Echoes of Eras Past
Oo000ooo000oO
Chapter Twenty Six
Oo000ooo000oO
Bracing her feet against the wing, Molly cinched the ballast strap as tight as she could. Satisfied that it was secure, she pushed off the wing and swam upwards until she had a good view of the bomber.
"Okay, the ballast has been secured, everything is tightened down, and all of the connections are good." she thought as she mentally went over the checklist of what you had to do to secure inflatable ballast to a sunken airplane. "All that's left is to release the buoy and swim back to shore."
Flipping herself so she was facing heads- down, Molly swam down to the starboard wing root where she had fastened the ballast. Reaching into the bag, she pulled out the receiver buoy and it's spool of very thin wire. Making sure that it was clear of the wing, she pulled the pull cord on the buoy and it's attached balloon inflated with a hiss of released gas.
Molly released the buoy and held onto the spool, making sure that it unwound smoothly as the buoy ascended to the surface. When the wire stopped, she pulled a couple of arm lengths extra off so it had some slack, then stuffed the spool back in the ballast bag.
Taking a moment to access her Pip Boy's navigational suite, Molly got herself oriented in the right direction and began swimming.
Oo000ooo000oO
"Now you're getting' it." Sara said as she tread water while she coached Ami on how to swim. "Just keep doing what you're doing and you'll be okay."
Ami would have said something back, but didn't for two reasons: One, she was doing a freestyle stroke and wasn't really in a position to able to talk and swim without getting a lung full of water, and two, she was concentrating on keeping her arms and legs going in the proper rhythm for doing the freestyle stroke.
Sara heard the water next to her bubble and she looked over in time to see Molly surface from the depths of Lake Meade.
"Hey, Fatass." Sara greeted her. "How was your swim?"
"Uneventful." replied Molly after she pulled the re-breather off. "I didn't know that Ami knew how to swim."
"She does now." Sara told her, and checked back on her student to see that Ami had managed to swim a good distance away. "Hey! Crazy Bitch! You're too far out, turn it around!"
In the distance Molly saw Ami stop, turn around, spot her, yelp something that sounded like her name, and started swimming at them full bore.
"Not bad for a first time swimmer." Molly observed as Ami came at them like a torpedo. "You taught her well."
"I think that's just because she saw you." Sara replied. "I'm more worried about whether or not she knows how to stop in time."
"Well, it looks like we're going to find out." Molly said as Ami closed in on them.
As it turned out, she didn't know how to stop as she crashed into Molly and sending them both backwards while leaving Sara sputtering from being splashed by a face full of water.
"Molly! Molly! Molly! Molly!" Ami chanted as Molly struggled to keep them both from sinking. "Did you find it?"
"Yes, Ami, I did." Molly told her. "And while I would normally not mind you glomping on to me, I can't keep us both afloat."
Ami blinked as she realized just what kind of predicament that she had put herself and her girlfriend in.
"Oh." she said as she let go, a trace of disappointment in her voice. "Sorry, Molly."
"It's okay." Molly reassured her. "We can snuggle when we get back onshore."
"Yaaay!" Ami cheered.
Ami then turned to ask Sara something, only to get splashed in the face by her.
"Ha! Now we're even." Sara crowed to the now Ami.
"What did I do?" Ami asked, bewildered how things had taken a ninety degree turn on her.
"You splashed me in the face when you swam up here." Sara informed her. "I was just paying you back."
"Oh." Ami said.
Then she splashed Sara back.
Shock spread across Sara's face as she stared at Ami, who gave her a goofy grin. "Got ya!" she said.
"Oh, you little-" Sara sputtered, then splashed Ami back.
Ami shrieked as she got splashed, then responded in kind. Sara responded, and then it went downhill from there as it descended into a full on splash fight. Molly watched the two of them splash at each other for a minute or two, then a grin lit her face as an idea occurred to her.
Putting the re-breather back on, Molly quietly sank beneath the waves unnoticed by the other two. Once submerged, she was able to see what the splash fight looked like from beneath the surface: A flurry of kicking legs stirring up a small maelstrom of bubbles, with the shrieks of the two of them distorted by the water mixed in with the slap of their hands on the water.
It was easy to figure out who was who, under the water, even though it didn't really matter with what she planned on doing: Ami was the kicking pair of white legs with the occasional flash of purple showing that the carpet did match the drapes while Sara was the dark tan legs with a flash of black.
Kicking her way forward, Molly swam to where she was just underneath them, close enough so that she was within arm's reach, but far enough away that she wouldn't get kicked by an errant foot. Staying there, she waited for the right moment.
That moment wasn't long in coming. The splashing and shrieking died down and they quit kicking and thrashing. She heard Sara start to ask where the Fatass went, and Molly knew it was her chance. Kicking her way upwards, she reached up and slapped a hand on each of their asses, giving them each a good squeeze as she did so.
Ami's rear was it's perfect mix of tight and perky mixed with just the right amount of jiggle, while Sara's was surprisingly firm and toned. Above her, there were twin outraged shrieks as both of them rose up in the water. Kicking away from them, Molly surfaced well out of splashing distance.
"I win." she told them after yanking off the re-breather, grinning triumphantly.
Sara looked at her for a second, then glanced at Ami.
"Truce?" she asked, nodding her head at Molly.
"Truce." Ami agreed.
"Uh oh.'' Molly said as the both of them started swimming towards her.
Oo000ooo000oO
Molly beat them back to the shore, climbing onto the pier as Sara and Ami came swimming up.
"I win again."" she announced as she drained the re-breather out, having not put it back into place before she started swimming back.
Sara's response was swipe her arm at the water, sending an arc of water splashing into Molly. She looked down and sighed.
"Okay, you got me." Molly admitted.
"Ha!" Sara crowed. "I finally got you, Fatass!"
Molly chuckled and stretched. "Yes, you did." she said. "Anyways, I was going to ask, you guys hungry? All that swimming worked up an appetite."
"Fuck yeah, I'm hungry." Sara said. "How about you, Crazy Bitch?"
"Huh?" Ami asked, having been distracted by Molly stretching.
"Are you hungry?" Sara repeated the question "For food, not pussy."
Ami blinked and shook her head. "Oh, yeah." she said. "Yeah, I'm hungry."
"Ah, good." Molly said. "You two climb on out. I'll go rustle up something to eat."
While Molly headed off to the campsite, Sara and Ami climbed out of the water onto the pier. Sitting on the edge of the pier, Sara untied the repellent bundle from around her waist and Ami did the same.
"By the way, you did good with the swimming." Sara told her as she untied the cloth bundle from the cord.
"I did?" Ami asked. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Sara told her. "By the way, you'll want to untie and empty out your little bundle when you're done."
"How come?" Ami asked as she started to untie the cord around her waist.
"That's so you can reuse the cloth and cord." Sara answered.
"Oh."
Getting her bundle untied, Sara unrolled it and dumped the sodden lump of plant matter into the water, shaking it a couple of times to remove the crumbs.
"I don't know you, but I think I know what I'm doing after I eat." Sara told Ami as she stood up.
"What's that?" Ami asked as she picked a knot loose with her finger.
"I'm just gonna lie back and get some sun." Sara told her. "You ever do that?"
"Oh, lots of times." Ami replied. "I don't know if I'm going to be able to join you-it depends on what Molly want's to do."
"Ah."
Oo000ooo000oO
"Hey, Boone." Molly said to Boone as she walked up to the camp.
"Molly." he replied, pointedly taking pains to not look at her from the neck down.
"You know, Boone, you've seen me naked before." Molly pointed out as she dropped the re-breather on the ground and dug into her pack. "There's no need to be bashful."
"I don't think it's right, to ogle a woman when she's naked." Boone countered.
"Boone, you're not doing anything wrong." Molly explained as she pulled out the detonator that Loyal had given her. "You're not being a peeping Tom. You're out where I can see you, I know you're there, and I don't care that you can see me naked. Hell, I don't think anyone in the party with that except you."
Boone grunted in reply. Molly meanwhile, stood up, armed the detonator, and pulled the trigger.
"It didn't work." Boone commented, changing the subject.
"Oh, it did." Molly told him as she tossed the detonator aside. "It's just gonna take a minute before it surfaces. I was gonna make something to eat. You hungry?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, then, that makes the vote unanimous." Molly said as she turned and headed for where Suzanne was tethered.
"Aren't you going to put some clothes on first?" Boone asked from behind her.
"Nope." Molly answered him. "I want to dry off."
"Oh."
Oo000ooo000oO
After everyone had ate, they had a small council on what to do next. After some discussion, they decided that they would spend the rest of the day there by the lake and head back in the morning.
The meeting adjourned shortly afterward when Ami grabbed Molly and drug her off to the shack for some "private time".
"Hey." Sara said as she came up to where Boone was seated on a rock.
"Hey."
The silence following their brief interaction stretched on, heavy as an anvil, until Sara spoke again.
"Decided to be upwind so you didn't have to hear Fatass and her girlfriend fuck, huh?" she asked.
"Yup."
Sara frowned, took a deep breath, and exhaled noisily.
"You know, you're real conversational today, you know that?" she asked rhetorically.
"Don't feel like talking." Boone answered.
"Why?" Sara asked, pressing the issue.
"Because I was uncomfortable."
Sara arched an eyebrow at him. "You know, most guys would have been falling all over themselves to be around a bunch of naked women."
"I'm not most guys." Boone countered.
"I noticed." Sara shot back. "Just what is your problem, anyways?"
Boone gave an irritated grunt and stood up.
"Don't think you can walk away from this." Sara told him. "I got nothing better to do. I'll follow your grumpy ass around."
"Really?" Boone asked, turning to face her and almost averting his gaze before realizing that she was dressed.
"Yeah." Sara told him. "It's either this, or lay around the camp and listen to Fatass and her girlfriend have screaming orgasm after screaming orgasm."
Boone blanched at that thought and quickly shifted gears. "Okay, that makes sense." he said.
"Told ya." Sara said. "Anyways, so what's your problem?"
Boone took a long, deep, breath and slowly let it out as he gathered his thoughts. "If you must know, I don't think that it would be fair to the memory of my wife, and the Wasteland has punished me enough-"
"Boone." Sara interrupted him. "I get you feel guilty for what happened- it was a pretty shitty thing to do. And as someone who was there- it ain't your fault."
Boone looked up at her in surprise as Sara plowed on. "We're Khan's. There are no noncombatants in a Khan village. All those women and children that got shot? They would have put a bullet in your ass if you gave them half a chance.
And as for what happened to your wife- her getting kidnapped wasn't your fault. It was that bitch that Fatass helped you cap that did it. And dwelling on is not gonna do you any good."
Boone narrowed his eyes at her. "And how do you know that?" he asked.
Sara arched an eyebrow at him and cocked her hip defiantly. "You're not the only one whose had shitty things happen to them, big guy." she pointed out. "Remember, in that week before the massacre my parents had gotten killed and I got raped for the first time. Staying stuck in the past isn't gonna bring my parent's back or stop Scrapper and his guys holding me down and running a train on me.
Here's a piece of advice my dad told me: If bad shit happens to you and it don't kill ya, ya get back up, dust yourself off, and keep going. And if you run into whatever or whoever fucked your shit up again, make 'em regret it."
"What do you I have been doing?" Boone asked.
Sara shrugged. "Going through the motions, mostly." she answered. "You're either glowering in the corner, shooting Legion, or sulking about how things went to shit a while back. I can tell you what you're not doing."
"And that is?" Boone asked.
"Living." Sara told him.
"You're one to talk." Boone pointed out to her. "What do you think you've been doing?"
"Living." Sara answered. "I live. I usually don't know what the hell I'm gonna be doing the next day, but I know what I'm doing that day. When the sun rises, my goal is to beat whatever the Wasteland throws at me, and to get a leg up however I can.
When I went with Jesup, it was because there was caps in it. If I blow a guy in an old house somewhere, it's because I'm gonna come out ahead in some way. And that's one of the reasons why I'm sticking with Fatass, because I'm getting, guns, gear, food, and safety. Does that answer your question?"
"Yes." Boone said after a moment's reflection. "But do you know how I can move on?"
Sara shrugged and pointed off to the ridge in the distance. "Bitter Springs is over there." she said. "Maybe when we get this thing done we can go there and find some answers. Who knows."
"Okay." Boone said. "Let's try that."
Oo000ooo000oO
Their trip back was, thankfully, uneventful. Though when they got back to Nellis they did see a party of Boomers outside the fence digging with shovels.
"What's up with that?" Molly asked the Boomer on duty at the gate, jerking her thumb at the crew digging.
"Huh?" the guard asked, looking over at the crew. "Oh. That. A couple of Legion were trying to sneak in. One of the 81mm crews tagged them."
"Ah." Molly said. "Good work."
"I'll pass that along to the sentries and the mortar crew." the guard said. "By the way, Pearl's wanting to talk to you."
"I imagine she is." Molly said.
Leaving the gate behind, Molly split off from the rest of the party and headed for Pearl's barracks. When she got there Raquel was waiting for her.
"Mother Pearl would like to speak-" she began.
"Yeah, yeah. I know." Molly interrupted her. "Your guy at the gate told me already. He also told me how you guys picked off that Legion patrol."
"Did he." Raquel said.
"Yeah." Molly continued. "Good work."
"Thank you." Raquel said.
Molly nodded and mounted the steps to Pearl's barracks. "Anyways, I gotta go talk to your boss."
"Go ahead, outsider." Raquel told her. "We can talk later."
"See ya."
Climbing the steps, Molly knocked on the door as Raquel walked away.
"Come in." Pearl's voice said from within.
Opening the door, she stepped inside. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darker interior of the barracks, but when they did she saw that both Pearl and Loyal were standing in the living room.
"Hello, outsider." Pearl began. "Loyal tells me that the locator beacon on the ballast has activated. I assume that, coupled with your return means that you were successful?"
Molly nodded. "Yeah." she said. "It was a hell of a swim, but I was able to get it done."
Loyal nodded. "I take it that the re-breather that Jack made worked?" he asked.
"Like a charm." Molly told him. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask. How are you gonna get that thing over here?"
"I sent some of our robots out to retrieve it." answered Loyal.
"I see." Molly said, then turned her attention to Pearl. "I assume that's what you wanted to talk to me about?" she asked.
"That was one of the things I wished to discuss with you, yes." Pearl answered. "The other is something I wish to talk to you about alone..."
"And that's my cue to leave." Loyal said as he turned to face the door. "I got a lot to do, what with the impending arrival of the Lady and all..."
Pearl waited until the door had closed behind him before continuing.
"Okay." Molly said. "We're alone. What is it?"
Pearl took a breath before she spoke. "When you first came to us, outsider, I was questioning of your motives, especially considering how you arrived."
The corner of Molly's mouth quirked up into a smile as she recalled her sneaking up on Raquel as she stood at her post.
"But, your subsequent actions, along with those of your companions, have proven that your intentions towards us are good. What you and your companions have did are nothing short of miracles, child, and if there is anything we can do for you, all you have to do is ask."
"Well, thank you, Pearl." Molly said with a smile. "I'm glad we were able to help."
Pearl nodded as Molly stretched, the vertebra in her back popping audibly.
"Anyways, I'm gonna get back to my people." she said. "We were gonna camp here for the night and head back to New Vegas in the morning. We got some stuff to take care of there, and I was hoping to have quality time with my girlfriend."
Pearl chuckled quietly and a slight smile creased her face. "The purple haired girl?"
"Ami? Yeah." Molly answered with a nod. "You don't have a problem with the fact that she and I are an item?"
Pearl shook her head. "No, not at all. At least I don't." she said. "There were some among us who had an issue with it, but your actions have silenced their complaints."
"oh. Glad to hear it." Molly said.
"It's a legacy from when we were in the Vault." Pearl continued. "The Vault's survival depended on your pairing up and having children, so those of us who were... of a different type learned to put those feelings aside or just stayed single."
The way that Pearl said that statement tickled something in Molly's brain and she arched an eyebrow as she gave the tribal matriarch a questioning look.
"You're..." Molly asked.
Pearl nodded. "Yes." she said. "If I was thirty years younger, I wouldn't have minded having a go with you."
"Oh." Molly said, surprised. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Pearl told her.
"So you, ah, stayed single I take it?" Molly asked.
Pearl nodded. "Yes." she said. "I was never able to find someone who could reciprocate my feelings, and then I became leader, and I've had my hands full with that ever since."
"Ah."
Pearl sighed and gave a wistful smile. "Anyways, there's no need to listen to n old woman ramble about her past. Go rest, you and your companions have earned it."
"Thank you." Molly told her. "It was nice talking with you."
"Likewise, child." Pearl said.
Exiting Pearl's barracks, Molly stopped at the bottom of the stairs and sighed.
"Thirty years ago I wouldn't have minded running into her either." she thought. "Might have saved me a bit of trouble later on down the road. Of course, I wouldn't have met Ami, so I can't really complain, can I?"
Oo000ooo000oO
END.