Chapter 31: Guess Who I Saw Today?

Chapter 31: Guess Who I Saw Today?

The women of New Vegas often ask me if there's a Mrs. New Vegas. Of course there is - you're her. And you're still just as perfect as the day we met. This is Mr. New Vegas, and you're listening to Radio New Vegas. It's just about time to get you some news. The Kings gang in Freeside put an official end to hostilities with the NCR today. An RNV reporter was on hand to speak with The King: "I feel so bad. I think it's time we reconsider, baby." The headlines today were brought to you by Vault 21: Everything's better... when you experience it in a Vault. Coming up next is the First Lady of Song, Ella Fitzgerald, reminding us that "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall." If only it would rain in the Mojave once in a while...

The peace and serenity of the snow-covered mountain pass leading up the peak of Mt. Charleston was suddenly and irrevocably broken by the bellow of a drunkard.

"Goddamn muth'rfuckin' piece'a shit sonuva bitch! Why'n th' bleedin' crotch've th' antichrist is it so pissing COLD?!" As if to illustrate her point, Cass pulled her jacket closer around herself as tight as she could.

"A bit cold then, are you?" I said, more to wind her up than anything else.

Honestly, I could see where she was coming from. It wasn't snowing, but it was still very cold, and out of all of us, she was the least prepared for it. Boone had pulled that Marine armor and leather duster out of somewhere, so obviously he was warm enough. Last I knew, Veronica was wearing some kind of armor beneath her robe. ED-E was a robot. And Lily, out in front leading us to the nightstalker cave, was... well, she was a super mutant, so who knows if they even feel cold. Even I had zipped up my jacket. Cass just glared at me from under her hat.

"Stop movin' yer face about with noises comin' out've it!"

"Aw, c'mon," Veronica slid close to Cass and put an arm around her; Cass merely huddled deeper into her jacket. "You can't be that cold, can you?"

"You c'n shut up fer a kickoff, yer wearin', like, 15 layers've kevlar!" Cass muttered just loud enough that everyone could hear her.

"I meant because you drink so much whiskey," Veronica added. "I remember reading stories about people using brandy to ward off frostbite before the war. Why wouldn't whiskey work?"

Cass just grumbled something incomprehensible. I shook my head, and sped up just enough to start walking even with Lily. I had a couple of questions I wanted to ask her - foremost in my mind, of course, being...

"Hey, Lily? How much further is it to this cave with the nightstalkers?"

"Oh, don't worry your precious little head, dear!" Lily bellowed, shifting the massive blade in her hands further up her shoulder. "It isn't that much further. And then we can teach those nightstalkers a lesson about messing with my bighorners!" She laughed, a deep, gravely, throaty laugh that reverberated through the ground.

"So, you mind if I ask you a few other questions on the way?" I asked, fully aware of the irony.

"Aw, you want to hear some of grandma's stories? You're such a curious little munchkin. What would you like to know, pumpkin?"

"Well, I suppose I should start by asking where you got that giant sword," I said, pointing at the positively enormous piece of metal resting on her shoulder. She lifted it up, and gave it a few swings when she answered; I had to duck, or else she would've taken my head off.

"This old thing? Oh, I scavenged it off a Vertibird wreck just outside Klamath about thirty years ago. Leo showed me how to make it all ready for chopping!" She rested the sword back on her shoulder and turned away from me to her left. "Didn't you, Leo?"

"So, where did you even come from, anyway?" I asked... and then I started questioning myself. Why was I suddenly so curious and asking so many questions? It took me a few minutes, but eventually I think I figured it out: I'd talked to super mutants in the past, but never at any length. This was the first time I'd ever gotten a real chance to ask a super mutant questions of any kind. I probably wouldn't get this kind of opportunity again. Why not make the most of it?

"Oh, I grew up in Vault 17," Lily said, looking up towards the peak of the mountain. "I never even saw the sun until I was 75 years old - that was when the super mutants raided the Vault and carried the lot of us off..." Her head snapped to the side, and she barked out: "Yes, Leo! I was getting to that part!" She shook her head and turned back to me. "Sorry dearie, sometimes Leo just doesn't know when to shut up! But yes, the Master's super mutants made me one of them, and they put me to work in an army that was going to conquer California!" She said that last bit with a level of excitement and gusto that made me slightly uncomfortable.

"So, who was the Master?" I heard Marcus mention the Master before, but I'd forgotten to ask who he was. I felt like I'd heard the name before coming to Jacobstown, but I couldn't place exactly where. And that's when I realized - this has been happening a lot lately, especially when things start getting odd. Or when super mutants are involved. Which is the same thing, really.

"Oh, he was a nasty man. A nasty, nasty man, dearie. You don't want to know about him. But he was the one who made that super mutant army I told you about."

"You were a soldier then?" Lily nodded... and then shrugged.

"More a spy, really. Sometimes an assassin. I killed a lot of folks for the Master... Yes, Leo, you helped too!" Lily just growled, and shook her head.

"What happened then?"

"That wicked old Master got what was coming to him, that's what!" Lily lifted her sword up above her head, and leaned her face in close to me. I could almost see her try to smile behind the leather face harness. "He was blown up by some boy from Vault 13. And after his cathedral exploded, I decided it was high time to go home..."

Lily got surprisingly quiet after that. The only sound came from the wind rushing through the trees around us, and the footfalls crunching through the snow. Eventually though, I decided to break the silence.

"So, did you?"

"Oh, look!" Lily pointed ahead of us, towards a dark patch in the mountain near a cluster of trees. "We're here!"

The interior of the cave was a lot warmer than I expected. Once we'd cleared the mouth of the cave and descended deeper into the mountain, the temperature jumped considerably - much to Cass' very vocal relief. Unfortunately, now that we were inside the cave, there was another problem: the deeper we went, the less light spilled in from the outside.

"Man, it's pitch black down here, isn't it?" I asked aloud, as my eyes tried and failed to adjust to the low light.

"Yeah... too bad we don't have any sort of technology to illuminate darkened areas. That would be preposterous!" I heard Veronica say from in front of me, right before she pulled a flashlight out of her robe and a small, thin beam of light cut through the darkness. Ahead of us, I heard Lily's booming voice echoing off the wall.

"What are you talking about? I can see just fine! Yes, Leo, we know you can see too." Nightkin must be able to see in the dark, I thought to myself.

The next thing I knew, I felt like I'd been blinded by a brilliant white flash, or hit with a flashbang grenade. It was enough to knock me off balance, and I stumbled backwards, into the cave wall. Jagged rocks pressed into my back, and I shut my eyes tight, hoping it could save my eyes.

"Sheason! What's goin' on man? Y'alright?" I couldn't immediately tell who was talking, I was so disoriented. I felt a hand grip my shoulder, and another grab my other arm to try and pick me up. With hesitation, I started to crack open my eyes... and was in for a bit of a shock.

Everything in the cave was illuminated in stark, green detail. It was like the cave was lit up by an unearthly green sun. Cass was right in front of me with Veronica beside her, the two of them trying to lift me up. Looking at Veronica's flashlight felt like my eyes were being burned with a blowtorch. Both of them looked at me with illuminated green pupils, and I'll be honest - all of this scared the fuck out of me. I had no idea what was going on.

"Why is everything green?!" I blurted out as they got me back on my feet. "Why are your eyes glowing?" Cass and Veronica both took a step back, and looked at each other like I'd lost my mind. Boone, on the other hand, just cocked his head, like he was thinking.

"Green? What're y'talkin' about?" Cass asked. Before I could answer, Boone put a hand on her shoulder and nudged her aside. Without a word, he leaned his masked face towards me, placed a gloved hand on my face, and used his thumb to hold my right eye open.

"Hey! What are you -" I started.

"I hope you children don't mind, but your grandma isn't feeling well. I'm just... I think I'm going to sit down for a few minutes..." Lily walked away and sat down near the mouth of the atrium, the ground shaking slightly. She just sat there, clutching her sun hat in her massive, trembling hands. For some reason, seeing her sitting there made me feel... sad. I know it sounds stupid, since just a moment ago, it looked like she was ready to bash my skull in. But seeing her like this really drove the point home of just how deep the schizophrenia ran.

Before I could carry on being contemplative, I was broken out of my reverie by a series of beeps and whistles off to my right. ED-E was hovering close to the center of the atrium, and now that my eyes weren't only seeing heat, I could see some very important details that I missed before.

Lying on the ground of the cave was a dead Nightkin - at least, I'm pretty sure that it had been a Nightkin once upon a time. The mutant's body had been mangled almost beyond recognition, like it had been gnawed on, and there was parts of it that had swollen massively around a number of bite marks. Lying next to the Nightkin corpse were two objects. The first was a massive super sledge, bigger than any I'd ever seen before. Of course, I didn't get that long to look at it, because what happened next was something very predictable.

"Oh, baby!" Veronica had appeared out of nowhere beside me and picked up the super sledge. "Ooh, got some weight on ya, don't you just? Little rusty, but... nothing a little love won't cure." It shouldn't still surprise me how easily she can heft up objects that look like they weigh as much as she does. But it still does.

"Found a new toy then, have you?" I said, kneeling down to take a look at the second object next to the dead Nightkin. It was a small metal disk with a keypad on the top, a row of lights running down the side, a few exposed wires, and a small reflective metal dish perched on top - a stealth boy. Like the Nightkin, it looked like it had been chewed on by nightstalkers. I turned it over in my hands, and got up off the floor, showing it to everyone.

"I think we just found out why these nightstalkers are invisible."

Thunk.

"What's this?" Doctor Henry picked up the stealth boy I dropped onto his desk, unsure of why I was showing it to him.

"I think this is why the nightstalkers are invisible. I found it all chewed up like that in the heart of the nightstalker lair, next to a dead Nightkin." Henry looked a bit skeptical at first, then furrowed his brow, studying the device. He turned it upside down, took a small screwdriver from a drawer below his desk, and popped open a small panel on the bottom of the stealth boy.

"Hmm..." Henry snapped the panel closed, and set the stealth boy back on the desk. "Well, it still has power, amazingly enough. With that cracked casing... Frankly, I'm astonished that exposure to the stealth radiation could induce mutations in the nightstalkers so rapidly."

"Radiation? Hang on, does... I mean, stealth radiation isn't... it's not harmful, is it?" I starting eyeing the stealth boy warily - radiation was never a good thing, and I'd kept it hooked onto my belt the whole way back! I took some comfort in that the Geiger counter on my Pip Boy hadn't clicked at all, but still... Henry just shook his head.

"No. I mean, it's possible, but I've yet to see any hard evidence or hear of any cases where humans were negatively affected by stealth boy use, or stealth radiation. Any negative effects have only ever been found in Nightkin - and nightstalkers now, apparently. More to the point, if this cracked stealth boy is the reason for the invisible nightstalkers, then this explains why my research into this group hasn't come up with a cure for the Nightkin. Which means I only have one avenue of research left..."

"Which is?" I asked. Frankly, it was none of my business, but I'd come too far to not be curious.

"I need to run the Mark II test on Lily. It's the only way. I just wish it wasn't so... risky."

"Risky?" I asked. "What's risky about it?"

"The stealth field for the Mark II prototype has been specifically modulated to use less power and, as a result, lasts much longer than a normal stealth boy. For some reason this also means that the negative effects on the user are greatly pronounced - up to a factor of five or more, if my math is correct. These pronounced effects will allow me to pinpoint exactly what parts of the brain the stealth boy is affecting... but unfortunately, I'll need to run the test on a live subject... and the test could potentially cause immediate and permanent mental damage."

"So, why do you need to use Lily?" My mind flashed back to the image of Lily sitting huddled in a corner in a darkened cave, clutching at her hat with trembling hands.

"There are a couple of reasons. For one, Lily is eccentric, certainly, but I've never felt that she was too dangerous." Another image flashed in my head - one of Lily rushing towards me with white-hot eyes and a trail of blood spilling from her mouth. Maybe I wasn't seeing the whole picture, but I didn't exactly agree with that sentiment. He went on. "More importantly, she asked if she could help my research in some way. I've told her about the risks, and she still insists."

"Well, I am sorry that this lead with the nightstalkers appears to be a dead end, and you now have to pursue the Mark II stealth boy project. Really, I am. But does this mean you're going to help us with Rex now?" I asked, trying to make sure he hadn't forgotten about the real reason I was helping him. I looked around Henry's office, and finally saw Rex, fast asleep on one of the examination beds.

"Going to help? Are you implying that I haven't done anything?" The old scientist looked and sounded insulted. "While you were off gallivanting in the hills pursuing a lead that I could not, I was busy examining Rex and running several high-level diagnostics on his cybernetics and circuitry. And, aside from general wear and tear with his joints - which is to be expected with a specimen of his age - my initial assessment was correct. His brain is suffering from an advanced case of neural degradation. If left untreated, his brain will continue to decay at an exponential rate. A year from now, he will be totally and completely brain-dead."

"Is there anything you can do?" I asked, looking over to Rex. The dog's chest was slowly rising and falling, and his tail twitched every so often.

"There is a procedure that can save him, yes. I can reconfigure one of the machines here to scan his brainwaves, and copy the neural pathways onto a holotape. There is one small problem."

"Just come out with it," I gripped the bridge of my nose in exasperation, waiting for the anvil to fall out of the sky.

"If this is going to work, I'm going to need to replace both the bio-med gel in his brain case, and replace his brain with a fresh one. The gel I have enough of - but what I don't have is a suitable canine brain I can use as a replacement."

"And where exactly is he going to get a replacement brain at this hour, Henry?" Arcade spoke up behind me, making me jump slightly. I hadn't even heard him come up behind me.

"There's a woman I know in Novac who can probably help with that. Not that this hour, obviously." Henry stated simply to the younger doctor. Arcade merely looked confused.

"What, you mean Daisy? Daisy Whitman? She won't know where to get a dog brain." Arcade stated flatly. Henry just shook his head.

"No, I'm not talking about Warrant Officer Whitman," a brief flash of worry crossed over Arcade's face, but Henry didn't seem worried about it and continued. "I'm talking about a woman who lives just outside Novac - Gibson. Last time I met her, she was caring for nearly half a dozen hounds of roughly the right size. If she's willing to give one of the older ones up in the name of science, then it should prove a suitable replacement brain."

"I think I know who you're talking about," I said, trying to ignore the ghoulish task I knew he was setting me up to perform. "This Gibson woman - does she own a shop that used to be a garage? Lots of broken down cars everywhere?" Henry nodded. "Yeah, I know her. I bought a thrust control module off her for some ghouls that wanted to go into space."

Henry just sort of stared at me for a minute, one white eyebrow raised over his large, thick rimmed spectacles.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. If you can get me a brain for Rex, I should have all the machinery ready by tomorrow. And with any luck, I'll also be able to run the Mark II test sometime tomorrow as well. There are several machines that will require more precise calibration before I can perform the tests..."

"I guess it's a good thing we got a place to stay tonight, then," I said, nodding. "I'll head out in the morning. I just hope Veronica found some microfusion cells for my car, that's about..." I checked the map on my Pip Boy and figured out the distance in my head. "... yeah, that's about 160 miles there and back." I'd have to leave pretty early if I wanted to be back before noon.

I said goodbye to Henry and Arcade, and started to make my way out of his office. As I was about to leave, however...

"So, how do you know this Gibson woman, anyway?" I heard Arcade ask Henry from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see Doctor Henry shrug and smile ever so smugly.

"Well, she and I joined the same caravan about a decade ago when we were heading east. Add in a bit of whiskey and... well... you could say we got to know each other."

"OH GOD!" Arcade clutched his head, and he looked about ready to have an aneurysm. "I can't KNOW that! Why would you tell me that?!"

"You asked."

I closed the door to Henry's office, and just started laughing to myself.