Chapter Four.

Moira awoke to the sound of someone pounding on the front door bellow. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, noticing that the sun wasn't coming in through the window above the spare bed like it should have.

The past few days were catching up to her, and she walked downstairs on autopilot, able to grasp only simple concepts such as putting on foot in front of the other and reaching for the door knob. She opened the door and squinted at the backlit figure before her. The brim hat made her think at first it was Lucas Simms again, but it wasn't.

"Huh?" she said, shading her eyes.

"Ms. Brown," the man said. "May I come in?"

"Uh, sure," she said, stepping back. The door shut and Moira's brain began to warm up. Who was this person she had just let it her shop before it was supposed to open? He wore a grimy, grey business suit, sunglasses, and a matching hat with a short brim.

"Where are my manners?" the man said. "My name is Mr. Burke. I represent certain parties with an interest in Megaton's future and we have a business proposition for you."

"Uh?" Moira said. She wasn't used to being up early, especially after so many nights with little sleep. She reached for a Mentat but couldn't find a pocket.

"You are Moira Brown, correct?" Mr. Burke said.

"I'm Moira," she said. "You just woke me up, that's all."

"The early bird gets the worm, as they say."

"Who has worms?" Where are my Mentats? She thought.

Mr. Burke coughed. He had come into the shop farther than was polite and was looking the place over, especially the catwalks above. "You're something of a technician I'm told, is that correct?"

Moira yawned. "Oh, yeah, I'm always tinkering with things and building stuff. I just run this shop to fund my work."

Mr. Burke frowned. "I see. We could pay you quite handsomely for what we are requesting. What do you know about the bomb?"

He was of course referring to the unexploded nuclear bomb that sat at the center of Megaton. When it landed, it had formed a large crater, the sloping sides of which the town was built around.

"I know it's from the war," Moira said. "I tried to look at it once, but everyone yelled at me. They leave that church person alone though…"

"Yes, yes," Mr. Burke said. "What if I said I would be willing to make it worth your while to see to it that the bomb…goes off?"

"Goes off? Goes off to where?" Moira asked, still patting her chest in search of her Mentat box.

"Goes kaboom," Mr. Burke said. "I can pay you to wipe this town off the map. How does that suit you? Imagine it, enough money to set up in Rivet City with better stock, better people, zero chance of being killed by raiders or God only knows what else wants those walls down. All the time you need to tinker. How does that suit you?"

She wondered if she wasn't dreaming. Sometimes she had strange dreams. In her last, she was a robot and everyone was trying to sell her old tin cans but she kept telling them she couldn't accept tin because it was cannibalism. She didn't think this was a dream, though. In her dreams, she didn't need a Mentat as badly as she did now, her feet and arms weren't cold, and she couldn't taste her own morning breath.

"I don't think I could blow up Megaton," Moira said. "I mean, I could, as in I'm pretty sure I could rig the bomb to go off, but I couldn't do that to everyone. They'd be mad when they came back and found their houses gone, after all."

Mr. Burke's face had been neutral, but now Moira could clearly detect a sneer. "There are other things we can offer aside from money," he said. "That whore you've got living with you has enemies. Enemies we can make disappear if you decide to cooperate."

Moira blinked, her tired brain now spurned to action by fear. Like nearly everyone in the wasteland, Mr. Burke was carrying a pistol. She knew people would be up in town and would hear if there was a shot or if she screamed, but she would be just as dead whether anyone came running or not. "Enemies? Who do you mean?"

"Colin Moriarty," he said. "He isn't happy with that whore, nor is he pleased with you. He's been looking dirt on you for quite some time, and unless you want it known that someone was in here asking you to blow up the town in exchange for some caps, I suggest you cooperate."

She scratched her head, confused. Was she being made an offer, or being threatened? Even if she said no to Mr. Burke, he was right, it wouldn't reflect well on her to have people know what they had discussed. Mr. Burke could leave and never come back, but she had quite a bit invested in Megaton.

She needed to get him out of the shop so she could think and find her Mentats. "What did you have in mind?"

Mr. Burke pulled a small electronic device from his pocket and handed it to her. He explained that all she had to do was install it on the bomb and set it with enough time for her to get to Tenpenny Tower to collect her pay before she was caught in the blast.

"Why don't you do it?" she asked.

"I'm not familiar enough with the device's inner workings to install it quickly in the dead of night. You on the other hand have a passing familiarity with the bomb and won't attract as much suspicion."

"But…"

"We'll find someone else if you won't do it," Mr. Burke said. "So look at it this way, you can either wake up someday in Rivet City on a pile of caps, or you can wake up in a mushroom cloud. Come to Tenpenny Tower when the job is done, otherwise I'll be keeping watch from afar."

Mr. Burke tipped his hat and left. Moira blinked and looked at the device she had been handed while patting her clothes for a Mentat. She sighed, realizing she was only wearing a t-shirt and underpants, having forgotten to put on her jumpsuit before coming down the stairs. She set the device on the counter and headed back upstairs, knowing she had Mentats in her jumpsuit pockets.

To be continued…