Small Town Girl
Richard Burke stepped off of Doc Mitchell's porch into the glaring sunlight of the Mojave Desert. As he made his way down the path towards the dirt road of Goodsprings, he heard the crunch of something ambling up the road towards him from the south. He turned and beheld a strange sight. It was a robot. He had, in his travels often seen various types of mechanical automata, from the Domestic Robots that were RobCo's Trademark series to the military models known as Mister Gutsey but he had never seen this particular model of 'Droid in his life. He took note of its towering stature, at about seven feet, the robot stood just under a foot taller than Richard. He also noticed that in the robot's chest was a television monitor that displayed a curious image of a cowboy smoking a cigarette. It looked like the advertisement from a cigarette commercial. The robot cantered along on a single wheel and stopped a few feet from Richard.
"Howdy partner!" He said jovially. "Might I say, you are lookin' fit as a fiddle."
"I hear you are the one who dug me up," Richard Said to the robot. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it friend, I had heard a commotion up at the ol' bone orchard and went to take a looksee. I saw them bad boys ambush ya and waited until they left. I didn't expect to find much but I dug ya up and lo' and behold you was alive. I took ya to Doc Mitchell and it looks like he did a mighty fine job of patchin' ya up."
"I don't recall ever seeing a robot like you before," Richard told the machine.
"I'm a Secruitron," the robot replied. "RobCo Security Model 2060B. If you see any of my brothers, tell 'em Victor says 'Howdy'."
"Did you happen to see where the men that attacked me went?" Richard asked Victor, not really hopeful.
"No, I didn't notice. I was bringing you to the Doctor, after all."
"No, problem, I'll ask around town and see if anyone saw anything. Thanks again for helping me out."
"Happy trails!" And with that, the robot rolled off towards the cemetery and Richard looked after him. What a strange machine, he thinks to himself. He made his way towards the building next to him. Goodsprings General Store, the sign on the roof said. Prospector Saloon, was the sign on the other building. He made his way to the saloon and stepped onto the porch, the temperature noticeably cooler in the shade. He looked to his left and saw an old man sitting on the porch taking his ease there.
"Howdy." The old man said to Richard.
"Hello." Richard replied.
"Are you the feller that Doc Mitchell was lookin' after?" The old man asked Richard.
"I am," Richard replied. "My name is Richard Burke. Pleased to meetcha sir."
"Name's Easy Pete." The man replied. "Glad to see yer up and about."
"I am glad to be up and about," Richard gave a small laugh. "Is this where I can find Trudy? Doc Mitchell told me to ask about her around the Prospector."
"Yep. Trudy's inside. She'll want a look at ya, mayhap she'll have a bit of business with ya as well. Don't forget to check in with Sunny Smiles too. She'll have a chore or two fer ya as well, mayhap."
"Thank you, sir," Richard said and entered the saloon.
The prospector saloon was a great building and Richard loved it immediately, It smelled of cigar smoke, alcohol that was too hot, and the boards under his booted feet creaked slightly with age. In front of Richard was a very beautiful girl of about sixteen and a dog was barking happily at him. He walked up to the girl and smiled.
"Cheyanne, Stay! Don't worry, she won't attack unless I tell her to. Welcome to Goodsprings, glad to see you're up and about." She said to Richard.
"Hey, you must be Sunny." He said to the girl. "I'm Richard. Doc Mitchell said that you could teach me a thing or two about survival."
"Sure can, just meet me out back behind the saloon when you're ready."
With that the girl and the dog went out the back door. Richard walked to the bar room and took a look around. Trudy wasn't there. There was one man sitting in a booth, nursing a glass of something that smelled like Scotch and Richard decided not to bother him. He made his way to the back door and followed Sunny.
Sunny handed Richard a hunting rifle and directed him to the fence behind the saloon where a few bottles of Sunset Sarsaparilla were lined up. Richard took a knee and after carefully aiming, shot five of the bottles off the fence. Sunny whistled in appreciation of his shooting skills.
"So what do you do around here?" Richard asked her.
"I hunt Geckos mostly. Occasionally a feral stray dog will also venture too close to the town and harass the livestock and I keep them away too. I don't travel too far from the town, though as there's plenty for a girl to be nervous of out there in the wastelands."
Richard nodded. He could imagine there'd be more than a few things that could cause this girl trouble lurking out there in the Mojave. Raiders, slavers, rapers and the like. He hated to think of this girl being in some kind of trouble.
"Listen, I was going to venture a bit down the way and see if there's geckos to hunt, wanna come with me?" She asked him.
"Sure, I can always use the practice. Do you know where a guy might also earn a few extra caps? Those bastards that shot me cleaned me out."
Sunny thought about it for a second. "Well, hunting geckos is pretty much how I survive but you could always get into prospecting."
"Prospecting?" Richard asked.
"Basically scavenging but we say Prospecting because it just sounds better. There's a whole lot left over, remnants from before The Great War there are just waiting to be recovered. We have an old schoolhouse in town with a safe that no one seems able to unlock. If you've go the skill, I'd look there, you may get lucky."
Richard nodded. He'd never been one to go scavenging but he knew that she was right, there was money to be made at it. They took off towards the South, Sunny keeping a brisk pace but Richard right on her heels. her dog, Cheyanne running a little ahead to guid them along the road. Sunny stopped in front of the cliffs and turned towards Richard. Before she could speak, there was the chattering sound of Geckos hear from around the cliff face. Sunny gestured and Richard nodded. He stepped out from behind the cliff and four Geckos saw him and began to charge.
Richard raised the rifle that Sunny had given him. His first shot went right through the lead Gecko's chest, leaving a smoking hole behind. He raised the rifle again and took aim, this time the shot went really wide to the right. Cursing, he tossed the gun aside and quick-drew his revolver. He took careful aim at the closest charging Gecko and fired, he moved to the next one and the other 2, fanning the hammer of the gun as he went. The last three Geckos dropped as if at the exact same time. Sunny emerged from behind the rocks and gave him a shocked expression.
"I have never seen shooting like that!" She exclaimed.
"My father taught me, I'm just glad that all of my skills didn't leave me when that asshole shot me." He told her.
He picked up the discarded rifle and went to hand it to her. She shook her head and indicated that he keep it. If nothing else, he could repair it or get a few caps for it. She was about to indicate that they return to the town when they both heard a blood curdling scream from further ahead. They both took off at a run and rounded the bend and saw one of the townspeople being attacked by 4 more of the Geckos. Without a moment's hesitation, he took careful aim and shot two of the creatures. Quick as a wink, he swung the cylinder out of the revolver and loaded six more cartridges into he gun, snapping it closed. The villager swung wildly at the creatures with what looked to Richard as a cooking hatchet. She cut one of the beasts but it was undeterred by her weapon. Richard took careful aim and destroyed the remaining Geckos.
"Whew! I was in trouble there for sure! Thanks for helping me out." She made her way back towards the town and Sunny and Richard hunkered near the water troughs.
"That was some good hunting right ther, it even got a little hairy there at the end. Great work!" She told Richard. "This is where all our water comes from. These natural springs produce fresh water, feel free to stop by for a drink whenever you want." With that, she handed him a beat up but usable canteen. Richard and Sunny drank and washed themselves up, she playfully splashed him with the water and they laughed. They harvested the meat and hide from the animals and made their way back to the town.
"Make sure to stop by and talk to Trudy," she told him. "She likes to meet all the newcomers and she'd be cross with me if you didn't stop by."
Richard thanked her for her advice and they split up. She and Cheyanne went to the Saloon with the meat and he loaded up his bag with the hides and made his way towards the abandoned school. He cleared the building out. A nasty family of Mantids had taken up residence in the old building. After the Great War, may native species had become horribly mutated. These Mantids were huge but no match for Richard's well tooled boots. He approached the safe and took a look at the lock mechanism. Beside the safe on the counter was an old RobCo Terminal. This is more like it, he thought to himself. He had very little patience for the skill it took to open locks. He'd had only a little practice with it so instead, he accessed the old RobCo Terminal. After expertly hacking the device, he heard the satisfying sound of the safe's lock disengaging. He took a look inside at his bounty: three Stimpacks, a few old magazines, a small box of Bobby Pins, and some ammo for his pistol. He left the schoolhouse and made his way towards the Saloon. As he entered the Saloon and heard raised voices coming from the bar area.
"I'm done being nice. I know you're hiding Ringo here. If you don't bring him out, we'll burn this whole town down!"
"What's going on here?" Richard asked.
"Mind your own fuckin' business." The man said and stormed out.
"Well, you're causin' quite a stir." The lady said, looking at Richard.
"You must be Trudy, I'm Richard, pleased to meet you." He said to her.
"We're all very happy to hear you've woken up and are on the mend. That Doc Mitchell did a great job patching you up."
"Thanks Trudy, I'm just happy that the robot was there."
Richard asked Trudy about some of the details of the Mojave Wasteland. Trudy filled Richard in on all the goings on. How the region was being terrorized by a group of bandits calling themselves Caeser's Legion and how another group from out west calling themselves The New California Republic was making a foothold into the Region. The Legion was nothing more than a gang of thugs that kept slaves, treated women as nothing more than property, and viciously attacked anyone that stood in their way. The Republic on the other hand followed a more militaristic code and while it did protect those that lived in the region, they also expected a tax for the protection and maintenance of their towns.
Richard asked about Ringo and the problems with the Powder Gangers. Trudy told him that Joe Cobb, the man that she'd been arguing with, was a member of the group that had escaped from the prison to the South East of town. The Prison, NCRCF or New California Republic Correctional Facility, was recently overtaken by the inmates. They were threatening the areas around the prison. Richard asked where Ringo was hiding and promised to help them if he could. These were good people and he did owe them his life.He asked her about the man in the checkered coat.
"Those guys were here for a couple of days, they were rude as hell. They figured that because they were from that big city that we owed them something. They made several unwanted advances towards me and Sunny and I was so happy to see them go. I never realized that they'd attacked anyone until we saw Victor roll thorough town carrying you to the Doc's house."
"Did you happen to see which way they went?" Richard asked her.
"I think they may have been heading to the South towards Primm." She replied.
Richard nodded. He asked her about anything going on more locally and she replied that since her radio went out they haven't been able to get much news way out here. She looked at the window near the bar and noticed that night was falling. She offered him to let him bunk up on her sofa that she and Sunny'd be happy to let him stay the night. He agreed under the condition that she let him take a look at the radio. He was pretty good at fixing things and that'd be the least he could do for their hospitality.
Richard followed the ladies down to one of the houses near the Saloon Sunny and Trudy fixed a delicious meal of Gecko Stew out of the meat that she and Richard had hunted up that afternoon. It was one of the best meals he ever ate. There was little opportunity for a home cooked meal while on the road. After dinner, the ladies set up a game of Caravan. Richard said he'd watch them as he had no skill for the game. As they played, he tinkered with Trudy's radio. Sunny won game after game and while Richard tinkered, they filled him in on some of the factions that controlled the Greater New Vegas area.
New Vegas was spared miraculously of the bombs that seemed to wipe out everywhere else. After several years, Mr. House, the defacto ruler of the city, sent out his Securitrons to police the area. He had set up several tribal groups to run his casinos. The Chairmen, The Omertas, The White Gloves, they were a weird one, Trudy told him, as well he had allowed the NCR to garrison themselves there. She also told him of the other groups in and around Vegas. Richard realized that the entire region was a nightmare of politics and fighting between all the various factions. He didn't have any intention whatsoever of involving himself in any of that. All he wanted was his package back and to put a revenge bullet into the brain pan of the son of a bitch that had shot him.
Richard replaced the back of the radio and flipped on the switch as Sunny won yet another game against Trudy who swore under her breath. Sunny seemed not to hear as they dealt out another hand. The tubes inside the radio began to warm and they heard this coming out of the speakers: Ladies and gentleman, welcome to our program. This is Mr. New Vegas, and each and every one of you is wonderful in your own special way. Whoops, better put on my newsman fedora, here. Troubling news from Primm as merchants report a large number of armed and unsavory figures patrolling the town. Residents are no where to be found. Promotional consideration for this news program has been paid for by The Ultra-Luxe. The Ultra-Luxe: live life in the lap of luxury. Got a song for you right now that's about a man that's cold on the exterior, but deep down ya'know he's a good man and his name is Johnny Guitar.
The three of them listened in companionable silence to the dulcet tones of Peggy Lee singing Johnny Guitar. When the song was over, Richard shut off the radio and the ladies went to bed. Richard lay upon Trudy's couch and thought about the man he was going to kill. Mr. Checkerboard was dead, he just didn't know it yet.
The game was rigged from the start..." BAM