The Moon Comes Over the Tower

The Moon Comes Over the Tower is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Synopsis
Emily Ortal, a computer specialist with the Followers of the Apocalypse, wants to gain access to Mr. House's data network in the Lucky 38 and figure out what technology he uses to stay alive. She can't gain entry into the Lucky 38, but who better to ask than the Courier, the only known living person to have stepped foot inside the Lucky 38?

Walkthrough

 * 1) Bug an access point to the Lucky 38's data network for the Followers of the Apocalypse.
 * 2) Return to Emily Ortal on the New Vegas strip with news that the tower has been bugged.

Behind the scenes

 * The title of the quest is a cultural reference to the song "When the Moon Comes over the Mountain" published in 1931 and written by Howard Johnson, Harry M. Woods, and Kate Smith.
 * Originally the quest 'The Moon Comes Over the Tower' was vastly longer and would presumably supply the player with the information needed to solve the above problem. There were originally three further quest stages; two are deleted but their quest markers exist (one simply links to the terminal, the other to a waypoint in the casino ceiling). A further unused stage still exists, in which the player must "Disable the Lucky 38's network encryption from three executive consoles.". On accessing the terminal in the Lucky 38, a message would presumably alert the player the terminal could not be accessed. The player would then have to go to the House Tools Office, New Vegas Steel and Camp Golf to find computer consoles that would allow the Lucky 38 to finally be bugged. It's likely at this point that the data would reveal how to get into the secret room, and presumably reveal the existence and use of the VIP keycards, which are located nearby. In the final game the items are still there, but are not checked by the secret room terminal - only the platinum chip is.
 * There is no extra dialogue from Emily on the subjects above, but she does allude to possible problems with "network encryption". In the final game there are two versions of what was left; originally the player must have had a science skill of 50 as WELL as the bug to complete the objective. What was eventually used was a guaranteed win with no science check at all, making the quest pretty much redundant as it doesn't even have any meaningful outcome.
 * There are also a couple of unused markerheadings for this quest placed in seemingly random parts of the Lucky 38 casino. Possibly they were destination markers for stuff on other floors (i.e. the terminal in Mr House's room) before someone else fixed it up and just used conditional markers for the actual doors etc.
 * Emily Ortal also has lots of extra intended functionality that is never used. She was supposed to a) go into a "sandbox" mode and sleep in Vault 21 if the player turned down her request to bug the Lucky 38, and b) return to the Mormon Fort once her quest is complete. Once 'The Moon Comes Over the Tower' was finished she has a new greet line that lets you once again talk to her about her run in with Benny and her life with the Followers. This only kicks in once she is in the Mormon Fort Worldspace - as She merely stands around the Lucky 38 once the quest is finished, she can never say this line. She's also disabled for good once Mr House is dead as a way of cleaning up her quest if it was not started, which would also wrongly disable her if the quest was completed so the above could never occur. There's a marker named after her in the Mormon Fort where she'd presumably walk to, and there's also an odd patrol route in the Strip that leads to this marker at its end. It's strange as the patrol route starts outside the Strip station, somewhere she never normally goes.
 * During production, The Moon Comes Over The Tower was passed to several designers over the course of the Fallout: New Vegas' design, however, the quest never received focus attention from anyone which is why it feels unfinished in-game.

Bugs

 * After completing the quest Emily will remain outside the casino and you can talk to her to learn about the first attempt on hacking Mr. House's network. A 35 speech level dialogue option eventually becomes available that will remain in the dialogue list even after granting the player the reward for selecting (experience, completion of speech towards challenges). This allows the player to get credit for completing speech challenges (the experience points for completing the speech option is only given once however). Note that ending the conversation will block any further communication (and thus exploitation) although Emily will remain in front of the Lucky 38.
 * Once you have bugged the terminal and you exit the Lucky 38, Emily Ortal may not be outside.
 * This quest can be given twice, but the second time the quest is given the player will not be able to access the terminal behind the bar in the VIP lounge. Therefore, the player cannot continue the quest.
 * Even if you have installed Yes Man on Mr House's computer system, Emily will still tell you Mr. House disabled the bug 30 seconds after installing it.
 * After bugging the computer, Emily may enter the Lucky 38 casino to ask the player if they have completed their task.