Reviews

Alan

I thought having Annalee Call help to look after 11 would be seen as amusing.

Mugen-Muse

I think Starfleet was more annoyed than anything else given how big of a potential asset they just lost.

Sajuuk

He will go to some of those universes and acquire some cool toys. Star Wars is a separate galaxy there's no Sol System in that galaxy so he can't go there. If he went to that universe he'd still be in the Milky Way,

loki98065

That's the plan.

frankieu

You're welcome.

phoenixstave

And I thought my science stuff made sense. Oh well, it's still better than Trek technobabble.

Doomed Gothic

Part 5

The Fortress of Doom. Fallout Universe.

It hadn't been hard to find out what 'fictional setting' we'd stopped in after fleeing that rather horrible version of the AVP universe. Lucky for me and my growing crew this star system proved to be suitable for our needs.

Given that it was yet another reality that I knew to be fiction, it seemed clear to me now that these jumps from one dimension to another were not totally random even if VEGA insisted that they were.

Granted not every universe we'd been to was known to me, or even had human life in it, and that AVP dimension had been different to what I knew of that franchise, but given that there must be an infinite number of universes the chances of us winding up in yet another that I had knowledge about was extremely unlikely, to say the least.

As to how I knew what sort of Earth could be found in this solar system, the required information had been provided to me by radio transmissions that were strong enough to be heard even out here in the asteroid belt.

Granted they were barely audible and VEGA had to filter out some sort of interference, but once I'd heard them it was clear to me that this was a version of the Fallout universe.

Currently, VEGA was giving me a damage report. There was nothing wrong with this place that the drones couldn't repair, however, we were running low on certain materials as such we'd need to deploy the drones to gather them. Thankfully the asteroid belt would provide most of what we needed as long as waited long enough for it to be mined.

"We're okay for food and medical supplies," Anna told me as she was keeping an eye on some of our resources "No one's personal effects got badly damaged either. Some stuff just knocked about a bit".

As hoped the synthetic person had agreed to join my crew. She didn't have much choice in the matter, as there wasn't anything for her back in her home universe since she'd failed her mission to stop a massive xenomorph outbreak, and her new programming compelled her to aid in my mission.

"As long as the replicators are working we don't need to worry about food, water, medicine or clothes, but it's good to have some stored away just in case the replicators breaks" I said, "We need to focus on gaining technology to trade or improve the fortress with, as well as weapons and armour, mostly for you and Jane".

There were places in the world of Fallout where even a child would be somewhat safe, at least when escorted by me, only there was no way in hell I was going to let any of my crew visit anywhere on that planet without some kind of armour and something to measure radiation levels with would be good.

My armour could do that for me and Anna might have such hardware installed within her machine body. I would inquire about that later.

"You're not leaving me here again, are you?" asked Jane.

Where or when she learned to use her dark brown eyes to her advantage I didn't know, and perhaps it was inbuilt female behaviour, something in the DNA, it didn't matter.

What did matter is that she gave me the sad puppy dog eyes that no one with a human soul could resist. I found my attempt an having an iron will crumbling before her gaze.

"I'll do some scouting and find somewhere we can all visit," I said.

Jane had chosen to come with me rather than stay within the Federation and there was no point in her having made that choice if she was going to spend all her time inside this space station. I would just need to find ways to lessen the danger.

"Sentinel, I have placed a drone in orbit" informed VEGA.

Since the portals could reach that far it was easy for the AI to calculate where to open a portal so as to allow a specialised drone to move into a stable orbit. Then it, and other drones if required, could act as spy satellites.

A 3D hologram of Earth soon appeared as the drone began sending information back to the station. A massive map was being constructed for us.

"It doesn't look right" commented Jane.

That was because in the early hours of October 23, 2077, the world, as the locals knew it came to an end. Missiles and bombs rained from the sky, engulfing the world in flames, in an event that would become known as the Great War. Cities and whole nations fell, while humanity descended into a post-nuclear Dark Age.

Judging by the daytime side of the planet which showed Africa, Asia and other parts, nature had somewhat restored itself, China was a desert, however, most of Africa was very green, and so was Europe.

The Americas were currently experiencing night-time and there were very light to be seen, there were some on the west coast, and this made sense since the NCR, the New Californian Republic would exist by now.

"Any sign of alien activity?" I asked.

I felt sure that there should be a couple of massive UFOs hanging about. Yet we'd picked up nothing. Had they gotten blown up by the Lone Wander?

"Our scanners pick up no signs of anything in the solar system that isn't of human origin" VEGA let me know.

I thought about what the AI had just said.

"VEGA, are we picking up any signs of human presence off of Earth?" I questioned.

As a matter of fact, there were signs of such a thing. There was a base on the moon and it had human life signs within. If I recalled correctly that was an Enclave base and perhaps too dangerous for me to handle alone, as the Enclave had power armour and energy weapons, so I would avoid it.

There were also satellites in orbit of the Earth that were still transmitting and receiving information despite them being a couple of centuries old.

"I am detecting signs of large-scale energy generation in some areas" VEGA informed us "In the area known as Nevada in North America for example".

Must be the Hoover Dam it would be powering New Vegas.

"For now I want you to keep scanning," I said to the AI.

I was already planning on visiting a few places for some trading. With the replicator that the Federation had so generously supplied in exchange for information and a chance to poke around the fold-space drive, I should be able to produce a lot of medical supplies for no cost to me and trade them for whatever the locals had to offer.

There was quite a lot on offer in this universe. Laser and plasma weapons, advanced robotics, power armour, cryogenics, there was even a group that could make their own synthetic people, they also had fission batteries, and force field technology in this world.

If I came across a version of Earth around the same level as my own I could see all of that tech being valuable in trade.

VEGA had mentioned to me more than once that production on the Mars base back in Jane's universe would be increased if we could get access to certain machine parts and raw materials such as plastics. This world and others could provide them.

I recalled that one of the big differences between the technology of this world and mine, aside from fifty years of extra development, was that the transistor was never developed in the Fallout world.

As such machinery stayed bulky but at the same time was more rugged. This was why so much of it could be put to use centuries after it had been manufactured.

"Anna I want you to work with VEGA" I ordered "Try to find out everything you can from the radio transmissions".

I turned to Jane.

"See if you can find any television signals," I said to her "You can tell a lot about a society by its entertainment. If they don't have TV signals listen to their music".

She liked television and would want to be involved. She would get bored before too long so I made a mental note to pick up some amusements when visiting what passed for civilization on this version of Earth.

(Line Break)

Point Lookout. Fallout Earth.

I had not been expecting VEGA to alert me several hours after we'd arrived in this universe with the information that he'd detected indications of an otherworldly presence in this world.

It wasn't demonic as far as the AI could tell, yet according to the confusing readings, there was something around here that really shouldn't be. A possible threat to mankind.

It wasn't until I stepped out of the portal and I stepped into some swampland that I realised what I was doing in this place.

In the Point Lookout DLC, there was a quest that involved recovering a scary book for some guy called Obadiah Blackhall if memory served. Even after being upgraded thanks to the C24 my ability to recall things had limits.

Since I knew that I was going after a book that could very well be the local version of the Necronomicon, I felt glad the Fortress had secure vaults within its depths that had been created to fully contain demonic artefacts that could corrupt people and open the way for the forces of Hell.

Only I would be able to access the vault the book would be contained in, and VEGA would not even allow me entry if there was any chance that I had been tainted or tempted by forbidden knowledge. Not that I had any intention of ever reading the book.

In the future magic might become a useful tool for my growing group, but I had little interest in learning such things as I already had quite a lot to learn about technology and many different cultures.

I'd rather add a powerful witch to my crew and have him or her handle the supernatural stuff. That was something to think about later as I had other matters to attend to at this time.

While my helmet prevented me from smelling the world around me as it filtered out harmful gases I imagined that it stank really badly.

It was very quiet here I noted, there was little in the way of any background noise such a bird song, and because of this when some woman screamed I heard it very clearly.

I had an otherworldly threat to deal with, and I should remain focused on that, yet as Night Sentinel I was meant to protect people.

Granted my purpose was to protect from otherworldly menaces, not every danger, but this could be part of that danger besides I had a vein of decency in me. I hoped that it didn't get me killed.

Moving fast I found a young-looking woman who had been caught in some sort of bear trap. She screamed again when she saw me, and to be fair I did look a bit scary what with my armour, and she didn't calm down at all until I freed her.

Rather than let me tend to her injury she limped off as best she could while crying her eyes out. That had been foolish as the wound could easily become infected given that we were in a swam and she was likely to end up getting lost.

Not I dwelled on that thought for long as someone or something else was heading towards me, or rather a group of people were heading my way. They were yelling and making whooping noises as if very happy about something, and I got the impression that they had been the ones to set the trap.

Before long five men, and I use the term loosely, came into view. None of them looked right. They had to be the product of inbreeding and mutation as they were they were more than simply disfigured or disabled in some way.

The way they moved wrong was wrong and while I rarely cared for things like a person's skin colour I felt fairly certain that humans aren't supposed to have any green patches on them.

"He's a biggin Pa!" one of the mutants called out.

Despite outnumbering me they were clearly outclassed, and this didn't seem to bother them at all. Either they were very stupid or insane, maybe both.

A skinny mutant, who looked as if he might bend in the middle as he ran, came at me with a small chainsword, what they called Rippers in this world. I wanted badly wanted one so I shot the mutant with the intent of recovering his weapon from the corpse.

"You killed my boy," a large person-like thing yelled as another mutant shouted, "We eat good tonight!".

I didn't stand around and let them shoot at me even if their crude firearms couldn't do much damage to my armour. I used a rotting tree as cover, and then returned fire with the shotgun I'd brought with me.

The largest of the mutant had layers of fat which absorbed the impact of the shot, but that didn't help him when my next shot hit him in the head. The others went down much more easily, their mutations not aiding them against me.

Once I was done killing I placed the Ripper in a container held by one of the drones that had followed me here. VEGA would ensure the weapon was properly cleaned and repaired. I didn't think about the substances already coating the weapon.

"Sentinel I have located the source of the Otherworldly energies" informed VEGA "It must be cleansed or the corruption will spread".

I soon entered what looked to be some sort of ritual site that was within a cage. There were signs that people and animals had been killed here. I spotted a knife that must have taken a few lives. There was something about it that repelled me.

The oddest thing here was a black book, and it seemed very out of place as I doubted that any of the mutants I'd killed could read. Yet I knew it was the objective of this mission.

It was called the Krivbeknih, and I wasn't foolish enough to say the name out loud. I carefully placed the dark book in my backpack before requesting a portal out of here from VEGA. Only that would have to wait as more of the mutants had turned up.

"Rip and tear until it is done" I whispered to myself.

I'd had the time required to reload my shotgun so I opened fire as soon as one of the mutants came charging at me with a full-sized chainsaw in hand and a scream coming out of his mouth.

His head exploded with enough force to send bits of flesh and bones flying about. To me it seemed to happen in slow motion, it was both cool to watch and totally disgusting.

Time didn't actually slow down I was just moving very fast and my brain was processing the information. The C24 seemed to upgrade the mind as well as the body so I could process what was going on around me and react to it very quickly.

Before long there were only corpses and parts of bodies scattered around me. They could have loot on them, but I had no desire to touch the remains.

Instead I took a few frag grenades off my belt. Then I threw them into the cave that served as a ritual site, causing it to collapse as a portal opened for me. I quickly left as I had no desire to stay here.

(Line Break)

Dunwich Building. The Capital Wasteland.

Thanks to VEGA being able to access a number of computer systems that were still somehow operating within this building, I'd been able to learn a lot about this place in a short amount of time.

This was good as having access to the right kind of information can mean the difference between life and death while on an important mission. Providing me with the needed information was part of VEGA's role.

Before the War, the building was owned by Dunwich Borers LLC, a company that manufactured large drills for tunnelling and drilling.

Among the files that VEGA had been able to access for me once my armour was within range of the computers, were a number of audio transcripts made by a company executive just as the Great War started.

The transcripts record an announcement about the release of a new drill, the sounds of the nuclear bombs exploding and what I assumed to be the effects of the radiation on unknown persons as the poor sods were turned into feral ghouls.

By the year 2277, the building had fallen into ruins and yet it looked mostly untouched by raiders and scavengers as if for some reason they were unwilling to risk venturing into this structure.

I couldn't put into words why I felt that I should also stay away and I managed to ignore the feeling because there was something going on here that I needed to deal with. This was another source of corruption to be buried and forgotten about.

The building was actually occupied despite it looking as if no one had set foot within it for a number of decades. Within the building, I found a number of feral ghouls that I had to shoot.

I wondered if any of these poor sods were the same people I'd heard in the centuries-old recordings. If so then I was pleased to have ended their suffering as being a feral ghoul was no kind of life.

Between killing the ghouls I came across a number of tapes with audio recordings that provided information about the last hours of an unfortunate wasteland native named Jaime. I would listen to them later as right now they'd just be a distraction.

I figured that even if my group had no use for some of the information that we found when exploring this world then more advanced cultures we ran into might want such data.

It would give them insight into the lives of people who were surviving in such a harsh world. I could imagine Federation science types gushing over such knowledge and I might want to trade it with those people if I ever needed their help.

Beyond the main entrance, the building is broken up into three parts as far as I could tell and exploring them involved going deeper and deeper underground.

There were no sources of light here, but that was no issue for me as my helmet had a night vision mode that allowed me to see. I was grateful for the motion detectors that would prevent any ghouls from sneaking up on me.

Upon passing through a doorway, I began seeing a hallucination that seemed to flash me back to pre-War times. I saw a man wearing pre-War clothing walking about as if this is just another day in the office.

When the vision ended I found myself looking at a Glowing One a type of feral ghoul that was extremely radioactive and while I was shielded even my defences had limits so the threat had to be dealt with.

Perhaps this was the same person in two different stages of his life, but that hardly mattered as the being tried to kill me so I had to blast its head right off its shoulders before it could try to harm me.

When I got down to the lowest level I found a handful of feral ghouls worshipping an obelisk that I made an effort not to look at as doing so made my eyes hurt.

They were being led by a ghoul that still had the mental capacity to hold a weapon. Not that this mattered much to me as such simple firearms were not a threat as long as I didn't simply stand around letting myself get shot.

As I watched them chant as they worshipped something mankind was not meant to know about some mist appeared and out of came another ghoul.

It was as if the non-Feral ghoul was calling others to him. Was he building an army? If so then he had to be stopped.

My shotgun went to work once again and the more normal of the ghouls took cover behind some rocks as his feral kin threw their sorry excuse for lives away.

The walking corpses charged, and the one in the led dropped as I opened fire. I ran out of ammo before all the ghouls went down and I was forced to crush the skull of the last creature with the backend of my rather sturdy weapon.

None of them got close enough to touch me and the ghoul with the gun didn't bother to run when I threw a grenade at him. He just kept firing even as I found cover and waited for the boom.

The obelisk in the centre was emitting lethal levels of radiation according to my HUD, and I didn't need to be an occult expert to know that it was dangerous to be around.

I waited long enough for the drone I'd requested to catch up so I could start planting the C4 that VEGA had fabricated for me mere hours ago.

Thanks to the AI I had enough explosives to bury the obelisk and to collapse the entire building. Perhaps if civilization ever returned to this part of the world someone might clear up the ruins.

If that happened I could only hope that no one started digging around and uncovered the obelisk that should stay buried. Some things needed to stay hidden away.

(Line Break)

188 Trading Post. The Mojave Wasteland.

After securing that evil book, which was now in a vault with its power contained by wards and strong walls, and after burying the altar to some nameless horror I'd decided to go venture out for some trading.

This involved taking Jane and Annalee with me, as neither of them wanted to spend all their time in the fortress, and while that would be safer, sometimes life is about taking risks.

As to why I'd brought them to this little remote trading post that was because my drones had spotted a person of interest here when scouting for me.

"Hi, I'm Journeyman Scribe Veronica Renata Santangelo" the woman admitted when I asked her name "I'm a Brotherhood of Steel scribe, sort of".

I knew that Veronica is responsible for acquiring supplies for the Brotherhood chapter that was hidden away in the Hidden Valley bunker. In theory she should have other duties, but she spent her time out of the Brotherhood's bunker and all were glad of this.

Veronica had over time become increasingly frustrated by the Brotherhood of Steel's strict adherence to the Codex, which governs what the Brotherhood can and can't do.

I knew that Veronica thought that this code does more harm than good and that the Brotherhood should change the rules, or at least become more flexible in how they are carried out.

Veronica was caught between her loyalty to the Brotherhood and the desire to go out into the world so to do something meaningful. She wanted to make a difference in the world.

I was certainly capable of offering Veronica Santangelo a view of life outside of the Brotherhood and I knew from playing the game that she would want to be in a position that would allow her to help others.

This was also something I could offer as with our portal technology we can travel to many places and I wouldn't mind gifting some people with some free medical supplies that we can easily replicate.

"People just call me Flynn," I said before gesturing to my companions "This is my companion Annalee Call and my ward Jane".

No doubt the Scribe had been drawn to me because I was not foolish enough to spend any time in this hellhole without my power armour on.

It might seem a hindrance to dealing with people, but Annalee had rather good social skills and people saw her as none threatening.

The fact that we had such advanced technology had led to the scribe being honest about who she was from the start.

"I couldn't help noticing your power armour" mentioned Veronica "Can I ask where you got it from".

She might be something of an outcast, but she was still Brotherhood and interested in technology. That interest could also bring her into my group.

I wasn't worried about her running off to tell her Elder, the man in charge of the local Brotherhood Chapter, all about me. Even if she did by the time they arranged any kind of response to my presence I'd be long gone.

"It was left for me on my space station" I answered.

I wanted to recruit this woman as I could do with an engineer who knew about the local technology and she had the intelligence to figure out other people's tech.

Given my goal it seemed foolish not to tell her the truth. As long as I wasn't using my advanced tech to harm innocent people I figured she'd want in.

"Did you say space station?" she asked.

I had her interest. Once she was within the Fortress, suitable impressed with what I had to offer, then I would make my proposal.

(Line Break)

Casino. New Vegas.

While I'd been made to leave my weapons at the front desk I wasn't stupid enough to spend any time in this world without my armour on and no one seemed willing to argue over the matter.

This proved to be a boon to me because thanks to my connection to VEGA and I could sort of cheat.

The AI's methods weren't foolproof, but they were certainly stacking the odds in my favour, and because of this I'd be able to collect quite the quantity of chips.

While I gambled I'd let Annalee and Veronica take Jane to check out some of the amusements in part of this city. New Vegas had quite a lot more going for it than a few casinos.

Veronica had been rather overwhelmed by the tour and so it seemed wise to let her return to Earth while she though over my offer.

I did worry a little about letting the women in my life go off on their own, but to be fair Veronica knew this world and Annalee didn't have many of the weaknesses humans had, as for Jane she could kill people with her mind if she so wished.

Despite that, I had VEGA watching over them with high-flying drones designed nearly impossible to detect without special equipment. I could ensure their safety because I could minimise the risks.

Given that the drones could gather precious metals from the asteroid belt and gather resources from all over this planet, it might seem odd that I cared about making money at all, but I had vaults so I might as fill them with something.

Money from different worlds was interesting if nothing else and I could use it trade when visiting other worlds if the currency had some inherent value like being made from gold and valuable metals.

The replicator given to my group by the Federation wouldn't make money due to some programming limits it seemed wise not to mess with; however, it ould create bottlecaps as well as things I could sell so I'd had plenty of caps to turn into chips.

Those chips were increasing in number as they did I traded them in coins used by the Legion and paper notes that were legal tender in the NCR. I might go and trade something in the NCR so having some of their money seemed like a good idea.

"Sir you're going to have to come with us," said a voice to my left.

I turned my helmeted head to the side to see one of the gangsters who ran this casino. He was trying to look threatening and failing.

"The boss wants to talk to you" I was informed.

They must have realised that I was somehow cheating or maybe they just want to me keep winning. I didn't consider myself a bad person for cheating as they were crooks.

These guys were quite willing to murder and steal, and unless the current overlord of New Vegas got involved I was going to worry about taking their money.

"VEGA, get the ladies back to the station" I ordered.

The man in the fancy suite, who had a couple of his friends with him, looked confused upon hearing that.

"Who you talking to, bub?" he asked.

I didn't bother to answer the question. Instead, I grabbed the arm that was now on my shoulder. I broke the limb it using the enhanced strength granted to me by the armour and the C24.

The owner of the arm screamed as his peers took out small pistols from inside their suit jackets. Compared to me they were rather slow and by the time they opened fire all they hit was the guy with the broken arm as I used him as a human shield.

Not that I really needed protection from such weak weapons, but I saw no reason to make more work for VEGA or myself when it came to do repair work on my equipment.

"Are you really going to die for this?" I asked.

A few wised up enough to turn and run even as gangsters with automatic weapons opened fire. I flipped a table, losing many of my chips in the process.

The chips were rather pointless now as I planned to help myself to the cash they had on the premise as compensation for this rudeness.

I pushed the table forwards, letting it soak up some of the fire, and then when I was in range I leapt over it. I figured that I must look very cool right now.

The men with automatic weapons just couldn't handle me and their willingness to fight soon came to an end as a couple of them died in gruesome ways.

Before they could regroup I went over to where money could be exchanged for chips, and vice versa, the cashier had vanished so I just broke down the door and began to help myself.

By the time I was done there were more of the well-dressed crooks trying to get between me and the door, so I just charged right at them, clearing the path as I headed outside and to the portal that VEGA so helpfully provided for me.