Coast of Panama
The PMV Valdez had been anchored off the coast for weeks, with hundreds of passengers and tons of cargo. Very few people knew that the cargo was 'a literal army of robots'; officially they were weapons and supplies for the peacekeeping operation. That was, technically, true, in a sense, but they didn't need to know the specifics.
The biggest problems of launching the expedition had been solved early: The Valdez's navigation system was ancient, but functional, since it had been fixed by the Chosen One during his adventures. There were a large number of repairs that needed to be done, but the Shi and NCR had already conducted those with the intention of using the tanker for exactly this sort of expedition, though they had intended on trading with Japan or South America.
The second problem had been fuel. The PMV Valdez relied almost entirely on fossil fuels, and scarcity of fossil fuels was the whole reason for the whole 'Apocalyptic Wasteland' in the first place. There was no single solution to this. The Shi were able to synthesize a large amount of fuel, which was the main way of turning the propeller and powering the ship, but different solutions had come from different sources. Solar panels had been installed everywhere they could be fitted on deck, so its batteries would charge during the day. Governor Vance had donated a few fusion generators, as well, which contributed to the power generation.
Now, their biggest problem was the Panama Canal. The Valdez was anchored and using the solar panels to power itself, so it could sit nearly indefinitely.
"Fixing the canal is a process that could take years," Head Scribe Trapezium said, "We should go around South America and come back around."
"But if we can fix the Canal, we can use it again in the future, it's worth investing our time!" Zhao Mei, Trapezium's opposite in the Shi, pointed out, "In fact, the Panama Canal is one of the reasons the Shi agreed to this venture. We won't ignore it!"
"We can't spare the resources to sit on the canal, we're going to need everything on the East Coast!"
"Stop it!" the Governor barked at them, "We're going to stay another week. If we can't fix the canal by then, we go around, and we leave some people behind. I don't care if we'd be understaffed, we can't afford to go around the continent twice."
"What do you mean?" Zhao demanded.
"I mean, we don't have the fuel. If we tried to do it twice, we'd lose fuel by the time we reached Peru on the way back. If we have the Canal working by next week, we could go to New York, return to San Francisco, and come back to New York before running out of fuel, but with what we have, it's a one way trip around South America, unless we have the Canal working on the way back, in which case we'll probably be able to get back to San Francisco. At worst, we'd have to be towed in from central Baja."
"What do you mean we don't have enough fuel? Why weren't we told about this?" Trapezium demanded. She scowled at him.
"I'm sorry, I should have thought to park our two-hundred-fifty-year old tanker at the local gas station where we can just fill it up with the specific type of fuel that CAN'T BE SYNTHESIZED WITHOUT MONTHS OF PREPARATION! We were lucky to get this thing launched much less get it this far! Now don't get uppity with me because this expedition isn't perfect but it still needs to happen, because if it doesn't, we risk the entire east coast going to war. If you don't think that won't drag the NCR, the Shi, and the Brotherhood into it, you had better open your damn eyes.
"The world is starting to shrink again. Just because the Brotherhood decided to turtle up in their little bunkers, and the Shi decided they were too much the special snowflakes to participate in nation-building, doesn't mean the rest of the world hasn't moved forward. That's another reason we're out here: To move forward. To prove that we can do this. The fact we've gotten this far shows how far we've come. The fact we've done it together is a testament to what we've already accomplished."
They were silent for a moment, before Zhao Mei said,
"Did you just tell me to open my damn eyes?"
Governor Vance paled, "I am so sorry, I didn't mean it like-"
She laughed, "It's all right, Governor. I thought that was funny. You're right. We've gotten a lot done. Scribe Trapezium, if you are willing to help us with the Canal, we might be able to get the pumps working again. But we're going to need access to some of the Brotherhood's technical data. I'd be willing to trade our data on power relay couplings in exchange, it might make your own systems more efficient, if the Brotherhood is still using prewar bunkers and Vaults."
"If this is what it takes, I vow that we will get the Canal to work again," Trapezium agreed, "Even if it is for the return trip."
"Excellent. Now that we've agreed to possibly strand ourselves out here in a foreign, hostile country, let's go get to know the natives.
Panama Canal
Hours later
The locals all spoke some kind of altered Spanish, and while Governor Vance spoke Spanish fluently, she wasn't fluent enough to make sense of the local mutation of it. As such, she had brought Raul for this trip for exactly this kind of purpose. Oddly, the local tribe that inhabited the area around the Canal took to Raul as some kind of honored Elder and inducted him into the tribe once he had told them he'd been around before the 'Great Cleansing.'
"There's not as much radiation out here, see, except where the nukes hit the Canal," Raul explained, "So the only Ghouls that are as old as me died out a long time ago, or are all Ferals. To have a prewar Ghoul is a great honor for their tribe."
"Do they expect you to stay?" Sue asked.
"No, but they expect me to visit. Which, if there's enough going on here, I've got plenty of work to do, so I don't expect that to be a problem for them," he told her.
"What do they say about the Canal?"
"They say that it's cursed blessing. They can't settle on the southern side of it because of another tribe that drives them away when they try. But it also keeps that same tribe from raiding on the north side of the Canal. Unfortunately, the Canal is filled with what they call 'C'sanquito.'"
"…Mosquito?" she wondered. He nodded.
"Big bugs that will drain you dry of blood, they say. Spears aren't effective because they're too small. Fire fends them off. The tribe on the south side likes to send sacrifices to the Canal. They say the southern tribe is full of crazies, but I'm sure the southern tribe says the same thing about them."
"Have we encountered the southern tribe yet?"
"Not yet."
"All right, can I meet their chief? Or…Whatever?"
"In a way you're talking to one, but yeah. Let's go meet him," Raul led her just outside of the canal, where a village was built out of junk and wood. The village seemed to stop exactly at the pavement.
"They call us Concrete-Walkers because we dare step foot on the concrete of the canal," Raul explained. A group of children were cheering and gathering around them, asking questions neither of them could follow. He laughed, and shooed them away, but Sue didn't help by producing a bag of candies, eating one, and then starting to distribute them.
"You're incorrigible," Raul remarked.
"I like kids. That's why I got so many of them," she insisted. It was sort of true; Sue only had one son, but she had started an orphanage, which she funded and taught at, "I wasn't sure about bringing Follows-Chalk and Rafael along, but they seem to be enjoying themselves."
The Chief was a man named Pedro. He wore a coat made of Jaguar furs and a weapon built out of the skull of a creature known as a Chupacabra, a sort of smaller, hairy Deathclaw that was even faster than their northern cousins.
"Chief Pedro, it is good to meet you," Sue said in Spanish. Since Raul didn't translate, she assumed it was clear enough, "I am Governor Sue Vance, of a nation of people to the north called California."
"I speak English," Chief Pedro declared. Sue raised her eyebrows.
"Wait, really? How?"
"We're in Panama. Before the War, it was occupied by Americans. Many of our scouts can read English. Some of the old Ghouls speak it, if we can find them. Me, my father was a member of the Enclave, and made sure that I learned it. I can understand you and your people perfectly well," he assured her.
"…Oh. So when Scribe Trapezium was talking about-"
"How we're 'rock-banging savages who don't appreciate what they sit upon,' yes, I understood him perfectly well. And yes, I am perfectly aware of what it is we are 'sitting on.' It's the reason my father came down here in the first place," he told him.
"Well this is off to a fantastic start," Sue sighed, "If it's any consolation, I tore into him for that."
"It still shows how little regard the Californians have for our people and our ways," Pedro pointed out.
"Yeah, I know. And, uh, I know I haven't acted in your best interest, either. We need to get the Canal working again, and we want to use it again in the future. Some people are going to see you as an obstacle to that goal, and I don't want that to happen."
"We wouldn't be able to stop you if you really intended on taking the Canal," Pedro admitted, "My father tried his entire life to devise a solution to your problem. It consumed him. What makes you think you can do it in the next couple of weeks?"
"In a few hours, I once fixed a solar power plant that the best minds of the Brotherhood and the NCR couldn't figure out. I have some of those best minds with me. I also have Raul, and the plans for the pump system that we salvaged from an engineering firm in Los Angeles."
The chief paused, "That is a considerable advantage over my father, I'll admit."
"The NCR, the Shi, and the Brotherhood are all going to want to control the Canal. They're going to get it fixed one day, and you're going to be seen as a nuisance-unless we define, today, that the Canal belongs to you and your tribe. We're here to help keep it running, and keep it open."
"Why would you want to give the Canal to us?"
"Because I've seen what my country does to tribes that are a nuisance. I don't care for it. I would rather see you become our friends and our partners rather than shuffled off to a reservation to die a slow death. I won't be responsible for that happening again. I'd like there to be some way to do this that you define, rather than this being a one-sided offer. Did your father…Find anything?"
The Chief nodded, "He gained considerable access to the computer systems, and he designed a way to push the water in and out of the damaged zones with the technology we have, which he proved would work. Only we know how they're made or how they work, or where they are."
"All right. I know this next question is super racist, but I gotta know, do you have a writing system? Because if we're going to write treaties, they're going to be in your language."
"Why the interest in making this out in our favor?" he asked. Sue rubbed the back of her neck.
"I was responsible for a tribe being rounded up and shuffled off to a reservation so they would be out of the way. If I'd been Governor right away I'd have been happy to keep them where they were, but…I convinced the tribe to join the fight against our enemy, and put aside their history with the NCR. They agreed, and when the fighting was done, their reward was getting shipped off to the furthest frontier they could manage. They've been dying a slow death since, and I made that happen, because I wanted another ally to fight against our enemy. They trusted me, and they trusted my judgment. Back then, I didn't have official power to change it. I do now."
"We're not here to ease your conscious."
"No, but I can avoid adding more to it. Would you be willing to come to a deal?"
He paused for a moment, and nodded.
"Excellent," Susan said, "I'll let the others know. I look forward to working with you and yours."