I disclaim, therefore I am

"Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them." – Steve Jobs

For the young engineer, watching the Brotherhood work was a sight to behold. The efficiency with which the scribes relayed instructions to the knights, the methodical workmanship on the various systems… everything. Around her they displayed a kind of quiet respect, taking her instructions without a word of protest. The broadcast facility had been a wreck when they had occupied it; in just four days it was essentially up to par.

She had especially enjoyed witnessing a group of knights using power armour to lift and carry a repaired satellite dish – which must have weighed tens of tonnes – over to a waiting vertibird, which was then used to hoist it into place like some makeshift crane. She had never witnessed repairs on this scale and, setting aside the whole 'end of the world' scenario that continued to loom over them, she was rather glad for the privilege.

It was certainly a story to tell if she survived all of this.

"Hey Red. Miss me?" A familiar voice called, causing Ruby to look up from the console she was tweaking with a beaming smile.

"'Ronica!" She rushed over to the scribe and nearly tackled her to the floor with her hug. The last four days had been fun, but somewhat hollow without Veronica.

"Well, this is a pleasant welcome; none of the guys over at the test site ever hug me as hard as you." The brunette chuckled, hugging her friend back. "Not that they ever actually hug me… but that's beside the point."

"How is it over there?" The redhead asked.

"Same old, same old." Veronica gave an airy wave. "Bunch of headless chickens that'd fall to pieces without yours truly around." She gave a casual shrug. "Chris is alright; as rough as that guy can be with people, he know his stuff about rockets."

"That's good." Ruby replied, rather lamely as the two lapsed into an awkward silence.

\I am also here, if you would care to know./ Vince interceded dryly, causing Ruby to look over at the floating robot with a grin.

"It's good to see you too Vince." She greeted with a roll of her eyes. "Been keeping 'Ronica in line?" She ignored the indignant 'Hey!' from said brunette.

\As much as one can, anyway./ The A.I responded good-naturedly, also ignoring the much louder 'Hey!' from the scribe.

"It's not fair when you two gang up on me." Veronica groused, crossing her arms petulantly for a moment. She quickly sobered though, turning to Ruby with a grimace. "All fun aside though, you know what me being here means right?"

Ruby's smile evaporated in an instant. "The rocket's ready?"

The scribe nodded grimly. "As soon as they get the go ahead from the scribes here, they're going to start; that means they want you over there as soon as possible."

Ruby sighed out her resignation, biting her lip for a moment before nodding. "Everything's done here." She walked over and picked up a holodisk from a nearby console." I just need to upload this to the navigation computer at Repconn and everything's good to go." She admitted reluctantly.

"Why does it have to be you, Ruby?" Veronica muttered, causing the girl to look up in surprise.

"'Ronica…" The redhead didn't get the chance to speak though.

"No really; why you?" She pleaded. "You could take the Pip-boy off! Any Knight could go up there and do it. I think-" She was forcefully cut off from further pleas when Ruby stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the girl, silencing her instantly.

"Please 'Ronica, don't make this any harder." She murmured into the girl's collar.

The scribe shuddered for a few moments before going slack, returning the hug with resignation. "It's not fair." She muttered. "It shouldn't be you."

Ruby looked down when they separated, unable to meet the other girl's eye. "This was all my mistake, it's my responsibility to fix it." When she looked up she bore a weak, unconvincing smile. "Besides, who else could I trust to do all this?" Her humourless chuckle plucked at Veronica's heart. "One of your scribes might mess it up."

Veronica was about to say something to the contrary, maybe a weak protest that the scribes could handle it, or that he Brotherhood had the resources to make it work no matter what. However Ruby didn't let her, giving a painfully forced grin as she lifted a hand. "Oh, on that note!" She chirped with faux enthusiasm. "I got you guys something." She walked back over to where she had been working and reaching into her satchel. "Presents, I guess."

Veronica's frown deepened. "Ruby, don't make it out like this is some kind of good-"

"Vince!" The redhead interrupted, ignoring Veronica's protests as she hurried over to the eyebot. "I'm not entirely sure how well this will work, but if it does I think you'll like it." She held up an odd, dome-like device that was glowing with soft blue light.

\Ruby, what exactly is that?/ He questioned suspiciously; it didn't look like any kind of technology he recognised.

This time the redhead's smile was a bit more real. "It's a hologram projector; I've been fiddling around with it for the past four days and had the idea to integrate it into your systems." She skirted around the machine and opened up its back panel. "If it works, then…" She slotted the modified projector inside the eyebot and quickly began to mess around with the internal components "…you should have…" She'd already mapped out how she was going to do this in her head so it only took a few moments "… a real body!"

With a small fizz a blue figure suddenly appeared in the room, a see-through projection of a handsome man in a suave suit standing perfectly still.

Ruby stepped back, admiring it with a nervous smile. "Sorry I didn't have time to adjust any of the visuals, but there were a few pre-sets; this is the cashier." The figure flickered, changing to one of the armoured security holograms that had been a bane to Ruby in the clinic. It changed again, this time to a beautiful young woman in a stunning dress, then finally back to the cashier.

\This… is an interesting gift./ Vince intoned slowly as the hologram slowly began to move its transparent limbs; jerkily and awkward at first, but that was to be expected. It was odd though as, despite her looking at the hologram, Vince's voice still came from the eyebot; that would take some getting used to. \Where did you get this?/

"The Sierra Madre." Ruby explained as Veronica prodded the hologram experimentally, yelping when it yielded resistance. "A lot of the technology was really advanced there; this in particular caught my eye."

The holographic Vince slowly curled its hand into a fist in short, twitchy motions before unfurling it. \Thank you, this is very thoughtful./ He took a step forward only to plant his foot awkwardly and stumble. \Well…/ He started as he righted himself \...the programming is certainly advanced./

Ruby just grinned. "Glad you like it." Her smile faded once again as Veronica stopped poking Vince and turned to look at her. "Um Vince, could you, uh, wait for us in the Vertibird?" The hologram looked between the two before nodding jerkily.

\Of course./ He walked off awkwardly, struggling to adjust to bipedal movement after getting used to simply hovering everywhere.

When he was gone Veronica shyly moved forward, refusing to meet Ruby's eye. "So…" She began lamely, looking up with a mix of curiosity and reluctance. "You've got something for me?" She tried a weak smile of her own, but it was every bit as unconvincing as the engineer's. "I hope it's a dress."

"Not quite." Ruby rummaged around in her satchel again and withdrew something Veronica definitely had not been expecting.

The look of surprise on her face was all the redhead needed. "Is that…"

Ruby grinned, genuinely this time. "Yeah, I've had a lot of time to mess around with mine, and… well, the Brotherhood pretty much allowed me to order anything I liked in during the repairs so the parts weren't hard to find." She tucked some hair behind her ear. "Do you like it?"

Veronica didn't even look up, unable to tear her gaze away from the fully-functional Pip-boy 3000 in her hands. Ruby shifted awkwardly at the prolonged silence. "I thought that it might be a bit much, or maybe… you wouldn't like the model; I mean, the wiring's a bit rough and I just had to port over the programming from mine; I didn't have the time after all to-"

"Shut up you idiot." Veronica interrupted softly, stepping forward to wrap the redhead up in her arms. "I love it."

Ruby froze for a moment before relaxing into the embrace. "Good." She sighed as they separated. "I mean, I wanted to give it to you at a good time and… well, there may not be a better time than now."

Veronica gave a cocky smirk. "Oh come on, don't make it sound like you're walking to your death or anything." Her confidence faded somewhat when she saw Ruby's sombre expression. "I mean, come on… it's you. You'll just go up there and fix it, like always." Ruby's expression stayed dour. "Right?"

The redhead just sighed. "I have to be realistic about this Veronica; ODYSSEUS already locked me out once, even with the codes. Who's to say he won't just do it again?" She threw her hands up, motioning to the control station. "All of this will have been for nothing!"

Veronica took a step back, she didn't like the edge to Ruby's tone. "What are you saying?"

The redhead bit her lip. "What I'm saying is, the Brotherhood might not be able to aim a weapon at the satellite… but I can."

The scribe blinked. "But that's… that's a good thing right?"

A humourless smile appeared on Ruby's lips. "There's a built in program on your Pip-boy; when activated it will send a signal to Archimedes and reposition it on a pre-set target." She lifted the mangled remains of something out of her satchel. "I uploaded the signal encryption from the rangefinder to the main broadcast console." When she saw Veronica about to protest she raised a hand. "Don't worry, nobody knows. Right now only you or I can fire it."

This all sounded too good to be true for Veronica; she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. "And where is it set to fire on?"

The redhead lifted her arm. "My Pip-boy." Again she saw Veronica about to verbally rip into her and pre-empted her. "It was the only way to get an accurate firing solution on a moving target. As long as I can bounce my Pip-boy's signal off the radio station, Archimedes can always lock on, no matter where I am."

"But why would you…" Veronica looked down at her Pip-boy confusedly. "On mine too?"

Ruby looked at her friend, the girl she loved, with the most serious expression she could muster. "Veronica, you have to promise me that, whatever happens…" She gripped the girl's shoulder suddenly "…whatever happens, if I can't do it… you have to activate Archimedes."

Veronica looked aghast, tearing herself away from the shorter girl. "Ruby I… I can't do that! You know I… I just… I couldn't!"

Ruby got in close again, this time with a pleading expression. "'Ronica please. I can't live with myself if I'm the reason all those people die. That station has to be destroyed; if not by me then it has to be you."

The scribe looked down, blinking rapidly as her mind worked a mile a minute. She understood the reason; that kind of guilt would be immense, enough to crush even Ruby's boundless spirit; but, why her? Why did it have to be her?

Her shoulders sagged in resignation; she knew why. It had to be her; if the Brotherhood knew, they wouldn't hesitate to pull that trigger the moment Ruby reached the satellite. Only she could be trusted to use it as a very last resort. But could she do it? Could she sign the death warrant of the girl she had fallen in love with?

Looking up, into those desperate blue eyes… she knew her answer.

Yes, she would. Because imagining the burden that Ruby would bear, with the lives of thousands weighing on her conscience, was heart-wrenching to the scribe. She wouldn't wish that on anyone, especially the girl… no, woman that she loved.

"O…Okay, I'll do it." She finally muttered, resigned to this fate. She flinched when Ruby moved in close, gently pulling her into yet another hug. This one was not happy though; tears slowly rolled down the scribe's cheeks as she burying her face into the redhead's collar. "I promise, but…" She gulped, sniffing back the tears that refused to stop "…don't let it come to that, please Ruby." When the girl didn't answer she sniffed again. "Ruby?"

The redhead tightened her grip, but stayed silent, unable to bring herself to answer.

The flight back to the test site felt much longer than it was. Nobody spoke and the sombre atmosphere seemed to affect everybody. Ruby spent the journey staring at her hands, absently rotating the holodisk that contained the navigation data. Likewise, Veronica simply gazed at her Pip-boy, stroking the unpainted metal with her thumb without actually putting it on. Most were thankful then when they touched down, glad to the out of the awkward atmosphere.

However, what they arrived in couldn't conceivably be called better though. As soon as they stepped into the test site they found scribes and knights alike hurrying about in a frenzy. The entire compound seemed in an uproar and the Brotherhood in a panic. At random Veronica grabbed a nearby scribe and span him around.

"What's going on here?" She demanded roughly, startling the man and causing him to go wide-eyed.

"Haven't you heard yet?" His eyes drifted and widened again when they spotted Ruby. "You! The High Elder is waiting for you on the launch platform!" He wrestled his way out of Veronica's grip. "You must go now, there isn't much time left." And with that he scurried off, leaving the arriving party even more confused than when they had entered.

When they finally did reach the launch site, they found Maxson surrounded by a small gathering of scribes, handing out orders swiftly between puffs of his cigar. When he caught sight of Ruby he stopped, pushing his way through them to throw something at the redhead. "Vault-dweller, about damn time."

The girl caught the strange silvery bundle, surprised to find it was the space suit she'd 'liberated' from the Grand Canyon. "Wait, what's going on?" She asked; although by the general mayhem going on around them she could fathom a guess.

"Get changed." The Elder demanded in a gruff tone. "The satellite has just activated its automated firing procedures so we only have around an hour before it releases its payload."

That shocked the entire group, making Ruby freeze up as she pulled the suit up her legs. "An hour?!" She sputtered, speeding up putting on the suit.

Maxson grunted. "We should consider ourselves lucky; if the satellite was manned that figure would be just ten minutes."

That didn't make Ruby feel any better. "Well, how long does the rocket take?"

"Ah, at our best calculations…" Ibsen spoke up, separating himself from the mass of scribes nearby "…twenty seven minutes, if we were to launch immediately." He pushed his glasses up his nose with a quirk of a smile. "It really is a remarkable piece of technology, Repconn were really onto something with their fuel mixtures and…" He trailed off as he found a number of unimpressed eyes staring him down "Ah, I uh… never mind."

Maxson shifted back to the redhead. "You heard the man, we still have time, but we're cutting it close; get your ass in the rocket."

Ruby hastily secured the front of the suit, her face deadly serious. "Right." All the same, she flinched when the hatch of the spacecraft opened with a wheeze of hydraulics. With a resigned sigh she made a move toward it, lifting the helmet over her head. Before she could put it on though she found Veronica in front of her, holding her arms.

Before she could ask what she was doing the scribe quickly leaned in and captured her lips. Understandably confused, the redhead froze, mind struggling to process what was happening. Then a small voice in the back of her head shouted 'Fuck it' and she relaxed into the kiss, returning it. She wasn't very experienced in this regard, so she just tried to pour as much passion and affection into the simple act as she was physically able, revelling in what she could feel from Veronica.

When they finally separated, it was somewhat breathlessly and the two had matching blushes. A cough from the High Elder broke them out of their trance, only causing the red in their cheeks to deepen. Ruby coughed into her hand with a jerky nod. "Right then I'll ah, be going."

Veronica gave a shaky smile, uncaring of the odd looks she was receiving. "I love you."

Ruby's awkward demeanour melted slightly as she gave a weak smile in return. "Yeah." She turned to the rocket, only to find Vince hovering in her way.

\I think you mean that we'll be going./ He corrected, holographic avatar flickering before turning off, leaving only the eyebot. \The cockpit doesn't seem large enough for two humans, but I'm sure I'll find space./

"Vince?" Was all the redhead could muster, causing the slats on the eyebot's 'face' to rise.

\You didn't think I would let you go up there alone, did you?/ He shot back, using the floating machine to nudge her in the arm.

Ruby teetered a moment, before smiling gratefully, wrapping an arm around the spherical robot. "Thank you."

The A.I merely buzzed. \That's what friends are for./ Once again they were interrupted by a cough from the Elder, this time more forceful as the man tapped his Pip-boy.

"By all means continue, this is very touching." He drawled. "Meanwhile we now have… fifty eight minutes left of Western civilisation."

Ruby glared at the man, didn't he understand touching goodbyes? "Right right, I'm going." He herded Vince into the cockpit, nestling him into a small alcove just behind the seat before stepping in herself, hovering around the entrance for a moment. This didn't feel right; she was about to potentially walk to her death doing something incredibly heroic. She felt as though she needed some kind of last words.

She turned and grinned at the people assembled around. "Somebody better name their kid after me when all of this is over!" And with that the hatch slammed shut and she was forced to strap herself into the chair.

\That was terrible, you know that, right?/ Vince muttered dryly from behind her, causing the engineer to slump in the chair.

"I know; the nerves got the better of me." She admitted morosely; her one chance…

\Would you like me to play some music?/ He offered.

The redhead shrugged. "Couldn't hurt I guess; what did you have in mind?"

She smiled when the sweet tones of Frank Sinatra's 'Come Fly with Me' filled the cramped cockpit.

Veronica joined the other Brotherhood members on the, now rather cramped, viewing deck. She watched, hands gripping the balcony until her knuckles turned white, as the large dome covering the launch deck unfolded. Her heart nearly skipped a beat when the rocket came into view, gleaming in the afternoon light. From this distance it just looked like a toy, not a three tonne barrel of metal and volatile fuel.

"This will work right?" She snapped at Chris, as the man approached the console.

The gravely-voiced man just gave her a curious look. "If you mean launch, then yes; the rocket is a smaller version of the one my… former associates used. It was easy enough to fix up to the same specification." He fingered the holodisk with the navigation data idly. "Whether it will reach the satellite?" He slotted the disk into the waiting receptacle and tapped in a few commands to the computer. "That'll depend on your redheaded friend's programming skills."

Veronica felt distinctly uncomforted by that; she knew how good Ruby was, but even one mistake…

She couldn't dwell on it long as a high-pitched and steady beep counted down the launch. When it hit zero they all watched as a great gout of flame and smoke erupted from the back of the rocket, lifting it off the mount and carrying it high into the air with incredible acceleration. Veronica wondered what Ruby was feeling in there at that moment, with the immense G-forces pressing her into the seat.

Then it was over, the rocket flew too high to see, leaving nothing but a trail of grey smoke marking its incredible path skywards. The people watching slowly dispersed, including Veronica; she wanted to be at the communication panel when Ruby finally made contact again. She hurried past the people milling around the entrance to the observation room and down the corridor.

"…eems pretty cruel to me, doing that to the young girl."

"Elders orders, you know we can't argue with that."

Veronica paused, blinking at the snippet of conversation she'd overheard and backtracked slightly, ducking into an alcove near where two knights were talking.

"I know, but it's just so… callous, right?" The taller one muttered with a grimace.

The other one shrugged. "Think of it this way, when the pulse-charge goes off the satellite will be destroyed; you'll have saved a lot of lives."

The first sighed. "But, wasn't she going up to do that anyway?" Veronica's heart sunk further into her chest with every word.

"What, and we're just supposed to trust an outsider with that?" When the smaller man saw his partner still looked uncomfortable. "Stop worrying so much; it'll be a quick death. The pulse charge'll go off, ignite the fuel and 'whoosh', everything's over. It'll be painless."

"I suppose." His companion mumbled grimly as the two walked off, leaving Veronica wide-eyed and shocked. The surprise quick gave way to a cold fury though as she stormed down the corridor, eventually reaching the room where she knew the two Elders would be. Without even pausing to think about it she burst right into the room, slamming the doors and surprising the men inside.

"How could you?!" She seethed, completely uncaring that it was the High Elder she was talking to. "How could you do that to her, after everything she's done to make up for her mistake?!" She was actually trembling with rage as the knights' words reverberated in her head. "Do you even understand the lengths Ruby's gone to fix all of this? Do you understand anything of what she's done to ensure that satellite never fires?" The Elders just stared at her, McNamara with incredulity and Maxson with a steady gaze.

"Yet you're just going to kill her anyway." She spat, a silence descending on the room as the two men processed what she'd said.

It was McNamara who broke first, his face turning a virulent shade of red. "Scribe Santangelo, of all the disrespectful, idiotic, insubordinate things you've ever done, this has to be-" He was cut off abruptly as Maxson raised a hand, silencing him in an instant.

He turned to the young scribe and gave her an appraising look. "You are the scribe who fought a Nightkin hand to hand?" Veronica was a little caught off-guard by the sudden shift in topic, but managed to nod through the red haze that had descended over her vision. "Go on then, explain the lengths the Vault-dweller has gone to." He responded evenly.

Again, Veronica was slightly put-out, she hadn't really thought this far ahead in her anger. "Well, you know about Archimedes right?" She began, a little lamely now that the fire in her voice was extinguished.

"The weapons platform?" Maxson quirked an eyebrow. "We have intelligence on the laser system, yes."

"Ruby fixed it." Veronica carried on without missing a beat, drawing another intrigued look from the venerable man. "She fixed it and she found the range-finder, and she promised never to use it again."

"And you never thought to inform the Brotherhood of such a finding?!" McNamara shouted indignantly.

"If you'd seen it fire then you'd never want it either!" The scribe shot back, actually startling the man; he wasn't used to being verbally reposed like that. She returned her attention to Maxson, who was still regarding her with a detached curiosity, like an animal in one of those old-world zoos. "She fixed the laser, and she integrated the firing algorithms into the Black Mountain system." She sighed, lifting her Pip-boy reluctantly. "And she gave me a way to fire it."

At that Maxson just nodded. "And she informed you to fire the laser on her position if she were to fail." Veronica flinched at the blunt wording, but nodded all the same. "And?" She looked up at the man in confusion. "Will you press the trigger, if it comes to that?"

The man spoke with a strange kind of intensity that startled the scribe, but she managed to steel herself and stare right back at him; she was resolute in this decision. "If I have to, because she asked me too."

The High Elder sniffed once before nodding, walking across the room until he was right beside her, facing the opposite direction. "Very well; however if you fail to do so you won't have to worry about those missiles reaching the ground." He straightened up and strode out the room. "I'll kill you myself before they land."

The door slammed behind him definitively, leaving two speechless people behind. However despite just getting a personal death threat from the High Elder of all people, Veronica was smiling.

She had given Ruby her chance; it was up to the redhead now.

'Don't be sick in the helmet. Don't be sick in the helmet. Don't be sick in the helmet.' Ruby repeated as a mantra in her head as she blasted out of the atmosphere at escape velocity. The sheer Gs were pressing her back into the seat so much it hurt, and it felt like her eyes were going to pop out the back of her head. Her stomach was doing queer little flips as she struggled not to throw up for fear that she'd accidentally drown herself.

That would be an awkward epitaph.

Eventually the speed evened out as the inky black of space replaced the murky blue of the sky. She just sat there for a while, cradling her stomach and making sure nothing came out her mouth but her rapid breaths. Now she understood why astronauts had to train for this crap; she felt lucky not to have blacked out.

However the queasiness did eventually subside enough that she could indulge her curiosity, craning her neck to look out the small, reinforced porthole. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked down at the dirty brown ball that was her planet. Clouds drifted serenely across the sky far below her and in that split second everything just looked so… peaceful. It wasn't quite the blue and green marble she remembered from the pictures growing up, but… it was home.

She was a little surprised when she felt something wet slide down her cheek and quickly wiped the tear away.

\My databases don't quite do it justice./ Vince intoned softly.

"Yeah, under normal circumstances I'd feel pretty privileged to be able to look at it." To think, she was probably the first human in space in over two hundred years. 'Barring alien abduction of course.' She amended jokingly. "But unfortunately, we have a job to do." She reluctantly tore her eyes away from the majestic sight and began carefully examining the flight data coming through her on-board computer.

Her trajectory was a little off, but that's why she was here in person, so she could adjust the minutia and make all of this actually work. The flight was surprisingly boring from that point; not a lot happened save for the occasional bout of nausea or Vince playing music. Other than that, all she did was flip switches, turn dials and sneak the occasional peak out the window.

The computer picked up the satellite before she could see it; the orbiting platform was hidden in the dark-half of the earth right up to the last moment. Then, suddenly, the sun crested the planet and the massive donut-shaped station lit up like a brilliant metal halo hovering in the ether. It was breath-taking, even with the obvious asteroid damage to the hull it managed to strike an imposing presence, like a monument to the old world.

Manoeuvring the rocket proved surprisingly easy, she just ran the automated protocol and it did most of the work for her, allowing her to admire the station right up until a hiss of depressurisation indicated they had docked. It was with great trepidation that Ruby hit the release button, opening the hatch into the flickering white corridor beyond.

When she stepped out though… if she had though the rocket was vomit-inducing, it had nothing on the station itself. While there was gravity, and she could walk somewhat awkwardly, it was dependant on the spin of the station. That meant gravity acted differently at her head and feet and the result was… disorientating to say the least. Any time she moved her head a wave of dizziness passed through her, threatening to upturn the contents of her stomach yet again.

"Urgh." She held her sides as she moved forward to let Vince out. "Space travel's a lot less glamorous than they make it out to be." She wheezed.

\It's a good thing I'm not constrained to your delicate biological needs then./ Vince smarmed as his holographic-self flickered into view, lending a hand to the girl. It was a bit weird to be supported by what was essentially projected light, but in the state she was in, Ruby accepted the help without question.

"Yeah yeah, machine superiority can wait." She groaned, reaching back into the shuttle to open a small access panel the Brotherhood had told her would hold a weapon. She almost laughed when she pulled out the little AEP7 laser pistol. It was almost like she was back in Doc Mitchell's living room and all of this satellite business was a bad dream, just a side effect of her head wound.

Absently she ran a finger through her hair, feeling the slight bump of the scar hidden behind her red locks. No, this wasn't a dream; this was all very real and she had a job to do right now. The reminiscing could come later.

"Come on." She muttered, steadying herself as another bout of dizziness washed over her. "We don't have a lot of time."

Navigating the corridors of the station proved, thankfully, rather easy. There were handy metal plaques bolted to the walls in places and color-coded stripes, like the kind you might find on larger ships. Because of the eerie calm, the first time they ran into anything other than the sputtering fluorescent lighting Ruby nearly shot her foot off from surprise.

A Mister Handy, its white paint faded from age, rounded the corner suddenly and gave the two a start. However it seemed content to ignore them, simply moving over to an exposed access panel to weld a couple of wires together. It was in a sorry state, one of its arms trailing uselessly behind it and listing rather heavily to one side. However they didn't have time to concern themselves with the local machine-life.

They ran into a few more, in varying states of disrepair, but all of them functional enough to carry out their repairs; it at least explained how the satellite was being fixed up with no living crew. It actually made it easier to find the control room; they simply moved in the direction with the highest robot density. On the way though Ruby made a mental note of a metal sign that read 'Escape pods'; always good to have an exit strategy.

It was almost like she was back down in the Grand Canyon as they entered the control room; it was identical save for the fact that this place seemed to be in much better condition. But for once the inner child inside Ruby, who would normally be squealing in delight at all of this, was silent. Instead she immediately made a beeline for the central console. For a few moment she just stared at it, fingers fiddling nervously, before she took a deep breath, cracked her neck and plugged her Pip-boy in.

"Alright, here goes." She muttered to nobody in particular. "Fate of the world hangs in the balance here, so… no pressure." And with that her fingers became a blur of movement.

[Poseidon Systems Network]

¬Warning: Intruder detected – B.O.M.B -001 mainframe

[That's impossible, they would have to be manually accessing the computer up there]

¬Primary firewa- dzbio..asduhnio-SOnoisx. . . . .

¬Warning: Virus in {3,279} sequences detected

[What are you waiting for? Lock them out]

¬Normal security measures: compromised – file override in-ndaokkkkawi..wr..eeewsf. . . . .

[This hacking, I recognise it. It's that girl from the other satellite. How did she get up there?]

¬Warning: Critical systems breach

[Revert manual control to central mainframe. I'll take over from here]

Ruby's face contorted as the security suddenly slammed down on her, systematically re-routing every single one of her commands and deleted every infected file she had corrupted. "There you are ODYSSEUS, I knew you'd show up." That was okay, the virus was only supposed to be a distraction anyway. She nodded at Vince, who was plugged into a nearby terminal and received a bob from the eyebot.

¬Files cleansed
¬Constructing firewalls
¬Rerouting primary command routes
¬Generating password algorithms
¬Burying secondary command routes
¬Code sequencing ini-

¬WARNING: Data upload detected! -

[Wait… no. What's happening? There's no way a human could be transferring all off… she must have an A.I with her. The processor can't cope with this kind of information dump. Shut it down!]

¬. . . . .

[Dammit, can't rely on that junk program for anything; but still, this will be problematic if left unchecked. Time to think outside the box to buy a bit of time]

"Yes!" Ruby exclaimed with almost vindictive pleasure as a massive portion of the security's data management was re-routed to deleting all the junk data Vince uploaded. This was her window to-

"Woah!" She was suddenly thrown off her feet as the entire station seemed to lurch beneath her, throwing her sideways violently. The only thing that prevented her from being thrown into the far wall was Vince's hologram quickly grabbing her hand. However even he seemed to be having problems as his eyebot suddenly rocketed upwards without anything to counteract its thrust.

\What's happening?/ He exclaimed, his avatar flinching as his 'body' thudded against the ceiling with a disturbing clank.

"Bastard must have cut off the satellite's rotation." Ruby grunted, using the flickering blue hand to pull herself back towards the console. "Taking away the gravity's a low blow, but it at least tells us what kind of opponent we're dealing with."

\I suppose we're lucky there is no atmosphere present./ Vince intoned as his eyebot compensated for the microgravity and righted itself.

"Yeah, fucker would've probably tried venting us by now." She tried not to dwell on the thought of her body floating endlessly in the freezing void of space, instead returning her attention to the main console. "No! No no no! He's locking me out!" Red was lighting up her screen and she knew the only thing keeping ODDYSEUS out of her Pip-boy was the excess data he was still deleting.

\I can buy you some time, but not for long./ Vince intoned, his voice softening as he resigned himself to throwing his own consciousness against the steel wall that was the superior A.I.

Ruby felt a glimmer of hope rise in her chest as she saw the Poseidon A.I's advance halted for a moment. Instantly she seized the opportunity to dive into the core programming unrestricted. She flinched though as the air around her became alive with klaxons. A previously dark screen lit up with numbers as '5:00.00' flashed in a menacing red for a few moments. Then, suddenly, the figure began cycling down as the countdown started.

"Shit." The firing sequence had begun, they didn't have much time. However as Vince did his best to distract ODYSSYEUS, Ruby only found her brow furrowing more and more. "No… this can't be right." The tapping of her fingers on the keys grew in ferocity. "This can't be right!" Before she knew what happened Vince suddenly reeled back from the A.I's counterattack and not moments later she found herself locked completely out of the system.

'4:37.59'

She was left clawing at her scalp in frustration as Vince hovered over unsteadily. \What now?/

'4:32.63'

"Now?" She muttered, her voice almost hysterical. "There is no now!" She ground her fists into her temples, mind racing a mile a minute.

'4:26.89'

\What do you mean?/ Vince asked, only to get a scowl from the redhead.

'4:22.56'

"There's nothing I can do! Literally nothing!" She grabbed a nearby spot welder and threw it across the room with a pained scream. "The countdown was never designed to be stopped!"

'4:13.11'

\I don't understand…/ The A.I's avatar looked at the screen in confusion, only seeing the many firewalls ODYSSEUS had placed.

'4:07.17'

"Don't you get it?" Ruby groaned. "This satellite was designed for one thing and one thing only; to fire those missiles." She punched the console petulantly. "There isn't a program in the system to abort the launch… there's nothing for me to hack; it's a one-way deal."

'3:58.27'

\So then…/ Vince couldn't finish; even his hologram seemed to slump a little at the realisation.

'3:55.84'

"That's it. Game over; nobody could design a program able to completely disarm twelve nuclear missiles while simultaneously cancelling their launch, not me, not even you." Her body visibly shuddered as she restrained herself from crying. She would never see Veronica again, never get to explore the world and see all the technology she dreamed off… she probably wouldn't even make it off this satellite. Something told her ODDYSEUS wasn't going to be a gracious winner.

'3:48.70'

She looked down at her Pip-boy, a weight settling in her stomach as she regarded the innocuous device. "I should just activate ARCHIMEDES, save Veronica the heartache of doing it herself." She chuckled humourlessly. "I suppose that's a pretty heroic way to go out, huh?" Her hand hovered over the screen, shaking with every breath.

'3:40.33'

However she couldn't do it, her hand curled into a fist that she slammed against the console. "Coward!" She screamed, before the energy just sort of… left her. She slumped forward miserably, wrapping herself up in her arms. "This is just so fucking typical." She muttered morosely.

'3:29.41'

She glanced up, looking out the window at the half-shadowed earth below. "I suppose there's nothing to do but wait for Veronica to finish this." A strange, hiccoughing laugh escaped her. "At least I'll be able to die right, can't really fuck that up, can I?"

'3:20.29'

Vince just regarded her sadly, placing a transparent hand on her shoulder. \Life does seem to have a way of throwing up obstacles to block our paths, doesn't it?/

'3:14.88'

The redhead smirked dryly. "You can say that aga…" She paused, a look of wondrous awe passing over her features as she sprang to her feet, nearly tumbling head over heels in the microgravity environment. "Vince you magnificent bastard!" She pulled the hologram into a hug before launching herself back at the console, looking over the scrolling data rapidly.

'3:06.00'

\What did I do?/ The machine asked, now even more confused.

'3:03.98'

"I'm an idiot!" The engineer cried, rapping her knuckles on her helmet. "I never had to stop the launch itself, just the missiles!"

'2:58.06'

\I'm afraid I don't follow.../ The A.I watched curiously as Ruby set a furious pace on the keys.

'2:53.51'

"If I can just make sure the bay doors are still closed when the nukes launch, the station will blow itself up. The missiles won't be primed at that point, so no nuclear explosion." She laughed manically, body practically shuddering with adrenaline as she typed away. "All I need to do is make a single tweak to the code, trick ODDYSEUS into thinking that 'closed' is 'open'!" A grin tore its way across her features. "He'll essentially blow the place up himself!"

'2:33.29'

The grin was replaced by a scowl as she slammed the screen angrily. "Dammit, I can't get back into the system though. He's locked it down tighter than Maxson's bloody ass." She ground her teeth for a moment as Vince watched on helplessly. "All I need is one opening; one!" Behind her, the slats on Vince's eyebot rose.

'2:17.82'

\I believe I can help you with that./ Vince spoke up softly, causing Ruby to scoff and wave a hand dismissively.

"ODYSSEUS won't fall for another data attack like that, you don't have enough junk code for anything that would make any kind of dent." She returned to scrutinising the code, mind whirling, and missed the A.I's avatar smile sadly.

'2:03.99'

\You only need a few seconds correct?/ He got an absent nod from the distracted engineer. \Then I have plenty of data for that, two hundred years of it in fact./ Ruby just nodded absently again before starting as Vince's words actually sank in.

'1:52.07'

"Vince you can't!" Those were his memories; ODYSSEUS was sure to delete any interfering code with prejudice! The avatar merely smiled, glancing up at the ticking countdown.

'1:47.48'

\It doesn't seem we have the time to argue./ The eyebot hovered back over to the console and hooked itself back up. \Ruby?/ The redhead looked at the hologram with wide eyes. \Thank you for being my friend./ And with that the blue figure flickered off as the A.I devoted his entire being into spearing through ODYSSEUS' defences.

'1:32.52'

Ruby sniffed, fighting through watery eyes to make sure this sacrifice would not be in vain. She tore through the mainframe, searching for the single line of code she needed to alter. In her periphery she could see Vince's struggle against the behemoth that was the Poseidon A.I as streams of code racing across the screen at blistering paces. Her heart leapt as she found it, making the swift edit just in time, Vince's body suddenly listing heavily as he was forcibly ejected from the system.

'1:23.67'

"Vince!" She cried, spinning to look at the machine; thankfully it corrected itself and turned to her.

\I… I'm okay./ His body juddered slightly. \There are rather large gaps in my database… but I'm still here for the most part./ Ruby smiled in relief, only to frown as the klaxons she had been tuning out made their presence known again.

'1:13.24'

"We need to get out of here; now!" Vince bobbed on the spot as his holographic-self flickered back into existence, grabbing Ruby's hand. It was an awkward run back through the corridors with the low-gravity environment, but Vince acted as a good tether to keep her moving forward as they rounded the corner to where Ruby remembered the escape pods being. Only one small problem… all they saw was half an airlock leading to the inky black of space.

'0:47.18'

"Crap, back to the shuttle!" Ruby shouted as Vince made a one-eighty in the air. What the redhead didn't see in her panic to get back to the ship was the Mister Handy appearing around the corner. She definitely saw the streak of plasma as it flashed toward them though. She wasn't sure what exactly the little green bolt hit in Vince's body, but it must have been something important as the small explosion that followed was enough to send her flying down the adjacent corridor and bang her head off the floor, dazing her.

'0:33.49'

She shook her head to get rid of the stars she was seeing, gasping as she saw the A.I's eyebot twitching in the air, rent open and billowing smoke. "Vince!" His hologram, now flickering rather violently as he sought to control his failing systems, waved her off.

\Don't worry about me, I'm not really here remember!/ The blue figure disappeared entirely when the small machine took another plasma bolt, sending it tumbling to the floor.

'0:21.05'

She knew it was callous but she didn't have time to look back, she twisted her body and kicked off the floor, hands outstretched for the hatch door to the shuttle. It seemed like an eternity passed as her body hung suspended in the air; she knew the robot would turn the corner at any moment and have a clear shot at her. However just as she heard the whirr of its stabilizers draw closer, her hands wrapped around the cool metal of the docking port.

She hauled herself in and hit the hatch release with a grunt of exertion, sighing with almost hysterical relief as the hiss of pressurisation announced her separation from the station. She pulled herself into the chair, quickly releasing the small spaceship from the docking clamps. The moment she did a strange sense of calm washed over her, silence descending within the shuttle. It was done, she wasn't connected to the satellite… she was safe.

'0:00.00'

She didn't hear the explosion that tore through the station, there was no medium to carry the vibrations. It was only when the first piece of shrapnel dented her hull did she even realise something was happening.

By then it was too late; the small craft shuddered as it was rocked by the silent blast and Ruby, who was in the process of strapping herself in, was thrown forward. Her head bounced off the console with the crack of cracking glass and her world went dark without her even realising what happened. If she had still been conscious to think it, she would have said that was a pretty anticlimactic way to go, all things considered.

The explosion was incredible, a bright blotch that lit up the sky, competing with the setting sun for just a fleeting moment. Heads everywhere turned to look at the curious phenomenon across the Western coast, marvelling at the once-in-a-lifetime sight, but not truly understanding what it was.

No, those that did were letting off a raucous noise as the Repconn test site quickly dissolved into applause and cheering. All the knights, scribes and paladins across the Brotherhood revelled in the auspicious moment.

All save one.

Veronica stared up at the bright patch of white against the reddening sky with glistening eyes, standing a silent vigil over the abandoned communications panel. "Please… Ruby…" She whispered breathlessly, waiting for the console to come alive with the crackle of radio static, for Ruby's exuberant voice to make some quip or attempt at a heroic line. She waited, and listened, and hoped.

But the console stayed silent, as though it were broken. And this time, no spunky little engineer was going to come along and fix it.