(no subject)

[calmhrtprevails]

The door opens on a vista of rocky landscape punctuated here and there by yellowed, rough-edged grass and low, scrubby brush. There's a hint of coolness on the breeze in the otherwise warming air, and a scent of distant rain. "We are," Fawkes rumbles, "some hours' distance from the Citadel. We're likely to stop at the town of Megaton first, and then make for the Arlington route the rest of the way."

Comments

[calmhrtprevails]

"The monsters don't avoid the area," says Fawkes. "The walls of the city, and the slope of the crater, provide shelter. And look, there."

He points to a narrow catwalk running around the interior of the walls. Specifically, to a man on the catwalk, leaning forward to peer through a small hole.

"The walls are guarded by men and women with guns. They have the high ground, and can strike at any enemy that's stupid enough to come within their range, as long as they see them first."

[cantdiequiteyet]

"Oh."

She understands now, looking up and watching the walls.

"Humans defending themselves." She'll get used to it. Rigth now, her own ignorance amuses her.

[calmhrtprevails]

"They do their best," Fawkes agrees. "When they can't fight, they find safer places to live instead, as far as they're able. Or they combine both, when they can."

He indicates a two-storey structure off to the left, the first house inside the walls. "That's my friend's home," he says, "and where I stay when I'm here. The man who runs this town, Sheriff Simms, lives in that house across the way. I had planned to retrieve some extra supplies before continuing on to Arlington. Is there anything you might need?"

[cantdiequiteyet]

She shakes her head.

"No, I ate and slept before departing. We'll get what you need."

[calmhrtprevails]

"Very well," says Fawkes. "This way."

As Fawkes unlocks the door to the Megaton house, a tinny, electronic-sounding voice with a faint, movie-derived English accent announces, "Good day, sir! And welcome back." Teresa may notice, as she steps through the door, that the voice appears to be coming from a floating thing of metal limbs and glowing parts. "How may I be of service this afternoon?"

[cantdiequiteyet]

Teresa tilts her head instantly at the strange apparition.

"This is your friend?"

[calmhrtprevails]

"No, no," says Fawkes. "My friend is human; her name is Ellen."

"Whereas I," the machine announces, "am named Wadsworth. I am a Mr. Handy robot, built for household maintenance and daily care. I keep the place tidy while Mistress is away, among other duties."

[cantdiequiteyet]

"Oh," says Teresa. She inclines her head to the robot in greeting.

It doesn't matter to her.

[calmhrtprevails]

"Wadsworth, I need my electron charge packs, please," says Fawkes. "Then Teresa and I will be on our way to the Citadel."

"Very good, sir!" Wadsworth announces- the robot is, it seems, incapable of speaking in anything but an announcement tone. "Will you require anything else?"

"Radio the Citadel and tell them I'm bringing a companion with me," says Fawkes. "She's a fighter from outside the Capital area, and she wants to volunteer."

"Indeed," says Wadsworth. "Very well, then."

With that, the robot floats up the metal stairs that run along one wall of the house. Fawkes takes the opportunity to step over to the lockers against the far wall and start looking through them. "There are some things," he says, "that you may want to recognize before we go any further. I believe my friend has some of them here. They may be dangerous- even to you."

[cantdiequiteyet]

"Oh?"

Now that sounds interesting - something dangerous to her. "What are they?"

[calmhrtprevails]

"The gun the man fired at us on the road today was only one of many different kinds," Fawkes says. "It was slower, and less powerful, than quite a few others."

He turns around, his arms full, and begins laying things out on a nearby picnic table salvaged from some scenic area. Someone from a world more modern than Teresa's would know them as guns. Someone with more specialized knowledge might well be excused blanching, because this is at most a house of two residents and there are more weapons here, and of greater caliber, than two people can reasonably use.

"All of these," he says, "are different kinds of gun. The smaller ones may be fired one-handed, and only put a few bullets in the air at a time. They pose less danger at a distance than the rest, but they're very common. These-" He indicates a slightly larger weapon of about the same muzzle bore, but squarer design and greater bulk. "Fire bullets of about the same size and weight, but are faster, and can quickly fill the air with many bullets. Not for long, you understand, but in many battles speed is enough to end things in a few seconds. These larger ones are assault rifles, and are often carried by the others of my kind. They do more damage, and can fire more rounds at a time. Some of them fire bullets designed to pierce through armor."

[cantdiequiteyet]

Teresa watches, and listens, and takes it in.

And she suggests out loud, "you're right. One of those - bullets? - could hurt me if it hit me in the wrong place."

But the person would have to have good aim. "If I see one, I will take out the bearer first."

[calmhrtprevails]

"A wise idea," Fawkes says. "Also, there are these."

He lays down an oval of metal about the size of a fist, and several round, flat objects a bit smaller than dishes.

"This is a grenade," he says, pointing to the first one. "If you pull this part out, here, and then release this handle, it will explode soon after. Most people pull the pin and throw the grenade at their target. These are mines; they will explode with great force if they're active and you come too close. Some of them produce more force and a wider blast radius than others. It's best to avoid them entirely, if you don't know how to inactivate them."

[cantdiequiteyet]

"Okay."

So, she sees someone throwing something, she cuts their hand off first. She avoids the round flat things.

[calmhrtprevails]

"And this," Fawkes finally says, unshouldering his not-backpack and setting it down on the floor instead of the table, "is my Gatling laser. There are many like it, but this one is mine. Not all guns fire metal. Some of them fire light instead- light so concentrated that it burns flesh and armor to ash. A bullet might perhaps be dodged, but a laser is too fast to escape, if the shooter aims correctly."

"There are other weapons as well, ones that produce cones of fire, but I suspect you can escape those more easily than just about anyone else in the world. I won't bore you with them."

[cantdiequiteyet]

"Fire won't be a problem," she says at that last. She gives the laser a careful look from where she stands, memorising it for later use.

"Does this ting burn a large area at once?"

[calmhrtprevails]

"It fires three beams of light that strike an area the size of the palm of my hand," says Fawkes, "but since it can fire while I move, it can burn its way across an area quickly. The further away the target is, the greater an area the laser can burn with a smaller move."

[cantdiequiteyet]

"Alright," Teresa says.

She can move faster than someone holding that, if she needs to.

"Anything else?"

[calmhrtprevails]

"I think other weapons will pose little danger to you," says Fawkes. "Not after I've seen that sword of yours in action."

There's a noise like the clearing of a throat from behind them. Wadsworth must've been programmed with that sound clip long ago, because the robot hasn't got a throat. What it does have is a stack of small objects marked with various emblems and warnings. "Your electron charge packs, sir," the robot says. "Use them in good health."

[cantdiequiteyet]

Teresa gives a small smile in response to this. Other weapons probably won't hurt, he's right. And she can handle these ones now she knows.

"Thank you for showing me," she says. "It will be useful."

[calmhrtprevails]

"I had hoped it would be," Fawkes says as he accepts the electron packs from the robot. "Now, unless someone else feels the need to speak to us here, we should be on our way."

[cantdiequiteyet]

Teresa nods, and steps back for him to lead the way out."

"You travel a lot?" she asks. She noticed he didn't live here. And it occurs to her that most people do have a home.

[calmhrtprevails]

Fawkes nods. "Between here and the Citadel, most often," he says. "And whenever my friend has need of assistance, I travel with her in the Wasteland. There's much of the Waste I haven't seen yet, and I think I'd like to."

[cantdiequiteyet]

"Is there anywhere you call home?" she asks. "The Citadel?"

[calmhrtprevails]

"Not especially," says Fawkes. "I stay here in Megaton more often than anywhere else. For now, I'm welcome at the Citadel because I'm helping with their plans. That may change, once we've taken on the others of my kind in Vault 87."

He'd smile, if that face of his were capable.

"One place is much like any other, when you can move about freely. It hardly matters where I spend the night."