It was mid-summer and the day was stunningly hot. Calli could feel the humidity in the air. A summer storm was brewing over the mountains. The sweat trickled down her back as she crouched, facing the young man, her stance easy and alert. He was nervous but determined. Suddenly he made his move. Calli slipped to the side, grasping his arm, moving up. The boy went still.
"Okay, Kyle, what should you do now?", she asked. The boy looked confused.
"Anyone?", she asked, addressing the class.
The sudden vibration on her wrist drew her attention. Releasing the boy she punched up the screen.
"Class is dismissed", she said abruptly as she lowered her wrist.
With halfhearted obligatory protestations the kids dispersed. Calli glanced at the darkening sky and headed for the clinic. She had to tell Nathan she was going to be leaving.
Nathan was in with a patient when she entered the clinic.
"Hey, Linda," she addressed the girl at the desk. "Let Nathan know I went up to the house. I need to see him as soon as he's free."
"I'll be sure to tell him as soon as he comes out", Linda said, looking down at her bookings. She would arrange for his next patient to be seen by Jewell or their assistant Marta. Calli usually didn't bother him at work so it must be important.
Calli had already donned her wasteland armor when Nathan came in. He took in the stuffed pack lying on the bed and his armored wife and looked a question at her.
"I got a beacon on my Pip-boy", she said. "It could just be a location signal but I don't think so. It came up suddenly and seems to be at a location in a deserted area. I've got to check it out. It could be a call for help or it could mean salvage. Either way, it can't wait."
Nathan took her in his arms. "I know", he said. "It's your job. Be careful, will you? I'm going to miss you."
She raised her head for a kiss. "I'm going to miss you too", she murmured distractedly. He didn't miss the spark of excitement in her eyes. "I'm going to take the bike. I know I've been having some problems with it but I have to get there as quick as I can. Don't worry, I'll meet Hawk. I'm not going to go alone."
He grinned wryly. She had his worries down pat. He watched her pick up her pack and trot off down the stairs with more energy than she had shown in weeks.
Calli made the radio call to the Settlement before she set out. Hawk would meet her at the old relay station near the area where the beacon was originating. She felt her spirits soar as she sped through the rain and lightning. The boredom of the last weeks fell away as she fought the elements headed toward a new adventure.
Hawk almost made it before his bike sputtered to a stop. With a curse he shoved it behind a boulder and headed down the road on foot at a trot. It wasn't far to the meeting place and Calli was waiting. At least it hadn't rained here yet and he didn't have to slog through mud.
Calli was getting agitated. Hawk hadn't shown yet and she was afraid someone else would make the claim. Finally she decided to go on and find where the signal originated. She'd leave a clear trail so he could find her easily enough. Calli's indicator was pointing into the wasteland to the left. She left the road and slowly made her way up the side of the mountain. Suddenly she caught the glint of the setting sun on a metallic object.
A small space shuttle had buried itself into the mountain. It was emitting the locator beacon Calli had picked up. She grinned to herself. This was going to be some good salvage. Leaving her bike at the top of the ditch burrowed out by the ship she headed down. Calli reached out and touched the ship.
Her vision was blurring but she could see she was rising into the sky in a haze of blue light. "H-a-aa-w-w-w-k", she screamed. Then blackness surrounded her.
The bright light was hurting her eyes. She tried to open them, but everything was so fuzzy. What were those white clad creatures bending over her? What was that frightening looking piece of equipment that was swinging into place over her head? She tried to scream as it lowered toward her, touching her forehead, then the sudden sharp pain, the crunching noise. Blackness took her again.
Hawk reached the meeting place only to find Calli had gone. She had left a clear trail for him though. He followed as quickly as he could without losing it, annoyed that she hadn't waited for him. Who knew what kind of danger would wait at a rescue beacon? It could even be a trap; it wasn't unheard of. He followed her trail up the mountain to where her bike stood next to a pile of boulders. Looking down he could see the small shuttle burrowed into the mountain. It appeared Calli had gone down to look it over. He carefully looked around then headed down.
He walked around the shuttle. There was no way in. He couldn't find any trace that Calli had left. She must have as she wasn't here, but why would she hide her trail from him? Or leave her bike behind? He was getting very worried now. He wasn't sure what he should do.
Calli moaned as the world faded in. She focused on the face bending over her. "Who are you"?, she groaned.
"The name's Somah. I bet you have a headache, don't you? Don't worry, it'll go away soon. Not that it matters now", the strange woman said.
"Why does everyone want a piece of my brain?", Calli moaned sourly.
Somah blinked. "What?", she asked, mystified.
"Oh, never mind, long story" Calli sat up and looked around.
"Where are we?", she asked, taking in her surroundings. The room was fairly large, oval and empty. Tracks ran across the high open ceiling.
"We're on a space ship being held by aliens", Somah said. Suddenly she went still. "Get back against the wall! Now!", she hissed.
Calli quickly followed her up against the wall. A scream echoed from the cell next to theirs, and then a giant claw swung high overhead, clutching a struggling, screaming man as it passed over their cell and disappeared.
"At least it didn't come for one of us this time", Somah said. She looked over at Calli. "Boy, they must have really liked you. At least they left me my clothes."
Somah was fully dressed in a leather wasteland outfit. Calli realized she was just in her underwear. She decided she didn't need to mention to Somah her armor was custom made and contained a number of advancements taken from protocols she had scavenged in the wasteland. Maybe that's why they had taken it.
"Yeah, I guess", she replied. "Listen, do you know how we can get out of here?"
"Well, I do have an idea", Somah said. "I don't think they normally put people in together so I don't know why they put you in here with me, but maybe we can use that to our advantage. If they think we're going to kill each other I think they'll come in to break it up. If we take the fight near the door I think we can take them by surprise."
Calli considered this then shrugged." I don't have a better plan. Let's do it."
Somah said, "I'll not hurt you too bad but we have to make it look good. This is going to hurt."
Calli smiled crookedly. "It always does."
The plan worked better than Calli expected. The small, grey, large headed creatures burst into the room chattering shrilly in a strange language. They were much weaker and easier to take than she would have thought of a race that could travel the stars. She didn't stop to think about this as she slugged the small, thin bodies shocking her with strange, glowing weapons. Damn they hurt! They were doing some damage too, as she could feel some parts of her body going numb. She hoped she could find her pack with her medical supplies.
When the aliens weren't moving any more she stooped to search the bodies and take whatever they could use. The only thing on any of them was the shocking wands. She picked one up and stopped to frown at her flickering Pip-boy.
"This isn't right", she said slowly, staring at the screen.
"What is it?" Somah asked.
"At some time old humans must have had been involved with the aliens somehow", she said thoughtfully. "When that creature started jabbering at us my Pip-boy opened up a translation matrix. How could that happen unless it was downloaded into it centuries ago? It's been in the vault for 200 years!"
"Who cares?", Somah said. "The point is it can translate what they're saying, right?"
"Kind of", Calli said. "I mean, it can, but it would take time, and these buggers don't want to talk to us anyway. They want to kill us. It's more important right now that it can interact with some of their technology. Look, as soon as it activated it connected with that door lock. I can open it. See?"
Calli reached out and pushed the large disc beside a cell door. The door slid open. Calli recognized the victim inside as a guard she had seen at Rivet City some months before.
"Guard", she said urgently. "Come on, let's get out of here." The woman stared at her with glazed eyes, pacing back and forth, muttering. Calli watched for a moment, then shook her head. "Let's go", she said to Somah. "There's nothing we can do for her now."
Leaving the cell door open they progressed to the next one. That one was empty but the one after that contained a dead Enclave officer. Calli quickly stripped him and put on the uniform. It wasn't much but it beat running around getting shocked in just her underwear. The boots were way too large. That was going to be awkward so she stripped off his underwear to stuff the boots.
They checked two more cells and found them empty before moving into the next hall. A young voice called out.
"Hey, is someone out there? What was all that noise? What's going on? Hey, I'm in here, help me." Calli pushed the disc to open the door. A young girl of about 9 or 10 stared at them for a moment.
"I bet you want to get out of here, don't you?", she asked, hurrying from the cell. "So do I. I hate it here! I bet I can help you. Let me come with you and I'll show you how to get off this ship."
"Who are you?", Calli asked. "How long have you been here? What makes you think you can help us?"
"You ask a lot of questions, don't you?", the girl said, tossing back her long blonde pigtails. Her brilliant blue eyes seemed too old for her years. "My name's Sally and I've been here a long time. I got taken with my family when the bombs started falling. I don't know what happened to my sister, I hope she's here somewhere, but I know my mom and dad are dead. Anyway sometimes I get out and I've explored a lot of the ship. I understand some of what they say too, so I know a lot of stuff. I have to get out of here. I heard the big mean chief guy tell my keeper that if his pet human gets out again, he's going to have me killed."
Calli considered this information. If she was taken when the bombs started falling she had been here 200 years. Either they had some way to stop the aging process or they had frozen the girl. She would have to find out as it could be important information. Right now all she cared about was the girl had knowledge of the ship and aliens that she needed.
"All right", she said. "Do you have any idea where they might have taken my stuff? I could really use my own clothes."
"They took your clothes?", Sally said. "Huh. They probably put everything in a storage crate until it can be taken for examination. I think they keep them in the next room."
"Okay", Calli said. "I'll just check these other cells first."
"Well hurry up", Somah said. "More guards are gonna show up any second now."
Calli quickly opened the other cells in the hall but found no more prisoners.
"Come on", Sally said. "We gotta get to the engine room. I can show you how to get to the top room from there and we can get out. I can show you lots of other stuff too."
"Okay, kid", Calli said. "Lead on."