PLANET FALLOUT THIRTEEN

[Maharg67]

-10-

 

JASMINE, JADEKIN AND JIFFY ASHWORTH

OUMMUO

 

When the vaultdroid came suddenly into the apartment with out warning or permission given to do so, it was very odd and yet none of the triplets were concerned. Why, because not only did they sense that nothing was wrong, but OummuO was there hovering in mid air.

 

Yet it was the bright pink haired and skinned android that explained. “Through OummuO you now have control of all of the vaultdroids be they shapeformed as women, men or neuters. This is an asset but you must be careful how you utilise it lest the control be discovered by Vaultgov or worse. What are your orders?”

 

Jasmine and Jadekin were well aware that they had a powerful new tool and-or weapon at their disposal but that they had to be careful in how they used it. They looked into each others eyes and then Jasmine turned and spoke to the android.

 

“Passive observation. Simply go about doing what you always do for now but send us all the data that you can. We will work out some kind of prioritisation program to sort the data through.”

 

The android smiled but the smile did not reacher her eyes. “That will not be necessary as we androids will present the data to you in prioritised form, indexed and cross referenced. We have important data for you already. Your adoptive father, Professor James Ashworth, is now on the Security Intelligence Agency’s A-List of suspected misfits, rebels and lawbreakers. Because he is under primary observation, directly and indirectly, you are under secondary observation, directly and indirectly.”

 

Directly meant through deliberate use of trained agents or through direct, purposeful electronic surveillance. Indirectly meant any other form of picking up information on somebody’s activities, be in through informants or typical passive electronic surveillance. The difference was not straight forward.

 

It meant a good deal and yet the information explained nothing in itself.

 

The android spoke again. “You are to conceal me in your apartment somewhere, if you can, where I can lie semiactive until needed in an emergency.”

 

With some difficulty they opened up a floor panel and the android lay inside a cavity there. They would feed her electricity as needed in the form of a trickle charge. They would maintain watch of her through a jury-rigged computerised network-system linked to her and their desktop computer in a hidden fashion. It was dangerous but what wasn’t. The androids were powerful and harder to kill than normal humans; it was worth the trouble to have her there as an emergency ally.

 

OummuO remained in mid air there, sparkling in rainbow patterns, and entertained Jiffy for a while with bright, colourful holographic projected images. Oddly enough the neobaby did not mind at all being spoiled in this fashion.

 

What concerned Jasmine and Jadekin was that if OummuO was willing to go to so much trouble to safeguard them, then they were truly facing a deadly threat. Yet OummuO frustrated them by refusing to talk to them at that time.

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 16, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

-11:1-

 

ALPHANA, BETENA AND GAMMATI

 

The Clansfolk preferred to live their lives separately from the other peoples of Centralia because they had gone out of their way to give up the old way of life that other Centralians seemed to badly want to return to. Many non-Clansfolk assumed Clansfolk were primitive because they were overtly tribalistic but this was far from true.

 

The Clansfolk designed, built and sold the liftergas airships used by other Centralians and had a big fleet of both airships and their own lifterships, as they called them. Lifterships were harder to build than airships but were more compact, harder to damage and more dangerous if turned into weapons.

 

Clansfolk made many other kinds of devices that they used themselves. In fact they made whole network-systems. There was solar power, there were pulselasers, there were beamlasers, there were power armour suits but not just for fighting, there were mechas, there were regen-rejuve vats and much else.

 

The Clansfolk dwelt openly in a series of eighty-one thorpes, twenty-seven hamlets, nine villages, three towns and one city. Alphana, Betena and Gammati were quickly given information that very few outsiders had ever gained. Beneath the Clansfolk open civilization lay a secondary hidden one of small LifeVaults, of five TekVaults, of bunker-complexes, of Subway Subnetworks and Subway Stations.

 

The Clansfolk knew much about the conspiracy that was trying to take over Centralia and they knew a good deal about who and what was behind it. The conspiracy was driven by an alliance between an entity of spiritual-alien nature (a transdimensional alien), the AlshoZao Zetan Primary of the zetan aliens, the Enclaven and others. Regrettably they did not know the identity of the others.

 

Sister Pathfinder Rhonda Rhodes was the one who showed the special status capsule with the dead zetan alien inside it. It was in a chamber that was kind of a museum display of evidence of the conspiracy plus conjecture. There were enlarged 3Dphotos of Enclaven Officers in power armour meeting secretly with zetans. There was another enlarged 3D figure of a shimmering energy entity with a flaming patch of blood red energies at its core. There were 3Dflatscreens to which one could bring up data of various kinds. There were zetan guns adapted for human use.

 

Rhonda Rhodes spoke. “Much more could be added or at least better clarified. I suspect some could proven to be false.”

 

Betena, one of the two prime-females, spoke. “You state that anti-conspiracy forces are increasingly fighting the conspiracy including your own people.”

 

Rhonda gave a look of regret. “Others are doing so also but we do not know their nature let alone have made contact with them. We have strong hints at something called the Humantic Thirteen that is probably part of the conspiracy. They appear to be themselves a conspiratory alliance made up of human and other Wastelander groups. So far we have identified the Sugartown Guilds in Sugartown, the DC Syndicates in Paradise Falls and the Patriotic Restoration Society. The last has an innocent enough sounding name but it is a dark group with a dark agenda of returning both the Patriot Jackson Family and their madness.”

 

She gave them a datafeed device and they took in a good deal of data very quickly and efficiently. Amongst what the three newcomers learned was the following.

 

The Patriot Jackson Family of President James Patriot Jackson, Vice-President Jane Patriot Jackson, State Secretary Jeffrey Patriot Jackson, Professor Jack Patriot Jackson, Patriarchus Jim Patriot Jackson, along with lesser names, were a family of great power, wealthy, influence and madness. They were behind the rise of the United States of Greater America that arose to replace the USA that was destroyed by World War Three. The USGA was a horrific pretence of democracy, a committer of terrible crimes and it tried to conquer the world both covertly and, when it could, overtly.

 

The USGA had an official government known as the United States Greater Federal Government, or USGFG, but the real power was the secret government, the Enclaven, hidden inside the USGFG.

 

But the Patriot Family did not just have one powerful tool. Separately they also had WorldTek, the umbrella corporation, and all of the crazy network of TekCorps that were controlled by it and through it.

 

Then, crazily enough, a third entity known as the Templelorin, a grand religion with many Offices, Orders and Oracles.

 

The Skynet was created in theory to defend the world. It surrounded the world in low orbit and was made up of one great spacestation, three lesser spacestations and many orbital platforms and satellites. Earthnet was its surface and subsurface subnetwork, Aquanet was its ocean counterpart and Moonnet was a final development meant to be based on-in the moon.

 

On the day that Skynet was activated, and along with it the subnetworks, Doomsday took place.

 

The datafeed ended.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

-11:2-

 

ALPHANA, BETENA AND GAMMATI

 

Gammati spoke. “We will soon give you much information in return but for now we must together form a mentalink and further process the data we have gained. Before we do this we offer you these gifts.”

 

Then new entities formed out of mid air with sparkling shimmering effects being softly glowing, shimmering globes of three types being yellow-white, green and blue. Each was a metre across.

 

Rhonda Rhodes nodded. “We know of these but such have never appeared amongst us. Welcome to the Clansdom, elementors of life, solar and psychic energies.” Then she seemed to note the three basic shaped humanoid entities of odd clay flesh form being of many skin colours of varied races. “Welcome also elementnoids of shapeshifting.”

 

So for the moment the three newcomers ceased to communicate with the woman but hovered together in that chamber. Rhonda Rhodes made no fuss over the elementors or elementnoids but simply left. The elementors and elementnoids spread out in a formation that surrounded Betena, Gammati and Alphana in a defensive fashion.

 

Alphana: “Can we trust Rhonda Rhodes?”

 

Betena: “She is under some kind of powerful but subtle psychic influences that she is unaware of.”

 

Alphana: “Then we can not trust her actions.”

 

Gammati: “Can we track the one who is influencing her?”

 

Betena: “Yes, we can do so by working together.”

 

Alphana: “Then we will do what we must do.”

 

Gammati: “Yes, we must, though it may be harsh.”

 

A few minutes later a furry creature, cute and adorable, a sleek furred squat humanoid, made his way into the museum chamber. With a squeal of mixed emotions he hid behind a display stand, peeked out and sniffed at the newcomers.

 

Gammati spoke to him. “You need not fear us, oh cute and adorable one. You are a wozzle, are you not.”

 

The wozzle stepped bravely out into the open. He was not much over a metre tall but there was something potentially dangerous about him though to the three Energivari of Gammati, Alphana and Betena he no threat.

 

He bowed. “Oh great and wondrous glittery ones, I am a humble sweeper of floors, arranger of lesser displays, carrier of books, cleaner of toilets…”

 

Alphana spoke openly. “Really, you do not need to list to us all that you do. Clearly you are of great value to the museum.”

 

The wozzle sighed heavily. “We wozzles of the Aeiou are but a joke to many of the Clansfolk. They allow us to stay with them, to serve them and in most ways they treat us well but they are only too aware that they have special abilities that we do not have. Mere Aeiou like us are so often confused by Clansfolk ways. Why do they do what they do and why, sometimes they change so suddenly as if they are no longer the same as they were.”

 

Gammati: “So, smart wozzle, you are not quite here by accident then. You came here to communicate with us.”

 

The wozzle bowed and bowed. “Yes, yes, for Rhonda Rhodes has so changed and once she was our greatest friend who truly respected us and others like us, the so called Little People. We do not like being called that, especially those of us who are actually shorter than humans are. Rhonda Rhodes was of the Clansfolk who do not treat us as a joke.”

 

Betena spoke then. “We know she is under a powerful dark psychic influence but we need to find the one who is influencing her.”

 

The wozzle stopped bowing and made a soft growling noise. “A sick man was brought to Rhonda Rhodes so that she might heal him but in truth he was not sick. As he supposedly healed, she changed. He is named Develin Queech but that is not his real name just as much about him is not real.”

 

Betena spoke again. “We will work together and deal with this monster.”

 

The wozzle nodded eagerly.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 16, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

-12-

 

BUFFY, BOBBY, BENNY BOBBINS

 

The triplets came upon a patrol of Orderhood of Steel, being Brothers and Sisters of Steel in bulky battle power armour suits, or BPASTs, which somehow they made look graceful as they moved in them. This was because of the soldier’s great experience and skill as fighters using such power armour.

 

Three soldiers carried 7.5mm general purpose machineguns, three carried 20mm autoguns, three carried big pulselasers, one had a large EMP-gun, one had a shortlong missile quad-launcher and one had a 40mm grenade-shell autolauncher. All troopers had built-in back up weapons in their armour and often carried other items also.

 

With the patrol platoon of twelve troopers was one mechatank, a fair sized machine on tracks controlled by a power armoured trooper inside its hood and cyberlinked with it. It had a large weapon turret and storage trunks full of extra equipment and supplies. The weapon turret had a 40mm autogun, a heavy duty pulselaser, a multiple shortlong missile launcher and a 40mm grenade-shell launchergun. Thus the platoon was officially made up of thirteen combat units. It had also a forward and rear hull 7.5mm GPMG.

 

The Troopers of Steel were recently much more helpful to Wastelanders but were still generally aloof. Buffy drew the battlebuggy to a halt close to where the patrol leader was and the officer stopped, pausing the whole platoon.

 

Patrol Lieutenant Canters spoke through her helmet with a metallic tone. “What is it that you want, local? I have a patrol to run.”

 

Buffy smiled. “We are the Bobbins Triplets. Lieutenant Canters, I suggest that you be more diplomatic towards Wastelanders for you need friends out here, especially friends who have good knowledge of the area and what is going on in it. We came in from the Raven Crossroads where Highway Five intersects with Super Highway Two. Lots of raider activity out that way. Between us we killed thirty-three raiders and spotted at least another hundred. As raiders go these are some of their best killers.”

 

Canters’ tone changed to that of more respect. “The Orderhood of Steel has heard of you. You have assisted us in the past. We seek to assist Wastelanders but we also seek resources.”

 

Buffy sighed. “It has been just over five hundred years since Doomsday and nearly everything that can be found on the surface or in less isolated areas, has been found but still, such is the craziness of these lands that people keep finding things where you one would least expect them. See the silvery dome building there with the cone shaped steeple. It is a Templelorin Church, a place of blasphemy as most consider it now, but in its main chamber you will find five hidden carrierbots filled with equipment and supplies along with some PreDD books, datachips and holotapes. We had them put there because those we serve wish the Orderhood of Steel to be successful on-in Centralia.”

 

The Lieutenant nodded her armoured head. “We thank you in the name of the Orderhood of Steel but of course we will be cautious.”

 

Buffy responded. “I would expect nothing less. We are on our way to Megaton. Any casual messages for Troopers of Steel in your outpost there?”

 

The officer shook her helmeted head. “Only that we wish our comrades well. You know I can not name names and locations together. How did you know my rank and name?”

 

Buffy smiled. “Because one of your troopers mentioned both your name and rank on an unsecured channel. One Private Evana Tyler was communicating with an unknown contact who identified himself only as Abrams One Four.”

 

So it was that the Troopers of Steel arrested one of their own on the spot, a new private recruited just five months before who had already fallen under suspicion on two occasions. The Bobbins Triplets already knew she was a Talon Mercenary infiltrator serving what was most likely the most brutal, greedy and low down mercenary forces in Centralia. They were also damned tough. Talon Mercenaries served major contracts to dark organizations like the DC Syndicates and the infamous Ten Penny Family of Ten Penny Towers.

 

Talon Mercenaries dared not go to certain areas of Centralia such as the Clanslands for they would be killed there with out mercy thanks to past deeds. The USC settlements would not let them in and the United Settlements Guard, or USG, was often skirmishing with them. The Orderhood of Steel and Brother Outcasts were already enemies of them. Many other mercenary groups considered them to be a threat such as Reilly’s Rangers, the Ironside Mercenaries, the Security Mercenaries and the Hunter Mercenaries. Indeed the Regulators, the Sheriffs, the Marshals and many others also saw the Talon Mercenaries as a threat. Why? One good reason was that some powerful, resource rich and influential forces were behind the expansion of the Talons into a large private army in its own right.

 

Raiders and Talon Mercenaries did not seem to fight each other and whispers were abounding that the Talon Mercenaries were indeed made up of recruited raiders. It explained their very raider type behaviour and their great fighting talent.

 

The Troopers of Steel did not like it that an outsider had caught a traitor amongst them, which is something they should have done, and yet they were grateful. The lieutenant gave the triplets a short introductory note to the Orderhood of Steel Outpost in Megaton, signing it and stamping it official like with her thumbprint.

 

The triplets had only visited Megaton briefly before but now they were hoping to gain a house in the slowly but constantly expanding settlement. Any local contacts would be of value, or so they hoped.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 13, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

-13-

 

JESSY JACKSON

 

Jessy made her way along a narrow laneway in Sugartown, past a group of poor Fringers clustered in a kind of alcove shelter accidentally formed from two buildings being built closer together with poor planning. It was hot and brightly sunny. The last puddles left by the recent rainstorm had all evaporated away to leave hard clay ground.

 

Then she stopped and threw a couple of EID coins at the three raggedy dressed figures. One of them snapped the coins out of the air with amazing speed and agility for such an old dude. Like the others there he was a demighoul with the hairless, lightly scarred skin of mild ghoulification. Full ghouls could and would not come out into the open during daytime.

 

The wiry old man grinned. “Thanks, Jessy. You want information. Its getting more dangerous to talk about lots of interesting things these days, even for Fringers who normally nice normal folk ignore.”

 

Jessy sat down amongst the Fringers and put her backpack on the ground. She took out two tagcans of baked beans in ham sauce. Tagcans were self heating. One pulled the tag once to start the heating process and then again to open the can but to pull the tag at all one had to turn it around. This stopped the tag from being accidentally pulled or so went the theory. A sliced loaf of fibre-pod flour wrapped in brown reusable plastipaper came next. Then there was a larger tagcan of fruit juice except this was a self cooling tagcan.

 

Many tagcans came from replicating vendor machines, many of which continued to function since Doomsday though not as often as well as they did in PostDD times.

 

Roko, the wiry old man, grinned some more. “A meal set for royalty. Will you ever tell me where you have the replication vendor hidden away?”

 

Jessy smiled at him. “I came here not for information but to ask you to take your people and lead them out of Sugartown proper. The Orderhood of Compassion has set up a new fortified settlement at Baker Crossroads that is defended by the Orderhood of Protection. The Sugartown Council has been successfully pressured by the Sugartown Guilds to instigate a purge of all Fringers dwelling inside Sugartown. This means beating you, robbing you of anything valuable and then throwing you out to the harsh mercy of the Wastelands.”

 

Roko lost his silly grin. “Damned them. What is wrong with them? How do we Fringers rob them of profits?”

 

Jessy sighed. “Prejudice needs no sound logic to exist, Roko, and you know that. Go to Baker Crossroads. We Jackson Triplets we see you and your people there. No more questions for now. Such will be safer to answer once you are at the Baker Crossroads.”

 

But they both knew that it was happening at last. Antighoul forces had been pushing for a great purge of ghoulified peoples for decades, had been gathering their forces, building resources and now it seemed it might be happening.

 

In the end Jessy walked with the small group of Fringers all the way to the main entrance of Sugartown where Sisters-Brothers of Compassion and Sisters-Brothers of Protection waited to take a large group of Fringers to the Baker Crossroads.

 

To Jessy’s anger, none of the so called normal good folk of Sugartown even gave a mild protest at this awful treatment of the Fringers. It was a deciding moment when she, and the other triplets, made a very important decision about their future.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 13, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

-14:1-

 

JASMINE ASHWORTH

 

Jasmine Ashworth used some vaultcredit and a bonus SVR voucher to enter the super virtual reality realm of Normalville, a big PreDD cityscape surrounded by semirural areas and natural parklands. She walked along a busy sidewalk past shops full of wide ranges of brand new consumer goods. Policetrons, chunky police robots, strode along the sidewalk. Men, women and children were in quasi1950s clothing of the USGA, everybody wearing hats and being at least fairly modest. There were soldiers in off-duty uniforms and police in body-armour and police fatigues. Newsmag boys and girls sold compact glossy newsmagazines with 3Dphotos, 3Dtoons and even short run audio-visual recordings.

 

It was a wonder look at the wonderful world of the United States of Greater America before Doomsday when there was prosperity, democracy, safety and goodness for all people. Too bad it was a whole lot of stupid propaganda but then again as SVR it was enjoyable enough.

 

Jasmine wore a nice, neat, clean kneedress, a matching shoulderbag, a cute little bonnet and high-heel shoes adapted not to actually hurt her feet. She was gorgeous and yet in SVR only men who were ‘users’ bothered to leer at her.

 

Normalville was partly based on many 3DTV shows and 3Dmovies. So she knew that Lizzie McQueen was waiting to meet her in a diner where she worked as a waitress. Lizzie McQueen was a character from the PreDD 3DTV Show called Lizzie McQueen. Her family owned and ran the McQueen Diner of Fifth Avenue of Normalville.

 

Jasmine slipped into the diner and made her way to the counter lined behind glass with wonderful and delicious foods that one could not get in TekVault0101 as far as Jasmine knew. Other food stuffs were displayed on the counter in various ways. She found herself ogling a large slice of apple pie.

 

Blonde pony-tailed Lizzie McQueen herself was waiting with a smile for Jasmine. She smiled and spoke. “Will it be your usual today, Jasmine?”

 

Jasmine smiled and nodded. “A large slice of apple pie with lots of fresh cream, a nice big teacup full of lightly milky tea and a chicken, cheese and lettuce on rye. Oh, a big glass of water with ice. I will go to my normal booth.”

 

Nobody sat in Jasmine’s normal booth but herself or the other triplets. She sat in the secluded corner booth and there found a small wall 3Dscreen jukebox on the wall and also a 3Dtelephone. Exactly five seconds after she sat down and put her fairly large shoulderbag on the booth table, the telephone rang quietly.

 

Jasmine picked up the telephone handset and watched as on the small 3Dscreen appeared the face of a smiling beautiful mature woman in a typical quasi1950s dress. The other woman looked like an older version of Jasmine. She spoke. “Transreality Factor is now 56% and rising. Exodus Project is progressing as planned. UnityMind has formulated new parameters for current mission goals. A resources drop has been instigated for you at Locked PO Box 897-76 at the Central Normalville General Post Office. Expect new resources. How are you Jasmine. It is good to see you and talk with out. A dreamlinking session is soon to be instigated.”

 

Jasmine smiled at her mother. “I am fine, Katrina, but there have been recent developments in Centralia of great concern. The Thirteen need more resources, more assistant to overcome a new and deadly enemy.”

 

Katrina nodded. “UnityMind is reluctant to change the Exodus Project Timetable but the altered parameters for current mission goals are related to your current concerns. Alphana, Betena and Gammati have arrived in Centralia. Gammati is to serve support you, the Ashworth Triplets. As for OummuO, UnityMind is increasingly concerned about her progressively erratic behaviour and yet OummuO was created to respond in a unique manner, with unique solutions to unique problems. By her very nature she is prone to be frustrating and even annoying.”

 

UnityMind, UnityNetwork, Unityfolk of Unity.

 

Lizzie McQueen brought the food and drink on a tray to the booth and as she was there, the 3Dtelephone call became a normal domestic one with mother. Jasmine kissed Lizzie softly on the lips and they hugged. Then a softly blushing Lizzie retreated.

 

Katrina nodded. “Security AI is starting to take note of this subprogram in operation. We will dreamlink soon. UnityMind is concerned about your isolation from Unity. As Unityfolk you are of us and will always be of us.”

 

Then the call ended. Jasmine wondered how true it was about UnityMind being concerned for the Thirteen. Sometimes she had her doubts. She did enjoy her food and drink.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Maharg67