M. Burrow

Dr. M. Burrow was a member of the secret scientific team of Vault 81.

Background

Burrow was a young man compared to others on Vault 81's science team. During the regular drills held by the team before the Great War, he was noted by Kenneth Collins to act quite deferential towards Rebecca, another person on the team.^[1] Vault 81's first overseer O. Olivette considered him to be an overachiever who would come early to see if drills were scheduled. This was what saved his life when the Great War occurred, as Olivette, who disagreed with the ethics of Vault 81's experiment, disabled the phone messages that the researchers were supposed to receive to prevent them from arriving on time. As a result, Burrow became one of the three only researchers to enter the vault, alongside Collins and Jim Flint, who lived nearby in the Fens and arrived with the general populace.^[2][3]

This made Burrow the youngest member of the team (so much so that Collins called him a "kid").^[3] The three kept busy with their duties despite the isolation. Partway into Phase I, Burrow reported a food extruder failure in the regular Vault wing to Olivette, who sent technicians to fix it.^[4]

To cope with their isolation, Collins programmed a personality for the team's Miss Nanny assistant, naming her Curie. Burrow had great respect for Curie, which Collins felt was similar to his deference towards Rebecca. He would frequently help her with menial tasks such as carrying lab equipment even though Curie was able to do so on her own. Curie did not understand this at the time.^[1][5] The situation still took its toll, and Curie recorded at least one instance where Burrow was overwhelmed by reality and refused to leave his room.^[6]

Curie's assistance allowed the team to make quick progress and reach Phase II, especially given the team's restlessness (having nothing else to do). During this time, Burrow briefly got sick after eating food intended for the mole rat test subjects.^[7] Olivette feared that the researchers would begin human testing soon, and that they suspected she was trying to sabotage them.^[8] She made the decision to sabotage the delivery nozzles in the main Vault wing to prevent the researchers from being able to spread diseases in the populace.^[9] However, Burrow, ever the overachiever, discovered the nozzles were broken while attempting to test them during Phase II. He quickly reported the issue to Olivette, who was shaken by how quickly it was discovered.^[10] Not intending to give them a chance, Olivette cut off communications with the researchers.^[9] Though Collins tried to persuade her to reconsider, saying that he could keep up Burrow's hopes but Flint was already suspicious, his words went unanswered.^[11]

Although Olivette's actions ended any chance of carrying out the experimental program, the researchers still continued their work on the universal medicine. As time passed and Collins and Flint grew old, Burrow began to spend more and more of his time helping out his colleagues rather than actually performing research.^[12] After both of their deaths, first Flint and then Collins, Burrow continued their work with Curie's assistance, well into his old age. Before his death, he asked Curie to continue working alone so that their deaths would not be in vain. Burrow eventually died in his bed from natural causes. Per his request, Curie cremated his remains and placed them next to his colleagues.^[13][14]

Notes

Burrow's remains can be found in the form of a vase in a locker (Editor ID Vault81_GraveLocker_Urn, Form ID 00205A5F) used as a makeshift coffin, laid in the hallway outside the lab where Curie is found. This coffin is next to those of his colleagues. The locker has a pair of eyeglasses on top, in addition to the Vault-Tec lab coat also seen on the others.

Appearances

M. Burrow is mentioned only in Fallout 4.

References