Chapter 65: That Lucky Old Sun

Chapter 65: That Lucky Old Sun

Good morning, Mojave Wasteland! I'm your host, Mr. New Vegas, and I'm here for you. News from Camp McCarran this morning. According to an anonymous source inside the NCR, Major Dhatri led an operation, which included elements of the NCR 1st Recon division, to try and push the Fiends out of South Vegas yesterday. It's currently unknown if the operation was a success. Promotional considerations for this segment of the program have been brought to you by The Riv: Entertainment capitol of The Strip. Got some more classic tunes over the airwaves, only on Radio New Vegas.

The next thing I knew, a sound like a jackhammer thundering in my skull was blasting me awake - followed swiftly by the sensation of falling face first onto the floor.

"OW! Fuckin'... the fuck is that noise?" I blinked wearily, clutching my head and trying to get my bearings. I was still outside, on the roof... I must have fallen asleep up here last night. Now, if I could just figure out what that noise was.

I tried to ignore the ringing in my skull... or was... hang on, that noise wasn't a jackhammer or... what was that? Was that more bugle music?

"Wait a sec, I recognize that tune. Is that... that's reveille, isn't it?" It certainly sounded like it, and I've seen enough old world war holotapes to recognize the tune, but... why would someone be playing that at this ungodly hour?

"Ugh... fuck," I grumbled, trying to cough some phlegm loose. My back and countless other joints in my body creaked and popped worryingly as I moved. "Might as well get moving... I wonder if Raquel managed to get me that Jeep?"

"Hey, Arcade?" I rapped my knuckles against his door. "You up? I wanna get moving to Helios. Sooner we go, sooner we can get back." I didn't get a response, but I did hear some strange grunts and someone shuffling from inside.

"Morning Shea," I heard Veronica speak up from behind me. "Arcade still not up yet?" I turned around to look at her, and saw that ED-E was hovering near her as well.

"I'm not sure," I said with a shrug. "I heard something from in there..." I banged on the door again, a bit harder this time. "C'mon man, we're ready to go. You comin' or what?" Almost immediately, the door opened.

"I'm here, I'm here, keep your shirt on..." Arcade said as he slid the door open with his foot, and putting his shirt on, ironically enough. "What's up? What's going on?" He reached for a spot next to the door and grabbed his labcoat.

"I was just wondering if you were ready to go or not," I said simply.

"Hmm?" Arcade started to put on his white coat, but paused, as if thinking. He seemed a bit.. I dunno. Distracted maybe? "Oh! Right, the Helios thing. Sure, I'm ready to go."

"You alright?" Veronica asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Arcade said with a smile. Wait - Arcade smiled?!

"You sure?" Veronica didn't seem convinced. "It's just that you seem a little... odd this morning, that's all." It seemed like Arcade was going to protest further when we were all interrupted by the sound of another voice from inside Arcade's room.

"Arcade?" The voice was followed by Doc Argyll appearing out of the darkness. "You getting out of here?"

I'm sure that I expected a great many things this morning, but a shirtless Doc Argyll in Arcade's room was way down on that list.

"Yeah, going to help this loser..." Arcade smirked, pointing at me over his shoulder with his thumb. "...get into Helios. We'll probably be back this afternoon."

"Alright," Argyll nodded with a smile. "We'll talk later?"

"Sounds good. I'd like that," Arcade gave Argyll a peck on the cheek (to which Argyll responded by swatting Arcade on the behind as he left), adjusted his glasses, and strut past me with an expression of infinite smugness. When he passed Veronica however, he merely high-fived her outstretched hand.

"I'll be honest, I... did not see that coming," I said, finally finding my voice. Arcade turned back to smirk at me.

"You know, Sheason, just because you don't see something doesn't mean it doesn't happen." He pushed his glasses back up his nose. "So, are we going or what?"

When the three of us and ED-E arrived at the motorpool, the shock had finally worn off. Arcade was usually so cold and calculating, and didn't seem to like to let anyone in. Usually, it's all business with him... it was odd, knowing that he actually had real human emotions.

Still. Good for him. Maybe now he'll loosen up a bit.

"Good, I was wondering when you three would show up." Raquel said, peeking out from under the half-open garage door of the motorpool. She pushed the garage door up and out of the way completely with one hand, and tossed me a set of keys with another. "Here's your ride. I expect you to bring it back in exactly the same condition as you found it. Clear?"

"Crystal," I said with a nod as I walked around the Jeep. Like the other ones I'd seen, it was green with a large white star inside a circle painted on the hood, and it had no roof. On the sides, above the back wheels, I saw... hang on, those look like gas cans. I was about to ask, when Raquel beat me to the punch.

"You probably won't need it," Raquel said, grabbing the gas can I was staring at, and holding it up in front of me. "But here's some extra fuel. I'd much rather you use this than have my Jeep come back all full of holes. I've seen that wreck of yours that Hamilton's been fawning over."

For the second time in as many hours, I was rendered speechless. Was that... no, it couldn't be...

"Is that what I think it is?" Arcade asked.

"What?" Raquel looked back and forth at the three of us, confused. "It's just a can of diesel. What's the problem?"

"How... how is that possible?" Veronica asked; out of the corner of my eye, I saw that everyone else had the same look of shock and surprise that I'm sure was plastered on my features. "I thought the planet ran out of petroleum reserves over 200 years ago!"

"It's biodiesel, made out of corn," Raquel said simply.

"What." I was so confused, I couldn't put any inflection in my words.

"There are several miles worth of tunnels under the base," Raquel explained with a sigh. "It's almost like Vault 34 down there, but not quite as big. There are several dozen underground greenhouses for growing crops, and a refinery we use to process what we grow into fuel. Some of the cars in the motorpool use those nuclear-electric engines like in your junker, but most of the engines we use are diesel. More reliable, and less vulnerable to an EMP." She looked back and forth between us after her explanation. Eventually she just sighed, and rolled her one good eye, walking off.

"Just bring it back in one piece, outsider."

When we got clear of the bomb range that was the approach to Nellis' front gate (and the Jeep stopped threatening to toss us out of the car - seriously, was the suspension made out of rocks or something?) and back onto mostly unbroken tarmac, I decided to ask a question that had been on my mind since last night.

"Hey, Veronica? I've got a question for you."

"Shoot," she said from her spot in the passenger seat.

"Do you know a Lorenzo in the Brotherhood?" As soon as I mentioned his name, Veronica seized up, and her eyes went wide as pie plates. Her mouth worked up and down a few times, but no noise came out.

"Lor- how do you know that name?" Veronica looked deathly pale. More than usual, at least. I pointed to ED-E, who was flying ahead of us and blasting music from the radio out of his speaker grille.

"I got contacted by some guy called Lorenzo yesterday. He claimed to be in the Brotherhood, and hacked into ED-E to give me a message." I glanced over at Veronica, trying to gauge her reaction. Even in profile, I could tell she was working hard to keep her expression passive. "Know anything about that?"

"I... er... well... yes. Lorenzo is a Senior Knight in charge of the repairs and maintenance wing at..." Veronica cast a glance behind her, toward Arcade. She cleared her throat. "What did he want?"

"Same thing April Martimer wanted," I said, looking at Arcade in the rear view mirror. His only response was to raise an eyebrow. He didn't look nearly as nervous as Veronica about this revelation. "Does that name ring any bells, Arcade? After all, she said she was from the Followers."

"Uh, yeah, I know April. She used to work at the Fort, but I think she's working at a small outpost just outside Henderson." Arcade adjusted his glasses and rubbed his chin. "Why, did she contact you too?"

"Yeah. Same way - using ED-E as a radio. They both seem to think he has some kind of important information inside his metal chassis. They weren't too specific about what it was for, though." Both Veronica and Arcade seemed to perk up at that.

"Well, you know, you did promise the other day to take me back... er, home." Veronica glanced back at Arcade again. She was being very careful not to mention Hidden Valley in front of him... "Maybe you can bring ED-E with us, and Lorenzo can take a look at him?"

"Uh, excuse me," Arcade leaned forward. "But do you really want to give the Brotherhood more old-world tech? I think they have enough. I'm sure that the Followers would make better use of it, whatever it is. We can use it to actually help the people of the wasteland. Besides, they'll take that bucket of bolts apart piece by piece, you'd never see it again."

"Hang on, that's not fair!" Veronica practically shouted, shifting in her seat to face Arcade.

"Didn't think you'd have a problem with that, Arcade," I growled, getting annoyed. "I thought you didn't trust ED-E."

"I don't," Arcade said simply. "I'm still waiting for the day it blows a fuse and tries to kill all of us. But it's proven useful... on occasion. And you seem attached to it. Seems a shame to waste a resource like that."

"What do I do? I'm in charge, that's what I do," He laced his hands behind his head. "This whole operation depends on me. No Fantastic, no power. Got the whole NCR suckling my teats, and damn but it feels so good."

"You know, the troopers outside don't seem to think this place is producing any power at all," Veronica said; I could tell, she thought this whole exchange was hilarious, and I couldn't blame her.

"Yeah, well... see... we're getting power, because the guy running this place is Fantastic. But the mirrors outside aren't aimed right, so we're running at one percent efficiency. And I guess that just isn't good enough for some assholes," Fantastic coughed loudly, only vaguely disguising the word 'Haggerty' in the cough. "Trouble is, most of the controls for this place aren't here - they're in the tower. And that place has some crazy Pre-War security systems that the dumbshit NCR set off when they took over. Killed two guys. Now they won't go near it. They want me to make an omelet, but I can't break any of their eggs, know what I'm sayin'?"

I looked over to Veronica, who just shrugged and rolled her eyes. Can't say I blame her.

"How did you even get this job?" I asked. The longer this went on, the more ridiculous it seemed.

"It was easy, man," Fantastic adjusted his feet, and hit one of the buttons on the panel. "They were going door to door asking if anyone knew any scientists. I said look no further. They asked me if I knew anything about power plants. I said as much as anyone I'd ever met. They asked me how well I understood theoretical physics. I said I had a theoretical degree in physics. They said welcome aboard."

I buried my face in my hands, doing everything I could not to just bust up laughing. Judging from the sounds to my left, Veronica was in the same boat.

"So, how would someone retarget the mirrors? You know... just out of curiosity," Arcade asked. Veronica and I looked over to him curiously. I'm not sure what V was thinking, but I know I was wondering how he could be such a good liar for some things, and such a catastrophically bad liar for everything else.

"Well, there's these two terminals outside. They control the mirrors. I tried fooling with them, but didn't get very far. You'd have to get them to talk to the mainframe up in the tower, then do the rest from there." He paused for a minute, scratching his face. "Probably. I'm guessing. But it sounds good, right?" He cocked his head, looking up at Arcade. "Hey, you're not thinking of going up there, are you?"

"I am now," Arcade said, and... I think he was smirking slightly.

"Well... hey - if you find yourself up there, do yourself a favor and make sure you send the power to the right places: The Strip and McCarran."

"And why would I do that?" Arcade asked, crossing his arms over his chest. I was too confused to say anything: how could this have happened? Usually, I was the one talking to people.

"Because I get paid, that's why!" Fantastic said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Per kilowatt-hour, whatever the hell that is. That's where the NCR wants the power, so that's where I want it. But you know, you do that, maybe I put in a good word for you with them. Fantastic's little helper! There's a reputation you can hang your hat on!"

"I don't have a hat," Arcade deadpanned. Fantastic just waved it off, and started rummaging around in his labcoat. Eventually, he pulled out a scrap of paper.

"Whatever. Here, you'll want this. It's the password to one of the terminals outside. Found it scrawled on one of the stalls in the bathroom."

"So, what the fuck was that?" I asked Arcade, just as soon as we got out of earshot of Fantastic. Not that he would have cared anyway, I don't think - we weren't talking about him.

"What was what?" He asked, and... I couldn't actually tell if he really didn't know what I was talking about, or he was trying to be clever.

"That whole business with getting the power plant running again," I pointed over my shoulder with my thumb, back toward Fantastic. "I'm not sure if you're aware, but that's not what we're here to do. We're here to find some solar panels, not fuck around with power plant controls. I couldn't care less if The Strip and McCarran get more power."

"And who says I'm going to send it that way?" Arcade said with a smirk, pushing his glasses back up his nose. Veronica and I just exchanged glances.

"... You're gonna have to explain this one to me, Arcade." I could tell he had some kind of plan, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

"If we get this place up and running again, we'll have the opportunity to redirect the flow of power toward Freeside and outer Vegas. Send it where people might actually need it." Arcade smiled wider. "Think about it. We could do something genuinely good for the people in the wasteland."

"Well, that's a nice idea, Arcade, but there's a problem with that. This place is run by a moron." I countered.

"Ah, but he's not the only one who works here," Arcade said smugly. Before I could question what he meant further, another voice interrupted us.

"Arcade? Arcade Gannon? I don't believe it, it really is you, isn't it?" The three of us turned at the noise, and saw a man in a labcoat with messy, cropped black hair walking in our direction - he was making a beeline to Arcade, specifically. The two of them laughed and embraced each other like old friends.

"Ignacio! How've you been?" Arcade pulled away slightly, and patted this guy on the back.

"I've been doing well. And you? Keeping yourself busy, or just wandering around like you did a couple years ago?"

"Oh, you know me," Arcade smiled, and... was that a wink? "Always getting up to some kind of trouble."

"Uh, excuse me boys," I interjected, and the two of them seemed to stop verbally making out with one another for a moment. "Don't mean to interrupt, but..."

"Oh!" Arcade smacked his forehead. "Of course, of course. Guys, this is Ignacio Rivas. He's a friend of mine in the Followers that I've known for years. Ignacio, this is Sheason Fisher and Veronica Santangelo. I've been travelling with them the last few weeks."

"Your last name is Santangelo?" I asked, turning to Veronica. She nodded. "I didn't know that."

"You never asked."

"Fair enough," I said with a shrug, turning back to Arcade. "You know, I am continually surprised by you."

"How's that?" Arcade asked.

"Well, it's just... for as abrasive and hard to get along with as you are most of the time, you seem to have quite the network of contacts here in the wasteland. That's just surprising to me." I hoped I wasn't being too rude, but it was the truth: it was surprising. Arcade just rolled his eyes.

"So, what brings you this way?" Rivas turned back to Arcade. "In your last letter, it sounded like you weren't going to find your way down here anytime soon."

"Well, it was a bit out of the way, I admit," Arcade shrugged. "But Sheason here needs to get some spare parts to fix some solar panels, so I thought I'd make good on my promise, and help you get this place up and running." Almost immediately, Ignacio seemed to tense up; his expression hardened, and he stopped smiling.

"Hmm... well... if that's true, then take my advice: this installation carries dangers that no one here has realized," He turned, and looked at all of us. "Take care what you do, and who you listen to. Some things are best left buried with the old world."

"Hang on," Arcade seemed to get worried at the sudden shift in tone. "Are you saying you don't want this place running? It sounded like that's why you were here in the first place, last time we spoke." Ignacio shrugged.

"It's true, if you remember, I was sent here when we saw that the NCR had taken it. As you know, we never had any record of the facility - but we did have records on the builders."

"Poseidon Energy..." Arcade growled under his breath. The name didn't really mean anything to me, but... weren't they an energy company from before the war?

"Exactly," Ignacio nodded. "I've seen equipment here marked with symbols used by the Pre-War military. Targeting computers. Shock sensors. And a codeword comes up repeatedly in the papers I've looked through here: ARCHIMEDES."

"So, you think ARCHIMEDES is a weapon they built here?" I asked, glancing over in Veronica's direction. It was almost like she was trying to sink into the wall. Ignacio nodded.

"Yes. And the technology they have in this facility is like nothing I've ever seen. At least, nothing I've seen in person. Some of it reminds me of Enclave equipment. Any weapon based upon it would be catastrophic, no matter who claimed it. It's no wonder the Brotherhood wouldn't give it up."

"Do you think the Brotherhood of Steel knew about ARCHIMEDES?" I asked, glancing over in Veronica's direction again; I couldn't believe it, but she looked even more nervous than before.

"I don't know," Ignacio shook his head. "They weren't here for me to ask. But I doubt they were here for electricity. The Brotherhood's interest in Pre-War technology has always been in weapons, so it's likely they were trying to reclaim ARCHIMEDES when the NCR arrived in force."

"But, wait. Hang on," Arcade grabbed Ignacio by the shoulder to get his attention. "Are you saying the NCR doesn't know about the weapon?"

"Not yet. By some miracle, they've hired an imbecile to try and decipher the systems here. He's spent months working at one console, trying to get the solar reflectors to track the sun. What he doesn't know is that the only thing that console controls is the plant's PA system."

"Seriously?" I asked, holding back a chuckle. He just nodded.

"I tried to tell him, but he insisted that the largest console had to be the most important. Still... it's only a matter of time before someone figures out exactly what ARCHIMEDES does, and presses the 'on' switch..."

"Well now..." I said, rubbing my chin. "That changes the landscape considerably..."