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Ellen closed the Milliways door behind her and stepped out of the ostensible 'ladies' room'. They'd fixed it up better than anywhere she'd seen in the Capital other than the Citadel, but they'd also repainted it, and they'd done their best to match the same décor and aesthetic style as the Franklin Girls' Dresses. It was a positive relief to return to Doctor D's office; while the colors were on the ridiculously vibrant side, there were no faked draperies or mythological figures trailing slogan-strewn ribbons. "Sorry about that," she said to the dark-haired man as she took her seat. "Necessity."
He nodded. "Whatever you say, Paladin," he said. "You've been extremely civil this whole time. I can forgive a momentary disruption."
Ellen considered the man a moment. Compared to the ladies who populated his establishment, his clothing was almost subtle. He wore a dark grey vest laced tightly over a deep red shirt with weirdly puffed sleeves, fastened at the cuffs with carved buttons made of a material she couldn't place. His magenta trousers stopped about halfway down his calves, from what she could see of them under the desk, and gave the impression of being attached to socks- at least, they also had buttons on the sides, and she couldn't figure out a reason for that otherwise. She had a feeling he didn't leave the House of Franklin often. His shoes weren't nearly worn enough to have treaded the Philly streets.
"Would it be pressing my luck to ask you why you dress like that?" she said. "I mean, obviously the ladies are wearing those- I don't even know- for advertising, but.... well, it all seems just a bit-"
"Ludicrous?" he suggested.
"I didn't want to come out and say it."
"No, no, Paladin, rest assured I've been thinking that every day since my merry little band was forced to set up operations here," said D. "Would you believe it was a survival decision?"
Ellen just looked at him.
"No, seriously," said D. "I would say it was complicated, but what it ultimately boils down to is that my colleague Shields and I found ourselves so far off course in our attempt to reach Chicago that we ran out of supplies, and then ran out of financial reserves."
"I'm surprised it wasn't the other way around, considering you were coming from California," murmured Ellen. "Who would accept paper money along the way?"
D held up a finger. "Ah, true, very true," he said. "Which is why we'd converted our dollars into bottlecaps long before. Any water merchant worth his or her salt recognizes a cap almost anywhere on the continent. Unfortunately, as we proceeded on our course we discovered to our horror that we'd been moving in a primarily eastward direction rather than a northeasterly one; we were so far off course that we'd never be able to turn back and make it to Chicago with what remained to us. Especially not given the presence of a den of iniquity and violence notorious among traders and fugitives to the west of here-"
"You avoided the Pitt?" said Ellen. "How?"
"Sheer dumb luck," said D. "In that we encountered a young woman stricken with the most repulsively suppurating form of skin cancer I've seen outside Bakersfield, and scars of a nature I won't speak of here. We did our best to treat her, although by that point we didn't have the capacity to do more than basic symptomatic care, and in return she advised us on how best to avoid the roving raiders and slavers of the region. She left us not long after; I've wondered since then how much longer she survived, poor thing."
"Okay," said Ellen. "So you made it around the Pitt and got across Pennsylvania somehow. I take it you were out of medical supplies by the time you reached Philly?"
"Unfortunately so," said D. "Although we still had some of our equipment, which, frankly, was more difficult to replace than components and chemicals. Shields and I sat down for a real heart-to-heart and decided that the Chicago aspect of our mission was just going to have to be scrapped. Philadelphia had as much need as the city of the Broad Shoulders, so we'd put down roots and start our work over again here."
"I can understand that part, " said Ellen. "How did you get from a medical mission to this?"
"Medicine, my good Paladin, costs money," said D. "And requires moderately secure facilities in which to function. Shields and I found that the old schools and other buildings that might have offered us a haven in which to function had already been claimed by the worst sorts of organized ruffian, and that the city's ruler had no particular interest in driving them out. Our hired guards had long since left us for lack of pay. The only secure place either of us could find to spend the night was, frankly, a local brothel; the master of the house, an older fellow who called himself Uriah, had paid off one of the ice gangs to leave his business alone through the end of the month."
He leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers on his stomach. "Uriah, as it happened, had not invested much money in the health of his ladies. I don't know how much you know about venereal diseases-"
"My father was a physician, and the major radio broadcaster in the Wasteland regularly puts out public service announcements on the subject."
"Ah, good. Then you're aware that the fission is the kind of thing you don't want to live with for the rest of your days," said D. "The first stage can be concealed with the right clothing; the later stages... not so much, although they can be treated and the disease's progress at least arrested if not cured entirely. When we mentioned this to Uriah, he offered to let us stay on his grounds in exchange for whatever medical care we would provide. Even in a hole as wretched as this, given the givens, people will generally opt for a healthy whore over a visibly diseased one. We set up camp in an available room and set about scavenging the supplies and components necessary to synthesize some basic antimicrobial chems."
Ellen thought of Ashur, and of what he'd said of his own path to power. "There are worse ways to survive," she said.
"I'm glad you agree," said D. "As it happened, we were successful beyond our best expectations of the time; the disease organisms here haven't seen treatment chems in generations. Uriah was profoundly grateful, as were the ladies. Uriah's ladies became the companions of choice for a not insignificant portion of Philly's patronizers of prostitutes. Unfortunately, cutthroat capitalism is disturbingly literal in this town, and one of his competitors took matters into her own hands."
Ellen winced.
"Indeed. The ladies of the house, while enterprising to a fault, had few resources beyond the basics they'd managed to scrape together, and none of them were prepared to strike out on their own, particularly not with Uriah's murderer operating with impunity not far off. Unfortunately, the subsequent vote on how best to proceed ended in my being elected Uriah's successor and inheritor of his worldly goods, which I agreed to on the sole condition that we find a way to begin offering other services than merely venereal." He grimaced. "And while the existing clientele was willing to accept a few basic medical procedures on the premises, it was all but impossible to persuade them we were capable of anything better, at least the way things used to be run. When the woman who murdered Uriah started sending out feelers to determine just how much harder she'd have to work to put us out of business, I took what profits we'd accumulated and paid the Flyers enough to find us somewhere else to set up shop, preferably out of her reach. The Blood Prince used to use this place as a hunting ground- you wouldn't know it now, but it used to be infested with the kind of low-life scum who couldn't play well enough with others to make it in an ice gang. Once the Flyers rampaged through the place and wiped them all out, we were free to move in. I took the opportunity to match our image to the man it originally honored and to put the word out on the streets that we now offered a great deal more than merely- forgive the phrase- poontang."
Ellen whistled softly. "That's... kind of impressive, actually," she said. "And it's been working for you?"
"Surprisingly well," said D. "We're not at the point where we can phase out the prostitution angle just yet, alas, but it paid the protection and supply bills well enough to expand our medical and educational offerings- not to mention that Shields uncovered the secret of producing one of Philadelphia's legendary ancestral flavor sensations, a type of condiment called 'cheez'. If she can work out how to expand her cheez production facility enough to meet the city's demand for it this may not have to be a bordello much longer, especially since we've been able to educate our employees to the point where the majority of them could probably pass an NCR medical qualification exam."
"Congratulations, then," said Ellen. "I hope business picks up for you."
"Thank you, Paladin," said D. "Having said that, I hope you won't mind if I ask you a few questions myself. I'd like to think I'm entitled at this point. Assuming that prying into Brotherhood affairs doesn't get me denounced or worse, of course."
"Sir, you're more than entitled," Ellen said. "I think it's safe to say that you and your colleague aren't the only ones who've changed since leaving California...."
He nodded. "Whatever you say, Paladin," he said. "You've been extremely civil this whole time. I can forgive a momentary disruption."
Ellen considered the man a moment. Compared to the ladies who populated his establishment, his clothing was almost subtle. He wore a dark grey vest laced tightly over a deep red shirt with weirdly puffed sleeves, fastened at the cuffs with carved buttons made of a material she couldn't place. His magenta trousers stopped about halfway down his calves, from what she could see of them under the desk, and gave the impression of being attached to socks- at least, they also had buttons on the sides, and she couldn't figure out a reason for that otherwise. She had a feeling he didn't leave the House of Franklin often. His shoes weren't nearly worn enough to have treaded the Philly streets.
"Would it be pressing my luck to ask you why you dress like that?" she said. "I mean, obviously the ladies are wearing those- I don't even know- for advertising, but.... well, it all seems just a bit-"
"Ludicrous?" he suggested.
"I didn't want to come out and say it."
"No, no, Paladin, rest assured I've been thinking that every day since my merry little band was forced to set up operations here," said D. "Would you believe it was a survival decision?"
Ellen just looked at him.
"No, seriously," said D. "I would say it was complicated, but what it ultimately boils down to is that my colleague Shields and I found ourselves so far off course in our attempt to reach Chicago that we ran out of supplies, and then ran out of financial reserves."
"I'm surprised it wasn't the other way around, considering you were coming from California," murmured Ellen. "Who would accept paper money along the way?"
D held up a finger. "Ah, true, very true," he said. "Which is why we'd converted our dollars into bottlecaps long before. Any water merchant worth his or her salt recognizes a cap almost anywhere on the continent. Unfortunately, as we proceeded on our course we discovered to our horror that we'd been moving in a primarily eastward direction rather than a northeasterly one; we were so far off course that we'd never be able to turn back and make it to Chicago with what remained to us. Especially not given the presence of a den of iniquity and violence notorious among traders and fugitives to the west of here-"
"You avoided the Pitt?" said Ellen. "How?"
"Sheer dumb luck," said D. "In that we encountered a young woman stricken with the most repulsively suppurating form of skin cancer I've seen outside Bakersfield, and scars of a nature I won't speak of here. We did our best to treat her, although by that point we didn't have the capacity to do more than basic symptomatic care, and in return she advised us on how best to avoid the roving raiders and slavers of the region. She left us not long after; I've wondered since then how much longer she survived, poor thing."
"Okay," said Ellen. "So you made it around the Pitt and got across Pennsylvania somehow. I take it you were out of medical supplies by the time you reached Philly?"
"Unfortunately so," said D. "Although we still had some of our equipment, which, frankly, was more difficult to replace than components and chemicals. Shields and I sat down for a real heart-to-heart and decided that the Chicago aspect of our mission was just going to have to be scrapped. Philadelphia had as much need as the city of the Broad Shoulders, so we'd put down roots and start our work over again here."
"I can understand that part, " said Ellen. "How did you get from a medical mission to this?"
"Medicine, my good Paladin, costs money," said D. "And requires moderately secure facilities in which to function. Shields and I found that the old schools and other buildings that might have offered us a haven in which to function had already been claimed by the worst sorts of organized ruffian, and that the city's ruler had no particular interest in driving them out. Our hired guards had long since left us for lack of pay. The only secure place either of us could find to spend the night was, frankly, a local brothel; the master of the house, an older fellow who called himself Uriah, had paid off one of the ice gangs to leave his business alone through the end of the month."
He leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers on his stomach. "Uriah, as it happened, had not invested much money in the health of his ladies. I don't know how much you know about venereal diseases-"
"My father was a physician, and the major radio broadcaster in the Wasteland regularly puts out public service announcements on the subject."
"Ah, good. Then you're aware that the fission is the kind of thing you don't want to live with for the rest of your days," said D. "The first stage can be concealed with the right clothing; the later stages... not so much, although they can be treated and the disease's progress at least arrested if not cured entirely. When we mentioned this to Uriah, he offered to let us stay on his grounds in exchange for whatever medical care we would provide. Even in a hole as wretched as this, given the givens, people will generally opt for a healthy whore over a visibly diseased one. We set up camp in an available room and set about scavenging the supplies and components necessary to synthesize some basic antimicrobial chems."
Ellen thought of Ashur, and of what he'd said of his own path to power. "There are worse ways to survive," she said.
"I'm glad you agree," said D. "As it happened, we were successful beyond our best expectations of the time; the disease organisms here haven't seen treatment chems in generations. Uriah was profoundly grateful, as were the ladies. Uriah's ladies became the companions of choice for a not insignificant portion of Philly's patronizers of prostitutes. Unfortunately, cutthroat capitalism is disturbingly literal in this town, and one of his competitors took matters into her own hands."
Ellen winced.
"Indeed. The ladies of the house, while enterprising to a fault, had few resources beyond the basics they'd managed to scrape together, and none of them were prepared to strike out on their own, particularly not with Uriah's murderer operating with impunity not far off. Unfortunately, the subsequent vote on how best to proceed ended in my being elected Uriah's successor and inheritor of his worldly goods, which I agreed to on the sole condition that we find a way to begin offering other services than merely venereal." He grimaced. "And while the existing clientele was willing to accept a few basic medical procedures on the premises, it was all but impossible to persuade them we were capable of anything better, at least the way things used to be run. When the woman who murdered Uriah started sending out feelers to determine just how much harder she'd have to work to put us out of business, I took what profits we'd accumulated and paid the Flyers enough to find us somewhere else to set up shop, preferably out of her reach. The Blood Prince used to use this place as a hunting ground- you wouldn't know it now, but it used to be infested with the kind of low-life scum who couldn't play well enough with others to make it in an ice gang. Once the Flyers rampaged through the place and wiped them all out, we were free to move in. I took the opportunity to match our image to the man it originally honored and to put the word out on the streets that we now offered a great deal more than merely- forgive the phrase- poontang."
Ellen whistled softly. "That's... kind of impressive, actually," she said. "And it's been working for you?"
"Surprisingly well," said D. "We're not at the point where we can phase out the prostitution angle just yet, alas, but it paid the protection and supply bills well enough to expand our medical and educational offerings- not to mention that Shields uncovered the secret of producing one of Philadelphia's legendary ancestral flavor sensations, a type of condiment called 'cheez'. If she can work out how to expand her cheez production facility enough to meet the city's demand for it this may not have to be a bordello much longer, especially since we've been able to educate our employees to the point where the majority of them could probably pass an NCR medical qualification exam."
"Congratulations, then," said Ellen. "I hope business picks up for you."
"Thank you, Paladin," said D. "Having said that, I hope you won't mind if I ask you a few questions myself. I'd like to think I'm entitled at this point. Assuming that prying into Brotherhood affairs doesn't get me denounced or worse, of course."
"Sir, you're more than entitled," Ellen said. "I think it's safe to say that you and your colleague aren't the only ones who've changed since leaving California...."