Artemis Files (0.5)

Chapter 15

Mid 2273 - Brotherhood Base Midwestern Chapter

It was astounding how warm this area got. If you had told Artemis several months ago that the following summer she'd be experiencing this muggy heat as she practically froze to death she would have scoffed. Now she sweltered as an early morning mist rose above the lake. So early in the day... and already so hot. She'd taken to coming here before starting her hunting and training for the day. A set of feet thumped behind her, she could tell by the sound the person was relatively tall and must've been up in the trees somewhere. And without looking she knew they weren't even human. Didn't even start off his life as a human.

"Out hunting? Bring Brotherhood good food?" A guttural, yet sweet voice asked in the not so good English he and his people spoke, bringing a smile to Artemis' lips. The way he spoke reminded her of her reading abilities. Along with every other kind of training they offered, they'd taken to teaching her how to read. The Institute kept their synths as illiterate as possible, so Artemis didn't really know how to until she joined up with them.

She turned to see Dak. One of the Hork-Bajir who she'd taken up a friendship with. The Hork-Bajir were pacifists because of their sweet nature, but they helped the Brotherhood in other ways. "I will be shortly," she answered him. "What about you and your people? Any good tree bark today?" The Hork-Bajir looked like walking salad shooters, like walking weapons, but their blades are actually used to harvest the bark off of trees which they then ate. It made sense. The first time she'd met a Hork-Bajir, a female named Ket, she'd smiled showing she didn't have any teeth. Just a hooked bird like beak. Apparently they also had two hearts too instead of just one which helped them keep warm in the harsh winters though they were welcome in any of the Brotherhood's safehouses provided they replaced what they used.

Dak nodded and smiled that strange smile. "Yes. Bark good. Much rain. Much snow. family will have much this year." He brought his hand to his brow, blocking the bright light before looking in the direction of the sun. "Hot day. Animals seek shade. Plants wilted. Hope rain soon."

Artemis sighed and stood up. "You're right, Dak. It's a good thing I'm not going very far from the base, and the Elder is having a few of her men to take what I gather to the base almost as soon as I get it so it doesn't go bad in this heat, and from what everyone's saying it's been a dry summer as far as rain is concerned. No doubt they're wondering why I'm taking so long." The pair said their goodbyes and she watched as the bladed reptile climbed the tree he'd dropped down from and leaped light-footedly from tree to tree as if he had wings and wasn't a seven foot tall bladed creature, telling herself that she'd need to learn that one of these days. No doubt there would be a few cases it would be useful, or at the very least have some fun with it. Within a few short months she'd come to admire the arboreal race. Really she'd come to appreciate all non human and non synth races, though it was still a work in progress. She liked to think that she was getting better.

After she'd been hunting for hours she decided to take a small break. So far she'd managed to get a few mole rats and a couple of radstag bucks and various berries, leaves, spices and other such plants. Brotherhood soldiers came and collected them quickly when she used the signal flare. She noticed it when she was sitting in the shade. A footprint from a boot. Anyone just glancing over it could easily mistake it for a power armor boot, but upon closer inspection there was only one person Artemis could think of who wore this kind of footwear. See, the man that had revived her and patched her up and made sure she healed properly was also a cybernetic expert. As such a few of the soldiers had cybernetic arms and legs.

This soldier however had his entire lower body missing and had an entire mech suit graphed onto where his hips and legs were supposed to be. The footprint belonged to this soldier. The reason why this was odd to her was no one, unless they were coming to retrieve a catch, was supposed to be in the area. That included him. And this footprint was relatively fresh. A closer look reveled that there were more. A trail really and it was too strange for her to ignore. She looked in the direction of the base, knowing she probably should go report it. She was just an initiate after all... but at the same time what if he needed her help with something? He might be in that big mech suit but that didn't make him invincible.