Rivet City

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The door opens onto an afternoon of graying sky and greyer cityscape. Megaton and its buildings of metal were one thing; this is the ruins of DC proper, all tumbled-down concrete and metal rusted beyond repair. Here and there the occasional wall still stands, or rebar protrudes from a pile of rubble. Underfoot are the remains of what was once a street, but it's shattered more or less beyond recognition.

"According to my Pip-Boy map, we don't have much farther to go," Ellen says. "The river's up ahead, and then we just follow it to the boat."

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen will look more closely at the shotguns later. Right now, she's just relieved to see that the door behind the shelving opens onto a larger room- one festooned with medical equipment on the ground floor, and what looks like several banks of computer equipment up above. Operational computer equipment, we might note.

"I think we found our place..."

[aeons_crackshot]

"I think you're right," Ellen says with a grin. "Let's go see who's home."

Annabelle will have her pistols handy and keep an eye out for trouble as they move through the room.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Whether it was their footfalls in the decidedly echoey room that set him off, or simply a habit of checking around, we may never know- but a gray-haired man with a heavily lined face pokes his head out from one of the far recesses of the room. "Hey! Who the hell are you, and what do you think you're doing here?" he demands.

[aeons_crackshot]

"We're just two folks interested in the history of Rivet City," Annabelle replies. "Dr. Pinkerton, I presume?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Hnnnf. I'm surprised anyone up there even remembers me," says the man. "Yes, I'm Dr. Horace Pinkerton. I don't know who you are, and I'm not sure that I care. You're probably working hand in hand with those backstabbers topside anyway."

"Actually," says Ellen, "Mr. Holmes said you were probably the only one left who knew the truth about how Rivet City got started...."

[aeons_crackshot]

"Backstabbers?" Annabelle inquires. "We're interested in the truth about the founding of this city Dr. Pinkerton, whatever it may be."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Well, you've been poking around all right," Pinkerton ungraciously concedes. "I'll bet they still laugh about how they edged me out of the Council back then. But you can set the record straight."

"We're big believers in accurate records," says Ellen.

Pinkerton nods. "For that, you have to go all the way back to when remnants of the Naval Research Institute cleared the mirelurks off this wreck about forty years ago. We were looking for more lab space, and this bucket of bolts just happened to have a well-preserved science bay on it. Everything else just grew up around that lab once we got it up and running... and the science team was led by one H. Pinkerton."

[aeons_crackshot]

"So you were in charge of the science team that started this place, that would explain why we were referred to you for information. What kind of research were you doing, and what Council are you talking about?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"The same as anyone who had any sense- environmental monitoring and adaptational biological research. Not the kind of 'Project Purity' pipe dream that pushed me out. And I mean the city council, the one that runs all the major policies and affairs of Rivet City and our dealings with the rest of this godforsaken wilderness." He turns and yanks open a drawer, rummages a moment, then shoves a notebook and a holotape at the two women. "Here! They probably don't even remember, but I kept minutes of that first meeting when we organized ourselves. That'll put them in their place."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle will take the notebook and the tapes if Ellen doesn't. "Thank you, this will be very useful. Project Purity? I'm not familiar with that name." That name is setting off all kinds of warning klaxons in Annabelle's mind...

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Then you haven't met Dr. Li and her ambitious little team of backbiters," sniffs Pinkerton. "They showed up about eighteen years ago talking about purifying all the water left in the tidal basin at once like it was some kind of actual possibility, and my whole staff turned on me, the traitors. Suddenly I was being squeezed out of my own lab for the sake of the flat-out impossible."

[aeons_crackshot]

"No, I haven't," Annabelle agrees. "Is that why you've set up here, because they drove you out of your original lab?"

Annabelle is rather relieved that Project Purity involved water and not, say, removal of certain groups of people from existence.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Damn straight. I'm not about to hang around a bunch of ingrates- I know when I'm not wanted," says Pinkerton. "Now, are you done asking questions? Can I get back to work?"

Ellen's busy scanning over the results of the holotape, since it slots into her Pip-Boy rather nicely, but she nods to Annabelle. "I've pretty much got what I came for," she says. "Thank you very much, sir."

[aeons_crackshot]

"Thank you sir, we have what we needed," Annabelle adds. "I'm ready to leave whenever you are," she says to Ellen.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Don't let your guard down," says Pinkerton; Ellen nods and heads out.

As the door closes behind them Ellen says, "Well, that was interesting."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle grins, "I get the impression that he doesn't like people much, though that may be partially due to the falling out with the Council."

"Is there anything else we need to do here?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I can't think of anything," Ellen says. "Not unless they have a decontamination room on board."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle grimaces, "Even if there is one available here, I don't think Dr. Pinkerton would appreciate us asking to use it. We'd best do what we can to deal with the radiation on our own."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I was thinking of the other half of the ship," Ellen admits. "If they don't... you don't suppose there's some facility like that at Milliways somewhere?"

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle looks a bit embarrassed, "I hadn't thought about visiting the other half of the ship again," she admits. "As for Milliways, well...it might? I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Let's try the ship first," Ellen says. "I don't want to drip radioactive water all over the Bar if they don't. Sound good to you?"

[aeons_crackshot]

"That works for me," Annabelle replies. "The Bar gets enough strangeness as it is without adding radioactivity to the equation."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods. "We'll close the door behind us," she says, "but frankly, Pinkerton can lock it himself for all I care."

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle laughs out loud at that. "He'll have to reset all his traps too, which could take a while."