The Wasteland of Rapture
Chapter 3 – The Sit Down
I was woken up by the familiar electric shock of my Pip-Boy as my alarm clock feature kicked in. My Pip-Boy is an amazing piece of technology, I might add, although it can be a real pain in the ass. The alarm system, for example, wakes you up by sending a small shock waking every muscle you have up and "makes you ready to run a marathon when you get up" as the instruction manual says.
I got up and made my way to the door, casually saying good bye to wads worth and draining a bottle of purified water. When I got out of my home, I was greeted by a face staring at me. I took a step back and took in the familiarity that was Moira Brown; from her bright red hair to her worn out old RobCo jumpsuit.
"Hey Liam, do you want to know something about Rapture? I have some information on an old terminal I could show you." She said quickly. I looked at her strangely and asked
"How did you get them?"
"I found them, silly. I was working on a terminal a long time ago when I came across some information on Rapture. It was made by this guy, some Fontaine or Fountain or something. But anyway, it told me the location of it and where to find some ammunition, or something.
"I was going to look for it a while ago, but I got sidetracked by the Wasteland Survival Guide you helped me with, but after that transmission, I found it again. I thought you might need it as you're going to the Citadel today..."
"Wait, how do you know about me visiting the Citadel?" I asked, thoroughly confused.
"I wasn't hacking your messages while you were sleeping last night because the whole of Megaton wanted to find out what was going on, if that's what you were thinking!" She said fast, all in a single breath. I raised my eyebrows and gave her a stern look; she stared down at her feet, like she was a small child being told off by her farther.
I sighed and asked her:
"Do you want to come with me then?" Her face lit up like a candle and said
"When do we leave?"
.~.~.~.~.
I walked through the deserted courtyard with Moira; everyone was on duty trying to keep the peace, even if it was just for a day. The strange thing though, is that I saw no one on my way here, bar a couple of traders. Not one raider to shoot, not one radscorpion to squish or super mutant to smash in and it was making me nervous.
We made our way through the laboratory and into the room where Liberty Prime was stationed all those years ago. I knocked on the door and was told to enter by Sarah voice. We walked in and saw a table set out of the sit down, and three people were seated, Sarah included.
First was Commander Jabsco, the leader of the Talon Company Merc's; with his Mr Gutsy and two of his usual mercenaries behind him. He was wearing the usual get up a mercenary would wear, although he had a Fat Man strapped to his back.
Second was Sarah who had her Brotherhood of Steel power armour on, bar her helmet. Her facial expression was grim, she obviously didn't want the others here as much as I did.
The third was Lucifer the "king" of raiders. He was the only person the raiders respected, only because they would be killed, quite easily, if they didn't. I had a score to settle with him, and if the truce wasn't on, he would be dead in his seat. He was what the Brotherhood of Steal would call powerful, and that was an achievement in its own. He was wearing an outfit of human body parts, ranging from bones, skulls, fingers and toes. It looked like he had stitched many different types of skin together and made a "suit".
I sat down opposite Lucifer and the Commander Jabsco, and Moira next to me. Just as I sat down, Lucifer threw a taunt at me;
"So the lone wanderer gets a lover at last... I will enjoy making her suffer as I skin her alive so I can add her to my new suit."
"I knew something was different with you," I commented sarcastically "Who are you wearing today then? Your mother?"
I grinned and showed us his white teeth, all filed to a point; he didn't look human, he looked like a monster. Sarah cleared her throat and made a start on the "conference"
"You know why your here, you want to find out this city, Rapture."
"Yeah, yeah, we know why we're here, your royal bitch-ness; just get to the part where you tell us the plan to loot the city." Lucifer said in an arrogant tone.
"It's not going to work like that. We're going to see if there's anything good we can trade with them. Being able to send a broadcast over that amount of space must mean that they have good technology." Countered Jabsco.
"Shut up, asshole."
"As I was saying," Started Sarah again "We want to know about Rapture. I have some more information that the scribes dug up about it. Apparently it's a technological paradise, even if it was built over three hundred years ago. There were reports of children being kidnapped, just like now, when they had finished building it. That's all we really know."
"I have some more information about Rapture, Elder Lyons." Moira piped up. She got up and inserted an ancient "floppy disk" into the nearest terminal. It started to hum and beep, when the program started.
It was a message which went on for pages, no more than letters and numbers. Moira typed something into the keyboard and a new page loaded.
"I've made the disk run a subroutine to de-code the letter; who ever this was sent by obviously didn't want it to be read."
The new page was much shorter than the last; it was only a couple of paragraphs. The main thing though was the co-ordinates for Rapture. I brought up the map on my Pip-Boy and wrote it in; 63°2° N, 29° 55°W. The co-ordinates led my Pip-Boy map to the ocean. I pointed this out, but Moira was adamant that it was correct.
"It has to be, this is a genuine floppy disk from before the War!"
"Well it's the only lead we have. We go at nine hundred hours. There will only be room for four people. I am not going. I have an organisation to lead."
"I'll go, this sounds like a lead on who might be stealing the children." I commented, although that was only a half truth. I wanted to keep an eye on what the three "recruits" might do.
"Sure," said Commander Jabsco. "It will be best for me to go. I'll leave my second in command, Lieutenant Nixon, in charge until my return."
Lucifer grinned menacingly. "I'm going to stay like bitchy here, maybe take over Fort Bannister while you're gone, Jabsco."
"You wouldn't dare. I'll kill you myself."
"You and what army?" Lucifer taunted.
"Enough. Nine hundred hours. And no heavy equipment. We don't want to scare them." I looked to my right and Moira looked like she wanted to say something.
"What, Moira?" asked Sarah.
"Um, is it okay... um... If I go?" She said nervously.
"Okay. We need a technician anyway." I said before anyone could intervene.
"Nine hundred hours. Sharp." And that was the final word.
.~.~.~.~.
At nine hundred hours, with my Pip-Boy concededly lighter, I made my way to the Vertibird. I was only carrying a couple of my guns: my shotgun, my Auto Axe and my Assault Rifle. I wasn't wearing my Power amour, just some Combat amour.
Needless to say, I was unprepared for what was going to happen.
I hopped on the Vertibird and saw Moira, Jabsco and a woman I've never seen before. She had dirty pale skin, many tattoos covering her arms, and wore raider amour. The thing is, though, she didn't look like she was—or wanted to be, a raider.
She noticed me looking at her and held out a hand. Again, not a very raiderish type thing to do.
"Rachel Harper. I was chosen by his lordness to come with you." She gave me a brief smile before scowling. She started to mutter to herself, almost like she was angry at someone. Then, like nothing had happened, stared out of the window.
The Vertibird ride took us nine hours to get us where we wanted to go, going speeds up to four hundred miles an hour. As we got out, we noticed something... The "city" was just a lighthouse in the middle of the sea. I looked at the pilot and he shrugged.
We made our way to the entrance and through a set of ajar doors. The lighthouse itself was enormous, a very picturesque view of humanity. It looked like there wasn't a scratch on it; it obviously wasn't known about during the Great War. When we entered it was pitch black, the only light coming from the Vertibird's headlights. The door slammed shut, causing complete and total darkness to fall.
A light came on and we saw a huge statue, worn away over time, with a banner saying, "No Gods Or Kings. Only Man." The statue holding the banner was of a man with a stern face and he was wearing a business suit. We made our way cautiously to the back of the room where an archway stood. As I entered, being in front of the others, a light turned on, revealing a piece of art on the wall. It was made of circles and fish like images. It lead down to another staircase.
We followed that one to yet another staircase. In the centre of the room was a big spherical vehicle with the door open. Not knowing what else to do, we entered. After we had all gotten in, and the door closed behind us, I was becoming increasingly nervous. I pulled the lever and the vehicle started to descend.
At first there was nothing but bubbles and darkness as we dived, but as we got further and further, we saw huge statues mounted on what seemed to be a wall, each of a man. There was a measurement, eighteen fathoms. Then a screen popped out of nowhere, and a familiar message began to play.
"I am Andrew Ryan, and I am here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?
'No,' says the man in Washington, 'it belongs to the poor.'
'No,' says the man in the Vatican, 'it belongs to God,'
'No,' says the man in Moscow, 'it belongs to everyone.'
I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose...
Rapture.
A city where the artist would not fear the censor,
where the scientist would not be bound by petty morals,
where the great would not be constrained by the small.
And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city, as well."
It was the full version and when the word Rapture was said, the screen came up and I saw one of the most beautiful things in my life. An underwater city. The tall skyscrapers, the neon lights and the sea life, all blended into one scenic overview. I had never seen anything like it, and apparently neither had the others, as they had gasped when it had first appeared. Now, they were in awestruck silence as the message finished.
The vehicle docked itself outside a pathway with a red carpet. The door opened and we all stepped out, surprised we all weren't dead by the change in pressure. As we stepped outside, we heard a booming voice play over what seemed to be a speaker.
"Welcome to Rapture," The voice said, rather loudly. "Please, if you would be so kind to go up the stairs and into the room, I will meet you personally." Not knowing what else to do, we all started our way into a nightmare...
.~.~.~.~.
AN: Hey guys, a bigger chapter this time. Not a filler and it actually shows you Rapture! Now I bet you're wondering what happened in the three hundred years after the events of Bioshock 2, but that will have to wait.
I will be putting some violence in the next one and you'll get to meet that voice... Well enough for now.
Please give thanks for my awesome Beta reader, sarcasicrocker86 for (Obviously) Betaing this for me.
Till next time,
Umbra Luna :) :P