Lost Hills

Owyn Lyons and Henry Casdin disagreed on many things, but on one matter they saw eye to eye: the need to establish contact with the High Elders in California again.
well, General Taylor gained the day
For years neither man's side had the resources to make the attempt. Lyons had hoped in secret that he would eventually be able to turn Galaxy News Radio's equipment to that purpose, even if only briefly.
(walk him along, John, carry him along)
Didn't happen.
well, General Taylor he gained the day
Casdin had sent Outcast forces to survey the SatCom nav-array towers throughout the Wasteland in the hopes that one might be revived.
(carry him to his burying ground)
No luck.
tell me, where is Stormy?
So they hunkered down, Lyons at the Citadel and Casdin at Fort Independence, and Casdin watched Lyons waste the Brotherhood's resources on flea-scratching Wasteland communities, and Lyons watched Casdin and his Outcasts elevate tech over human lives. And they waited.
(walk him along, John, carry him along)
And eventually the both of them came into luck.
tell me, where is Stormy?
No, not California. Lost Hills didn't reach out to them. Would've been too easy. What they got instead was a Vault dweller, not so different from the first one, the one who knew the Founder's grandson.
(carry him to his burying ground)
Casdin got a briefing from his right hand man McGraw about her, after she cracked the Bailey's Crossing armory- and defended him and Olin against their own malcontents. Saw her again later, after she brought him the helm of one of his men, fallen in the wilderness up north.
we'll dig his grave with a silver spade
Lyons got word of her from his own daughter, after the Behemoth was taken down on the very steps of GNR.
(walk him along, John, carry him along)
She wound up with Lyons. Casdin wasn't surprised. Then he heard from her again- well, of her, anyway. There'd been a factory once, a RobCo building. Made Protectrons. It'd been in a bad way, too dangerous to risk his men on. There weren't enough of them to spare, not for so little return.
his shroud of the finest silk will be made
But she was there, and investigating. Later she flew the Brotherhood flag over the place. And not just as symbol, either; she'd claimed it for the Brotherhood. Brought Lyons' men there. Built wind turbines for power. Started repairing the equipment. Started making it ready to produce again.
(carry him to his burying ground)
Everything the Brotherhood was supposed to do.
tell me, where is Stormy?
McGraw confirmed it. It was all for real. This one time, at least, Lyons was back on course. And more: they were building a radio tower. A hell of a radio tower. You could reach orbit with it.
(walk him along, John, carry him along)
And if you had the right frequency- and Casdin sure as hell did, and Lyons did too- well. The Founder'd sent out his final call before the War on that frequency. He'd never had an answer. The Brotherhood still listened on it to this day, wherever they were, whatever they did. Just in case. At Lost Hills they listened extra hard. Just in case.
tell me, where is Stormy?
Before the War, a century before, there'd been a project. Diana, they'd called it. The men of old'd bounced a radio signal off the Moon, and they'd listened, and they'd caught it on its return. First time Man'd ever reached out and touched another celestial object. They'd done it in 1947. They'd had 1947 equipment.
(carry him to his burying ground)
The Vault kid, the one in charge of the project- she had more power than they'd had then. More tech, too. Lyons'd salvaged antennas from the Enclave mobile crawler, and they were up the mast at the RobCo place now. You couldn't reach California straight off, the Earth curved too much, but you could reach anywhere you had line of sight.
we'll lower him down on a golden chain
That included straight up. That included the Moon.
(walk him along, John, carry him along)
When the Vault kid showed up at Fort Independence with two red-robed Scribes and one armored Initiate in tow, she gave her name as Paladin 101. Said Lyons had a message for Casdin. Told him about the mast, about the orbital comms tests, about everything. Said Lyons wanted a second Diana.
on every inch we'll carve his name
Said they wanted him to be there, or at least to send people he trusted for it.
(carry him to his burying ground)
He thought a while, and he asked for the specs. One of the Scribes gave 'em. He asked his Specialists if what Younes said could be trusted. They said it could. He thought some more.
General Taylor he's all the go
He sent his Specialists first. And when they sent word to him, when they said they were confident 101's little project was gonna do what Lyons said it was gonna do, he went himself, with a squad of his men.
(walk him along, John, carry him along)
Met Lyons there, no big surprise.
He's gone where the stormy winds won't blow
They tested the antenna, both of them, and they verified the signal, and their eyes never met, not once. But they agreed it was good for what it was supposed to do, and they angled it just so and they waited for the Moon to rise. And they called.
(carry him to his burying ground)
And they called.
tell me, where is Stormy?
And they called, again and again and again, as many times as the angle of the Moon's rising and the conditions of the ionosphere would allow, first Lyons and then Casdin and then the Scribes and Specialists, over and over, and there was no answer; not even one, not anything at all.
(walk him along, John, carry him along)
All anyone knew, Lyons or Casdin or Younes or 101 or anyone else, was that if there had been any Brother alive with even the slightest of skill, with enough with to flip a switch or push a button, they would have answered.
tell me, where is Stormy?
And there was no answer. Oh, there was a signal, briefly, towards the end. A faint little ghost of a thing. But it wasn't from Lost Hills. Somewhere east of there, in the Mojave, maybe; a brief burst of code, a gasp of warning. Be quiet, it said. Be quiet, or they'll hear you, and you'll doom us for real. The last word might have been MacNamara.
(carry him to his burying ground)
But that was all; as for everything else, trying to call out to the rest of the Brotherhood of Steel was nothing more than talking to the dead.
General Taylor he's dead and he's gone
(walk him along, John, carry him along)
Well General Taylor he's long dead and gone
(carry him to his burying ground)

tell me, where is Stormy?
(walk him along, John, carry him along)
tell me, where is Stormy?
(carry him to his burying ground)