FALLOUT MARS

[Maharg67]

0067

THE GREATER STORY OF FALLOUT MARS

BACKGROUND NOTES

 

NOTES WILL BE CONTINUOUSLY EDITED AND EXTENDED OUT

 

A OF A TO Z

 

ANDROIDS: Human or humanoid like synthetic entities of various kinds and of different kinds of technological design. Not to be mistaken for some kinds of robotic or roboremote humanoids or such as vat-grown aumans or special clones.

 

ARKVAULTS: ArkVaults are to some a truth, to others just a fiction but most are uncertain as to their actual existence. Deeper than even the TekVaults, these ArkVaults are said to house literally millions of humans, animals, plants and other lifeforms in a special form of status. Other things are also said to be stored in great numbers such as androids, robots, special status containers of equipment and supplies along with much else. There are populations of guards, workers, caretakers, carekeepers and specialists who take care of the ArkVaults. There are many other stories about the ArkVaults, many being quite exotic and some being very disturbing.

 

AUMANS: vat-processed, vat-born human like humanoids like men, women or nhulls. Of different secondary features such as eye and skin colour but always are hairless. Vary as Alpha high;y uncommon, Beta middle fairly common and Gama low more common. Side categories are such as Exotics, Malforms and Specials.

 

Edited August 2, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0068

THE GREATER STORY OF FALLOUT MARS

BACKGROUND STORIES:

These stories are written to be read any time, in any order, with out interfering with the main stories.

 

It was darkness of winter except that flashes of energy lit up the air and the landscape much of the time as a battle was waged.

 

Daleks drifted through the air as metallic globes surrounded by horizontal rings studded with sensor spikes. A special suction-cup like scanner thrust out on a stem from each machine in which rode a daled mutant creature melded into the dalek and to its exotic AI. Each metre high-wide globe was standard or special weapons or service-support in nature except for uncommon command units disguised as regular daleks. All daleks were lifted by three adjustable fanjets and pushed by two more.

 

Daleks rose over lumpy protrusions in the ground, ignored slimy sticky mud pools and yet shot away at entanglements of barbed-wire. They did this for the ogron soldiers, stupid but strong, enduring and dependable in their body-armour and with their range of basic weapons.

 

Cybermans, heavy-slow infantry and cyber-robot warmachines, held the territories ahead of the slowly advancing Dalek Imperial Fourth Army. Light-fast cyberman infantry had failed a clever outflanking movement against the daleks.

 

A pattern of explosions erupted along the horizon as dalek long range rockets struck at cyberman bunkers. Above flew cyberman vertibirds and dalek saucerjets in a strange air battle. Energy pulsebeams spat through the air along with bullets, shells, rockets and missiles.

 

In the distance hovered the black and red globe-tower of a WarKeeper who would be keeping score of points won and lost, who would be deciding who won what for even the official loser of a battle always won something of value. The savage training fighting went on in preparation for the big invasion to come of the lands beyond the Doomlands.

 

A doomclaw monster dug itself deeper because, as deadly dangerous as it was, it was no match for cybermans or daleks, especially in such relatively large numbers. Like a bigger, meaner version of a deathclaw, it lay buried deep below the bottom of a deep mud pool.

 

Overhead a cyberman vertibird exploded dramatically, bits flying in all directions as the main part dove towards the ground leaving behind a thick trail of black smoke.

Edited August 10, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0069

FALLOUT MARS: THE MARSLANDS

MEGATON TROUBLES: BRAZEN EMMIE FINDING THE HIDDEN TREASURES OF BRADY RICH

 

Brady Rich left a three layered floor-safe to be found hidden cleverly under another floor-safe. The first floor-safe was hidden in a cavity at the back of Brady Rich's old crater side hugging cottage that was now occupied by a semiprofessional tunneler.

 

Tunnelers worked to extend the Megaton Underground Network of chambers, hallways and other spaces. They also sometimes did work like altering old underground spaces or even assisting miners in the silver mine that was part of Greater Megaton. The man happily took a nice payment of Emergency Issue Dollars, EIDs, a trade-chip to Craterside Supplies Mart and two bottles of cheap beer as brewed in Megaton itself by the Moriarty Family.

 

The cavity had in it some old shovels, a spade, a pickaxe, a metal bucket of steel nails and the skeletal remains of a dead rat. Brazen Emmie found a scrap of filthy paper in the skull of the rat that was actually a set of clues. At the bottom of the bucket, beneath the slightly rusty nails, was an old fashioned type metal key. She put both away after working out that they were not needed as yet.

 

Then she set to work to open the fake floor-safe. It being being too simple to open, and not having three layers, quickly got her to realize it was a furphy, a decoy. Yet in it was about $1,000 in EID cards, notes and coins as issued by the Patriot Thirteen and the Mars World Government, newly reformed, about a year before Mars Doomsday. There was also a 9mm autopistol, two small boxes of 9mm bullets, two full magazines for the gun, a slightly stained PreDD motor sport magazine, a silver lined flask full of good quality Rimlands gin and a couple of 3Dphotos of beautiful naked young women in quite demure poses with strategically placed pots and flowers.

 

She sent the lot into her Hidden Inventory after a quick but very careful examination revealed none of it was of real value when it came to finding the real prize.

 

She then tried a psychic probe below the upper floor-safe but found not threat. Hefting out the fake floor-safe was fairly easy with her enhanced strength. It would have taken at least two or three standard adult humans of the Marslands. Below that she found the first safe door with its single key-hole but she did not race to use any of the keys. Instead Brazen Emmie tried another psychic probe with her mindeye. As soon as she did so, as if doing so triggered some kind of device, the safe door below her slid to one side with a soft humming noise. It was then that she 'sensed' that the three layered safe was a second decoy that led to nothing.

 

Beneath it was revealed a small hatch that was of a kind that slid to one side into a hidden cavity. There was a keypad of nine colour coded button and a wide '0' button beneath. The wide button was white and none of the other buttons were coloured the same way. There were also four key holes for old fashioned like keys. It came to her that the three keys she had originally, along with the one found in the rat skull, would fit into the keyholes but she did not take for granted that she should just rush to use the keys.

 

So she sat meditating for a while.

 

 

0070

FALLOUT MARS: THE MARSLANDS

MEGATON TROUBLES: SWEET ELLIE, JOE MCDONALD AND METAL MICKEY

 

Sweet Ellie made her way down a shallow slanting rampway past the entrance to the MEGATON SCRAPSHOP where Old Joe McDonald sort of made a living by selling semi-useful junk that he scavenged or bought from other scavengers. Sometimes he did have something extra useful or just interesting to sell and he had learned that the Tyrone Triplets were extra generous when it came to them buying such items. She was in no hurry, was in typical Rimlander gear being tough and practical, because a series of meetings and preparations had begun amongst folks in Megaton to send another expedition into the sealed off section of the Megaton bunker complex. Both she and Brazen Emmie had attended some meetings but quickly realized that they were being left out of vital negotiations between the Orders of Steel in Exile, the resistance movement in the UCR and the Megaton Eleven. The UCR or Megaton Government bodies were not officially aware of what was going on, let alone playing a part in them.

 

So when Old Joe McDonald stepped out with a big grin of synthetic white teeth, thanks to a gift by the Sisterhood of Compassion, she was only to happy to speak to him. The wiry, muscular old man reached out with an open tray-box and in it were exposed three smooth, newish looking datachips, a modular computer part and what could only be a zetan multiple purpose energy-cell or at least a good copy of one.

 

He grinned happily at her. "Got some wonderful things in the shop. Yah just got to look at them, sweetest Sweet Ellie."

 

"Are you flirting with me, you dirty old man?" She smiled warmly at him. "Just for that I am going to come into the shop with you."

 

Into the amazing shop she went, crowded but actually far more well organized than it generally looked to be. It was full of a surprising assortment of items including things seemingly too big to have fitted through the front door. Many items the old man liked and he would not sell like his companion prototype robot Metal Mickey. It was an odd looking robot of a kind that was found wanting by RoboTek and that never went into mass production. It used many protectron parts so Old Joe McDonald found it relatively easy to maintain. There were also vaguely human looking automannequins that could be programmed to adjust various to various positions; these had on a wide range of gear including a ShelterVault10234A23 emergency issue jumpsuit, an antique home made hunting rifle from the years of darkness directly following Doomsday and a fulling working NukaCola vending-machine half full of various drinks, most of them being cottage industry pop-drinks or juices. Sometimes folk came in to buy drinks from the vending-machine or to talk to Metal Mickey, who told jokes of which some were actually funny.

 

He then gripped one of her hands in his and suddenly the psychic shields lifted from her mind. She knew she was facing her biological father, alias Brady Rich, and she remembered all the times they had spent together secretly when she had been aware of his true identity. Such times had been there since the day of the adoption when the triplets had been less than a week old. Father did not always present himself as Old Joe McDonald. Somehow there were three of him being the one of him. Metal Mickey was, she now remembered, a very special robotic entity that was far more than just a robot.

 

They hugged and then she spoke. "Its about time we remembered you all the time."

 

He then surprised her by nodding. "Yes it is! You have to anyway because we are going to have to work together more consistently now. Please tell me what has been happening with the three of you."

 

So she did, speaking of the events in Springvale, the false school, the ultimate virtual reality school there, the cyborg-supermutants, the SupermutantLord, the giant toxin-acid ants, the different types of students, the remote-androids and much else happening there. She also spoke quickly and efficiently of the events in Megaton, of the Megaton Eleven, of the Patriot Loyalist Network, of the Iceminds, of the two dark entities in the sealed off part of the bunkerplex and other matters.

 

Then they hugged again and she departed from him with the tray-box of goodies and, for the first time, she fully remembered who he was and all the other times that they had met. It felt both a little unnerving and yet satisfying to her because there had been good reasons for shielding the memories of the Tyrone Triplets.

Edited August 2, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/ForumAddit0013.jpg

[Maharg67]

0071

FALLOUT MARS: THE MARSLANDS

MEGATON TROUBLES: BRAZEN EMMIE AND THE HATCH TO A SURPRISE

 

Suddenly Brazen Emmie 'remembered' that Old Joe McDonald was her father and with a frown she opened her eyes and gave up sitting meditation. Now she knew what to do to open the hatch but still had no idea what it would reveal. Old Joe McDonald and Brady Rich were aspects of the same entity, were the same entity. She reached down and tapped out a sequence of coloured keypad buttons and then the wide white one. Then she took out just one of the keys, the one found in the rat skull, and inserted it. The other three keys were actually meant to be used once she got passed the hatch, the other keyholes being another trick.

 

With a soft humming noise the hatch slid to one side into a recess and revealed a cylinder shaped metallic pit of dull silvery appearance. It had a circular floor of exotic, softly glowing crystalline structure and a small square control panel with a simple keypad, a small 3Dflatscreen and a palm-scanner. She dropped into the cylinder chamber quickly and lightly, not being surprised when the hatch slid closed over top of her. Then she placed her palm against the device and it flashed green, proving that her identity had been preprogrammed into the security network-system. On the 3Dflatscreen appeared a simple menu of three possible destinations.

 

What caught her attention was the term, in Esperanto, being PROJECT VANGUARD REVERSAL: P13 ALPHA-ALPHA CLASSIFICATION ACCESS ONLY.

 

The menu names were a surprise to her being: MARSTOPIA, MARSTROPOLIS and MATRIX-HUB-SECONDARY-GAMMA (MHSG).

 

'Sensing' that every choice would lead to a big surprise, to the unexpected, she chose Marstopia as her first destination. Then she was vanishing with a sparkling shimmer as she was cable-teleported to another station.

 

 

0072

FALLOUT MARS: THE MARSLANDS

MEGATON TROUBLES: BRAZEN EMMIE AND MARSTOPIA

 

The stench was the first thing to hit her as she materialized in another cable-teleport cubicle, this one a cylinder that opened at the side with a curving, slide around door. The door slid around even as she pulled out her 10mm autopistol and peered out into what was no 'utopia'. The visage was a hell of mutated greenery, huge banyan style trees and thick vines that visible writhed in a slow pulsating fashion. She slipped out of the cubicle and was grateful to see now that she was in an area behind a sheet of armaglass of fine quality. Around her was an observation greeting chamber of sorts. There was a metallic desk, a comfortable looking office-swivel chair, a row of locked armoured wall-lockers melded into a wall, a water cooler-dispenser, a big 3Dwallscreen, three vending-machines and three silvery metallic doors along with a deactivated gun-turret.

 

The stench came from a twisted human like creature crouched in one corner that seemed to be part plant and part human. Yet she 'sensed' that this had once been a standard human man. He was clothed only in strange thick leafy vine stuff that grew out and around him and on the top of his head, a flattened green bulb that had tiny vines sinking down into his hairless scalp. Angry, sharp and frightened eyes peered and her and then he spoke with some evident difficulty. "He said you would come, at least you or your brother or your sister. You are who? Sweet Ellie or Brazen Emmie?"

 

Brazen Emmie smiled but not as sweetly as her triplet sister would have done. Yet she 'sensed' something disturbing about the man, something that was deeper than the obvious plant distortions. "Brazen Emmie at your service! So this is Marstopia. What is Marstopia?"

 

"A cruel joke!" He turned and looked out through the armaglass. "The Patriot Thirteen set this place up as a prototype of the paradise that they hoped to turn the whole of Mars into. It is linked with TekVault0100 which is way through that green madness you see there, or at least just a tiny part of it. Before Doomsday it was a great shallow domechamber three kilometres wide and it was something of a promising green utopia. Apart from TekVault0100, we have way above us the bunkerplex that belongs partly to Greater Megaton as Inner Megaton. Cable-teleport stations are hidden or not so hidden in the bunkerplex but clearly one must have survived closer to another part of Megaton."

 

She frowned softly. "So the plant infected you, you became its victim?"

 

"No, it saved me and is a positive cooperative parasite." He shrugged, sort of. "Now I am a plantuman but not the only one by far. We take turns in staying in these five chambers, three at a time, though such places now make us uncomfortable. We exist more naturally now out there but in the safer zones. The one outside the armaglass is a safer zone but only a relatively small one. Oh, do not ask me how, but the domechamber is now much bigger inside than out. Impossible but on Doomsday it happened. It is now over three hundred kilometres across and the ceiling is much higher above. Perhaps the Patriot Thirteen meant it to happen but if so they gave us no warning. They did not tend to tell their people anything much, working on a need to know basis. Some say they were paranoid but they had powerful, deadly and quite evil enemies. Evil, that is, to a degree that made their activities quite mild in comparison. There were about a 1,000 of us living and working here in Marstopia and, I think, at least 100,000 in the bunkerplex above us. As for TekVault0100, they had about 1,000,000 people but who knows what is happening there for on Doomsday they closed up against us here in Marstopia. They even destroyed tunnels and destroyed both communications and teleport cables."

 

She went closer to the armaglass window and looked out through it. Something brown and furry flashed through the tree and vanished as quickly as it had appeared but she had gained the impression of a monkey like humanoid with a long tail, some leather webbing and a scabbard-quiver complete with a bow and arrows. For some reason she did not mention her sighting to the plantuman because she 'sensed' he had not spotted it as he was staring at her. He licked his lips in a strange manner with a green, lightly spiky tongue.

 

He exploded into action, leaping at her with amazing speed, agility and strength. But she flipped him through the air and even as he flew through the air, she killed him with her combat knife. The dead body struck a metallic wall and slid down to the floor. Only the human part was dead and the plant thing writhed with dying rage. Brazen Emmie took out her autopistol and shot a hole in the round pod thing on his head. She had 'sensed' the plant creature's vulnerable point and it died.

 

:tongue: Not so much a positive cooperative parasite then. The human was long gone in any real way.

 

She frowned, turned and went back to Megaton using the cable-teleporter.

Edited August 2, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0073

THE GREATER STORY OF FALLOUT MARS

BACKGROUND STORIES: STAGE-COACH TO CRAZY GULCH

These stories are written to be read any time, in any order, with out interfering with the main stories.

 

The stage-coach pulled to a halt as the fur coat clad driver drew the team of four horses to a stop. The driver did not like the looks of the ideal ambush site ahead but it was something else that had him be so cautious, something that he 'sensed'. Some fool of a passenger, a self important businessman, complained but the others ignored him.

 

One guard rode shotgun beside the driver in the armoured, semi-enclosed 'driving area'. Another was at the back of the coach, behind them. Yet a third sat with the passengers in the lightly crowded conditions of the coach cabin. The businessman had complained about the crowding, had tried to have another passenger ejected to give himself more space; the fool was ignored.

 

The guards had fleximetallic body-armour and guns. The man who rode shotgun, had a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. The woman at the back had a stripper-clip fed bolt-action rifle with a fixed magazine. The man inside the cabin actually had a submachinegun, an uncommon type of weapon in that part of the Rimlands.

 

The stage-coach had electric head-lights but dimmed so as not to attract too much attention. They lit up only a normal area of hard earthen highway ahead. A horse rider rode up beside the stage-coach and the wiry muscular woman on the animal was frowning hard. She was riding guard on the coach.

 

She spoke to the driver. “Your instincts are as sharp as always, Ned. Something is wrong ahead of us. We will need to divert even if it means taking more time and distance to reach Crazy Gulch.”

 

The stage-coaches would soon stop running so regular and when they did so, they would be part of groups including more guards and guns. This was not just because of the darkness of the long winter.

 

The shadowy thing was quietly enraged as it watched the stage-coach turn and head off in another direction. The great, low hulking monster had devoured a foolish greedy prospector looking for gold, and his mule, but that was a couple of days ago. The stage-coach and its occupants had been very promising for the doom-stalker, a creature that came up and out onto the surface only in the depths of darkness of winter.

 

It turned and slipped off into the night with surprising quietness and speed for its massive bulk.

 

The businessman complained loudly until it was made clear that he would be shot if he continued to do so.

Edited August 10, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

0074

FALLOUT MARS: THE MARSLANDS

MEGATON TROUBLES: LUCKY EDDIE AND A NEW WONDER CHAMBER DISCOVERY

 

Lucky Eddie now remembered that Old Joe McDonald was his father, that Brady Rich had been his father until Brady Rich had become Old Joe McDonald. He had mixed feelings but was generally glad to remember the truth now and to know his biological father had not abandoned him as his adoptive father had abandoned the triplets when they were young. The man had also abandoned his wife, their adoptive mother, his other adopted children and three biological children. Why? Because of reasons that he had never explained and if their adoptive mother knew, she had never willingly spoken of the matter.

 

Lucky Eddie returned to the Wonder Nine Chamber and investigated it more carefully this time, though he thought he had been very careful the first time. So it was that he found a well hidden antechamber to the main chamber with one more wonder-machine being a Cable-Teleportation Hub Network-System with nine small, three medium and one big cable-teleport stations. After running a series of special diagnostics, he discovered that an existing teleport-cable to Megaton was safe-secure. It was a matter of then communicating through his triplet-sisters that he could now use the hidden cable-teleporter, as found by Brazen Emmie, to send things or even lifeforms to and from Megaton.

 

The new alliance had taken over the home of the semiprofessional tunneler but he far from minded because not only did he get well paid out of the deal, he got a new improved home for free and a bonus of a case of cheap beer bottles, two bags of chewing wild-tobacco and a small cable-3DTV.

 

Almost at once Sarah Lyons used one of the small cable-teleporters to go to Megaton. Soon after three Sages of Steel came through along with four Brothers of Steel, the first in traditional robe-tunics and the latter in assault power armour. They had to come through one at a time thanks to the cramped size of the hidden cable-teleporter in Megaton and the soldiers complained it had been an uncomfortable fit wearing their power armour. As it was their special backpacks, weapons and other items had to be sent through seperately.

 

Lucky Eddie soon got angry as one of the Sages of Steel attempted to take over operations from him. Lucky Eddie shoved the older man out of the Wonder Nine Chamber and locked the main entrance power-door on him.

 

Jasmine stood observing him as he paced back and forth, keenly looking around at the big chamber with sharp eyes. She spoke. "What is it that you seek? We have looked carefully and have not found anything more."

 

"If you wanted to hide something right in front of somebody, where would you put it?" Then he looked straight down at the floor he was standing on and then straight up at the ceiling fairly high above. "We checked to the sides of the chamber but we did not check the open floor area or the ceiling." He gave her a mild grin. "Any other ideas?"

 

Jasmine returned a mild grin. "Yes, why not seek to look under one wonder-machine to find another?"

 

At that he nodded. "Excellent idea. Hopefully the Sages of Steel have improved their attitude and we can let them in."

 

At that moment the power-door exploded open with the help of CZ101 plastic explosives. In came Ash leading Brothers of Steel and they aimed their weapons at both Jasmine and Lucky Eddie. The Sages of Steel soon marched in, the tall angular leader looking grimly smug with himself.

 

But the smugness was soon lost as Knight Captain Sarah Lyons came marching in, in her power armour, and was soon quietly but firmly giving Ash and the head Sage hell for daring to go against orders as set by the Elder of Steel now in Megaton itself.

 

 

0075

FALLOUT MARS: THE MARSLANDS

MEGATON TROUBLES: SWEET ELLIE AND BRAZEN EMMIE AT HOME

 

Sweet Ellie smiled as the big, tough female cat, named Kitty, rubbed herself against the young woman's belly as she sat on Ellie's lap. Sweet Ellie spoke to Brazen Emmie who was busy washing a large, rather sulky dog called Heroboy in a big metal tub full of soapy warm water. "So MATRIX-HUB-SECONDARY-GAMMA is actually the cable-teleport antechamber hub that Lucky Eddie found in the Wonder Nine Chamber in the fake Springvale school. It is disguised just as a cable-teleport hub but he found a hidden secondary hub network-system behind a fake wall panel. Then he found other things that confirmed it including three specialized teleport-transformation cubicles that so far he has left deactivated and locked for safety-security reasons."

 

"I 'sense' the truth of what you speak of." Sweet Ellie sighed sweetly as two puppies tumbled in play close to her and next to their mother, a big old but still health-fit hound called Gingergirl who was also the mother of Heroboy. Gingergirl gave one of her children a lick. "The hidden cable-teleporter here in Megaton must be an emergency one. I suppose the original ones here, if there were any, were destroyed with the forming of the big crater."

 

The crater's cause was not that of the super-weapon that was part of Megaton's official history. The shape and quality of the crater were wrong for that to be true. It was not the result of some kind of blast but as if a large 'bowl' shaped area of land had been removed or disintegrated in some amazing fashion. This would explain the odd smooth cut fashion in which the Megaton Bunkerplex had been exposed, as if an outer section of the bunker complex had vanished along with the bowl shaped area of geology. Perhaps there had been more of the bunkerplex inside the vanished area along with yet other features, natural or artificial.

 

"It is all speculation." Their mother, Mother Compassionate Sasha Tyrone walked into the chamber wearing her robe-tunic. She looked tired and as if she had been through an argument. "I just had an interesting discussion with Mayor Erin Edgel. He wants to start up what he calls the Mayor's Special Discretionary Spending Fund to be raised not through normal charges and taxes but by his own cronies going around and collecting EIDs and-or valuable tradegoods. He demanded that the Sisterhood of Compassion pay $100 a month in EIDs and-or valuable tradegoods. Seems he put the same sort of pressure on various other factions and shops including the Church of Atom, the Orders of Steel in Exile, the Brown Family, Doctor Church and... anybody he could think of except his cronies, including the Moriarty Family. Assistant Mayor Elaine Harrington, Professor Brown and Sheriff Lucas Simms are visiting him even now to enlighten him to the error of his ways."

 

"If the Mayor is an Icemind, of their high intelligence, I doubt that he considered such a scheme would work." Sweet Ellie kept stroking the old tough cat as the feline made herself comfortable in preparation for taking a nap. "Thus I think he is bolstering his cover story of being a greedy bumbling fool."

 

Their adoptive mother sat down on a cylinder shaped poofe with a sigh of gratitude. "The Icemind tried to probe my mind. It was most uncomfortable and a surprise. I rebuffed him which unfortunately has told him that I am psychic enhanced with some psionic ability. Iceminds are not... human... are not natural somehow. They appear to be semiautomous to a central secondary mentality of some kind that is very... unnatural. Professor Brown would say 'antinatural because it is one of his favoured terms."

 

There were other animals in that big chamber. Cats, dogs, a couple of molerats, molemice, mice in a special cage, birds including a normally very talkative parrot who was busy sleeping on his perch, fish in five different large aquariums, more birds including song-birds high near the ceiling and a few others. There were plants in deep rock rimmed 'flower beds', much of it growing food, herbs and spices. Yet many more animals and other creatures had been sent to the Secret Sanctuary, including plants and more exotic varieties.

 

Stuffen slept on a big square shaped cushionbed along with three other vat-born creatures, all of them sexless and in a wide range of shapeforms. With them were some small dogs, a big old rangy cat and two ferrets. Staffat hugged a teddy-bear, Ssshgin hugged Stuffen and Stuffen hugged a raggedy doll.

 

Then newcomers came into the big chamber.

Edited August 2, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/ForumAddit0016.jpg

[Maharg67]

0076

FALLOUT MARS: THE MARSLANDS

MEGATON TROUBLES: SWEET ELLIE AND BRAZEN EMMIE AT HOME (CONTINUED)

 

The newcomers were the twins Bob and Bab, sweetly amiable oversized children in brightly coloured jumpsuits with many pockets, Ronald the tough young man in body-armour and fatigues who was in the Megaton Militiaguard, Sashio the young pretty woman who was an initiate in the Sisterhood of Compassion and Sister Compassionate Rosa Tyrone, the biological daughter of their adoptive mother and thus their sister. Ronald and Sashio were also adopted by Sasha Tyrone.

 

Rosa, who like Sasha and Sashio wore a practical tough robe-tunic, was pushing a pram contraption full of toys, children's books and two duffel-bags full of stuff. In a small safety basket at the front sat three neobabies, baby like figures of babies who did not get bigger physically but changed in other ways. The three wore nappy-suits of comfortable but tough material for they had to be made tough to last any decent time.

 

Bob and Bab made their way to the vat-born organodrones, who they got on with amazingly well, and took with them some goodies such as a bag of preserved radroach meat balls, some muttfruit juice and some tough, rubbery toys such as blocks, cylinders and balls. At once the organodrones woke with excitement, as did the animals with them. Soon the small group was busy together.

 

Ronald, former wandering cannibal child who had appeared out of nowhere in a filthy, bloody condition, was very quiet and moved smoothly like a deadly killer, which he was. It was whispered that he came from Experimental ArkVault000 that was also known as the Doom Vault, the Damned Vault and by other names speaking of its legendary horrors. Nobody seemed to know where it was situated and Ronald had lost his way in the Wastelands after escaping from it. It was said he snuck into a Sisterhood of Compassion encampment, well guarded by Brother Protectors and Sister Protectors, and went to sleep snuggled up to Sasha Tyrone, then an Elder Sister Compassionate. Sasha had both 'sensed' and smelt him coming into her tent but had allowed him to sleep with her, hugging him to herself. It was not long after that she adopted him. The group had been traveling to Megaton at the time.

 

Ronald was not his original name but he would not speak of such things.

 

Rosa spoke even as she came to a halt with the pram like trolley with the two sleepy neobabies in the front. "Bab, Beb, Bib, Bob and Bub had a good time at the learning playgroup. The little ones need a proper nap." She meant the three neobabies Beb, Bib and Bub who were siblings to Bab and Bob. "I heard about the trouble with the Mayor. He has caused quite a stir right through out the settlement. I wonder what is he up to. Not even he is that stupid. I suppose a lot of people will be checking their stored wealth now to see if the Mayor has been up to other tricks."

 

Brazen Emmie gave a startled laugh and then explained. "The Mayor might just figure that Megaton factions would check on hidden treasuries and troves. It would be a key moment of opportunity for him and his cronies to follow certain folks to see where they went."

 

It was an old Rimlander practice to hide goodies in places away from normal haunts. The Mayor and his cronies, actually Iceminds, could be tricking folks into exposing where a good deal of valuable resources and currencies were kept hidden.

 

 

0077

FALLOUT MARS: THE MARSLANDS

MEGATON TROUBLES: SWEET ELLIE AND BRAZEN EMMIE AT HOME (CONTINUED)

 

Sasha spoke to Rosa. "It is about time that you knew about Iceminds."

 

Rosa replied. "It is also time that you knew about Unity."

 

Mother and daughter studied each other carefully but peacefully. Then Sasha spoke. "You are of Unity?"

 

"UnityNeo through my father, your former husband. He ran away from you and Megaton because he could not face being UnityNeo. Mostly he ran away from me." Rosa looked hurt and angry for a moment but then let it slip away. "Icemind Assassins killed him in RivetCity but were themselves shot down by RivetCity Security Guards. I would have told you earlier but the UnityNeo Leadership forbade me to do so. Now we have a new Leadership Council with more wisdom, foresight and courage. I made sure you learned about father's death."

 

"That I thank you for." Sasha snorted softly. "The Orderhood of the Way of the Light knows about Unity and about UnityNeo in general but not in all details. I married your father in order that the Orderhood gained UnityNeo genetic inheritance. I did not really love him as he was a rather arrogant and selfish man."

 

Rosa nodded. "I will give you no arguments on that account. UnityNeo wishes to know why the Orders of Steel in Exile are coming here to the Rimlands."

 

"When I find out I just might tell you." Sasha turned to look at both Sweet Ellie and Brazen Emmie. "I have a strong idea they came here partly to meet the Tyrone Triplets and Old Joe McDonald who just might be the biological father to the Tyrone Triplets, that he used to be Brady Rich. We of the Orderhood are not slow or foolish."

 

Brazen Emmie gave a mild grin. "Yes, he is. Like us, he is special, but like us he can't tell you much at all for the moment. If you discovered the truth about our biological father, then he meant you to do so. You do not begin to understand just how brilliant, wise, cunning and otherwise 'special' that he is. He is much older than you might assume. The multiple-cubes, the Secret Sanctuary, are but part of it all. Which reminds me, have you any more candidates to go to the Secret Sanctuary?"

 

Rosa spoke. "A dying boy and his family of a mother, two girls, a boy and two dogs. Poor scavengers! An old bull. A malformed born kitten. When can you send them through and get some transshifter-cubes in exchange?"

 

Brazen Emmie shrugged. "Bring them or send them here ASAP."

 

Rosa smiled. "I am glad you said that." She whistled a signal and then some other Sisters of Compassion and a Brother of compassion came into the very big room with the kitten, the old bull and the fearful and hopeful looking family of poor scavengers.

 

Soon they had all been sent to the Secret Sanctuary and many small sized transshifter-cubes had replaced them. Each was made to expand and from it were taken equipment and supplies. Any 'special items' were first taken by Brazen Emmie.

 

Sashio had completed the bathing of a sulky Heroboy.

 

 

Edited August 10, 2011 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/tt9/Dragonpen61/Forum%20Additives/TerminalAddit0004.jpg

 

WARNING NOTE: MADE AN ERROR IN STATING THAT JASMINE FRIENDS CAME FROM BOTH LIFEVAULT0101/A3 AND TEKVAULT0101. THEY CAME FROM LIFEVAULT0101/A3.

Edited July 23, 2011 by Maharg67