The Replicated Man

 is a Fallout 3 quest. It is also an Xbox 360 and PC achievement as well as a PS3 trophy.

Starting the Quest
The quest is given to you by Dr. Zimmer in Rivet City, who asks you to track down an android that has escaped. The android has gone sentient and independent and does not wish to return.

This quest can also be started by finding a holotape recording in one of the following locations: Red's Clinic in Big Town, Eulogy's Pad in Paradise Falls, Saint Monica's Church in Rivet City, Sister's room in Rivet City, Craterside Supply in Megaton, Nathan and Manya's House's house in Megaton, Underworld Outfitters in Underworld, The Chop Shop in Underworld, Tenpenny Tower's Clinic, and the Megaton Clinic in Megaton (Wanted: Trustworthy Surgeon). Alternatively, with the 'Child at heart' perk you can receive one of the holotapes from a random member of Little Lamplight. After finding a holotape, the quest will update, telling you to find Pinkerton. After this point no more holotapes will be available
 * According to the official strategy guide, there is supposed to be a holotape next to Scribe Bowditch's terminal in the Citadel, but it may not be there.

Snooping Around
At any time during this quest, you may be approached by a woman named Victoria Watts of The Railroad, an organization dedicated to helping androids gain their independence (Herbert Dashwood and Manya are also members of the railroad). She asks you to tell Dr. Zimmer that the android is dead, and gives you a piece of his body to support your claim. You can also find Watts by breaking into Dr. Zimmer's room in Rivet City. Be aware that Victoria will actually follow you after you begin asking questions about the android, and can be killed in the wastes while tracking you. After receiving the Android Component, the player can simply end the quest by giving it to Zimmer, however the reward for taking this path is pitiful compared to the other 2 rewards, gun and perk; both good.

To start tracking down the android, Dr. Zimmer requests that the player talk to Dr. Preston in Rivet City. Preston hands the player one of the android's recordings and tells them that similar tapes were sent to almost every scientist in the Wastelands. The player can also get one from Seagrave Holmes in Rivet City's Marketplace. With a high enough Science skill (50%), a dialogue option will convince Seagrave to tell the player that Pinkerton did the surgery. This will update the quest, but he will not provide the holotape. As mentioned above, four total holotapes are needed to advance the quest. Additionally, instead of receiving holotapes from clinics, the player can go back to Megaton and speak with Moira at Craterside Supply. A speech challenge will appear concerning the android, which if successful will also advance the quest. Similar situations exist for either the doctor from Megaton or the one in Tenpenny Tower, using Medicine or Speech as the dialogue check. Any one of these successes will point the player toward Rivet City.

Looking for the Doctor
At this point, the player must locate Pinkerton in the Broken Bow near Rivet City. Various citizens in Rivet City will also point the player toward this area.

Since he's rather hard to get to, players that are yet to finish one of the final goals for The Wasteland Survival Guide, specifically the one that requires the player to find out the History of Rivet City, may want to use this opportunity also speak to Pinkerton about Rivet City's History.

There are two ways to enter the bow section, either by picking a locked door (100 Lockpick skill required) on the starboard side or by entering an underwater door where the bow section has broken off. The latter requires the player to swim a moderate distance through radiated water. Several traps, mines and Mirelurk Hunters protect this section of the broken ship.

When the player finally speaks with Pinkerton, he will reveal that the android's name is Harkness and that he personally performed the facial reconstructive surgery and memory wipe. He will also reveal that Harkness's mind was not actually wiped, but rather his old identity was been buried deep and that it can be reactivated by means of a certain code word. Harkness is now employed as the security chief in Rivet City, and was actually the person who greeted the player upon arrival in Rivet City.

The Decision
There are now several possible courses of action which will complete the quest:
 * Speak to Harkness and convince him that he's an android. The player will receive Harkness's A3-21's Plasma Rifle and +200 karma as a reward. Harkness will then enter the Science Lab and kill Zimmer and the android bodyguard. He may also simply order them to leave by making up several false charges if you convince him to. If don't push Harkness into doing anything about Zimmer, and instead offer to keep his secret safe you can still go and show Zimmer the android part and still get get the 50 caps and the extra good Karma.
 * Show Dr. Zimmer the android part received from the railroad agent, and inform him that the android is dead. The reward for this is 50 caps and good karma. (Though this can be done as soon as you receive the component)
 * Tell Dr. Zimmer the android's human name and reveal the code to uncover the buried memories. The player is rewarded with the Wired Reflexes perk and -200 karma. Dr. Zimmer will then walk to Harkness's location and claim the android as his property.  Harkness will initially resist until Dr. Zimmer uses an override code to reset Harkness to factory defaults.  Dr. Zimmer and Armitage will then leave Rivet City with Harkness in tow.

Recieving Both Rewards:
 * First talk to Harkness using the override code (this will give you good Karma), ask him what he will do, then ask him to allow you to kill Zimmer, he then gives you his trusted rifle (A3-21's Plasma Rifle) and will approve an attack on Zimmer and his bodyguard, but no one else, within the confines of Rivet City. Now talk to Zimmer, tell him the android is Harkness, (this will give you bad Karma but balance out the previous Good Karma) and recieve the Wired Reflexes Perk. End the conversation and attack them. They will now die. Report back to Harkness who will acknowledge Zimmer's end by your hands. However, if you wait for Zimmer to wipe Harkness' memory before killing him, Harkness will stand wherever he was when his memory was wiped, only repeating his 'A3-21 waiting for input' phrase over and over.


 * If you have a high speech skill you can persuade Harkness to go with Dr. Zimmer and receive both A3-21's Plasma Rifle and the Wired Reflexes perk from Harkness and Dr. Zimmer respectively. Harkness will be reset to A3-21 by Zimmer when he finds him, even though Harkness is willing to go.


 * NOTE: If you don't ask Harkness what he will do and then ask him to let YOU kill Dr. Zimmer he will give you the Plasma Rifle but Zimmer will remain Quest essential, Harkness will go to take care of Zimmer. At this point, you can tell Zimmer that he's dead or tell him Harkness is the android. You will be unable to get the Wired Reflexes at this point.

Trivia

 * This quest pays tribute to at least three prominent science fiction works. The quest's name is a reference to the Ray Bradbury book The Illustrated Man, while the android's plotline -- a synthetic human seeking to integrate seamlessly with human society -- is reminiscent of Asimov's The Bicentennial Man. The Lone Wanderer's role here -- potentially capturing and returning a wayward synthetic human to its masters -- reminds an astute player of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, a darker story far more widely known as the basis for the film Blade Runner. Blade Runner's synthetic humans were called "replicants."


 * Harkness is also a reference to 2005's Doctor Who's Captain Jack Harkness (the physical ressemblance is also noticeable).


 * Zimmer's bodyguard is named Armitage, which is probably a reference to the Wintermute-controlled mercenary from William Gibson's 1984 novel Neuromancer. Gibson's work is considered the archetypal cyberpunk novel, and is also the antecedent for the idea of "wired reflexes." Prior games (such as the early 1990s tabletop RPG Shadowrun and its computer-game spinoffs) have also referenced Gibson's cyberpunk world with borrowed concepts and character names. It could also be a reference to the Anime series Armitage III, about an advanced "type 3" android who is almost indistinguishable from a real human.


 * Zimmer does look like Tyrell, creator of the replicants, in Blade Runner who himself was supposed to be a replicant (at least in a deleted scene this is confirmed).


 * Zimmer's body can also be looted for an Android Component even if you did not give him the component Victoria Watts gave you, suggesting he himself is an android further proving the relativity between this quest and Blade Runner.