War of Realities in the DC Wastelands

[shadowmadnezz]

Dang man you write like crazy :thumbsup: you should start poppin out books professionally

[Maharg67]

Thanks, Shadowmadnezz!

 

I am actually up to Chapter Sixty-Nine. If people want me to Upload a whole lot of chapters, I wll do so.

 

Thanks again.

[Maharg67]

FIFTY

MAN FROM SEARF

EDDIE’JON IN THE OLYMPIC SUPERDUPERMART

:thumbsup: :down:

 

Eddie’Jon smiled at his SEARF high ranking officers, aides and bodyguards. He spoke with care. “No, I am not angry with you but it would be good if you gave me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from now on.”

 

His second-in-command, a young woman in SEARF fatigues, bowed briefly. “Leader, if you so desire, I will terminate myself.”

 

“This isn’t the old times. No self terminations are needed or wanted. Bloody Eddie is gone and anyway most of the time I managed to fake such things back in the bad times with no actual self-termination of my people taking place. President James Patriot Jackson was a monster.” Eddie’Jon and the other super-soldiers, androids, followers and robots were in a large chamber of many purposes. It stretched out as a commonroom with workshop areas, a kitchen area, a dining area, some VR-capsulechairs, some hardtop couches that SEARF found comfortable and much else.

 

This included Specials hovering in armoured globes, hoverjets fully active, in the breakdown period of SEARF life that was part of the Curse of the SEARF. But now they came forward and joined the meeting as Eddie’Jon had wanted them to do.

 

One, the female Marshal Canadana, spoke then. “We all grow deeper to the hub and now we trust you. We think ourselves old and wise at ages of nine to twelve but you are over two hundred years old and have had many great experiences. You have been to the stars. You send many of our people now to Orbis who is able to lessen the impact of our Curse to a great degree.”

 

The Curse! A life lived hot and short but then quickly ending in pain and physical handicaps except if special medical intervention was used. One to three to grow fully into combat mode. Four to nine as veterans of which four to six were soft and seven to nine were hard veterans. Nine to twelve, the fading.

 

Except that Lucky Eddie was created first generation, was amongst those lucky to survive fully intact, and lived longer than later SEARF who were cloned, and altered, from the first gen survivors. Others of the first generation had survived thanks to being in status capsules but he had lived it all out and more.

 

Canadana spoke then. “The JAGAF are not really our enemies. They were developed from cloning from the SEARF and they are becoming also deeper to the hub. We do not kill them and they do not kill us. JAGAF pretend to serve their masters but their masters suspect the JAGAF and do not truly trust them. JAGAF doppelgangers move amongst the Wastelanders and seek answers to questions common to both of us. JAGAF manage to emanate coldness but it is getting more difficult for them to do so.”

 

She went on. “But now new forms of super-soldiers are arising to serve the enemies. JAGAF knows little of them. These new ones are most deadly dangerous and will threaten both JAGAF and SEARF along with many others who life in the DC-Wastelands. Some are linked with the creation of the super-mutants. Many will wear the appearance of old entities. Would you speak with JAGAF?”

 

“Of course!” Then he turned to a SEARF officer. “Of course Orbis knows you have been secretly sending JAGAF to NuHopeland and to NuHopeHub. I was informed and gave my support to this move. Why did the JAGAF hold me (Eddie’Jo) back in the SubHub below NuHopetown at its old location?”

 

The fake SEARF officer shimmered and now his face was networked with fine silvery lines and his skin was more shiny as of plastic effect. “There was a superclone there, dark and powerful, but being inside Orbis was slowly killing it. It would have been gone before you got there anyway. We are trying to pretend that we still serve those monsters but they suspect us now and treat us harshly; on the other hand they treated us harshly when they considered us loyal. Below the Grand National Mall is the means for what remains of President James Patriot Jackson to escape from the super virtual reality prison that he is trapped in, that you helped trap him in when you really killed his physical self instead of just pretending to. Did he trust you that much?”

 

“He trusted nobody! He set me up!” Eddie’Jon smiled. “But I have enough of President James Patriot Jackson inside me to know about such things. I changed things a little, substituting one gun for another. Killing him was difficult. When he realised the truth he lashed out and smashed me hard physically and otherwise. I was dying when the zetans abducted me. Do you mean in the great big subway station that was built far too big to meet the needs of Washington DC?”

 

The JAGAF nodded. “Yes and no! That is the data we have gained but we do not know what it means.”

 

Eddie’Jon nodded. “Bring your people out of danger.”

 

The JAGAF nodded. “Orders are being sent out even as… something is wrong. Our Jagware communications network-system…”

 

Eddie’Jon reached out and touched the forehead of the JAGAF officer who still wore SEARF fatigues. After a moment the officer spoke again. “The jamming is gone. Units are now moving except fifteen teams and one larger taskforce that are trapped. Fighting is occurring against psyker-mutants in the Grand National Mall. The traitor programming and hardware has been wiped and neutralised. The psyker-mutants are defeated and are retreating. Why did we not detect the traitor network-system?”

 

Eddie’Jon removed his fingers from the other’s forehead. “Your network-system for finding such a threat was compromised with its very design and fabrication. I have altered them and yet more has to be done. I introduced nanobots and microbots into your own network-system that are upgrading you just as I did with the SEARF though they have less cyborging than you do. Touching bare hand to bare hand will allow both to circulate through SEARF and JAGAF people. We were all compromised at the moment of our existence. My beloved father feared me so he put inside me nine fail-safe technologies against my possible betrayal, all promising myself a painful death if he so chose. Another 21 were designed to punish me, used separately, in conjunction with others or all together; he used all of them in all possible combinations but it did not stop me or others like me from trying to terminate him.”

 

The SEARF Major spoke. “There is much to do but there always seems to be much to do.”

 

So they did so!

 

TO BE CONTINUED

[Maharg67]

FIFTY-ONE

WOMAN FROM SEARF

IN RIVERTANE; LOOKING FOR MOTHER

:cool: :ninja:

 

A youthful, attractive woman, Eddie’Jane just named herself Jane to people around her as she wandering in metal armour and other typical Wastelander gear through Rivertane’s Docks. This gear included metal armour, a sturdy backpack, an autorifle and a large pair of revolver pistols halted at her side. It was busy for two fishing expeditions had returned around the same time and a ferry convoy had come in from its river crossing. There were plenty of tough working men and a fair few women doing the same jobs.

 

She noted the harbour walls and the now closed and locked harbour gates. Then she slipped her full attention to slipping neatly through crowds of people. Then she saw it in the distance, the fishing rivership named the LUCKY EDDIE. Though Eddie’Jane studied it intently, she seemed not to look at it at all.

 

A man pushed a wheel-barrow full of small barrels past and frowned at her but then steered carefully away from and then around her. There was something about her that had people carefully giving her room to spare.

 

She picked up a scruffy little boy who wriggled and protested with noises at first but then became calmly still. She then spoke calmly. “It is not wise to try to pick pockets of strangers. I will give you a coin. Where are your mummy and daddy?”

 

The little boy studied her with big adorable eyes and said nothing. So she held him at her hip and kept walking. She spoke again as they approached a busy, colourful diner. “You want something to eat and drink?”

 

He nodded eagerly and looked quite relaxed, thank you very much. Then she was entering the diner. A tall elegantly attractive woman stood at the doorway. She frowned. “Don’t serve boat slummers here, especially little thieves that should be drowned.”

 

Eddie’Jane smiled at the woman. “Now you do. The boy is under my protection.”

 

The lady stepped back with a start and said nothing else.

 

The diner was fairly crowded but she found a small table for three in one corner and sat there, putting the boy on her lap. Of course she had scanned the room even as she had made her way to the corner. The mixture was mostly dock workers but there were some other kinds there like ferry passengers just arrived.

 

A bunch of mercenaries were bunched together in one corner talking casual business such as up and coming possible contracts: word was out that a big new player was wanting to hire large mercenary forces in the DC-Wastelands. The established mercenary corporations were not happy as they were being ignored and kept in the dark about what was happening be they such as Reilly’s Rangers, Talon Mercenaries, the Ironsides or the DC-Privateers, the last focusing on river patrols and protection. Dedicated groups such as GuardTek of DCTek did not care. Another dark whisper was circulating. The same new power was recruiting normal ganger raiders or ravers but they were taking in reavers and berserkers.

 

Eddie’Jane’s people had already picked up on the same growing rumours. Despite the efforts of Regulators and others to confirm the truth, the supposed new army had eluded being found. Recruits went to scattered temporary small outposts and vanished, the outposts moving on a seemingly random basis.

 

A couple of tough attractive young waitresses rushed around serving customers. One came to her table, took one look at the little boy, and shook her head in wonder. “Well you must have a real trick with the kiddies, lady, for that one don’t normally trust anybody unless he knows them for a long time. Doesn’t talk! He and some other children were found wandering in the Wastelands along with some animals. Well they live in the Floating Orphanage down in the harbour run by the Daughters of Charity, a bunch of ladies who spend a few extra coins on the needy. Wish they would spend some on me.” Then she spoke to the boy with a kinder tone of voice. “Hello, snooks, you got yourself picked up.”

 

The little boy nodded and pointed to a big chalkboard menu behind and above the big wooden counter. He pointed to a particular part of it.

 

“Orphan’s choice!” The waitress nodded. “A glass of brahmin milk, some small steamed bush-potatoes, a small fish-pie and some sweets. One copper. Lady who runs this diner usually has the orphans served in the room next to this one. She is one of the Daughters of Charity though she don’t wear the robes as some of them do. Big pistols you got there, especially for a girl.”

 

“Call me Jane!” Eddie’Jane shrugged. “These pistols are my Surprise Specials and I don’t normally like to talk about them, no insult intended. Get the boy an Orphan’s Special with a slice of apple pie, if he likes that.”

 

“Likes apple pie with brahmin’s cream on top.” She nodded. “And yourself?”

 

“Glass of your home brew beer, cooled, and otherwise the same as him but double portions. Oh yes, coffee instead of milk but with a dash of milk.” She slipped out a leather purse and dropped some EIDs onto the table being five $1-coins. “This enough? One of those is yours.”

 

The waitress pushed back two of the coins. She smiled. “$2 for the diner is more than enough and $1 for me means some new clothes. You should be careful how much money you flash around. At least five pairs of eyes noted those nice clean coins of yours.”

 

“Good, that is how I make my money! Bounty-hunter!” Eddie’Jane looked at the mounted fish on the wall, preserved of course, and various bits of historical gear. “Amongst other things. I suppose you know the locals quite well.”

 

“I am not going to help you gain a bounty on anybody I have a liking for.” The waitress frowned. “No matter how much money you offer.”

 

 

“This isn’t a bounty job. I was looking at the fishing rivership the LUCKY EDDIE. Nice vessel, well cared for and I like the name. Do you know who captains her?” She pushed the two $1-coins back. “I simply wish to check out doing some fishing work for a while. The name inspires me.”

 

The waitress shook her head. “Her name is Captain Jane Eye but neither she or any other of the rivership captains take on strangers.”

 

The SEARF trooper responded. “Odd, my name is also Jane.”

 

The waitress gave her an odd look. “So is mine. Jane Eye is my mother but I never did have the stomach for working on a rivership. You might be a cousin or something, a distant cousin. I have to go and get the food and drink.”

 

Then she was zipping away through the crowds and to the wooden ‘batwing’ doors that led to the diner kitchen. Eddie’Jane took out a small wooden cube and began to carve it neatly, quickly, efficiently. Every bit of cut off wood went into the pouch she had taken the cube from. When she had a beautifully carved little horse, she passed it to the boy. The boy took it with a big smile and started playing with it on the table in front of them. Then he also had a Wastelands cowboy, a cowgirl and a dog.

 

A big plump man wandered over in a deliberate lazy fashion, a man in an expensive shirt but with small stains and cheap durable long-pants, a man with a stupid arrogant grin on his face. He stopped and spoke. “My name is Hamton Hambleton and I am a big man in this town. I do trading and retailing. I don’t take no for an answer. $200 for each of those fancy black pistols and $1 for all of the toys.”

 

She looked at him, her eyes met his, and he winced, gulped softly, turned and walked away. Indeed he hastily left the diner. Many locals watched him do this in astonishment. She picked up comments and realised that Hamton Hambleton was not normally an easy man to send away. He was an arrogant pig, a greedy cheating wealthy merchant with links to the DC-Syndicates of DC-Wastelands organised crime. He was also very tough and liked to pressure people into selling their goods cheap to him though often he failed to do so. She had probably made a new enemy but that did not phase her.

 

Eddie’Jane was thoughtful. If Jane Eye was her mother then the waitress was her half-sister.

 

Through the entrance to the diner came two SEARF troopers and two JAGAF troopers, disguised of course, and the SEARF male was holding a small ragamuffin girl who seemed quite happy on his hip. She was busy chewing a bit of sweet foodbar.

 

They grabbed some spare chair, nobody protested, and joined her at her table. The boy on her lap was not phased at all.

 

Eddie’Jane sensed something, closed her eyes, and then she was spying, mindeye wise, into a basement chamber beneath the diner that was a fixed up Predoomsday space with now functioning machines. Far from looking like part of a diner, it looked like a clandestine outpost with weapon racks on the walls, metal lockers, a row of computer terminals, two protectron robots and much else of the kind. A man was doing some work at a workbench while a woman was using a computer terminal linked to a minimainframe in one corner.

 

Two Regulators were there but the others were all UCSIA (Union of Columbia Security Intelligence Agency) officers except for two Sisters of Espionage or so the mindeye picked up in the form of psychic impressions. The waitress was sitting and talking to another, older woman, who looked partly like herself. It was Captain Jane Eye.

 

The older woman spoke. “Yes, they are SEARF super-soldiers. They have been following me and the LUCKY EDDIE for some time now but they did not seem to mean me harm. I would be dead now if they wanted me to be so.”

 

The younger woman frowned. “Maybe those cold JAGAF also. Thankfully there are so few of them.”

 

“Maybe not so few of them.” The older Jane spoke. “They seem to be friends now though they used to fight each other though some witnesses said they did not seem to put too much aggression into such fights. Those that died, vanished, and perhaps they came back later to fight again. The young woman is special to us, as you sensed. You have strong levels and modes of ESP as do I but she is beyond us and both the SEARF and the JAGAF are special also. The JAGAF are linked to the SEARF who are all linked to Lucky Eddie and his damned father, President James Patriot Jackson. Our special abilities is what had the UCG (Union of Columbia Government) recruit us as UCSIA psychic observers. This Jane is most likely an aspect of my son who, like my damned former husband the president, was actually able to be more than one body. He was more complicated than just having mere clone extensions. The UC-President, reasonably enough, wants to know what the super-soldiers are up to and so do the Orders of Steel, the Regulators and other forces.”

 

A Sister of Espionage spoke. “Odd stories have come in of them freeing slaves and making them vanish but also of them doing so with homeless ghouls and even zhouls that they round up with out hurting. They have some amazing machines like aeroflyers and bigger aeroships. Most likely they have stealth machines disguised as normal machines that they call Blackfires and stealth-sliders. For everything that is seen, much more is unseen, so yes there are many more super-soldiers out there than most had even begun to suspect. We used to think at the most they would be in the hundreds; now we think in the tens of thousands.”

 

Young Jane frowned. “One would think they could have done more for the Wastelanders.”

 

The Sister of Espionage frowned. “Young woman, please be quiet unless you have something thoughtful to say. Growing evidence is that the SEARF and JAGAF, for reasons unknown, carried out secret and effective campaigns against raiders, super-mutants and other threats. SEARF has destroyed over twenty hidden stockpiles of super-weapons. JAGAF destroyed an experimental nuclear reactor of the damned DomniCommonwealth before it could even start to operate properly and before the Domni could start to make their own atomic bombs. SEARF sealed off the Soviet Super Typhoon submarine at the bottom of the Potomac River which, before then, kept claiming the lives of fools who went seeking loot there. How do we know this all? Because Lucky Eddie has been sending information to various groups of the Free Alliance including the Elders Council in the DC-Citadel, which means Elder Lyons. In turn data has been sent. The SEARF and JAGAF are still making arrangements for their own alliance but fully intend to join the Free Alliance. We are going to need them for an old threat is returning in the form of President James Patriot Jackson and also new threats.”

 

But at that moment alarms began to ring and red lights began to blink madly on consoles. A shudder went through the basement chamber but also through the diner where Eddie’Jane was sitting.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

[Maharg67]

FIFTY-TWO

LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS

IT’S RAINING THINGS FROM SPACE

:whistling: :sweat: :ermm:

 

They came dropping down from space causing alarm in settlements, outposts, bases and with groups all through out the DC-Wastelands. Everybody went for shelter, monsters and wildlife including. Things were coming down from orbit of all kinds. Huge satellites came floating down with emergency chutes deploying. Other satellites came crashing down, exploding craters in the landscape. It was as if some force was driving things down out of low orbit of the Earth, a low orbit full of space junk.

 

A zetan saucerboat was obviously in trouble as it zigzagged crazily, trying to escape back into space, but some great invisible power gripped it and would not let it go. The saucerboat crew must have realised defeat and they glided to a light crash landing close to Lamplight Mountain.

 

A small space-platform came drifting down like some great bizarre leaf thanks to emergency antigravs. It splashed heavily into the river just outside of Rivertane Harbour, hurling water and some boats through the air. A patrol rivership came very close to capsizing and did take on a good deal of water. Some surprised diresharks were on deck, snapping and lashing with their tails, but they either escaped or were quickly turned into profitable goods. The Union of Columbia claimed the space-platform, despite the efforts of one ambitious fishing captain; having a whole lot of autocannons and other guns aimed at him caused him a change of mind.

 

A big piece of junk crashed dramatically into super-mutant positions in the Grand National Mall and exploded. Stored armaments erupted in response, part of a domino effect of death and destruction. Many super-mutants died, their bodies often flung up into the air. Many of them rained down into Free Alliance territory.

 

Energy projectiles came sizzling down to explode sometimes in mid air like crazy fireworks and sometimes on the ground to create smooth burned bowls of craters. They caused water to explode, bubbling and boiling with dead fish rising to the surface of the water. In Springvale a pack of raiders perished as such projectiles caused their battlebuggies to explode dramatically.

 

It came sporadically, in spates, covering the DC-Wastelands and just beyond in all directions. The focus would shift in area and concentration but overall the madness continued. While some areas got almost no hits, others got many but the latter, thankfully, tended to be more desolate and less inhabited zones.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

[Maharg67]

FIFTY-THREE

BIGGER AND BETTER THAN TRANQUILLITY LANE

WITH GROGNAK UNDER ENEMY ATTACK

:laugh: :biggrin: :verymad:

 

Rose’Ama sensed a gentle but persistent psychic force pulling her towards the distant Washington Monument rising above the jungle but for now she had more urgent matters to deal with.

 

She had never been to the DC-Wastelands or she would have seen that these lands were almost like a prehistoric version of them. There were even rogue robots in some of the underground areas such as the Subways where there were zhouls also. Deathclaws, killclaws, skyclaws and other clawbeasts were to be found in those lands also along with giant ants and some other DC-Wastelands creatures.

 

She crouched behind a boulder as a laser pulsebeam blasted a chunk out of the other side of it. Super-mutants were attempting to invade the large but well defended cavern chamber from outside. While many had more modern weapons, there were fifteen great behemoths outfitted with monstrous sized metallic spike-maces. Zentaurs charged up the steep slope of rock and wingtaurs glided into the cavern above them. Diredogs roared their canine berserker fury.

 

Grognak was crouched close by, as big as a standard stupid-mutant and with a desire to make strangers think he was a stupid barbarian but was very clever. He aimed a softly glowing red crystal tipped wooden staff, an elemental powerstaff of fire, and unleashed a pulse of savage burning flames. It struck a mighty hound and the monster roared with agony as it burst into a small inferno.

 

The super-mutants were a fairly small force of about forty but they had with them cannibalistic tribals of savage fighting ability. These were the Clongolons, hunched and overly muscular, fairly stupid and dressed in strange combinations of furs, leather armour and chain-mail. They carried an odd mixture of bronze hand-axes, bronze bladed swords, bizarre magical items and basic bolt-action hunting-rifles given to them by the strange invaders.

 

They had reached the Ki’Mossan Caverns only to be caught up in defending the temporary home of the Ki’Konda people who had been robbed of their Cliffhold by the evil Professor James Patriot Jackson. This Professor James Patriot Jackson was a superclone, she sensed the creature, and was away in the Cliffhold carrying out a series of terrible experiments of people and animals that his people captured.

 

Grognak spoke. “The Clongolons are a stupid people with weak magic. They are cowardly and they eat forbidden meat often. Yet they add to the enemy forces and now we are outnumbered greatly, we mighty Ki’Konda.”

 

A ki’mage passed her an odd crystalline sphere with flittering flames inside, a fire elemental-exploder, and she made it become four elemental-exploders. The mage bowed and took three of them. Then he hurled the first at the charging enemy after crying out a warning to his own people, who all took cover. There was a mighty blasting force of flames and the enemy suffered many losses.

 

The attack ceased but soon another would begin.

 

Then came the cry of battle horns and the sounds of mighty flapping wings as from the skies swept a mighty force of female warriors riding dragon like tragons. The tragons fired off fireballs that sizzled through the air to explode dramatically and the warriors fired off great energy-bows, the energy-arrows forming out of mid air every time the bow strings were drawn fully back. The ‘strings’ glowed with energies.

 

The enemy were taken by surprise and fled in disarray, the super-mutants tramping right over the smaller, weaker cannibals who mostly died this way. Those Clongolons who managed to escape from the super-mutants retreat, the monsters hauling equipment and supplies with them, were shot by sizzling energy-arrows or burned to death by the sleekly powerful tragons.

 

Allied tribes had sent warriors to assist the Ki’Konda and the first to arrive were airazons (aerial amazons) of the Qu’Quesz on their mighty tragons. But riding across the plains in the distance on mighty massive herbivore dinosaurs were many warriors and magical war-machines of no less than eight tribes. Sitting on the head of each long necked dinosaur was a male or female teenager who kept look-out with clever made brass and glass telescopes. Smaller but still large dinosaurs also carried warriors right down to peaceful horsesauruses.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

[Maharg67]

FIFTY-FOUR

LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS

TENTACLES AND TREASURES

:sweat: :ninja:

 

With some difficulty a subway line from the edge of the Grand National Mall to the DC-Citadel had been cleared and secured by the Orders of Steel. Only one of the monolines was usable and along this moved fairly quickly two locomotives with nine carriages between them so there was no need of turn around.

 

Sarah Lyons dropped off the briefly halting monotrain, along with the Lyons Pride, and Knight Captain Gallows. The power armoured figures moved in formation past a Brotherhood of Steel outpost who briefly opened an armoured gate for them, with scouts in scout power armour moving ahead of them. They had a new technology working for them, being streamlined, sped up eyebots called zipbots that would send back any urgent data from the scouts or go the other way with orders. This was because radio communications were both tricky and prone to discovery by enemies.

 

Elder Lyons wanted to know what had happened to a unit led by Knight Sergeant York in the Grand National Mall along with some Sisters of Metaphysics who had vanished in the area. The Lyon’s Pride was to go into an area of subways that had a bad reputation even by the standards of the DC-Wastelands. Stories of haunting, monsters more terrible than deathclaws or behemoths and much else circulated about that particular area rough south-west from the Grand National Mall. Making matters worse was that it was under the big DC-River and some areas were flooded with radded water, a favourite spot for mirelurks and other nasties.

 

They trudged along a dark, gently winding subway that had probably been built and abandoned in the 1800s or so she guessed. That it was still intact was something of a miracle but, by the groaning noises sometimes heard, a miracle that might end any time.

 

The scouts were all three veterans who did not like what they sensed. They went out ahead but Sarah Lyons, for the first time, insisted they stay fairly close and even in range of night-vision sight.

 

They came out over a great wooden and metallic bridge, strongly built with heavy cast-iron girders, columns, chains and other structures and even, strangely enough, flying-buttresses. Below fell an abyss deeply into the dark depths below. They kept moving but the scouts fell back towards the group as if sensing something very wrong and seeking protection.

 

Something flickered. JAGAF and SEARF stood there but were not fighting. In stealth power armour they formed a mutually protective pattern. One spoke to Sarah. “Knight Captain Lyons, come at once. You are in danger, all of us are in danger, as long as we are on this bridge. The way back is blocked now. This is a trap. We must go in the direction you were going in.”

 

They all began running across the bridge, going as quickly as those in standard power armour could go. Sarah was now grateful she left behind the heavy power armour, the walking light battletanks of the power armour infantry. The bridge seemed much sturdier than did the tunnel they had gone through earlier.

 

Then they were off the bridge and running past the dead bodies, clothes, armour and other items of what seemed like a whole lot types. Raiders, deformed zhouls, mercenaries and much else. Strangest of all were some World War Two vintage steel hats of American GIs, what seemed like a American Civil War hat and even a musket rifle. Everything was covered in a softly glowing transparent green tinted jelly substance of some kind. None of it made any sense.

 

Something big and powerful whipped up over the bridge and smashed down against it, a massive armoured tentacle of scale plating. It smashed around in evident frustration and fury. Then a mininukes booby-trap detonated as prepared by the super-soldiers. Five mininukes and some very nasty shrapnel exploded outwards. The tentacle rippled and big chunks were torn off it and an inhuman scream echoed through the tunnel. Then the tentacle flashed away and was gone back into the depths.

 

SEARF and JAGAF troopers led them into another tunnel, also very old of the 1800s. They slowed down and then stopped. So did Knight Captain Sarah Lyons, recently promoted. She took off her helmet and looked around. One SEARF and one JAGAF trooper did the same. She now faced a youthful woman, SEARF, and a youthful man, JAGAF.

 

The SEARF trooper stepped forward. “I am Major Keletine-012a. Now we proudly use our numbers also. I am six and a half years old, a hard veteran of my kind.”

 

Sarah Lyons studied the trooper with a half smile, astonished at the actual young age of this one, and then saluted smartly. “A proud veteran than. Can you explain the jelly substance and those in it?”

 

The SEARF officer saluted back and seemed, somehow, pleased by the gesture. “These tunnels were built secretly in the time of President Abraham Lincoln of the USA. The reason we know this is just ahead of us in a room filled partly with the jelly substance that preserves things perfectly. We found top secret files, maps and such like there. We do not understand the nature of the jelly substance though we found some notes about it being used to preserve items. Come with us.”

 

They found not only the jelly substance but a whole large chamber filled with American Civil War vintage furniture and fittings along with those from later periods of time. Metal filing-cabinets, 2Dflatscreens, early ‘robots’ that were actually remote controlled devices, assault-rifles, DVDs, other disks and much else. There was even a fully functioning NukaCola vending-machine in one corner that was half full of bottles of the famously infamous drink.

 

The SEARF and JAGAF had set up an outpost base in the chamber. They had carefully selected items to remove from the glowing green jelly substance. They were drinking hot cocoa with condensed milk and were loving it, eating canned C’rations and enjoying them but strangest of all they even liked MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). Actually by the 2050s MREs were very efficient, mildly delicious and parts of them were reusable or recyclable; they also had 101 flavours to choose from.

 

Odd saucer shaped robots, SEARSRs (Special Encounter Assault Recon Special Robots), were hovering close to the ceiling or were drifting around on patrol. SEARSAs (Special Encounter Assault Recon Special Androids) were in standard power armour of a sleeker looking design than those of the Brothers of Steel.

 

Sarah Lyons watched with astonishment as a SEARF officer touched a box of secret files (manila files of World War Two vintage) and it vanished with a sparkling shimmer. Then something appeared out of mid-air with a sparkling shimmer being about the same weight as the item as had vanished. It was a smaller but just as heavy box of ammo.

 

The SEARF Major spoke. “We are deeper to the hub now and we have gained new abilities. We have the genetic inheritance of President James Patriot Jackson himself who could teleport small things to and from his own superclones. Such abilities must be used with care. It is always best to exchange one teleported item for another of as close to identical weight as possible. Such as volume and mass are also important. We are sending files to a special place. Copies of all will be sent to the DC-Citadel as soon as possible. The great tentacles and other threats mean that we must abandon this chamber in twenty-four hours or less. We would appreciate your assistance.”

 

Knight Captain Gallows took off his helmet and scowled. “You are stealing the property of the USA. As former members of the US military the Brotherhood of Steel should take first…”

 

Sarah cut him off. “There is no USA anymore, Knight Captain Gallows, and both the SEARF and the JAGAF were also part of the US military. Also I do not see us getting all this stuff back across that crazy bridge.”

 

Gallows nodded. “What of the stiffs in the jelly?”

 

The SEARF Major responded matter of factly. “Many are still alive but suspended and others are able to be reanimated though this is a tricky process. Sending them will be more difficult but we can bring in reinforcements with the same process.”

 

There was the muffled sound of gunfire, including a launcher firing, but it ended as quickly as it had come. There was the hideous scream of mindless, deformed zhouls that died down as the survivors fled. Despite much misinformation, zhouls did run away from fruitless death or at least many of them did, normally the survivors.

 

It soon turned out that the SEARF wanted to focus on sending and gaining items through their own special form of teleportation while the JAGAF and Brothers of Steel helped guard the area. About half the SEARF supported the defence including most of the androids and the robots. They had also put down portable turrets.

 

Sarah sat and went through various bits of data from various centuries. She was often amazed, sometimes sickened and at times bewildered. There seemed to be little rhyme or rhythm to what was stored in that place; it had all been just dumped there, seemingly, with out any reason for doing so recorded in that place. All items did have at least some information with them such as dates of storage.

 

In the Great Dark Ages of the early Twenty-First Century when humanity had almost come to an end, much had been destroyed of earlier periods of history. Major cities had been totally destroyed. Easily a billion people had perished with plague, famine, pestilence, war and other disasters. Yet in that chamber were records and artefacts from those decades.

 

Sarah read through a page of Esperanto writing, the language of the United Nations Emergency Regulatory Enclave Network or UNEREN, she was struck by the odd statements in it. She went to slip the page into a pouch but even as she started to do so a slimly armoured but amazingly strong hand was gripping her power armoured wrist. Sarah found she could not budge.

 

The SEARF Major stood next to her and smiled. “Please do not try to do that again or we will cease to cooperate with your people, leaving you to survive alone in this very dangerous place.”

 

Sarah cursed softly and the marshal removed her hand. Then Knight Captain Lyons spoke. “Okay, a moment of stupid temptation but the notes are most curious. It speaks of something called the Agreed Intervention of 2025. The oceans of the world were sown with cloned life of plankton, seamoss and celltoks even as the climate was readjusted. Then there were the troobles. They spread like a plague across the world but they were not only fairly easy to hunt but also surprisingly nutritional and could be eaten raw or easily cooked. Troobles on land, gillables in the sea, fluttables in the air. They still exist in some areas of the world but not in the DC-Wastelands. UNEREN claimed it had done the ‘good deed’ but many did not believe them. Senator James Patriot Jackson claimed responsibility and was believed by many. It was a major blow to the UNEREN and their plans to build a new World Government based on the world wide network of Enclaves including the North American based Eagle-Enclave. According to this it was the UNEREN that actually carried out the work.”

 

“We know!” The Major took the file from Sarah and slipped the page away. “President James Patriot Jackson used to brag to his close followers about how he ‘stole the thunder of those damned Enclavers’ by a clever lie backed up by some simple deceptions. But he far from tricked everybody and it was for many around the world, including the USA, the deciding moment when they turned against JPJ. For in doing what he did he damaged more then the reputation of the Enclavers. He did political and commercial damage to various big corporations, universities and other groups including the new Soviets. Come with me. If you thought that was interesting, you will love what I have to show you.”

 

It was a big wooden ornate wardrobe of British Victorian design. It was polished oak by the look. It seemed somehow more real than real with two big double doors in the centre, a row of very big drawers to the left and a wide, tall mirror to the right.

 

Sarah nodded. “Very impressive, it’s a wardrobe and yet, there is something odd about it, something that draws one’s attention. It seems somehow to be more solid than solid. It reminds me of something. Oh, yes, the magical wardrobe in the classical 2020s 3Dmovie of THE WITCHES, THE WIZARD AND THE WARDROBES, a story of the amazing realm of Ozarnia.”

 

The SEARST nodded. “It is one of President James Patriot Jackson’s weird inventions, one of his artefacts of power that somehow he created secretly and alone. It is not known how many of these powerdrobes actually exist. Each is multiple functional but each is mainly a gateway between each other and, we suspect, into a very special kind of virtual reality realm or realms where President James Patriot Jackson still survives.”

 

Knight Captain Sarah Lyons scowled. “We have enough trouble with super-mutants with out that.”

 

“But both are linked.” The super-soldier responded. “Somehow President James Patriot Jackson is behind what the super-mutants are doing in and beneath the Grand National Mall. Solving one problem means solving both. The super-mutants are apparently after something that will help free the Mad President.”

 

The chamber shook a little and some items fell off the edge of a wall shelf to go crashing to the floor. It appeared that the tentacle monster was active again.

 

But then the SEARF trooper turned to her and spoke. “Many things are falling from low orbit, brought down by an unknown force, and a new, smaller moon has appeared in the sky.”

 

Sarah stopped in surprise.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

[Maharg67]

FIFTY-FIVE

LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS

SUPER SOLDIERS, SLAVES AND REGULATORS

 

Things were still falling from the sky but not in that area at that time. High above in the sky was the normal orb of the moon but close to it, smaller but still vast in size, was now a smaller moon. Except it was not really a moon at all as it glimmered whitely, translucently and somewhat like a fine crystalline bubble.

 

In the dim light of dawn SEARF super-soldiers darted across the field and the mines failed to trigger. Some of the SEARF troopers picked up mines and threw them at the enemy. The slaver run settlement shook with explosions. The settlement was secretive, was well hidden and well fortified but the SEARF were moving in quick. Bullets flew as two slaver minigunners hammered away at the attackers but somehow no bullets struck.

 

The SEARF flowed over the walls, taking down the minigunners and other sentries with lightening quick slashes of blades or the striking of very hard hands. A badly mistreated guard-dog was soon wagging her tail madly as she was made captive and taken away. Slaves were brought out of cages as the explosive collars were removed quickly and deftly. These collars went around the necks of the few slavers kept alive.

 

A SEARF aeroflyer, a sleek looking stealth machine of large size, came over the settlement with roboremote turrets firing 20mm autoguns and pulseguns. A pair of smart-rockets took out an armoured squat gun-tower with a savage explosion at its base that caused it to topple.

 

The aeroflyer’s ramp went down from its belly, opening towards its tail, and up went ex-slaves, captive slavers, animals and any loot. Loot included any information that the SEARF could find including from hidden places like a floor safe in the cramped concrete office chamber of the head slaver.

 

The aeroflyer took off slowly even as its ramp closed, turned gracefully in the dawn light and then sped off but not directly towards its destination in case there were undetected observers.

 

There were two detected observers in the form of a pair of astonished duster wearing figures lying on their bellies. The Regulators had noted supposedly savage SEARF gently pick up sick adults, a now friendly guard-dog and children. They had also watched them kill slavers quickly and with out mercy except for a few select ones.

 

The whole operation was over in about fifteen minutes.

 

The two Regulators crept into the now abandoned settlement even as two JAGAF and two SEARF scouts watched them carefully. They had been very close to the Regulators but had not been detected in the slightest.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

[Maharg67]

I have started adding some new chapters from the start but I will continue to add more chapters to extend the story as normal. I may be making some minor changes in older chapters.

 

I am four chapters ahead of what I have in the forum. I will soon edit and add these.

 

There is no need for you to restart the story if you do not wish to. I willl keep extending it as is.

 

Thanks!

[Blue Morphos]

had a chance to catch up,beautiful as always