Fallout 3 - Beautiful Stranger

Chapter 20 Part 1

They reached the top floor without any further incidents, but they took their time anyway. As the booby trapped terminal and the hidden mines had shown, they could take nothing for granted. More robots, destroyed or dormant, littered the corridors and rooms. More shell casings found upon the floors. Patience didn't like it. It seemed too easy.

The final floor held several computer terminals, each booby trapped. Someone didn't want the terminals used. When Vincent took the time to disarm one of the booby traps, they found nothing of consequence in the memory. Some internal memos, marketing and purchase options for Vault-Tec merchandise which Gia insisted upon ordering, even though no-one alive could send out the orders. It seemed a waste of time for their predecessor to booby trap them.

On the second level of the top floor, they encountered automated turrets. They hung, useless and impotent. Switched off from some central station. Even so, Vincent reached up to each one, disconnecting their power cables, not taking the chance that they could come live once more and tear them apart with streams of bullets they would be unable to withstand.

They found one Robobrain, larger than any other in the building. A different colour scheme, a larger brain and covering dome and the word 'Masterbrain' stencilled on its cylindrical side. This, too, appeared dormant. A hatch at the rear, opened and hanging, showed several components missing from within the chassis.

"The main terminal room should be at the end of this corridor." Vincent pointed a thumb behind him. "I suggest the civilians stay here. If the basic terminals had booby traps, who knows what's been done in there."

"Not a fucking chance, 'Brother' Vacant!" Valrie squared up to Vincent, almost reaching his shoulders. "Where Patience goes, I go. Don't think you've earned my fucking trust, even if she's giving you the benefit of the doubt."

"Yeah and where Patience and Valrie goes, I goes .. I mean, I go. Bitch." Gia, a little taller than Valrie seemed even less impressive against the big man. "And bitch isn't cursing. Is it?"

Gia looked towards Valrie with a questioning raised eyebrow. Valrie scowled, nodding her head and Gia's shoulders sagged, mouthing 'sorry' once again. They all looked at Patience, then, as if seeking her arbitration.

"We'll play it by ear." She avoided Vincent's scowl and Valrie's smug look, hefting her rifle and setting off up the corridor. "Or maybe I'll lock you all into a cupboard until you learn to play well together."

They passed two more automated turrets in a dog-leg section of the corridor, and a simplified, fold-out terminal that served as a control system for the powerful weapons attached to the  ceilings. Again, Vincent disconnected the power cables and checked the terminal for booby traps. He didn't find any and Gia flicked the fold-down keyboard and checked the terminal.

"It's just dedicated for the turrets. I don't think it's connected to anything else." She flicked the keyboard back up and then back down again. "I don't even think it can do anything else. It's the dumbest of dumb terminals."

"You're certain?" Vincent, like Patience only had a rudimentary knowledge about computers.

Gia pointed to her chest, "Good. With. Computers! I'm certain."

Reaching the end of the corridor, they found a heavy, barred gate, hanging open, leading into a square room. Empty, save for an even more heavy security door with a circular handle attached to two thick, heavy bars keeping the door closed. A green light flashed above the door.

Patience turned the handle causing the bars to retract from their seats in the metal door frame. Unlocked, she gripped the handle with both hands and nodded to Vincent. He returned the nod and she pulled the door open, allowing light to flood in from the room beyond.

Without hesitation, Vincent slipped inside as Patience prepared to follow. Valrie and Gia hugged the wall at the side, awaiting Vincents signal.

"Clear and we've got a problem." Vincent sounded deflated.

Stepping into the room, Patience found herself on a walkway suspended above the first level of the top floor. Below, she could see bank upon bank of cabinets, filled with whirring tapes, flashing lights. The largest computer bank towered in the centre of the room, reaching from floor below to ceiling above, at the end of the short walkway.

Vincent stood before this computer bank, rifle slung over his shoulder, examining something before him. Patience lowered her rifle and stepped towards Vincent, trying to look past the big man's frame and, when she reached him, he stepped aside.

The terminal, connected to the huge computer bank, was no longer of use. She saw the keyboard, smashed. The screen shattered. Cables and wires dangled from inside the casing. Whoever had reached this room before them had trashed it completely. Patience crouched and picked up a couple of letter keys from the floor.

"It's useless." Her head swam and she fell backwards to sit on the floor, letting the keys fall from her fingers.

"That's not all." Vincent offered her a hand. Reluctant, devastated, she took the hand and stood back up. He pointed over the rail towards the other computer banks. "The son of a bitch has rigged the whole damn place to blow."

"Why?" She slammed both hands on the guard rail. "What's on this damned computer? I mean, apart from my entire fucking history! Apart from my life! I don't want much. All I want is to know who I am. That's not too much to ask, is it? Is it?"

She felt an arm wrap around her shoulder and then another, from the other side, wrap around her waist. Valrie squeezed her shoulder and Gia laid her head against her arm and Patience felt like crying. She could feel the prick of a tear in the corner of her eye, but no tears came. She couldn't even cry about it.

"I can have a look at the terminal. I'm no Moira, but I might be able to do something." Valrie, usually so loud and coarse, spoke in soft, gentle tones. It was a nice offer, but the terminal was beyond basic repairs. Unless Valrie could build another one, she couldn't help.

"Wait! Moira!" Now Patience's head buzzed, like lightning flashing in the clouds. "Moira can help. And why did the other person booby trap the other terminals? Why not the turret terminal? Every other working terminal was booby trapped. Rigged to blow if anyone touched them. Why?"

"Because they're assholes." Gia chirped in, doing that fake angry look of hers.

"Yes! But, no." Patience pointed at Valrie, urging her to join the dots.

"To kill whoever used it?" Valrie offered. Then Valrie's eyes widened as she figured it out. "Parts! They wanted to stop someone using the fucking parts. But, Moira's back in Megaton. Are we going back for her."

"We don't need to." Patience lifted her left arm, showing her Pip-Boy. "How much are you willing to bet that distracted little genius has worked out that two-way radio idea?"

She switched on the Pip-Boy and flicked through the options to the 'Radio' section.

-+-

"Can you feel it?

Something in the air like, I don't know, a warning? A promise?

Things are quiet out in the Capital Wasteland. And, as the cliché goes, it's too quiet.

Old Three Dog's been getting a steady stream of reports coming in, from all across the Wasteland, but mostly from here in the Downtown ruins. Reilly's Rangers reports that most of the raider gangs seem to have departed for greener pastures. The Brotherhood of Steel, my buddies right here in the GNR building, tell me that something's even got the feral ghouls spooked and anything that can spook a feral ghoul is sure to give me the willies.

Our non-feral ghoul friends in Underworld tell me that something big is happening in the Mall. Something terrible, they say. Don't even think about heading out to Underworld anytime soon. Those doors are locked and blocked for the foreseeable future.

So, what does this all mean?

<sighs>

I don't know, Brethren. I really don't know.

Be careful out there. Stay safe.

This is Three Dog, battening down the hatches."