Nursery Spillway

The Spillway is a location in the Nursery in 2253.

Layout
Entry to the Nursery is through a small cave in a mountainside. The cave meanders a short distance before it dead ends at a spillway for the river. Water under pressure flows from a manmade nozzle in the cave wall and arcs toward an opening in the cave floor. Water striking the wall is aerated and then falls into the hole below, much like a heavy rain. Within the hole is a fine grate that captures debris from the river. A set of stairs surrounding the hole leads down to yet another secure door.

The hole contains the filtration plant for the river. Debris captured by the grate is collected by crab-like scurry robots. The debris is then separated into organic and non-organic piles and taken to grinders where it is recycled. The water falls into a natural underground cavern where it is filtered through the water table. Finally, the water empties into yet another reservoir where it is pumped to the surface to replenish the river at its source. The filtration plant is powered by the geothermal power plant beneath the Nursery. However, in case of emergencies, the plant has a trio of hydro-electric generators for back up.

The filtration plant is overseen from a nearby control center. Here small contingents of robot wardens carefully watch the entire process. Most of these robots are simple maintenance droids capable of making the necessary decisions to keep the plant functional. However, the plant supervisor is a more sophisticated model capable of making command decisions independent of the main computer of the Nursery. He also has a small contingent of security robots armed with stun weapons at his disposal.

To gain entry to the Nursery the player must get by the locked security door in the spillway. This can be accomplished several ways (regardless of the method used, the door will be repaired within an hour of its use):


 * 1) Combat boy: Can bash the door open with the proper weaponry. (attacking the door will activate the security robots)
 * 2) Diplomacy boy: Can convince the robot supervisor in the filtration plant to open the door.
 * 3) Science boy: Can program the computer in the filtration plant to open the door.
 * 4) Stealth boy: Can hack the electronic portion of the lock to open the door or blow it open with explosives.

Once opened, the door reveals a long hallway that slopes upwards and rises through several switchbacks. This hallway is patrolled by more security robots; however, their weaponry is of the deadly variety. At the opposite end of the corridor is another secure door. It can be opened using the same methods as the previous door (regardless of the method used, these doors will be repaired within an hour of their use).

The robot workers in the filtration plant pose a small threat to the player. Anyone attempting to tamper with any equipment will be asked to stop. Failure to do so will result in the workers trying to gently remove the player. If combat ensues, the supervisor will order the workers to retreat and initiate a lockdown of the plant. The workers will then flee to recharges stations located throughout the area and seal themselves in. At this point the supervisor will try to deal with the player diplomatically. If this fails, he will call upon security robots to deal with the player.

The robot supervisor can be spoken to and possibly reasoned with. The following can be revealed to the player:


 * 1) An earthquake recently rocked this area.
 * 2) The master computer has not issued any directives since the earthquake.
 * 3) The filtration plant lost power and had to switch to the emergency system.
 * 4) The percentage of water loss throughout the closed system appears to be on the rise.
 * 5) The master computer recently granted a human female access to the Nursery. She has not been seen leaving.
 * 6) The only other person to have been granted access to the Nursery was a ghoul. However, that was several years ago. The ghoul has not been seen leaving either.

Finally, the cave that houses the spillway can be a small combat area. Wasteland animals could use the area as a lair because of the abundant water supply and organic matter that can be used as food.

Appearances
Nursery Spillway was to appear in Black Isle's cancelled Fallout 3.