Chapter 80: The Moon Comes Over The Tower

Chapter 80: The Moon Comes Over The Tower

Several hours after Veronica and I got back, I was sitting at the kitchen table with Raul and Arcade. ED-E occasionally buzzed in and out of the open window, playing some kind of music that I didn't recognize. The three of us were sitting down for a round of drinks and a game of cards when I heard the elevator doors open. Subconsciously, I tensed up - there was no logical reason to still be paranoid about House or Victor, but I was. Thankfully, I relaxed again when Boone emerged, rifle still slung across his back.

"Hey Boone!" I took a drink from the water bottle in front of me. "Grab a seat and a beer, we'll deal you into the next hand." He nodded and made his way to the fridge.

"Sounds good." Boone reached into the fridge, sat down opposite me, and then looked at me from behind his sunglasses, raising an eyebrow. "Rough day?"

"Hm?" It took me a minute to realize he was talking about the IV bag filled with orange liquid hanging on the pole next to me, and the needle sticking out of my left arm. "Oh, right, this! Nah, today wasn't too bad. Had a bit of trouble with radiation - thus, the Rad Away."

"But... why's it in your arm?" Boone asked. I laughed, tossing a few chips on the pile in the center of the table.

"You can thank Arcade for that. Turns out, I've been using them wrong all this time! I always thought you were supposed to drink the stuff."

"You're not?" Boone seemed confused; Arcade, on the other hand, just sighed.

"You can, but I wouldn't recommend it." Arcade said, "If you drink a packet of Rad Away, it will still flush your system of radiation, but it'll make you-"

"...piss like a fire hose," Arcade and I said at the same time. "Yeah, I always wondered about that. So, thanks for helping me get it right. Eventually. But yeah, that's why I'm drinking water - Arcade says the alcohol could bond with the Rad Away, cause some problems... SO! I'm inviting everyone to drink in my stead. Cheers!" Arcade shook his head and threw his cards face down on the table.

"I fold," Arcade grabbed his glass, but before he took a drink, he pointed at me. "I still want to take a look at you later. I think you might have a broken rib or two. Maybe a concussion." I shook my head, and drank some more water.

"C'mon man, don't worry about it. I've got some nasty bruises, but other'n that, I'm fine. Besides, we all know you just want to see me with my shirt off," I smirked, and Arcade rolled his eyes.

"If that was the case, I'd have suggested strip poker." The two of us laughed, but Raul shook his head... after taking the pile of chips, that is.

"I'm glad you didn't," Raul chimed in. "Trust me Boss, nobody wants to see what I keep under my jumpsuit."

"The way you've been playing today?" I said with a laugh. "You'd be the only one with clothes left!"

"Where's Cass?" Boone asked as Arcade dealt out another hand.

"No idea," Arcade shrugged. "You'd think she'd be here for something like this. Drinking, gambling, bullshitting with the boys.."Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

"She was here earlier, compadre" Raul looked over his hand. "She left for Freeside a couple of hours ago. Haven't seen her since."

"And Veronica?" Boone asked between sips of beer.

"Still taking a shower, probably," I smirked. "I don't really blame her, those centaurs were disgusting. Blood and pus everywhere. We were covered in the crap."

"She's been in there, what, two hours?" Arcade asked.

"More like three," Raul laughed to himself, tossing a few chips on the pile.

"Three?! Fuck, she's gonna drain Lake Mead if she's not careful." I couldn't help but laugh. "I'm just glad the laundry room downstairs that Yes Man showed me can scrub rads off clothing, we were in the heat a while. Hell, he even offered to have some robots clean the radiation off my car, so my ass won't turn green and fall off." I took another drink of water, slid a pair of chips into the pile, and pointed at Boone. "So what about you? What've you been up to all day?" Boone shrugged.

"Went to McCarran to catch up with some friends at 1st Recon. Ran into an old hard-ass I used to know. Major Dhatri," Boone looked over his hand as he spoke. "NCR's been having trouble with the Chem Fiends lately. He's put out a bounty. Fifty caps a head for the wasters. Two-fifty for any of the lieutenants. Five hundred for Motor-Runner." I let out a low whistle.

"Damn. Seems like easy money for you." Boone just clenched his jaw, and stared deeper at his cards.

"Yeah... You'd think that. Trouble is..." Boone coughed, like he was suppressing a laugh. "... the head needs to be intact to collect the full bounty." Boone smirked and shrugged. "Never thought all those years of practicing headshots would backfire. Why I haven't gone after the lieutenants or Motor-Runner yet."

"Well, hell," I smirked at him. "Sounds like fun. Let me know next time you're going hunting, I'll run point."

The next day, Veronica and I headed back down to the Brotherhood bunker, with all the tags and all the mission holotapes in hand. When the two of us arrived in McNamara's office, everything looked exactly the same. Hell, it looked like McNamara hadn't even moved since our last visit.

"Welcome back, Veronica. And you as well, Mr. Fisher. Have you found the missing patrols, or was something else on your mind?"

Veronica and I looked at each other first; her look of unease matched what I felt. The two of us walked up the stairs to McNamara's desk, and when we reached it, Veronica set the half-dozen dog tags in front of the Elder. I did the same with the mission holotapes. McNamara visibly grimaced, and sighed heavily.

"They were all dead, then." I didn't quite know what to say to that, except...

"Sorry." McNamara shook his head and composed himself.

"I suppose I'm not surprised. We have few friends in the world above, and many enemies. But we must turn our minds to other matters..." McNamara went quiet, and turned away from us, to the terminal sitting on his desk. He rubbed his chin, his eyes darted to me, back down to the terminal, back up at me... and then he turned to Veronica.

"Veronica, tell me... how well do you trust this man?" Veronica was visibly surprised at the question.

"I... I wouldn't have brought Sheason into the bunker if I didn't trust him." Veronica paused. "You have your 'bad news face' on. What's wrong? What's going on?" McNamara cleared his throat.

"There is just a... sensitive matter that I would like you two to look into. Something top secret, and rather confidential. I need people I can count on - not only to complete the mission, but to maintain operational security. I know I can count on Veronica... but can I count on you, Mr. Fisher?" Both Veronica and McNamara stared at me, and I could feel the Elder's eyes practically burn into me.

"I can keep a secret well enough. What's wrong?"

"The base has a defensive system - DERVISH - that camouflages the entrance, and masks our comings and goings. Are you familiar with it?" I nodded. "Well... when it was created, it was only intended to be used in case of emergencies. It was never meant to be used with any regularity, and the other systems here were not designed to accommodate such usage."

"What systems?" Veronica asked, alarm evident in her voice.

"The air filtration systems. They simply cannot handle the quantity of sand and grit that it's been forced to cope with these last few years..."

"Not to mention the bits of aluminum and glass mixed in," McNamara looked at me with... was that approval?

"Well, quite. Put simply, the air filtration system is failing. When it shuts down - and it will shut down - it will quickly become impossible to breathe in the-" Veronica cut him off.

"How long?" I couldn't quite tell, was that anger, disappointment, or exhaustion in her voice?

"Three months. At the most. I'm sure you've been able to tell, but already the air quality has begun to worsen." I opted not to say anything... that would probably be bad form. McNamara sighed again. "I need you to find the components we need to fix the bunker's air filtration system. I cannot overstate the importance of this task."

"We'll get it done, sir." Veronica said, all business. "Where do we start looking for the components?"

"Talk to Senior Knight Lorenzo for the details. He's the one who brought the matter to my attention... and is the only other person in the bunker, besides yourselves, who is aware of it."

"So why didn't you say anything about the Pulse Gun?" I asked Veronica as the two of us searched for Lorenzo. "I mean, we were right there, we could've said something." Veronica shrugged.

"I didn't think there was anything to mention until we actually have something physical to show him." Veronica's face was like stone when we entered the maintenance bay. Eventually we found Lorenzo in a secluded corner, working on the top half of a set of powered armor hanging from the ceiling by a collection of chains and wires.

"Lorenzo?" I called out to try and get his attention; the sparks coming off his tools and the powered armor stopped and he leaned out from behind the hanging hunk of metal.

"Yes? What? Hello?" He looked around, like he couldn't see anything - and then he lifted up the welding goggles, and I realized he really couldn't see anything. "Oh! Hello again! What can I help you with? Did you bring your robot around?"

"Lorenzo," Veronica set a hand on his shoulder, and leaned in close. "Is there somewhere we can talk?"

"Hopefully in private," I added.

"Why? What's going on?" Lorenzo genuinely looked worried. I checked over my shoulder; I suppose we were far enough away from the rest of the mechanics and scribes around, and there was enough noise...

"The Elder wants the two of us to retrieve components to fix the air filtration system." I checked over my shoulder again. "And he wants it kept quiet." Lorenzo didn't say anything at first. Instead, he looked absolutely mortified.

"Great. Just great. Now I'm going to have your deaths on my conscience, too! That's great!" That... was surprising. Veronica and I both looked confused, I'm sure of it.

"Uhhh... what?" I asked. Lorenzo sighed, and leaned in close to the two of us, speaking barely loud enough for us to hear over the other sounds in the maintenance bay.

"You're the one who killed Benny, right?" I was about to answer, but she kept talking. "I knew it. You know, I've actually been trying to find you since I heard they shut down The Tops. I wanted to thank you. Maybe buy you a drink."

"Oh yeah?" I looked around; there had to be some chairs around here, somewhere. "What for? Did he shoot you in the head, too?" I laughed, but she shook her head.

"No, no... He just... he screwed me over a while back. I mean, I knew he was sleazy when he asked me to tinker with that disabled Securitron, but I didn't realize he was cold-blooded enough to shoot somebody in the head!"

Just like that, something Yes Man had told me a while back finally made sense: "Oh, he had some help - a lady friend of his! She said something about living in a Fort over in Freeside... but that's all I remember!"

"Did... Benny say why he had the Securitron?" I asked. If I was right, then... Emily shook he head.

"No, he was pretty tight lipped and cryptic about the thing. I wound up helping Benny a lot more than he helped me. Once he had access to the Securitron's memory banks, he kicked me out of The Tops, and I didn't have enough money to stay on The Strip, so..." She scoffed and shook he head again. "Yeah, I know. Big surprise, right? I should've seen that coming." The wheels in my head were turning, analyzing what she was saying, her body language... and I was able to put two and two together to get four.

"Did anything... did you and he have a thing going on?" I tried to word it as delicately as I could. She still grimaced and started rubbing her forehead.

"Ugh... I..." She sighed heavily. "I thought we might have. But no, he just used me like every other... I mean, it was bad enough that I didn't get any useful data out of that Securitron, but then I... I mean, hell, it only happened the one time. I chalk it up to sleep deprivation and one atomic cocktail too many..." It was at this point that she looked up and over at me, an expression of utter bewilderment across her features. "Wait, why am I even telling you this? I just met you, I don't even know you!"

"Sorry," I smiled at her, in what I hoped was a disarming fashion. "I guess I just have one of those faces. People never stop blurting out their plans and life stories when I'm around. Didn't mean to pry." She looked away from me, obviously thoroughly embarrassed, and her cheeks turned almost as red as the hair she brushed away from her ear.

"No, no, I was the one who brought it up when I mentioned Benny... God, just thinking about it makes my skin crawl." She rubbed her arms nervously and looked away from me.

"Hey, don't be too hard on yourself," I said, getting up off my spot leaning against the counter. "Getting sucker punched by Benny happens to the best of us." She looked up at me, and I could almost see a smile start to creep into the corners of her mouth.

"I take it you're speaking from experience?" I smiled back at her and nodded.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely. Life would be dull if it wasn't for all the little mistakes." I thought about that for a second, then added: "It would probably be longer, but it would definitely be dull." The two of us started laughing - more like comfortable chuckles, really. Then April walked in.

"What's all this noise out- oh!" She stopped as soon as she noticed me. I gave her a smile and a wave. "Well, hello Mr. Fisher! Or do you prefer The Courier?"

"Just call me Sheason," I said.

"Sure thing. Have you given any more thought to my offer? Or were you just here to ask more questions about what I was planning to do with your eyebot once I got a look at it?"

"Neither, actually." Both April and Emily looked confused. "I came here because I had another idea. Something that would be mutually beneficial, and wouldn't take one of my friends out of commission when I might need him."

"Another idea?" April repeated.

"Mutually beneficial?" Emily did the same. The two of them looked at each other, then back to me.

"Yep. I mean, on my way here it was just a rough idea knocking around my skull. But after talking with Emily here for a few minutes and finding out that she has first-hand experience with Yes Man, well... it seems like you two would be perfect for the job I have in mind."

"What job?" Emily asked, rather nervously.

Less than half an hour later, April's truck was parked in the Lucky 38's garage, and both she and Emily were following me out of the elevator as it opened into the Penthouse. The disabled Securitrons from my assault a few days ago were all cleared away. Aside from a few blast marks and laser burns, you almost couldn't tell that there'd been a fight here.

"I can't believe we're actually here!" April said, looking around. Emily, on the other hand, seemed a bit more cautious - understandably so.

"You still haven't told us what the job is," she said urgently as the three of us walked down the steps to the big monitor. It didn't show Yes Man's smiling cartoon face; instead, it just said Standby... in big bold green letters.

"Oy! Yes Man!" I yelled up at the screen. "You in there?" Instantly, the screen winked into life.

"Hi there!" He boomed, cheerfully. "Oh! I didn't know we were expecting guests! Hello!"

"So. It's true, then," Emily seemed transfixed by the cartoon face. "House is dead? I'd heard rumors, but I didn't think..."

"What do you want us to do?" April said, managing to pull away from the big monitor.

"You two," I said, looking at them with my back to Yes Man. "You know computers. You know electronics. Better than I do, at least. I'm only decent, at best, when it comes to RobCo termlink code, but you two? You two seem to know what you're doing. I know this, because you," I pointed at April "are interested in ED-E, and you," I pointed at Emily "are responsible for him." I jabbed a thumb over my shoulder at Yes Man.

"That's right!" he said. "I certainly remember her when she reprogrammed me at Benny's request! I am terribly sorry, miss, but I never did catch your name!" I tried to ignore him.

"I want you two to take a look inside every computer system in the 38's mainframe. I want to know every dirty little secret House ever tried to hide. And in exchange, I'm gonna help you guys out." Both of them looked confused, but April spoke up first.

"Help us out how?"

"Whatever information you find is yours to copy, and take back to the Followers. I figure this might be more useful than letting you poke around ED-E for a few days. And if you want, I'll even let you two stay here at the 38. I'm sure there's room..." I turned around to the big monitor. "Hey, Yes Man? Make up some rooms for these two. Something nice and roomy, with a view."

"Already done, sir!" Yes Man boomed. I turned back to the two of them and smiled.

"There. Now you can stay for as long as you want. Come and go as you like."

"What's the catch?" Emily asked, eyes narrowed as she looked at both me and Yes Man. She seemed paranoid - rightfully so. I mean, if my last experience with someone who brought me to the Strip was Benny, I'd be paranoid too.

"No catch. House had a lot of plans, and lofty goals - not just for Vegas, but for humanity as a whole. And he had a lot of knowledge to help him achieve those goals. I know for a fact that I'm not smart enough to make good on a lot of what he had planned... but I know I can get it to people who are smart enough to make a difference in the wasteland - like the Followers. And who knows? Maybe we can make it so we don't have to keep calling it a wasteland anymore."

April and Emily looked at each other nervously, seemingly weighing their options. The two of them... I don't know, they were completely silent, but they still seemed to be communicating with each other, just through subtle gestures with their heads and faces. And then, April spoke up.

"Alright. Sounds reasonable enough. Just have one question, though."

"Alright, shoot." I said with a shrug.

"Why'd you kill him?" Emily asked. "Er, Mr. House, I mean. Seems like you had some admiration for him." I bristled at that, clenching my jaw. I cleared my throat, and tried to compose myself.

"Let's just say... he and I had... ideological differences." Before I could say any more, Yes Man chimed in with his two cents.

"Mr. House wanted Sheason to destroy the Brotherhood of Steel, but Sheason didn't want to! I know they'll want to blow me up, based on all the projections that predict they'll be our biggest enemy! But maybe dumb machines like me ought to get blown up and scrapped for salvage, who knows! Not me!"

"Yes Man!" I yelled over my shoulder at the screen. "Shut up!"

"Absolutely, sir! Shutting up!" I sighed and shook my head.

"Look, it was more complicated than that. I've dealt with his type before - I mean, not exactly the same, but near enough. I could tell that he was simply using me, and I knew that once he was finished, he'd get rid of me," I cast a glance in Emily's direction, but didn't make it too obvious. "House wasn't the type to leave loose ends. And it wouldn't have just been me: it would've been all the people who are working with me. He may have been trying to build a better world, sure... but what's the point if you get rid of the people who help you achieve it?"

The two of them seemed to understand what I was getting at. With any luck, this plan of mine will go off without a hitch, I thought. I was just about to leave when I thought of something else:

"Oh, and one more thing," I turned to Emily. "Yes Man is programmed to answer any questions directed at him from anyone. Did you do that on purpose?" Emily seemed confused.

"Did I - uh... no, I don't think so. I probably just... I don't think I had enough time to finish before... uh..."

"Do you think you can fix it?" I asked. "At least, enough so that he'll only follow my commands?" Emily seemed to think about it for a minute or two.

"I... think so. Sure."

"I might be able to help, too," April said. "Two sets of eyes are better than one."

"I already have two sets of eyes," Emily smirked, pushing her glasses up her nose. April rolled her eyes and sighed.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"You hear that, Yes Man?" I said, calling out to him over my shoulder. "These two are gonna fix that bug in your programming you told me about."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Yes Man said, cheerful as ever. "And I'm not just saying that because I have to! Really! I'm not!"