Should the player wander into this vault in Fallout 3, they’ll learn of the deceptive experiments that ultimately led to the vault residents’ end. It’s also where the Lone Wanderer can find the Soil Stradivarius violin for the quest “Agatha’s Song.”
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Vault 92’s Experiments on Subliminal Messaging
Vault 92 finished construction in 2068. It was built to house 245 people for a duration of 100 years. By the time the bombs fell in 2077, Vault-Tec already had a considerable lineup of individuals, ready to begin their new lives underground. However, what sets this group of people apart from residents from vaults is the fact that they’re all musicians. All of them had been chosen specifically so that they could preserve classical music from the time before the Great War in Fallout 3. To assist them in doing this, Vault-Tec provided their new home with musical instruments, sound equipment, and recording facilities.
That said, musical preservation wasn’t Vault-Tec’s only planned experiment for Vault 92 in Fallout 3. They also wanted to test the effectiveness of white noise as a means of subliminal messaging and suggestion. The residents were not aware of this and would be exposed to a low-frequency white noise anytime they entered a sound booth. Vault staff who knew about the white noise experiment even prevented the vault residents from getting personal audio listening equipment to ensure that they went to the sound booths to listen to music.
Professor Malleus, a vault scientist in Fallout 3, was pleased with the initial results of the testing. According to him, the white noise was able to put a number of the musicians in a “trance-like state,” during which the team could try their suggestion methods. The team managed to get affected vault residents to scratch their ear or fix their hair on cue, essentially proving that white noise was an effective method for suggestion.
Though these white noise experiments went on without the vault residents knowing, they still lived relatively normal lives. They performed well-known pieces together and recorded them using the vault’s built-in sound equipment. Friendships and romantic relationships flourished among the vault residents, as they were all passionate about music. All in all, Vault 92 appeared to be one of the tamer vaults in Fallout 3.
Of course, that’s only how things seemed in the beginning. While there weren’t any problems with food or power, the vault’s engineers would later find that the structure was built next to an underground lake. The moisture and water pressure were causing the vault’s outer walls to deteriorate as time passed. This, however, wasn’t the most pressing danger, as Vault-Tec had instructed Overseer Richard Rubin of Fallout 3 to conduct a far more dangerous experiment concerning white noise.
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Vault-Tec’s Plan WNMSCE
Plan WNMSCE stands for “White Noise Mind Suggestion Combat Experimentation.” This was effectively the next stage of the vault’s simple suggestion tests. Instead of getting the residents to scratch their ears or fix their hair, they’d be told to commit violent acts. Professor Malleus was wholly unaware of this secret project, so the overseer was probably only working with a small team of vault staff. Overseer Rubin had his team reroute the white noise broadcast equipment so that it played across the vault’s entire sound system. Thus, the inhabitants would be able to hear the white noise while they ate, slept, and played music.
The combat suggestion methods were a success. While in a trance, one of the vault residents went on a rampage, murdering three other people. It took more than 20 shots before this resident went down, too. According to Professor Malleus, this resident had had no history of violence or mental instability. He was also one of the subjects who were most receptive to suggestion, and this made the professor begin to worry. What he didn’t know was that the overseer saw this as a step forward and continued to test combat suggestion throughout the vault.
In a span of one month, Vault 92 suffered from 12 more incidents similar to the first. Professor Malleus described in grim detail that the affected resident would “rip their victims apart limb from limb and eviscerate them by hand.” At one point, more than half of the vault residents were exhibiting violent tendencies. Professor Malleus was still unaware of the secret white noise project and blamed the chaos on the initial experiments. He then reported to the overseer, saying that their experiment had been a mistake. Overseer Rubin, however, thought the exact opposite.
The overseer thought nothing of the recent deaths, believing that they were a sign Plan WNMSCE was moving forward. Moreover, he’d implanted a command phrase that would stop any deranged residents dead in their tracks — “Sanity is not statistical,” which is a quote from the dystopian world of 1984. However, he did not share this with anyone else but his team, leaving the rest of the sane residents to fend for themselves against their crazed fellow musicians.
Much later, when Vault 92 had fallen even further into ruin, Professor Malleus finally learned the truth of the situation. A dying security guard confessed everything about Plan WNMSCE, and the professor decided to confront Overseer Rubin and make him pay for what he’d done.
Vault 92 in Fallout 3
By the time the Lone Wanderer of Fallout 3 arrives in Vault 92, the place is in ruins. Some areas of the vault are partly submerged, likely because the outer walls had finally broken down. There are also no humans to be found in the facility, only hostile animals such as bloatflies and mirelurks.
However, the Fallout 3 player can find a note labeled “Feedback loops,” which details how interfering with the white noise broadcast can temporarily stun the “crazies.” The author of the note also says that they need to head for the vault door, suggesting that some of the original inhabitants had tried to escape from Vault 92.
Though the fate of Vault 92 and many of its residents is a grim one, the Fallout 3 player can still find some consolation in completing “Agatha’s Song” — one of the most memorable side quests in Fallout 3. By acquiring the unique violin from the facility and returning it to the elderly musician, she’ll be able to broadcast her music across the Capital Wasteland. In a way, it accomplishes the vault’s more noble goal of preserving the music of the past. Plus, it’s probably what the musicians of Vault 92 would have wanted.
Fallout 3 is available now on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
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