Walked south from Arefu. Saw a power substation in the distance. Decided to check it out first. It was quiet, nothing there. A tower had fallen and crushed part of the fence. I did find a NC Quantum which I kept. There's a ladder that lead me up to the roof of the compound, where I found a BBQ, but it's long cold. I scanned the area, and noticed a deathclaw in the distance, but it moved away before I can engage it. I wasn't sure I can hurt it much any way.
Spotted a shed from the roof of the power substation to the southeast. Checked it, and found another NC Quantum. Howe interesting. Head back north to the Northwest Seneca station to check in with Murphy.
"No, I don't know anything about The Family. Barrett, do you?" Murphy adjusted his glasses, and went back to his work on the chemistry set.
Barrett, the assistant / bouncer, shrugged, "Maybe."
I checked into my stash... and handed over two Sugar Bombs. "Here, they're on me."
"Okay. I've heard from some other ghouls traveling at night that they did see some suspicious folks around the Mresti train yard. It's weird, they said, most humans don't like to travel at night, but these folks... they move well at night... and... their eyes glowed."
My incredulity must have showed, as Barrett quickly added, "Hey, it's what they said." And he took the sugar bombs and put them into their locked footlocker. I thanked them and left, headed back east. It's getting late in the afternoon and I need to get back to Megaton.
Right as I walked out of the station, someone called out "Are you Roger Wilco?"
I turned around, and Dogmeat started growling. Three guys in black armor, no helmets, reasonably well armed... Laser rifle, shotgun, and knife. Each has a white talon on their chest plate. Are these guys the Talon Company I heard about?
"Who wants to know?" I answered.
"Yep, it is you. You're that saint from the vault."
"Nope. You got me confused with someone else. I'm a regulator. "
"Nope, it is you," The Talon merc leader smirked, "Mr. Burke says hi."
At that, they attacked.
But Dogmeat was faster.
I pulled my Wanda and put a burst of 556 into the leader's chest. He grunted, but I saw no blood. What the... I fired twice more, aiming for his head. One took his ear off, even as a laser bolt hit me in the left leg. Next burst caught him in the temple, and he went down this time. My left leg gave out, just in time to avoid a knife slash from another Talon merc. He overextended just as I tripped him and got him in a leg lock. he went down hard and must have broke his chin. I reversed the rifle and swung it like a club into the back of his head. He went limp.
I tried to sit up, and saw Dogmeat circling the last merc with the combat shotgun, pretty evenly matched. I spread my legs to achieve a stable firing platform, and fired. The volley passed through the merc's throat and his head flew off.
I laid back down on the ground, glad that the combat's over. Nobody else was around to witness it. And the ghouls below did not care or want to be involved. It's okay, I've always been alone, except Dogmeat here, of course. He came over a licked me a few times. I gave him a hug and sat back up, then managed to patch myself back up with a few stimpacks, some food and water, shared with Dogmeat of course. I kept their weapons, as they are a good complement to my rifle. When I feel well enough to walk, we set off again, having stripped them of anything useful. The three sets of armor can be combined into one decent set, and I wore that, for the moment. I kept the duster, of course.
I walked past Kaelyn's B&B again, and found a new body nearby... one of Brotherhood Outcasts, and the guy has a red power armor. Seeing nobody around. I stripped him out of his armor. It took a while, but I managed to secure it properly to my stash. It was tough carrying it, but I figure it would be worth it, if I can just find someone who can teach me how to wear it properly... I had to leave some of my stuff behind. I can't fit all the foot and water, and still keep the power armor and stuff.
The moon just came out when we arrived at Megaton. I went up to Bill the mechanic. I repaired the leaks earlier and I have a couple pieces of scrap metal to sell him. I asked him to rate my explosives skill, whether I'm good enough to defuse the Megaton bomb. He said I am ready, but it'd be my responsibility if I managed to kill the town. Thanks a lot, Bill.
I headed down to the bomb. The confessor from the Church of Atom is still yakking away to a few passers-by. I reached over and popped open the inspection panel, and turned on my Pip-light. I determined that this design has a regular atom bomb trigger, which is actually hiding in the fin section (to prevent it from being crushed upon impact?) If I remove the atom bomb, the whole thing would be inert. I went around to the find the rear section, and sure enough, there is a section that can be removed.
I reached in there, found the handle, and twisted. It took a couple tries, but it did come loose. I twisted it a couple more turns and pulled gently. It slid out. And sure enough. there was the fission trigger bomb and the trigger mechanism.
By this time, Lucas Simms has joined me, and some curious onlookers are watching from the elevated walkways, but no one except Simms was willing to get any closer.
I inspected the trigger mechanism and noticed a sliced wire. Maybe that's why it didn't go off? But the trigger mechanism itself still needed to be separated from the bomb itself...
"Not sure what to do next?" Simms quipped.
"I have an idea, but I want to be sure. Speaking of sure, shouldn't you be back there?" I gestured to the crowd.
"Ha", Simms chuckled, "A few meters won't matter if this goes off. Are you sure what you're doing?"
"Oh, quite sure. This here is the initiator, a tiny atom bomb if you will. This may make a small boom, at least a lot smaller than the whole bomb. Now I have to figure out how to disable it completely."
I looked at the roughly spherical device, then inspiration struck. I looked for a seam, and sure enough, there is one. I held it by separate halves, twisted it, and it came open. Inside are hexagonal "tiles" covering another sphere.
I peeled off the tiles, and inside is a globe of metal. It felt warm to the touch. I smiled.
I removed the globe and tossed it to Simms.
Simms was startled, but his reflexes are fast, as he still caught it.
"What is this?"
"That's the heart of the atom bomb, now diffused. We're done. It's disarmed."
"Really? What is this?"
"This is plutonium, Lucas. Heart of the bomb."
"It... it is not dangerous?"
"Nothing some rad-away won't fix. Just don't sleep with it or hold it next to your private parts."
Simms chuckled, "Nice job, man. Though really, what do we do with... " he gestured at all the stuff I removed, "all this?"
I shrugged, "That part over there is the really dangerous stuff, but one I've broken it apart, it's worthless." I pointed at the hex tiles. "That's called the imploder. They are supposed to use explosions to shrink this ball of metal here, thus forcing fission. Then that triggers whatever material is inside the bomb, making it a fusion reaction."
"I have no idea what you just said, but it sounds impressive," Simms replied.
For a moment I was confused too. How did I know all that?
I shrugged, "It doesn't matter. I'll take the explosives out, and put it back together, and put it back in the bomb. Without the imploder it's harmless."
I stripped out the hex tiles from the now empty globe, and Simms gingerly put the plutonium back into the sphere. We then reinserted that into the structure and twisted it back into the bomb.
Confessor Cromwell was very concerned, and he came over and asked, "What have you done?"
"He saved the town, Confessor Cromwell. The bomb has been defused!" Simms declared loudly.
Confessor Cromwell's face fell, so I quickly added, "but the power of the atom is as strong as ever!" I quickly showed Cromwell, that the bomb is still producing the same radiation as before with my Pip-boy. It took us several minutes to calm the man down, fearing that we did something to their object of worship. We assured him the power is still there, just that crazy enemies of the town can no longer destroy the town with it. Of course, he had heard about Mr. Burke of Tenpenny trying to destroy this town, and he was not happy about the perversion of his beliefs either. In the end, he agreed that what I did was for the best, after both Simms and I donated 50 caps each to the church.
Simms then dragged me over to Doc Church's clinic, woke him up, and we both took enough rad-aways to clean up. Simms even paid the doc for my treatment, terribly generous of him.
We walked out together, when Simms dropped the surprise on me, "Here's a key to the empty house across the stairs from mine. I've signed the deed as mayor and sheriff of the town. You're now a real citizen of Megaton, enjoy."
We gave each other a brotherly hug, and he walked off.
I followed him up the stairs, then diverted to the right, and found the unoccupied house. I tried the key, and the door opened.
A Mr. Handy bot greeted me. He called himself Wadswoirth. I was too tired, my adrenaline spent. I told the bot I'll talk to him later, I just need to sleep right now. I stuffed everything into the locker next to the door, stripped myself down to skivvies, walked upstairs, and dozed off in "my bed".
Spotted a shed from the roof of the power substation to the southeast. Checked it, and found another NC Quantum. Howe interesting. Head back north to the Northwest Seneca station to check in with Murphy.
"No, I don't know anything about The Family. Barrett, do you?" Murphy adjusted his glasses, and went back to his work on the chemistry set.
Barrett, the assistant / bouncer, shrugged, "Maybe."
I checked into my stash... and handed over two Sugar Bombs. "Here, they're on me."
"Okay. I've heard from some other ghouls traveling at night that they did see some suspicious folks around the Mresti train yard. It's weird, they said, most humans don't like to travel at night, but these folks... they move well at night... and... their eyes glowed."
My incredulity must have showed, as Barrett quickly added, "Hey, it's what they said." And he took the sugar bombs and put them into their locked footlocker. I thanked them and left, headed back east. It's getting late in the afternoon and I need to get back to Megaton.
Right as I walked out of the station, someone called out "Are you Roger Wilco?"
I turned around, and Dogmeat started growling. Three guys in black armor, no helmets, reasonably well armed... Laser rifle, shotgun, and knife. Each has a white talon on their chest plate. Are these guys the Talon Company I heard about?
"Who wants to know?" I answered.
"Yep, it is you. You're that saint from the vault."
"Nope. You got me confused with someone else. I'm a regulator. "
"Nope, it is you," The Talon merc leader smirked, "Mr. Burke says hi."
At that, they attacked.
But Dogmeat was faster.
I pulled my Wanda and put a burst of 556 into the leader's chest. He grunted, but I saw no blood. What the... I fired twice more, aiming for his head. One took his ear off, even as a laser bolt hit me in the left leg. Next burst caught him in the temple, and he went down this time. My left leg gave out, just in time to avoid a knife slash from another Talon merc. He overextended just as I tripped him and got him in a leg lock. he went down hard and must have broke his chin. I reversed the rifle and swung it like a club into the back of his head. He went limp.
I tried to sit up, and saw Dogmeat circling the last merc with the combat shotgun, pretty evenly matched. I spread my legs to achieve a stable firing platform, and fired. The volley passed through the merc's throat and his head flew off.
I laid back down on the ground, glad that the combat's over. Nobody else was around to witness it. And the ghouls below did not care or want to be involved. It's okay, I've always been alone, except Dogmeat here, of course. He came over a licked me a few times. I gave him a hug and sat back up, then managed to patch myself back up with a few stimpacks, some food and water, shared with Dogmeat of course. I kept their weapons, as they are a good complement to my rifle. When I feel well enough to walk, we set off again, having stripped them of anything useful. The three sets of armor can be combined into one decent set, and I wore that, for the moment. I kept the duster, of course.
I walked past Kaelyn's B&B again, and found a new body nearby... one of Brotherhood Outcasts, and the guy has a red power armor. Seeing nobody around. I stripped him out of his armor. It took a while, but I managed to secure it properly to my stash. It was tough carrying it, but I figure it would be worth it, if I can just find someone who can teach me how to wear it properly... I had to leave some of my stuff behind. I can't fit all the foot and water, and still keep the power armor and stuff.
The moon just came out when we arrived at Megaton. I went up to Bill the mechanic. I repaired the leaks earlier and I have a couple pieces of scrap metal to sell him. I asked him to rate my explosives skill, whether I'm good enough to defuse the Megaton bomb. He said I am ready, but it'd be my responsibility if I managed to kill the town. Thanks a lot, Bill.
I headed down to the bomb. The confessor from the Church of Atom is still yakking away to a few passers-by. I reached over and popped open the inspection panel, and turned on my Pip-light. I determined that this design has a regular atom bomb trigger, which is actually hiding in the fin section (to prevent it from being crushed upon impact?) If I remove the atom bomb, the whole thing would be inert. I went around to the find the rear section, and sure enough, there is a section that can be removed.
I reached in there, found the handle, and twisted. It took a couple tries, but it did come loose. I twisted it a couple more turns and pulled gently. It slid out. And sure enough. there was the fission trigger bomb and the trigger mechanism.
By this time, Lucas Simms has joined me, and some curious onlookers are watching from the elevated walkways, but no one except Simms was willing to get any closer.
I inspected the trigger mechanism and noticed a sliced wire. Maybe that's why it didn't go off? But the trigger mechanism itself still needed to be separated from the bomb itself...
"Not sure what to do next?" Simms quipped.
"I have an idea, but I want to be sure. Speaking of sure, shouldn't you be back there?" I gestured to the crowd.
"Ha", Simms chuckled, "A few meters won't matter if this goes off. Are you sure what you're doing?"
"Oh, quite sure. This here is the initiator, a tiny atom bomb if you will. This may make a small boom, at least a lot smaller than the whole bomb. Now I have to figure out how to disable it completely."
I looked at the roughly spherical device, then inspiration struck. I looked for a seam, and sure enough, there is one. I held it by separate halves, twisted it, and it came open. Inside are hexagonal "tiles" covering another sphere.
I peeled off the tiles, and inside is a globe of metal. It felt warm to the touch. I smiled.
I removed the globe and tossed it to Simms.
Simms was startled, but his reflexes are fast, as he still caught it.
"What is this?"
"That's the heart of the atom bomb, now diffused. We're done. It's disarmed."
"Really? What is this?"
"This is plutonium, Lucas. Heart of the bomb."
"It... it is not dangerous?"
"Nothing some rad-away won't fix. Just don't sleep with it or hold it next to your private parts."
Simms chuckled, "Nice job, man. Though really, what do we do with... " he gestured at all the stuff I removed, "all this?"
I shrugged, "That part over there is the really dangerous stuff, but one I've broken it apart, it's worthless." I pointed at the hex tiles. "That's called the imploder. They are supposed to use explosions to shrink this ball of metal here, thus forcing fission. Then that triggers whatever material is inside the bomb, making it a fusion reaction."
"I have no idea what you just said, but it sounds impressive," Simms replied.
For a moment I was confused too. How did I know all that?
I shrugged, "It doesn't matter. I'll take the explosives out, and put it back together, and put it back in the bomb. Without the imploder it's harmless."
I stripped out the hex tiles from the now empty globe, and Simms gingerly put the plutonium back into the sphere. We then reinserted that into the structure and twisted it back into the bomb.
Confessor Cromwell was very concerned, and he came over and asked, "What have you done?"
"He saved the town, Confessor Cromwell. The bomb has been defused!" Simms declared loudly.
Confessor Cromwell's face fell, so I quickly added, "but the power of the atom is as strong as ever!" I quickly showed Cromwell, that the bomb is still producing the same radiation as before with my Pip-boy. It took us several minutes to calm the man down, fearing that we did something to their object of worship. We assured him the power is still there, just that crazy enemies of the town can no longer destroy the town with it. Of course, he had heard about Mr. Burke of Tenpenny trying to destroy this town, and he was not happy about the perversion of his beliefs either. In the end, he agreed that what I did was for the best, after both Simms and I donated 50 caps each to the church.
Simms then dragged me over to Doc Church's clinic, woke him up, and we both took enough rad-aways to clean up. Simms even paid the doc for my treatment, terribly generous of him.
We walked out together, when Simms dropped the surprise on me, "Here's a key to the empty house across the stairs from mine. I've signed the deed as mayor and sheriff of the town. You're now a real citizen of Megaton, enjoy."
We gave each other a brotherly hug, and he walked off.
I followed him up the stairs, then diverted to the right, and found the unoccupied house. I tried the key, and the door opened.
A Mr. Handy bot greeted me. He called himself Wadswoirth. I was too tired, my adrenaline spent. I told the bot I'll talk to him later, I just need to sleep right now. I stuffed everything into the locker next to the door, stripped myself down to skivvies, walked upstairs, and dozed off in "my bed".
Comments
Post a Comment