the door slid open and she saw a small room with what looked like a prison cell of sorts and inside..."Shaun? is it really you?" she moved towards the glass partition quickly "Huh? yes i'm Shuan, but who are you?" the young boy asked, Choking back tears Nora said "It's me Shaun im your mother." "Father whats going on who is this person? Father help." "No Shaun it's me im your mom, your father is dead please dont you know me?" "I don't know you go away, Father? Father where are you there is someone strange here." The small boy said and Nora realised that her son was not only older than she thought but he also didnt know who she was.
Another door to her right opened and the same disembodied voice she had heard in the elevator spoke, "Shaun..S9-23 recall code cirrus. Facinating but dissapointing the childs responses were not at all what i had anticipated, he is a prototype you understand." Nora immediatly leveled her .44 at this new persons face "Start talking asshole, who are you and what the hell is going on?" "Please I assure you you wont need your gun,Nora." Nora scoffed and cocked the hammer back "Like im supposed to believe that after everything you've done to me and my family and friends." "Please allow me to speak and you will see i mean you no harm, I know this will be difficult to hear but hear it you must." Nora lowered her gun ever so slightly and nodded for him to continue, as despite everything she felt she needed to hear this strange old man out.
"Perhaps its time i told you who i really am, My name is Shaun, i am am your son." "Bullshit!" Nora retorted "In the vault you had no concept of time or the world around you, and when you awoke you believed that only a few months had passed, when you learned that infact 210 years had passed." "When you awoke for that brief unfortunate moment and had to witness your husband, my father as he was murdered by Kellog, and they took me from that pod you were then placed back into stasis, and when you came to again and went searching for me you still belived me to be an infant." "Then you confronted Kellog and killed him, where you learned from his memories that i was now a ten year old boy, so with all that in mind is it so hard to accept that it wasnt ten but sixty years that have passed?"
"That cant be!" Nora choked as it all started to hit home, that her son wasnt a child but an elderly man, raised by a group of people she knew to be wholly evil and dangerous. It seemed preposterous but at the same time she could tell he wasnt lying to her,"How, why, what could you possibly have gained from all this?" Nora asked as the room began to slowly spin before her eyes. "That is the reality and here i am now raised by the institute and now its leader," "They stole you, kidnapped you from the Vault, it wasnt right." "Right, wrong, irrelevant, it was necessary for the survival of humanity, and the institute believed they had the answer, Mankind Redefined, they had made great strides in synth production but it wasnt enough they wanted the perfect machine." Nora listened in a slight daze as the man who claimed to be her son explained what the Institute was trying to do and why they had kidnapped him from the vault.
"So its true then, its really you isnt it?" Nora asked after he had finished explaining what had been happening. "Yes mother it is me. I am you rlong lost son." Tears began to flow freely down Noras face as the past 6 months of trials and tests and battles, the losses along the way had all lead to this moment just for life to snatch it away from her once again. "60 years, I missed everything. Your first steps, your first words, all of it." "I know this must be hard for you Mother, but please allow me to get to know you now." "How could you possibly know how hard it has been for me shaun? you dont have a clue. I watched your father die, then i accidentally shot my own dog as he tried to save me from one of those abominations you call synths from trying to kill me, just to find out that my son isnt a 10 year old child but a 60 year old man." "The synth in Diamond City wasnt sent by us it had gone rogue and attempts to reclaim it were being made when you encountered it." Shaun said nonchallantly as if the commotion it had caused and the death of her pet meant nothing to him whatsoever. The words gone rogue and reclaim floated through her mind and she felt the anger bubbling up again.
"You cold hearted bastard, dont you care about anyone up there?" "The honest answer is No mother, I do not. at least not as they are now but I would if i could finish my work, redfining Mankind as we know it." "What the hell do you mean redefining Mankind? what do you want to do replace them with machines or something?" Nora spat angrilly, "Well yes actually, but we can talk more about this later for now id like you to familiarise yourself with the Institute, it too is your home now." and with that he began to walk away 'OH and please introduce yourself to the other division heads then come find me in my room, we will talk then."
(Please forgive the heavy use of in game dialogue, but i wanted to do this as best i could to hopefully instill that same feeling we al lhad whgen we first experienced it in game.)