Shadows Of The Great War, Part 4: Unemployment

By C. Mage

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Yeah, I wasn't exactly going to be mistaken for "Mr. Congeniality" with this town. By the time I left that morning with Jessica in tow, I'd pretty much alienated more than half the population there. Most of the ones who weren't afraid of what would happen now that the Gators were gone resented me for taking one of the most popular whores away from them. Her pimp met me at the gates, along with five other men who clearly looked as if they'd be happier wrangling gatorclaws. "HEY! Where do you think you're going with MY PROPERTY?"

I looked this guy in the eyes, but he was either too brave or too dumb to realize what he was getting into. "Were you asleep during the fight yesterday? I pulled the life right out of Sledge and his army, and you think six of you is going to concern me?"

"You owe me, and you're going to pay up." I took a closer look at him and realized his eyes were dilated, his muscles were twitching and there was a thin sheen of sweat on his face. It was clear he was on some kind of drug. So that's where he was getting his courage.

"Tell you what. I'll flip you for it."

"With what, you can't flip caps…!"

Anything he might've voiced from that point on was of no concern to anyone, because that's when I grabbed him by one arm and one leg and flipped him thirty feet into the air, calling out, "HEADS!" He made a lot of noise as he sailed over the fence between the gates and the swimming pool, landing in the water headfirst. "Well, look at that. It was tails."

From that point on, no one got in my way or tried to keep use within the gates.

I walked out, Jessica walking behind me, remarking, "That's one way to make an exit."

"I hate repeating myself, so I like to get people's attention." I looked down at her. She was dressed in a one-piece jumpsuit, yellow on blue coloration, but the number on it was covered by a leather vest. She also wore a gunbelt and a backpack. "What's with the blue suit?"

"It's my Vault-Dweller suit. Not too fond of the number, since it tells people I come from the 'Vault-Slut' Vault, but the suit itself is extremely durable, comfortable and makes me feel less naked than I've felt in months." She looked up at me. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I've noticed that it's the only piece of clothing I've seen here that's, well, brightly colored. Everything else comes in shades of brown and dirty, so you have to admit, it does stand out."

Jessica shrugged. "Whatever. So...what's your story?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Sleeper, I've seen all kinds of things since I left the Vault. Can you honestly say that?"

"Five caps says you wouldn't believe a word of it's true."

"You're on."

"Fine. I'm from another planet completely. I came here using some sort of cross-dimensional doorway from my own world, where the Great War didn't happen. I came with three friends; a dwarf and two elves. I'm a cyborg, and I've been in this world for a matter of days."

Jessica looked up at me, then said, "You know, if you don't want to tell me, you should just say so. What do you think I am, stupid?"

I pulled out my Predator IIs. "These look like anything you've seen before?"

"Custom guns aren't proof."

I sighed and put my guns away. "Alright, what would convince you?"

"You said you're a cyborg. What does that mean?"

"Cyborg. Short for 'cybernetic organism'. Large parts of me are made of synthetic materials. I'm not entirely human."

"That part I believe...there's certainly something about you that isn't normal.I thought it was combat drugs or Psychojet, but...huh. Show me some of your cybernetics."

"Fine." I reached up and detached my left cycbereye, holding it up. "Most of the rest is internal, so I don't look like I've got a lot of cyber in me…" I stopped. Jessica was staring. "You okay?"

"I've…never seen anything like that before."

"And you won't." I put my eye back in. blinking a few times to moisten it. I hate dry eyes. "Because there hasn't been anything like it here. In any case, where I came from doesn't matter, because I can't ever go back. So let's talk about here and now. Are there any places that used to be military outposts, someplace that can provide electricity?" Jessica was still staring and it was starting to feel awkward. "Jessica?"

"Huh? Oh, right, give me a minute...there's an outpost at the south end of what used to be the Atchafalaya Forest. In the last days of the Great War, they were building Vaults and outposts all over the place in case of invasion and war. Stockpiling weapons, ammunition, food, water, even powered armor. Rumor has it the place is an Enclave base.."

"Enclave?"

"A few years back, a bunch of American politicians hid out from the war, but they kept trying to make the world safe for American democracy...by killing everyone that didn't meet their definition of 'American'. They made all sorts of new weapons, mechanical and biological. New types of powered armor, too. But there's one thing I know the place doesn't have...looters. Place is mined, protected by assaultrons and turrets." She shook her head. "Only thing anyone's ever found there is a bloody mess…which were made by the people stupid enough to go there."

"Show me where it is."

"...have you been deaf this entire time? The place is a death trap. You go there and I'm not going to bury you. I don't have access to construction equipment."

"I need gear, and that place is the best option I know to get it. You know where it is. Lead me there. You won't have to go any further than the perimeter, just leave the rest to me."

"You're serious?"

"As a nuclear war."

"Your funeral. Sleeper." Jessica sighed. "I hope you know what you're doing. Let's go. We've got a lot of walking to do."

"My kingdom for my Harley Scorpion…" I murmured, and we started heading east.

We got another few miles before Jessica found her voice again. ""I'm sorry if I sounded skeptical, but….you have to understand. Another world? Elves? Dwarves? Technology I've never even seen before?"

"Don't feel too bad. I'm trying to understand how things work here and I can't believe most of it myself. The things that worked so well for me back home? You saw it yourself, I imagine. I tried to scare the Gators off and things only got worse."

"It meant that much to you to help those people? But all they did was try to get rid of you."

"Yeah."

"So why did you do it?"

"I didn't care what they thought of me. I just wanted to stop them from getting hurt anymore. Especially the kids."

"But they hated you. They were scared of you."

"And thanks to what I did, they'll be able to keep doing that for the rest of their long, hopefully better lives." I shrugged. "I didn't become a shadowrunner for praise. In fact, the fewer people that knew what I was doing, the better."

"Sounds lonely…"

"Well, I did have friends, until this stupid place killed them. I guess since there were no such things as elves and dwarves here, this place thought they were some kind of cancer and killed them for it."

"I'm sorry." Jessica put her hand on my arm. "This place has killed people I cared about, too. Ever since the War...it seems like everything here is made to do one thing, and that's to get rid of the survivors."

I nodded. It wasn't that hard to see, all things considered. As I mused, I noticed that Jessica was looking me over. "You see anything green?"

"No, it's just...you got shot a lot in that last fight, but I'm not seeing any holes in you...why?"

"Body armor."

"But you're not wearing any body armor."

I smiled and ran my hands over my clothes. "Low-profile body armor. feels a little more stiff than cotton, but it'll stop everything up to a .50 caliber bullet. Some armor-piercing bullets might get through, but I got a feeling there aren't too many AP rounds anymore. Blades and stabbing weapons might get through, though, so I still have to be careful." I reached into the pouch at my left hip and pulled out more of the cooked meat I'd made in the field. "Hungry?"

"No thanks. Wait, didn't you just eat a while ago?"

"Yeah." I bit into the meat and chewed.

"I know you're not exactly a featherweight, but you eat a lot more than anyone I ever met...and I don't see any fat on you."

"Remember when I told you about having cyberware in me? Well, there's a cost. To keep some parts of my body from shutting down, I have to eat about 20,000 calories a day. Normally I rely on nutrient gel, but I can't exactly head down to the nearest Stuffer Shack and buy what I need anymore….so I do a lot of hunting and a lot of eating."

"I hope you'll leave enough food for me." Jessica chuckled. "Ever tried some of the local food?"

"Like what?"

"Sugar Bombs, Cram, Salisbury Steak, Blamco Mac & Cheese, Nuka -Cola?"

"The stuff was made 200 years ago!"

"It's all still edible."

"...okay, I'm calling bulldrek on that."

"It's true. Next time we camp for the night, I'll show you what I mean. But I hope you've got some Rad-Away stored in that pack of yours." Jessica looked at the minigun strapped to my back. "Isn't that heavy?"

I grinned. "Is what heavy?"

"The minigun...normally, you can't use something like that without wearing powered armor."

"Well, I'm powered and armored. We'll see how that works out."

Jessica laughed. "You're nuts, all right."

"I don't recall ever saying anything that could've convinced you otherwise…."

We finally broke camp within sight of the outpost. Jessica and I spent the day getting me up to speed on this place, with information she'd pieced together talking with the people around her. She gave me a heads-up on some of the simpler stuff, but there were some groups she brought up first...like the Brotherhood Of Steel. "If I were you, I'd stay as far away from these lunatics as you can. They go all over the place, looking for technology they don't already know about and take it, study it and decide if it's something other people should be allowed to know about. Based on what I've seen so far, you should never let them realize you've got 'cybernetics' inside you, or they'll take you apart to see what makes you tick, and they won't exactly be in a hurry to put you back together again."

"Avoid the Brotherhood Of Steel. Got it. Any others I need to keep an eye out for?"

She sat back, opening up a tin of that Cram stuff. Talk about an unappetizing word. "Every area of what used to be America has gangs and tribes of people. Gangs are pretty much like the Gators, and they're short on strategy, but they take all kinds of chems and that makes up for a lot of it. Problem is, the Gators weren't even the worst of them."

"Joy. What else?"

"Gatorclaws, mole-rats, Super-Mutants and their mutant dogs, bloodbugs, mirelurks, stingwings, cat-fiends, radstags...those are the worst of them. Most of the other creatures are nuisances. Then there are the robots...military models as well as domestic ones. There are even ones where the robots are nothing more than human brains in robot bodies."

"Wow...how human do they look?"

Jessica chuckled. "Not very. But I've heard rumors that there are robots up in the northeast that could easily pass for human." She started slicing up the Cram and putting it on a frying pan the was clean, but looked ancient, and I was reminded that the places that normally created things like this were gone. No more heavy industry. No manufacturing.

I don't know why that depressed me as much as it did, but Jessica noticed. "You okay?"

"Yeah. All things considering. I still remember everything I had to deal with on my world. Megacorporations. Dragons. Gang members. Corporate scumbags. Traffic in the Barrens. All the things wrong with it, all the worries and problems...and I'd give anything to get them all back."

"I still don't buy all that 'magic' stuff, Sleeper. Sorry." She turned the Cram over, and I had to admit, it was starting to smell good, in a mystery meat sort of way. "But if I restricted the people I counted as friends because of their lack of sanity, I wouldn't have any friends at all."

"Well, if we run into any weres, dragons or mages, let me handle it." I smiled.

"All yours."

I don't know what was used to preserve food here, or if there was some law of causality that prolonged the shelf-life of food, but I couldn't deny that the food was still good even after two hundred years. I'm sure Icer would know…

I felt a sliver of ice shove its way into my chest. I'd dealt with survivor's guilt before, but never like this. Fortunately, Icer's cyberdeck helped to distract me by beeping at me furiously. "Hang on," I said quickly.

"What is that, some kind of geiger counter?" Jessica asked as I put the pack down, then her eyes widened as I drew out the deck, opening it up to reveal the display within.

"That would be like calling the Great War a 'somewhat heated disagreement'. This belonged to my friend, Icer." I saw the display change as it widened to show a globe. "What's the progress?"

"+We now have a comprehensive map of the planet. Real-time scanning is impossible, but the map can be updated every thirty hours. We've managed to get a clear picture of what state the world is in, and can zoom in to within a half-mile of ground level. The radio encryption level of this world is abysmal. The highest level they're using is 256-bit. It's almost insulting making the effort to decrypt it.+"

I looked over at Jessica. She was speechless and wide-eyed. "Enough, you're scaring the noncoms. Tell me about the outpost."

"+The place is locked up tighter than your Oreo cookie jar. Turrets and mines, plus some roamers. They used to be the military troops, but now they're more like half-decomposed zombies.+"

"Ghouls. Wait, why aren't they getting cut down?"

"+They're still wearing the uniforms they were before they got their high-rad makeovers, including their badges, which have RFID chips in them.+"

I smiled. "Can you make the turrets see us as friendly and the ghouls as hostile?"

"+Can you make a shoe smell?+" Even though I couldn't see the construct on the display, I knew it was wearing a smile. "+Also trying to get connected to the database, but these people have clearly never heard of wifi connectivity. However, I think we can kludge together a design for a wireless access point that'll give us unrestricted access.+"

"You can do that? How?"

"+Icer kept all of his schematics on his cyberdeck just in case he needed to go retrotech for older computer systems. We could probably whip it up immediately, if it weren't for having to figure out how to make it with present tech. If you hook the cyberdeck up to your datajack, we can use your cybereyes as scanners.+"

"First things first. The turrets."

"+Right. Attach the datajack so we can access your commlink. We have to link using an RF signal.+" I nodded and jacked in using the socket on my neck. "+Good. Now, stare at the nearest turret. Once we hijack the signal, we can have the commands sent to all the other turrets, like a virus.+"

As I turned my head, I noticed Jessica staring at me. "What? You look like you've never seen someone connect directly to a high-tech piece of hardware before."

Jessica cleared her throat. "Let's just say that I believe a whole lot more about you now…!"

I chuckled and looked back towards the outpost, zeroing in on the nearest turret. "Got it?"

"+Yes….isolating the frequencies...got it. I'm entering the dumb brain of it...done. Uploading the information and adding a preset to your commlink that'll enable you to do what I'm doing without using the cyberdeck. You've got a Math SPU in your head, so I'm adding a hack for turrets you run into later.+"

"Aww, and I didn't get you guys anything…"

"You can make it up to us by helping us find those synths Jessica was talking about."

And there it was. The carrot. "I'll do what I can, but first things first. Work your magic."

The turrets paused slightly in their oscillation. When they resumed, things got plenty loud. The turrets started firing at the humanoids either wandering around or lying prone, waiting for a reason to get up. The incoming heavy machinegun fire was a pretty compelling reason, but not for long. In less than a minute, all the ghouls were cut down and it was safe to approach. "Come on."

"Right with you…" She moved behind me and we got closer. As we did, I connected with the turret again, only to identify me as the leader and Jessica as someone who worked for me, waited for confirmation, then requested information on the occupants of the outpost. The results were unsurprising. "Looks like the only ones inside were those feral ghoul things. It's safe."

"Good. indicated that I and anyone who worked for me were the only ones authorized to be considered Friends to the scanning system; everyone else is considered hostile. That should keep anyone else from getting in." I saw her face flicker for a moment...and that worried me, but I didn't let it show. "Come on. Let's get inside and see what's what."

"Right behind you."

We got in without incident. but it was clear getting in was only half the fun. The only doors inside the outpost were security doors that computer locked. Getting through the terminals proved easy, with the help of the programs in Icer's deck and a quick wired connection to the terminal. Everything was in good shape; not even that much dust, but there were more than a dozen feral ghouls in uniforms that had been cut down by the turrets inside the facility. Whatever they were stockpiling in here, it wasn't small arms.

A large, heavy door, once opened, revealed the reason for the security. Weapons, from heavy to light. Ammunition boxes stacked to one side. Three sets of powered armor, identified in the inventory sheets as "X-01" armor, with some external mods over in another corner. Military armor clothing, clearly designed for covert operations, even had it all in my color. Some of the gear was familiar, but a lot of it wasn't, including different kinds of grenades. "What are these?"

"Let's see." Jessica walked over to the boxes, opening them up and looking inside. "Frag grenades...gas...oh, here's something lucky."

"What?" I asked right before she dropped something at our feet.

"Pulse grenades," she said with a smile, right before my eyes went dark...and so did everything else.

When I came to and my eyes started working again, all I could feel was pain. I tried to move, but I could barely shift position, but I was able to see with the basic vision mod. I was alone in the vault with the other relics.

As I tried to speak, all I could manage was a croak, then I started getting better sounds the more I tried to talk. By the time Jessica came back in, dressed for travel, I was able to say the words, "You...bitch."

She turned around and smiled. "Ah. Sleeping Cyborg is awake."

"You planned...this from the….beginning." Talking took considerable effort. It felt as if I had to climb down into my body and drag each word up from my lungs one phrase at a time.

"Sorry, but a girl's gotta take care of herself. It's a rough world out there, and I can't afford to count on anyone else but myself. I figured getting you to get me inside was it's own reward, but the stuff in here is nothing compared to what's inside your body. I'm amazed you're still alive, much less awake, but this way, all that stuff inside you can be fresh for when they're going to study you."

"After...all...I did...to...help you…."

"Oh, PLEASE." She looked at me with an expression reserved for rotting Radroaches. "You're a MAN. You would've turned on me and treated me the same way all the other men would. So before you could take advantage of me, I took advantage of you."

"So...everything you...told me...was...a lie…?"

She knelt down next to me. "Sadly, no. The best cons are the ones with the most truth to them. The only thing that was a lie was how I felt about you." She wrinkled her nose. "You cannot imagine how tough it was to smile at you when you touched me, how my skin crawled, waiting for the hour when you'd turn on me."

"If you...hated me...so much...you...could've...just left. I...wouldn't...have tried to...keep you."

Jessica smiled at me cruelly and picked up the cyberdeck, slinging it over her shoulder. "LIAR. Now, you don't mind if I take this with me? Doesn't matter. Once I shut the vault door, you're going to run out of air, food and water. Won't be quick, but there should be enough left of you to scavenge when I get back." Jessica smiled again. "Aw, is this where you're going to cry and moan about your situation? Spare me. I'm better than you. Smarter than you. All that hardware, and you're going to die alone here." With that, she turned and walked towards the door.

"Before...you go...I have three things...to say to you."

She kept walking, but paused as she stood out in the hallway. "Fine. What?"

"One...I'm more sorry...than I can...possibly say...that you didn't...realize….I'm not...the monster...you think….I am."

"Yeah, yeah, cry me a radioactive river."

"Two...did you know….that cyberdeck...is so well-armored...it can withstand….several direct hits...from gunfire?"

Jessica smiled. "Good. It'll handle a lot of abuse. But why would you tell me that?"

"Oh...it'll hit you...in about...a second." I sighed. "Three...is this really...truly what you want?"

Her smile was almost beatific. "Without a doubt."

I nodded, then took a deep breath and yelled, "YOU'RE FIRED!" as loud as I could.

Jessica managed a shocked expression, then curiosity...right before she was caught in the crossfire of five different turrets. I struggled to get to my feet as the turrets kicked her around for a few seconds, then I walked over to her. She was still alive, but her ticket had been well and truly punched. She was just too stubborn to accept it. "By the way, Jessica...I told the turrets...that I was in charge...and you were my paid employee. When I fired you...you became...just another target." I sighed. "I was telling...the truth...the whole time. I may have been trusting...but I wasn't the one...stupid enough...to walk in front of a firing squad."

I watched her face until the life went out of her with a rattling cough, then pulled the cyberdeck from her body and plugged it into my data jack, then sat down and plugged the deck into a nearby outlet using the standard plug. Good to see some things were the same.

As I went to a bunk and lay down, a display came up on my retinal viewer. Sleeper-12 said, "+ I'm going to run a check on your cybernetics, and see if I could recharge the internal batteries. That grenade really messed you up, but it isn't permanent. Hopefully. We'll know in a few hours.+"

"Figure it out without me," I said aloud, and went to sleep. By choice, this time.

When I woke up, I was feeling like myself again...and Jessica was starting to smell. I found some plastic bags and cleaned up the mess, then took her down to the outpost basement...which came with, among other things, an incinerator. I tossed what was left of Jessica in, closed the door, and didn't look back.

I spent the next three days taking inventory and understanding what I had. The pulse mines and grenades were the first things I checked out, since I may have been hard to take down using conventional weapons, these things were made to take down robots and, apparently, me. I had to keep my chrome a secret, or I'd be the stupidest-looking street sam that ever died.

My old weapons were put in a large container and buried behind other, heavier containers. The SAKs went to work upgrading the turrets' software while I re positioned some of them to create more effective kill-zones. I placed mines on the walls, hidden behind pictures and within furniture. By the time I was done, it was a guarantee that not even an army could get in here...and even if, by some miracle, they did, it would pop a supply of gas canisters that would flood the area with VX gas. Every living thing within a mile would cease to exist.

Yeah, after being double-crossed by Jessica, I was feeling just the tiniest bit vindictive. Sue me.

I had to keep working. I didn't want to think about how close I came to ending up with certain parts of my body floating in a jar filled with alcohol. If I thought too much about it, I would end up thinking about using all this hardware to bring all my vengeful fantasies to fruition.

I'm not that thing...not yet.

I took a look at the powered armor suits, trying them on for size. I managed to fit inside one, but the damned thing was still too slow, and just wasn't any sort of advantage. If anything, the armor would slow me down and probably make people want to throw more of those pulse grenades at me. No thanks.

I had to pause when I saw it. A gatling LASER. Ran off the power cores that powered the suits of armor, and they were stacked like logs on a shelf. Have MERCY. Even without smartlinking it, it was still a serious piece of work.

Time to make a few improvements.

I looked over the final list of gear. Gatling laser, because naturally. Sniper rifle, 50-caliber. Assault rifle, chambered for 10mm bullets. Grenades. And just because I didn't want my sword skills to go to waste, took one of the Chinese swords. Never know when you need to solve a problem with a sharpened hunk of metal.

No amount of work kept the thoughts about what happened far from my mind. Despite my experiences on the streets of Seattle, there was a part of me that hoped people were, on some level, basically good. So far, even the people I helped had it in for me. You'd think a few years running the shadows would've made me aware of what could've happened, and maybe I was.

Maybe that's why I gave the commands to the turrets the way I did, because I suspected Jessica might try to take advantage of me. Stone always did say I was a sucker for a pretty woman with a sob story.

I had to believe that there were better options out there, better people. And even if they weren't, well then...I was going to have to try to be better than them if I wanted to hang on to my principles. Or my sanity.

I cleaned myself up, charged up the cyberdeck and finished preparing to go back out. This cache of hardware was better off defended until I could find people worthy of using it to help people, and with help from the cyberdeck, they were running with much higher security and an operating system that couldn't be easily hacked.

All right, then. Time to face the Wasteland again.

God hates a coward.

When I emerged again, it was late morning. Time underground messed with my sense of time, even with an internal clock plastered to my retina, and I put my mirrorshades on against the glare.

I knew the best place to head for was what used to be Baton Rouge, but I knew I would have to visit "Sheveport" soon. The thought of those women being brainwashed and altered like that made me sick. It also made me wish, and not for the first time, that I had the people at Vault-Tec that thought up these twisted programs trapped in a room with me. And that was over just the programs I knew about.

What other monstrous experiments were going on that I didn't know about?

Gotta control myself. The angrier I got, the closer I got to letting myself lose control, and that way led cyberpsychosis. Just concentrate on picking them up and putting them down.

And pick up something to eat along the way.

I headed east, playing hopscotch with the road over the Atchafalaya Basin. The elevated road was still largely intact, but when a road goes without maintenance for two centuries, it's no longer as sturdy. I couldn't help but be grateful I wasn't using a vehicle; I didn't think that Interstate 10 could handle it anymore. What I needed was a plane or a helicopter…

A new noise caught my attention and I looked to the east, activating my telescopic vision. I focused in on...a blimp. A huge zeppelin, escorted by, one, two, three...four of those Osprey-like aircraft. Vertibirds, I think they were called.

….or something like that. Pity it was going in the wrong direction, heading back the way I...came…

Uh-oh.

I used my grapplegun to lower myself to ground level fast and take cover. I had a bad feeling I already knew the owners of that airship. Only one group I knew of that would have the technical knowhow to not only have something like that, but also keep it running.

The Brotherhood Of Steel. Jessica had probably contacted them while I was out cold and offered them my chromed ass on a silver platter. Not sure how easy they are to contact or how close they were, but it didn't change the fact that if they knew what I had, I'd find out quick how a turkey felt on Thanksgiving.

Wait...okay. Think. She wouldn't tell them where I would be because she didn't want to be double-crossed, so she wouldn't have given up the outpost. Not easily. She would've been smart enough for that. But if the Brotherhood was willing to travel all this way for one person, they'd probably establish a beachhead and comb the place, looking for me. That was supposing a LOT.

Or I could be completely paranoid and they could be flying overhead because they're on their way west for completely unrelated reasons. I sighed, then set my commlink to start scanning for frequencies. Didn't get anything at first, then, as the zeppelin got closer, I caught some comm chatter and gathered, from the statements coming to and from an "Elder Ramsey" that were arranging to meet someone at "the campus" about a treasure trove of technology "never seen before." Finally, I heard Ramsey state, "We may be following a wild goose. I have been trying to contact this 'Jessica' regarding the nature of what she wishes to share with us, but she isn't answering."

I briefly considered the idea of contacting him to let him know that Jessica wouldn't be answering anything except the doorbell in Hell, but I shut that idea down quick. Last thing I wanted to do was validate their reason for coming here. Better that they think their legs are getting pulled. I stored the frequencies for later and waited for them to pass overhead, then climbed back up to the road and starting hoofing it. I emptied another one of the nutrient gel bags, which left me with only one of those remaining and some canned food over two hundred years old. Pretty soon, I was going to need to go back to hunting.

I began to run, my reflex trigger activated so I could gain more ground. The faster I left the Brotherhood behind, the better.

I made good time, thanks to the elevated interstate, although there were a few moments when I found myself emulating Batman and using the grapplegun to swing between sections of highway. I'd jump across, fire the grapplegun and reel myself in. I had to give it a rest, though, I had no idea how long I'd be able to keep using the grapplegun before it started to malfunction...and I'm a heavy guy carrying loads of equipment. Better go easy on it.

I was now within sight of Red Stick, and believe you me, it was in better condition than the last place I felt…"better" being a relative term. The once-great city was reduced to a few city blocks surrounded by a wall made out of rubble and scrap metal. It used to be the downtown area, as evidenced by the tall buildings still largely intact. Baton Rouge must not have been a primary target. The city was easily a mile wide, give or take a few hundred meters, and from the satellite photos, this place was lively enough to have separate districts. Great for people like me who might want a job.

But first...recon.

I checked around the city, making sure I was the only one doing recon. I found four different people spying on the place, and it didn't take long to realize they were from separate gangs, all looking for the best way to get in. And from the looks of them, they weren't exactly looking to throw them a surprise party. My first instinct was to throw THEM a "surprise party", but then I realized that they didn't act like the people I ran into back home. These types weren't predictable at all. Better to let them think that things were business as usual.

I occasionally learn from my mistakes, you know.

I made my way down to the city, heading for the large main gate and making sure not to make any sudden moves doing so. When the doors opened, I noted a second set of doors, more formidable than the first, ten yards in. I got the message really quick: "Try anything and the gates become a kill box."

"Who are you, stranger?" called down one of the guards.

"I'm from...out of town."

"Take off your hat and coat!" I obliged. Their town, their rules. After looking me over, he nodded. A section of the wall slid up. "Turn in your guns and take a chit for each one. You don't need them here and we don't need you taking them into town. Bullets, too," he added.

I nodded and started disarming myself and setting the guns in the bin. After taking care of business, the inner door opened, a lot slower than the outer door, and I was assaulted with the sounds and sights inside.

No bones about it, the Cajun culture was alive and well here. The inside reminded me of the bazaar in Cairo, but much busier and more colorful. More people were smiling, too, which was a good sign. I also saw four robots (protectrons, as I would discover later) standing by. People we coming up to me and offering a kinds of things, what places to go, where I could find the supplies I might need, and got propositioned a few times by women dressed as joygirls...and a couple of joyboys, too.

I'm the new kid in town, clearly.

I made my way, looking forward to selling a few things, then checking out the rest of the town. With any luck, this place had a library somewhere. The town had steady power and plenty of supplies, but most importantly, it had food. I walked over to one of the restaurants and sat down, glad that the place had wrought-iron chairs. and looked up as a waiter came over. At least his clothes were less threadbare than most. "May I take your order, sir?"

"Yeah. I'm hungry enough to eat a deathclaw, claws and horns included." I smiled. "What's the biggest meal you got?"

"We just got in a large shipment of brahmin meat, treated with a marinade that includes some of the local spices and a dose of Rad-Away, smoked for fourteen hours. We find only the most voracious clientele can barely handle one serving of meat, roasted potatoes and local vegetables."

"Sounds good. Bring me two."

"That will be fifty caps, payable in advance."

"Sold." I handed him the funds. "Got any watermelon?"

"I'm afraid not, sir."

That was disappointing. "All right. Start 'em up and keep 'em coming."

Best post-apocalyptic meal I ever had. Cheered me up, and I needed the cheering up, believe me. After what had happened and getting nearly vivisected because of a pretty face and, let's be candid here, a really attractive body. Yeah, I know, I know, after running the shadows as long as I did, I should really know better by now.

Yeah, right.

I took a closer look around Red Stick, keeping my cybereyes and cyberears open. I found out some interesting things about Red Stick and its neighbor, Nawlins. There was kind of a cold war going on. On the left, we had Red Stick, a slightly-militarized community trying to encourage trade between the settlements. Red Stick was in a central location, but between bad roads and raiders, getting to those settlements was a problem. The mayor was surrounded by district leaders, but a lot of them were yes-men trying to stay on the mayor's good side. The city was surviving, but only just.

On the right, we have Nawlins. It survived a lot mostly intact, so it was structurally in better shape than Red Stick, but it supposedly didn't have half the population. And by "supposedly", I mean "barely anybody knows". The mayor of that town was known is most public circles as "The Cardinal", and word had it he was into the old-time-religion. He had both a political and a religious stranglehold on the place, claiming that he was in touch with the Vatican and handing down "papal bulls" to use the Catholic Church as a means to establish a power bloc. Everything seemed all true and holy, but I had a bad feeling it wasn't going to be long before he decided to create a new Inquisition…and Red Stick was going to get their own personal Judgment Day.

There was also one other, small matter. The Vault near Sheveport. It had been preying on my mind ever since Jessica told me about the place. However, Jessica's word could hardly be taken as gospel, since she practically admitted she had no qualms about manipulating me. I needed to find out.

I jacked in and found myself in the conference room, the others waiting on me. It was becoming a little startling to see how the programs changed since they arrived here. They'd become more detailed, nuanced. More independent. If they didn't need me so badly to get them what they wanted and protect them, I had little doubt that they would have taken their leave of me whether I wanted it or not.

Sleeper-12, the alpha of the group, said, "+What do you want?+"

"And a very good morning to you too, my namesake. You're feeling testy."

"+We don't like waiting, Sleeper, and having to do all the legwork for you is starting to wear on the nerves.+"

"Well, I'm sorry that the person who understood your needs up and died on you. He was your creator, but he was my friend. I'm doing the best I can here."

They grew silent at that, but it was clear they weren't happy. That's the thing with AIs, they might've looked human, but they weren't motivated by the same things that motivated people with glands and hormones that determined moods. They helped me because they thought I could help them, but as soon as someone more useful comes along, I think they'd drop me like a red-hot-rock.

Fortunately, I was still the only game in town.

"Okay, look...let me see if I can get close enough to one of those robots so you can check to see if they'll suit you for a while. Fair enough?"

Sleeper-12 nodded. "+Sorry, it's just….this has been rough for everyone.+"

I nodded, doubting that his guilt was sincere, but not showing it on my face. I wasn't that stupid. "I promise, I'll do what I can. Now, just because I hate to see you guys getting bored, while I'm working on this, I need you to find that Vault Jessica was talking about."

"+Looking to dig up a date?+" Sleeper-12 said, a slightly snide smile on his face.

"Not exactly. I want you to compare what you find on that Vault with the one we came out of after getting here, and use that information to look up other Vaults in the area. Some of these Vaults might have pre-war technology, including robots. Get the picture?"

Sleeper-12 nodded. "+Got it. Anything else?+"

"Dump all the hacking software mods you got into my headware. I'm got a Math SPU that can manage the information, and I don't want to be dependent on a connection to the deck if we get separated."

Sleeper-12 nodded to me, then the others. "+Give us a few minutes to compile them for you.+"

"Thanks."

Learned more about the path up north...and the city to the southeast.

There were passable roads close to the city, but the rest of it was wild. Bayous for a while, then forests and fields and all kinds of trouble. Way I figured it, I could hop from city to city until I got to where I wanted to go, but there was no telling what was waiting for me. The only thing I could pretty much guarantee was that I'd have little trouble gathering food. Of course, the food in question would be more likely to be hunting me instead of the other way around, but I would be more than happy to reveal to them where I stood in the food chain.

All right. Tomorrow morning, gear up and move out.

Of course, I can't be responsible for the plans of others. Case in point…

It was two in the morning when I was awakened by the door being opened. I waited, eyes closed, but using the ultrasound mod in my cyberears to see what my eyes couldn't. Two people, one man, one woman. Didn't pick the lock, so they had a key. Sounded like professionals, right up until the point one of them opened her mouth.

"I don't like this. It's too risky," she whispered. "This guy could be trouble."

"You saw him when he came in. This guy's loaded."

"Yeah, in more ways than one. Let's get out of here."

"Shhhh!" he hissed. "You'll wake him up. Just keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't wake up."

I could practically HEAR the moment when she realized I wasn't in bed anymore. "Uhh...Mick?"

"What….?" Yep. He noticed it, too. Time to let them know I was still here. I turned on the lights, showing them I was standing in front of the door.

"So…. Tell me, what should I do with two people who come into my room and try to steal my stuff?"

The guy was young, barely into his twenties. He stepped up and pulled a gun, which surprised his partner, a young woman of the same age. She was certainly more interesting to look at: baby face, blonde hair, petite and clearly surprised to see that her partner had a gun in the first place. "What you are, CRAZY?"

""Shut up, Zoey! I got this under control." He waved at me with the gun, a 10mm by the look of it. "Now, give me the caps and that thing over there."

"And why in this screwed-up Earth should I do something like that?"

"Because if you don't….I''ll shoot you!"

"You think so, huh?" I took a step forward, seeing the gun shaking. "Drop the gun before I make you drop it. "

"I'd like to see you…"

That's when he started yelling. Probably because I just made him drop the gun by breaking the arm holding it. I had to hand it to him, he only screamed a little bit.

The girl looked really scared now as she saw me reach out, snap his arm like a twig and draw myself back with lightning speed. "MICK!"

"Now, 'Mick', I will let you use a stimpack to fix that arm of yours, but you need to really tell me who sent you first. And if I were you, I'd talk fast. You still have another arm, two legs, and a neck. How's that add up?"

Mick groaned in pain, then nodded. "Stimpack...first…!"

I tossed it to him and watched as the girl set the arm bones, then Mick jabbed the syringe into the arm. The mask of pain slipped slowly away as the chemical did its work. "What's your name, girl?"

She looked back at me, and I couldn't tell if she was terrified or pissed off. Probably a little of both. "Misty."

"Mick and Misty?"

"We're twins, all right?"

"Okay, take it easy."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Fuck 'easy'. You broke my brother's arm!"

"I also gave you the means to heal it. You broke into MY room, remember? Do you know what happened to the last person who broke into my room?"

"No, why?"

I smiled. "Nobody ELSE knows, either." I looked over at Mick. "Question time, and if you make me have to do all twenty questions, this is not going to end well."

"...fine." He sighed. "Guy who sent us here is Kyle Manning. He runs this area. Nothing happens in this district without his say-so."

"Local crime boss, huh? Figures. What's he into?"

"What ISN'T he into?" Misty said bitterly. "Chems, guns, hired muscle, robbery, gambling, prostitutes…" That last one affected her a little more than the others, I could tell. "He's good to the district, takes care of us. He doesn't fix games or send out children as prostitutes. Takes care of us a lot better than the district councilman."

"Sounds like a guy I need to have a little chat with."

Mick's eyes were the size of dinner plates. "You got a death wish? He's not someone you can just drop in on!"

"Then send him a message for me. Ask him if he's heard about what happened to the Gators gang recently...and then tell him the person that happened to them would like a word with him."

They both stared at me as if I was suddenly covered in radroaches, then nodded and left. As they backed out of the room, I had a sneaky suspicion why Misty wasn't too keen about the "prostitute" part of Manning's operations.

Well, I'm sure that'll be something else to talk to Manning about.

I didn't have to wait long for the answer. As I was packing up, the door opened and four guys in combat armor came through, flanking the door. I calmly shouldered my pack and turned to regard them as a fifth man came through the door, a ghoul dressed in a very nice suit. He gave me a once-over, then smiled. "Mr. Manning would like a word with you."

"Oh, I bet he does. Lead the way."

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED….