Chapter 50: The Gala

Chapter 50: The Gala

The fountain in the center of town was silent and still when I found my way back. The hologram of Vera Keyes was standing vigil, flickering slightly... but the small blue circle of light she provided wasn't enough to wash away the suffocating redness of my surroundings.

I was here for a different hologram, though. I finished off the tin of beans, tossed it aside, and walked up to the part of the fountain where Elijah's hologram always seemed to appear. I knew when Elijah would show up because Vera would disappear to make way for Elijah's stupid face - and he always seemed to show up when I stood in front of the emitter.

Vera's hologram continued to stand there, silently.

"Hey!" I kicked the side of the fountain, right below the projector. "Elijah! I know you're there, and I know you can hear me."

Vera's hologram flickered once... twice... and then disappeared altogether. The panel in the side of the fountain began to raise and emit a slow, soft hum.

"That's more like it," I muttered as the screen materialized above the fountain. Elijah's holographic and completely static image looked down on me, but when the speaker activated... There was a grunt and a clatter of metal against metal long before I heard Elijah's voice.

"Why are you here?" Elijah coughed several times before going silent again.

"I got everyone into position," I said up at the screen. "Just like you asked. Now, are we going to start this thing or what?"

"Not until you get into your position." Elijah growled back at me.

"What." I felt a twinge at my left temple, and I resisted the urge to rub my bullet scar.Follow current novels on novelb((in).(com)

"Check your map," He said. There were a few clicks like he was typing on a keyboard over the speaker, followed by my Pip Boy beeping.

Count to ten, Sheason. Just count to ten and calm down. Until you can figure out how to get this damn thing off your neck, you don't want to piss off the man who can blow your head off. Just stay calm, and cool, and collected.

"I... thought... when everyone was in position, you could start this whole thing."

"And you were right. But not everyone is in position. Now check your map and go - you are not the only thing I have to concern myself with right now." The speaker cut out with a burst of static, and Elijah's face-monitor winked out, replaced by Vera Keyes once again.

"Of course it wasn't going to be this easy..." I muttered to myself. "Why did I think this was going to be that easy?"

According to the map marker, my position was on the far east side of town. I'd lost count of how many speakers I had to blow up along the way. I'd also lost count of how many traps - bear traps, rigged shotguns, grenade bouquets - I had to either disarm, circumvent, or avoid entirely. I do know how many Ghost People I'd killed along the way, though - only two. The others I was able to avoid. I managed to kill the other two without getting injured further.

Was I getting better at hunting the Ghost People then? Maybe. Granted, I only had two microfusion cells left by the time I got close to the marker...

The really worrying thing though was... without anyone to talk to, and my sense of time not really working, I honestly had no idea how long it took me to find my way there. It could have taken me thirty minutes, or it could've been six hours for all I knew. All the roads and buildings looked the same, covered in the red Cloud, and there were no real distinguishing landmarks. Thankfully, I was still able to use the casino sitting on the cliff above the Villa as a point of reference - which made things a bit easier.

I walked down a staircase and found myself in a room that had a vending machine on one side, and a massive hole in the opposite wall. I was going to check the vending machine to see what supplies I could get, when my Pip Boy's speaker cracked to life.

"The bell tower. That's where you'll trigger the Gala Event." Elijah said, his voice peppered with static.

"Bell tower?" I asked. Rather than go to the vending machine, I looked out the hole - and saw a wide, covered staircase leading up, and beyond it was a single tower looming above the other rooftops.

"It's a ways up," Elijah coughed again. "I'm sure you'll find a way to climb up there." The Pip Boy crackled, and then went silent.

"Yeah..." I sighed. I walked up the stairs, and found myself in a courtyard, with the bell tower looming above me. There were Ghost People around here, somewhere, I could tell - the breathing echoed off every surface, but it was faint enough that I couldn't tell where it was coming from.

I needed to find some way up, but there weren't any immediately visible options. There was a wooden balcony ringing most of the courtyard, but it was far too high for me to jump up to it, and there were no decent handholds that I could use to scale the wall, either.

After searching around, I did find something: another hole in one of the walls. It led into one of the buildings, but beyond that I couldn't tell. Sure, there were other doors, but they were either boarded up, and it would take too long to break through, or they were blocked off by debris... or by Cloud residue that had clumped together into glutinous masses of red and brown.

Once I got inside and had a chance to look around (after carefully avoiding a bear trap), it didn't really look all that promising. There was only one way to go, and that was a staircase leading down. The more I thought about it, though... it kind of made sense, in a twisted sort of way. This place was a maze, and I'd had to go down to go up, and left to go right before - the only time maneuvering around this place made sense was when I was going along the rooftops with the mute woman, and that's because we were circumventing the system.

Nothing else in this hellhole made sense. Why should this? Or was this just me starting to crack and go crazy? Maybe a bit of both, who knows. Either way, I cautiously descended the staircase. The ragged sounds of breathing got louder and louder the deeper I went. I knew I was getting close to the Ghost People, but I didn't quite know how close until I came to a stop at the base of the stairs, and looked into the door to my left - the only door available.

This was a wine cellar... I think. There were three pillars holding up the middle of the room, with arches along the ceiling connecting the pillars to the walls and each other. There were half a dozen wooden casks scattered around, and the walls were covered in wine racks. And unless my sense of direction was completely gone, this cellar was directly below the courtyard.

Oh, and there were five Ghost People shuffling around the cellar. That was also a cause for concern.

I pressed my back up against the wall as far as it would go and tried to control my breathing. There was no other way through to the other side except to go through them, as far as I knew. I was tired, I was hungry, I'd been running almost nonstop since I arrived at this hellhole, and quite frankly, I'd had quite enough. I'm sure that I was dangerously close to snapping completely.

Which I'm sure I could use as an excuse to explain what I did next.

I pulled the spear off my back, and rounded the corner, charging into the wine cellar at full speed with the business end of the spear poised and ready. The closest of the Ghost People had its back to me at first, but turned at the sound of my moving feet. It had about half a second to raise the knife in it's hand before I jammed the end of my spear into the middle of it's gut. I didn't stop pushing, though - I just kept charging, pushing against the zombie with all my might until I saw the blades bury themselves deep enough to stick out the other side.

I stopped running, and instead I started to slide - just in time too. One of the other Ghost People had caught up to me, and swung a bear trap through the air right where I'd been seconds before. I pushed up against the spear, and heard a mixture of meat being sliced and bones breaking; the spear sliced roughly through the torso, splitting it in half from the middle of the stomach to its left shoulder.

I didn't have time to appreciate the sight. I was already rolling away from the other Ghost Person with the bear trap fist behind me. I planted my feet, and they found enough traction for me to get back up. I must have gotten turned around, because I was face to face with a spear wielding Ghost Person, and not the bear trapper. He thrust the spear towards me, but he wasn't fast enough. I blocked the attack with my own, driving his spear into the ground. I jammed mine onto the back of one of the blades, making sure it was firmly wedged into the floor, and elbowed the Ghost Person right in the face. It sounded like something cracked - or was that from the spear that I'd grabbed and kicked to snap it in half? - so I wheeled around, (still conscious of the bear trapper behind me and trying to get further away from him) and smashed the Ghost Person in the face with the side of my Pip Boy.

That definitely made something break, and I watched it stumble back a few steps. I grabbed the knife off my belt with one hand, grabbed it by the hood with the other, and jammed the cosmic knife into the side of its neck. It only struggled for about a half a second - after I twisted the knife though, it went limp. I didn't quite cut it's head off, though... I turned it into a pez dispenser...

There was a guttural rasp from behind me, followed by a metal clunk. I wheeled around, still holding onto the limp Ghost Person, and used it as a shield. Not a moment too soon, either. There was a wet crunch as the bear trap fist closed around the back of the corpse. When I was sure the bear trapper was stuck, I shoved against the corpse, and when it was far enough away from me, I planted my boot against its chest with all my might. The both of them were shoved back, giving me time to grab my spear that was still stuck in the floor.

Another spear holding Ghost Person was coming at me. It wasn't exactly charging - it's movements were too erratic for that - but it was advancing with enough speed to do some damage if it connected. Instead of running away, though, I ran towards it... and ducked at the last minute, sliding across the floor, and angling my spear next to me, at just right around knee-height. I remember hearing a 'splutch' from behind me as I slid past.

I couldn't concern myself with that. I'd already lost too much momentum. I braced myself against the floor with my spear as quickly as I could and got up to be face to face with another knife wielder. I thrust my spear forward, jamming it through the center of its face. I pushed down, and it was like I was tossing around a rag doll. It just collapsed, face-planting on the ground, with the added benefit of the spear bisecting it through the middle of it's head.

ZZAP!

Something hit me in the back of the skull. I think. That's what it felt like. My eyes clouded over with darkness almost instantly, and for the brief seconds I remained coherent, I could feel myself falling face-first toward the tiled floor... and then there was nothing at all.

I woke up from my dreamless... I was going to say rest, but it wasn't really. I'd been knocked the fuck out, that's what happened. I took one breath (while still lying on the floor), glad that I was still alive... but then immediately prayed for the nothingness and oblivion I'd been ripped from just seconds ago.

Every part of me was still on fire. My arms, my legs, my chest, my neck, my back, my ass... there were parts of me I didn't know existed that decided the best way of alerting me to their presence for the first time in my life was by screaming at me.

By the time I got up and on my feet (doing my damnedest to ignore the molten lava that my muscles and bones had become) another type of annoyance reared its head. From overhead, I heard speakers fizzle and pop to life... followed by Elijah's voice. I looked around the room, trying to get my bearings and figure out where the sound was coming from, since it wasn't coming from my Pip Boy this time. It was a bit difficult, since only a few lights were on, and they were all very dim.

"You... inside... Can you hear me? Power's fluctuating... emergency power." There were a few more mechanical pops, and then the sound system became completely free of static. "Oh! You are in. Good, good... thought that might be the end of you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I said aloud to the ceiling, walking around and trying to get a better sense of where I was. As it turned out, I was in a large casino lobby that was easily two stories tall. All the walls were adorned with elaborately decorated tiles, and ahead and off to the side of me was a winding, gilded staircase that led to an upper balcony. Directly in front of me, however, was a very large mosaic decorating the wall. About a fourth of the tiles that made up the picture were missing. Elijah kept talking to me while I got a closer look at it.

"Unfortunately, your... 'friends' also found their way here. Knocked unconscious... just like you. Wondering what happened? You were hit by casino security. Detects anything foreign - radioactive. It subdues the visitor, moves them if needed. Hnh... getting interference from old recordings... the guests who were trapped here... eh, shut that noise off..."

"Uh-huh," I said absentmindedly. I had a nasty feeling that he couldn't actually hear me - then again, that was probably a good thing. While he talked, I turned on the light from my Pip Boy so I could get a better look at the image. It focused on three figures - a man on the left holding hands with a woman on the right, and a much larger winged female figure in the middle behind the man and woman. The man was wearing a tuxedo... and almost looked a little like House, with the short dark hair, and the small mustache. The woman looked like the Vera Keyes hologram, except with a white dress. The woman with wings, on the other hand, was dressed in a blue and red robe, with a crown of leaves adorning her head, and the sun behind her. In her right hand, she was holding a large golden torch, and in her left hand was a large branch of red leaves. At the very bottom of the mosaic was a simple phrase: "BEGIN AGAIN"

"Looks like the casino moved your 'friends' around once inside... might be useful. Or not. Wonder if they came to help or kill you. Still... My signal should work through the speakers, now that you're inside. Heh, hah! Welcome to the Sierra Madre, in all its glory! This is what the Old World stood for, even with bombs about to rain down on them. Now look at it. Beautiful... now its guests are all dead. Better this way. Quiet. How the Mojave should be..."

"Yeah, that's not ominous or anything," I muttered, wandering away from the fresco, and looking around elsewhere in the lobby.

"Now - with the casino sleeping, it's got places closed off. Won't let you go yet. We'll get there, trust me. Just need to wake it up." There was another noise - this time from my Pip Boy. I looked down at the screen, and noticed a new marker on my map. I looked up in the direction where the map marker was pointing, and it looked like it was leading me into an archway labeled "Casino."

"Fuck," I said, hiking the holorifle further up my shoulder. "I thought I was done with this bullshit..." Through the archway was a long hallway, lined with slot machines, mirrors and pillars. I bet with the lights turned on, it'd be hard enough to see - with only the emergency lights, it was almost completely dark. I blinked, and my world was awash with green. As I walked beside the rows of slot machines, Elijah started talking to me over the speakers once again.

"This is the past you're walking through. Few have seen it. No one else ever will. I worked hard to get here, it'll give me what I need before I leave. And it'll always welcome me back. Now... look for a way to wake this ghost up, remind it that it's got guests..."

Off in the distance, I saw a soft, blue glow at the end of the row of slot machines. At first I thought it was one of those vending machines, spilling light everywhere... but then I realized the light reflecting off the wall was moving. I ducked behind one of the slot machines, and watched as another of those security holograms walked from behind the corner, stopped, turned around, and walked back.

Wonderful, I thought to myself. Now I have more of those to deal with. And unlike the security holograms in front of Dean's spot, I didn't see any terminals I could use to reprogram them. Luckily this one didn't seem to have the same level of awareness as the hologram in the medical district - and the patrol pattern was easily recognizable. I was able to avoid being seen by it long enough to get to the stairs at the end of the hall, and head to the second level.

The upstairs section of this room was a restaurant or a bar of some kind... and I didn't see any security holograms up here. I checked the marker on my map again. Whatever it was leading me to... whatever was going to "wake up" the casino... was in this room, which looked like some kind of maintenance closet. At least, that's what it looked like from the map.

I looked over the railing to get a good look at the casino floor below. Above the casino was a grid of metal beams that criss-crossed between all the walls; it looked like a lighting grid, except styled to look like part of the casino, rather than hidden away. There were several holographic security guards patrolling the floor beneath the lighting grid - and of course, there was a hologram guarding the door I needed to get to.

Carefully - and quietly, since I had no idea if the holograms picked up sound - I climbed over the railing and dropped down onto the lighting grid. I did my damndest to keep my balance and not fall - especially with the holograms walking around the room directly below me...

I guess that old maxim really is true: guards don't look up.

Below me was the maintenance closet... and the holographic guard standing in front of the doorway. The door was ajar. It looked like it had been broken into at some point in the past... and it looked like there might be just enough room for me to slip in behind the hologram. Just. It would be a tight squeeze, and there would be positively no room for error... I braced myself against the wall, and readied myself to jump.

I really hoped that this guard didn't look up.

I practically threw myself against the wall above the door. I hit it with a solid thud, and slid down... but then my back foot bumped up against something solid. The blue light bouncing off the walls turned yellow as my feet hit the ground. That was not a good sign. I didn't bother to look back - I just ducked, rushed forward, grabbed the door, and tried to shut it behind me. There was a sound like splintering wood, and a flash of red light scorched the air just above my head.

I looked up and around, and saw a circuit box off to my right, with a lever pointed down. Another laser blast scorched the air above me. It was now or never. I grabbed the lever on the side of the circuit box, and pushed it up as hard as I could.

There was a loud, heavy clunk that reverberated and echoed throughout the entire casino. The lights from outside changed: the red light spilling through the holes in the door switched to white.

"You woke it up... good." Elijah's voice came over the speaker as I walked onto the casino floor. I didn't see any more security holograms... but I still saw holograms. There were holographic figures standing around the blackjack and the craps tables, and several behind the cashiers booth. They weren't firing lasers... which was good.

"Emitter frequencies... lighting up everywhere!" Elijah sounded pleased. I was just glad I didn't have to be sneaking around anymore. "Damn recording! Dead echoes in the frequencies... Casino security is shutting down... opening up its vendor and gambling programs in the back casino... Heh! Still might be something for sale."

"I think I have bigger things to worry about, asshole..." I said aloud, walking back toward the lobby. I checked the holorifle - damn. I hadn't been able to find any other microfusion cells before triggering the Gala, so I still only had two left. I had maybe 12 or 13 shots left for the pistol. On the bright side, I still had easily 3 dozen stimpacks.

"Now that the casino is paying attention to... us... it's time you dealt with your 'friends.' I couldn't see them before, but now... It looks like they got moved to the other floors. Interesting... maybe that's why... hmm, yes... yes." I'm not sure if he knew he was still transmitting. "Perhaps the casino recognized specific guests... or guests with a voice or look close enough for them to be... assigned to that floor. We'll see. Had hoped with the power restored, the systems would fully awaken. Especially the sound archives. Damn. But... no. Your teammates' collars on each floor are interfering with the systems. It's the white noise filters embedded in their construction - they're blocking the casino speakers, the music."

"So what the fuck do you want me to do about it?" I yelled out at the ceiling, not really expecting an answer. As it happens... I got one.

"You'll need to recalibrate - or destroy - each collar. To do that, you'll need to get close. Re-set the signal. Or blow their heads off. I'll leave the choice up to you. My preference? End them now. They're of not use to m... us now. After all, it's safe to kill them. Provided you make it quick."

"Safe to kill them?" I asked aloud. "What about the linked collars? Or was that just more of your bullshit?"

"You see," Elijah continued, talking over me - maybe he couldn't hear me. Or perhaps, he just didn't care. "The collars don't work inside the Sierra Madre... well, between floors, at least. Else, I'd set off all the collars. Be done with it."

"Nice of you to show your true colors." I said. "Not that there was any doubt about that. Fuckhead." I was quickly running out of good insults. It had been a very, very long day.

"The floors... whatever they lined this place with, it... it interferes with the collar frequency. If you kill them, you should have some time to run before the explosives are set off on both collars. If you're quick. Uh... just not sure how long. May not be consistent. More... less... whatever, it doesn't matter. What we need is in the basement. Once I can access the music archives, we'll need to go to the top and ride our fortunes down. Now go. You've made it this far... it would be a shame to have to rely on the next team, and have all your hard work go to waste."

A deafening silence filled the lobby after Elijah finally shut up. A series of beeps came from my Pip Boy - a new series of markers had appeared on several different layers on my map. One was labeled "Cantina Madrid," another was several floors above me, labeled "Tampico Lounge," and the last was on the 27th floor of the hotel, simply labeled "Executive Suites."

"Ugh," I said, shaking my head and lowering the Pip Boy. "I thought I was done with this errand boy shit for you, you prick... You want them dead so badly, Elijah? Fuck you. I'm not going to kill any of them unless I have to, but you?" I pulled the holorifle off my back and gripped it tight.

"You're a dead man, Elijah. Count on it."