Chapter Six
Nuka Vault Tech and the Robot
Shortly after noon the next day Radar, Matt, Craig, Podray and Dogmeat reached the entrance to Minor' Vault. Only one thing could reveal this place to actually be a vault and that was the metal fence around the perimeter and the Vault Tech logo on the top.
"Right, let's work out the layout and possible entrances to Nuka Vault Teck" Radar said
At that moment they all heard a man' voice calling for help,
"That's coming from the shaft" Matt said listening carefully
They all got on their fronts and crawled towards the shaft. When Craig hung his torch over the edge it was shot at.
"We need to see what's down there" Craig said
"What was this vault used for?" Radar asked
Before anyone could even look at the information they had they were shot at by a man in black and red, hiding in the trees nearby,
Podray was impressed by how quickly Radar reacted and took this man out, she then ran in that direction. Matt and Dogmeat immediately went into protector mode and joined her but just as Podray and Craig stood the ground went from under them.
Radar spared a glance and Matt hesitated,
"Leave them, this one's our route in, we do what we need to and then we can entertain the possiblility of a rescue if need be" Radar called, she took a strap from the body, the weapons he had and the ammo before reviewing the information on the strap, "Take his uniform and put it on"
"OK" He said but then did nothing,
"What're you waiting for?" Radar asked him, putting the strap on his arm, "You are my route into Nuka Vault Tech, this thing is connected to the pulse like a fitbit"
"I don't want to get changed in front of you" Matt said
"Dogmeat licks himself in front of me, you can get changed in front of me" Radar said
"I really can't" Matt said, Radar shook her head and went back to the fence to see if she could spy her father and her Uncle. Dogmeat stared at Matt as he changed into the uniform, "Stop judging me"
Dogmeat barked,
Podray and Craig were clinging to the other side of the mining lift, a tight space indeed,
"I do not need to tell you how bad this situation is right now do I?" Podray said
"We need more space" Craig said
Right now the gap between the miners lift atop of the shaft and the ground was too far for either man to bridge but as the lift went down the gap got narrower and narrower and if they'd gone up and shimmied round they'd be shot at by the robot at the bottom,
"How big a drop would you say that is?" Podray asked
"About 80 feet" Craig said
"Ah bull!" Podray responded
"Take four of these steps per you or me...oh that's only 14 feet at least, whoever is on the top level becomes radiated and either mutates or becomes a gual, they then work their way down" Craig realised
"Hey!" Radar was calling
"What're you still doing here?!" Podray asked
"Get situated and I'll get you out!" Radar called and with that she was gone
"You've done well" Podray said to Craig
"All you" Craig said, "Granade?" He asked
Podray nodded and they climbed to the top and threw a frag granade each to the bottom of the shaft to blow up the robot and cave in the shaft before shimmying across and making their way down the miner' lift.
Radar moved Matt over to a puddle,
"What're you doing?" Matt asked
"I want you to look yourself in the eye so you realise how dumb that move back there was, you wasted prescious time, even if it did give me a chance to make sure dad and my Uncle were alive, if you need to be naked on a mission be naked, alright, I've said my piece now lets go" She told him seriously
Radar and Matt followed the signal on the strap on Matt' arm and the map on his pitboy to find the entrance to Nuka Vault Tech,
Dogmeat not far behind,
For a moment they hid behind a wall,
"What's the plan?" Matt asked
"We get me a uniform" Radar said, "My first thought was that you get us in and I sneak past but how will you know how to find me? If I can't get a uniform I need a strap at the very least but I don't see any women and that is gender registered"
"Oh I just had the best idea" Matt exclaimed,
They looked at Dogmeat
Matt the sneaked round the perimeter to where a male guard was standing, he slid down by the wall, took a rock, knocked him out and took his strap from him. He then took his uiform and raced back to where Radar and Dogmeat were waiting.
To Matt' shock Radar could care less, she stripped down and changed within seconds, then reattached her specialised straps with ammo, gun and frag granades while he put the strap onto Dogmeat' leg.
"OK Dogmeat, we're here for two things, that lady' husband and any clues as to the whereabouts of the Loner Vault Dweller" Radar told him, Dogmeat stood to attention and snuffled at a scarf Radar gave him, "Find the lady' husband Dogmeat"
Dogmeat barked and started to pad around. Once Radar and Matt were inside Nuka Vault Tech he lead them around the building, hiding in certain places while Radar took out staff with her precision rifle, Matt keeping back and watch for threats to Radar and Dogmeat.
He took out several turrets that shot at Radar for her lack of strap while Radar took out the one Matt had taken the strap from.
Pretty soon a gun battle was in full swing and at one point Radar got shot in the leg,
"Radar!" Matt wailed,
"God damn it!" She screached
Dogmeat got mad as she repositioned herself and he ripped her attacker appart to aid her before Matt could get the last shot in. Meanwhile from this position she took out the last turret on this level.
Once all the Vault Tech staff from this level were lying dead about them Radar took a knife and prised the bullet out of the wound in her leg before grabbing a stempack and injecting it.
When she could get up again she gave the man that shot her a kick for good measure and then took his weapons and pass to the documents office.
Once again Radar gave Dogmeat the scarf to smell and off he went again with a bark.
Radar and Matt followed Dogmeat up to a door at the far end where he got distressed and started to claw at the door and bark,
Radar nodded for Matt to open the door and there on the other side of it was the body of the lady' husband.
"They removed his voice box" Matt said on closer inspection
"For the synths" Radar said, giving Dogmeat a treat and comforting him to make him think this a game, "Good boy" He stood to attention once more, "OK now we need to find something else. Any trace of the Loner" Radar gave Dogmeat a bit of cloth she'd taken from the first vault, "Was he here?"
Dogmeat snuffled at the cloth and barked, then ran off. Radar and Matt followed.
Matt was worried, he didn't think Radar had twigged the similarities between the voice of the lady' husband, the robot and the Atom Preacher. The idea that innocent voices were being removed and used to do bad things was more terrifying to him than the current task at hand.
"I need to get out of this country" He said to himself, "This is too much"
Meanwhile Podray and Craig had just cleared the area at the bottom of the miners lift of rubble and looted weapons from the mutants and stopped the robot from reactivating.
Podray found the voice box and two blue eyes,
"Those twisted sons of bitches" Podray said, "They're gaining trust by using voices of people they knew but the skin of a stranger to fall for this Atom crap, harvesting body parts"
"The Mutants harvest the body parts, we know how the robot trapped people now, anyone with a pitboy could scan the area after hearing the cries for help, the eyes of vault dwellers or people in the surrounding areas for a certain number of miles will be on the files. This man finds a planted Pitboy, he see that this is a local in distress and comes down here to help, where he's then met by Mutants, they have a new voice box for their Synths" Craig said
"We thought we had problems" Podray said
Just by the main entrance to the vault Podray and Craig find a safe and a terminal. This terminal reveals the locations of the guals and terrified residents,
"OK how do we know their residents and not Synths?" Podray pondered
"The scanners are picking up on a heartbeat for the guals or synths" Craig said with a point, "We have to help them"
"The first thing we need to do is shut down the turrets...there doesn't appear to be any guards or guard pods around though so that's a good thing" Podray said
"You know why? With the first lot becoming mutants they don't need them do they?" Craig said,
"You're right...what's in that safe?" Podray asked
"Two stealth boys" Craig grinned
"Ammiture" Podray said turning his nose up
"More for me" Craig said unoffended
"Gimmie" Podray responded, grabbing one
Dogmeat located an old scent to the documents room and once they were in there they found a robot prototype, once they had sealed themselves into the room Radar pushed the prototype over,
"I'm starting to regret everything" Matt exclaimed
Radar looked at him,
"What're you talking about?" She asked
"Purifying the water, the residents that aren't working for Vault Tech and the mutants are being sucked into a false sense of security, I'm starting to think they're better off dead. All this time I thought the enemy was abroad but it's right here!" Matt said full of self guilt
"They don't deserve to be tricked but nor do they deserve to die" Radar said
"Do you really think we can stop these bastards?" Matt asked
"I do" Radar said, "But it's going to take time"
"Right...go ahead" Matt said
"Go ahead what?" Radar asked
"Berate me for my meltdown or mock me or do whatever..." He said
She kissed him,
"Shut up"
"What was that for?" Matt asked, stunned and comforted at the same time
"You were distressed, I took a punt, sue me...actually don't I already have a CCJ for a library book fine I never paid" Radar said, Matt grinned, taken by surprise by this girl once again, "Don't tell dad or my Uncle what I did or they'll cap you" She then pointed at the terminal, "I need your pitboy again"
Matt used his pitboy to hack into the terminal,
"He's been moved to...oh come on, the Lincon Memorial Statue...why would he be there?"
"Is there an army on display in a nearby museum?" Radar asked
"No but pleanty of wax...they'll use his knowledge to test the strength of a synth and use the wax. If they can get enough of them working together" Matt started
"He could turn them against Vault Tech" Radar said
"There's an incripted recording here" Matt said,
Suddenly a voice rang out and they couldn't shut it off. They hid as two staff came into the room and shot the terminal before leaving again,
"Catch any of that?" Radar said
"A list, there was a list, robots are composed of 3 main parts, The Controller, Mechanical Parts and Sensors"
"That's not what I heard, the message is in the voice recording" Radar said, "We have to control the mechinical parts and sensors of the robots they create. He clearly doesn't have the program he needs but where would that program be?"
"Oh crap! How're we supposed to find our way over to your father and your Uncle?" Matt exclaimed
"The strap" Radar said
Looking at the strap Radar and Matt found the caved in exit from here to the subway leading to Minors Vault and the entrance. They then fought their way round and then hammered their way through to the subway and followed it round until they were at the entrance to Minors Vault. They then used a number of mines to blow out a wall in the vault where Podray and Craig had dived behind a steel door on hearing the bleeping sound.
The blast took out five guals,
"You're welcome" Matt said as they crawled out from their hiding spot
"You've got to stop doing that" Radar said
"Right back at you!" Craig yelled, "We were behind that wall not a minute ago!"
"So she was a little over zelous with the mines, let's not split hairs" Podray said
"Did I tell you about the car park?" Craig asked
"She's down-sizing" Podray said with a grin, "We have vault dwellers need rescuing, any success with reguards to that lady' husband or our loner vault dweller?"
"Yes and yes, and neither' good but let's get these guys innocent people out of here first" Radar said
"That's my girl" Podray said