PLANET FALLOUT THIRTEEN

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 20, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

-43-

 

PATRIOTOZA AS JAMES

 

Once the Patriot Thirteen by name, or at least one aspect of it, Patriotoza appeared as ‘James’ amongst the huge wharfs of Portsburg, the great port city that had once been such a vital part of Centralian civilization. He appeared where, clothed in black leathers, he was hidden in dark shadow and yet could see clearly the big, abandoned freighter, the ANZCS Karatooa. Or at least he could see part of it.

 

A group of ugly skin raiders were using the freighter as a sanctuary of sorts. There were some mutagenic tanks set up that wounded raiders could use for painful but efficient regeneration treatments. There were some tubs of foodgus, a type of thick, softly glowing fungus that metamutants needed to consume just as the larger or just bulkier supermutants did. Metamutants were busy consuming radroach meat and some lightly rotten molerat meat, which is how they liked it and rotten meat did them no harm.

 

Back when he was President James Patriot Jackson of the mighty USGA, he had known that his linked brother, Professor Jack Patriot Jackson, was doing experiments with creating such as metamutants, along with other kinds of mutants. The experiments back then had been largely a failure so how was it that here, and now, matters seemed to have changed.

 

Patriotoza as James had come from PatriotEarth, the copy of Centralia that the Patriot Thirteen had created, had escaped to, and which the damned Unity had followed the Patriot Thirteen to. It was typical of Unity that they should claim that the very opposite was true. They pretended to have the moral high ground, especially the damned UnityElders, but they were liars and much else. They even had the nerve to call PatriotEarth by the name of UnityEarth.

 

He had wished to go directly to the New Patriot Republic that survived on-in Centralia and bring a fair sized army with him but it had turned out to be impossible thanks to factors beyond the control of Patriotoza, alias the Patriot Thirteen. Hopefully he would soon be able to gain more resources, including reinforcements.

 

A ‘friendly’ fight had broken out amongst two fairly smart metamutants. They were smart compared to most supermutants but only comparatively so. There was some shouting, scuffling and some thuds. Then the voice of a sergeant was shouting at the two. The shouting and the fighting ended.

 

Patriotoza as James was tempted to show himself to the metamutants, to try to dominate their mutated minds, but caution had him wait and observe some more. Then he heard a strange humming noise, a noise he was only too familiar with, and he was glad that he had not tried to do so.

 

Earthnet was a subnetwork of network-systems in service to Skynet as was Aquanet and Moonnet. Spacenet construction had begun but then Doomsday had struck. Spacenet was another subnetwork of network-systems that would have gone out further into Solsystem, the home solar system, as guardian outposts.

 

The big, lightly flattened globe of metallic armour and great big fanjets was like a very big MrGutsy but far more powerful. It was a small HunterSupplier and though nowhere near as powerful as HunterKillers of the same size, such were quite dangerous. The metamutants were nervous but not frightened as such.

 

The HunterSupplier opened a hatch and lowered a big resupply canister onto the ship’s deck that was three metres wide and long along with two metres high. Then it spoke in a metallic voice. “Resupply #1298-IOP-09878 delivered to metamutanic combat point 2314.”

 

Patriotoza as James watched the HunterSupplier lift, the supply drop hatch sliding close, turn gracefully and shoot away through the sky.

 

The Patriot Thirteen had been forced to assist in the creation of Skynet and its Subnets but they had never trusted it or those behind it, especially the mysterious forces that turned out to be their real enemies when Doomsday came.

 

He turned and he paced away with superhuman speed, his leather cloak flying out behind himself as his leather kneeboots thudded lightly against the decking of the wharf. Black wrap-around sunglasses and the hood of his cloak mostly hid his albino pale white face. On his back was a compact black leather backpack. In truth nothing was what it seemed to be.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 13, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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[Maharg67]

-44-

 

UNITYFREE

UNITYFREE INFLUENCE

 

Against expectations Betaburg was growing into a large settlement as refugees flocked to it who were abandoning smaller, more isolated settlements. Reports came with the refugees of raiders attacking such settlements but not just metamutants.

 

There were new kinds of raiders, it seemed. Superhumans who looked like attractive young men and women but with ice cold eyes and a presence of emotionless evil with out conscious. These wore assault power armour most of the time but at others used specialised stealth, lighter scout or even bigger battle power armour that was much like that used by the Orderhood of Steel and the Outcast Brotherhood.

 

Slavers seemed to be more active and better equipped than they used to be. Some force was assisting them along with Banditlords and Ganglords. It was said that Eulogy Jones in Paradise Falls had become the only real Slaverlord though other slavers had tried to claim the title.

 

Crazy Wolfgang, one of the original four roving traders from Canterbury Commons, was watching people move in small convoys of animal drawn vehicles, people on animals and others walking. There were working pets, livestock and some exotic creatures living with the settlers.

 

In theory Crazy Wolfgang sold junk but it was ‘junk’ that many people wanted be it baseball bats or electric toasters or books or holotapes or copper pipes or a whole lot of other stuff. These days he also sold stuff that the other three of the Original Four sold but he still focused mainly on ‘junk’.

 

Wolfgang looked at a patrol of battle power armoured Brother Outcasts, one of whom was a woman, making their way out of the settlement. With them was moving a MrGutsy, a big armoured globe lifted on its fanjets. The Outcast Brotherhood had a fair sized military force with specialists and other support. The Citadel of Steel was not too far from Betaburg by the standards of Centralia. So a few of their forces were moving through the area, often pausing at their Betaburg Outpost.

 

Crazy Wolfgang was not happy about the increasing danger of travelling and making a living out in the Wastelands. For traders like himself there was the added problem that the bigger settlements got, the less that they tended to rely on traders like himself. Instead they opened shops, markets, and had trade convoys visit. But now there were many smaller and more isolated settlements, the kind that needed him and those like him, that were closing down.

 

So far not all regions were being effected but he wondered just how long the trouble would take to spread for he had a bad feeling about it all.

 

Crazy Wolfgang also wondered why he had the increasing urge to make a new home at Betaburg. Canterbury Commons was being taken over by the increasing power of the Canterbury Commons Corporation and, its only real competitor, the Commons Trade Collective or CTC. It was becoming larger, more sophisticated, better defended and wealthier but Canterbury Commons was not the settlement that Crazy Wolfgang once loved to spend much of his time at.

 

Which was when a mature, attractive woman came seemingly out of nowhere and offered him a house with a small shop attached if he would from then on base himself at Betaburg. Yes, it was free and, if he wanted, she would be his companion. Her name was Rita, he had known her and desired her for years, and now he was gob smacked but he said ‘yes’ because he wasn’t stupid.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 20, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

-45-

 

ALPHANA, BETENA AND GAMMATI

 

The strange invasion of the quasiNazis from UnityEarth had shocked and shaken up the Clansfolk High Government based in the great underground city of JuLarero. Yet it had not done so to the Clansfolk Collective Government that was more based in the one and only Clansfolk surface city of JuRajo; at least not as much.

 

Alphana, Betena and Gammati had come to sense that not all was well in the Clansdom. There was an increasing schism between the Clansfolk High Government and the Clansfolk Collective Government. The Clansguardia was seen increasing as the military wing of the Clansfolk High Government and the various Warrior Orders as the military wing of the Clansfolk Collective Government. Yet there was no indicator of the differences becoming open hostility.

 

The recent attack had embarrassed the Clansguardia because of their reluctance to properly prepare for the attack despite warnings. The embarrassment reflected, rightly or wrongly, on the Clansfolk High Government and gained kudos for the Clansfolk Collective Government that had set up the ambush for the strange invaders.

 

Sister Pathfinder Rhonda Rhodes tried to hide her concern as she came to meet with the three energy beings at the very place where the three had first appeared on Centralia. That is in the same broken concrete chamber with the ceiling slanting down to wet, muddy ground. She failed for they were deep psychic entities reflecting both the alien power of OummuO and the more human abilities of the Nine of the Unity Thirteen.

 

Rhonda Rhodes stood where she could look through a gap to the distant settlement and she spoke. “The Centralist Faction has made a move to have the Clansfolk High Government put some kind of controlling restrictions on the Warrior Orders. The Centralist Faction wants the Warrior Orders to be cut down in numbers, perhaps by half, and put under the command of the Clansguardia High Command as auxiliaries. Thankfully the other political factions in JuLarero are not in the mood to support the Centralist Faction. Which leads to my real concerns.”

 

She paused before speaking again. “We Clansfolk have a deep set of secrets and one of them is that our ancestors did not come from this world. Doomsday opened a rift between this world and our old home world that was suffering a great natural disaster in the form of an ice age. While many of our people remained on Edenneva, a great minority of us came here to Centralia. Since then we have absorbed others who came through the rift, through other rift gates and locals but the majority of us are descendants of those who came from Edenneva. A few are old enough to have lived on Edenneva. I lived as a child on that world but all I remember is a world turning to ice and snow.”

 

Then she spoke again. “When we first met OummuO it indicated that it knew this or at least suspected it. Perhaps OummuO even suspected what I am going to tell you now. We were Clansfolk on Edenneva, as we are now, but unlike now we had the Thirteen Clansdoms. In theory only one of the Clansdoms came to this world, to Centralia.”

 

Alphana spoke then. “Twelve Clansdoms of the Way, the Waydi and the Waypath, and one Clansdom of the Modedi. Of them the Nine Clansdoms of the Waypath were of the newest form of thinking to go against the technological madness of your ancient ancestors. Then came the Three Clansdoms of the Waydi that were closer to the ways of those ancient ancestors. Then there was the Clansdom of the Modedi that were far closer to the Ancients of Edenneva than even Waydi. The Clansdom that came to Centralia was the Third of the Waydi, extreme in difference to the One of the Modedi. OummuO has ways of learning secrets that even we, its children, find disturbing at times.”

 

Rhonda frowned. “We now fear that the Modedi did not stay on Edenneva but secretly came to Centralia. Worse, we fear that other Clansdoms helped them so that Edenneva could be free of the militaristic Modedi despite that this broke a deep promise to the Third of the Waypath. They came but they did not populate the area that we of the Centralian Clansdom did. We think that they went deeper down into Centralia. Except they did not go alone.”

 

Betena spoke then. “The Ancients of Edenneva created the great shapeform that is Centralia. They sent it into space a very long time ago and then into transdimensional warp. They were seeking the secrets of the basis of existence, of life and death. They were arrogant, aggressive, technologically fixated and convinced that they were destined to one day be god like entities that would rule the Multiverse.”

 

Sister Pathfinder Rhonda Rhodes frowned. “Then the Centrolis, the true name of Centralia, vanished. Contact between the Ancients who had gone with Centrolis and those who had staid on Edenneva was lost and never regained. The Ancients on Edenneva had used up most of their resources to create Centrolis that was in theory to return to Edenneva with great wealth of resources. The Ancients went into a decline, slow but unrelenting apart from some hopeful bumps. There came the Age of Desolation and then the Great Revival from which rose the Clansdoms. That is the Waypathers that turned against the ways of the Ancients totally, the Waydions who did so to a less extent and the Modedi who only seemed to go through the motions, the appearance, of doing so.”

 

Gammati then spoke. “Who else do you fear came with the Modedi from Edenneva, when your people came from there to Centralia?”

 

Rhonda frowned. “Some very dark force from the Age of Desolation, from the Wars of Desolation, but that it only came here to join with a force that was already here in the Centrolis, that is Centralia, just as the Modedi did. We of the Third Waypath did not just come here for the sake of survival. We came here to learn why the Centrolis had landed on this world and what had happened to the Ancients that had been on-in it.”

 

Then she spoke on after a pause. “But we have found no strong trace of the Ancients and from what we have learned, neither did the humans of this world who existed on this world when the Centrolis landed here. We have found clues. The mutagenics of the kind that created supermutants in North America, the atomic motors in those foolish vehicles, the positronic brains of androids, the amazing healing ability of stimpaks, liftergas and much else indicates that many technologies of the Ancients emerged in Centralia during the time between the arrival of the Centrolis and Doomsday.”

 

So in some strange manner a good deal of events were linked together. The story was complicated but was the tip of the iceberg. There were many more secrets to uncover, mysteries to explain and puzzles to solve.

 

Then Sister Pathfinder Rhonda Rhodes spoke again. “We fear that the Modedi not only exist here deep inside Centralia but that they have dark, powerful allies and that this twisted alliance has been infiltrating not just the Centralian Clansdom but other civilizations and factions of Centralia. We have gained proof that Modedi agents have taken control of the Centralist Faction in JuLarero. If they have taken control of such a high ranking and important faction amongst our people, what else have they done?”

 

Gammati spoke then. “We will discuss these matters between ourselves. We will meet soon with some suggestions. When we meet, perhaps you will be more open with us and give us access to the secrets that you have yet to speak openly about.”

 

Sister Pathfinder Rhonda Rhodes laughed a little nervously. “I wanted always to share but I was outvoted. I warned the others this would happen for I have had most contact with OummuO of my sisters. I always sensed a likeness between you and OummuO and was not surprised to learn you are its children.”

 

Then she turned and departed back to the settlement. Two bodyguards joined her and protected her most of the way, a sign that matters were not good amongst the Clansfolk.

Edited September 22, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 19, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

-46-

 

RETIROWA AS SAMSU

 

Retirowa as Samsu had led the Blood Horde to a series of smaller, more isolated settlements of humans. She had transformed those humans and animals that she could, had enslaved others in various ways. Retirowa as Samsu killed five humans who showed high signs of Unity arising in them. Others had escaped from her, had even killed some of her followers, but she had no concern for such matters at the time.

 

Now they were moving along a Subway tunnel of twin monorails. The local network was under surprisingly good condition for its maintanance and other network-systems were still up and running, including varied forms of robots.

 

Retirowa as Samsu led her small army’s main force but bloodghouls, bloodnoids and bloodbeasts went out ahead. With the assistance of her psychic powers, they captured zhouls, even more deformed and monstrous than ghouls, savage ghoulers that were ghouls that were almost zhouls in behaviour and even some trogs, deformed human like beasts that had been human. Trogs came from the terrible, twisted, highly toxic part of Centralia known as NeoPittsburgh or just the Pitt. Many trogs had found a way out of the Pitt but nobody else seemingly knew how they had done so.

 

Retirowa as Samsu had a goal. She was heading for RDVault-A10Z, meaning a Research Development TekVault that had been highly secured, highly secretive and a very dark and dangerous place.

 

Retirowa as Itself had been first created there in its current form though not deliberately. The RDTek fools who had done so had been using alien-human hybrid technologies beyond their real understanding and had been playing with natural forces beyond their capacity to truly deal with. So Retirowa as Itself had emerged and had thanked the scientific geniuses in the big laboratory by killing them with merciful quickness instead of torturing them to death.

 

Retirowa as Itself had made its way through the huge VaultTek designed and built RDVault with impunity at first by sneaking through the ventilation network and various utility tunnels. Then something very powerful, very alien and very evil had attacked her. Ironically enough it had been a dark force that the humans in the huge base seemed unaware of, at least the great majority of them. Retirowa as Itself had fought off the evil entity with some difficulty, gaining some damage and dealing out some damage in the process. Retirowa as Itself then fled from the RDVault by taking a risk and phasing through what might be called the Astral subdimensional realm.

 

Doomsday had happened a few days later and when Unity and the Patriotoza, the Patriot Thirteen, had escaped to a newly created but distorted copy of Centralia, Retirowa as Itself had done the same. Retirowa as Itself was most amused that both those other forces thought they had created the copy of Centralia. Yes, they had been part of the process but they had been manipulated into doing so by a far darker, smarter and more cunning force for reasons both mysterious and strange.

 

Zhouls she turned into bloodzhouls but the ghoulers she liked as they were and they served her willingly, with amazingly fanatical devotion as she treated them like warped pets.

 

The Blood Horde kept moving along the wide, high Subway tunnel. It was a long express stretch and the only stations were basic emergency ones set up for times of crisis. Skeletal remains dotted some of them and ghosts drifted as lost souls through them in pathetic clusters. A security robot dared to shoot a stungun at some of her bloodghouls and they destroyed it in moments. This amused her, especially as it was a clumsy protectron.

Edited September 8, 2010 by Maharg67

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