Truth and Morality: Two sides of the same coin?

May 22nd, 2277, The Citadel

Alfred Kochner slowly lifted the vial, placing it carefully upon the pedestal. Inspecting the substance for impurities, Alfred also simultaneously began drawing 8*8 Punnett Squares, calculating the specified alleles that would be passed on to the subject if the experiment proceeded according to plan. After the computer only backed his claim that the substance was pure, Alfred slowly poured the vial into a small container, the only thing inside of it of any notice was a small, unnoticed blot of tissue. He began to hum with anticipation as the first drop fell, covering the tissue completely. He then ran back to his computer after setting down the vial, looking at the video feed of the tissue as it was slowly contaminated. He looked at his Punnett Square, and hoping that he predicted correctly, the cells within the vial sample overtook the damaged cell tissue, slowly converting it into an imitation cell. Alfred smiled at this, and after decontaminating the room of any bacteria, he began the ardous process of mass producing this viral cell. Unknown to his employers, Alfred had single-handedly accomplished the feat of bio-engineering a genophage with some of the most meager resources. His heart beating with hysteria over the results that came faster than his eyes could anolyze, Alfred ran towards the door from his lab into the mess hall, several other wastelanders of varying scientific repute staring at him with curious eyes. One of them, Isaac Hansel, stopped Alfred, stopping to look at the plate sample he was carrying.

" Alfred, don't tell me that's a sample and not a full lab conversion, is it? " He asked frankly. Alfred met him with a childish stare.

" It is indeed not a sample. This work hasn't been done since the efforts of Braun! " Alfred enthusiastically replied. He then pushed aside Isaac as he opened the knob for the A.M.C room, or Accelerated Mitosis Chamber. There, he would quickly insert the sample, and once the computer calculated the proper Meiosis phases and Allele crosses, it would begin the process of micro-inserting protein based stimulants. In this way, the cell would undergo Mitosis at a three-fold rate. Alfred had begun inserting the raw calculations when Isaac stepped in, indignified by the push Alfred had given him.

" Alfred, what the hell are you thinking? I just looked at your lab records, you plan on sterilizing people? What kind of animal are you? Allowing Sterile cells to imitate and consume functional cells and render the reproductive organs useless, what kind of sick monster are you? This lab is for beneficial research! For humanity! " He exhaustedly ranted. Alfred turned and gave an disgusted snort, simply turning back to the plate.

" The Brotherhood of Steel is not a compelling force for science nor humanity. Those idiots that Lyons has in command are nothing more than fools! Scholarly monkeys, that's what they are! Have you realized the potential of achieving something more than mere regenerative cell research! The possibility of sterilizing your foes at a glance! Imagine the good that could be done for this damned planet if those raider mongrols could be stopped dead in their tracks! Their tribal society and structure would fall, and the true reclaimers of this Earth, Pure Humanity, could step in! Damn regenerative cellular research, can you not see that Stimpacks are in existence? Those relics are in good enough shape to be hand manufactured! Vault City, The Shi, The Enclave, The Western Brotherhood, hell, even the Outcasts!

The work is done, merely the distribution is what concerns Lyon's! He does not care for true progress, especially not under that religious dogma he has adopted since lying with the wasteland. The damned Church of St. Monica's has grown since his arrival to Rivet City, and where are the original researchers for Project Purity complex? Gone! He has cast them out to the hells of the waste just like he almost did with the Outcasts! He is a mere fool, nothing more than a rat in a dark cave, but if you put him in a lab, then he will no longer have power. More charismatic and eloquent individuals will replace him, and they will play his downfall none too soon. It is a pity that neither Casdin or Eden have taken action. Eden continues political monologue and subterfuge, hiring those Talon mercs as nothing more than a pre-cautionary measure before stepping in to tame the federal property he so proclaims dear. Casdin hides in his bunker near Canterburry, hoping that the Brotherhood will get overwhelmed by the opposition forces that arose after the Mutant Cleansing. "

Alfred turned his head to Isaac, still filled with disgust.

" Can't you see? The dawn of pure humanity, those of true ascendency will reclaim the Earth? The mutants that roam America are nothing more than the pathetic results of FEV experimentation by West-Tek, but the globe is still pure! Europe lives on, in the grand bunkers of Paris and Berlin, or Prague and Vienna, Moscow and Kiev! Shanghai and Beijing, still ripe with activity! The ashes of war have done nothing to destroy the determination of the globe, for they prepared properly! The Enclave Conspiracy was ignorant in the face of impending war, and condemned humanity to the Vault Projects! A waste! And now we have Lyon's scurrying about, assembling a mass army of ghouls and other discontents! The banner of war has been risen, but no hero answers the call! I shall end that madness, and I shall finish what was begun more than two hundred years ago! As I speak, this machine is transmitting the cross-sequencing data to the Outcasts, Enclave, and Western Brotherhood. The amplified signal Lyon's installed into our facility should be enough to transmit the data in less than sixteen minutes. Do you protest before logic, Isaac? " He finished with impatience.

Isaac stood in horror. He had only merely begun to grasp the effects of the Bio-weapon before Alfred explained who the facilities employers were.

" [censored], you're actually going to start a war over human purity? It's evolution! It evolves naturally! " He managed to blurt.

" You fool! The mutation of the mainland was by the extreme contamination of FEV over the coast! We're lucky Curling didn't release the damned FEV strain into the jetstream. You know that! I am merely cleansing the land of those who are contaminated, so as to give way to the millions of still pure humans roaming aimlessly, still looking for salvation! "

" You earnestly believe in what Eden says? Did you see what Autumn did to Janice during the Project Raid? " Isaac retorted.

" He did it because she did not plan on cooperating! She and James shared the same mindset, give everything to the discontents that plagued our land! Everything that our ancestors, if not the entire human race had worked and strived for so hard! They are not HUMAN! They are MONSTERS! THEY ARE FILTH! And you want to know what, Isaac? I believe that filth must be cleaned. Once the treaty has been signed, most civilized remnants of the U.S will be able to maintain a stable flow of the sterilizer to FEV stricken individuals, most of which compromise 15% of the post-war population. I can regulate it accordingly once I make my journey to their medical research facility at Fort Independence. From there, a new genesis will begin...." Alfred concluded dreamingly. He had stood in silence for fifteen seconds before Isaac staggered into the door.

" All of my work......all of the effort I placed.....is going to them? "

Alfred walked over to a small side cabinet, opening a drawer adjacent to the transmitter. Isaac was slowly going to open the door, but Alfred merely turned, giving off a feint smile.

" That is not a wise idea. If any final words I have can be spoken, it is that you made a decent assistant, but your dreams of aiding the creatures of the outside are unacceptable. This facility was founded on the principles of science unhindered. It is a pitty you're talent should go to waste in such a pointless debate. "

Isaac, had been on the fringe of turning the knob when Alfred pulled a pistol from the cabinet. A .32 Smith & Wesson revolver. Isaac screamed for merely two seconds before a gunshot was heard. The other researchers stood outside the room, wondering what had just occured. Alfred was prepared, and he simply took the initiative by also slaughtering them. After he had finished the grisly act, he slightly chuckled.

" Scientists do not make good fighters. What an ironic hypocrisy......."

Having garnered the last of his supplies, Alfred turned his germanic face towards the facility window, staring out into the blank space strewn about the Citadel. Ruins. Mutant infested ruins. It was either get murdered by the outside, or be executed by Lyon's goons for having slaughtered his pet project team. Thankfully, the watch guard was busy drinking himself to sleep near the blast doors into the Citadel A Wing, and would not notice Alfred making a quick departure. In a simple 1,2,3 series of maneuvers, Alfred had made it out of the Citadel without a hitch. The Scribes were occupied with Water Shipments, and the guards were probablly busy visiting the nearest [censored]house in the courtyard, which had been expanded by a hazardous and costly reconstruction of the outer perimeter walls. Lyon's had built a small village within the compound, and whatever could not be found outsidewoud most certainly be found within. Corrupt soldiers selling laser weaponry to thugs, initiates with no experience hiring [censored]s to keep themselves entertained from the mundane and useless firing drills, and Scribes selling all sorts of home appliances.

Reservation:

OOC: Do feel free to comment! I love critique, it takes no more than a minute to type up what you think!

This is a really good start mate. :thumbsup: I enjoy stories that explore moral greyness. Looking forward to more. Keep it up mate.

Truth and Morality: The May Ferry

May 23rd, 2277, Southern D.C Ruin's

Alfred had been busy trekking for over thirteen hours, and having stopped to look back, he heard the screaming sirens of the Citadel. Emergency klaxons and the heavy thudding of disgruntled infantry. All to familiar, Alfred thought. Contrary to popular opinion, Alfred was formerly a researcher for the Enclave, and once the Oil Rig had been destroyed, he sought employment in the most promising of causes he could find. In his opinion, he took the Brotherhood as a bright star among the night, and hoping to follow behind Autumn's expedition, sought a transfer to the D.C facility. He was summarily moved from Chicago into Raven Rock, D.C. His research there was of the benevolent and medical kind, more potent stimpacks, increasing the alloy density of structural materials, and finding methods on how to distribute water efficiently across the wasteland. He was fully aware of Eden's ambitions on distributing not only water, but the modified FEV sample. Alfred starkly disagreed. He had been a staunch opponent of the project, for he knew that if the virus made it's way acrosss Europe and Africa, not only would it kill the uncontaminated humans of the East Coast, but it would also kill off a disturbing proportion of the global population. His sympathy was noted by Autumn, but it made no advance. Once Autumn fled alongside his men back to Raven Rock, the Brotherhood secured the Jefferson Memorial with ease.

Alfred knew the danger of the Enclave's dwindling population, and he had already begun work on finding a way to increase fertility among female personnel. His final attempt worked, and with the assistance of DNA replication technology, the Enclave forces in the Midwest and South, along with Autumns division, flourished in numbers. His work then went to waste once he realized that the Enclave could never regain a foothold without the purifier. Understanding this, he requested leave, and was dropped off near Rivet City. He had worked as an researcher in the Brotherhood run Project Purity, and earned a grand reputation as the most talented individual on the team. He also earned infamy for challenging the authority of the Brotherhood Scribes, always correcting them with obvious and unseen errors in the equipment screening.


Alfred immediately snapped out of his nostalgic memories, trying to find a secure location from which to bunker down in. He had noticed that an Outcast Patrol usually swept around this area, although they were mostly initiates. Ignoring the possibility of surviving a trip through the Canterburry Caravan Fence without the proper equipment, Albert took his pistol, and slowly crouched into an abandoned residential home, slowly creaking the door open.

" It smells like dust. I would have expected something more....thrilling....." He remarked. The building consisted of an antique, hallowed, wretched version of the ideal Pre-War family home. Scanning the main foyer for any useful items, such as food or weaponry, Alfred noticed that someone was in the building before him. The creaking of wood from above slowly gained his attention, and when he saw a shining black boot appear from the top of the stairwell, he called out.

" What the? Who's down there? " The unknown figure replied in a female voice. She sounded injured, and by the further scanning of the boot, one could see blood stains. Alfred had no intention of killing anyone who he had not yet verified as infected, and let his kind figure emerge.

" I am merely a drifter. I've come a ways travelling, scavenging, and such. You look injured, may I assist? "

The woman above pulled out a slender rifle, bolt action, and crept down the stairs slowly, keeping it aimed towards Alfred. When Alfred saw her completely, he noticed that she had a small gunshot wound to her leg, and the blood has covered most of her overalls and boots. Once she reached the bottom, she lowered her rifle, noting that Alfred, did in fact, not look intimidating. He recognized this, and slowly lowering his backpack, he pulled out some forceps, and a stimpack, along with a small syringe of Med-X.

" Would you like me to assist or not? " He asked again.

" As long as you don't try anything funny, go ahead. "

In a bizarre position, the woman lay down, with her rifle inverted between her legs, still aiming at Alfred. Most women in the wasteland expected [censored] from a gang of raiders or slavers at any given time, and preparation was of the utmost importance. Alfred delicately injected the Med-X, and once the woman began to falter in her aim, he began the quick act of removing the bullet from her leg. She had slightly yelled with anger at first, but then she slipped into unconciosness as he finished removing it. Grabbing a small rag that was attached to his belt, he wiped the wound and injected a Stimpack, hoping the antique device would not falter. Once the wound began to close shut on it's own, Alfred gave a satisfactory nod and stood up, carrying the woman into a nearby chair. Placing the rifle across her arms, he looked around for anything to do, and came across a radio in the kitchen. He began to tune it, occasionally interupting the room with blank noise.

" You know what frequency GNR is, right? " The woman surprisingly responded. Alfred turned quickly, astonished that she had recovered so quickly. Noting that Enclave Radio was not broadcasted in this area of D.C, he turned the dials and came across the sweet sounds of the Ink Spots. He did not recognize the song, but nonetheless he enjoyed it. The woman quickly sat up and tossed her rifle inside an old cabinet, turning to Alfred.

" Seem pretty trusting to have given me back my rifle. Most doctors wouldn't even think of giving me back half my possessions."

" I do not emulate the animalistic behaviour of the wasteland. I do as necessary, and if I can benefit one in distress worthy to recieve attention, I will do so in a second. You never said your name, which would be? " He asked.

" Jenny, Jenny Lawson. I ended up here after Grayditch was burnt down. Most people who left never came back, but I heard it's a recovering town. You happen to come from anywhere near? "

Alfred could not lie, and of what point would it be to do so? It would perhaps create an awkward pause, but revealing that he came from California wouldn't give anyone a panic attack.....

" California. Far out west. " He managed to say.

Jenny grew a pale face, and looked at him as if he were a ghost.

" That wouldn't happen to also include Navarro, would it?......" She responded.

Alfred also grew pale. How the hell does she know what Navarro is? Where it is!

" How did you gain that information? "

" William Brandice. He was an Enclave deserter, he didn't agree with some sort of debate or idea they had. Good fellow, if not a little paranoid. "

Alfred slowly packed his stuff, hoping the woman wouldn't shoot him for being affiliated with the group.

" I don't mind if you're Enclave. I just want to know if you actually care , or if you just actually want to fill the empty role of wasteland warlord...." She solemnly said.

Alfred chuckled at that. Setting his bag down, he looked at her with the eyes of a wise teacher educating his apprentice.

" The Brotherhood can fake victory, but the Enclave cannot fake sincerity, wether it be the genocidal ambition of our former leader, or the caring and disicplined mind of Autumn and Eden. There is not truth, only different lenses. "

" Seem's profound enough. Speaking eloquently won't get you much from raiders, though. "

Alfred remembered her wound, and wondered.

" Just out of curiousity, how did you get that wound? Normally, most people don't have access to .308 Caliber rounds. A little unusual considering you're isolated out here. "

She looked at him with a slight grin.

" I was on a merc job. I hire my specialty with a gun to perform scavenge or secure operations. It just so happened my employer was the Brotherhood, and they managed to lead me toward a raider encampment, more fortified then usual, to scavenge for some damn laser rifles they had stolen. We lost half the platoon in the first wave, and then I got shot leading the second. The survivors, mostly young kids, got torn apart by raiders who closed in on the wounded, while some of us managed to limp away from the scene. Two of them, girls from Megaton, got [censored] by the warband leader, and were driven back into the camp as slaves. The other survivor limped off successfully, and I've managed to avoid them ever since. I draw a fine between dying honorably in battle, and getting constantly [censored] as the warboss slave. Don't discount necrophilia from those sick bastards. " She added.

Alfred understood, and knew that the Brotherhood often sent more competent infantry to scavenge items of value, but more often than not failed in getting anything. He immediately dropped the subject, and simply set his mind on finding a place to rest.

" Do you have a bed available, if so not as to intrude? " He asked. Alfred was in his thirties, and this woman appeared to be in her early thirties, and it could easily be taken as a sixual invitation. He had hoped not. He had learned to break apart any attachments of emotional value, and placed his research ahead of everything.

" Sure. There's one in the attic, if I'm right. I sleep on the second floor, so if you need anything, just call me out. Don't get greedy though. "

Alfred gave a quick smile, and after being lead to the attic, opened the trap door. He climbed up a small ladder, laid down his things, set his pack near an old cabinet, closed the trap door, and began to rest. The mattress he was provided was nothing more elegant than the spartan beds of the Citadel, but it would do. Giving a quick glance to his revolver, he slept.

Reserved until further notice.