Fallout: Equestria - Parallelism

I open my eyes and stare sleepily at the ceiling of my room in Lucky 38. I sigh tiredly.

I haven't had that nightmare in a long time. Again it remind me of the horrible event that had caused Brice's death.

Anger at myself for what I had done dispell my sleepy state. I get out of bed, go to the light switch, and flick it. The room with the crimson wallpaper light up with a warm yellow glow. My eyes see the several wooden cabinets with my clothes and armor, and the black metal drawers where my valuable ammunition and weapons are stored. I feel back into thinking about the nightmare I have seen, shifting my gaze from one piece of furniture to the next. In time to pull myself together, I shook my head and go to the bathroom.

I take a cold shower, comb my black hair back carefully, and go to have breakfast. On my way to the kitchen, I'm almost run over by my favorite cyberdog. His appearance make me smile.

"Good morning, Rex," I say and lean over to scratch my friend behind the ear, to which he barks happily. He looks hungry, ready to tear apart a gecko or two. "Well, are you hungry?"

Rex barks happily.

"Me too, now you and I are going to stuff our bellies with something."

I give Rex his beloved gecko meat. Rex's sticking his tongue out, smelling the appetizing scent, standing up on his hind legs, and barking. He, like a true predator, looks at his prey, shaking his head in time with the movements of a piece of red and appetizing meat. After admiring his reaction, I toss him this juicy meat.

I get my favorite radscorpion casserole and an ice-cold Nuka-Cola. I sit down at the big oblong table with about a dozen chairs. Looking at them make me feel lonely... I mean, the table is big and I'm almost alone. No one to talk to.

I sigh wistfully with a piece of casserole in my mouth. There used to be more people and more fun in this presidential suite. Even before the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, my best friends used to hang out here. All of my companions have their own rooms at the Lucky 38, but they are rarely here now.

After a satisfying breakfast with a sense of wistful nostalgia for the past, I take the elevator up to the penthouse to have a word with Yes Man, who had become a full-fledged artificial intelligence.

"Good morning, Daniel," the AI says with an eternally happy 'face' as I walk over to the console with its many flickering buttons and huge screen, flanked by smaller screens that stream live video feeds from security cameras located all over The Strip.

"My morning respects to you, too," I smile slightly. "How's it going in New Vegas, did anything interesting happen overnight?"

"No. Just the usual: a steady stream of tourists ready to flush their caps at the casinos in hopes of making a big score, raging drunks, petty thieves, noisy conversations, and many other mundane things going on in the city of vice and entertainment. Nothing special happened, my dear friend."

"How are my friends?" I ask, remembering my partners back at breakfast.

"Perfectly all right. Boone and Cass are alive and well in the caravan, Veronica is doing Brotherhood business, Arcade is doing research in Old Mormon Fort, and Raul and ED-E are spending time in the workshop..."

"That's nice to hear," I say.

It's the same thing every day. My friends are doing just fine. Everyone has found their own business in peaceful Vegas, Yes Man is doing fine with its threats. There's nothing for me to do here, and I don't want to be in the workshop. It's time to get out of this place. The nightmare reminded me of the past, it's time to go back to where it all began. I'm curious to see how things have changed.

"I'm thinking of going east."

"Already?" There is a sense of sadness in his voice. "Have you decided to do it today?"

"Yes. And don't even try to talk me out of it. You already tried, don't waste your calculating powers on it again."

"I won't. I've already made my peace with it. I hope you will someday come to terms with what you've done in your time, too."

"I wish..." I sigh heavily.

"To the east... That's where Caesar's Legion lands are. After their defeat at Hoover Dam, it's chaos down there."

"I'll take the detour. It will be a long journey... But. If something serious happens that you can't handle when I leave—which I doubt—then call me on the radio and I'll teleport here using Big Mountain Transportalponder."

"Absolutely. What about your friends? They'll be surprised at your sudden departure. You didn't tell them you were leaving soon."

"I don't like long good-byes. Just in case, I'll leave a holotape of the reason for my decision. It'll be in my room. There will also be a diary with my thoughts on the past. When they know all about my past, they'll understand why I don't sit still. You figured it out..."

"Sure." Yes Man pauses for a moment. "It was interesting in my day to hear what was going on so far away on the East Coast. Anyway, good luck, my dear friend. I hope to see you again sometime."

"Who knows... And good luck to you, Yes Man." I smile and head for the elevator. "I almost forgot." I add without turning around. "When I leave, deliver Rex to The King. I don't want to wait until he's free of his business."

"Okay."

I am firm in my decision, but still I feel a heavy heart at leaving the place I have been so quickly... for the umpteenth time.

***

The first thing I do is to sort through my trophies. It's a shame to leave them like this, but there's nothing I can do about it, because I can't carry everything on my back. I'll take only the essentials...

I take a bigger backpack and begin to put there food, tools for repairing various crap, medical supplies for first aid, medicines and other trifles, like the gilded engraved lighter of Benny and memorabilia. I attach the sleeping bag to the bottom of the backpack. Water goes fast on trips and is always a problem, but at a certain point it was no longer an issue. In the Big MT Research Facility I got a very interesting portable device that condenses water from the air. In twelve hours it collects almost two quarts of purified water. A microfusion breeder will provide uninterrupted power for the device for years to come. How glad I am that I have no problem finding water, all that's left is getting meat.

Now it is the turn for weapons... Jingwei's shocksword, one of the things I kept from my wanderings in the Capital Wasteland. Pushy, an energetic power knuckle that creates a powerful sound wave capable of tearing apart an opponent's head. A sniper rifle with a silencer—it once belonged to Christine. A mysterious magnum, an expensive gift from a guitarist. A carbine pistol with a silencer and laser pointer. A knife Blood-Nap, which was obtained in The Divide. Also I take two grenades, energy batteries for the Pushy and ammo for the firearms.

I dress myself in light gray armor with a dark blue cloak attached to it to protect my body. The cloak has great significance to me; it is a gift from Ulysses. The symbol on it is a big spades from playing cards with yellow numbers '21' in the center. In addition to the armor, there are several pouches and pockets where I usually put the necessities: ammo, stimpacks, hairpin and screwdriver, grenades, pouches with caps. I take five pouches of a hundred caps each and put them in my pockets.

My head will be protected by an elite riot gear helmet with three types of visors, which is also compatible with the Pip-Boy interface.

After gathering everything I need, I take the recording device, set it on the coffee table, and sit down on the couch. For a few minutes, I'm thinking about what I should say, and then lean over and turn on the device.

"Friends..."

***

"...Goodbye," I say the last word and turn off the recording device. It has recorded for almost ten minutes.

I take the tape I have recorded, look at it with a heavy heart, and put it back on the wooden table. Next to it I also put my newly recorded diary. I had been writing it for about two months, and finished it two days before my birthday. On that day, two weeks ago, my twenty-seventh birthday, all my friends gathered for the last time.

Almost eight years ago I had left the Capital Wasteland in a similar way, leaving a holotape on the table in my home in Megaton without saying a word to anyone about my departure. Only Moira informed. She was a funny person with an equally funny voice and accent.

On my way to the elevator, Rex meet me: maybe he thinks I'm taking him with me, so he wagging his tail happily. I sit down in front of him and scratch his ear with a wistful expression.

"I'll miss you," I smile sadly at him. My eyes begin to tingle slightly. I have to go, or I'm going to cry. I step into the elevator and press the elevator button, and I see his distraught muzzle before door is closed.

***

On The Strip I am greeted by the same beautiful, bright, unique, and serene Vegas: tourists strolling down the vast street lit by bright neon signs, some visitors lounging on benches and chatting noisily with one another, music blaring from the establishments, and securitron eager to keep order in unremarkable places.

On my last walk along The Strip, people who are passing by occasionally greet me, recognizing me as a legend. To those who show me courtesy, I nod and smile in return. One of the perks of this popularity is... the feeling that my life matter. Unfortunately, behind the popularity is a series of failures. The deaths of loved ones, friends, and innocents... that's the price of popularity.

I take one last deep breath of the scent of the city of entertainment and hit the road. To the Capital Wasteland.

***

It's been a week since I started this journey east. I'm traveling in the dark so that I would be harder to spot. Every day the scenery is the same: a vast grayish-yellow desert, with huge mountains and cliffs rising in some places, and a ruined highway with the occasional car abandoned two hundred years ago.

Sometimes I'm missing my motorcycle that I left in Lucky 38. On the other hand, it was the right thing to do: I have no reason to hurry anyway, and with a motorcycle I would constantly have to think about fuel; besides, its noise would only attract attention.

I saw old gas stations, abandoned saloons, and lonely houses along the way. There was nothing to eat here, though; everything had been stripped out a long time ago. Often I paused there and waited out the sun. The only things I found in such places were radroach, rats, and bicentennial skeletons. I have managed to avoid encounters with raiders... because there were none.

On the road, I pay attention to such small details as the tracks on the dried earth that sometimes appear next to the road, and to old ruins and small rocks, as there could be potential enemies hiding there. Thankfully, Pip-Boy has been helping me locate them ahead of time. Focusing my attention on my surroundings allow me to distract myself from unpleasant thoughts of the past. What is there to watch for, though, when it is dark and I can't see a damn thing without night vision.

It's been a couple of hours, it's already starting to dawn noticeably, and it's about to get hot. I've looked for a camp site for an hour, and find one. I spot a cave of sorts. Walk up to it, I don't notice any sign at the entrence that local animals has been visiting it. Extremely unusual... as are the feelings it stir in me. Common sense telling me to look for another resting place, but the inquisitive part of me hold me back. I have to think it over.

Right now nobody else's life depends on my decision but my own... I'm only risking myself. Nothing serious should happen if I just look around this cave. I want to satisfy my curiosity.

Standing at the entrance of the cave, I take a deep breath and... go inside. For the first few minutes, I don't find anything dangerous or strange, except an unfamiliar sensation. At my own risk, I light a fire and unfold the sleeping bag. I sit down on it and cook radscorpion meat. I eat it and drink the water condensed by the device.

Unusual sensations interested me, thoughts about them do not leave me. Probably, there may be some kind of radiation present here, driving away all sorts of critters. It is necessary to check the efficiency of all my technologies, devices and gadgets.

Pip-Boy works properly, radiation all around is within normal limits. The helmet systems and visors are fine. I select one function in the Pip-Boy and become transparent and almost invisible in the blink of an eye. After making sure the stealth field is working, I turn it off. I managed to modify my Pip-Boy with a stealth field some time ago in The Think Tank. It uses up the Pip-Boy charge I need for the VATS system, but gives me a tangible advantage in combat... and in some tricky situations where I need to disappear from sight. Even if it's just for two minutes, until the energy is restored.

I check the functioning of my implants with the Pip-Boy just in case: perhaps the strange sensations are due to a malfunction. The improvements on my heart, brain, and spine from my visit to The Think Tank do not signal any malfunction. And individual implants—'PHOENIX' that regenerates my body, 'Nociception Regulator' that maintains the resilience of my nervous system, 'Optics Enhancer' that improves my perception, and 'Weight Absorbers' in each leg that increase their resilience—all working like clockwork.

I look at my hands. There is one combat implant in each of them. As I activate them through the Pip-Boy, I feel the familiar tingling vibration in my palms, the energy bubbling inside. I bent the fingers of my right hand inward into my palm and tensing them. In an instant, a shimmering halo of purple energy forms between my fingertips. I look up at the opposite rock in the cave, wave my hand in its direction, and at that moment spread my fingers. In an instant, the blob of energy reaches its target, bursting into a faint purple light. Something reminiscent of the explosion of a pulse grenade.

After watching the effect, I look in Pip-Boy screen. 'EMP Generator' is functioning steadily. I can make four more of these throws with the remaining energy. It takes two hours to regenerate the remaining charge for one throw.

I turn off that implant and turn on the other, lift my left hand and do the same movements and manipulations as I did with my right hand. Only this time a reddish halo of energy forms between my fingertips. It reaches the target, burst into flames and set it on fire. The rock is still engulfed in flames in the affected area for ten seconds, and then the fire is gone.

'Hyperfrequency Emitter'. Similar to the previous one, I can do four more throws. The expended charge of one throw recovers within two hours. I turn it off and look thoughtfully at the fire.

All of these implants had taken root in my body, my body had accepted them. Of course, there were many other implants to choose from, but my body proved incompatible with them. Nevertheless, the implants I have are enough to give me an advantage in combat and survival.

No indirect confirmation of possible radiation can be obtain—most likely, it simply does not exist. There is nothing to worry about.

I lie down and close my eyes.

***

I wake up in the evening, still lying on my sleeping bag for a while, staring upward, thinking about what I had seen in my dream. The dream was very... unaccustomed. In it I saw the most dangerous moments when I found myself in death. The coma after the activation of Project Purity. The plane crash, where I was the only survivor of a flight with the Brotherhood Outcasts to the West Coast. Shot in the head over the delivery of a harmless platinum chip. A hard fight with Legate Lanius. The betrayal of a friend that resulted in me being buried alive again in a grave.

I didn't go deep into the cave, so the rays of the setting sun are penetrating the part of it I am in, allowing me to see the ceiling of the cave. I don't know if it's the cave or the dreams that are affecting me now, but I feel inexplicably uneasy. It was probably the memories of the events when my life was hanging by a thread that caused it, but... what had caused it in the first place?

I take a platinum chip out of my pocket and twirl it in my fingers. It looks harmless... but while ago it almost caused me to death. In result, I only temporarily lost my memories. My memory had been coming back to me for a year. I have no idea why I pulled the chip. Perhaps the intense dreams reminded me of it. I put it back in my pocket, lie back for a few more minutes, and then get up, gather my things, and go to explore the cave. I will not stop until I get the answer, because this riddle will not give me peace for a long time.

I wander around this seemingly small cave for about an hour. I can't see anything, not even my nose—it's so dark. The cave is like a maze, and if it aren't for my Pip-Boy with its lights and my night-vision helmet, I'd definitely get lost and run into some rock wall.

I am looking at the wall... and I slip and tumble down, catch myself on the edge of the cliff.

"Shit!" I blurt out angrily.

I just realize how slippery those rocks are, I lose my grip and fall down. Almost immediately, I land on a steep sandy slope and roll forward. I regroup and stop my slide into the unknown.

I feel a few minor bumps and bruises. I am lucky to be wearing heavy armor and a helmet, or my injuries would have been more serious. I move down carefully, get to a flat surface, I stand up, shook myself off, look where I have fallen, and then look at where I had fallen from. And sigh heavily.

Great...

From the top of the sandy slope to the precipice is no small height. I can't jump, not even taking into account the fact that I have to get to the top of the steep slope. The portable teleportation device doesn't work, so I have to find another way.

***

The cave hall around me is... huge. The vault of the cave is very high, barely visible with my night vision visor on. The space around it is covered with rock debris. Somewhere the surface rises, somewhere it deepens.

At one point in my wanderings, I notice a strange spherical-shaped object. I approach it with great interest. It is in a small rounded hole, in the very center of it. I have the impression that it was the cause of the hole. The sphere is glimmering and shimmering, either dark blue or light yellow light. It is unusual and difficult to perceive such a thing on the eye, but at the same time I cannot take my eyes off of it. It is unsettling, but also mesmerizing... and I'm draw to it mentally for some unknown reason. I want to touch it. I'm approaching with slow steps closer and closer, unable to resist, it has some kind of hypnotic effect on me.

I come close to the sphere and touch it, I finally realize the recklessness and rashness of my actions, but it is too late. Some unknown force pull me inside.