Tinny gunfire resounded around the room. The sound of fake screams and the yelling of positions was abound in the air.

"Damn Fascist! They enslave our women and take our lives!" A disembodied voice said.

"Vidi Vini Vici!" Another voice said. "The Mojave will be ours! Ave! True to Caesar!"

"Caesar will NEVER cross the Colorado! The day is ours boys!" The responding voice said.

"For the Republic! For the Courier! For Kimball!" A chorus of gruff voices said.

More gunfire and death yells.

"And that concludes the 5th installment of 'The Courier: Hero Of The Republic' and his days fighting evil. Wherever you are Courier, you are always in our hearts. Stay tuned tonight at 7:00 for The Courier: The True Story, the radio representation of the true biography."

An orchestra strikes up.

"Yipeay. They'll be no wedding bells for today."

"Why don't you Jingle Jangle Jingle down to your nearest Radiation King outlet store, to pick up the finest in refurbished Pre War radios! Replace that crackle with the sizzle of hot tunes and tales from the finest voices from the wasteland..."

Maximilian turned off the radio.

Max was a young man. He was 19, and full of life. The room he was sitting in was his room and the bed he was laying on was his bed. Around him hung surplus war posers with pictures of NCR troopers and the villains they had slain.

"NCR Trooper. You bring DEMOCRACY to this land"

"People of New Vegas, this is your friend"

"Don't eat irradiated food"

Dust floated in the sun beams that shone through the window. The beams shone straight against the wall, meaning the sun was going down. The light shown on a bookcase. The bookcase was filled with biographies of The Vault Dweller, The Chosen One, The Courier, and multiple smaller heroes of the New California Republic. There was a book on Tandi, and the subsequent presidents of the NCR. Along with this there were Books on the wars of the NCR. The rise and fall of The Master, the war with the Brotherhood, etc. There was one book on American History. Some fiction books were there. Mostly Pre War. He hardle read them as they had little significance on the present day.

A distant voice reached his ears. It was feminine.

"Max! Come help me with the Maize! I need to carry all this in!"

It was the voice of his mother.

Max took the stairs to the living room.

"Did you listen to the broadcast! Did you hear how the Courier stuck it to those Legionaries!" Max's little sister of 5 years exclaimed.

"Yes, and had I known you were listening I would have come down here too."

"Play it again...my Johnny" The radio played as Max left the farmhouse.

His mother was carrying a big straw basket of corn to the store house.

"I'm sorry ma. I didn't know you were working out here by yourself." said Max.

"Where were you?"

"I was listening to the radio program ma. It was about The Courier."

"I swear" Said his mother as she put down the basket of corn. "If you don't get away from Radioland and stop reading all those silly books about past heroes you'll never make anything of yourself because you'll never be in the here and now"

"Aw Ma. I'm sorry."

"You'll never get out of here like you want to by listening to the radio. And we'll never make it out of Modoc without your help, now grab some corn."

Max eagerly helped his mother carry in the corn.

"Ma, I miss Dad."

His mother put down the corn and sighed for a moment.

"...Ever since your father..."

"You can say it Ma. There is no shame in the way he died."

"Ever since he died in defense of the Dam this farm has been drying up. I can't do all the work here by myself, and the quality of the goods has been decreasing steadily."

"I help where I can Ma. But I got lil sissy to take care of for you. I can't be in two places at once. Besides..."

"I know you want to leave here. Get away from this middle of nowhere town but where would we go? We are not but poor farmers eking our a living, watering the plants with the sweat on our brow."

"I've been thinking... I might join the Army."

"...The Army! Well you know there ain't no shame in what they do, but I need you here...and I were to loose you to The Wasteland... I don't know how I could live with myself letting you go on like that."

"It's a risk Ma."

"The war is over, Max. They don't pay soldiers like they used to no more. We'll talk about this more tonight around the dinner table. For now, help me package the corn for market."

Night fell.