Pro Posterus 14
Sand stung Jessica's eyes. It burned her skin and filled her nose and mouth, making her cough. The jagged red alien landscape of the Divide stretched before her, the world's hostile innards exposed to the unrelenting wind. The canyon stretched for miles, nearly to the horizon, and thousands of feet deep. All of New Vegas could have fit inside the gaping wound.
It was Jessica's legacy. She was responsible, and though she didn't remember the event itself, that knowledge had kept her up during the darkest night. It made her sick to think of it, but she bore the guilt anyway. It was the least she owed him.
Ulysses… her counterpart. Her foil. The other courier Six. Though the Divide was Jessica's responsibility, it was Ulysses' burden. The wandering man, a former Legion Frumentarius, had devoted himself to the Divide. He was its caretaker. Its silent guardian. Its protection seemed to Jessica to be the only thing left in his life, and that fact saddened her. Yet she also understood that Ulysses, almost uniquely among the Mojave denizens, lived by a code. He seemed to value duty more than life. Work more than joy, and honor more than fulfillment.
He was also an enigma. Intriguing to Jessica on many levels. He spoke in riddles and thought in complicated knots. She had only just managed to convince him not to blow the NCR to hell using the vast array of nuclear missiles hidden in the divide, but he didn't seem to care for the Legion either, having outgrown both, in some way. She strongly suspected that he saw the entire war as ridiculous. And more ridiculous to him was her own goal: putting House on top.
But his voice… Jessica respected her abilities. She knew the effect she had on people. She was well aware of the strength of her influence. She had convinced entire nations to stand down, Legionaries to stop fighting, and water to run uphill. But Ulysses' deep hypnotic voice put her to shame. She had never encountered someone who could influence her in the way she influenced others. The man carried power in his voice as sure as she did, and when with a few simple phrases he'd told her he was going to blow up the NCR, it had taken all of her will not to sink to her knees before him and simply let it happen. If he'd simply asked her to stand aside, she knew she would have.
And if he'd asked her to die? To throw herself off the edge of the Divide?
Well she couldn't honestly laugh that idea off, and that fact said enough by itself. Because of his voice, because of their history together, because of her guilt, and his conviction, she knew that she would do anything the man asked. That fact made her terribly, terribly frightened of him.
The figure was sitting in his usual spot, at the very edge of a seventy-five foot drop. Below him, spreading into the distance was the Divide. She hadn't gotten within ten feet of him before he spoke, and she felt shivers run down her spine.
"Full circle. Walked your road. Now back again. Something else in you needing an answer?"
"I need…" she paused, unsure how or where to start. "Look… how much do you know about me?"
"We've walked the same road. I from the east, you from the west. The Bull and the Bear, though you stand for neither. Circle Junction, New Reno, Vault City, Fort Abandon, brahmin drives at the Big Circle…"
"Have you ever heard of a man named Burke?"
The answer came, swift and firm. "No."
"A Frumentarius." Jessica added, keeping her distance. "Please, Ulysses. This is important! He knew me, from before all of …this." she gestured vaguely at the gaping wound. "Who is he? Who am I?"
"You know already."
Jessica blinked, absorbed his statement, and adjusted accordingly. "Who was I?"
The man stayed silent, his dreadlocks buffeted by the harsh wind. All of a sudden he stood, facing her. His eyes, staring at her from just above his gas mask, bored into her very soul. Slowly, as if lifting the weight of the world, he extended an arm straight out and pointed to the cyclopean fissure which stretched to the dust-filled horizon.
"That was a mistake!" Jessica replied, though she could not muster the will to put any conviction behind her own defense.
"Was it?" Ulysses asked.
"How could anyone do that deliberately?" She demanded. "Why would anyone do that deliberately? Knowing what it would destroy? Why would I do that?"
He frowned, those indomitable eyes narrowed. Then they widened in shock.
"Odysseus." He answered.
"What?"
The male courier's eyes wandered away, focused on the task of ferocious recollection.
"Who is Odysseus?" Jessica asked.
"Don't know." He answered, his frown deepening. He turned away and stared out across the divide.
"How does it relate to me?"
"Can't remember…" he paused, frowning with the effort of recollection. Jessica knew she was asking a lot. He had so many memoires to sift through. Half of her envied him, the other half, pitied. He said, "Only in tales… before he was Caesar… abandoned…"
"It?"
"A place. Southeast. Beyond the Bull. Decades ago…" he took a few steps forward, sinking back down onto the ruined stone. "To remember before my time…before the Legion's time… impossible. I am sorry, Courier. No more answers here. Search elsewhere."
"Leave?" Jessica demanded. "But-"
"Leave." He commanded, and Jessica, despite all of her curiosity, obeyed.
Ulysses gathered his duster about himself and turned up his collar to keep out the wind. He stared out across the divide, and tried to remember.
Paranoia had set Jessica's mind on fire, and as she passed through the city of New Vegas, she couldn't help but scan the alleys of Freeside for any sign of the pinstriped suit. Twice she ducked into a shop, or the mouth of an alleyway, sure that she was being followed, but she managed to make it to the Lucky 38 without incident.
The moment she entered the building, she walked up to the nearest guarding Securitron.
"Victor?"
The cowboy's cartoonish grin flashed onto the screen, replacing the soldier's stern expression.
"Well howdy, Ma-"
"Save it. I want our guard doubled." Jessica ordered. "Send patrols across Hoover Dam, and down south to Cottonwood Cove. If you see anyone who looks even slightly suspicious, I want to know about it, alright? Everything you see and hear.
"Yes Ma'am." The Robot saluted, and the face promptly disappeared, leaving the stern soldier behind. Jessica headed up the elevator. As she reached for the button, the hairs on the back of her neck rose, and she turned away, examining the darkest corners of the bar.
"Victor?"
"Yes Ma'am?"
"Has anyone been in or out before I got back? Have the doors opened at all?" she asked.
"No Ma'am."
She gave the shadows one last searching look, and then headed up the elevator to speak with Mister House.
"Jessica, a pleasure to see you again. How was your little break?" House asked. "Have we resolved our …issues?"
"What do you know about Odysseus?"
House paused. Jessica stood in front of his monitor, her arms crossed as she tapped her foot impatiently.
"Odysseus?"
She nodded, and felt her hopes rise as he paused in contemplative silence.
"The Greek hero?"
"I doubt it." She replied dryly. She began to pace back and forth in front of his monitor. "He said it was a Place. Do you know of any places named Odysseus?"
"A crater on Saturn's moon, Tethys ."
"Yes," she snapped sarcastically. "And I'm sure Caesar's been there."
"Watch your tone, Jessica. You are requesting my help."
"And you're beyond useless!" she shot back, her volume rising rapidly. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, calming herself down . "Sorry. This is all just… very tense."
House stayed silent. She crossed to the bar and poured herself a glass of scotch, listening to the ice cubes –a delicacy only available to House and the White Glove society- clink gently against the walls of the glass. It was warm going down, and settled comfortably in her stomach. The weight of the glass was reassuring, and she used it was a bastion around which she could center herself.
She turned back to the monitor. House's face was still plastered upon it, his subtle smirk and intelligent eyes following her around the room.
"I just want to know who I am." She tried to explain further. "Both Burke and Uly- my friend, rather, said that I might have been a very …bad …person." It was a rather weak admission, but for once her golden tongue was failing her. "He certainly has evidence to back it up..." she muttered, more to herself than to the monitor.
Still, House stayed silent.
Feeling defeated, she turned and marched towards the staircase. "You know what," she said, "I'll come back later. Maybe I'll run into Burke again in the meantime, and he can answer my questions."
House spoke for the first time since her earlier outburst. "Patience, Jessica. One of my patrols just found your sniper, Craig Boone, trying to make his way past Boulder city."
"What?" she whirled around, her arms uncrossing. "Is he alright?"
"Burnt, bleeding both internally, and from multiple lacerations. He is suffering from Advanced Radiation Poisoning and multiple bruised and cracked bones…" as he droned onwards, she found herself sinking numbly onto the staircase, unable to tear her eyes from the monitor. She felt as if the world had suddenly taken off leaving her fumbling and directionless. She barely heard house's words as he finished; "He's been brought to Doctor Usanagi at the New Vegas Medical Clinic. Your friends have already been informed-"
But Jessica was already racing out the door.
Raul was waiting for her at the front entrance of the clinic. Aside from a neutral greeting of "Hey, Boss." He said nothing at all. But lead her silently through the doors and down the hall into a secluded room. A medical cot had been set up at the center. Arcade was on one side, and Usanagi at the other. Both were working frantically, pumping their patient full of Med-X and stimpacks. Arcade's gloved hands were covered in blood. That fact in combination with the tray of used medical tools meant he'd obviously just completed some unknowable procedure on the inert sniper.
A hand gripped Jessica's shoulder. Cass had been standing by the door when she'd barged in, and the caravaner was giving her a sympathetic look, but could offer nothing more. They worked in silence until at last, Usanagi stepped away.
"He's out, Jessica." Arcade said gently, doing the same. She felt Cassidy's hand on her arm, pulling her back until she collapsed into her chair. She stared at the sniper's pale face. His eyes were shut, and his breathing erratic.
"Is he stable?" Cass asked in a subdued tone.
Arcade nodded. "I need to get some more supplies from the Followers…"
"I'll come with you."
"Wait…" Jessica pleaded, her voice plaintive. Arcade paused in mid-stride.
"How did… what happened to him?"
"I don't know." Arcade said, reaching into his pocket, "But Victor said that these were found with him." he handed her a pair of horribly familiar tortoiseshell glasses."
Jessica took them wordlessly, turning them over in her hands.
"Any idea what it means?" Arcade asked.
She shook her head, afraid to open her mouth. If she did, she knew that she'd start to cry. How could one meeting with a complete stranger screw up her life so completely? Don't be shocked, she told herself harshly, afterall you do the same thing to other people all the time…
"Jessica?" Arcade asked again, recognizing her reaction. He was well aware she knew something, but before he could pry Cass tugged irresistibly on his arm. and the two of them exited without another word, leaving Jessica alone to listen to Boone's short breaths. She stared at him, hugging herself and trying to deal with the emotional shock running through her.
"I'm sorry, Craig." She whispered, trying to drown out the silence.
A short time later, the door behind her opened again. Veronica was silhouetted in the frame, watching both of them with a pensive expression. The former scribe moved slowly into the room. Jessica watched her with a wary eye, but the woman was wearing a completely neutral expression, betraying no hints of her inner thoughts. The two of them hadn't spoken since their argument in the Lucky 38… nearly a week ago? Had it been that long? They'd spoken all the time before she'd destroyed the Hidden Valley bunker complex.
"What happened to him?" Veronica asked as Jessica silently slipped the glasses out of view.
"We don't know yet." Jessica told her, her voice cracking as she did so. It was a partial truth. Better than a lie, and less painful than reality.
And Veronica saw right through it. "What did you do?"
"I… we kissed and then he…" she gulped back her tears and scowled defiantly. "He left."
"And then this happened." Veronica gestured at the unconscious sniper. She turned back to Jessica. "That's not the whole story, is it?"
"Lay off, Veronica!" Jessica snarled, rising angrily to her feet. "Just shut up! I don't want to hear it!"
The scribe's eyes traveled down Jessica's arm, to her balled fist. She nodded slowly. "Whose are those?"
Jessica paled; her fingers were curled tightly around the horn-rimmed glasses. She tossed them angrily to the floor, shattering one of the lenses, and stomped out, feeling the onslaught of inevitable tears.
She was crying by the time she reached the parking lot. The sun was hidden behind a row of low ruins, throwing the sky into an array of orange and yellow. She pulled a bandana from the pocket of her sleeveless duster, and pressed it into her eyes, trying to stem the tears. Her nose was running too, and she found herself laughing at the mental image: House's impeccable negotiator reduced to a sniveling mess. No more than she deserved. Far more than she deserved, probably.
The door swung open, and Veronica joined her, staring across the parking lot. She was holding the glasses loosely in her grasp. They stood in silence, watching the setting sun and the orange sky.
"A couple days ago I had a conversation in Freeside." Jessica told her, wiping her nose. "There was a man. Named Burke. Or called himself Burke. It wasn't his real name. I don't know who he was, but he wasn't…. a mark or anything. He was like me, I guess."
"Like you?"
Jessica sniffed and smirked, feeling disgust fill her. "A manipulative bastard. He was dangerous, and…"
"And?"
"I told you about what happened at the divide? Well he… he knew me from before. From back then. I don't know what he wants with me, but… I don't know… I just… did I bring this on him?" Jessica's head sank into her palms. "On Boone, I mean? On the Divide? Every time I try to help I just keep hurting more people!"
"Well… not every time." Veronica said, feeling moved to offer some measure of comfort.
"What does he want with me?" she demanded, gesturing at the glasses. "Why? He put those there? What is he saying? What is he doing? Why Boone?!"
Veronica rubbed her chin. "Well when you talked to him, did he say what he wanted?"
"He wanted to move on House. What does hurting Craig have to do with that?"
"Does this Burke guy know that you lost your memory? This might be a test of some kind. I don't like …some… of the stuff you've done, Jessica." The scribe said carefully. "But you do care. If you didn't before, he might be watching for the difference. Trying to figure out whether or not you're you."
"Jesus Christ…" Jessica murmured after the suggestion sunk in.
"Just a thought." Veronica said mildly.
Yo guys. Been a while since the last update.
Ulysses' voice is the greatest thing about the Lonesome Road, and to be honest, it's kinda partly where I got the idea for Jessica's powers of 'suggestion'.
So… how 'bout those presidential debates, huh? Not that I want to drag politics into this, but… Wowzers.