FORTY-THREE
BIGGER AND BETTER THAN TRANQUILLITY LANE
WELCOME TO THE LAND OF GROGNAK THE BARBARIAN
:rofl:

Rose'Ama dropped about a metre into thick, greasy grass like plants and hard muddy earth, then rose up as she wished that she wore something other than city clothes and shoes. Even as she did, she sparkle shimmered and found herself wrapped head to foot in SEARF style stealth power armour.

The SEARF troopers, two women and a man, dropped lightly down around her. The Tron-Series robots dropped down more heavily but none fell over. They were four each of labtrons, worktrons and protectrons. Then came eight soldiers in light power armour, nine techs in jumpsuits and five scientists in labcoat gear. Last of all came three robocarts trundling along full of equipment and supplies. One tipped but was caught and pulled up before much could spill off it. Everything that fell off was reclaimed.

The only one that had not come through was the superclone Professor James Patriot Jackson.

Great flying-reptiles flew through the air while dinosaurs stomped through great fern and palm jungles in the distance. The dinosaurs all seemed to be herbivores but they were not quite right and came from different real periods of dinosaur existence. That is dinosaurs that naturally would have lived many millions of years separate from each other, were moving and feeding quite close together.

The scientists and techs slipped into light armoured hazmat suits packed into two of the fairly big robocarts. Handguns, lasers and 10mmSC autopistols, were taken out and handed around to the unarmed. The last three got dartpistols as the group ran out of other kinds of handguns.

In the distance was a mountain, a cliff face and what looked like an ornately carved fortified settlement carved out of the cliff face. People were moving around but were too far away to be seen clearly. Other things moved around but were too far away also to be seen clearly. There were balconies, columns, windows, ramps and other such features protected by what seemed to be some kind of sheet of transparent material falling down over the cliff face.

A tall lanky scientist, now in an AHST, came to her holding a dartpistol a little nervously until she took it from him and put it away in its holster at his hip. He grinned mildly at her through his visor.

"Professor Arnold Brim is my name. This place seems familiar somehow but not quite right. The dinosaurs are from different prehistoric periods. There was no grass back in the Age of the Dinosaurs."

She nodded. "Ferns and palms but some real trees also in the distance but that cliff settlement is the real oddity." She turned towards large clumps of odd ferny bushes closer at hand. "We have company."

Up rose two muscular children in odd furs and leathers including boots and belts. Each had leather pouches, a bronze bladed longknife in one hand and a kind of shieldsword on the wrist and over the hand of the other arm. They were twins and they had similarities to both their father, Grognak the Barbarian, and their mother Ki'Leafena the Priestess. Yet they also had softly glowing emblems of power hanging on leather bands around their necks and in bronze bracelets on the wrists with out the shieldswords. They were most likely around ten years old.

The boy growled brave guttural spoken words. "Who is it that trespasses on the lands of our father, Chief Grognak the Great?"

But the girl shushed him and then she spoke while he sulked. "We are Ki'Aarie and Ki'Aaron of the Cliff People of the Ki'Konda. Now we are homeless as an evil mage and his strange army have conquered our Cliffhold of Ki'Cliffan. We squat like savages in the Ki'Mossan Caves where we normally cultivate special mosses, mushrooms, meatworms and blindfish. We came scouting for we are special, as you are, with powers."

Rose'Ama responded fluently in the same language. "You are not alone but have been followed by protectors."

The boy snorted. "None could?"

But then, out of seeming nowhere, appeared three smooth skinned young women in little more than webbing of pouch dotted belts of leather and some other items. These were primeval super-soldiers, or should that be super-warriors, known as the Jilljanes, who served Chief Grognak after he had saved their people. They were in some of the GROGNAK THE BARBARIAN comic books.

"Told you!" Ki'Aarie looked smugly at her brother and then at the newcomers again. "You have weirding technologies as do the invaders led by the evil Professor James Patriot Jackson who captures people, animals and monsters to do terrible experiments on them. We must return to the Ki'Mossan Caverns."

Her brother whistled out into the open trotted two fairly big dinosaurs, something like peaceful heavy two legged predators but these were omnivores. They were horsesauruses and each had a saddle, panniers and other harness gear.

So they set out away from the captured Cliffhold and towards another, more distant mountain with another cliff face showing. A predator dinosaur darted along in the distance, just a little bigger than the horsesauruses, but came no closer.

Also in the distance a copper scale-armoured dragon, one of those magically evolved from dinosaurs by a variant of the Forced Evolutionary Spell, or FES, flew above the cliff face they were heading towards and then dived downwards to vanish from sight.

They passed an ancient ruin of a Washington DC subway entrance with a sign there, a thing of stone and skulls, warning of zhouls, giant cockroaches and other terrible threats. There had once been a great city in that land but it had been destroyed and only parts of it remained, many of them with strange monsters and other threats.

Then they were passing a mass of slowly rusting machinery made of smart-materials such as an atomic motorised family car, a protectron robot and a toilet cubicle. But then Rose'Ama stopped, turned and walked to the protectron, sensing something important in doing this. The robot sparkle shimmered briefly and then it was standing, brand new and ready to serve.

By the time they left the pile they had the following extra; two protectrons, a policetron, two shopping trolleys full of smaller useful gear being pushed by two worktrons and an eyebot being wafted along on its hoverjets with its two manipulator-arms carefully folded up. Androids, techs and scientists carried extra stuff, some grumbling, so that the others could continue to keep guard.

The prehistoric twins kept glancing at Rose'Ama in amazement but so did all the others except for the SEARF who had themselves experienced many strange wonders.

TO BE CONTINUED

FORTY-FOUR
LIFE AND DEATH IN DC-WASTELANDS
WONDERFUL FREE STUFF, NOT SO WONDERFUL DANGER
:celebration: :shakehead:

With a sharp humming noise that soon died down to a softer background effect, the big experimental NukaCola machine came to life after over two hundred years of waiting to do this very thing. Bright lights danced up and down its front. It showed up fairly clearly in a big underground shopping arcade (mall) where emergency lights lit up the surprisingly good condition area with moderate dimness. The machine was bigger and more colourful than a normal NukaCola vending-machine. A 3Dflatscreen lit up with a dancing, singing NukaColagirl in a fairly skimpy leotard, tophat and high-heels outfit of a circus routine. The noise of tap dancing and singing was fairly muted.

A big radroach scuttled past, only pausing to check out the dancing figure, and then raced onwards to its nest. It had smelt nothing of usefulness to its survival. Two molemice, smaller cousins to molerats, did the same.

Then came four raiders, gangers in their armour and colours, moving quick and seeking loot. Gangers had been driven more into isolated areas or into hiding in the DC-Wastelands with growing troubles of various kinds except for some bigger, stronger, better organised gangs. The Iron'Biters were one of those and the SuperDuperMart was their base of operations.

They saw the operating machine and were startled. They crept up upon it lest it was a trap. They checked carefully for booby-traps. They carefully checked the machine and found, to their surprise, that it offered free credit of $100 to be renewed every day. The image of the NukaColagirl explained, in a sweet sixy voice, that this was an experimental replication machine and that it would create its own products, never needing to be filled up by outsiders. The only thing was, at times, he might need time to fill up its inventory if too much was taken from it in a short time. The machine would also except Emergency Issue Currency in coins and cards, Predoomsday cash, NukaCola voucher-cards, NukaCola prize-cards and various credit, debit or pay smartcards. This currency acceptance list would be changing in future as would the list of items offered.

But wait, there was more!

Every time a bottle of NukaCola (three nifty flavours), NukaWater (cold purified water) a NukaBar foodbar (nine) mouth water flavours or NukaSweet icecream bar (five tongue tingling flavours) was bought or a bottle of rare NukaCola Quantum, there was a 'random' chance of gaining a NukaCola marked toy truck filled with small goodies, a NukaCola robotic toy Liberty Prime, a NukaColagirl figure, a baseball cap, a baseball bat, a baseball Tshirt, a baseball, a five'n'one pocket-tool, a solar hand-torch, a basic solar hand-computer, a NukaCola Tshirt, a NukaCola shorts, a NukaCola bikini set, a NukaCola 3Dposter, a NukaColagirl 3Dposter or a NukaColagirl 3D comic-book.

But wait, there was even more!

Every time a product was bought there was a 'random' chance of gaining double the product, triple the product, a voucher-card, a prize-card, a special prize card or a special other.

But wait, there was even more than that!

Empty NukaCola bottles placed in the special chute at the side would gain credit for new purchases.

It was a wonderful treasure, a new source of resources but the gangers would have to guard it from others, be they gangers, other raiders, zhouls or anything else. In their excitement they did not bother to examine the rest of the machine. They did not notice the odd little black open tube sticking into the air from high above on the side opposite the one that had the bottle return chute. This was understandable for it was very small and was surrounded by grids, loops of tubing and other devices designed mostly to help conceal the small open tube.

They bought a six-pack of NukaCola, original flavour, and gained three six-packs. The NukaCola was ice cold. NukaCola wasn't supposed to be addictive but it was and it helped make raiders what they were, even mere gangers. Back before Doomsday there was a large group of scientists, nutritionalists and others who fought to have NukaCola banned. They pointed out that NukaCola played upon those with certain genetic traits to cause a range of exotic and severe mental and physical reactions. President James Patriot Jackson loved NukaCola and had the group broken up after its leader was killed by a hit and run NukaCola delivery truck.

From the small black open tube drifted a single small patch of grey fog that glowed softly morgue light from within. It drifted down to floor level and remained close to the wall. A fast running mouse jerked rapidly to one side to avoid it. Flies staid away from it. The raiders totally failed to notice it. Instead they bought more items and the fog collected as more bits were added to it.

They won some Tshirts that none of them could fit but that did not matter because gangers traded with one another, often at informal meets, and these were brand new, clean and still wrapped. Mostly they gained six-packs of NukaBars of moderate nutritional value but food was always hard to get, and six-packs of NukaWater, purified water also being hard to get.

The four raiders hurried back to the main encampment with their loot and for a while the small patch of glowing fog followed them. Then it turned to one side, attracted by something else, and drifted against the draft through hallway after hallway until it came to a charnel house of recently dumped bits of bodies, skeletal remains and much else. Living things moved, if it could, away from it and such as moss repulsed it but soon the ghastly glowing fog was starting to feed on rotting meat. As it did it very slowly but steadily grew in size and power.

Strange to think that the largely buried, largely hidden SuperDuperMart complex was only a few kilometres from the Grand National Mall itself and the big conflict being waged there. Every so on there was even a minor tremor that ran through the place, causing concrete dust to drift down onto what ever was below.

Other Iron'Biters raced to the replication-vendor and bought other gear. They bought with them empty NukaCola bottles, EICs, Predoomsday money and some vouchers with them. They gained extra items that they bought. They won a baseball bat, a five'n'one pocket-tool and two NukaColagirl Tshirts. As they did so, they added to the size and threat of the morgue lit fog, but only slowly.

In theory the Iron'Biters would fight each other for prizes but secretly, making sure no outsiders learned the embarrassing truth, they held a rather peaceful raffle as they always did. Items went to many as small prizes. There was also some peaceful follow up trading. Experience had taught them that they needed every fighting fit fighter they could get and any stupid internal conflict was to be avoided. Fighting over leadership was agreeable but over a Tshirt?

TO BE CONTINUED

FORTY-FIVE
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN BRIEF
:clap: oo:

Fighting at the Grand National Mall continued to be brutal but casualties were limited down by growing experience in what had become a kind of urban trench warfare. Fighting had spread underground. The Union of Columbia, Orders of Steel and their allies now formed what was officially known as the Free Alliance.

The Sisters of Steel had adapted tactics, often launching longer range missiles from further out from the war zone proper and relying on stealth style night attacks; this way they lost less aircraft and trained, experienced aircrew.

The Brotherhood of Steel had been forced to accept that power armour, especial standard and heavy power armour, had special limits in such a conflict; for now they relied more upon faster, more agile trench-fighters in various types of lighter power armour, be they stealth, scouting or general light combat.

The Primateriarch joined the Free Alliance and sent two regiments of soldiers, chimpnoids and others, to do battle with the super-mutants. The tribals were having troubles with raiders so were unable to send assistance for now. The chimpnoid soldiers proved to be lethal trench-fighters.

Another trick used more often was mobile weapons firing from skyscraqers overlooking the great expanse of the mall, even some fairly big weapons. They had to move after firing for a short time so that the enemy would not mark them as targets for their longer range weapons.

Larger stupid-mutants were often too slow and cumbersome for close order trench fighting so the enemy began to rely more heavily on zentaurs and smart-mutants to do this fighting. Behemoths spent a good deal of time crouching and crawling in big ditches, sometimes grumbling about sore knees.

New mutant enemies started entering the fight with the appearance of soon to be named diredogs, super-mutant hounds of monstrous size and power, and winged zentaur like wingtaurs. Laser armed eyebots and bigger gunbots, both with their hoverjets and double-jointed manipulator-limbs, were a great defence against the fast flying and agile wingtaurs. Even bigger MrGutsys were a little too slow.

The super-mutants were definitely looking for something though most were fighting or simply holding ground in readiness to fight. Beneath the Grand National Mall was a large subway station that had only opened just a few months before Doomsday. The Free Alliance High Command figured the super-mutant search was probably focused there. Official 3Dmaps and other data on the huge monorail train and tram station gave no real clues to what the monstrous creatures might be seeking except for some odd gaps and inconsistencies in the data.

The uncommon sharp-mutants, that is the truly 'smart' smart-mutants, and the even less common psyker-mutants, seemed to be focusing mainly on the search. Somehow realising their cover had been broken, they did not bother to act like common smart-mutants when they led units in the fighting.


In NuHopeland of Orbis, NuHopetown was moved totally except for a small monument, to an area where it could expand more and gain access to more resources. This generally pleased most NuHopetowners. A fair few ended up being punished and some were terminated for the hostage taking incident at the school and for a bigger planned crime that had not been instigated; that is, amazingly enough, the nuking of NuHopeHub itself by a makeshift weapon made up of mininukes. The plan would never have begun to succeed.

Eddie'Jo remained in NuHopeland with his people there. A steady stream of SEARF people, including specials, androids and followers, began to come through to the NuHopeHub from the DC-Wastelands. No more troublesome incidents took place but the mystery of how the raiders had gotten into Orbis from the DC-Wastelands was not solved, let alone that of the evil superclone and the JAGAF super-soldiers.

The phoney war of SEARF and JAGAF ended as the super-soldiers began fighting in a series of raids and counter attacks against each other and others. Yet very few of the super-soldiers actually died such was their fighting skills and recovery abilities. JAGAF seemed keen on stopping SEARF from learning what actually was happening down in the depths of the Grand National Mall.

Aarie and Aaron, the twins in LifeVault-101, used their new ability to replicate a few select valuable items. They were careful to sell items to traders of the secret market with good reputations for being discrete. The twins identified themselves as being only go-betweens as they pretended that a trader was using them to courier goods and payments or return goods in trade. They researched how they could learn more about Sector Thirteen, the subvault that officially did not exist. Otherwise they lived their normal vault lives as expected by society and the Vaultgov.

High Overseer Alphonse Almodovar tried to gain an increase in power but only succeeded in a few small, non vital changes. A reformation of the Vaultgov began with the rise of a Elder Triad of High Overseer, Secondary Overseer and Guardian Overseer. Then there was the Grand Elder Council of Senior Elders, there were Junior Elders, Coordinators, Supervisors and various Offices and Services. Sector Ten was finally cleared and totally sealed off.

Jack'O'Man was reunited with his wife after she spent some time away. The Antislavers won a series of victories as they learned how to tell real convoys to false ones. They also found some slavers willing to sell valuable information for high quality tradegoods and Emergency Issue Coins. The flow of slaves into Paradise Falls began to lessen but not due, Jack'O'Man had to admit, to the Antislavers. The slavers were running out of people to enslave with Wastelanders abandoning smaller settlements and going to safer areas along with increasingly more areas becoming too dangerous for slavers to operate in.

Captain Jane Eye of the UCCS Lucky Eddie picked up whispers of the return of the infamous Bloody Eddie of the SEARF to the DC-Wastelands. People around her noted how she became quieter and more troubled. Her friends decided to keep an eye on her. They failed to note the SEART moving with them except a couple on the rivership who sensed something, including Jane herself.

Under the influence of the strange young girl child, giant ants began raiding any settlements or even attacking groups of zhouls they could find along with anything else they could kill and drag home. Her toxin and stinger giant ants were joined by mutated flying-ants working together under various queens who all were under the influence of the child. They were north-east of Canterbury Commons but far enough away for the attacks not to effect the settlement yet. When survivors fled to the settlement, their warnings were ignored because they seemed to fantastical to be true and because Canterbury Commons was a quite well fortified settlement.

Deathclaws, killclaws, skyclaws and biologically close related types of creatures continued to gather together in Old Olney, to work in cooperation with one another, in a way that was most strange. As if guided experimentally by some hidden mentality, they captured molerats and kept them in herds to use as reserve food stocks. The confused molerats adapted to being 'livestock' because they had no other choice but now and then one would simply vanish but the claw-beasts seemed not to notice.

At Megaton arrived two teenagers, a baby boy, a horse, two dogs and a young cat that staid in a basket. They had been the only survivors, it seemed, from a settlement overwhelmed by a great attack of giant ants. With some generosity from strangers and some good luck, they made it to Megaton alive with three young women. The latter were well armed and quite tough though youthful. In reality they were SEARF. Sheriff Lucas Simms was wary of the three young women but he gave into public sentiment, who loved the story of the strange young group surviving the Wastelands. So they ended up getting a new house built for them, much to the anger of families who were on the waiting list for houses.

Abraham Washington continued his activities in Rivet City along with his comrades of the Orders of Steel.

Mei Wong lived peacefully in Rivet City with her new, rather exotic, family.

3Dog and his people, with SEARF help, made some more progress with GNR but were seeking a radio tower of some kind to help increase broadcasting range.

Daring Dashwood and Argyle travelled across the DC-Wastelands with their new SEARF comrades. They travelled quietly and carefully, only having one adventure when Argyle got unfortunately drunk and took on a dozen or so gangers by himself. They were slowed down by the need to avoid JAGAF super-soldiers who were still searching for them.

Rose'Ama made her way, with the local tribal people and those that had come with her, through the homeland of Grognak the Barbarian. It soon became very clear to herself that this realm was another super virtual reality zone as was NeoDC. It was real enough to be dangerous. Luckily enough all the special extra tricks that worked in NeoDC also worked in Grognakia though some with varied effects.

The Iron'Biter gangers continued to gain resources from the now functioning replication-vending machine. They gained a good deal but even as they did so, the glowing fog continued to grow very slow but steadily.

The hunt for the super virtual reality realm was on and a way to get to President James Patriot Jackson who was trapped there. Some were enemies, some were friends or followers and some were?

TO BE CONTINUED

FORTY-SIX
MAN #2 FROM SEARF
GETTING TO THE OLYMPIC SUPERDUPERMART
:dance: :thumbsup:

Eddie-Jon, who was really Eddie-Jo also, appeared with a sparkling shimmer close to the SuperDuperMart that was in turn close to the great fake Mount Olympia volcano and the Olympic Games complex at its base. The SuperDuperMart was partly buried beneath the rubble of a half collapsed hotel complex.

He darted across the big carpark and three SEARF followed him. Even as he did, other SEARF came out to meet him in the bright, warm sunshine. Then all of them were dashing through a shopping complex power-door left partly open. The whole complex was kept looking abandoned and run down. The armaglass of the front of the shops were grubby.

Inside though people were busy. Many were standard human or ghoul Wastelanders. There were also many bananadroids and a few other robots. There were others that had come with Uncle Leo the peaceful super-mutant including other super-mutants who he had influenced to change.

There were workshops, working areas, small meetings taking places, some militia soldiers doing drills.

Children ran past the newcomers, staring in wonder, clutching books and other school gear. A teacher, a tall man, tried to get them to slow down with only mixed success.

The SEARF slowed and moved in formation focused on Eddie'Jo and protecting him. The formation paced smoothly and quietly deeper into the complex. Word seemed to get around of what was happening, very quickly. Bananadroids showed up in steadily increasing numbers. They pvssyred noisily with each other in short bursts but were quiet most of the time. Tron Series robots and shopping robocarts also began to follow. Eddie'Jon was quite startled and amused that the robots had become, somehow, attracted to the SEARF.

Humans and ghouls were not so delighted as robots moved away from where they were working.

A tall pale white man, almost an albino in looks but with ginger red hair and blue eyes, openly cursed the SEARF and the robots. Suddenly he fell down but was slowed as he hit the floor, to lay there unharmed but semiconscious.

Uncle Leo was out in the semiwilderness with some followers and so Eddie'Jon did not meet him at the start of his stay at that place. The robots dispersed as he and some of his SEARF went into a SEARF only used elevator and went down to the bunkerplex.

Through armoured corridors he went passing SEARF androids, special robots, other robots, troopers, specialists and followers. There were bananadroids all neatly newly painted bright yellow.

Removing his helmet, he kissed many a trooper, android and other on the cheek or on the a metallic head. This was his blessing to his people, the SEARF, was the blessing of Lucky Eddie.

The great big control chamber was dome shaped with a disk podium in the centre. 3Dwallscreens showed 3Ddatasymbols and views, other data. He stood in the centre and looked out over the displays. Much was cleverly coded, even the maps. He noted the SEARF operations of various SEARTs across the DC-Wastelands. Plans were going well. The battles with the JAGAF were going as predicted.

The rescue of Herbert Daring Dashwood and Argyle was a bonus as was the agreement with 3Dog and GNR. There was the outpost established in the Ghoul Underworld. Other outposts were separate and more secretive.

Then there were those SEARF semi-isolated in some kind of exotic realm who the other SEARF could sense but could not fully communicate with or locate.

He noted odd bits of data that could be important and then froze in surprise. A fishing rivership was called the LUCKY EDDIE. It had its home port in the settlement of Rivertane on the Big DC-River. The woman in charge was one Captain Jane Eye. He gave orders for a SEART to be sent at once only to learn it had been done months ago. He was most pleased with his people for this and because the SEART was simply observing and protecting his mother. He confirmed that she was not to be harmed.

Other operations were active or were soon to become active.

Operation Positioning Preparedness was coming to its later stages.

Operation Rock Renovation was going strong.

Operation Way to New Hope was strongly undertaking early stages.

Operation Multiple Targets was ready to go. He activated it. SEARF special teams, known as SEARHs, or Special Encounter Assault Hunters would go into action against a variety of targets. Friendly captures to hostile engagements would happen, depending on the nature of particular targets and prescribed goals.

An old term, Special Encounter Assault Recon Special Trooper, or SEARST, was put into place along with SEARSR and SEARSA, the first being for special robots and the latter for special androids. New terms were instigated. SEARSF was for special followers.

The SEARF were getting steadily deeper to the hub.

Eddie'Jon turned and went to a command session with SEARF officers, android aides and follower advisers. An AI-supercomputer network-system also had its input. The first stage of Operation Hunting Ways was instigated.

TO BE CONTINUED

FORTY-SEVEN
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS
TENTACLES OF SURPRISE
:ahhh: :gun: :bolt:

JAGAF super-soldiers shot across the gravel and light rubble covered highway in the dim lit conditions and leapt over the dead sprawled bodies of gangers. Something had torn through the low class raiders with horrific force but had not bothered to loot them. A battlecar, more of a sedan than a true battlebuggy would be, had been hurled onto its side.

The super-soldiers vanished almost magically into an area of heavier rubble and a half crumbled building. They were in the Washing DC Docklands as created by President James Patriot Jackson's transformation of the District of Columbia. The Docklands was a large area of fortified, largely automated warehouses, depots and other commercial buildings. The massive bulk of the US Customs Service DC HQ stood next to the cracked dome of a US Coast Guard complex.

A moment later a shudder ran through the ground. Then it came, a massive mechawalker being a shipping container lifter-loader. It strode along on two massive legs with a polarised armaglass cabin big enough for three human sized figures. It bore the banners and symbols of the Brotherhood Outcasts. Weapons had been added in the form of roboremote turrets bristling with miniguns, flamers and launchers along with two big 40mm multiple purpose autocannons. It carried a modified shipping crate, armoured and bristling with guns. Moving at ground level were Brotherhood Outcasts in standard power armour marked with their colours and symbols.

But it was not the battle-mechawalker that had wiped out the raiders. The strange marks on the ground were of the wrong kind, as if something had slammed up through the ground but then had, crudely, covered itself up again. It had smashed into the raiders, crushing them. There were also pools of water and what seemed to be salt at the edges of them as if the water had partly evaporated to leave the salt behind. It had not rained recently and the area was dry.

The Brotherhood Outcasts were overconfident and in too much of a hurry to get their loot back to their nearest base, the big Outcasts Docklands Outpost. That is except one soldier in power armour who noticed something wrong with the dead raiders, the lack of looting and the manner of death. He gave warning! He noted the odd way the road was upturned and overturned, was sagging down in some areas, along with the pools of water. His second warning was heeded for he was a finely skilled and much experienced scout.

The big battle-mechawalker halted and then backed up away from the strange area. Then from the very ground, the odd patches and sunken areas, exploded great powerful octopus like tentacles. Salt water splashed off it and out of the holes as the beast partly exploded out of the great underground submarine tunnel that ran beneath that part of the Docklands. A US Naval tunnel for its submarines and submersible robots, it had played a big part in the final years of the conflict before Doomsday. The monstrous tentacles were armour plated with great big scales.

The Brotherhood Outcast unleashed all the firepower they could do as quickly as they could. The big battle mechawalker stepped backwards even as it kept firing madly away, the 40mm autocannons pumping special armour piercing high explosive and other types into the monster. The creature screamed in agony and rage, alien sounds, and wounds exploded and gushed blood along with small chunks of rubbery flesh. But then a tentacle whipped down and smashed a soldier through the air, killing her instantly, despite her power armour.

The other soldiers scattered as fast as they could in standard power armour. Another was struck down but he was mostly just shook up, his suit being damaged so one arm would no longer function properly.

The JAGAF were not meant to fight such enemies as giant tentacle monsters and, in theory, the Brotherhood Outcasts were their enemies. So, also in theory, they should have attacked the power armoured soldiers fighting the monster. The super-soldiers assembled from parts that all of them carried a special, very well designed and advanced launcher. Two used it, put into it a mininukes-missile, aimed, and fired it at the octopus monster.

The great octopus like beastie roared and the ground shook. A nearby building, already partly collapsed, did so further. Then it slipped down rapidly into the ground, vanishing with amazing speed for its size. It left behind it gaping tunnel holes in the ground this time and much spilt salt water. Some small fish splashed dying and there was some lightly glowing mutated seaweed.

The JAGAF changed position with amazing stealth and speed.

The Brotherhood Outcasts picked up some clues, the fish were dumped into salt water and the seaweed was taken, recordings were taken, and then they hurried off. They did not make even an attempt to find the ones who had fired the mininukes-missile. The commander quickly guessed that they would be impossible to find unless they wanted to be found. She just wanted to get the loot, including the mechawalker, home and to warn her HQ about the monster.

The five JAGAF coldly watched the Brotherhood Outcasts leave and then they went back on the move as they hunted for more errant monsters.

TO BE CONTINUED

Just wanted to let you know I'm reading, keep up the good work!

Thank you for your feedback, Faldom. :fallout: :tops: :intergalactic:

I will keep on writing as best as I can.

FORTY-EIGHT
TWINS IN LIFEVAULT-101
NEW ALLIES AND OTHER POSSIBILITIES
:whisper: :mohawk:

The twins hurried through the fairly isolated and deserted corridors of that sector where they had their secret club. They were worried and angry. Their friends were in danger. A self declared crime boss, one Boris Zronsky, had decided that he wanted the fine small goodies that the twins were trading. Not for free, no, but for insultingly low prices. Zronsky had been making enemies and he was due to fall but before that he had found the secret club and had taken hostages of Amata, Google, Colaboy, Trent, the Bran Twins and DJ-Girl.

They came to the turn which, by accident of computer design, was odd and could easily hide a small side-corridor from people going through the area. They shot down the side-corridor and saw ahead of them the club entrance. Light flowed from it being from electric lamps.

The thug was standing watch. He wore a slightly stained blue jumpsuit and held a baseball bat in his hands. He was just like one of the so called criminal low life who dwelt in the Damp Sector where they had become exiled by both law and society. But when he turned to confront the oncoming twins he did so with impressive speed of a trained and experienced martial artist. He grinned mildly at them and held up his hands to indicate no threat.

"I know you are extraordinary fighters, especially for your age. Some say you have knocked down full grown advlts as if they were children but I am no danger to you. Right now Zronsky wants to talk with you and no, it isn't about trade goods on the secret market. That was just to get you here. Your friends are safe and will stay so."

The friends were quite safe and relaxed. The so called thugs were spread amongst them. A tall, slim woman was sitting at a computer terminal with Google, named after a popular old time internet search engine, who was obviously enamoured of her. She was quite beautiful.

The heavy set, thick shouldered man seemed most likely to be Boris. He was standing close to the door.

Amata was frowning softly and looking around at the three men and one woman with some wariness though she seemed relaxed enough. On her lap was a sleepy adorable Umo Bran, a neobaby. Colaboy was clutching a reusable can of sodacola made by vault commoners. Trent and DJ-Girl were cuddled up close together and had the neobaby Omu Bran, the male twin. All seemed peaceful but sleepy. None seemed talkative.

But it was the woman who turned around and spoke to them first. "I am the evil Boris Zronsky. Or at least I created him. In truth he does not exist and neither does any of his henchmen. We are part of the new rebel cell-network based largely now in the Fringe Caverns. We know you somehow create items by renewal replication and this does not surprise us because amongst our people are three who can do the same. Truly a mystery most likely linked with President James Patriot Jackson and his own amazing powers to do the same and more."

Was it some kind of genetic inheritance from the amazing and insane super genius of President James Patriot Jackson who demonstrated his strange powers many times before large live audiences. Many always assumed hitech trickery but others knew better. Some how the Mad President had gained what seemed to be super powers of various kinds. Some said it was something to do with the strange black rings he wore, one on the middle finger of each hand, that had on them a golden sword and shield. The twins had recently heard snippets of this legend but had failed to obtain more data.

The woman went on speaking. "We made contact with the curious folks of the I'Free Caverns and I'Free Town with those amazing but disturbing brainabugs. You met the woman Shandy, mother to Lucy, Stella and Tom. Also the brainabug named Wally. Wally says hi! Quite a friendly if ugly little dude. The family was forced to rush away from Charlie's secret place. It was found by one of the 'Special Patrols' that you didn't know existed."

"We know, we found it stripped of everything that indicated what it really had been." Aaron responded as he walked over to the refrigerator against one wall where there was also a basic tap-sink, a refrigerated water-dispenser, a 3DTV set and some other stuff in shelves. He took a reusable pop-top can of sodacola out and tossed it lightly to Aarie. She caught it, opened it and took a few small gulps.

Then Aarie spoke even as Aaron got himself a can of sodacola. "Have the I'Freefolk joined your cause, Boris?"

The woman nodded. "My name is actually Katrina, which I think suits me more than the name 'Boris' does. They are considering matters but I am confident we will join in some kind of future alliance. For now, though, we would like you to renew-replicate these items."

She pulled out of a pouch a small silvery box, opened it and showed a neat display of very advanced microchips being true artificial components as linked to what had been called 'super positronic' brain development by WestTek and RobCo in cooperation. Yet it had been a small specialised TekCorp known as RoboTek that had carried out much of the specific research and development.

Aarie nodded. "What do we get in turn?"

The woman pulled out a second slim box and opened it by unlatching it with her thumb, causing it to spring open. Inside it was a beautifully elegant broach of electrum (gold silver alloy) and a finely made but strong chain of the same material. Embedded cleverly into the front was a coloured 3Dphoto of their father's face. "This belongs to your mother. You can have it anyway, no matter what your choice, but there is important information that goes with it. You will need to pay for that. These microchips are damaged; they were sabotaged by a traitor who has since been buried somewhere in the Fringe Caverns, causing a nice thick growth of moss."

Aaron nodded. "We always replicate at least two renewed items replacing one. We keep one set and you take anything else."

Katrina frowned. "Very well! We need these microchips badly."

Amata spoke out. "Don't trust them. They sedated the others. They tried it on me but it didn't work."

A tall, almost thin man, adjusted his thick spectacles and then he spoke. "Not sedated by gently mind influenced. We are special humans, perhaps a subspecies. You, Amata, are one of us as is your mother. She would have been here today but she could not leave her work place with out rousing suspicion or even contact you to warn what was coming. Actually the neobabies are just sleeping because they wanted a nap. They feel no threat from us."

Amata visibly relented. "Okay, I sense a link of sorts."

The pair did their trick and five brand new copies appeared of the box of microchips. Katrina smiled and took her four copies. Aaron picked up the other and then frowned softly.

Aarie spoke with a note of concern in her voice. "This stuff is dangerous to use. Each of these is a brainchip designed to program-control but also to leave open a human brain-mind for remote control of some kind. Odd thing is that they seem to be linked to some kind of super virtual reality technology as are the brainabugs. What are you trying to do?"

The woman frowned at the children. "So you learned about the items you renewed replicated even as you did so, amazing! Perhaps we should trust you. I trust you but many of my comrades do not. We are searching for answers to many puzzles. There is more to this vault than you know."

Aaron shrugged. "Sector Thirteen, the subvault beneath the main LifeVault, with all of its secrets."

Aarie nodded. "Secret other sections like the one beyond Sector Ten where we found a human cloning machine along with a dead, well preserved young clone man."

Aaron continued. "Mad Charlie's secret base of operations since found and stripped clean by others."

Katrina arched her eyebrows at them. "We stripped Mad Charlie's secret base. He was a friend of mine. He vanished on the day of the fateful explosions that did so much damage to LifeVault-101. There is a maze of chambers, corridors, rampwells and vent shafts where the cloning machine is. We have explored only part of it because not only it is amazingly intricate, it is very big and, it seems, designed to change over time; walls shift, doors appear and disappear and there are other tricks, most of them being very clever illusions. It is the sort of place that President James Patriot Jackson would design. The Special Patrols go there and can be hard to deal with but there are other threats like amok security robots and turrets. In that place we found your mother's broach. On the front is a 3Dphoto of your father but open it up and see what is inside."

Aaron did so with Aarie watching. They were both shocked. There were two opposite facing 3Dphotos of themselves, their faces, at around the age of two or so they guessed.

Mother, apparently, was still alive as they sensed, as they had vividly dreamed on some nights, dreaming of meeting he with her in a big old fashioned looking mansion. It was a most strange landscape around the mansion and its own orderly Victorian British style gardens, its own high spiked red brick wall. The landscape was a bizarre twist of the normal and the exotic, like Wonderland. Mother was always dressed in the pseudo 1950s style clothing fashions of the 2060s and 2070s as enforced by the Mad President. President James Patriot Jackson had been infatuated with the 1950s of the USA as shown by mass media and had imposed it onto the USA during his despotic rule that was thinly disguised as a great democracy. They would swim in a big old ornate tiled swimming pool, play tennis, have tea with cakes or biscuits or scones, play chess, listen to music or do many other such things. They did not talk about anything about the history of the world after 2000AD. They did not speak of secrets or dark things.

The twins knew they had to go beyond Sector Ten to the maze but how? Could they trust these people, these strange rebels who seemed to share some kind of joint secondary mind that Amata was somehow linked with? They had heard of such things in the form of so called shadow whispers but such stories also spoke of UFOs, immortality serums, shapeshifters, vampires, two headed babies and much else.

The others were stirring. DJ-Girl looked kissed Trent, who grumbled, and then awoke to kiss DJ-Girl back. They would have started smooching except that they noticed everybody else was watching. They smiled at everybody in a puzzled, lightly embarrassed fashion.

Colaboy awoke, took a few gulps of his sodacola, grinned mildly at everybody and tried to hide his infatuation for Amata with his normal total lack of success. He fidgeted with his toolbelt dotted with tools, pouches and other items; many of them had been made or altered from the originals by him.

Aaron and Aarie were the geniuses of the group.

Amata was the organiser of the group and very down to earth practical.

Google was the experimental type replicant that most people did not know was an android because he was growing almost as a real child would. He had many skills and much knowledge as did the older twins and Amata.

Colaboy was practical and inventive, being amazing with anything he could gets his hands on from robots to robotypers to 3DTVs to?

Trent was tough, fast and was a born navigator, scout and scavenger.

DJ-Girl was fairly tough, very pretty, had lots of freckles and a way of charming people. She was good at 'soft' martial arts styles. She wanted badly to be a DJ of some kind.

The neobaby twins were cute, adorable, drippy, sometimes grumpy, surprisingly strong and highly empathic.

None of them had been fully accepted by vault society or Vaultgov except for Amata but even she had a brown mark on her record because she was a close friend with the others.

Katrina's pipgirl buzzed and she looked to its screen. "We must go. In truth we did not even know that such a thing as Sector Thirteen, a subvault, existed. We found the brainchips in the same chamber as the broach, a small storage vault full of oddities. We must communicate soon and exchange data; very soon! Security guards are on their way here, led by a security officer."

The rebels, or freedom fighters as they would call themselves, departed in a hurry. Soon after they were gone, the security team entered the small clubroom and found just some teens and two neobabies having some peaceful fun. Despite this they took everybody off to the Central Security Offices where it was officially stated that the clubroom was permanently closed; not only that but the teens would all be punished with nasty community duties on top of their normal work duties; the neobabies were deemed innocent, of course.

TO BE CONTINUED

FORTY-NINE
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS
PSYCHIC AND OTHER METAPHYSICAL DEVELOPMENTS
:shakehead: :facepalm: :shocking:

Knight Sergeant York of the Brotherhood of Steel stood behind a well made battlement of sandbags, metal and other materials including basic dirt and rubble. He was in standard power armour and was holding a 20mm autogun. His people were not lighter armoured trench-fighters but they had fought back many super-mutant attacks anyway, picking off the monsters with guns and launchers plus grenades.

He was proud and confident that nothing or nobody could get past his battlements, not even a molemouse let alone a blundering stupid-mutant. He had bragged about it to his troopers, all Knights in standard or, a minority, in heavy power armour with special heavy weapons. They were used to their bombastic sergeant so not even the lieutenant bothered to say anything.

The ground shook with another tremor. Smoke drifted over the smashed up landscape that had once been so beautiful and peaceful, a place of quiet contemplation and not so quiet celebration. It was oddly dim that day with grey clouds drifting overhead like smoke haze. It had rained but only very lightly. It was horribly humid and nicer to be in internal environmentally regulated armour.

There was a flicker of movement in the distant, just a tiny flicker. Long experience had him pick it out where newbies might easily have missed it. He raised his weapon and gave the signal for preparedness. Other fighters began to get ready for trouble. It could be a full attack or just a hit and run by zentaurs or wingtaurs or both together. The new monstrous diredogs only attacked along with stupid-mutants.

Another flicker!

He aimed and others did the same with launchers, more autoguns, gattling-lasers and even a single 75mm recoilless rifle of Twentieth Century design. But no enemy showed, only a flickering and a growing feeling of oppressive dread.

The sergeant felt it but it only annoyed him until he realised that many of his soldiers were getting jittery and even panicky. It came to him that his unit was under some kind of dark psychic attack, that the psyker-mutants were at last attacking the Brotherhood of Steel. But the Free Alliance High Command had feared such would happen and preparations had been made. Would they be enough?

He pressed a special button and a special alert went through out his unit but also to the nearest FA Field HQ. Yet it also went to others. Soldiers pressed or stabbed at buttons and were injected with a short term effective specialised drug except those, like the sergeant, who were immune. Calm came but some got sleepy and they could not fight.

Then they came, as promised, skimming along on a semi-enclosed hoversled lifted by hoverjets, as promised they would. They were of the Sisterhood of Metaphysics, an order that actually embraced many forms of 'fringe science'.

The sergeant was of the Sisterhood of Metaphysics though they were also of the Orders of Steel. Like a few Brothers of Steel, the sergeant thought that the Brotherhood of Steel should absorb or get rid of the other Orders of Steel to become the only one under its own name. Most in his order rejected the idea, believing that the Brotherhood of Steel was best left as it was and that the other Orders of Steel were needed. Nor would the other orders go along with such ideas, thus causing damaging rifts.

More flickering!

A psyker-mutant came into view, running with a light assault autogun of a kind not often seen and known as a LAAG-A11a. Yet he seemed intent on using another weapon, a blazing ball of energies flying in the air above himself. Then came stupid-mutants, big and mean, but they seemed wary of the psyker-mutant and his bizarre weapon.

The Brothers of Steel who could so, fired their weapons. The psyker-mutant looked surprised as he was blasted dead but he hurled his energy ball. It shot towards a Knight Private and blew him backwards with terrible force as it exploded. Medics in their specialised power armour came racing to the rescue, along with a tech to get to the wounded if that had to be done with damaged armour. But the poor private was already dead and his power armour was burned out useless so that it was just a hunk of junk.

The stupid-mutants proved to be not so stupid this time as they turned and fled back, most of them reaching safety of their own earthworks.

The sergeant spoke to the newcomers. "So the psyker-mutants attacked us at last."

The Sister of Metaphysics crouched next to him in her own specialised power armour with much extra exotic technologies and she spoke. "Psyker-mutants have been probing our ranks and those of our allies trying to pick up information. They have been sending nightmares, panic attacks and other forms of nastiness. We have been busy trying to deal with all of this."

The sergeant was forced to reassess some of his assumptions. "Yes, some of our troopers began having difficulties awake and asleep but then they came to an end except for the typical horrors of what we call normality these days."

She nodded her armoured head. "You know this area well?"

He nodded his armoured head right back. "Damned too well for my liking. We have defended this point well but have made no ground for far too long."

The woman paused before responding. "Have you found any grates, grate-hatches, utility hatches or other ways underground?"

The knight sergeant pointed. "Nice thickly armoured horizontal hatch over there we can't open. We have been waiting for a sapper team to get here and open it somehow but sappers are in short supply these days and such armoured hatches can be found through out the Grand National Mall."

But she had him lead her to it. She crouched next to it, a three metre wide circular hatch embedded in a thick reinforced square of smart-concrete that was six metres across. There was a typical smart metal dataplate with names and codes. At a glance they seemed normal enough.

Sister Doctor of Metaphysics Ursula Lyons, cousin to Elder Lyons, studied the dataplate and then carefully pulled up the bottom of it. Hidden hinges allowed the dataplate to fold up and over to reveal another dataplate with no names but plenty of code. She spoke. "Jackpot! It is disguised as a normal utility hatch but it should take us right down to the big Grand National Mall Hub Subway Station."

He nodded and then he gave a start. "What do you mean 'us'? We have to guard this position."

She responded. "This position was cut off from our own lines just minutes ago thanks to the latest psyker-mutant attack which largely failed. There are enemy forces now in all directions. We go down into the underground, lock the hatch behind us, and the Sisters of Steel and the arty can blow this area to dust and bones. Hopefully, if we run into a barrier, we can then come back up to find the enemy gone. No, it was not planned by the Sisterhood of Metaphysics and no, I can not read all of your mind, and yes I look something like Sarah Lyons."

With some trickery he did not understand, the Sisters of Metaphysics opened the hatch and the whole force reluctantly went down underground. The hoversled was put in a ditch and buried under earth and sandbags to protect it as much as possible. Brothers of Steel went down into the underground in power armour, the heavy power armour being a little clumsy and annoyed.

The hatch locked behind them, they went down a sloping corridor tunnel of metal plating, flurolamps lighting up the area dimly. They came at last to a hub after some two hundred metres and then they turned down another one. Soon they were entering a labyrinth designed, it seemed, to confuse and get people lost.

TO BE CONTINUED

FIFTY
MAN #2 FROM SEARF
MOMENT OF TRUTH
:hugs:

Eddie'Jon smiled at his SEARF high ranking officers, aides and bodyguards. He spoke with care. "No, I am not angry with you but it would be good if you gave me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from now on."

His second-in-command, a young woman in SEARF fatigues, bowed briefly. "Leader, if you so desire, I will terminate myself."

"This isn't the old times. No self terminations are needed or wanted. Bloody Eddie is gone and anyway most of the time I managed to fake such things back in the bad times with no actual self-termination of my people taking place. President James Patriot Jackson was a monster." Eddie'Jon and the other super-soldiers, androids, followers and robots were in a large chamber of many purposes. It stretched out as a commonroom with workshop areas, a kitchen area, a dining area, some VR-capsulechairs, some hardtop couches that SEARF found comfortable and much else.

This included Specials hovering in armoured globes, hoverjets fully active, in the breakdown period of SEARF life that was part of the Curse of the SEARF. But now they came forward and joined the meeting as Eddie'Jon had wanted them to do.

One, the female Marshal Canadana, spoke then. "We all grow deeper to the hub and now we trust you. We think ourselves old and wise at ages of nine to twelve but you are over two hundred years old and have had many great experiences. You have been to the stars. You send many of our people now to Orbis who is able to lessen the impact of our Curse to a great degree."

The Curse! A life lived hot and short but then quickly ending in pain and physical handicaps except if special medical intervention was used. One to three to grow fully into combat mode. Four to nine as veterans of which four to six were soft and seven to nine were hard veterans. Nine to twelve, the fading.

Except that Lucky Eddie was created first generation, was amongst those lucky to survive fully intact, and lived longer than later SEARF who were cloned, and altered, from the first gen survivors. Others of the first generation had survived thanks to being in status capsules but he had lived it all out and more.

Canadana spoke then. "The JAGAF are not really our enemies. They were developed from cloning from the SEARF and they are becoming also deeper to the hub. We do not kill them and they do not kill us. JAGAF pretend to serve their masters but their masters suspect the JAGAF and do not truly trust them. JAGAF doppelgangers move amongst the Wastelanders and seek answers to questions common to both of us. JAGAF manage to emanate coldness but it is getting more difficult for them to do so."

She went on. "But now new forms of super-soldiers are arising to serve the enemies. JAGAF knows little of them. These new ones are most deadly dangerous and will threaten both JAGAF and SEARF along with many others who life in the DC-Wastelands. Some are linked with the creation of the super-mutants. Many will wear the appearance of old entities. Would you speak with JAGAF?"

"Of course!" Then he turned to a SEARF officer. "Of course Orbis knows you have been secretly sending JAGAF to NuHopeland and to NuHopeHub. I was informed and gave my support to this move. Why did the JAGAF hold me (Eddie'Jo) back in the SubHub below NuHopetown at its old location?"

The fake SEARF officer shimmered and now his face was networked with fine silvery lines and his skin was more shiny as of plastic effect. "There was a superclone there, dark and powerful, but being inside Orbis was slowly killing it. It would have been gone before you got there anyway. We are trying to pretend that we still serve those monsters but they suspect us now and treat us harshly; on the other hand they treated us harshly when they considered us loyal. Below the Grand National Mall is the means for what remains of President James Patriot Jackson to escape from the super virtual reality prison that he is trapped in, that you helped trap him in when you really killed his physical self instead of just pretending to. Did he trust you that much?"

"He trusted nobody! He set me up!" Eddie'Jon smiled. "But I have enough of President James Patriot Jackson inside me to know about such things. I changed things a little, substituting one gun for another. Killing him was difficult. When he realised the truth he lashed out and smashed me hard physically and otherwise. I was dying when the zetans abducted me. Do you mean in the great big subway station that was built far too big to meet the needs of Washington DC?"

The JAGAF nodded. "Yes and no! That is the data we have gained but we do not know what it means."

Eddie'Jon nodded. "Bring your people out of danger."

The JAGAF nodded. "Orders are being sent out even as? something is wrong. Our Jagware communications network-system?"

Eddie'Jon reached out and touched the forehead of the JAGAF officer who still wore SEARF fatigues. After a moment the officer spoke again. "The jamming is gone. Units are now moving except fifteen teams and one larger taskforce that are trapped. Fighting is occurring against psyker-mutants in the Grand National Mall. The traitor programming and hardware has been wiped and neutralised. The psyker-mutants are defeated and are retreating. Why did we not detect the traitor network-system?"

Eddie'Jon removed his fingers from the other's forehead. "Your network-system for finding such a threat was compromised with its very design and fabrication. I have altered them and yet more has to be done. I introduced nanobots and microbots into your own network-system that are upgrading you just as I did with the SEARF though they have less cyborging than you do. Touching bare hand to bare hand will allow both to circulate through SEARF and JAGAF people. We were all compromised at the moment of our existence. My beloved father feared me so he put inside me nine fail-safe technologies against my possible betrayal, all promising myself a painful death if he so chose. Another 21 were designed to punish me, used separately, in conjunction with others or all together; he used all of them in all possible combinations but it did not stop me or others like me from trying to terminate him."

The SEARF Major spoke. "There is much to do but there always seems to be much to do."

So they did so!

TO BE CONTINUED

FIFTY-ONE
WOMAN FROM SEARF
IN RIVERTANE; LOOKING FOR MOTHER
:foodndrink: :rolleyes:

A youthful, attractive woman, Eddie'Jane just named herself Jane to people around her as she wandering in metal armour and other typical Wastelander gear through Rivertane's Docks. This gear included metal armour, a sturdy backpack, an autorifle and a large pair of revolver pistols halted at her side. It was busy for two fishing expeditions had returned around the same time and a ferry convoy had come in from its river crossing. There were plenty of tough working men and a fair few women doing the same jobs.

She noted the harbour walls and the now closed and locked harbour gates. Then she slipped her full attention to slipping neatly through crowds of people. Then she saw it in the distance, the fishing rivership named the LUCKY EDDIE. Though Eddie'Jane studied it intently, she seemed not to look at it at all.

A man pushed a wheel-barrow full of small barrels past and frowned at her but then steered carefully away from and then around her. There was something about her that had people carefully giving her room to spare.

She picked up a scruffy little boy who wriggled and protested with noises at first but then became calmly still. She then spoke calmly. "It is not wise to try to pick pockets of strangers. I will give you a coin. Where are your mummy and daddy?"

The little boy studied her with big adorable eyes and said nothing. So she held him at her hip and kept walking. She spoke again as they approached a busy, colourful diner. "You want something to eat and drink?"

He nodded eagerly and looked quite relaxed, thank you very much. Then she was entering the diner. A tall elegantly attractive woman stood at the doorway. She frowned. "Don't serve boat slummers here, especially little thieves that should be drowned."

Eddie'Jane smiled at the woman. "Now you do. The boy is under my protection."

The lady stepped back with a start and said nothing else.

The diner was fairly crowded but she found a small table for three in one corner and sat there, putting the boy on her lap. Of course she had scanned the room even as she had made her way to the corner. The mixture was mostly dock workers but there were some other kinds there like ferry passengers just arrived.

A bunch of mercenaries were bunched together in one corner talking casual business such as up and coming possible contracts: word was out that a big new player was wanting to hire large mercenary forces in the DC-Wastelands. The established mercenary corporations were not happy as they were being ignored and kept in the dark about what was happening be they such as Reilly's Rangers, Talon Mercenaries, the Ironsides or the DC-Privateers, the last focusing on river patrols and protection. Dedicated groups such as GuardTek of DCTek did not care. Another dark whisper was circulating. The same new power was recruiting normal ganger raiders or ravers but they were taking in reavers and berserkers.

Eddie'Jane's people had already picked up on the same growing rumours. Despite the efforts of Regulators and others to confirm the truth, the supposed new army had eluded being found. Recruits went to scattered temporary small outposts and vanished, the outposts moving on a seemingly random basis.

A couple of tough attractive young waitresses rushed around serving customers. One came to her table, took one look at the little boy, and shook her head in wonder. "Well you must have a real trick with the kiddies, lady, for that one don't normally trust anybody unless he knows them for a long time. Doesn't talk! He and some other children were found wandering in the Wastelands along with some animals. Well they live in the Floating Orphanage down in the harbour run by the Daughters of Charity, a bunch of ladies who spend a few extra coins on the needy. Wish they would spend some on me." Then she spoke to the boy with a kinder tone of voice. "Hello, snooks, you got yourself picked up."

The little boy nodded and pointed to a big chalkboard menu behind and above the big wooden counter. He pointed to a particular part of it.

"Orphan's choice!" The waitress nodded. "A glass of brahmin milk, some small steamed bush-potatoes, a small fish-pie and some sweets. One copper. Lady who runs this diner usually has the orphans served in the room next to this one. She is one of the Daughters of Charity though she don't wear the robes as some of them do. Big pistols you got there, especially for a girl."

"Call me Jane!" Eddie'Jane shrugged. "These pistols are my Surprise Specials and I don't normally like to talk about them, no insult intended. Get the boy an Orphan's Special with a slice of apple pie, if he likes that."

"Likes apple pie with brahmin's cream on top." She nodded. "And yourself?"

"Glass of your home brew beer, cooled, and otherwise the same as him but double portions. Oh yes, coffee instead of milk but with a dash of milk." She slipped out a leather purse and dropped some EICs onto the table being five $1-coins. "This enough? One of those is yours."

The waitress pushed back two of the coins. She smiled. "$2 for the diner is more than enough and $1 for me means some new clothes. You should be careful how much money you flash around. At least five pairs of eyes noted those nice clean coins of yours."

"Good, that is how I make my money! Bounty-hunter!" Eddie'Jane looked at the mounted fish on the wall, preserved of course, and various bits of historical gear. "Amongst other things. I suppose you know the locals quite well."

"I am not going to help you gain a bounty on anybody I have a liking for." The waitress frowned. "No matter how much money you offer."


"This isn't a bounty job. I was looking at the fishing rivership the LUCKY EDDIE. Nice vessel, well cared for and I like the name. Do you know who captains her?" She pushed the two $1-coins back. "I simply wish to check out doing some fishing work for a while. The name inspires me."

The waitress shook her head. "Her name is Captain Jane Eye but neither she or any other of the rivership captains take on strangers."

The SEARF trooper responded. "Odd, my name is also Jane."

The waitress gave her an odd look. "So is mine. Jane Eye is my mother but I never did have the stomach for working on a rivership. You might be a cousin or something, a distant cousin. I have to go and get the food and drink."

Then she was zipping away through the crowds and to the wooden 'batwing' doors that led to the diner kitchen. Eddie'Jane took out a small wooden cube and began to carve it neatly, quickly, efficiently. Every bit of cut off wood went into the pouch she had taken the cube from. When she had a beautifully carved little horse, she passed it to the boy. The boy took it with a big smile and started playing with it on the table in front of them. Then he also had a Wastelands cowboy, a cowgirl and a dog.

A big plump man wandered over in a deliberate lazy fashion, a man in an expensive shirt but with small stains and cheap durable long-pants, a man with a stupid arrogant grin on his face. He stopped and spoke. "My name is Hamton Hambleton and I am a big man in this town. I do trading and retailing. I don't take no for an answer. $200 for each of those fancy black pistols and $1 for all of the toys."

She looked at him, her eyes met his, and he winced, gulped softly, turned and walked away. Indeed he hastily left the diner. Many locals watched him do this in astonishment. She picked up comments and realised that Hamton Hambleton was not normally an easy man to send away. He was an arrogant pig, a greedy cheating wealthy merchant with links to the DC-Syndicates of DC-Wastelands organised crime. He was also very tough and liked to pressure people into selling their goods cheap to him though often he failed to do so. She had probably made a new enemy but that did not phase her.

Eddie'Jane was thoughtful. If Jane Eye was her mother then the waitress was her half-sister.

Through the entrance to the diner came two SEARF troopers and two JAGAF troopers, disguised of course, and the SEARF male was holding a small ragamuffin girl who seemed quite happy on his hip. She was busy chewing a bit of sweet foodbar.

They grabbed some spare chair, nobody protested, and joined her at her table. The boy on her lap was not phased at all.

Eddie'Jane sensed something, closed her eyes, and then she was spying, mindeye wise, into a basemant chamber beneath the diner that was a fixed up Predoomsday space with now functioning machines. Far from looking like part of a diner, it looked like a clandestine outpost with weapon racks on the walls, metal lockers, a row of computer terminals, two protectron robots and much else of the kind. A man was doing some work at a workbench while a woman was using a computer terminal linked to a minimainframe in one corner.

Two Regulators were there but the others were all UCSIA (Union of Columbia Security Intelligence Agency) officers except for two Sisters of Espionage or so the mindeye picked up in the form of psychic impressions. The waitress was sitting and talking to another, older woman, who looked partly like herself. It was Captain Jane Eye.

The older woman spoke. "Yes, they are SEARF super-soldiers. They have been following me and the LUCKY EDDIE for some time now but they did not seem to mean me harm. I would be dead now if they wanted me to be so."

The younger woman frowned. "Maybe those cold JAGAF also. Thankfully there are so few of them."

"Maybe not so few of them." The older Jane spoke. "They seem to be friends now though they used to fight each other though some witnesses said they did not seem to put too much aggression into such fights. Those that died, vanished, and perhaps they came back later to fight again. The young woman is special to us, as you sensed. You have strong levels and modes of ESP as do I but she is beyond us and both the SEARF and the JAGAF are special also. The JAGAF are linked to the SEARF who are all linked to Lucky Eddie and his damned father, President James Patriot Jackson. Our special abilities is what had the UCG (Union of Columbia Government) recruit us as UCSIA psychic observers. This Jane is most likely an aspect of my son who, like my damned former husband the president, was actually able to be more than one body. He was more complicated than just having mere clone extensions. The UC-President, reasonably enough, wants to know what the super-soldiers are up to and so do the Orders of Steel, the Regulators and other forces."

A Sister of Espionage spoke. "Odd stories have come in of them freeing slaves and making them vanish but also of them doing so with homeless ghouls and even zhouls that they round up with out hurting. They have some amazing machines like aeroflyers and bigger aeroships. Most likely they have stealth machines disguised as normal machines that they call Blackfires and stealth-sliders. For everything that is seen, much more is unseen, so yes there are many more super-soldiers out there than most had even begun to suspect. We used to think at the most they would be in the hundreds; now we think in the tens of thousands."

Young Jane frowned. "One would think they could have done more for the Wastelanders."

The Sister of Espionage frowned. "Young woman, please be quiet unless you have something thoughtful to say. Growing evidence is that the SEARF and JAGAF, for reasons unknown, carried out secret and effective campaigns against raiders, super-mutants and other threats. SEARF has destroyed over twenty hidden stockpiles of super-weapons. JAGAF destroyed an experimental nuclear reactor of the damned DomniCommonwealth before it could even start to operate properly and before the Domni could start to make their own atomic bombs. SEARF sealed off the Soviet Super Typhoon submarine at the bottom of the Potomac River which, before then, kept claiming the lives of fools who went seeking loot there. How do we know this all? Because Lucky Eddie has been sending information to various groups of the Free Alliance including the Elders Council in the DC-Citadel, which means Elder Lyons. In turn data has been returned to Lucky Eddie. The SEARF and JAGAF are still making arrangements for their own alliance but fully intend to join the Free Alliance. We are going to need them for an old threat is returning in the form of President James Patriot Jackson and also new threats."

But at that moment alarms began to ring and red lights began to blink madly on consoles. A shudder went through the basemant chamber but also through the diner where Eddie'Jane was sitting.

TO BE CONTINUED

FIFTY-TWO
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS
IT'S RAINING THINGS FROM SPACE
:chaos: :shocking: :ahhh:

They came dropping down from space causing alarm in settlements, outposts, bases and with groups all through out the DC-Wastelands. Everybody went for shelter, monsters and wildlife including. Things were coming down from orbit of all kinds. Huge satellites came floating down with emergency chutes deploying. Other satellites came crashing down, exploding craters in the landscape. It was as if some force was driving things down out of low orbit of the Earth, a low orbit full of space junk.

A zetan saucerboat was obviously in trouble as it zigzagged crazily, trying to escape back into space, but some great invisible power gripped it and would not let it go. The saucerboat crew must have realised defeat and they glided to a light crash landing close to Lamplight Mountain.

A small space-platform came drifting down like some great bizarre leaf thanks to emergency antigravs. It splashed heavily into the river just outside of Rivertane Harbour, hurling water and some boats through the air. A patrol rivership came very close to capsizing and did take on a good deal of water. Some surprised diresharks were on deck, snapping and lashing with their tails, but they either escaped or were quickly turned into profitable goods. The Union of Columbia claimed the space-platform, despite the efforts of one ambitious fishing captain; having a whole lot of autocannons and other guns aimed at him caused him a change of mind.

A big piece of junk crashed dramatically into super-mutant positions in the Grand National Mall and exploded. Stored armaments erupted in response, part of a domino effect of death and destruction. Many super-mutants died, their bodies often flung up into the air. Many of them rained down into Free Alliance territory.

Energy projectiles came sizzling down to explode sometimes in mid air like crazy fireworks and sometimes on the ground to create smooth burned bowls of craters. They caused water to explode, bubbling and boiling with dead fish rising to the surface of the water. In Springvale a pack of raiders perished as such projectiles caused their battlebuggies to explode dramatically.

It came sporadically, in spates, covering the DC-Wastelands and just beyond in all directions. The focus would shift in area and concentration but overall the madness continued. While some areas got almost no hits, others got many but the latter, thankfully, tended to be more desolate and less inhabited zones.

TO BE CONTINUED

FIFTY-THREE
BIGGER AND BETTER THAN TRANQUILLITY LANE
WITH GROGNAK THE BARBARIAN; UNDER ENEMY ATTACK
:toughninja: :flame: :gun:

Rose'Ama sensed a gentle but persistent psychic force pulling her towards the distant Washington Monument rising above the jungle but for now she had more urgent matters to deal with.

She had never been to the DC-Wastelands or she would have seen that these lands were almost like a prehistoric version of them. There were even rogue robots in some of the underground areas such as the Subways where there were zhouls also. Deathclaws, killclaws, skyclaws and other clawbeasts were to be found in those lands also along with giant ants and some other DC-Wastelands creatures.

She crouched behind a boulder as a laser pulsebeam blasted a chunk out of the other side of it. Super-mutants were attempting to invade the large but well defended cavern chamber from outside. While many had more modern weapons, there were fifteen great behemoths outfitted with monstrous sized metallic spike-maces. Zentaurs charged up the steep slope of rock and wingtaurs glided into the cavern above them. Diredogs roared their canine berserker fury.

Grognak was crouched close by, as big as a standard stupid-mutant and with a desire to make strangers think he was a stupid barbarian but was very clever. He aimed a softly glowing red crystal tipped wooden staff, an elemental powerstaff of fire, and unleashed a pulse of savage burning flames. It struck a mighty hound and the monster roared with agony as it burst into a small inferno.

The super-mutants were a fairly small force of about forty but they had with them cannibalistic tribals of savage fighting ability. These were the Clongolons, hunched and overly muscular, fairly stupid and dressed in strange combinations of furs, leather armour and chain-mail. They carried an odd mixture of bronze hand-axes, bronze bladed swords, bizarre magical items and basic bolt-action hunting-rifles given to them by the strange invaders.

They had reached the Ki'Mossan Caverns only to be caught up in defending the temporary home of the Ki'Konda people who had been robbed of their Cliffhold by the evil Professor James Patriot Jackson. This Professor James Patriot Jackson was a superclone, she sensed the creature, and was away in the Cliffhold carrying out a series of terrible experiments on people and animals that his people captured.

Grognak spoke. "The Clongolons are a stupid people with weak magic. They are cowardly and they eat forbidden meat often. Yet they add to the enemy forces and now we are outnumbered greatly, we mighty Ki'Konda."

A ki'mage passed her an odd crystalline sphere with flittering flames inside, a fire elemental-exploder, and she made it become four elemental-exploders. The mage bowed and took three of them. Then he hurled the first at the charging enemy after crying out a warning to his own people, who all took cover. There was a mighty blasting force of flames and the enemy suffered many losses.

The attack ceased but soon another would begin.

Then came the cry of battle horns and the sounds of mighty flapping wings as from the skies swept a mighty force of female warriors riding dragon like tragons. The tragons fired off fireballs that sizzled through the air to explode dramatically and the warriors fired off great energy-bows, the energy-arrows forming out of mid air every time the bow strings were drawn fully back. The 'strings' glowed with energies.

The enemy were taken by surprise and fled in disarray, the super-mutants tramping right over the smaller, weaker cannibals who mostly died this way. Those Clongolons who managed to escape from the super-mutants retreat, the monsters hauling equipment and supplies with them, were shot by sizzling energy-arrows or burned to death by the sleekly powerful tragons.

Allied tribes had sent warriors to assist the Ki'Konda and the first to arrive were airazons (aerial amazons) of the Qu'Quesz on their mighty tragons. But riding across the plains in the distance on mighty massive herbivore dinosaurs were many warriors and magical war-machines of no less than eight tribes. Sitting on the head of each long necked dinosaur was a male or female teenager who kept look-out with clever made brass and glass telescopes. Smaller but still large dinosaurs also carried warriors right down to peaceful horsesauruses.

TO BE CONTINUED

FIFTY-FOUR
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS
TENTACLES AND TREASURES
:gun: oo:

With some difficulty a subway line from the edge of the Grand National Mall to the DC-Citadel had been cleared and secured by the Orders of Steel. Only one of the monolines was usable and along this moved fairly quickly two locomotives with nine carriages between them so there was no need of turn around.

Sarah Lyons dropped off the briefly halting monotrain, along with the Lyons Pride, and Knight Captain Gallows. The power armoured figures moved in formation past a Brotherhood of Steel outpost who briefly opened an armoured gate for them, with scouts in scout power armour moving ahead of them. They had a new technology working for them, being streamlined, sped up eyebots called zipbots that would send back any urgent data from the scouts or go the other way with orders. This was because radio communications were both tricky and prone to discovery by enemies.

Elder Lyons wanted to know what had happened to a unit led by Knight Sergeant York in the Grand National Mall along with some Sisters of Metaphysics who had vanished in the area. The Lyon's Pride was to go into an area of subways that had a bad reputation even by the standards of the DC-Wastelands. Stories of haunting, monsters more terrible than deathclaws or behemoths and much else circulated about that particular area rough south-west from the Grand National Mall. Making matters worse was that it was under the big DC-River and some areas were flooded with radded water, a favourite spot for mirelurks and other nasties.

They trudged along a dark, gently winding subway that had probably been built and abandoned in the 1800s or so she guessed. That it was still intact was something of a miracle but, by the groaning noises sometimes heard, a miracle that might end any time.

The scouts were all three veterans who did not like what they sensed. They went out ahead but Sarah Lyons, for the first time, insisted they stay fairly close and even in range of night-vision sight.

They came out over a great wooden and metallic bridge, strongly built with heavy cast-iron girders, columns, chains and other structures and even, strangely enough, flying-buttresses. Below fell an abyss deeply into the dark depths below. They kept moving but the scouts fell back towards the group as if sensing something very wrong and seeking protection.

Something flickered. JAGAF and SEARF stood there but were not fighting. In stealth power armour they formed a mutually protective pattern. One spoke to Sarah. "Knight Captain Lyons, come at once. You are in danger, all of us are in danger, as long as we are on this bridge. The way back is blocked now. This is a trap. We must go in the direction you were going in."

They all began running across the bridge, going as quickly as those in standard power armour could go. Sarah was now grateful she left behind the heavy power armour, the walking light battletanks of the power armour infantry. The bridge seemed much sturdier than did the tunnel they had gone through earlier.

Then they were off the bridge and running past the dead bodies, clothes, armour and other items of what seemed like a whole lot types. Raiders, deformed zhouls, mercenaries and much else. Strangest of all were some World War Two vintage steel hats of American GIs, what seemed like a American Civil War hat and even a musket rifle. Everything was covered in a softly glowing transparent green tinted jelly substance of some kind. None of it made any sense.

Something big and powerful whipped up over the bridge and smashed down against it, a massive armoured tentacle of scale plating. It smashed around in evident frustration and fury. Then a mininukes booby-trap detonated as prepared by the super-soldiers. Five mininukes and some very nasty shrapnel exploded outwards. The tentacle rippled and big chunks were torn off it and an inhuman scream echoed through the tunnel. Then the tentacle flashed away and was gone back into the depths.

SEARF and JAGAF troopers led them into another tunnel, also very old of the 1800s. They slowed down and then stopped. So did Knight Captain Sarah Lyons, recently promoted. She took off her helmet and looked around. One SEARF and one JAGAF trooper did the same. She now faced a youthful woman, SEARF, and a youthful man, JAGAF.

The SEARF trooper stepped forward. "I am Major Keletine-012a. Now we proudly use our numbers also. I am six and a half years old, a hard veteran of my kind."

Sarah Lyons studied the trooper with a half smile, astonished at the actual young age of this one, and then saluted smartly. "A proud veteran than. Can you explain the jelly substance and those in it?"

The SEARF officer saluted back and seemed, somehow, pleased by the gesture. "These tunnels were built secretly in the time of President Abraham Lincoln of the USA. The reason we know this is just ahead of us in a room filled partly with the jelly substance that preserves things perfectly. We found top secret files, maps and such like there. We do not understand the nature of the jelly substance though we found some notes about it being used to preserve items. Come with us."

They found not only the jelly substance but a whole large chamber filled with American Civil War vintage furniture and fittings along with those from later periods of time. Metal filing-cabinets, 2Dflatscreens, early 'robots' that were actually remote controlled devices, assault-rifles, DVDs, other disks and much else. There was even a fully functioning NukaCola vending-machine in one corner that was half full of bottles of the famously infamous drink.

The SEARF and JAGAF had set up an outpost base in the chamber. They had carefully selected items to remove from the glowing green jelly substance. They were drinking hot cocoa with condensed milk and were loving it, eating canned C'rations and enjoying them but strangest of all they even liked MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). Actually by the 2050s MREs were very efficient, mildly delicious and parts of them were reusable or recyclable; they also had 101 flavours to choose from.

Odd saucer shaped robots, SEARSRs (Special Encounter Assault Recon Special Robots), were hovering close to the ceiling or were drifting around on patrol. SEARSAs (Special Encounter Assault Recon Special Androids) were in standard power armour of a sleeker looking design than those of the Brothers of Steel.

Sarah Lyons watched with astonishment as a SEARF officer touched a box of secret files (manila files of World War Two vintage) and it vanished with a sparkling shimmer. Then something appeared out of mid-air with a sparkling shimmer being about the same weight as the item as had vanished. It was a smaller but just as heavy box of ammo.

The SEARF Major spoke. "We are deeper to the hub now and we have gained new abilities. We have the genetic inheritance of President James Patriot Jackson himself who could teleport small things to and from his own superclones. Such abilities must be used with care. It is always best to exchange one teleported item for another of as close to identical weight as possible. Such as volume and mass are also important. We are sending files to a special place. Copies of all will be sent to the DC-Citadel as soon as possible. The great tentacles and other threats mean that we must abandon this chamber in twenty-four hours or less. We would appreciate your assistance."

Knight Captain Gallows took off his helmet and scowled. "You are stealing the property of the USA. As former members of the US military the Brotherhood of Steel should take first?"

Sarah cut him off. "There is no USA anymore, Knight Captain Gallows, and both the SEARF and the JAGAF were also part of the US military. Also I do not see us getting all this stuff back across that crazy bridge."

Gallows nodded. "What of the stiffs in the jelly?"

The SEARF Major responded matter of factly. "Many are still alive but suspended and others are able to be reanimated though this is a tricky process. Sending them will be more difficult but we can bring in reinforcements with the same process."

There was the muffled sound of gunfire, including a launcher firing, but it ended as quickly as it had come. There was the hideous scream of mindless, deformed zhouls that died down as the survivors fled. Despite much misinformation, zhouls did run away from fruitless death or at least many of them did, normally the survivors.

It soon turned out that the SEARF wanted to focus on sending and gaining items through their own special form of teleportation while the JAGAF and Brothers of Steel helped guard the area. About half the SEARF supported the defence including most of the androids and the robots. They had also put down portable turrets.

Sarah sat and went through various bits of data from various centuries. She was often amazed, sometimes sickened and at times bewildered. There seemed to be little rhyme or rhythm to what was stored in that place; it had all been just dumped there, seemingly, with out any reason for doing so recorded in that place. All items did have at least some information with them such as dates of storage.

In the Great Dark Ages of the early Twenty-First Century when humanity had almost come to an end, much had been destroyed of earlier periods of history. Major cities had been totally destroyed. Easily a billion people had perished with plague, famine, pestilence, war and other disasters. Yet in that chamber were records and artefacts from those decades.

Sarah read through a page of Esperanto writing, the language of the United Nations Emergency Regulatory Enclave Network or UNEREN, she was struck by the odd statements in it. She went to slip the page into a pouch but even as she started to do so a slimly armoured but amazingly strong hand was gripping her power armoured wrist. Sarah found she could not budge.

The SEARF Major stood next to her and smiled. "Please do not try to do that again or we will cease to cooperate with your people, leaving you to survive alone in this very dangerous place."

Sarah cursed softly and the marshal removed her hand. Then Knight Captain Lyons spoke. "Okay, a moment of stupid temptation but the notes are most curious. It speaks of something called the Agreed Intervention of 2025. The oceans of the world were sown with cloned life of plankton, seamoss and celltoks even as the climate was readjusted. Then there were the troobles. They spread like a plague across the world but they were not only fairly easy to hunt but also surprisingly nutritional and could be eaten raw or easily cooked. Troobles on land, gillables in the sea, fluttables in the air. They still exist in some areas of the world but not in the DC-Wastelands. UNEREN claimed it had done the 'good deed' but many did not believe them. Senator James Patriot Jackson claimed responsibility and was believed by many. It was a major blow to the UNEREN and their plans to build a new World Government based on the world wide network of Enclaves including the North American based Eagle-Enclave. According to this it was the UNEREN that actually carried out the work."

"We know!" The Major took the file from Sarah and slipped the page away. "President James Patriot Jackson used to brag to his close followers about how he 'stole the thunder of those damned Enclavers' by a clever lie backed up by some simple deceptions. But he far from tricked everybody and it was for many around the world, including the USA, the deciding moment when they turned against JPJ. For in doing what he did he damaged more then the reputation of the Enclavers. He did political and commercial damage to various big corporations, universities and other groups including the new Soviets. Come with me. If you thought that was interesting, you will love what I have to show you."

It was a big wooden ornate wardrobe of British Victorian design. It was polished oak by the look. It seemed somehow more real than real with two big double doors in the centre, a row of very big drawers to the left and a wide, tall mirror to the right.

Sarah nodded. "Very impressive, it's a wardrobe and yet, there is something odd about it, something that draws one's attention. It seems somehow to be more solid than solid. It reminds me of something. Oh, yes, the magical wardrobe in the classical 2020s 3Dmovie of THE WITCHES, THE WIZARD AND THE WARDROBES, a story of the amazing realm of Ozarnia."

The SEARST nodded. "It is one of President James Patriot Jackson's weird inventions, one of his artefacts of power that somehow he created secretly and alone. It is not known how many of these powerdrobes actually exist. Each is multiple functional but each is mainly a gateway between each other and, we suspect, into a very special kind of virtual reality realm or realms where President James Patriot Jackson still survives."

Knight Captain Sarah Lyons scowled. "We have enough trouble with super-mutants with out that."

"But both are linked." The super-soldier responded. "Somehow President James Patriot Jackson is behind what the super-mutants are doing in and beneath the Grand National Mall. Solving one problem means solving both. The super-mutants are apparently after something that will help free the Mad President."

The chamber shook a little and some items fell off the edge of a wall shelf to go crashing to the floor. It appeared that the tentacle monster was active again.

But then the SEARF trooper turned to her and spoke. "Many things are falling from low orbit, brought down by an unknown force, and a new, smaller moon has appeared in the sky."

Sarah stopped in shock.

TO BE CONTINUED

FIFTY-FIVE
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS
SUPER SOLDIERS, SLAVES AND REGULATORS
:gun: :ninja:

Things were still falling from the sky but not in that area at that time. High above in the sky was the normal orb of the moon but close to it, smaller but still vast in size, was now a smaller moon. Except it was not really a moon at all as it glimmered whitely, translucently and somewhat like a fine crystalline bubble.

In the dim light of dawn SEARF super-soldiers darted across the field and the mines failed to trigger. Some of the SEARF troopers picked up mines and threw them at the enemy. The slaver run settlement shook with explosions. The settlement was secretive, was well hidden and well fortified but the SEARF were moving in quick. Bullets flew as two slaver minigunners hammered away at the attackers but somehow no bullets struck.

The SEARF flowed over the walls, taking down the minigunners and other sentries with lightening quick slashes of blades or the striking of very hard hands. A badly mistreated guard-dog was soon wagging her tail madly as she was made captive and taken away. Slaves were brought out of cages as the explosive collars were removed quickly and deftly. These collars went around the necks of the few slavers kept alive.

A SEARF aeroflyer, a sleek looking stealth machine of large size, came over the settlement with roboremote turrets firing 20mm autoguns and pulseguns. A pair of smart-rockets took out an armoured squat gun-tower with a savage explosion at its base that caused it to topple.

The aeroflyer's ramp went down from its belly, opening towards its tail, and up went ex-slaves, captive slavers, animals and any loot. Loot included any information that the SEARF could find including from hidden places like a floor safe in the cramped concrete office chamber of the head slaver.

The aeroflyer took off slowly even as its ramp closed, turned gracefully in the dawn light and then sped off but not directly towards its destination in case there were undetected observers.

There were two detected observers in the form of a pair of astonished duster wearing figures lying on their bellies. The Regulators had noted supposedly savage SEARF gently pick up sick advlts, a now friendly guard-dog and children. They had also watched them kill slavers quickly and with out mercy except for a few select ones.

The whole operation was over in about fifteen minutes.

The two Regulators crept into the now abandoned settlement even as two JAGAF and two SEARF scouts watched them carefully. They had been very close to the Regulators but had not been detected in the slightest.

TO BE CONTINUED

FIFTY-SIX
MAN FROM SEARF
SWEET LILLY, SCREAMING LILLY


Lilly was sitting on the very big wide bed with the molerat, two dogs and behind her, perched on the big colourful headboard, a sleeping crow. She was quietly watching her new daddy, Eddie'Jo, also sitting up at the bed but working using an open laptop computer with its 3Dflatscreen and 3Dtouchscreen. She seemed a little nervous.

He spoke with out looking around, he in his SEARF coloured pyjamas, quietly and confidently as a cat lay curled up on his legs sleeping. "You have nothing to worry about. I love you just as you are and Orbis has been changing you. You are special, which is how you survived the raiders and why they kept you alive. You are still my little girl."

Lilly visibly relaxed, smiled and went to sleep.

What he did not say was that the raiders could have done nothing with her, that by the time he killed the raiders, Lilly was already taking over their minds and was getting them to kill each other. Others had fled, deserting in fear though they did not know from what they fled. She could not touch his mind in that way, or any SEARF or JAGAF or many others but normal minds were open to her aware and less aware manipulations.

Yet she was still, basically, just a little girl.

But then Lilly began to scream. All the animals leapt awake, the crow cawing in fear and worry for the girl. Eddie'Jo was very quick to start hugging her gently to himself, rubbing her back as two dogs and a molerat licked her. She stopped, wept and then she slept again. The animals settled down but now they seemed to take up sentry positions around the girl.

But something was wrong, profoundly wrong and it was not Lilly. No, it was far bigger than that.

OrbisMind spoke to him. "Orbis is behaving most oddly. Orbis has become visible and now is in orbit around the Earth like a smaller moon but with out the normal devastating effects that a normal object of that size would make on the Earth and Luna. Orbis is forcing much that was or is in low orbit down to the surface, focusing on the area above the DC-Wastelands and on the DC-Wastelands. Even a zetan saucerboat was caught up as was a large space-platform and many satellites."

A holographic projection filled up part of the room and now he could see Orbis visible in the sky as if he was standing somewhere in Central Washington DC. It was fairly dark and down through the sky were coming more projectiles be they falling space junk or the weird bolts of energy.

Eddie'Jo frowned. "Fairly scattered but it all must be doing quite a bit of damage."

OrbisMind spoke again with its lightly resonating voice. "No settlement has been hit and when things have gone towards the settlements, Orbis has deflected them away. Orbis is clearing up the low orbital area above the DC-Wastelands but I do not know why because Orbis has stopped listening or speaking to me. I do not understand the nature of the energy projectiles or why they are sometimes exploding in mid-air. Also you may note the new bit of furniture in the room."

He noted the big old Victorian English looking wardrobe now standing against a wall close to one corner with its set of big wide drawers, its big double doors and big wide mirrored area.

He relied on OrbisMind to communicate with Orbis and now he was not sure what to do. Then he looked at the special rings on his fingers and he knew he had to utilise the powers that they promised, as perilous as they were.

TO BE CONTINUED

FIFTY-SEVEN
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS
SUPER-MUTANTS, TENTACLES AND OTHERS
:gun: :violin: :bolt:

Super-mutants rushed across the huge damp cavern, half held up by incredibly massive super-concrete columns, firing as they went. Gattling-lasers, miniguns, autoguns and heavy assault-rifles hammered away at the tentacles rising out of the great hole in the distant floor. The tentacle monster was vast and it was guarding something, it seemed, something that the super-mutants were trying to get to.

A great long Subway monotrain was sitting on a metallic monorail running across the other side of the cavern from the monster. Shadow shapes moved behind the dirty armaglass of the carriages, strange shaped things, and the super-mutants kept well away from the train.

A longer, thinner grappling-tentacle whipped out and picked up a behemoth as if it was a tiny infant, hauling back away as the behemoth struck at the creature with a great bladed mace weapon. The super-mutant screamed a mixture of agony, terror and berserker rage. Then it was gone.

The leading super-mutants of the charging group, being sharp-mutants and one psyker-mutant, got big armoured doors to hum open and then all were racing into the relative safety of an armoured metallic subway tunnel. Two more stupid-mutants were plucked away and a grappler-tentacle was shot to pieces before the last of the super-mutants vanished behind closing armoured gates.

Something crept out of a monotrain carriage, two headed and twisted, part human and part rat with a radroach like contortion to its back. He sat on a outer part of a monocarriage and began to play an old but well cared for banjo. Others came out and all were deformed to some degree at least. They danced or played instruments or played games of chess or ate lightly cooked radroach or other meat, kinds of moss and substances including blindfish. Yet they also had small cubes of many flavoured food and litrejons of purified water as provided by the small OrbisOrbs floating amongst them. Fresh percolated coffee was being made. These same OrbisOrbs repelled the great monster from attacking the carriage and the poor mutant misfits sheltering in it.

Soon they would be departing as Orbis was going to provide them with a home and beyond that, improved bodies and less pain.

TO BE CONTINUED

FIFTY-EIGHT
MAN FROM SEARF
PARABULBS FROM SPACE
:chaos: :cheat: :shakehead:

Glowing softly oily green, they drifted down through the dark air in the many hundreds, each roughly a metre across and high. They were bulb things held aloft by what appeared to be living parachutes of oily green substance. They landed much closer to the fake volcano of Mount Olympia. As they did the fake volcano exploded and out of it shot a great glowing fountain of biochemicals that fell upon the lands around it and upon the parabulbs even then landing on those grounds.

Eddie'Jon crouched amongst rubble that lay on top of the Olympia SuperDuperMart. Next to him crouched the massive Uncle Leo, the unwilling guru of a super-mutant. They were watching as the strange biochemicals flurry down, whipped by light winds and strong breezes. Creatures were fleeing from the area of the landing parabulbs and strange biochemicals. From giant ants to eagles, molerats, normal ants and many others, including plantimals, they were going as fast as they could.

Uncle Leo sighed and scratched his ugly handsome face. "So you think that your biological father is behind this."

The SEARF and JAGAF leader nodded. "Or at least the core of him is. He wasn't all human years before Doomsday and he certainly isn't anything like human now. Those parabulbs, and I do not know how I know their name, are some sort of preparation for his escape attempt from the super virtual reality realm."

There was something unnatural, something disturbing about the things still floating down that were coming from Orbis. Why from Orbis? Orbis was supposed to protect life, to quarantine worlds and now it was seeding this world with alien monstrosities.

A missile streaked through the sky and a parabulb exploded, was killed. SEARF and JAGAF forces were experimentally destroying as many of the invaders as they could but the falling showers of exotic biochemicals seemed to be messing with targeting network-systems. Lasers pulsebeams spat upwards from a mobile battery and wiped out two of the parabulbs.

Uncle Leo shook his head. "Too many of them, far too many of them and I fear they may prove to have defences of their own. I know where the super virtual reality is based. The great monolith, of amazing strength, that sticks out of the centre of a great bowl full of toxic waters and monstrous mutants, that is the anchor hard point, the casing of the super virtual reality realm in this world. I have gone as far as the edge of the bowl but no further. I would like you to help me lead an expedition to the centre of that place. To find President James Patriot Jackson and put an end to this growing madness is even more important now."

From a descending parabulb spat a sizzling bolt of energy, a fast moving flash of purple red flaming energies. The AA-laser battery exploded dramatically and a JAGAF super-soldier died.

Eddie'Jon sent orders out through the Hubmind of the SEARF and now, the JAGAF. Units would increase attacks but also use mobility and other tricks against counter attacks.

He watched a pack of deathclaws running and close to them a larger pack of smaller killclaws. Then he noted the OrbisOrbs drifting in the distance and inside them the translucent hint of plants, plantimals and animals being carried to safety. Then he noted OrbisOrbs floating through the air higher above now and from the sprang bolts of energy that caused many parabulbs to explode into flames or even to disintegrate with flashes of yellow white light.

What was Orbis doing? Orbis was sending parabulbs to the world but also trying to destroy them? It made no sense.

There were too few OrbisOrbs to both destroy the parabulbs and save life. Now they began to focus on saving life, shooting away at the invaders from space even as they did so.

When he sensed it was the right moment, when the last of the OrbisOrbs was leaving the area, Eddie'Jon took out a remote control and clicked off a safety. Uncle Leo sighed but said nothing to stop it from happening. Eddie'Jon pressed the button three times hard and fast.

The napalm warheads exploded in great clumps of heaving, billowing red flames and black smoke that rose and rose. A strange screaming, keening noise of mixed agony and hatred filled the air. More and more rockets landed in volleys and other weapons exploded. Aeroflyers shot through the air releasing cluster smart-bombs and air-gas explosions.

But then an aeroflyer shuddered as its right wing exploded and burst into flames. It whirled and raced away, zigzagging and escaped.

The area was blazing and the parabulbs seemed to be destroyed and yet Eddie'Jon doubted it. He gave new orders. The SuperDuperMart was going to be abandoned, except for a smaller specialised force, as soon as possible. It was good that he had started his people preparing for it hours before as he had sensed something bad was coming.

Uncle Leo had warned his own followers, setting them to preparing for departure, but many settlers had refused to even consider doing so. They were so sure there was no threat they had even, at one stage, tried to sabotage others leaving.

Eddie'Jon regretted having the leaders of these fools, who seemed to be under some kind of dark influence, and having them terminated but he had done so. The other fools were herded into a couple of big old semitrailer bus-trucks along with their various goods. Actually most of them seemed quite happy to go and The semitrailer trucks were even now leaving with their armed escorts.

Aeroships, hidden below the SuperDuperMart, were half full with the slower to load stuff and now were being full up.

Just what was going on with Orbis?

Just what were these damned parabulbs and were they really destroyed?

Uncle Leo shook his great super-mutant head. Many now called him a spiritual-mutant, a term which amused him sometimes and bemused him at others. "No, they are not gone. Soaked in the biochemicals that strengthen them, the parabulbs have burrowed deep into the ground. Already they are beginning to sprout into most strange plant like creatures or to hatch into hundreds of tiny but fast growing monsters of varied kinds. You must need use the rings."

He frowned hard for he had come to sense that the Rings of Power, artefacts created by President James Patriot Jackson for unknown reasons, were had amazing potential for power. They also had amazing potential to create disaster.

Soon he would risk much in using the rings but for now he had to tune into them in a way that would increase his understanding and control of them.

TO BE CONTINUED

FIFTY-NINE
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS
THE CIRCLE OF STEEL AND THE UNNATURAL FOG ATTACK
:flamethrower: :shakehead: :shocking:

Knight Captain York, his soldiers and the Sisters of Metaphysics, moved carefully into a large Subways monorail train station. It was lit only by emergency lighting and some rubble lay on the ground but generally it was in surprisingly good condition. Sister Doctor of Metaphysics Ursula Lyons, cousin to Elder Lyons, studied the situation with much care.

They remained hidden in shadows up on a raised area, a platform above the actual monotrain platforms, looking down upon them.

While most of the monotrains were long abandoned commuter transports, one was wrapped in carbon-fibre armour and had only small armoured portholes. It was obviously US Military of special classification. But it was not alone. Power armoured soldiers were on sentry duty in Brotherhood of Steel like standard kind armour but their colouration was varied as were their symbols.

York spoke quietly but did not sound happy. "Circle of Steel. An offshoot who were driven insane by the use of early prototype designs of stealthboys. They departed from the Brotherhood of Steel over in California a long time ago when they refused to give up their use of those stealthboys. How did they get here, how long have they been here and why are they here?"

Ursula studied some readouts on a scanner unit she held. "They have some very odd visor equipment linked to their armour and, yes, some kind of stealthboy technology built into their suits but for now it is not active. There are other odd bits and pieces. Most of the armoured figures have only basics of such but some have much more. Otherwise they utilise pretty standard Brotherhood of Steel technologies including 20mm autoguns, 5.56mm miniguns and? what is that?"

York studied the weapon on a tripod. "Experimental UV-lasers were found by the Brotherhood of Steel in a bunkerplex close to our major base in California. Much of it was ruined junk or had been looted but rubble had blocked off some chambers of experimental prototypes stored special for long term. The UV-lasers were powerful but did not seem to have much use to them. Still they and other prototypes were taken to the Lost Hills bunkerplex. That weapons seems to be an upgraded version of one of those made more practical and resistant to damage."

Suddenly there was a burst of activity. Ursula signalled danger and took up her weapon and soon the others were taking up their guns. Out of the darkness came rushing zhouls, a whole lot of them, and it seemed at first that they might be madly attacking. Yet the noises they made were not normal for their kind, of terror, and they not only rushed past the Circle of Steel soldiers, they were not fired upon.

The fog came floating along, glowing horribly, and inside were glimpsed the strange fast shambling, sometimes stumbling, bodies of big rats, radroaches, zhouls, raiders and other things. A raider was glimpsed, what had been a man, with the gang colours of the Iron'Biters. There was a horrific feel about the fog and the things inside them, a sense of antinatural forces at work that attacked nature, the natural laws, simply by existing.

The Circle of Steel soldier fired the UV-laser and the beam punched out powerful and bright. It struck the fog and the effect was amazing. It exploded into flames and so did the fast shambling bodies, the zombies. The beam swept back and forth, doing far more damage to this undeathly force than it would have done to anything normally alive. Then the others opened up with their weapons.

With out any conscious decision, the Sisters of Metaphysics and the Brothers of Steel opened up on the fog and its creatures with 20mm shells, laser pulsebeams and other projectiles.

Then the disturbing fog and the creatures in it were gone leaving behind only naturally rotting bodies. The fog was totally gone now. It had only been a small moving piece of fog but nobody doubted there was more of its kind out there.

The Circle of Steel people met with the newcomers down on the platforms where it turned out that the Circle of Steel soldiers would say nothing except that their mighty leader, the New Master, had led them to the DC-Wastelands. Yes, the New Master was linked to the terrible mutagenic created monster of the Master who was born as Richard Moreau but who later changed his name to Richard Grey. After being plunged into a vat of FEV and being there for months, the old Master had emerged as a monstrosity that was soon adding organic and hitech to its self. It absorbed creatures and people. After that came an attempt to build an army of the first super-mutants. The Master was destroyed a long time ago by a man from LifeVault 13 known simply as the Vault Dweller by most.

The New Master had no desire for domination or the creation of super-mutants or any other such plans. He was a seeker of knowledge and, more importantly, of wisdom leading to enlightenment. Now he led the Circle of Steel but not as an oppressive brutal leader but more as a guru. Or so the Circle of Steel people said in voices that sounded like those of people who were entranced somehow.

The New Master knew a great deal about President James Patriot Jackson and what he was up to but to learn more they would have to meet him directly. Though both York and Ursula were dubious of this, they went into the armoured monotrain and soon it was heading through the Subway tunnels. For, astonishingly enough, the New Master had predicted that they would come there though the prediction was a fuzzy glimpse of the future.

He had even glimpsed the SEART, Special Encounter Assault Recon Team, that was following them along with its JAGAF allies. They were on foot but were keeping up effortlessly with the monotrain.

TO BE CONTINUED

SIXTY
TWINS IN LIFEVAULT-101
EXTENDING ONESELF IN A NEW WAY[
:woot: :sb:

Aaron and Aarie could renew-replicate more items now but they could do other things also. They could sit, facing each other, holding both hands and while one projected him or herself to another place, the other would keep watch over the two of them.

Life had been difficult for some months. They had seen almost nothing of their friends and had no free time at all. The security charges had at last been overturned by the newly established Ombudsman's Office but security still had them classed as suspicious. Oddly enough the harsh way that they and their friends had been punished had afforded them much sympathy from a few others. Extra community service was often made easy or even turned into hidden recreation.

The security people had stolen the elegantly electrum broach, officially pretending there had never been one, and the twins had found themselves helpless to get it back.

The creation of the Ombudsman's Office had been part of a backlash against the growing autocratic nature of the Vaultgov but the new office had very limited powers, a poor budget and a small staff.

Aaron and Aarie had practised the new ability.

Aaron had walked phantom like through the Security Sector and had learned that the security people spent a good deal of time gambling, having affairs with each other or just sitting around drinking coffee or beer while chatting about team sports, old 3Dmovies and such things. What was disturbing was the unofficially the security force was at least twice as big as it officially was with much more equipment and supplies than it legitimately had.

Her attempts to find even a good clue to where their mother's broach was, were unsuccessful.

Aarie had walked phantom like through the big Sports Fitness Centre, accidentally going through the male locker room only to emerge thinking that many men had a very nasty way of talking about women when they were alone together. Still, she had liked the view?

Aaron had got as far as being close to the metal hull barrier between LifeVault-101 proper and the hidden subvault of Sector Thirteen. Except that some kind of force field repelled his phantom self from going any further as if those in Sector Thirteen had prepared for such forms of trespass.

Aarie had found that, in contrast to the security forces, the Defence Force had been reduced in numbers, equipment and supplies. Now it numbered only one brigade divided into twenty platoons, twelve special squads and various other elements. But, secretly, the soldiers had been making their own efforts against the High Overseer's attack on them. They had unofficially recruited extra people, had stolen equipment and supplies from various stockpiles, including secret security depots. The security people could hardly make official complaints about thefts of stuff they should not have had in the first place.

Together they had learned a surprising truth. Officially LifeVault-101 had one hundred thousand people. Unofficially most assumed it had around one hundred and twenty thousand people. In truth it had over two hundred and fifty thousand people, of which over fifty thousand now lived in the Fringe Caverns that were much larger than most people knew. In the official residential sectors of Five and Six lived just over a hundred twenty thousand people, as expected, though they were designed to take a maximum of one hundred thousand. So where were the other eighty thousand plus Vaultfolk? How did they learn this? They found a lost file stuffed down the back of a metal filing-cabinet but not all the pages were there and those that were, were poor photocopies of photocopies.

So they renew-replicated the file and gained three improved but not perfect copies. It was a lesson that their amazing ability did have special limitations. Yet what they did learn, which was mainly in the form of brief notes and hints, was most disturbing. It was also linked with President James Patriot Jackson, the brainabugs and Sector Thirteen along with a super virtual reality realm of amazing size and sophistication. They had suspected such a realm might exist but the reality was far greater than anything they had envisioned; it was a realm of realms.

They took turns phantom contacting their friends and having them carry out various not too dangerous tasks. They gathered resources, kept their ears and eyes open for certain kinds of whispers, did small work projects and such like. That is except for the neobabies who thought playing games with a phantom Aaron or Aarie was much fun.

TO BE CONTINUED

SIXTY-ONE
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS
CONFLICT IN THE CATACOMBS

JAGAF super-soldiers fell back with amazing coordination, speed and agility as they kept unleashing covering fire for each other. They were shooting at one of their former masters now in the modern Deep Peace Catacombs below part of Washington DC. Flurolamps lit the hallways and chambers fairly brightly. Security robots, protectrons and securetrons, moved to deal with both the JAGAF and their enemies but the robots had little chance. The JAGAF started to EMP them, knocking them out in case they could claim them later. Their enemies smashed brutally through the robots with a kind of contempt.

The superclone called himself Captain James Patriot Jackson. He was a hulking, brutal, super power armoured version of the Mad President. The armour was black with blood red trimmings with the Patriot Eagle symbol on the chest, back and shoulders. The Patriot Guards with him were almost as big. Like him they carried very heavy but very powerful multiguns.

Captain James Patriot Jackson kicked a securetron through the air and it crashed off a wall, going straight into a self-repair mode. He looked around at the corpse status-capsules holding the preserved dead bodies of the wealthily stupid. Had they actually believed that somebody would come along one day and somehow bring them back to life? Their souls were long gone on the Eternal Cycle of Life and Death. Yet his lord and master, President James Patriot Jackson, had use for these bodies of men, women and children. There were even favoured animals there being mostly cats or dogs but also horses, ponies and, in one case, a goldfish.

President James Patriot Jackson had detected the growing JAGAF treachery a very long time ago and had planned on it by compromising the JAGAF internally. Now some other force had freed the JAGAF from that threat and the stupid cyborg-clones were fighting. They were doomed. All who were against or neutral to the Great One, to President James Patriot Jackson, were doomed and deserved to be.

Only the JAGAF did not seem to accept they were doomed and they were fighting well, damned them.

A Patriot Guard died and slumped forward. The new Patriot Guards, unlike the traitors who had long ago fled from the dying President, were all demiclones. That is they were semiautonomous clones of JPJ himself with other genetic influences mixed in for stability and flexibility. These ones around him were Hulk-Guards but there were other castes such as Assassin-Guards, Tech-Guards, Infantry-Guards, Mecha-Guards and many others. They had been hidden away for a very long time but now they were returning in steadily increasing numbers, varieties and power.

Captain James Patriot Jackson gave the order. His forces stormed forward into the catacombs. He was confident that the enemy super-soldiers had nothing to match him and his own super-soldiers. The Patriot Guards spread out as they ran along a very wide entrance hallway. They thudded heavily in their super power armour, massive and imposing. They moved in finely directed and coordinated combat formations. SEARF and JAGAF were light weight fighters and, he assumed, could not deal with heavy arms and armour.

Captain James Patriot Jackson raised his multigun and fired off a volley of homing-minimissiles. They shot out from him, diverted and shot around corners and vanished from sight. There were the satisfying sounds of explosions.

But then the trap closed. Out of the catacomb capsules climbed the supposedly dead bodies, now proving to be very basic androids long ago used by the Deep Peace Catacombs Corporation for publicity reasons. They rushed at the Patriot Guards and many exploded as they came, shot down by the elite troopers in their amazing armour. But the baseline androids also exploded with the force of hidden mininukes. More and more of the androids came, each a mininuke equipped kamikaze bomber.

Too late did the proud superclone realised he had been led by fleeing JAGAF troopers into a very cunning trap. He orders his demiclones to withdraw as quickly as they could in the super power armour, moving backwards cleverly even as they laid down accurate and deadly covering fire for each other.

But the androids kept coming in waves, each exploding with mininuke power as they got into close enough range. More and more Hulk-Guards were killed, killing themselves if they had to do so to stop them from being caught by the JAGAF.

Reluctantly and full of a mixture of rage and admiration for his enemies, Captain James Patriot Jackson vanished, teleporting away, taking with him only five soldiers for that was all the Hulk-Guards he could take at one time. Even as he and his soldiers vanished, the last of the other Patriot Guards was blasted dead.

JAGAF returned and they looted what they could, carefully removing any booby-traps and other security tricks that had been activated. They began to retreat with the amazing super armour suits and multiguns along with other stolen technologies.

Captain James Patriot Jackson and his five Hulk-Guards had expected to return to their home base but instead they appeared before President James Patriot Jackson himself who sat in a mighty hitech throne. They were in NeoWashington now and they were in trouble, or at least the captain was.

Or was he?

The President was amazingly handsome, charming and regal. The largely shadowy throne chamber was vast. Seminaked women in strange versions of known costumes were all around, kneeling demurely on silken mats on the marble floor; they were dressed as stewardesses, schoolgirls, cheer-leaders, soldiers and much else. These were another kind of super-soldier, the Nymphites. They were all special clones of the president himself.

He spoke. "Today was a defeat but also a lesson. I sent you thinking that your victory over some JAGAF would be easy so it is I who am to blame. We will face other defeats in the form of battles but we will win battles and we will win the war. I will be free and I will rule not just one world but many. But know this. We face powerful and clever enemies now. Those JAGAF were directed by others, I sense it. My treacherous child, Bloody Eddie, has returned and has helped turn the JAGAF totally against me. Yet it is others that truly threaten me now. Go and take your soldiers with you. Prepare new training programs to deal with such traps in future."

Captain James Patriot Jackson could not help but be totally devoted to his great leader, his primary clone master, but he was still glad to leave there and take his five soldiers with him. He teleported away with the five Hulk-Guards but when he appeared instantly in the base the Hulk-Guards were dead; it was a warning from President James Patriot Jackson to be more careful in future.

For an instant the captain felt an urge to kill the Mad President but then it was gone as if it had never been.

TO BE CONTINUED

SIXTY-TWO
WOMAN FROM SEARF
MEETING MOTHER
:facepalm: :dance: :clap:

Eddie'Jane stepped smoothly into the big hall and noted that the public meeting was going strongly. She did not care for such things, for crowds of undisciplined, uncontrolled wild humans so unlike the SEARF or the JAGAF or even the SEARF followers and androids. Now she openly wore SEARF combat fatigues and the Wastelanders gave way to her and her comrades as they paced into the big chamber, followed by JAGAF cyborgs. At her sides were holstered the big black pistols.

Hamton Hambleton, the self professed 'big man in town', was standing and waving his hand in wild dramatics as the Town Council sat on the stage on basic wooden chairs. "As an honest, hard working man of this town, I say we must protect what is ours and drive these intruders from Rivertane."

Apart from the Rivertane Mayor and the Town Councillors, there were others of influence including the sheriff, representatives of the Union of Columbia and an officer of the Union Guards.

There was some jeering laughter in response to his words. Clearly not all considered him to be an 'honest' man or perhaps not even 'hard working'.

The mayor was standing at the podium being a tall, willowy woman wearing 3D-eyes for clearly she was naturally blind. The 3D-eyes were in the form of a jury-rigged leather set of goggles made to look as elegant as possible. Yet next to her was a Labrador, a seeing eye dog, indicating the goggles were far from perfect. The woman had red brown skin and dark brown hair.

The mayor spoke out then, loudly and sharply. "Mr Hambleton, sit down. You have already had your say. While the town can call upon Union Guards, our own Town Guards and upon mercenaries, we are not in position to take on super-soldiers. Nor do we need to. Yes they claimed the space-platform, took it up and flew off with it in some great flying machine, but clearly they knew what they were doing with it and we did not. They have given us in compensation over ten thousand goldworth in EIDs, tradegoods and other resources."

Eddie'Jane made her way up a clear lane between chairs and the locals became quieter. Then she stopped as a woman, her mother, came and quietly stood before her. Her mother, Captain Jane Eye, was calm but Eddie'Jane could sense her anguish and fear inside but also her love.

Eddie'Jane spoke then. "All is accepted and forgiven. There was rage, even hate, against you but it was President James Patriot Jackson who manipulated us, me, into believing you to be a monster. We, I, have since learned the truth. Then there were the special dreams, a dream link, that we experienced between us but which you did not remember during waking times though they still gave you some comfort. The dreams were a gift from the Centro through Orbis."

They hugged with a little uncertainty at first but soon with ease. They then drew apart and Jane Eye shook her head in wonder. "The dreams come clear to me now. We met peacefully in the big old house that we lived in before President James Patriot Jackson took you away, damn him. Now we must discuss other matters. The people of Rivertane, of the Union of Columbia, wish to know of your plans."

"Survival and the defeating of President James Patriot Jackson who is alive but trapped in a super virtual reality realm of his own making, are our plans. The Union of Columbia needs to follow the same plans." She responded to her mother carefully. "SEARF-JAGAF wish to bring at least one convoy of vessels along the Potomac River but we need to set up facilities here. We wish to construct a large jetty, about as large as your main jetty. It will be fortified and just outside the Rivertane walls. We will keep it under our control but we will pay Rivertane an initial payment plus a monthly, smaller, payment from then on. The payments will be in the form of tradegoods and EIDs."

"It's not me that you have to convince." The rivership captain responded. "I am only a captain."

"As well as an agent of the Union of Columbia Security Intelligence Agency, the UCSIA." Eddie'Jane spoke quietly. "We easily penetrated the security of your basemant outpost. President James Patriot Jackson's monstrous followers, especially such as the superclones, have the same abilities. You will need to upgrade your security, especially the psychic aspect of your security."

At that moment another group of super-soldiers entered and with them was Argyle and Herbert Daring Dashwood. The crowds gawked at the famous, sometimes infamous, pair of adventurers. Then the pair were standing before the others. Argyle was frowning softly. He was still bemused that SEARF-JAGAF had duped them both into going along with their plans. JAGAF was not hunting them, had never really been hunting them. Dashwood was taking it much more lightly, seemed almost amused by the whole clever charade.

Captain Jane Eye turned and smiled at the two. "Hello, Dashwood and you, also, Argyle. What brings you to Rivertane, a rather tame settlement for the two of you."

The ghoul man-servant frowned. "The super-soldiers wanted us to come here. They tricked us. Well, what is done, is done. Now they want us to meet one Eddie'Jane and to assist her somehow."

Eddie'Jane turned and looked at both Daring Dashwood and Argyle. "I am that one, leader of the SEARF and JAGAF."

Dashwood arched his eyebrows. "You are very powerful and much older than you seem, unlike your special companions who emanate youthfulness. What do you want from us?"

She smiled. "A chance to work with the famous pair of adventurers and a need of your knowledge and some of your valuable experience. Now is not the time or place to discuss such matters."

Captain Jane Eye and Eddie'Jane were allowed to go onto stage and to sit on wooden chairs, revealing that Jane Eye had a good deal of influence in Rivertane and that Eddie'Jane would not somehow be denied such an honour. Now the discussions really began and soon, after Hamton Hambleton was kicked out of the meeting for constant unwanted interjections, an agreement was made.

TO BE CONTINUED

SIXTY-THREE
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS
ACTION AT THE HISTORICAL THEME PARK
:icecream: :gun: :run: :frog:

Abraham Lincoln, replicant android, led the counter attack along Entrance Avenue Five, firing off a repeater-rifle as he did. A raider's shot knocked off his tall, black tophat even as he cried out, "We shall free the slaves!"

There were no slaves to free, just a great autorobotic historical theme park to protect from invading reavers. A park that was surprisingly close to the Grand National Mall and yet still concealed, so close as to feel tremors when the fighting had been going on.

A tribal of Epic History Park, a Cas'Caretaker, crouched behind a low wall and gave off a burst of bullets from a light machinegun. He wore a tribal emblem studded set of coveralls, boots and a manhood attained toolbelt.

The reavers had gained access to the rubble and other obstacle surrounded amusemant park expecting to find the normal kind of loot. They instead had found an operating amusemant park that had become a weird kind of state run by a half crazy AI-supercomputer network-system. Robots, androids, three odd tribes of humans and lots or roboremote units came sweeping at them. They had occupied an outer hub of the wagon wheel like layout of the park where a compass direction spoke (North-Eastern Spoke) met the wheel (Outer Rim); the hub had turned out to be far less secure than they had first assumed with booby-traps and other tricks being activated, at times, after the occupation

Davy Crockett and General Patton were organising the Cas'Admins, one of the other tribes, while security robots were being upgunned and otherwise upgraded. Some WW2 GIs were shooting real semiautomatic rifles at the enemy. One of the Cas'Ents was wearing power armour of the infamous Power Police of the Second Dark Ages, was ready to use a minigun and a gattling-shotgun. 'Ent' was for Entertainer. The Cas'Securities, Cas'Techs, Cas'Visitors and Cas'Carers had been exiled after they tried to take over the EHP in a big revolt but now a new treaty was hastily being put together as the four tribes came out of exile to help defend their homes.

As for the tribeless they were organised by others as they were easily as big in numbers as all the tribes put together. Many of these were ghouls and non-ghoul humans who had wandered into the safety of the great park only to become second class citizens of the Tribeless. Others had lost their tribal status for various reasons, both fair and unfair.

Abraham Lincoln leapt through the air and rolled behind a fake hedge wall that was more bullet proof than a whole lot of kevlar. The defenders had weapons but most were copies of historical ones or were non lethal security devices. Still even then a WW3 Abrams MBT (main battletank) was rumbling fast along the avenue. The machine was low hulking and dangerous looking. Then it fired its cannon with a booming noise. A big explosion erupted at the base of the occupied tower, ripping a big hole out of its wall and killing a reaver with a missile-launcher.

Then they came, sweeping through the park, SEARF and JAGAF forces. Abraham Lincoln, the android, was astonished. He watched the amazingly fast, agile and acrobatic attackers swarm over the tower and through into it. There was some firing cut short and then it was over.

Then the super-soldiers were moving in the area and with them appeared now androids, robots and followers.

Abraham Lincoln, the android, knew that matters had now changed greatly in the great circular shaped Epic History Park. The newcomers would give but they would be wanting something special in return.

Now that raiders, worse still reavers, had found them, what would come next?

TO BE CONTINUED

SIXTY-FOUR
LIFE AND DEATH IN THE DC-WASTELANDS
THROUGH A WARDROBE DIMLY WALKING
bliviongate: :bolt:

Sarah Lyons, the Lyons Pride, Knight Captain Gallows, SEARF, JAGAF and others went through the wardrobe when the main doors suddenly opened to reveal not a normal wardrobe clothes hanging like space but a distorted version of one. The back wall was in the far distance making the space more like a dimly lit wooden hallway than a normal wardrobe space. There were clothes hanging on rods that ran down both side walls being an amazing assortment of gear from many historical ages. There was also armour, weapons, tools and other items along with paintings, posters and much else. There were solid-state fluropanels in the ceiling but they only three dim light.

Who were the others that went with the group? People arisen from the green jelly substance, awaken but still dazed, were with them be they from the American Civil War, the American War of Independence, World War Two or many other times. Zhouls were tamed somehow, were passive, were fundamentally changed. There were robots and roboremote units controlled by the robots. There were androids.

The SEARF had used their growing new abilities, as had the JAGAF though their new abilities were slower to emerge, to remove most of the stuff from the storage chambers. In turn they had gained new resources including SEARSRs, special saucer shaped floating robots.

The tentacle monster had kept striking but it was something new and more deadly that had sent them escaping through the 'wardrobe'. A cloud of glowing fog had come drifting towards the storage areas and in the fog were fast shambling undead things, zombies of all kinds. Zhouls, molerats, humans, radroaches, unknown creatures and things that seemed to be horrific constructs of various kinds made from dead flesh and bones. There were even a couple of brainbots controlled by undead cloned human brains.

With flamers, lasers, projectiles of all kinds and other weapons, they had destroyed the fog and its gruesome puppets. Jets of flames had roared along the tunnel as laser pulsebeams flickered on and off. Autoguns and miniguns roared. Rockets and missiles shot along the passage. Grenades and grenade-shells exploded inside the fog. Flames gushed up and out.

But the destruction of one cloud of the glowing fog was not a victory over the menace, far from it. The tentacle monster was huge but it withdrew its tentacles from the fog and hurled things at it from a distance including fireballs of harsh smelling nature that exploded aggressively, doing much damage to the fog. The great monster seemed to fear the glowing fog.

The last of the rearguard entered the wardrobe that was, of course, not really a wardrobe at all. They fled along the wooden hallway but not in a panicky fashion. They passed sets of double doors either side that looked like wardrobe doors but none would open until Sarah and Gallows, who led, found an unlocked one to the right. But before they opened it somebody appeared in front of them.

Seeker James Patriot Jackson stood calmly and patiently as Gallows shot bullets through him and Sarah got him to stop. Then Seeker James Patriot Jackson bowed gracefully and he spoke. "I represent the part of President James Patriot Jackson that staid reasonably good of nature and generally sane of mentality. I am weak compared to President James Patriot Jackson at the core, an insane mentality trying to escape from a prison of his own making. If you go through that first unlocked set of doors you will run into a terrible trap set up by President James Patriot Jackson. Please trust me and follow me to a second set of doors to your left."

Sarah Lyons sensed she could trust this one, though Knight Captain Gallows seemed doubtful. Seeker James Patriot Jackson pointed out that they could safely collect any items found inside the 'wardrobe' as they were meant to be taken and would be replaced before anybody else came through the exotic mechanism.

The group followed the phantom like Seeker James Patriot Jackson further along the hallway and then to the left down a long hallway. They took items, some useful but others of great interest but they too far from all of them.

Then they were coming out of a wardrobe into a fairly clean, lightly dusty, dimly lit furniture store that reminded one of sealed off stores found in the DC-Wastelands. Except that there were no skeletal remains, no radroaches, and through one lightly dirty window could be seen busy traffic on a side-street and sidewalk.

Seeker James Patriot Jackson spoke. "You are in NeoWashington, the central part of NeoDC that is in turn the core of all of the super virtual realms set up by President James Patriot Jackson. No, I did not trick you into coming here. The other doors would have led you to a hallway that would have led you to the Quagmorass, a vast quagmire of terrible swampy jungles filled with an amazing array of things that want to kill one or worse. President James Patriot Jackson sends many of those who dare to oppose him to that place. The lucky ones die quickly or, rarely, manage to escape to a better place."

Then he sighed. "But NeoWashington is not much less dangerous. I could have taken you to a third set of unlocked doors that would have sent you back to the DC-Wastelands but I need you here to save millions of lives and to help fight President James Patriot Jackson."

Knight Captain Lyons was not happy about being tricked but as she stood there, she could see that there was good reason to be in NeoDC. "What is this place?"

"Officially its a big old fashioned block of shop and offices that could not compete with a SuperDuperMart complex opened near here. Unofficially it's a building that I have altered and enhanced it so it is far more special than that. Officially you own it under the name of Sarah Brown and the Brown Family Corporation as of the US Corporate Act of 2043." Seeker James Patriot Jackson indicated a pair of large wooden doors. "Through there is a large 2077 style office complete with official documentation for many of you but not for the Civil War veteran or the zhouls or others like them. Why did you bring them when they are a burden?"

"To protect them." She shrugged. "From a wide range of threats. Hopefully they will wake up and be less of a burden and more of assistance."

Seeker James Patriot Jackson shook his head. "They need something special for that to happen and thankfully I put it into the building."

It looked like an old fashioned row of shower-bath alcoves with plastic curtains covering the alcove entrances. But once turned on the shower-heads jetted a foggy mist plus a blue tinged water that filled the tubs but never to overflowing thanks to a clever valve-drainage system. The various figures saved from the green jelly were put into the baths where they floated face upwards, naked and peaceful.

Not all were happy about what was happening but all accepted it as part of their duty. Anyway the Seeker told them that he would find safe ways for them to contact their people back in the DC-Wastelands, including loved ones.

The SEARF and JAGAF were less concerned because they already had people in NeoDC and were soon contacting them in their own special way.

TO BE CONTINUED

SIXTY-FOUR
BIGGER AND BETTER THAN TRANQUILLITY LANE
TARGETING PROFESSOR JAMES PATRIOT JACKSON
:flamed: :flamethrower: :toughninja:

Rose'Ama, Tribal Queen Nymphoria and Grognak the Barbarian became the leaders of the military forces that first defended the Ki'Mossan Caverns and then launched an attack on the Cliffhold home of the Ki'Konda. Rose'Ama had renew-replicated robots and other machines from junk piles close to the Subway Entrances or just inside them. The local people were amazed by the newcomers' technologies and those reclaimed ones of the Ancients as much as the newcomers were amazed by the use of dinosaurs and magic by the prehistoric people; that is highly amazed.

The so called Ancients were basically Americans of the 2070s, or at least the remains of them, and what remained of them was much the same as what could be found in the US Wastelands.

Hoversleds shot across the muddy, grassy, at places boggy area of land as the force attempted to strike the Cliffhold from an unusual direction. Just above them flew airazons (aerial amazons) of the Qu'Quesz on their mighty tragons. Grognak could not stop himself grinning with enjoyment as he steered a hoversled with amazing skill for somebody so new to such a machine.

Each hoversled had warriors and crew. Some had NeoWashington people, including soldiers. The three SEARF were with Rose'Ama for they had taken up the role of being her bodyguards. The tall scientist was clutching painfully onto a handgrip and was looking rather ashen faced.

Eyebots, their hoverjets jetting away, moved in a light scatter ahead as they scanned for danger, their 3Dcams sending images back to monitors. Bigger gunbots followed them as did some MrGutsys.

The main force of attackers was heading straight at the front of the Cliffhold and had already fought its first skirmishes with super-mutants and enemy robots. But Professor James Patriot Jackson must have learned local magic for he had managed to conjure forth dangerous demonic and elemental monsters, had reanimated corpses into neozombies and had created and animated metallic-biomechanical golems. The tribals had summoned elemental beings of greater skill and magic who hurled great elemental projectiles and lesser elemental monsters at the Mad Professor's forces.

Rose'Ama had learned that there was a SubHub beneath the Cliffhold and that Professor James Patriot Jackson was attempting to access it through ancient magical wards and other barriers. Why this particular SubHub? The answer was that this SubHub was no more special than any other through out the super virtuality world of many realms. The answer was likely that President James Patriot Jackson was trying to control as many SubHubs as he could as part of his attempt to gain freedom. Which meant trying to stop him and his forces from doing just that.

Which made it pleasing to know that there was a Brotherhood of Steel in that realm, along with other Orders of Steel, who would be willing to assist. Only problem was that they were a long way away though rushing to the scene in aeroships. The aeroships were of the Sisterhood of Steel. Except that in that realm they were known as the Orders of Bronze such as the Brotherhood of Bronze and the Sisterhood of Bronze. Though they used reclaimed technologies of the Ancients, they also used magic in various forms.

Still she was being drawn towards the Washington Monument but it was isolated by a force-bubble of both tech and magical projection; it could only be switched off in the Cliffhold, having been put into place by the Mad Professor himself.

They came springing out of the muddy ground itself, monstrous and moving with deadly speed and power. Like killclaws they were but taller and slimmer with claw-hands that held bronze headed wooden spears or long curved bronze bladed swords. They had webbing of leather pouch dotted belts. They leapt high to slash at the tragons and their riders but missed. They ran to leap at the hoversleds.

But then Grognak gave off a strange whistle and these creatures halted abruptly. Grognak had saved the handclaw people once and they would not fulfil the favour that they owed him for they did not like owing favours to anybody. Also they hated Professor James Patriot Jackson and his forces who came intruding through their territories with no normal respect or tribal protocols met.

They rushed onwards until the ground became muddier, swampier with pools of bubbling hot water of increasing size and depth. They kept to a series of raised corridors of land, artificial by the looking and of tribal peoples who had come and gone since the time of the Ancients. For in that realm the Ancients had been not two hundred years ago but two thousand years ago.

When the next attack came it was nothing that could be turned aside by diplomacy. The super-mutants and golems leapt out of water they had been hiding in, attacking with miniguns, sparkling elemental swords, autoguns and many other kinds of weapons. Elemental monsters came also, things of electricity, of frost, of fire and other forces. Hundreds of them came and with them were Patriot Guards, demiclones of the Mad President, in hulking or slimmer power armour.

The trap was a very effective one.

Rose'Ama turned to Arnold Brim. "Very clever but now to for a second surprise." She smiled and the treacherous professor flinched for he had secretly contacted Professor James Patriot Jackson to warn about the secret attack. Rose'Ama had counted on him doing so.

Arnold Brim scowled. "I have my family in NeoWashington to think of."

She nodded. "Which is why I will not kill you." She turned and raised her hands as fists, aiming her exotic rings at the oncoming enemies. Then she focused and unleashed some force, expecting at most a few fairly powerful bolts of energy.

Then she was being hurled backwards even as from the right hand ring leapt a mighty bolt of energy, roaring and crackling as of many elemental forces in one. It zipped into the distance and then exploded with a terrible roar. Her hoversled turned over, spilling people and items.

A sudden pain struck her, a sense of extreme disorientation, and she blacked out.

TO BE CONTINUED