Chapter Nine: Chasing Electric Sheep

Doctor Preston listens to the holotape, his lips pursed.

"Got any leads, Doc?" Sunshine asks. He shakes his head, handing the holotape back to her. "

"'Fraid not," he answers. "However, I have an android holotape of my own." He turns his back to her to rummage through his desk. "Let's see. Hmm. Here!" He pulls another holotape out of the drawer, this one more worn looking than the others. He hands it to her. "I haven't listened to it yet. Honestly, I think it's all an elaborate hoax." She nods, and pops it into her Pip-Boy.

"Despite the harshness of the Wasteland, I've discovered in more than a few here, a compassion that is unheard of in the Commonwealth. Perhaps it's the daily struggle for life here which gives appreciation for life in general, whether human, or android. In a few days I'll be a free man... a new man. Let me say thank you now, for referring me to Pinkerton at Rivet City, because I will not remember any of this soon." The voice coming from her speakers sounds vaguely familiar, but Sunshine can't place it for some reason. Maybe it's because she's been playing the android's recordings in her head for the past few hours now.

"Pinkerton?" she asks, and Preston chuckles.

"There's a name I haven't heard in a while! That name takes me way back. Claimed to have cured radiation poisoning. Or was it food poisoning? I don't recall. He was always telling folks that he founded Rivet City. All he did was break off the front of it. He's practically a legend, Rivet City's own resident ghost. Maybe he died," Preston says thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "I'm afraid I don't recall." Sunshine nods, popping the holotape out.

"Sorry I couldn't be of more help," he says. She smiles brightly at him.

"You helped plenty," she says, thanking him and walking out. Once she's outside of the clinic, she makes a face. Now instead of androids, she is chasing ghosts. She sighs, running a hand through her hair. She looks at her Pip-Boy clock. She'd better make her way back to Charon.

She enters the staircase and makes her way down back to the marketplace. The meeting with Preston took longer than she expected. Charon is probably worrying groves into the butt of his shotgun by now. She shakes her head, hoping that they were able to find Miss Wong a decent firearm. She'd hate for her to be caught unawares, and captured into slavery again.

The hair on the back of her neck stands up as she hears light footsteps behind her. She freezes, and hears someone's breath catch behind her. She turns to see a greasy, unkempt looking man scowling at her. She eyes the pistol on his hip and asks,

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah," he growls. "The android. What did you find out about him?"

"Nothing," she lies smoothly. "I'm thinking it's all a hoax."

"Bullshit. Zimmer told me what you said," he snaps.

"Oh. So you're that 'someone else' he had in mind," she says, fighting to keep the unease out of her voice. The stairwell suddenly feels cramped, and there isn't enough air to breathe. She takes a step back and he follows her, closing the distance between them.

"Tell me what you know," he says, nudging her sternum with the barrel of his pistol. Shit, when did he pull that out? "And maybe I won't hurt you. Zimmer is paying me for this, and I'm planning on throwing a party when I get back to Paradise Falls." Her back hits the solid steel of the ship's walls, and she levels a glare at him. He gives her a bone-chilling, lopsided grin. "What's a matter? You not like the sound of that? If you want, I can slap a collar on you and you can come too." He traces the barrel of the gun down the side of her face. "Hell, I'd probably get more for you than that Mei Wong bitch I was sent here to get." He lowers his gun to lean forward and inspect her closely, and that's when she strikes. Her fist strikes him in the sternum, and she knees him in the crotch. He grunts, doubling over in pain, and she wrestles away from him. He aims his pistol at her, firing off a shot. The bullet lodges in the wall next to her head. He smiles crookedly, and aims the gun at her head.

"What the hell is going on here?" a voice demands roughly. They both look up to see Harkness standing at the top of the flight of stairs with his arms crossed. He runs down with his plasma rifle drawn, pulling Sunshine behind him. He aims his gun at the man, who raises his arms in surrender.

"He's a slaver," Sunshine says. The man shoots her a condescending smirk.

"Tattle-tale," he says. Looking at Harkness, he says, "Yeah, so what? What're you gonna do about it?"

"What I do with all of the trash-take it out," Harkness growls, and Sunshine stifles a laugh. It's a one-liner straight out of the old spy movies she used to watch with her father in the Vault. They would sneak into the entertainment room and filch the good holotapes for themselves to watch. Her father's favorites were the ones about a Pre-war spy who shared his name. The man scoffs, and Harkness shakes his head, muttering about how he should have expected this from a man named 'Sister'. Harkness reaches to grab him by the arm, and Sister reaches for the knife strapped to this shoulder.

"Hey!" she says, and he is distracted for a spilt second. That's all she needs. "Give this to Zimmer!"

Sunshine takes the android component and pretends it is a baseball, and the catcher's glove is Sister's face. It hits him with a solid crack, and he crumples, blood spurting from his now-broken nose. Harkness shoots her an incredulous look, and she says sheepishly,

"Home run?"


She helps Harkness push a now awake (and now swearing) Sister over the guard rail into the Potomac. He lands with a loud splash, and Harkness lights a cigarette as the watch the slaver struggle to make it to shore.

"Asshole. Hope the mirelurks get 'im," Harkness says, taking a deep drag. His eyes cut over to Sunshine. "You want one?" She shakes her head, and thanks him for the offer. "So, why did he attack you anyway?" She hesitates, not sure how much she should tell him. After all, androids are pretty hard to believe in the first place. She touches the pocket the holotape she stole from Sister is in before pushing him overboard, and decides on a half-truth.

"I was helping the woman he was sent for," she answers. "I gave her enough caps to buy a gun to protect herself." Harkness gives her another strange look.

"That was damned kind of you," he says, eyeing her closely. "What's your agenda?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've been hearing nothing but good things about you since you got here. Carlos keeps going on about the water you gave him. Gary is ecstatic about how you reacted to his Mirelurk cakes. Word is that Doctor Li calmed down and stopped being such a bitch to her scientists after you left." Her brow furrows, and she thinks to herself that Li's change in disposition may have been due more to the thought of her father than her. "And now you tell me you gave an ex-slave enough caps to buy a gun. What are you up to?"

"Is it really so bad that you're hearing good things about me?"

"No one does that much good without an angle," he says.

"I like helping people. It's the right thing to do," she answers. He shakes his head.

"So, play me that holotape you filched from Sister," he says, and she winces . There goes being discrete. He shoots her a look, and asks,

"You really thought I didn't see you take it?"

"I thought I was being sneaky," she admits. He looks at her expectantly.

"Play it, then," he says. She loads it into her Pip-Boy, hoping it's the tape she thinks it is and not a snuff tape.

"We better find that fucking android soon. That Commonwealth asshole, Zimmer, keeps hounding me for results. If the job didn't pay so well, I'd off that motherfucker myself. He was babbling about a "Lipoplasticator" and "Micro Dermal Graftilizer." What the hell are those? Apparently something doctors use to fuck up someone's face beyond recognition. So we don't even have a description to work off of. To make matters worse, he now thinks the android got his memories wiped or something. Find some tech-junkies, knock on some doors, and try to find something called a "Circuit Neuralizer." Knock on some heads, too, if you have to. Get it done!"

Harkness scoffs once the tape ends.

"An android? Really?" he sighs, massaging the bridge of his nose. "Don't tell me you fell for it?

"You don't think it's real?" she asks.

"No. I think you're wasting your time," he says, taking one last, long puff before dropping his cigarette filter over the railing into the irradiated river. She looks out across the Potomac to the broken bow of the boat, and Preston's words come back to her.

"He was always telling folks that he founded Rivet City. All he did was break off the front of it."

"What can you tell me about Pinkerton?" she says, and he groans.

"Listen kid, I don't have time for fucking ghost stories, all right? He's dead, and now he doesn't matter. Let's get you back to your body guard before he throws a conniption fit."


Charon sits at Gary's Galley, compulsively looking around for Sunshine. She'd been gone three hours, and all he wants to do is look for her, but he is bound by her word to watch Mei Wong until she gets back.

He tries not to listen to that nagging 'what if' in the back of his mind.

Mei Wong had thanked him for staying with her, and asked his advice about the best kind of gun for her. He helped her pick one out, and she had told him about The Temple of the Union. They sound like people Sunshine would get along with. She falls silent, and Charon is grateful for it. He listens for Sunshine's voice, and tries not to panic when he doesn't hear it.

She walks in with Harkness, and he's out of his seat in an instant. Harkness is smiling at something she said, and his expression turns serious when he sees Charon walking toward them. Charon meets them in the middle of the marketplace, and fights down a surge of something (he won't say jealously) when Harkness rests a hand on her shoulder and leans in to whisper in her ear.

"Keep your bodyguard with you at all times," he murmurs. "Zimmer is as crazy about this 'android' as you are, and I can't watch your back all of the time."

"Right. Thanks for the rescue," she answers back. Harkness nods at Charon and leaves the two alone.

"Rescue?" the ghoul demands, and the vault-dweller winces.

"Long story. I'll tell it to you on the way to the broken bow."


"He fucking pulled a gun on you?" Charon fumes, and Sunshine nods guiltily. "Jesus, kid."

"I know, I know. But I'm okay now," she says as they reach the door to the broken bow. They're quite a way from the main entrance to Rivet City. She tries the knob to find it locked. She kneels down and begins to pick the lock, Dogmeat at her heels.

"Well, the sooner we warn this android about the danger he's in, the better. Then it can be his problem," Charon grumbles, crossing his arms. Sunshine breaks a bobby pin.

"Damn it," she swears, pulling out another one. "Yeah, well I won't be happy until Zimmer is gone. " Charon lights a smoke, and looks over at the Jefferson Memorial.

"You know, its right there," he says. "We could go check it real quick."

"I couldn't-"Snap! "Damn it, face my father if I left an innocent person to be made a slave. He'd find out," she says, pulling out another bobby pin. "He'd know, too."

"I wouldn't tell him," Charon offers. She shakes her head as another bobby pin breaks. She gently pushes Dogmeat's tail out of her face.

"He'd be able to tell just by looking at me," she says, attempting to pick the lock one last time. "I also always used to get the feeling he could read my mind." Charon chuckles as the bobby pin snaps in half. Sunshine lets out a very unlady-like curse, and stands up. "Shit. There has to be another way in."

She looks around, and he follows her. She checks for another door along the ship's wall, and grows increasingly frustrated when she doesn't see one. She swears again. Then she sees it. A beacon shining from underneath the dirty Potomac. A single door, hidden in a crevice underneath the water. Charon catches her eye.

"Absolutely not."

"Do you see another way in?" she retorts. He looks back at the water.

"At least take some Rad-X," he says. She nods, already opening her pack. She gently tells Dogmeat to stay behind, and he emits a soft whine, even when she pats his head. Charon looks at her exposed, smooth skin and sighs. "Do you have a radiation suit?"

"Nope," she says cheerfully, swallowing a Rad-X, and he groans.


Sunshine's lungs burn, but she can't tell if it's from holding her breath or the radiation. She struggles to get the door open, and her heart sinks in her chest when she sees how much water is still in front of her. Charon doesn't seem to be having any trouble, even pulling her along for the last stretch. When her head breaks the surface, she takes in a beautiful breath of air. She coughs up some of the water she accidentally swallowed, and Charon pats her back.

"Suck it up, smoothskin," he says almost affectionately. "I'd hate to have to give you CPR."

"Hardy-har-har," she says, playfully pushing his arm. His face is close to hers, too close, and she idly wonders if he means it. Charon looks at her for a long moment before pulling himself out of the water. His leather armor clings to his form and she stares at the bare, skinless muscles in fascination.

"I would have killed to have known you when I had to take anatomy," she says. He snorts, offering his hand to pull her up, and she gratefully accepts it. She loses her balance after her jerks her up, and his arms wrap around her waist as if on instinct. She snuggles into his warmth unconsciously, and he clears his throat.

"You ready?" he asks. A faint blush creeps over her cheeks.

"Sorry. You're warm," she mutters. He laughs, removing his shotgun from its holster.

"Let's get this over with so we can dry off and get into a warm bed," he says, and she doesn't ask if it's going to be the same bed.

There are mines and traps all over the place. She almost waltzes into more than a few of them, and would have blown all of her limbs off if it hadn't been for Charon. He takes care of the stray Mirelurks than run around, and Sunshine finds the door she couldn't pick the lock to. She opens it and calls Dogmeat to her, and he happily comes running. Satisfied that her party is together again, they make their way to the back of the ship.

They reach a door and she hits the switch to open it, only to come face to face with an angry looking old man pointing a shotgun in her face.