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There are so many missions to do in Starfield you’ll never run out of things to do. Not all missions are found through obvious paths, however. Sometimes, you’ll pick up worthwhile Activities simply by walking past certain NPCs and hearing a random conversation. These Activities can lead to other questlines and interesting events that you won’t want to miss out on, such as meeting this scientist by a tree in New Atlantis. Keep reading for all the details on this activity and potential questline!
Where to find the scientist by the tree in Starfield
You will get this activity by random when exploring New Atlantis. However, if you don’t happen to notice the activity pop right away, it may be pretty vague on what exactly this entails. To find the scientist, you’ll want to go to the MAST District of New Atlantis.
Directly down from the MAST building, you’ll see a large tree growing, and the scientist, Kelton Frush, is located just below it in a makeshift archway, wearing a white and blue lab uniform. Speaking to him will allow you to start a unique questline involving the tree. The first quest you’ll complete, if you choose to accept it, is “A Tree Grows in New Atlantis.”
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Starfield “A Tree Grows in New Atlantis” Mission Guide
After speaking to Kelton about the tree, he will inform you that something seems to be odd about the tree’s behavior, and it could mean a catastrophic event will occur in New Atlantis if they don’t do anything. To help out, he’ll need you to pick up some data from him from several different bio-sensors spread out around New Atlantis.
Finding these bio-sensors is a fairly easy task since all you have to do is follow your quest marker; however, the very last sensor will be secured at the UC Distribution Center, as you learn from speaking to Jorden. You’ll need to head there and speak to Wen Tseng.
Should you pay Wen 100 Credits for the Bio-Sensor in Starfield?
Unfortunately, Wen will not give you the bio-sensor for free. She’ll want to make a profit off the item and will charge you double what she paid for it, adding up to 100 Credits. Now, this amount is really not too much to deal with, and you should have well over that amount even on your first visit through New Atlantis. However, if you don’t want to pay her, there is another option—steal it.
You can steal the bio-sensor back instead by heading into the office through the door just to the left of the main desk. In the office, the sensor is right on the desk inside, waiting to be grabbed. Be careful not to do it in front of the security officer patrolling back and forth through here. Wait for them to move to the other room, and then you can take it. This is an option to get the bio-sensor for free, but your companions will not like your sneaky techniques.
Either way you choose to do things, you can return all the bio-sensors back to Kelton, and he’ll pay you 2,000 Credits for doing so. The questline doesn’t end here. Kelton will need some time to do more research, but after heading off to complete some other missions, you can eventually return to him to continue the questline.
Related: Starfield Lost & Found item locations
Starfield “Out on a Limb” Mission Guide
Once you return to New Atlantis after a while in search of Kelton, you’ll find him in the same location as before, under the tree in the MAST District. Things, unfortunately, have not gotten any better for the tree, and Kelton will need your help tracking down even more data to continue his research. Only, this time, you’ll need to retrieve the data from a fellow scientist who has some beef with Kelton.
Emilio can be found too far away in the MAST District as well, just left of The Lodge. As expected, he won’t be willing to give over the data to Kelton unless you help him with a favor for himself. You will have two options on how you get through this: persuade Emilio to give over the data without helping him or help him delete some bad report files on him from MAST.
Should you delete the MAST files for Emilio in Starfield?
Choosing to complete the task for Emilio is entirely up to you. If you don’t have good enough persuasion skills, you’ll probably want to resort to this task to continue the quest. Emilio will also pay you for doing the extra work if you happen to persuade him. If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, this is the better way to go; it will just take some more time.
All you have to do to delete the records for Emilio is head to the Orion Towers and unlock the Chief Engineer’s apartment, which should be a Novice lock, to access their computer. On the computer, open the Personnel Files, then Emilio’s file, then select the ‘Purge All Files‘ option.
On the other hand, if you have plenty of persuasion skills, you can easily talk Emilio out of making you delete the files and tell him to hand over the data you need without doing so. Then, you can quickly return to Kelton. The only downside is you’ll miss the opportunity for some extra credits.
After you bring Kelton the data from Emilio, he will still pay you for the work you put in, another 3,800 Credits, and he’ll once again need some extra time to look over the data, just in case Emilio tries to pull something. Complete a few missions, and you can eventually return to Kelton again to see where this story ends up. We’ll add more to this guide once we get through it!
Looking for more MyFullGames Starfield content? Check out our guides on Starfield – Where to sell items in New Atlantis (Map) or How to join all factions in Starfield!
