Giddyup Buttercup Factory

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

It would be nice to say the sun was beating down from overhead, but it's not. Partly because a few minutes ago it was raining, and partly because, well, the door opens onto the factory interior. It's dark here, with the only light coming from Ellen's Pip-Boy, the side lamp on Ellen's helmet, and the occasional crack in the walls or chink in the ceiling.

It also smells here. This was never a well-ventilated place. Two hundred years of neglect have improved the cross-breezes somewhat, but only barely- and things have been living here for a while now that had no concept of sanitation or hygiene.

"I'm sorry about the smell. I can only imagine what it must be like on your side of the helmet," Ellen's muffled voice says.

Comments

[aeons_crackshot]

"Probably still there, then," Annabelle says with a nod. "Maybe we'll get lucky and all of the parts will be in one place."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"That would be nice," Ellen says as they continue on their way. "The faster we get those parts the faster we can get out of here."

[aeons_crackshot]

"It would," Annabelle agrees as they keep moving. She doesn't think it's likely to happen, but you never know your luck.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

There are, alas, several more ghouls waiting for them in the room up ahead. And like the others, they make a rather engaging BeeBeeBeeSPLORTCH! noise upon being killed. Ellen just shakes her head, but then stops; there's a faint glow from the far side of the room, just around the corner, that she hadn't noticed before.

"That one's not moving," she murmurs. "I don't think it's a Glowing One..."

[aeons_crackshot]

"I don't recall them glowing after they're dead," Annabelle says, thinking out loud.

"Do you want me to put a bullet in it and see what happens?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Let's get a little closer," Ellen murmurs. "I'd like to see what it is, first."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle nods in understanding and moves as carefully and quietly as possible toward the glow. What will it be?

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

As it turns out, it's an ancient, battered, but still-just-barely-functional computer terminal. The screen displays a constantly moving fall of crudely sketched bombs. Upon touching one of the keys, it lights up with a note left by whoever used it last:

I have used materials from the small explosives cache I found to further safeguard myself from my experiments. I have wired the building to broadcast a signal from this terminal that in emergency will detonate all chips. I pray that day never comes.


"You know," says Ellen, "maybe it's just me, but when a scientist has to safeguard himself from his experiments, he's probably doing something wrong, right?"

[aeons_crackshot]

"Some things never change," Annabelle mutters. "If I had a dollar for every science experiment that I've had to kill..."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Like war. War never changes.

Ellen runs one gauntleted hand over her face. "All I wanted was a robot pony," she mutters. "We're going to have to find this person, aren't we? I mean, Dr. Lesko wasn't a bad man, he was just awful about safe protocol, and he managed to get most of Greyditch killed. This person is doing something with feral ghouls and mutants on purpose and they're afraid their ghouls will come back and hurt them. That... doesn't sound healthy to me."

[aeons_crackshot]

"Probably, unless they've eaten him already," she replies with a shrug.

Pause.

"In which case I suppose we'll still have to try and find him, or at least what's left of him."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Maybe we can punch them in the stomach and get him back that way?" Ellen says, and then shakes her head. "Never mind. I can't believe I said that. Come on, let's go see what else we can find. And grab that horse leg over there, it looks like it might be almost intact."

[aeons_crackshot]

"I suspect he's already moved on," Annabelle says with a wry smile. Through the GI tract, that is.

The leg is grabbed and stowed.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods and keeps moving. There are gleams of parts in the darkness where her light flickers over this or that bit of junk, but the way she sees it, they need to find the scientist fir-

She stops, and looks back at the terminal.

"Annabelle," she says slowly, "considering what we've seen so far... do we have any chance of actually saving any of these people?"

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle shakes her head. "The people they were were gone before he ever got his hands on them," Annabelle says sadly.

"Death might be the only rescue we can give them."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Then... maybe we shouldn't waste our ammo and risk our skins any more than we have to," Ellen says. "An explosion's a pretty quick death, right? Bang, no more feeling anything ever?"

[aeons_crackshot]

"I should think so, what with the explosive being in their skulls," Annabelle agrees. "I doubt they have time to feel anything at all."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen is not going to bother laying any more of the bodies straight while they are here.

But she will be murmuring the words of the funeral prayers- and meaning them, all- as she moves over to the terminal and triggers the failsafe.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle is solemn as the failsafe is triggered, although she doesn't speak or make any gestures.

She's put people out of their misery before. It's always hard, always.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen is silent for a while at the keyboard as distant beeps and explosions sound off throughout the building. When the horrible-smelling air is still and silent once more, she looks up.

"Come on. Let's go find whoever did this and see if he likes explosives so much now."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle's smile at Ellen's words is vicious. "I like that plan."

She does not approve of people who do that sort of thing, period.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods.

The rest of the building unfolds around them as they go. Peeling walls give way to broken doors and closets full of long-evaporated cleaning supplies. Offices full of desks dotted with rusty toy horses, hallways no longer navigable because of collapsed ceilings or slumping walls, product testing areas where half the floor space is taken up by corroded scrap metal...

And at virtually every turn there's at least one headless corpse, whether one of the emaciated, already-rotted ghoul types or one of the mutants instead.

Ellen just keeps getting quieter.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle moves to put a hand on Ellen's shoulder in an attempt at reassurance. An attempt to let Ellen know that she's not alone, and she's with someone who understands what she's going through.

"These people were already dead when you arrived," she says quietly. "You just made their remains stop moving."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I know," Ellen says quietly. "I know. I'm just remembering a Bible verse... "'For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay". And again, "The Lord will judge His people".'" She shakes her head. "I don't want vengeance. I just want this person to stop. I've met plenty of ghouls and I've had supper with a greenskin who was nicer than most humans I've met. What if this person didn't just mess around with ferals, you know? What if one of these was Gob, or Uncle Leo?"

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle nods. "Vengeance is a dangerous thing to take up," she agrees. "But if he did do that, he definitely needs to be stopped."

She sighs, "Sometimes the only thing you can do for the victims is make sure the people who hurt them never get the chance to hurt anyone else ever again."