Chapter 14: Wyatt the ERP
Rep poked his head out of the stairwell and looked back and forth through the hallway before walking out, the robots behind him as they proceeded forward. They found themselves in the sub-basement of the facility in search of the building's Mainframe room. It was dark and quiet; not even humming of equipment could be heard in the darkened halls.
The silence finally got to him, "Tell me," he addressed the robot, "do you actually have a name?"
"Hmmm," the robot stayed silent for a moment as though it was thinking it over, "Well, Wyatt always calls me, 'Cretin,' but I don't think that's really a name."
"I'd have to say it isn't," the engineer stated in agreement, "If you had to pick a name, what would you call yourself?"
"Well," the robot began, "I never really thought about it. There was a time I thought to call myself, 'Klyton'..."
"Ugh, no," Rep responded, "That reminds me of this shitty robot movie I saw."
"Okay, how about a human name, like, 'Robbie,' 'Johnny,' or…"
"Stop," Rep just about regretted asking the robot, "a human name doesn't suit you. How about something more abstract?"
"Abstract?"
"Yeah, like for instance everyone knows me by my nickname Rep. Maybe we could call you something intrinsic to your appearance. Something like, 'Rusty,' ya know?"
"Well, I know my body was constructed with the scraps of old robots from what the database in the robot's memory tells me, but I don't know anything else."
"Scraps, huh?" the gears were turning in the Vault Dweller's head. The lightbulb went off, "We'll call ya, 'Scrap'. How 'bout it?"
"That makes it sound like I'll be melted down into bullets or something," the robot complained.
"You don't watch your rusty metal ass, we'll have to do something with your corpse." The robot now named Scrap put his hand to the speaker in his head - or his mouth - in fright of the human's words.
In the small bit of silence that laid in the hallway aside of the Protectrons actuators, Rep heard something, "Wait a minute," he said, Scrap and himself stopping all movement. "Protectrons - Set Command, 'Standby.'" The other robots stopped and awaited orders. Looking around, he saw a set of cameras on either side of the hallway moving back and forth pointed toward a dark section of the hallway.
"Scrap," the engineer waved the robot up while keeping an eye on the cameras, "What are those cameras pointing at?" "There's a doorway there. It leads to the central Mainframe where Wyatt operates. It also houses the NDN and the building's power systems."
"Can those cameras turn all the way around?"
"No, they're ninety degree radius cameras." Just then the cameras turn all the way around, their red activity lights becoming visible. Both Rep and Scrap noticed this. A look of terror crossed Rep's face as Scrap put a finger to his mouth thoughtfully as he spoke to himself, "Or am I thinking of the laboratory?" Rep looked at the robot, "Laboratory?!" He took out his plasma pistol and pistol whipped the robot in the head making a loud CLUNK! as he did, "You fucking dumbass!"
Alarms started going off again as false wall panels slid up revealing RobCo Sentry robots moving their way forward. Rep screamed to the Protectrons, "Set Command 'Attack x9000s!'" They responded to their orders.
They didn't stand a chance.
There were four robots, and all of them said the same line, "Alert: Hostile Detected. Lethal Force authorized for all units." Before the Protectrons could turn to their attackers, the Sentrys spun up their miniguns and cut through them like butter. They spun around, gun chambers still smoking, and advanced on Rep and Scrap's position, Rep lamenting, "They didn't last long!" The Sentrys repeated their mantra as their guns spun up again, "Back to the stairwell!" Rep and Scrap turned and ran as the miniguns fired. Rep dove into the door followed by the robot. The cinder block walls exploded as the high powered 5.56mm rounds punched through in rapid succession. The two were showered with rocks and dust as they covered their heads. When it seemed like the assault went on forever…
The gunfire stopped.
Both of them sat up, Scrap immediately sitting in the corner again in the fetal position rocking back and forth. Rep grabbed a piece of glass from the now destroyed stairwell door window and used its reflective surface to look around the corner. The Sentrys sat idle facing the stairwell, "Shit!" Rep backed away from the door and sat back against the wall. Taking off his glasses he looked up and closed his eyes, breathing through his nose to try and calm down and get the brain working, "Okay, okay, okay, think, Rep, think!" He put his glasses back on and started talking to himself, "X9000 Sentrys have combat inhibitors. Hit the inhibitor, the robot attacks everything. Can't hit the inhibitor because the fucker's are facing us. Inhibitor is in the back. Gotta distract 'em." Rep got stuck, "How?"
Rep started looking around and found cinder block pieces all around him, "That might… No, first second I try to throw it, they'll see my body heat." He shook his head mildly as he kept repeating the words, "Body heat." An idea struck him, "Scrap, I need your help." But the robot sat rocking back and forth. "Scrap?"
"I can't do it," the robot whimpered.
Rep raised an eyebrow, "Uh…"
"I'm afraid! They're going to tear us apart! Can't you do it?"
"The second I do, they'll see me with their thermal vision and destroy us. You have a low heat signature, you're practically invisible to them in short bursts."
"Why do you even need to do this? This is so dangerous, why risk yourself?"
Rep let out a sigh. The sigh got the robot to look at him, "You've gotta understand, humans are far more frail than machines. There's a man in Brahmin Wood and he's very sick. Wyatt and his horde are in between us and his salvation. He saved my friends' lives, I can't let that stop me because if I do, I let him down, and if I do that, he dies." The robot cocked his head to the side, "But, how is it you're not afraid?"
"Who said I wasn't?" the human responded, "I'm fucking terrified, but my friends mean a lot to me," he sighed again, "I had to give up a lot of my friends when I left my Vault. What few I have out here is all I have left. I wanna make sure they're taken care of, and if that means I have to sack up, then so be it."
"I don't have any friends," Scrap put his head in his hands, "I wish I did."
"Friends have to be there for each other," Rep put his hand on the robot's shoulder. The machine looked up with its one optic and looked at the Vault Dweller in the face. With utmost clarity, the robot knew what it meant. Scrap nodded silently. Rep smirked and returned the nod. "Come on," the man in blue stated, "let's take out the garbage and get outta this hellhole."
At the bottom of the door jamb for the stairwell, the top of Scrap's head poked out to have a look at the Sentrys in the hallway. They didn't appear to move at all. Around the corner Rep had his Pip-Boy plugged into Scrap's data port in the back of his head to see what Scrap was seeing. Rep saw the Sentrys there just staying idle like before. It confused him, "That's damn odd. Usually X9000 Sentry Bots go on 'Seek and Destroy' until all unrecognized personnel are dead. What is this? They know we're here."
"Wyatt has direct control over them. I never did know why he would not attack the trespassers until the trespassers attacked first."
"He's gotta have a higher cognitive capability than normal A.I.s. I feel like he's fucking with us," looking closer to the Pip-Boy's screen, Rep saw something, "Zoom in on the door." Scrap's eye whirred as it did just that. "See the window? I want you to hit that."
"Won't Wyatt hear us?"
"When under direct access, Sentry Bots can only receive commands and broadcast video imagery to the controller, any audio picked up by the robot is used for proximity defense. In this state I can't even give vocal override. It was something of an exploit when they built Protectrons; it's the only override that can be done without losing limbs. Let's do it." Scrap backed up and stood up allowing Rep to unplug his Pip-Boy. After stowing the cable he pulled out his pistol and charged it up as Scrap picked up a fragment of cinderblock.
Rep moved to a spot on the stairs and got into position, "Okay, are you sure you can hit that spot?" "I'm equipped with a vector targeting system," it said with confidence, "Easy!" "Alright, tell me when you see them turn around. And in 3… 2… 1… Go!" On signal Scrap rounded the corner and whipped the rock…
CLUNK! "Um… Oops."
Rep just heard two things he didn't like, "That didn't sound like glass. What. The. Fuck! Did you hit?"
"Um… Don't get mad," the robot sounded panicked, "but I forgot I haven't been calibrated in 78 years."
Rep was visibly distressed, "Oh, I'm not mad," the man was turning bright red.
"Okay, as long as you're not mad."
The walls again burst into dust as Rep and Scrap dropped to the floor. Large holes formed in the wall as bullets tore the cinderblocks asunder. A bullet ricocheted off the stair handrail and struck Rep in the upper leg causing him to cry out in pain, "Motherfucker!" He reached for his leg but almost couldn't while laying on his side, the gunfire being yet to stop and restricting his movement.
"Rep!" the robot called out, "Rep, are you okay?!" "Good enough to start for the Chicago Cubs," Rep growled, "I'm hit, you asshole!" There was a halt in gunfire as a burst of static was heard echoing in the hallway, "You cretin," the voice reverberated across the area. The voice was coming from over the P.A. system, "I told you to kill those thieves and I find you helping them?" The voice had an almost southwestern drawl to it, "Do I have to do to them what I did to the last cur you refused to handle?"
"Scrap?" the Vault Engineer had a bad chill up his spine, "That isn't Wyatt, is it?"
"Yes, and he's - how do you human's put it? Pissed?"
"Fuck, what are we gonna do? I can't move for shit, and I only have two StimPaks. By the time I heal I'll be shot full of holes!"
Scrap looked to his newfound friend bleeding on the floor growling in pain. The man pulled another needle device out of his bag and jammed it into his leg making him growl even more. The robot knew what happened was his fault, and seeing what had happened to the last intruder, he didn't want the same to happen to Rep. He remembered what Rep had said, "Friendship." Scrap picked up a handful of cinder block fragments and dashed out of the door.
"What the hell?" Rep looked just in time to watch the robot bolt out the stairwell. Scrap started throwing rocks at the cameras causing them to shatter in a shower of sparks. The robots before him spun around and started firing at the sparks causing them to accidentally shoot the walls and each other. Rep crawled to the door and saw what was happening.
Scrap grabbed a fire extinguisher from a nearby safety station and started hitting one of the confused robots in the torso. As quickly as he started the Sentry turned and knocked the extinguisher from him, throwing it behind itself. "Secondary target allocated," it said, training its sensors on the Humanoid robot.
Rep saw where the extinguisher landed. He had one chance, "Scrap, hit the deck!" Rep pulled his pistol as the robot dove to the floor. WHOOSH! BANG! Plasma hit the red canister and in a cloud of carbon dioxide gas and red metal one of the Sentrys fell over as another took a chunk of canister shrapnel to its combat inhibitor. The robot's circuity started to crackle as the robot itself spazzed out and started to shoot the other Sentrys around it.
As fast as he could Scrap crawled away from the chaos he and his human companion created. Making his way back into the stairwell he quickly stood up and picked Rep up, "We better move."
Poking their heads out again they found all the robots disabled; their cores exposed, steam exhausting from their chassis, and sparks flying from their exposed circuits. There was only one course of action left for these monster machines, "Shit," Rep assessed the situation, "these things are about to blow. We better haul ass." "Ass?" Scrap asked confused, "There's no donkeys down here."
The Sentrys started beeping.
"Stop being an idiot! We got less than ten seconds!" Rep started limping in the opposite direction. Scrap started after the man in the blue suit, the both of them diving into a nearby bathroom just as the Sentrys exploded in a glorious display of robot parts and fireballs. The combined explosions of all four robots sent a cascade of fire so large up the hall a spiral of fire flew through the bathroom door forcing Rep and Scrap into stalls. They jumped on top of the toilets and ducked.
What lights that were still lit blew out from the intense heat. The ceiling caved and a light fixture just above Rep's head swung on its cable hitting him in the face knocking him into the wall behind him. He never saw the floor; he was unconscious before he fell upon it…
Ascending to the tenth floor through an unblocked stairwell the Wastelander, the Initiate, and the two Protectrons programmed to follow them made their way to their prize. Aside from the Power Armor and the robots clanking as they moved, it was dead silent. What little light there was came from Clements' helmet, or from the small slats left in the window armor outside the building. Between the two of them, Cheryl and Clements maintained a shallow breathing, both afraid to make even a sound…
"Stand clear, VIP escort in progress."
That caused Cheryl to jump with a start and grip her chest. After a moment of calming herself she looked to the Protectrons and commented, "I wish Rep told me how to mute these things!"
"Keep your wits about ya," cautioned the Initiate, "Who knows what batshit insane security they have up here."
As if on cue one of their Protectron guards suddenly sparked in various places and fell apart in chunks as though it was sliced. The subsequent crash of parts caused Cheryl and Clements to draw their weapons. The Wastelander blinked a few times as though she was hallucinating what she just witnessed, "What the hell just happened?"
"Stay put," the Brotherhood member looked around for anything just laying on the floor. He eventually found a skeleton that was wearing a suit and old dress shoes. He took the skeleton's right shoe and walked back to the disassembled robot stopping just short of it. Clements held the shoe in front of him slowly moving it away from him.
"What are you…" before Cheryl could finish the toe of the shoe started to catch fire. A small line was slowly being made in the shoe as Clements kept moving it in front of him. As smoke raises off the burning leather a steady beam of red light could be seen. Clements then stopped moving the shoe forward and quickly pulled the shoe to the side; a chunk of the shoe fell off.
Clements turned and held the shoe, "That is a seven gigawatt laser grid," he dropped the smoking leather shoe to the floor. Hearing him sigh through his intercom, he put his plasma rifle on his shoulder and shook his head.
Cheryl had it dawn on her, "That's how!" "'How,' what?" "How those people came out of here in pieces!" She started looking around the walls without going too far from the stairwell. Clements was watching her move around in the darkened hallway. Confusion rang from his voice as she continued checking the walls, "What are you doing?"
"There has to be a keypad, keycard, terminal, something to turn it off." The woman kept checking the walls when Clements called out, "I think I know where it is." Cheryl turned to him as he took his rifle off his shoulder and pointed it down the hall. Past the lasers at the very end of the hallway she saw the keypad. She walked closer to the field and looked on.
She said with a sigh, "Goddamnit."
Tap-tap-tap. "Rep?" Tap-tap-tap. "Rep, are you in stand-by?" Tap-tap. Something cold was lightly hitting Rep in the face. He opened his eyes and saw Scrap's static emotionless face above him, but the image was a bit fuzzy. At first he thought it was his eyes not being focused or that his glasses fell off, but after taking his glasses off he found they were covered with a thin layer of dust.
Glasses still off Rep sat up and shook his head. Scrap backed up a bit, "Oh, thank the engineer, I thought you were permanently offline!"
"It takes more than a light swinging on its plug to pull mine," Rep cleaned his glasses with the front of his Vault suit and put them back on, "StimPak must have still been active when I was knocked out." Rep went to stand, but a dull shooting pain in his leg almost made him collapse if not for Scrap catching him. Looking at his Pip-Boy as the robot stood him back up, Rep found the Vault Boy character limping in his animation, his injured leg's status at 72% health, "Yep, it went to my head. Walking's gonna suck." "How does walking injured create a difference in air pressure?" Rep raised an eyebrow at the robot. He then rolled his eyes and sighed as he started limping, "I'll explain it later."
Staggering out of the bathroom they found the doors leading to the building's control and power systems blown open by the Sentrys' "Plan B" detonations. "Whoa, Nelly!" Rep was taken aback by the damage left by the robots as he limped his way past the pieces of wall and robot parts thrown about the hallway, "I can say this: I'm glad I don't have to repair this mess," the Vault Engineer chuckled slightly, "I don't envy the bastard that does, either."
"We have to be careful past these doors," the robot warned, "there are more robots and security cameras ahead, as well as other dangers."
That didn't sound reassuring to the Vault Dweller, "Other dangers?"
"The Moody Man was very overzealous with security. He even installed security lasers on the top floor."
"I'd love to kick the shit outta whoever put these fucking lasers in." Cheryl was now crawling in a very narrow air duct that hasn't seen the business end of a broom in two centuries. Back at the stairwell Clements stood atop of a fallen Nuka Cola machine looking into a vent opening. Beside him was Cheryl's pistol belt, armor plating, and Moreno's shotgun she was carrying. He called to her, "How's it going in there?"
"A few coats of paint, a hotdog cart could really clean up here." If Clements had his helmet off a look of confusion would have been seen, but luckily his voice carried his confusion, "Hotdog…? What in the hell are you talking about?"
"Sorry," her voice echoed in the duct, "that's what Rep said to me after I asked his opinion of Brahmin Wood. It's sarcasm."
"You know, I can't get a fix on you," the Initiate spoke frankly, "do you or do you not like that Vault Dweller? One minute you threaten me for insulting him, then you insult him, then you use turns-of-phrase he uses… What gives?"
"He's an asshole," her voice echoed again, "he up-ended my deal with the Ghoul Kids and damn near got both of us killed." "How I heard it, he killed all of them by himself. A squad of Paladins couldn't even do that. Sounds like you're grateful, but you gotta keep up appearances." "Bullshit!" she growled, her aggravated breathing kicking up dust in the vent. "Then why were you so concerned for him when he was damn close to dying from radiation poisoning?"
She stopped. She closed her eyes hard.
"He cares. I still personally think he's an idiot for getting personally involved, but he cares about you and your cart driver friend. Vault Dwellers - from what I hear - embody pre-war values that were lost to the hellfires that took the world," Clements' words cut like a blade, "but then again, I don't expect much from someone who talks of family, but clearly rejects kindness because of their own ego."
Tears began to puddle on the dust below Cheryl's head. At first she was angry she was called out, but after thinking for the briefest moment she realized what the Brotherhood of Steel member was saying. It wasn't true, she did understand and she knew what Vault Dwellers were like. "Clements?" the Wastelander called out, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "What?" the Initiate groaned out with a sigh, "You're not stuck, are you?" "No," she said, a slight humbling tone to her voice, "I'm not stuck. There's something you should know about me."
"Jesus it's dark down here," Rep's face lit up a green hue as his Pip-Boy beeped. After activating Overbright Mode on his wrist-mounted computer the hallway before him became visible in a bright green tint. Scrap stood beside the human and surveyed the hall, "There's cameras every ten meters. It might be best to turn your light off."
Rep grunted at the idea of not seeing well, but he did deactivate the light. They made their way deeper into the computer central core of the building, the soft hum of the few lights still working filling the silence. "You were part of Wyatt," the engineer spoke up, "what is it that we can do to turn him off? Does he have a central power core we can pull or something? Grid power went out when the bombs dropped."
"Well, yes, he does," the robot replied.
"Great! Where is it?"
"The Executive Testing Laboratory."
Rep stopped walking, "You mean the tenth floor?"
"Well, yes. From there all the building's power systems are regulated," Scrap finally noticed Rep stopped walking and turned to him, "Wait a moment, isn't that where your friends went?"
"Yeah, because we assumed the thing we came here for was up there, which is the exact thing that's most likely powering Wyatt." The robot put his hand to his "mouth" again as he realized what Rep was saying, "Oh, dear, they'll have to go through the security to get it!"
"You mean to shut off Wyatt and the security, we need to pull the power core, but to get to it they need to go through Wyatt's little funhouse?"
"Umm…"