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Draconias Galactica
Guest
Why am I posting this here? Nobody is here, except for Wifi ocasionally. Oh well, here's part 5, pending editing for crappyness.
Shadowlands Pt. V
By Draconias Galactica
©2002 Draconias Galactica
**** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** ****
"This horse is defective," Hawks announced. "There's no way it's
supposed to smell this bad."
"Maybe you're smelling yourself," suggested Jake, indifferent.
"I say we spice this thing and eat it. It's worthless."
"We'd still be closer to Crater Town than the Archives without them."
"Maybe, but at least my rear wouldn't be killing me. Besides, I haven't
seen any raiders nearby."
"'And five minutes later, the whole raider army appeared out of
nowhere.' We're keeping the horses. If you don't like the smell, plug
your nose." Hawks muttered something nasty under his breath. A moment
later, Jake stopped his horse.
"What's up?" the Chosen One asked, stopping his own horse.
"Somebody's coming, following us. They're closing in."
"Shadow Raiders?"
"If it's them, you're buying when we get to the Archives. I can't hear
horses though, not yet at least." Hawks drew his riffle and prayed he'd
be able to aim it if he had to shoot. Jake continued listening, trying
to place the sound. A few seconds later, he could pick out several
hoofbeats. Judging by the sounds, they were moving fast.
"Well?" Hawks asked. He was growing impatient.
"I'm guessing around four or five of them, it's hard to tell." A dust
cloud became visible over the horizon. It was approaching the two, and
the sounds of gunfire were coming from it.
"Oh hell."
"Get moving!" Jake whipped his reins and his horse took off like a
bullet. Hawks fired a few shots off at the dust cloud. It sounded like
he hit one of the raiders from the rapidly-approaching cloud - he could
hear a scream coming from that direction - but he wasn't sure. A moment
later, the raiders - now visible - started firing back at the bullets'
direction. Hawks bent his back down and followed after Jake as fast as
he could.
"I think I got one," said Hawks, approaching Jake's horse.
"Keep going, they probably won't follow us there!"
"Probably!? What do you mean 'probably'?"
"If they follow us into the Archive's camp, don't shoot at them!
Security doesn't like fighting!" A few bullets whizzed past the two,
off by only a foot or two. Somehow, their horses began moving faster.
They probably understood the bullets were something to avoid.
"How much further?" Hawks shouted. Jake checked his PipBoy.
"Turn right!" The Chosen One and the Shadower both turned their horses
to the right. The Shadow Raiders were caught off guard, apparently, and
their bullets went wild. A few seconds later, though, the bullets were
back to being only a foot or so off target.
Over the horizon, the lights from the edge of the Archive's surrounding
camps came into view. Hawks and Jake charged forward, both trying to
stay clear of the bullets that continued to fly past them. The Shadow
Raiders began closing the gap between the two groups.
People rolled, jumped, and ran out of the horses' way as they entered
the camp. As those people got back up, the raiders charged in. They
continued firing, their aim now slightly more accurate.
Finally, Hawks and Jake reached the Archive itself. The Great Archives
were two massive domes, each about 100 feet wide at the base and 50
feet high. An elevated tube connected the domes together. One other
prominent feature was the laser turrets - the same type as the turrets
at the barrier - at the top of each dome. When one of the raider's
bullets hit the dome Hawks and Jake were near, the turrets came online.
Four laser beams each hit one of the four raiders - who were, according
to the turret's AI, attacking - in the head, killing each of them
instantly.
Hawks was speechless at the sight of the attack, but Jake was not.
"Great security, huh?" he asked, dismounting. Somehow, Hawks managed to
break his dumbfounded stare long enough to nod. Jake untied the topes
that held the Grim Reaper to the back of his horse and slung the robed
corpse over his shoulder. "Let's go."
"R-right," Hawks muttered. The Chosen One got off his horse, and let
Canine out of the backpack the dog had been riding in. His instincts
returned a second later, and he quickly moved to loot the corpses. They
had a good amount of ammo on them, and one was carrying an assault
riffle modified with a bayonet. Incidentally, that one also had a
bullet wound on his shoulder. Hawks must have hit him, since it was
very recent. But none of them had any sort of significant melee weapon
or other useful materials. It was all guns and ammunition. He took what
he wanted - the riffle, ammo for it, and about $300 in coins - and ran
off after Jake.
"One other thing," Jake said as the Chosen One caught up. "Never jinx
there being no raiders around like that! You're defiantly buying this
time."
"Hey, we got some good stuff off of them, right?"
"_We?_ Most of the stuff raiders carry is useless to me, or anybody
else here. Who'd buy parts for a gun they can't aim?"
"I'll use it then. I think I'm getting used to this light, I actually
hit one of those guys."
"It was a fluke. Come on, this guy's smell is getting on my nerves. I
want to get rid of him as soon as possible." The two of them walked up
to the massive dome door. It was large enough to allow five people to
come and go at the same time easily. Detecting somebody near it, the
door split in half and the two halves slowly slid away from each other.
The doors were massive as well, giant slabs of a metal three feet
thick. Hawks, Jake, and Canine walked in, with the doors sliding shut
behind them.
"This place is kind of...empty," Hawks observed, noting the sparse
population. From what he had heard from Jake, he expected the place to
have at least a few hundred people on the inside. There were only a few
dozen, though.
"Most of the people in that camp out there hang out in Dome B. Probably
because that's the dome that sells shinny stuff. The people in this
dome are usually here to learn. Not many people want to learn when they
could be purchasing shinny stuff."
"Figures. Where can we find some food here?"
"Last time I was here, somebody was trying to build a diner in some
storage space. Come on." The three of them walked off to the other end
of the dome. As they went, Hawks noticed several figures walking by
that were definitely too massive to be human.
"Do you have super mutants in this place?" asked Hawks, remembering an
illustration he had seen on a cave wall in Arroyo. It was a Super
Mutant, with a human next to it for comparison. The cave was full of
drawings like that. It was supposed to be a visual log of the Vault
Dweller's journey.
"What's that, something like the Reaper?"
"No, some 'ugly, green-skinned, muscle bound, 12 foot tall behemoth
with a big gun.'" That was the description written by the mutant
drawing. The Vault Dweller evidently didn't think highly of Super
Mutants.
"Never seen something like that. Why?"
"What's that then?" Hawks pointed over to the large figure. Jake looked
over, recognizing the shape a few seconds later.
"That's a maintenance robot. The fix stuff, do construction work, and
make sure nobody starts a fight."
"Robot's are those metal-animals, right?" He had heard of them
somewhere before, though he couldn't remember where. Jake signed and
nodded his head. A moment later, they were at the storage space-turned-
kitchen. There were a few people there, eating and talking. Hawks and
Jake sat down at a table, and Canine laid down underneath it. Jake
placed the Reaper's corpse next to the dog.
"Smelly, isn't he?"
"Yeah." Hawks looked around and noticed a man with what looked to be a
bird on his shoulder. It reminded him of something Jake had told him a
while ago. "Hey, is that the guy with the fake bird?"
"Yeah, I think so," Jake said, looking over. "Hey Saul!" The man looked
up from his meal, letting Jake get a good luck at his face. "That's
him. You get some drinks, I need to talk to him about stink-pile
here." Jake kicked the corpse and walked over to Saul's table. The man
was in his late 40's, early 50's, wearing a worn-out leather jacket.
There was a mechanized owl sitting on his shoulder. The bird
occasionally turned his head, but showed no other signs of being
"alive".
"Jake, haven't seen you in a while. What are you doing back here?" Saul
asked.
"I got something I want you to look at. I was hoping you could tell me
what it was."
"What did you find, a piece of tech?" Saul was a tech
collector/scavenger. He had "acquired" - through money, luck, or skills
- a large collection of pre-war tech. Even more, he actually understood
how some of it worked, a feat few people were capable of.
"Nope, this thing bled. Come over here." They both walked back over to
Jake's table. Hawks and Canine weren't there. The former was getting
drinks, the latter was following him. Jake knelt down and lifted the
Grim Reaper's robbed corpse onto the table. "Take a look," Jake said,
opening the robes. Saul recoiled in disgust the moment he laid eyes on
it. It was partially decomposed, and the part that wasn't decomposed
was fairly gruesome to look at after what Hawks and Jake did to it.
"Ever see anything like that?"
"In my nightmares," Saul said, unable to stop staring at the large
number of wounds that had been inflicted on the Reaper's body. The
decapitated head didn't help matters much, either. "Did you do this?"
"Yeah. He was still moving after most of it." Jake quickly summed up
the events of the battle with the Grim Reaper. "Have you ever heard of
anybody doing that?"
"No, never. Not even in stories."
"Then do you think you can find out what he is? I mean, how he could
glow and hover?" Saul wrapped the body back up in its robe, the sight -
and smell - of it becoming too much for him.
"I couldn't, I don't know much about anything organic." He thought for
a moment. "But I do know some people that do. No promises, though. Stop
by again sometime, they might actually find something out about this
guy."
"Thanks Saul, I owe you one."
"Yeah, sure. You leave this with me, and I'll see you later." Saul,
mustering his strength, lifted the robe and threw it over his shoulder
as he went out of the cafeteria. Jake sat back down and started
cleaning his sword. There was still blood left on it from the battle
with the Reaper, and it was starting to bug him. By the time he was
done, Hawks came back with two bottles."
"What took you so long?"
"I swear, this dog is talking to me," explained Hawks, sitting down and
placing the bottles on the table. Jake grabbed one and starting gulping
down the contents. "I heard him again."
"That means you've gone insane. Congratulations." Hawks gave him a
nasty look and took the other bottle. "Dog's don't talk. Hell, this one
hasn't even barked yet."
"I know that, but I still say I heard him talking! He called me a
clumsy idiot when I tripped back over there."
"Maybe it was some other person in the room, one with minimal
perception."
"No, it was the dog. Nobody else was paying attention, and it was the
same voice I heard the other times I heard him talk."
"It wasn't your mutt. I'll prove it. Get up and trip again." Hawks
shook his head and started drinking his water. "Fine, different
approach. What was his name again?"
"Canine."
"No wonder I forgot it." He looked down to face the dog. "Hey Canine,
say something and I'll cook you a brahmin." The dog stared at Jake for
a few seconds, with a quizzical look on his face.
"Full grown or just a calf?" was the dog's reply a second later.
"See?" Two seconds later, it occurred to Jake that the dog _had_
talked.
"I told you he could talk," Hawks muttered, not too surprised.
"Then why didn't he before?" asked Jake, still not believing what he
heard.
"Hawks probably would have panicked and ran away, and then I wouldn't
have got food," Canine 'said'. His mouth didn't move when he talked -
at least in a way that corresponded with words - and the voice didn't
seem to come from any particular direction. It was just _there_. "I
figured I'd wait until I was sure he wouldn't think I was possessed by
evil spirits before talking."
"But I heard you talk before," Hawks stated.
"I was testing you to see how you'd react."
"Oh," the Chosen One said, a bit disappointed.
"Now go get me some water. I haven't had anything to drink in a long
time."
"Um, right." Hawks got up and walked over to a device labeled water
dispenser. While the dome's cafeteria wasn't always a cafeteria, there
had always been some equipment for preparing and dispensing food in the
Archives. The machine was definitely pre-war, it worked too well not to
be.
"And make sure it's in a bowl!" the dog 'shouted'. "So when do I get
that brahmin?"
"I just said I'd cook it, I didn't say I'd get it for you," Jake
stated. "Kill one yourself."
"Figures." A minute later, Hawks came back with a bowl full of water.
He placed it down in front of Canine - who began licking it up - and
then sat back down.
"So what do we do now?" he asked, turning to face Jake.
"Do what you want. We're heading out in a day or two. I'll get us a
room in the basement, there's a half-vault down there."
"Right. What's there to do around here?"
"There's computers and that's about it. Do you know how to use one?"
"I've heard of them somewhere before, does that help?"
"Go find somebody with gray hair and glasses, they can probably show
you how. I'm gonna go take a nap. I'll see you tomorrow." With that
Jake, got up and left. Hawks turned around to face Canine, who was
already staring at Hawks.
"Um...how an you talk?" the Chosen One asked, thrown off a bit by
Canine's staring.
"With my mind. How can _you_ talk?"
"No, I meant how did you learn how to talk?"
"I paid attention in school."
"What's that?"
"Basically, a place like the Archives."
"I'm not going to get a straight answer out of you, am I?"
"Rarely."
"Great. I'm going to browse through the archives. Go confuse Jake."
"What are you looking for?"
"I don't know, a way out of here probably. There might be something in
those archives about that. I'll see you later." Hawks walked off,
hoping to find somebody who could show him where these archives were.
***
Hawks spent most of the night doing research on the computer. He was
trying to find out what the Shadowlands were. Somebody had to have
built the perimeter around it, and make that cloud. Unfortunately,
there were no pre-war references about any of that. Before the bombs
fell, this area was just a giant potato farm.
When the bombs hit, the population fled into Vaults 48 and 61. They
lived down there for about 10 years before the signal was received that
said it was time to leave the vault. The computer database didn't say
where it was received from, though. The denizens of the vaults returned
to the surface, only to find a lifeless wasteland. No humans had
survived outside the vaults. And the cloud had appeared.
Eventually, scouting parties found the barrier. The people quickly
realized they were stuck under the cloud. That didn't go over too well,
and there was a lot of destruction. Wars broke out between the
different groups that had formed. The few towns that had been built
were damaged or destroyed completely in the fighting. This lasted for
nearly two years, before the wars just stopped.
During the chaotic semi-war, melee weapons became the standard weapon
of choice. A few animal species were re-introduced, thanks to the DNA
bank of Vault 61. These included horses and brahmin, as well as plants
that could survive in the conditions of the Shadowlands.
And then the Archives were found. Upon emerging from the Vaults, the
Vault dwellers found no structures at all, just rubble. Even the rubble
was hard to come by. So finding an intact structure, especially one
like the Archives with its vast computer databases and manufacturing
facilities, was a major event. Shortly after, the Archive Council - a
governing body of thinkers for the Archives - was formed.
That was over a century ago, and still nothing had been found on why
this area existed like it did. The Shadowlands obviously didn't occur
naturally. The cloud never moved, the light level never changed, and
the temperature never increased or decreased more than a few degrees.
Somebody had to have set that situation in motion. As far as most
people concerned, it was either a government or a corporation.
Hawks had also spent some time looking for information about a GECK. He
had found the location of five, two for each Vault in the Shadowlands
and one for the Archives. But the Vaults had used all of theirs and the
Archive's GECK was defective. And there was no reference to Vault 13,
except a report that construction on it was behind by several months
and that it was likely it would never actually be built. That was dated
about two years before the war. After that, Hawks had decided to go to
sleep. The Archives had an underground living area - a half Vault as
Jake had put it - that had been converted into an inn. Jake had already
rented out a room for the night. He was asleep on a bed, and Canine was
lying on the floor.
"So where were you?" Canine asked.
"Browsing through the computer system, trying to find a way out of
here. No luck, though."
"Dry Run River has made four serious attempts to break through the
barrier," the dog explained. "No luck on any of them. Nobody else has
even tried, at least effectively enough to succeed. Browsing through
the computer system isn't going to get you anything somebody else
hasn't already found. If you want to get out, DRR is your best bet."
"So Jake tells me. I doubt it, though. The way I see it, the best way
to get out of here is to find out how I got _in_ here."
"Can you remember?"
"No, I was drunk when I got it. Still, the entrance couldn't be far
from where I sobered up. If we just ride along the barrier near there,
we should find the entrance eventually."
"Assuming that was how you got it."
"Huh?"
"You can't remember how you got in, right? So how do you know you
walked through an entrance? There might have been a tunnel that ran
underneath, you could have ridden in on a hot air balloon, you..."
"What's a hot air balloon?"
"Some sort of flying basket. It flies because of hot air." By the look
on his face, Hawks didn't understand at all, but he nodded anyways. "In
other words, you don't have much to go on. Going to DRR is a good bet."
"Well that's a comforting thought. I'm going to bed."
"Pleasant dreams," Canine 'said', lying back down.
***
That night, Hakunin appeared in Hawks' dream. He warned the Chosen One
that the village needed the GECK. It was nothing new, but it reminded
Hawks of how far away he was from Arroyo. Even if, no _when_, he got
out of the Shadowlands, he'd still have to make it back to CA and find
Vault 13. He wasn't exactly in the best scenario. It seemed even more
unlikely that he would find the GECK the longer he stayed in the
Shadowlands.
Hawks' dream also helped Canine judge the distance between Hawks and
his home. When people slept, they "projected" their thoughts
involuntarily. Even without reading their thoughts, which he could do
to an extent, he could see people's thoughts in their sleep.
Unfortunately, he couldn't avoid this. Watching Jake's dreams, which
involved killing rats in various sick ways, he wished he could. So he
started barking loudly, waking both Hawks and Jake.
"Shut up!" Jake said groggily, looking with his hand for something to
throw at the barking dog.
"It's morning," Canine announced without seizing to bark. "We need to
check on the horses. Get moving."
"You do that," Hawks muttered, still half asleep and trying to become
asleep all the way.
"They need to be fed as well. I can't do that with paws." Jake found
one of this boots and threw it at the source of Canine's voice. But
since the dog was using telepathy and not sound, his aim was off.
Canine started barking again.
"Fine, fine!" Jake yelled, getting annoyed. "I'll go take care of the
goddamn horses! Hawks, get up," the Shadower said, kicking the Chosen
One (who was sleeping on the floor) in the side. "If I have to be awake
and miserable then so do you."
"Go to hell, I'm not getting up." Hawks rolled over, turning his back
to Jake.
"Mutt, wake him." Jake put his boots back on. "I'll go feed those
horses." He stumbled out of the room, still not completely awake.
"Come on Hawks, it's time to get moving."
"No, sleep good. Go away." Canine walked over to the corner. "What's
that smell?" Hawks asked a moment later.
"Motivation. Get up, it's time to go." Hawks looked over at the corner.
"That's...disgusting." He turned his head and tried to go back to
sleep. But after a few seconds, the smell became too much to bare.
Hawks - swearing under his breath - got up, grabbed this things, and
rushed out the door. Canine followed after him, grinning as best a dog
could.
***
"So we're heading out?" Hawks asked as he walked up to Jake and the
horses.
"You have anything else you need to do?" The Chosen One thought for a
moment as Jake finished feeding the horses.
"Do they sell flashlights in Dome B?"
"Never heard of them."
"They're like electric torches. They light things up."
"I know they sell flares there, but I don't know about these
flashlights. Besides, most electronics are out of our price range."
"Figures. Come here Canine," Hawks said, motioning to his backpack.
"I'm not riding in that thing again," the dog announced.
"You have a better way to ride this horse?"
"Yeah, buy a cart and pull it with the horses. I'm not riding that
thing."
"That might work," Jake said. "We could haul along some more gear, and
actually start making money when we kill something."
"Can we afford one?" Hawks wasn't sure how much money they had left
after buying the horses. The Shadower didn't respond. Instead, he ran
into the camp, where Hawks and Canine lost sight of him. "So, you
getting in the backpack or not?"
"You couldn't make me if you tried," Canine growled out. That reminded
Hawks of something.
"How'd you get into a card game with that idiot down in Crater Town
anyways?" he asked, remembering the last time Canine growled.
"You'd be surprised what people do when they're drunk."
"Not really." Jake came back a moment later, pushing a cart. It was
essentially a wooden box with an open top, mounted on some wheels, and
with rods and ropes for attaching to the horses. It apparently needed
two horses to pull it.
"Here's your cart." Jake turned to Hawks. "Go get the rest of the gear
off those raiders. We could probably melt it down and sell it."
"How much did this set us back?" asked Hawks, not sure how much carts
would cost.
"The merchant was asleep, and there weren't any guards. The idiot
didn't deserve this thing. Dog, guard the cart. I'm gonna go pick up
some more supplies." Jake rushed off back into the camp. Hawks
proceeded to hook up the horses to the cart. It took him a few tries
before Canine started walking him through it step-by-step. Once that
was done, he led the horses and the cart over to the corpses of the
raiders. A lot of gear had been taken since yesterday - apparently
Hawks and Jake weren't the only item vultures out there - but some
metal stuff remained. The Chosen One loaded what he could find into the
cart. When he was done, Jake walked over and threw a bag into the back
of the cart.
"One thing before we head out," began Jake, raising a finger to make a
point. "Don't jinx the peace and quiet!"
"We're alive, they're not. It doesn't make a difference."
"Except we've now killed nearly a dozen raiders!"
"We didn't kill any of them. We just aided in their deaths. Rats and
death lights killed them."
"That doesn't matter to the rest of the raiders. They're going to be
even more pissed off at us now when they find out about this, and they
always seem to find out about this stuff."
"I thought they were southwest of Crater Town. We're pretty far away."
"They go wherever they want. If people are killing raiders, they go to
those people. With all the raiders we've killed, we're bound to have a
small army after us by now."
"Oh well. Something'll happen and we'll be fine. History repeats
itself." Jake muttered something nasty and mounted his horse. "How long
will it take to reach DRR?" Hawks asked, lifting Canine into the cart.
"About as long as it took to reach here. They have patrols on horseback
near there - don't get trigger happy unless I tell you too. They might
look like raiders to you, but I can tell them apart."
"Yeah, sure. Let's get moving." Hawks mounted his horse and the three
of them rode off, bound northeast for Dry Run River.
Shadowlands Pt. V
By Draconias Galactica
©2002 Draconias Galactica
**** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** **** ****
"This horse is defective," Hawks announced. "There's no way it's
supposed to smell this bad."
"Maybe you're smelling yourself," suggested Jake, indifferent.
"I say we spice this thing and eat it. It's worthless."
"We'd still be closer to Crater Town than the Archives without them."
"Maybe, but at least my rear wouldn't be killing me. Besides, I haven't
seen any raiders nearby."
"'And five minutes later, the whole raider army appeared out of
nowhere.' We're keeping the horses. If you don't like the smell, plug
your nose." Hawks muttered something nasty under his breath. A moment
later, Jake stopped his horse.
"What's up?" the Chosen One asked, stopping his own horse.
"Somebody's coming, following us. They're closing in."
"Shadow Raiders?"
"If it's them, you're buying when we get to the Archives. I can't hear
horses though, not yet at least." Hawks drew his riffle and prayed he'd
be able to aim it if he had to shoot. Jake continued listening, trying
to place the sound. A few seconds later, he could pick out several
hoofbeats. Judging by the sounds, they were moving fast.
"Well?" Hawks asked. He was growing impatient.
"I'm guessing around four or five of them, it's hard to tell." A dust
cloud became visible over the horizon. It was approaching the two, and
the sounds of gunfire were coming from it.
"Oh hell."
"Get moving!" Jake whipped his reins and his horse took off like a
bullet. Hawks fired a few shots off at the dust cloud. It sounded like
he hit one of the raiders from the rapidly-approaching cloud - he could
hear a scream coming from that direction - but he wasn't sure. A moment
later, the raiders - now visible - started firing back at the bullets'
direction. Hawks bent his back down and followed after Jake as fast as
he could.
"I think I got one," said Hawks, approaching Jake's horse.
"Keep going, they probably won't follow us there!"
"Probably!? What do you mean 'probably'?"
"If they follow us into the Archive's camp, don't shoot at them!
Security doesn't like fighting!" A few bullets whizzed past the two,
off by only a foot or two. Somehow, their horses began moving faster.
They probably understood the bullets were something to avoid.
"How much further?" Hawks shouted. Jake checked his PipBoy.
"Turn right!" The Chosen One and the Shadower both turned their horses
to the right. The Shadow Raiders were caught off guard, apparently, and
their bullets went wild. A few seconds later, though, the bullets were
back to being only a foot or so off target.
Over the horizon, the lights from the edge of the Archive's surrounding
camps came into view. Hawks and Jake charged forward, both trying to
stay clear of the bullets that continued to fly past them. The Shadow
Raiders began closing the gap between the two groups.
People rolled, jumped, and ran out of the horses' way as they entered
the camp. As those people got back up, the raiders charged in. They
continued firing, their aim now slightly more accurate.
Finally, Hawks and Jake reached the Archive itself. The Great Archives
were two massive domes, each about 100 feet wide at the base and 50
feet high. An elevated tube connected the domes together. One other
prominent feature was the laser turrets - the same type as the turrets
at the barrier - at the top of each dome. When one of the raider's
bullets hit the dome Hawks and Jake were near, the turrets came online.
Four laser beams each hit one of the four raiders - who were, according
to the turret's AI, attacking - in the head, killing each of them
instantly.
Hawks was speechless at the sight of the attack, but Jake was not.
"Great security, huh?" he asked, dismounting. Somehow, Hawks managed to
break his dumbfounded stare long enough to nod. Jake untied the topes
that held the Grim Reaper to the back of his horse and slung the robed
corpse over his shoulder. "Let's go."
"R-right," Hawks muttered. The Chosen One got off his horse, and let
Canine out of the backpack the dog had been riding in. His instincts
returned a second later, and he quickly moved to loot the corpses. They
had a good amount of ammo on them, and one was carrying an assault
riffle modified with a bayonet. Incidentally, that one also had a
bullet wound on his shoulder. Hawks must have hit him, since it was
very recent. But none of them had any sort of significant melee weapon
or other useful materials. It was all guns and ammunition. He took what
he wanted - the riffle, ammo for it, and about $300 in coins - and ran
off after Jake.
"One other thing," Jake said as the Chosen One caught up. "Never jinx
there being no raiders around like that! You're defiantly buying this
time."
"Hey, we got some good stuff off of them, right?"
"_We?_ Most of the stuff raiders carry is useless to me, or anybody
else here. Who'd buy parts for a gun they can't aim?"
"I'll use it then. I think I'm getting used to this light, I actually
hit one of those guys."
"It was a fluke. Come on, this guy's smell is getting on my nerves. I
want to get rid of him as soon as possible." The two of them walked up
to the massive dome door. It was large enough to allow five people to
come and go at the same time easily. Detecting somebody near it, the
door split in half and the two halves slowly slid away from each other.
The doors were massive as well, giant slabs of a metal three feet
thick. Hawks, Jake, and Canine walked in, with the doors sliding shut
behind them.
"This place is kind of...empty," Hawks observed, noting the sparse
population. From what he had heard from Jake, he expected the place to
have at least a few hundred people on the inside. There were only a few
dozen, though.
"Most of the people in that camp out there hang out in Dome B. Probably
because that's the dome that sells shinny stuff. The people in this
dome are usually here to learn. Not many people want to learn when they
could be purchasing shinny stuff."
"Figures. Where can we find some food here?"
"Last time I was here, somebody was trying to build a diner in some
storage space. Come on." The three of them walked off to the other end
of the dome. As they went, Hawks noticed several figures walking by
that were definitely too massive to be human.
"Do you have super mutants in this place?" asked Hawks, remembering an
illustration he had seen on a cave wall in Arroyo. It was a Super
Mutant, with a human next to it for comparison. The cave was full of
drawings like that. It was supposed to be a visual log of the Vault
Dweller's journey.
"What's that, something like the Reaper?"
"No, some 'ugly, green-skinned, muscle bound, 12 foot tall behemoth
with a big gun.'" That was the description written by the mutant
drawing. The Vault Dweller evidently didn't think highly of Super
Mutants.
"Never seen something like that. Why?"
"What's that then?" Hawks pointed over to the large figure. Jake looked
over, recognizing the shape a few seconds later.
"That's a maintenance robot. The fix stuff, do construction work, and
make sure nobody starts a fight."
"Robot's are those metal-animals, right?" He had heard of them
somewhere before, though he couldn't remember where. Jake signed and
nodded his head. A moment later, they were at the storage space-turned-
kitchen. There were a few people there, eating and talking. Hawks and
Jake sat down at a table, and Canine laid down underneath it. Jake
placed the Reaper's corpse next to the dog.
"Smelly, isn't he?"
"Yeah." Hawks looked around and noticed a man with what looked to be a
bird on his shoulder. It reminded him of something Jake had told him a
while ago. "Hey, is that the guy with the fake bird?"
"Yeah, I think so," Jake said, looking over. "Hey Saul!" The man looked
up from his meal, letting Jake get a good luck at his face. "That's
him. You get some drinks, I need to talk to him about stink-pile
here." Jake kicked the corpse and walked over to Saul's table. The man
was in his late 40's, early 50's, wearing a worn-out leather jacket.
There was a mechanized owl sitting on his shoulder. The bird
occasionally turned his head, but showed no other signs of being
"alive".
"Jake, haven't seen you in a while. What are you doing back here?" Saul
asked.
"I got something I want you to look at. I was hoping you could tell me
what it was."
"What did you find, a piece of tech?" Saul was a tech
collector/scavenger. He had "acquired" - through money, luck, or skills
- a large collection of pre-war tech. Even more, he actually understood
how some of it worked, a feat few people were capable of.
"Nope, this thing bled. Come over here." They both walked back over to
Jake's table. Hawks and Canine weren't there. The former was getting
drinks, the latter was following him. Jake knelt down and lifted the
Grim Reaper's robbed corpse onto the table. "Take a look," Jake said,
opening the robes. Saul recoiled in disgust the moment he laid eyes on
it. It was partially decomposed, and the part that wasn't decomposed
was fairly gruesome to look at after what Hawks and Jake did to it.
"Ever see anything like that?"
"In my nightmares," Saul said, unable to stop staring at the large
number of wounds that had been inflicted on the Reaper's body. The
decapitated head didn't help matters much, either. "Did you do this?"
"Yeah. He was still moving after most of it." Jake quickly summed up
the events of the battle with the Grim Reaper. "Have you ever heard of
anybody doing that?"
"No, never. Not even in stories."
"Then do you think you can find out what he is? I mean, how he could
glow and hover?" Saul wrapped the body back up in its robe, the sight -
and smell - of it becoming too much for him.
"I couldn't, I don't know much about anything organic." He thought for
a moment. "But I do know some people that do. No promises, though. Stop
by again sometime, they might actually find something out about this
guy."
"Thanks Saul, I owe you one."
"Yeah, sure. You leave this with me, and I'll see you later." Saul,
mustering his strength, lifted the robe and threw it over his shoulder
as he went out of the cafeteria. Jake sat back down and started
cleaning his sword. There was still blood left on it from the battle
with the Reaper, and it was starting to bug him. By the time he was
done, Hawks came back with two bottles."
"What took you so long?"
"I swear, this dog is talking to me," explained Hawks, sitting down and
placing the bottles on the table. Jake grabbed one and starting gulping
down the contents. "I heard him again."
"That means you've gone insane. Congratulations." Hawks gave him a
nasty look and took the other bottle. "Dog's don't talk. Hell, this one
hasn't even barked yet."
"I know that, but I still say I heard him talking! He called me a
clumsy idiot when I tripped back over there."
"Maybe it was some other person in the room, one with minimal
perception."
"No, it was the dog. Nobody else was paying attention, and it was the
same voice I heard the other times I heard him talk."
"It wasn't your mutt. I'll prove it. Get up and trip again." Hawks
shook his head and started drinking his water. "Fine, different
approach. What was his name again?"
"Canine."
"No wonder I forgot it." He looked down to face the dog. "Hey Canine,
say something and I'll cook you a brahmin." The dog stared at Jake for
a few seconds, with a quizzical look on his face.
"Full grown or just a calf?" was the dog's reply a second later.
"See?" Two seconds later, it occurred to Jake that the dog _had_
talked.
"I told you he could talk," Hawks muttered, not too surprised.
"Then why didn't he before?" asked Jake, still not believing what he
heard.
"Hawks probably would have panicked and ran away, and then I wouldn't
have got food," Canine 'said'. His mouth didn't move when he talked -
at least in a way that corresponded with words - and the voice didn't
seem to come from any particular direction. It was just _there_. "I
figured I'd wait until I was sure he wouldn't think I was possessed by
evil spirits before talking."
"But I heard you talk before," Hawks stated.
"I was testing you to see how you'd react."
"Oh," the Chosen One said, a bit disappointed.
"Now go get me some water. I haven't had anything to drink in a long
time."
"Um, right." Hawks got up and walked over to a device labeled water
dispenser. While the dome's cafeteria wasn't always a cafeteria, there
had always been some equipment for preparing and dispensing food in the
Archives. The machine was definitely pre-war, it worked too well not to
be.
"And make sure it's in a bowl!" the dog 'shouted'. "So when do I get
that brahmin?"
"I just said I'd cook it, I didn't say I'd get it for you," Jake
stated. "Kill one yourself."
"Figures." A minute later, Hawks came back with a bowl full of water.
He placed it down in front of Canine - who began licking it up - and
then sat back down.
"So what do we do now?" he asked, turning to face Jake.
"Do what you want. We're heading out in a day or two. I'll get us a
room in the basement, there's a half-vault down there."
"Right. What's there to do around here?"
"There's computers and that's about it. Do you know how to use one?"
"I've heard of them somewhere before, does that help?"
"Go find somebody with gray hair and glasses, they can probably show
you how. I'm gonna go take a nap. I'll see you tomorrow." With that
Jake, got up and left. Hawks turned around to face Canine, who was
already staring at Hawks.
"Um...how an you talk?" the Chosen One asked, thrown off a bit by
Canine's staring.
"With my mind. How can _you_ talk?"
"No, I meant how did you learn how to talk?"
"I paid attention in school."
"What's that?"
"Basically, a place like the Archives."
"I'm not going to get a straight answer out of you, am I?"
"Rarely."
"Great. I'm going to browse through the archives. Go confuse Jake."
"What are you looking for?"
"I don't know, a way out of here probably. There might be something in
those archives about that. I'll see you later." Hawks walked off,
hoping to find somebody who could show him where these archives were.
***
Hawks spent most of the night doing research on the computer. He was
trying to find out what the Shadowlands were. Somebody had to have
built the perimeter around it, and make that cloud. Unfortunately,
there were no pre-war references about any of that. Before the bombs
fell, this area was just a giant potato farm.
When the bombs hit, the population fled into Vaults 48 and 61. They
lived down there for about 10 years before the signal was received that
said it was time to leave the vault. The computer database didn't say
where it was received from, though. The denizens of the vaults returned
to the surface, only to find a lifeless wasteland. No humans had
survived outside the vaults. And the cloud had appeared.
Eventually, scouting parties found the barrier. The people quickly
realized they were stuck under the cloud. That didn't go over too well,
and there was a lot of destruction. Wars broke out between the
different groups that had formed. The few towns that had been built
were damaged or destroyed completely in the fighting. This lasted for
nearly two years, before the wars just stopped.
During the chaotic semi-war, melee weapons became the standard weapon
of choice. A few animal species were re-introduced, thanks to the DNA
bank of Vault 61. These included horses and brahmin, as well as plants
that could survive in the conditions of the Shadowlands.
And then the Archives were found. Upon emerging from the Vaults, the
Vault dwellers found no structures at all, just rubble. Even the rubble
was hard to come by. So finding an intact structure, especially one
like the Archives with its vast computer databases and manufacturing
facilities, was a major event. Shortly after, the Archive Council - a
governing body of thinkers for the Archives - was formed.
That was over a century ago, and still nothing had been found on why
this area existed like it did. The Shadowlands obviously didn't occur
naturally. The cloud never moved, the light level never changed, and
the temperature never increased or decreased more than a few degrees.
Somebody had to have set that situation in motion. As far as most
people concerned, it was either a government or a corporation.
Hawks had also spent some time looking for information about a GECK. He
had found the location of five, two for each Vault in the Shadowlands
and one for the Archives. But the Vaults had used all of theirs and the
Archive's GECK was defective. And there was no reference to Vault 13,
except a report that construction on it was behind by several months
and that it was likely it would never actually be built. That was dated
about two years before the war. After that, Hawks had decided to go to
sleep. The Archives had an underground living area - a half Vault as
Jake had put it - that had been converted into an inn. Jake had already
rented out a room for the night. He was asleep on a bed, and Canine was
lying on the floor.
"So where were you?" Canine asked.
"Browsing through the computer system, trying to find a way out of
here. No luck, though."
"Dry Run River has made four serious attempts to break through the
barrier," the dog explained. "No luck on any of them. Nobody else has
even tried, at least effectively enough to succeed. Browsing through
the computer system isn't going to get you anything somebody else
hasn't already found. If you want to get out, DRR is your best bet."
"So Jake tells me. I doubt it, though. The way I see it, the best way
to get out of here is to find out how I got _in_ here."
"Can you remember?"
"No, I was drunk when I got it. Still, the entrance couldn't be far
from where I sobered up. If we just ride along the barrier near there,
we should find the entrance eventually."
"Assuming that was how you got it."
"Huh?"
"You can't remember how you got in, right? So how do you know you
walked through an entrance? There might have been a tunnel that ran
underneath, you could have ridden in on a hot air balloon, you..."
"What's a hot air balloon?"
"Some sort of flying basket. It flies because of hot air." By the look
on his face, Hawks didn't understand at all, but he nodded anyways. "In
other words, you don't have much to go on. Going to DRR is a good bet."
"Well that's a comforting thought. I'm going to bed."
"Pleasant dreams," Canine 'said', lying back down.
***
That night, Hakunin appeared in Hawks' dream. He warned the Chosen One
that the village needed the GECK. It was nothing new, but it reminded
Hawks of how far away he was from Arroyo. Even if, no _when_, he got
out of the Shadowlands, he'd still have to make it back to CA and find
Vault 13. He wasn't exactly in the best scenario. It seemed even more
unlikely that he would find the GECK the longer he stayed in the
Shadowlands.
Hawks' dream also helped Canine judge the distance between Hawks and
his home. When people slept, they "projected" their thoughts
involuntarily. Even without reading their thoughts, which he could do
to an extent, he could see people's thoughts in their sleep.
Unfortunately, he couldn't avoid this. Watching Jake's dreams, which
involved killing rats in various sick ways, he wished he could. So he
started barking loudly, waking both Hawks and Jake.
"Shut up!" Jake said groggily, looking with his hand for something to
throw at the barking dog.
"It's morning," Canine announced without seizing to bark. "We need to
check on the horses. Get moving."
"You do that," Hawks muttered, still half asleep and trying to become
asleep all the way.
"They need to be fed as well. I can't do that with paws." Jake found
one of this boots and threw it at the source of Canine's voice. But
since the dog was using telepathy and not sound, his aim was off.
Canine started barking again.
"Fine, fine!" Jake yelled, getting annoyed. "I'll go take care of the
goddamn horses! Hawks, get up," the Shadower said, kicking the Chosen
One (who was sleeping on the floor) in the side. "If I have to be awake
and miserable then so do you."
"Go to hell, I'm not getting up." Hawks rolled over, turning his back
to Jake.
"Mutt, wake him." Jake put his boots back on. "I'll go feed those
horses." He stumbled out of the room, still not completely awake.
"Come on Hawks, it's time to get moving."
"No, sleep good. Go away." Canine walked over to the corner. "What's
that smell?" Hawks asked a moment later.
"Motivation. Get up, it's time to go." Hawks looked over at the corner.
"That's...disgusting." He turned his head and tried to go back to
sleep. But after a few seconds, the smell became too much to bare.
Hawks - swearing under his breath - got up, grabbed this things, and
rushed out the door. Canine followed after him, grinning as best a dog
could.
***
"So we're heading out?" Hawks asked as he walked up to Jake and the
horses.
"You have anything else you need to do?" The Chosen One thought for a
moment as Jake finished feeding the horses.
"Do they sell flashlights in Dome B?"
"Never heard of them."
"They're like electric torches. They light things up."
"I know they sell flares there, but I don't know about these
flashlights. Besides, most electronics are out of our price range."
"Figures. Come here Canine," Hawks said, motioning to his backpack.
"I'm not riding in that thing again," the dog announced.
"You have a better way to ride this horse?"
"Yeah, buy a cart and pull it with the horses. I'm not riding that
thing."
"That might work," Jake said. "We could haul along some more gear, and
actually start making money when we kill something."
"Can we afford one?" Hawks wasn't sure how much money they had left
after buying the horses. The Shadower didn't respond. Instead, he ran
into the camp, where Hawks and Canine lost sight of him. "So, you
getting in the backpack or not?"
"You couldn't make me if you tried," Canine growled out. That reminded
Hawks of something.
"How'd you get into a card game with that idiot down in Crater Town
anyways?" he asked, remembering the last time Canine growled.
"You'd be surprised what people do when they're drunk."
"Not really." Jake came back a moment later, pushing a cart. It was
essentially a wooden box with an open top, mounted on some wheels, and
with rods and ropes for attaching to the horses. It apparently needed
two horses to pull it.
"Here's your cart." Jake turned to Hawks. "Go get the rest of the gear
off those raiders. We could probably melt it down and sell it."
"How much did this set us back?" asked Hawks, not sure how much carts
would cost.
"The merchant was asleep, and there weren't any guards. The idiot
didn't deserve this thing. Dog, guard the cart. I'm gonna go pick up
some more supplies." Jake rushed off back into the camp. Hawks
proceeded to hook up the horses to the cart. It took him a few tries
before Canine started walking him through it step-by-step. Once that
was done, he led the horses and the cart over to the corpses of the
raiders. A lot of gear had been taken since yesterday - apparently
Hawks and Jake weren't the only item vultures out there - but some
metal stuff remained. The Chosen One loaded what he could find into the
cart. When he was done, Jake walked over and threw a bag into the back
of the cart.
"One thing before we head out," began Jake, raising a finger to make a
point. "Don't jinx the peace and quiet!"
"We're alive, they're not. It doesn't make a difference."
"Except we've now killed nearly a dozen raiders!"
"We didn't kill any of them. We just aided in their deaths. Rats and
death lights killed them."
"That doesn't matter to the rest of the raiders. They're going to be
even more pissed off at us now when they find out about this, and they
always seem to find out about this stuff."
"I thought they were southwest of Crater Town. We're pretty far away."
"They go wherever they want. If people are killing raiders, they go to
those people. With all the raiders we've killed, we're bound to have a
small army after us by now."
"Oh well. Something'll happen and we'll be fine. History repeats
itself." Jake muttered something nasty and mounted his horse. "How long
will it take to reach DRR?" Hawks asked, lifting Canine into the cart.
"About as long as it took to reach here. They have patrols on horseback
near there - don't get trigger happy unless I tell you too. They might
look like raiders to you, but I can tell them apart."
"Yeah, sure. Let's get moving." Hawks mounted his horse and the three
of them rode off, bound northeast for Dry Run River.