[Last Hope] 10 – Graduating

As it turns out when one's brain rivals that of a computer in terms of information and data processing and comprehension, learning becomes nearly irrelevant, limited by only one's own mind. The brain was already essentially a bio-computer; the only difference was that my brain was made more...efficient. I still had emotions; it was easy to overshadow them with logic if needed. 

So when the day came when my class took their final exams, I was not nervous in the slightest. Instead, I completed my exam and applications for each branch within an hour. Earning a notable look of surprise from my teacher when she found that I had passed all of my tests with a score of 100% or A+.

I knew that if I hadn't before, I would now have the eyes of all the Directors and even Shaun's on me due to my 'talent.' It would be enticing, and I had no doubt that they'd all try to do whatever they could to recruit me into their Divisions just for my potential alone. However, that's if they could contain or ignore their bigotry about my mutation, but I doubt it would be enough to entice them to recruit me past an internship.

Shaking my head at man's folly, I stepped into the Facilities Workshop. Old man Ben and Aliie were already back from one of their trips, covered in grease, oil, and grime, having completed their daily morning maintenance.

"Hey," I greeted the two distracted grease monkeys, catching them by surprise.

"Sarah? What are you doing out so early?" Old Man Ben asked, surprised to see me.

"I finished early. The test was too easy," I shrugged, walking closer.

"You passed?" Allie asked, curious.

"Of course she did," Ben laughed at Allie's question, making Allie annoyed if her glare at her father was anything to go by.

Letting out a small smile, I leaned against my workbench as the father and daughter duo looked at one another before Ben looked back at me.

"What Division do you expect to join?" Ben suddenly asked, clearly pleading for me to join Facilities.

"All of them," I stated nonchalantly, making the Father and Daughter duo freeze in shock.

"What?!" They simultaneously shouted, making me laugh.

"I want to join them all. If I limit myself to only one, I'll stagnate. I have talents in each field. Why not use them?" I asked, gesturing to the computer and the AI they very well knew was on it.

"That's not how it works," Ben answered with a tired sigh.

"I don't care if that's not how it works; if I am to employ my talents to their full potential, I cannot limit myself to just one of the Divisions," I tried explaining, only to be interrupted, "We heard, it's just that it's not how this works, you get an offer from one or all of the Divisions, and you can only join one of them," Allie tried explaining in her father's stead.

I just huffed in annoyance before coming up with an idea, "What if I were to get each Division's Directors approval? Or better yet, approval of the Head Director?"

While I knew trying to get Shaun to sign off on it would be a long shot, I was willing to bet I could convince the division directors so long as I had enough time to show them my talents and convince them to try to keep me.

If each Division Director wanted me, they'd have to compromise; if one wanted me, they'd all have to have me.

The question was, what could I show that would tempt the Directors in wanting to 'hire' me? I knew I already had Ben's vote, which meant I just needed the votes of the Directors of Advanced Systems, BioScience, and Synth Retention.

Advanced Systems would probably be the easiest, as they were also the division in charge of the Robotics Lab and the creation of synths. All I needed to do was show them my skills with Computers or AI. BioScience would be a bit trickier; perhaps I could show them what little skill I had in genetics. Synth Retention would be even harder...perhaps I could offer an improvement to the Courser Programming?

Coursers were specialized 3rd Gen Synths that were designed to fight for the Insitute. Their main purpose was to track down key targets or escaped synths of the Institute, and due to their inhuman strength, reflexes, and agility, they could take on Super Mutants and win. In the events of Fallout 4, a single courser could take down a tower filled with Gunners heavily armed and defended with no damage received in the process. The Player would come across the carnage in search of said Courser, killing it at the end for its Courser chip that granted it access to the Institute's Molecular Relay, its teleporter.

Luckily, I recently leveled up again and had 15 skill points sitting in the bank, ready to be put wherever I wished. Throwing them into Biology raised it to 30 from 15. I took a moment to absorb the information as my head pounded under my skull. When my brain no longer felt like it was melting, I examined the information I had absorbed and found myself annoyed. The information was mostly random, ranging from different forms and types of diseases to stuff like fungal infections, and even went as far as to teach me about the different species of trees and more.

I shook my head and looked at Ben. "I need your help. If you were to bring up the subject with the other Directors, you could help me set up some kind of Internship with each of the Divisions where I can show off my talents and convince them myself."

"I can try," Ben spoke after a few moments of silence.

"That's all I ask. Even if it doesn't work out and I can only choose one, I promise to give you guys a helping hand when I can," I promised after thanking Ben.

I've come to see the Father-Daughter duo as close friends, so even If I could only choose one Divison, that being between Advanced Systems or Synth Retention preferably, I'd always come and help them out in the morning or late nights, it's sort of become my daily ritual as helping them was apart of my daily quests. Even if my daily quests were to change, I'd likely still help them, as it was a great workout.

Much to my surprise, Ben didn't waste time as he headed right for Advanced Systems, his jumpsuit still covered in grease and grime. He beckoned Allie and me to follow, and we did. My guess was that he wanted Allie to see what it was like to talk with other Divison Directors, as he was technically one himself, and Allie would take on the role herself in the future when he could no longer work himself.

As we walked downstairs and through the clinic, he led us to the entrance to Advanced Systems, where I could see Synths and Scientists continuously leaving and entering. Stepping through, we were met with a surprisingly advanced section of the concourse: ranges where scientists and synths tested weapons, armor, materials, and more, labs where they performed experiments and calculations, and so much more.

He led us to a small office, where a woman in her sixties wearing a blue jumpsuit could be seen working on a terminal.

Stepping inside the office, Ben greeted the woman, "Charlotte, is this a busy time?" 

"Ben? Allie? And whose this?" The woman looked up from her terminal, her eyes immediately finding Ben and Allie before settling on me.

"This here is Sarah, Sarah Walker," Ben introduced me.

"Ah, the newly risen genius, why did you bring her here, Ben?" She commented, recognizing me before looking over to Ben and asking him a question.

Ben gestured towards me. I stepped forward, "I wanted to ask for a part-time internship with Advanced Systems."

"An internship? Why did you need Ben's help when you knew we'd easily accept you?" She asked, obviously not hearing the 'part-time' part of my statement.

"A part-time Internship. I want to spend a few days working with your division and the rest of the week working with BioScience and Synth Retention," I explained to myself, clearly catching her off guard.

"You want to intern with all of the Divisions?" She asked, baffled.