Gun Powder and Maps – Chapter 9 – Old Resort
House had sent Brooke out to meet up with Boone in order to settle a former NCR uprising. Apparently Camp Golf was not reverting to Mojave Democratic-Republic ideas too well. No communications were going through to the camp and House wanted to know what was going on.
House's old resort at Camp Golf still held a place in his heart and this quelling of passions at the site was important to him. He didn't want his house being burnt down or defiled in any way.
He could've sent his robots to do his bidding, but the old world king needed Brooke out of the way for a few days. House had his own list of tasks he needed to complete. Tasks he didn't want his vault girl to know.
Brooke and Boone passed through the Grub N' Gulp Rest Stop with no sign of anyone there. Normally Fitz and Lupe were around to "cater" to customers, but there was no sign of the two NCR loyalists. This made Brooke nervous as the wasteland made a soft howl across its sands.
The companions were growing closer to Camp Golf and Brooke swallowed hard, feeling trapped inside her usually comforting power armor. Her intuition was telling her something was off, and she spoke quietly to Boone. "I'm worried that this is something completely different than an uprising." ED-E was following unusually close and Boone stared at the robot hard before replying, "I agree. My guts not rolling right either."
A deep silence slowly passed by as the sun reached higher into the sky, baking the destroyed Earth beneath it. Boone had been struggling to find the right words to express himself to the courier and finally spoke up, "I never wanted to follow along with this Mojave Republic bull shit. But it's still the NCR. I don't understand an uprising." Brooke had known Boone wasn't a fan of the MDR, but she was glad he trusted her enough to tell her himself. She sighed and said, "I don't like it either, but you're right. Every other NCR Fort and Camp smoothly converted to the new government. It makes no sense for Camp Golf to be any different."
"Especially amongst the rangers that live there. Rangers have a fierce loyalty."
"Yes. Yes they do."
The small group finally reached the camp, only to come face to face with a haunting desolation. Brooke and Boone walked cautiously amongst the rows of tents, guns at the ready, ED-E buzzing behind. The tents flapped lazily, no one inside of them, abandoned and lonely. Nothing could be seen or heard and the stench of danger permeated the air.
The doors creaked open lazily, opening up into the elaborate lobby of the old House Resort. No voices were heard from upstairs, only silence wafting down from the steps. Dust danced in the sunlight spilling in from the dirty windows, marring the beauty of the old world sanctuary. "I'll check upstairs," Boone said in his normal gruff tone, and Brooke nodded. The sniper stalked away and Brooke walked past the stairs into the west alcove.
The large room was also void of life, and the wastelander softly stepped across the marble flooring. Upon the distant wall hung a large portrait, and Brooke was drawn to it. She removed the metal helmet from her head and stared up at the picture.
It was the figure of House standing in front of a robot. Brooke's heart began to beat a little faster as she approached the portrait closer for a better look. Mr. House was so young and proud in the painting, looking dapper and handsome in his dark sports jacket and white slacks. He was so human; so different looking from what he was now.
Brooke examined the robot feet the young House stood in front of and her green eyes went wide. It was the feet of Liberty Prime! She had fought alongside the large robot in Washington D.C. in order to free the Jefferson Monument and provide the surrounding area with purified water. Liberty Prime was a mechanical feat, and Brooke had admired the craftsmanship and sheer strength that the robot held.
She lost herself to her memories, staring up blindly into the painting. Her lack of perception cost her dearly, not hearing the footsteps behind her, and her world turning black as something hard struck her on the back of the head.
Two securitrons rolled down into the Big Mountain crater, their tires leaving brief trails in the sand before the wind blew them away. The various bags of scrap metal and electronics were carried upon the robots' backs, the blue eyes that Brooke had retrieved kept cold in one of the securitron's chassis. House stared out blindly from the optical cameras on his minions and observed the eerie landscape.
The gray dirt was dotted with a patchwork of what looked like tubes linking each building together, tall tanks and smoke stacks still blowing steam locked into the grid. Standing like a sore thumb right in the center was the silvery domed Think Tank, a beacon of hope and dread, a visual oxymoron in the dead crater. The night sky had fallen, and the blue searchlights that pointed towards the sky lit up the central nervous system building of the whole Big Mountain complex.
It had been a long time since Mr. House had looked upon the facility, a part of his own fortune having previously funded the experiments held within before the Great World. He could only imagine the horrors and what had become of the scientists within, but it was a horror that he was willing to discover. He had not repeatedly sent Brooke out into the wastes to do his bidding for nothing. This was where her efforts were going to come to fruition.
House urged his one wheeled contraptions down into the crater, and they bounced across the uneven flooring speeding into the tangle of metal refuse. A welcoming of robo-scorpions greeted the group with snapping pincers and laser-beam tails at the ready. With a swift launching of rockets from the securitron's shoulders, the metal beasts were eradicated, and the robots travelled further into the big empty. A few police cyber dogs tried to attack the convoy, along with the occasional lobotomite, humans who had been experimented upon, but the securitrons dealt with the threats swiftly, and rolled into the Think Tank practically unscathed.
House could hear the bickering of the scientists as he rolled into the spacious room that the smaller think tank units "lived" in. Control panels and screens lined the sides of the walls, a row of rooms on the far wall, and a large screen behind.
House appeared on one of the Securitron's screens, his ever-smiling face staring upon the huddled group of hovering screens, each with its own brain on top, floating in biogel. House coughed, trying to gain the scientists' attention. With a huge wave of silence, each hovering unit turned, and their screens with pictures of eyes intently swiveled towards Mr. House. One unit travelled up to the Lucky 38's owner, and exclaimed in a deep and somewhat loud voice, "Mr. House! What a… PLEASANT surprise!" House chuckled and said, "Dr. Klein, no need for faked happiness."
"Thank goodness. I do hate civilities. Those are best left to the lobotomites and their many penised hands."
Mr. House tried his best to ignore the absurd comment and spoke up, "Dr. Klein, I need you and your team to create something for me. Call it a… favor that you owe me for all the money I wasted putting into your failed and absurd experiments."
"Our life work was not a FAILURE."
"They did not stop the Great War." Dr. Klein felt inclined to defend himself, to turn the volume knob on his mouth screen and shout that he had made great leaps in the field of science, but the man on the screen in front of him had more power than he liked to remember.
The other scientists had gathered around, to listen to the conversation, the Think tank administrator, Klein, quelling his anger and replying, "What project would you like for our glorious minds to perform?" The securitrons dropped their loads of material to the floor and Mr. House smiled to himself in his thoughts as he said aloud, "I need you to make me a body."
House's secret has been let out of the bag! So exciting! Isn't it? Thank-you to everyone, and WELCOME to all the new followers I've gained! I'm honored by you joining to watch my story. As always, leave any thoughts, statements and comments. All story progress updates are on my profile page.