Fallout 3 Walkthrough - The Replicated Man

You can get this quest in a few ways. The most likely way is for you to find or receive a special holotape from a doctor in the wasteland. You can also get it by going into Dr. Li's lab and talking to Dr. Zimmer.

The first goal is to figure out who exactly it is. Zimmer will want you to seek out some of the Replicated Man Holotapes if you haven't already. You can start with Dr. Preston, but just about every doctor in the wasteland will have one. They are also not preset, so when you find one it will always be the next in the series.

You need to find the 4th in a "tier" system to get a concrete idea of where to go. The sympathizers on the railroad, the slavers, and mechanics will also have some. The easiest course is going to the doctors though. You can look for more, but it's a little pointless.

You can also just cheat and listen to me. It doesn't matter whether you find him through an investigation or if you stumble into it.

Also, once the quest starts, you should be contacted by a woman named Victoria Watts. She'll give you an Android Component and ask you to tell Zimmer that he died. This is an absolutely awful course. Do not do this! You'll only get 50 caps and the location of the Temple of the Union as a reward.

If you track down the tapes, then you'll find out that Dr. Pinkerton is the one who performed the surgery. If you find him, then he should brag about it anyway. You can also just hack his terminal. Regardless, you need to get into the broken bow section of Rivet City. If you have 100 points in Lockpick, then you can pick the outside door at the end of the other pier.

click to enlarge

If not, then you'll have to jump into the water and swim into the area between the two halves. Look at the broken bow. Face it directly and look to the right side of the broken part. Swim down and through a square opening to find an access hatch into the ship. Furiously swim forward to get to a spot where you can pop up. Then shoot the mirelurks down here in the face. Go forward for a few more rooms to find the stairs. Watch out for the mines and traps, and then get to the end of the ship. Use the switch on the wall to open the door to Pinkerton's room. Just talk to him and he'll brag about the surgery and give you the password for the records. Go ahead and say that the android needs to know the truth. He'll give you the code to reset him.

Get the records and get ready to make your decision.

Alright. It seems like our old friend Harkness is the android. Here's the breakdown. You can get 2 rewards here. There's the "Wired Reflexes" perk for helping Dr. Zimmer. This gives a +10% chance to hit in VATS. You can also get AE-21's Plasma Rifle. It's an incredible gun that makes a lot of fights a whole lot easier.

click to enlarge

The paths are pretty simple too. Telling Dr. Zimmer about Harkness will give you the perk. He'll go out and reset Harkness and then capture him. If you tell AE-21/Harkness his real identity and use the code to convince him, then you have a few options. You can just tell him the secret's safe, which doesn't give you anything. You can ask what he'll do. He should say that he's going to kill Zimmer. You can ask for permission to do it for him. He'll give you the plasma rifle as a reward. You can also do a speech check to convince him to turn himself in or run away.

There are 2 optimal ways to do this and get both rewards. You can tell Harkness and get the AE-21 Plasma Rifle. Then rat him out to Dr. Zimmer. You then have the option to just let Dr. Zimmer take him away, or you can kill him before he makes it Harkness. If you get permission to kill him first, then you should be able to kill them. If you don't get it first, then Zimmer will be invincible on his way up to Harkness. Security won't care if you kill Zimmer, since Harkness is covering for you.