The Big Stick
Dec. 31st, 2012 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aaaaaaaagh_skyThere was another tape. This one also arrived by Protectron. Specifically, by a Protectron marked for some reason with a pair of snakes wrapped around a winged stick. It'd gotten halfway across the Bridge and stopped to hold up a sign- a sign!- asking for permission to approach further, so they'd brought it as far as the steps of Haven. Then it'd told the guards that its message was for Lord Ashur and his wife alone, handed them a tape, and refused to move any further.
Nobody really felt like giving the robot any shit, so they took Ashur the tape. Sandra grabbed Marie from her playpen and the three of them retreated to their private rooms. "If anyone comes looking for me," Ashur told the outer guards, "they can damn well wait five minutes. Unless they want to be tied to a fence post facing trog territory from the next sundown to sunrise."
When it was quiet, really and properly quiet, Ashur slotted the holotape into the player.
"This is a message for Lord Ishamael Ashur of the Pitt, formerly Paladin Ishamael Ashur of the Lost Hills Brotherhood of Steel," said the same voice as before. "From Paladin 101 of the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel, serving under Senior Paladin Tristan at Elder Owyn Lyons' command."
Sandra glanced at her husband; his expression was blank.
"I hope this message finds you well, Lord Ashur. First of all, I'd like to apologize for not having been immediately up front with you when last we met. I was on a mission at the time, and... well, to be honest, it really wasn't my best day. I made some bad judgment calls that day, to put things mildly. Please be assured that what I did tell you was absolutely true: my mission was to find Dave, of the Republic of Dave, and return him to the Capital. Nothing more. If I had found him anywhere along the route between the Capital and the Pitt, I would have taken him back then and that would have been the end of it. Finding your city, and finding you, was a complete surprise."
Ashur huffed a mild, humorless laugh, but let the tape roll on.
"The reason I was sent in the first place is because the Brotherhood has a much bigger place in the Capital Wasteland than I think you know. You said when I met you that the Brotherhood was nothing but scavengers, that they didn't know what it takes to run a city. Things have changed since you last knew us. We've wiped out the source of the supermutants. We've taken down the last refuge of the Enclave. We've begun providing clean water and armed protection to communities across the Wasteland- and, yes, we've begun building our own robots. With a fallen RobCo plant we've restored to working condition, and with wind turbines we built ourselves to power the factory twice over."
"The point is that the people of the Wasteland have their own leaders, but they look to us for protection now. They take our water and they give us food and recruitment rights in return. It's a mutually beneficial agreement, but it only holds as long as we live up to our end of the bargain. And that, in a nutshell, is why I'm here."
"Lord Ashur, the Pitt's policies may be sound for you and for your people, but they're a threat to me and mine- and Elder Lyons agrees with me. I know your daughter represents the best hope your city has for a cure-"
Marie, who hadn't quite got the hang of speaking yet, fussed in her mother's arms. Sandra found her teddy bear and shushed the baby until she calmed down.
"-but that's a very long game to play. My father was a scientist and it took him nineteen years to accomplish something as simple as large-scale water purification in the Potomac, with the resources of Rivet City and the protection of the Brotherhood. Your resources are limited and your daughter is the only example of what you hope to accomplish. Your people are dying or turning trog every day. You might have the time to study Marie's genetic gift, but they don't."
"And since your people are being taken from under our protection, neither do we."
"Lord Ashur, I suggest in the strongest possible terms that you accept the robot workforce I am offering you. They are solid, skilled workers of a model that was in production and use at the Mill before the Great War, and even then one robot could do the work of five humans. They require a small amount of recharge time and maintenance, but no food or drink or health care. We would rather have you as a partner in commerce than as a threat. Your industry would do us good, and our robots would do your industry good, and the end of slave-taking to feed the Pitt would do the entire Wasteland good. It would be a win-win situation."
The voice on the tape sighed. When she spoke again, 101 sounded very, very tired.
"But just in case you don't see it the same way, or your army of raiders doesn't see it the same way... I gave you one week to decide about the robots because if you choose not to take them, you're going to need time to evacuate the Pitt."
"Lord Ashur, I really, really hate to do this. The fact is that we can't allow you to continue as you've been doing. Either you accept the robot work force, begin releasing your slaves and cease all taking of new slaves, or in seven days' time the Pitt will be destroyed by orbital weapons fire. Since I don't expect you to take that on faith, the warning shot will be fired at a point to the north and west of the city at one PM today."
"Thank you for your time and consideration, Lord Ashur. I'll be waiting for your answer."
Nobody really felt like giving the robot any shit, so they took Ashur the tape. Sandra grabbed Marie from her playpen and the three of them retreated to their private rooms. "If anyone comes looking for me," Ashur told the outer guards, "they can damn well wait five minutes. Unless they want to be tied to a fence post facing trog territory from the next sundown to sunrise."
When it was quiet, really and properly quiet, Ashur slotted the holotape into the player.
"This is a message for Lord Ishamael Ashur of the Pitt, formerly Paladin Ishamael Ashur of the Lost Hills Brotherhood of Steel," said the same voice as before. "From Paladin 101 of the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel, serving under Senior Paladin Tristan at Elder Owyn Lyons' command."
Sandra glanced at her husband; his expression was blank.
"I hope this message finds you well, Lord Ashur. First of all, I'd like to apologize for not having been immediately up front with you when last we met. I was on a mission at the time, and... well, to be honest, it really wasn't my best day. I made some bad judgment calls that day, to put things mildly. Please be assured that what I did tell you was absolutely true: my mission was to find Dave, of the Republic of Dave, and return him to the Capital. Nothing more. If I had found him anywhere along the route between the Capital and the Pitt, I would have taken him back then and that would have been the end of it. Finding your city, and finding you, was a complete surprise."
Ashur huffed a mild, humorless laugh, but let the tape roll on.
"The reason I was sent in the first place is because the Brotherhood has a much bigger place in the Capital Wasteland than I think you know. You said when I met you that the Brotherhood was nothing but scavengers, that they didn't know what it takes to run a city. Things have changed since you last knew us. We've wiped out the source of the supermutants. We've taken down the last refuge of the Enclave. We've begun providing clean water and armed protection to communities across the Wasteland- and, yes, we've begun building our own robots. With a fallen RobCo plant we've restored to working condition, and with wind turbines we built ourselves to power the factory twice over."
"The point is that the people of the Wasteland have their own leaders, but they look to us for protection now. They take our water and they give us food and recruitment rights in return. It's a mutually beneficial agreement, but it only holds as long as we live up to our end of the bargain. And that, in a nutshell, is why I'm here."
"Lord Ashur, the Pitt's policies may be sound for you and for your people, but they're a threat to me and mine- and Elder Lyons agrees with me. I know your daughter represents the best hope your city has for a cure-"
Marie, who hadn't quite got the hang of speaking yet, fussed in her mother's arms. Sandra found her teddy bear and shushed the baby until she calmed down.
"-but that's a very long game to play. My father was a scientist and it took him nineteen years to accomplish something as simple as large-scale water purification in the Potomac, with the resources of Rivet City and the protection of the Brotherhood. Your resources are limited and your daughter is the only example of what you hope to accomplish. Your people are dying or turning trog every day. You might have the time to study Marie's genetic gift, but they don't."
"And since your people are being taken from under our protection, neither do we."
"Lord Ashur, I suggest in the strongest possible terms that you accept the robot workforce I am offering you. They are solid, skilled workers of a model that was in production and use at the Mill before the Great War, and even then one robot could do the work of five humans. They require a small amount of recharge time and maintenance, but no food or drink or health care. We would rather have you as a partner in commerce than as a threat. Your industry would do us good, and our robots would do your industry good, and the end of slave-taking to feed the Pitt would do the entire Wasteland good. It would be a win-win situation."
The voice on the tape sighed. When she spoke again, 101 sounded very, very tired.
"But just in case you don't see it the same way, or your army of raiders doesn't see it the same way... I gave you one week to decide about the robots because if you choose not to take them, you're going to need time to evacuate the Pitt."
"Lord Ashur, I really, really hate to do this. The fact is that we can't allow you to continue as you've been doing. Either you accept the robot work force, begin releasing your slaves and cease all taking of new slaves, or in seven days' time the Pitt will be destroyed by orbital weapons fire. Since I don't expect you to take that on faith, the warning shot will be fired at a point to the north and west of the city at one PM today."
"Thank you for your time and consideration, Lord Ashur. I'll be waiting for your answer."