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The Institute, Part 6


FOR THE DIRECTOR'S EYES ONLY

You are about to enter a highly classified facility that is strictly off-limits to anyone except The
Institute's current Director. Since you have made it all the way down here by using the Director's
personal pass code, I presume you are my successor and have the proper clearance (if you are
not, I urge you to turn around and leave immediately). Had you used force, or some other means
of manipulation for breaking and entering this facility, the explosives built into its structures
would've been detonated, resulting in a massive cave-in, and consequent destruction of the entire
area in order to ensure its immunity against intruders. This facility consists of the passages leading
from The Institute to the entry hall, and the rest of it are two miles of unused tunnels commissioned
by the US Army before the Great War. When I became the Director of The Institute, I took the liberty
of sealing this facility from all visitors for the safety and well-being of not only The Institute and
The Commonwealth, but of our entire species. The contents of this facility pose a greater threat to
humanity than any weapon, species, disease, ideology, or faction currently known to The Institute.

As you know, the Director's position comes with a great responsibility to protect those under his
supervision. But with this responsibility comes a heavy burden that was well-known to all world
leaders before the Great War. There may come a time, when the Director is required to respond to
the actions of an aggressor. The situation might be extreme, and the Director must make a "hard
call" by resorting to drastic measures that may result in serious collateral damage in order to avoid
a total defeat. This facility houses a very particular drastic measure. It was the brainchild of one of
my predecessors, Director Joseph Holbrook. It has been later determined that Holbrook had an
unhealthy obsession for the 2180 super mutant attack against Diamond City. Holbrook also had an
obsession for a very close partnership with The Eldritch Foundation, with whom he designed and
created what he called The Commonwealth's Great Army, a defense force that would act as the
civilization's shield against any and all threats.

Unfortunately, this Grand Army turned out to be a catastrophic failure. Holbrook and The Eldritch
Foundation decided to use our second generation synths as the basis for their heavily modified
"android soldiers." Their skin was an amalgam of extremely durable polymers, their power sources
Eldritch modified twin-core fusion batteries with a lifespan of 500 years, and as the final icing on the
cake, a shared neural network that would offer a considerable boost for their combat AI. Having
received excellent results during preliminary testing for small unit tactics, Holbrook spent exorbitant
amounts of resources for manufacturing 8,000 units of android soldiers in cooperation with The Eldritch
Foundation. But when they tested a large number of android soldiers in combat, the neural network
turned into a feedback loop, amplifying the aggression of the androids exponentially, overriding all
behavioral inhibitors and safeguards. Once activated, the androids destroyed everything in their sight.

It was extremely fortunate that the built-in emergency shutdown system worked, and put the
android soldiers into standby mode when Holbrook employed it. Without this shutdown, humanity
would've faced its final apocalypse. These androids would've moved from town to town like locusts,
annihilating all life. Since the androids were built to withstand extreme amounts of damage, it would've
been nearly impossible for Wastelanders to prevent the coming genocide. In a remarkable display of
shortsightedness and overconfidence, Holbrook and The Eldritch Foundation implemented only a onetime
shutdown system, as they had not expected to need one in the first place. Consequently, the android
soldiers cannot be stopped with it anymore. Were they to be activated now, they would keep on destroying
their targets until all life had been exterminated.

For the aforementioned reasons, these android soldiers should be considered only as a last resort, a final
countermeasure unleashed upon the enemy after everything has been lost. A doomsday weapon that will
exact revenge from behind the grave, utterly without mercy, until nothing is left alive. Personally, I wish
humanity will never have to face such a terrifying scenario. It goes without saying that this doomsday
weapon should never see daylight. Whoever you might be, I urge you to protect humanity from a total
annihilation by keeping these androids secured in this facility. For all time.

Respectfully,

Shaun Edward Williams
Director of The Institute
October 21st, 2269