Borous

Doctor Borous is a chief scientist living in Big MT in 2281.

Background
Before the War, Borous was a child prodigy who had been bullied at American High School by his nemesis, Richie Marcus. He also had an unrequited crush on another student, Betsy Bright, at the time. His only friend was his dog, Gabe.

It is unknown if he was inherently twisted or if he became malicious as a result of his experiences. What is known is that once he became a part of Big MT's staff as head of the X-8 cyberdog project, he began cruelly experimenting on Gabe, feeding him various drugs. Other animals also fell prey to his vicious nature, but only Gabe remained faithful and loyal, answering malice and cruelty with love and attachment. Sometime before the War, Gabe was eventually transformed into a unique model of cyberdog. However, due to errors in programming, he was sealed in an unfinished section of X-8's test areas, as a "precaution."

As head of DNA scrambling technologies, he created many odd and frightening hybrids. Among these are the night stalker, a coyote-rattlesnake mix, and the cazador, a large mutant wasp. Borous is proudly adamant that such creation exist only at Big MT and are completely sterile; both claims are obviously fabricated.

After the War, together with the rest of the Big MT "Think Tank" executives, the doctor became a think tank to continue his work at Big MT. However, when he started to show symptoms of the insanity that began to consume his comrades, Doctor Mobius, the sole sane researcher, wiped his pre-War memories, hacked his data banks and gave him the name "Borous", all to keep him and his colleagues forever trapped in the Big MT, in order to keep the horrors of the crater away and unaware of the unsuspecting world outside. <!--

Is this Gabe's bowl? Your dog from X-8, Gabe? -WHAT? Why... yes, it is. I used to leave it outside his dog house, chock-full of chems. Before the cybernetic modifications, of course.- -And... no matter how chemmed the food, he would always eat it. And his tail, would wag... even...even while I... I...- -You know, I am having the most perplexing feeling squiggling through my biogel. I can't quite... pin it down.-

Sounds like Gabe really loved you. [SUCCEEDED] -Why... yes. Gabe.- -No matter how awful my day had been, he... he was always waiting there. How odd. My gel is de-coagulating.- -And when I would talk to him about Betsy - and how Marcus would beat on me and call me Smarty Sissy Pants, he'd just sit there, head on my knee.- -And...- - -...- -If you don't mind, I'll take that bowl. Just... need to remove it. Put it away. Somewhere out of radar range.- -For some reason, its similarity to the Crater-shape of Big MT is starting to fill up all available cognitive spaces.- -That, combined with my own overwhelming feeling of having done something terrible... the two are hitting me with... unexpected force.-

It sounds to me like you hurt someone who loved you very much. -As odd as it is, I believe that is the conclusion. And... I wonder why it didn't hit me before, until I saw that memory in your hands.- -This sensation is unpleasant, I don't care for it. I don't care for this place, either. And... I feel... as if we've forgotten something.- -Still... it... is NO MATTER. Crush the feeling down. Crush it down, push it into the loop, the... hmmm. YES. Forgotten. Almost. Yes?- -I do not need to remember ANY MORE. Not today.-

Um... maybe it's like a memory or something? [FAILED] -Oh, well it is of NO CONSEQUENCE. Gabe gave himself for Science! As we all have!-

I want to know more about Mobius and the Forbidden Zone. -The malignant tumor that is Mobius plagues us ALL. His hunger for power, INSATIABLE.- -From his LAIR in the FORBIDDEN ZONE, his terrifying ROBO-SCORPION army clicks and whirs across the crater of Big MT. EVER-seeking. EVER-stinging. -He must be STOPPED. Or all of Big MT... shall be DESTROYED.-

You don't seem to have a grasp on your own research. -NONSENSE! That is what you speak. NONSENSE from beyond!- -I was at the top of my High School class in American High School. I knew facts. I knew FIGURES. I knew DATA.- -We would know if our research was flawed. It is NOT! We never contradict ourselves, so do not even TRY!-

I'll head out, then, and be back with these... things. -NO! That would put it too CLOSE to us! It could press BUTTONS, turn lights ON and OFF, and worse, let OTHER Lobotomites in!-

I had other questions. -Submit your questions! I shall respond - with deadly ANSWERS.-

Death -Borous FALLS! The audience GASPS in TERROR!-

Hello -The Lobotomite! Has it come for HELLOS? You'll get no such satisfaction from ME.-

Hello -Have you come for HELLO? Oh, I'll give you a HELLO. A HELLO unsurpassed in all creation!-

Hello -The ONE who SAVED us! To you, I bestow a hello. Hello.-

Does this dog bowl look familiar? -WHAT? Oh... something familiar about it, yes. Is it... a Cazador skull? Always were bowl-shaped. Or were those the Bowlians we made?- -I confess, I am stumped. If you were to draw some other connection between that bowl and a research facility in Big MT, I may be of more help.-

What are these technologies? -The psycho-analytic cardiac-dampening sneaky stealth suit, a suit like NOTHING this world has ever heard, seen, or could EVER see!-

Blindly operate on any poor animals recently? -Why, YES. Although the term is RESEARCH. Thank you.- -Look at THESE. They seem to be found inside some of the specimens here at Big MT.-

Helped any animals discover their genetic potential recently? -INDEED. After the memory you accessed about Gabe, I've been looking for ways to help nurture life.- -Look at THESE. Aren't they quite look-worthy? All dripping with the residue of creation. Wondrous.-

I can't let you dissect the Mojave. Or let you leave. -I, for one, cannot bear to let this continue.- -I don't see what is to be gained by throwing another body into our labs... especially one that has done us a service, gone where we feared to go.- -This Lobotomite doesn't deserve our knives. It deserves our respect. We should care for it. Feed it. Nurture it - give it the life Gabe never had.-

I can't let you dissect the Mojave. Or let you leave. -If I may, I feel as if I must be the voice of reason here.- -This Lobotomite is much like us, regarding even animals and pets as nothing more than avenues to promote Science! There is good here.- -Instead of ending its life on the table, we should prolong its suffering, in the name of Science. Like good old Gabe, the FINEST of lab specimens.-

Give me a single, concrete fact. One. Fact. -Why are we even DEBATING this?- -What YOU ask is of NULL importance! MOBIUS besieges us, there are more important things to worry about than DATA and FACTS!-

Uh... thanks. -Force fields prevent us from moving! FORward or BACKward!-

If you have the gun already, I don't understand what you need. -And it is LOST in X-8! Just as X-8 is forever lost to us! The sadness of my high-school days! The sadness of my YOUTH, MY youth! LOST!-

This can only work on fields here in the crater? -It is LOST! All questions lead to this conclusion! The blue fields within Big MT shall be fielded with force... FOREVER.-

Pylons? What pylons? -The mighty radar fence protects us ALL! Get too close to the blinking posts, and the proximity warning shall be your... WARNING you are too close!-

The faster I can get through this, the better. -So many sciences and developments! Pass them by! Let impatience and the desire to simply finish, to end it all, quickly and carelessly guide you!-

What if I take my time, explore the crater? -There are things here no Lobotomite was MEANT to see, things that would ASTOUND! And possibly terrify. TERRIFY!-

Animal? Did you just call me an animal? -Yes, animal. Hormones, pores, GLANDS, all wrapped up in SKIN. Who knows what terrifying secrets lie beneath your EPIDERMIS?- -Scalpels shall tell us your secrets, even if we must cut DEEP for such knowledge. I was head of my Biology class at American High, you know.-

Do you always get this dramatic? -DRAMA? There is no DRAMA in Science! As I learned in High School, Science! is an intellectual pursuit DEVOID of bestial emotions.- -Unless, of course, you are a Communist. Like Betsy Bright, who "sat" "next" to me in math. And her smoking confederate, Richie Marcus.-

Do you always get this dramatic? -As I learned in my High School, American High, AHS, "Drama" is for movies, things of FICTION. Here, in the Think Tank, the ONLY star is... SCIENCE!-

Calm down. I just had some questions. -Just as I feared! Questions, quizzes, just as there were in American High School! And if there are NO answers, how will the Think Tank graduate?-

Well, it seems to me it belongs to a friend of yours. -{DUPE: Slowly, taking it in}Why... yes. Gabe.-

-I notice these results more and more now that I know to look for them. Come back anytime, and I'll show you what ELSE I've discovered.-

It's nothing to be ashamed of. Gabe knew his place - as a specimen. -Thank you. If you don't mind, I need a moment. To collect myself. Sort it out. Re-orient my... sense of self.-

Hope you think on what you've done. -I can't seem to... not think about it. How odd.-

Hope you think on what you've done. -But you're correct, of course. Gabe knew his place. Whether in the dog house - or in the lab. He was obedient.- -And, what's a little loss when... so much is to be GAINED? Science. Yes. Science is our goal. Not emotional attachments. No!-

How much surgery did you do on me? I feel like a badly-put-together jigsaw puzzle. -First, was the HEART!- -Wait, I mean... SECOND was the heart. Brain was first. THIRD... was the SPINE.-

You removed my brain? -Once the brain was out, then came the COILS. The TESLA coils... the coils of NIKOLA Tesla.-	NVDLC03Dia_NVDLC03Dialogue_00011320_1 Topic	NVDLC03DialogueKleinNVDLC03DoctorDalaLVLTopic015	You removed my brain? -The TESLA COILS! In its HEAD!-	NVDLC03Dia_NVDLC03Dialogue_00011323_1 Topic	NVDLC03DialogueKleinNVDLC03DoctorDalaLVLTopic015	You removed my brain? -{To himself, reminding him of days he got beat up}Reminds me of my days in American High. {Grumbling}And Richie Marcus.-

You took out my brain, heart, and spine? -If so, it was FLUSHED all the way to MOBIUS! Fwooooooosh! {Beat, matter-of-fact}That... is the sound of FLUSHING.-

-Attention students. This is the pre-recorded voice of your pre-recorded principal. Doctor Principal BOROUS!- -You may know me as the Head Chief First Researcher of Labs Z-9 and Z-14.- -There I fought valiantly to preserve rattlesnake DNA, and put it right where it belongs, in the husk of another feared predator.- -Oh, and the tarantula hawk. Can't splice enough, I always say, especially if you can make a magnificent Cazador!- -Enough about ME. It has come to my attention that many of you SEEMINGLY innocent children have been subverted by Red Propaganda.- -This is a MOST serious matter requiring the MOST serious of detentions.- -Can you spell detention? I'll tell you how I spell it: DEATHtention. Commie-pinko-traitors, ALL.- -Now, I will send vicious cybernetic cyborg dogs through the corridors to weed all you traitors out.- -They will sniff out which among you have chosen the commie path.- -Especially YOU, Betsy Bright, who turned me down for the high school dance so you could smoke with RICHIE MARCUS.- -Hall Monitors will also be vigilant. Step outside during class, and they'll make sure you make a speedy jump back to your desk.- -Hold your urine and wait for the PROPER bathroom breaktime.-

-You are in the LIBRARY. Be quiet here and filled with SHHHHH.-

-Oh my, you got to the Residential Test! This is really Borous, by the way, hello again. None of us thought you would get this far.

-The Residential Test. Wasn't that shut down for some reason?- -Ohhhhh yes, my PET, Gabe. I'd forgotten about the old boy and the COUNTLESS experiments I'd done on him back at Higgs.- -Gaaabe? Gabe, you're about to have your FAVORITE treat - a VISITOR. Won't that be nice? DON'T eat the visitor, boy. Don't. Please.- -Gabe would bark and snarl and bite whenever ANYONE came to visit.- -That's why I replaced his legs with spare parts and fed him a steady diet of Psycho-laced dog chow.- -Gaaabe! I am sorry I put your brain in a bowl, boy. Oohhh, who's a good boy. YOU are!-

-Today the cafeteria will be serving... nothing, because I didn't build one.- -No cafeteria. No bathrooms. No swirlies. No chocolate pudding left in the chairs of brilliant minds. What are you going to do now RICHIE MARCUS?-

-School is a sacred trust. Even though I am a long-ago graduate of this hated facility...- -...now I see its worth, and see it was corrupted by fraternities, and... GIRLS. Yuck!-

-Now... let the intruder have the Sonic Emitter schematics. Klein wants it, all right, boy? Let the intruder dig it up wherever you buried it.-

-Gabe, down! Down, boy! Stop it!-

Borous: "-Gabe! NO! His Cyberdog atomic core - it's ACTIVE! That means an exceedingly IMPRECISE countdown to critical failure in...- 0: "*Ten? Borous... why the hell did you install an atomic core?! It'll blow when we reach "one," right?* Dala: "Nine, all will be fine. 8: "@@[$((*#8#%]@@. Klein: "SEVEN. YES, SEVEN. Borous: "-SIX! Halfway to destruction, measured in clicks!- 0: "*Five by five... someone's coming in live...* Mobius: "Four as in 4-BIDDEN! Do you hear me Think Tank? It is I, Mobius, hacking your frequencosity. 0: "*Mobius?! Uh, three as in we, as in we are in trouble. That didn't rhyme.*|{2D} }} Klein: "TWO AS IN TOO LATE. Mobius: ''"And one... as in MOBIUS has won!undefinedI hope it's blowing up right now in your faces.

-I am lord of this institution. Where once, long ago, I was a student here. Now, I am its OMNIPOTENT GOD-PRINCIPAL.- -As I soon will be LORD of Big MT. DOO DE DOO. Do you hear that? It is my trumpet of victoryness!- -Please place all filthy propaganda books in the incinerator chute in the Sink, especially those with funny pictures of me in them.-

-Down at the end of the hall is BALL storage. For jocks who like BALLS, like RICHIE MARCUS. Do you hear me, Betsy? RICHIE likes BALLS.-

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Quests

 * Old World Blues: If Klein can't be convinced otherwise, Borous, along with 2 other members of the Think Tank, are needed to convince Klein to give up trying to escape the Big MT.
 * Picking Your Brains: After completing Welcome to the Big Empty, the player needs to talk to Borous and the rest of the think tanks to complete this quest.
 * Welcome to the Big Empty: The player has to talk to Borous as with the rest of the Think Tank.
 * A Brain's Best Friend: After Gabe's bowl is returned to him, he feels an overwhelming sense of remorse and regret towards how he treated his dog, as Gabe was a loyal companion. This feeling is quickly repressed however and Borous' personality remains unchanged on the surface.

Effects of player actions
If the player has shown Borous Gabe's bowl before completing Old World Blues, and the player doesn't have a 100 in science or 85 in medicine to convince Dr. Klein, Borous will side with the player in convincing Klein to back down.

Other interactions
Once a day, the player can ask Borous what animals he's experimented on today and he'll give the player some of their parts, 3 cazador poison glands and three jars of nightstalker blood.

Appearances
Borous appears only in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Old World Blues.

Behind the scenes

 * The name Borous is a reference to the name of the ancient symbol Ouroboros. The misspelling of "Boros" was an error on Mobius' part.
 * Doctor Borous' speech often parodies that of a stereotypical 1950's science-fiction movie narrator.