PLANET FALLOUT THIRTEEN

[Maharg67]

-30-

 

OUMMUO

 

President Dave held power more by charisma and trickery than by any psychic power that he had. Many false stories were spread about him such that he was always surrounded by a bevy of slavishly loyal, beautiful, seminaked young women. Truth was he was often quietly alone or only had his normally garbed personal assistant and two bodyguards with him. Yes they were women but he left them alone to do their jobs properly.

 

The two amazing motorcars were no parked in his Museum of Dave that was basically a large, mostly surviving building that had once actually housed a private museum. So there were already a few displays that Dave’s people had cleaned up and sometimes, repaired. A few items had actually been used.

 

According to the lowly Outer Republic men who had found the amazing machines, they had just been there, but one had been sharp enough to spot the dot in the air that seemed to be some kind of aircraft flying off into the distance.

 

While President Dave was pleased by the find, to add two amazing trophies to his collection, there was something about the event that was causing him unease. That he could not find a reason for his feelings only made it worse.

 

Despite his wild psychic ability, he did not notice OummuO floating in the air a fairly short distance away from the four humans. OummuO knew that Retirowa as Samsu was responsible, that she had used her chaotic influence, her weirding powers, in a typically uncaring and dangerous manner.

 

OummuO feared what else might come through the temporary rift that Retirowa as Samsu had created. Yes, the rift was closing up but not fast enough for OummuO’s liking. Retirowa as Samsu had come from UnityEarth where she, it, had been created by UnityEarth’s unstable nature and more exotic seminatural forces. That made it easier for OummuO to track her but not easy to do so for Retirowa as Samsu was very cunning, was cloaked by her powers and was also crazy erratic so it was hard to use such as logic to find her.

 

OummuO was powerful and versatile but had its limits. OummuO knew it had to gain assistance for itself of various kinds. For now, though, OummuO would carefully manipulate President Dave to make sure his strange little republic was as ready for what was coming as was possible.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 20, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

-31-

 

RETIROWA AS SAMSU

 

Retirowa as Samsu landed her helicopter close to where were gathering many ghouls in the darkness. They gathered behind crude walls and in ditches linked to underground chambers for mutual comfort, mutual protection, for feeding upon meals of meatworms, radroaches and other such stuff.

 

Ghouls had better night vision that normfolk humans and used less fires, less burning torches, than tribal humans might have done. In the darkness glowed the tall, thin, glowing mushroom like plants known as radshooms. Ghouls were far more immune from the toxins of such and gathered them more efficiently. They sold the gathered radshooms to local settlements but were cheated.

 

Retirowa as Samsu walked amongst them and the ghouls knelt before her, sensing her power and none, not even the chieftains and shamans amongst them, dared to face her. Even those few who had guns put down there weapons. Most of the ghouls had such as knives, crossbows, bows, short stabspears, spears and even crude clubs.

 

She halted and she smiled at the ghouls but the smile was strange and her eyes gleamed with strange alien emotions. Then she thrust her metallic quarterstaff out at the close cringing ghoul, a woman, and that one sparkle shimmered. Then she was a beast creature, growling softly, hulking and crouched there with dark, dull bloody red armoured skin. Her eyes were pools of black and she had great fangs and retractable claws.

 

Some ghouls tried to flee but they did not get far. She shot them with pulses of energy and they became more of the bloodbeasts or, as less did, they became bloodnoids, dark dull blood armour skinned humanoids that were human male or female shaped. These came with twin swordguns, a long and short combined energy blade and pulseblaster gun. They had also exotic energy armour of dark, dull red complete with helmets, breastplates, groin-guards, shin-plates and wrist-plates. Each one had a compact, light armoured metallic backpack.

 

But most ghouls became bloodghouls, dull dark red armour skinned versions of their old selves who gathered up the best of the old ghoul weapons to use them.

 

Yet, most strangely of all, some few ghouls did not become of the Blood Horde at all but became human appearing, their old selves perhaps, but they gleamed with enhanced physical, mental and psychic abilities. As if sensing they could not win in a battle against Retirowa as Samsu, these superhumans turned and departed together, moving with amazing speed, agility and endurance across the landscape.

 

Retirowa as Samsu, of chaos as she was, of exotic ways of thinking and action, acted as if the superhumans did not exist. Instead she gathered her small but savage army and set out at once towards the nearest of the small, isolated human settlements in the area. Bloodbeasts loped along on all fours, bloodghouls hunched forward as they ran but the bloodnoids ran more upright, more smoothly.

 

Yet it was not death or destruction that was her major goal. No, she wanted human converts to her cause, humans that she would transform but not in the way she had done to the ghouls.

 

Retirowa as Samsu was far from all wise or canny. She ignored a cluster of wild ghouls who had been out hunter-gathering food and scavenging for anything useful that they could find. Having seen what terrible things that the alien intruder had done to the other ghouls, they fled but soon their story was drifting across the Wastelands.

 

As for the small helicopter, it lay abandoned and unwanted by its former owner.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 19, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

-32-

 

JESSY, JILLY, JACKY JACKSON

 

The redhead woke up in Jessy’s bed and looked straight into the small warm eyes of Jilly the neobaby who was leaning against her and a little over her. The stranger smiled and spoke. “Gosh you are wonderful.”

 

Jilly nodded. “Gosh, me is wonderful.”

 

Then Jessy spoke from where she was going through a large plastic box of medical equipment and supplies on a table. “Supertrooper? Super soldier of some kind? Cloned? I doubt any lowlife mercs took you down.”

 

The other woman turned and noted Jessy, in her typical Wastelander gear, but also Jacky who had taken the loot from the dufflebag and was sorting it out. There were EIDs as mostly coins but with some cards, some tokencoins, some less valued USC coins and notes. There were also some compact, well made tools, weapons and other devices, some expensive well made ammo, stimpaks, stunpaks, some finely crafted PostDD items and even some golden jewellery.

 

The redhead shrugged. “JAGAF! Jagware Augmented Genned Assault Force. JAGAT, Jagware Augmented Genned Assault Trooper. The shadowy thing that attacked me managed somehow to deactivate or semideactivate many of my Jagware implants and hardpoint modular additions. My comrades escaped only because I grappled the shadowy figure to the ground. Then there was blackness and I awoke to find myself stuffed into an armoured box-locker. My implants are still there but the modules are gone. The shadowy one drained me somehow but not enough to kill me. JAGAF was created by the EagleEnclave, the North American offshoot of the Enclaven, but JAGAF was considered too uncontrollable. The EagleEnclave went to kill us all but we learned early of the plot. We rebelled and escaped with a good deal of equipment and supplies. We were created in and escaped from the huge, secret EagleEnclave fortress known as RavenRock.”

 

Jessy smiled. “By your nature you will need and want a cause to serve. We of the Unity Thirteen will be that cause. No, not UnityMind or the UnityElders but just us who are no longer so impressed or trusting of the UnityMind or the UnityElders.”

 

After a pause the JAGAT nodded. “Consider it done. My comrades close to Sugartown have agreed that this is the best decision but in truth we came here looking for you and to serve you. OummuO sent us.”

 

Jessy nodded. “OummuO is always linked with us in a secondary fashion and we picked up a hint of somebody important coming here. How did you and your comrades encounter the shadowy one?”

 

The super-soldier spoke after a pause of consideration. “We decided to play it clever and to infiltrate the town from beneath only to find that it was largely rocky ground and hard rubble. We ended up in what could have been a sewer tunnel and we were moving beneath Sugartown when the shadowy one attacked. He came out of nowhere, seemingly. My comrades escaped while I fought the shadowy one.”

 

Centralia was riddled with amazing features underground, partly because of what had been dumped into Centralia to make up its landmass and partly because of the effects of Doomsday. Every surface settlement liked to keep its areas beneath safe from intruders or other threats but it was not always easy to do.

 

She spoke again. “I am Lieutenant Adrasa0298. I have comlinked my comrades. They will meet at the coordinates that you designate.”

 

Jilly pointed towards the door and the neobaby spoke. “Meet in kitchen coordinates and mummy will make us all crunchy munchy biscuits.”

 

Adrasa0298 smiled at the neobaby. “That sounds like a fine plan to me.” Then she turned to Jessy and Jacky. “You should know that SEARF is returning from space. SEARF are our cousins who were sent to Jovan Space in PreDD times to investigate some kind of big mystery there that may be linked to Doomsday. We JAGAF are hublinked to each other, perhaps of Unity, and we are remote hublinked to SEARF.”

 

Jessy sighed softly. “SEARF is returning and I suppose they are coming here to Centralia. But they will need to get past Skynet and who or what ever else is out there in space. The zetans, Moonnet, the Martian Settlers, if they still live, and other sundry dudes, dudesses and what evers.”

 

Adrasa0298 sighed right back. “SEARF approaches in nine battlestars and four captured zetan motherships. They return in big numbers and with new allies. JAGAF has asked what is the purpose of SEARF returning but though we are old comrades they are wary and will not give us a clear answer. A battlestar is one and a half times bigger than a zetan mothership.”

 

Jacky shrugged. “Well, the Unity Thirteen can’t do anything about that.”

 

But Adrasa0298 shook her head. “SEARF has stated to JAGAF that one major reason they are coming to Centralia is to meet with the Unity Thirteen. They say that it is most important that this happens.”

 

Jessy and Jacky could only stare in surprise but Jilly was quite relaxed about the whole matter.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 19, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

-33-

 

UNITYFREE INFLUENCE

DOC HOFF

 

Doc Hoff was one of the first four traders who helped to form the Canterbury Commons Cooperative. Crazy Wolfgang, Doc Hoff, Crow and Lucky Harith were their names and they continued to operate out in the Wastelands quite successfully. Lucky Harith limped now but considering how close to death he had come, he still called himself ‘lucky’ and he meant it.

 

Now he had come across a helicopter just sitting there in the middle of nowhere and both he and his people stared at the atomic motorised smart-helicopter. Such machines were ugly graceful and known generally as car-copters because they were used as cars by various fairly rich families or even by certain corporate, government and other organizations.

 

The find was made stranger in the fairly bright sunshine of the afternoon. Light glittered off something metallic to the distant east amongst some tilted buildings and close to a row of exotic statues of tall figure of robed men and women. To the north was a great, long raised monorail line that was in surprisingly good condition except for one big breakage point. A silvery snake of a monotrain was halted on the line and was most likely sealed up and full of the long dead.

 

Recently he had been feeling odd but not in the way of being sick or anything like that. No, he was feeling more aware, more at peaceful with himself and yet more concerned about matters that had not concerned him so much before. That is he was less focused with being a successful merchant trader and was starting to change the way he saw life and how he lived it.

 

Like yesterday when he had let a chance go to make good profits off some foolish settlers who thought that they were fooling him. Instead he had quietly pointed out the truth to them and had given them a fair price for their goods, which was more than they had been asking for or expecting to get.

 

Back in the early days he and the other Original Four had each specialised in a particular kind of goods to trade but later they had become more generalist though they still favoured their original specialisation.

 

His apprentice, Ned Salter, was angry with him but then again Doc Hoff had come to consider that Ned Salter was a nasty, greedy, sleazy, sneaky little coward. The two brahmin keepers, the two guards and his daughter, Nessie Hoff, were surprised but seemed oddly pleased. The two dogs and two brahmins did not seem to care and the same could be said for all ten horses.

 

Ned Salter grinned. “We could make a pretty good profit by selling this to the DCTek people or maybe the Talon Mercenaries. I got word the Talons are after any flying machines they can get their hands on and they are willing to pay big time.”

 

Doc Hoff scowled at the soon to be fired apprentice. “For the hundredth time, Salter, we CCC traders don’t do business with either DCTek or the Talon scum. They are on the black list of the CCC Charter. Also anybody with half a brain will not trust them.”

 

Salter grinned. “So, who will know? What CCC HQ doesn’t know, won’t hurt them. This way we don’t even have to pay their cut. Of course since its my idea, well I would expect a bonus.”

 

Doc Hoff stepped up to Ned Salter and punched him in the face. The other man fell backwards to the ground and only his mutated toughness as a Wastelander probably saved him from any serious injury. Doc Hoff stared down at the former apprentice. “Your fired. I only took you on as a favour to your father who was despairing of finding anybody who would give you yet another chance. As soon as we reach a settlement where the stagecoaches stop over at a reasonable rate, there you stay.”

 

Salter scowled and grinned. “I had sex with your wife.”

 

Doc Hoff nodded. “Former wife, actually, and you were but one of many men.” Then he pulled out his revolver-pistol and shot Ned Salter dead with a boom of the six-shooter. “Stupid little man with out a clue, a treacherous and dangerous fool. His father gave me permission to shoot him if I felt there was enough justification.”

 

Nessie Hoff frowned hard at her father. “You really need to get over your anger at mother. She lives in Tenpenny Towers now where she is happy slowly drinking herself to death while playing the party socialite with other fools like her.”

 

Tenpenny Towers was the famous, some would say infamous, luxury hotel like place for those who could pay for its accommodation and other services. It was at the edge of Tenpenny Town that had grown up around it, being where people lived who served the needs of those in Tenpenny Towers. Tenpenny Towers actually consisted of one big and two fairly big towers joined by skybridges. The majority of townsfolk of Tenpenny Town wanted to join the USC but the Tenpenny Family made sure that did not happen for they controlled the settlement with an iron fist inside an expensive, finely made leather glove.

 

At that moment Salter’s body began to shudder strangely, began to vibrate faster and faster. The dogs growled but then whined in fear. The horses neighed nervously. The whole group backed away from the dead young man.

 

The corpse’s mouth gaped open and out of it came jetting a black shimmering flow of energy with a glowing blood redness to its centre. It shot up into the air, hovered there for a moment and then shot off into the distance with amazing speed. It vanished in mere seconds as it suddenly dived into the ground.

 

Doc Hoff spoke with a scowl that could not quite hide his fear. “First we give this young fool a shallow grave, after taking anything of any real value from him, then we leave. We leave the helicopter just as it is.”

 

When Doc Hoff found a strangely disturbing black ring with a blood red symbol on the front, he put it into a small leather bag and then carefully away.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 13, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

-34-

 

JUSTINE, JIFFY, JADEKIN ASHWORTH

JAPHANT

 

Japhant went forth again and this time plunged from the subvault into a neighbouring subvault to the south. In theory in was inhabited much as their home subvault was but as Japhant explored they only found death there. The Vaultfolk of that other subvault had been dead a long time. The machinery of the subvault was semiactive to conserve electricity but the deaths were caused by violence made bizarre by its nature.

 

As the phantomic projection continued to explore, the triplets noted that the Vaultfolk had formed some kind of strange cults that had worshipped the High Overseer as some kind of god and the Overseer of their subvault as the prophet of their god. The cults had numbered many at first but they had fought each other at first only with words and protests but then with violence. Victorious cults had absorbed survivors from defeated cults until only two cults remained.

 

Japhant wandered through a great chamber where the final battle had been waged. It was an inhumanly savage sight with figures frozen, contorted, trying to destroy each other with unnatural rage. The few victors had then committed ritual suicide.

 

The only good thing Japhant found was that the subvault had once held only a much smaller population than their home vault, having only about twenty-eight thousand people according to data-records that Japhant hacked into.

 

There were plenty of resources in that subvault worth gathering up and they wondered why it had not happened until Japhant informed them that the air was still showing signs of active nanobots, amazingly tiny robots. Japhant captured and analysed some of these nanobots and found that these had caused the insane worship of the people of the subvault for the High Overseer and for their Overseer.

 

But not all had been effected. Japhant found the sealed off and locked area where survivors had put themselves into suspension capsules and also the babies and young children. It seemed the nanobots only effected those who had no surprising immunity or who had not otherwise reached beyond puberty.

 

The Ashworth Triplets wanted to escape from the subvault at least or even the vault. They feared that if they did not, that hidden enemies would kill them. Yet they had no desire to go into that other subvault until they found a way to neutralise the threat of the nanobots.

 

Japhant kept exploring, drifting along a big metallic hallway until it came upon three dead bodies in lightly armoured hazmat suits or LA-hazmat suits. Clearly nanobots had penetrated the light, flexible armour and the science officers had been killed by some sort of devices hidden inside them that they probably did not know about them.

 

Japhant found that, to the surprise of Jasmine and Jadekin, that the other subvault had no neuters or cyborgs or even androids and surprisingly few robots. The number of SVR capsule-chairs was half that of those in the home subvault. That other subvault had been set up for the experiment.

 

Japhant found that the Overseer of that other subvault had been found to be wanting by one of the last two cults and he had been burned to death along with his security guards, advisers, private assistants and some other folk.

 

Japhant vanished as the Ashworth Triplets stopped projecting that entity.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

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Edited September 20, 2010 by Maharg67