Finally arrived heh? Pff, don't even know how long was I on the road.
On the bunker that I entered in the Mojave, the one in which I was gassed on, I found Elijah's safehouse. It had a message that said "For Veronica" inside a desk drawer. It also had a sensor module that allowed only Veronica to activate the message.
So I made my way back to Mr. House. Hoped along the way I hadn't been gone for long.
Imagine my surprise when I got to the Lucky 38 Suite and saw Lily there, hanging with Veronica (and ED-E). Apparently she also got knocked out when Dog came to grab me but Dog didn't take her for some reason. So, seeing she was all alone, she remembered when I told her I worked for the owner of the "big tower on the horizon" and made her away alone into The Strip. There she talked to the Securitrons and House must've realised she was telling the truth about travelling with me, because they let her in and took her safe and sound to the Suite.
Veronica gave me a big hug once I got in, even before Lily told me how she got there. I smiled, of course and we joked around a little bit. But then I got serious. I told her I had found Elijah. She got really, really happy. Which made worst telling her what I did. So I simply told her he was dead, instead of the truth on how I trapped him in a Pre-War Vault with no food or water, because he was a greedy bastard who tortured me and then tried to kill me. Then she wanted to know if there was anything he said about her. Well, to me he didn't say anything. But there was the holotape message from him to Veronica. I left her watch it, alone. In the end, all she told was that it all summed up to a good bye. Then I told her about a woman I found in Sierra Madre, too. How she was kind to me while I was going through shit. When I said her name was Christine and that she was an ex-Brotherhood, Veronica teared up and hugged me. I understood then. Christine was indeed Veronica's lost love. I told Veronica I was sorry but I didn't see Christine on my way out of the Sierra Madre, after confronting Elijah. She told me it was alright, only knowing she was alive made her happy. I smiled and asked Lily to rest at the Suites and that I'd travel with Veronica for a bit, for old times' sake. And Lily hugged us both.
By the way, my snowglobe stand, it's looking pretty rich I tell you! Lily even added one herself that she had found in Jacobstown, so now it's pretty much full. I had to put another shelve to place the Zion and Sierra Madre's ones.
Without wasting more time than I already had, I went up to the Penthouse and talked with Mr. House. Once again, he did not talk of how I took a long time doing what he asked me to. He told me that now that his army was ready, we had to take care of "lesser groups" while we waited for The Legion's attack on the Dam.
Before getting into details we talked a lot about Mr. House's plan. And how it all came to be. He said he wanted to enforce his rightful place as New Vegas' leader, since he was the one who rebuilt its past glory. He told me that the NCR was the biggest threat. Told me how he knew they weren't mere tribals once he spotted their scouts arriving in the Mojave. How he knew it was only a matter of time before an army of them appeared. There, as Mr. House knew he could not hold against the NCR, he recruited the Three Families, creating a force strong enough to prevent the NCR from attacking. To strike a deal. Mr. House would let them set base at McCarran, occupy a little of Vegas and have full control of Hoover Dam, as long as they recognized Mr. House as Vegas' leader and provided New Vegas with water and electricity from the Dam. And that treaty has been what Mr. House needed to grow his economy. Christ, Mr. House is a genius in every way... So, on the battle of the Dam, NCR vs Legion, the one who had to win...? Us. If either of them won, New Vegas would be history. So we didn't just have to tip the balance. We had to kick it off the table and replace it with a shinier one. After the Battle, Mr. House told me that New Vegas economy was the key to put mankind back on its tracks. He told me that with all the money that was pouring in at this moment he would be able to restore high technology developments in twenty years. In 50, he would be able to have people in orbit. 100 years and mankind would spread along the universe, in search of a new home, a place to start anew. From what I gathered, Mr. House wanted to rule New Vegas as some kind of dictator. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as long as your mind is in the right place - and Mr. House's certainly is. When I asked him what he thought of that he told me he preferred the term "autocrat". He would not answer to anyone and his ideas would not be argued, sure. But Mr. House knows what needs to be done. Someone with the right mindset needs to take control.
"If you want to see the fate of democracies, look down your window."
That sentence will forever be burnt deep into my brain. From there and what he told me next, I had no doubt Mr. House was, indeed, the leader Vegas needed. The Mojave needed. We ALL needed. "What did he tell you next?", you ask, excited. Mr. House told me that his judgement, pure and simple, would prevent him from abusing power. Mr. House has no interest in ordering aroun, on being worshipped, on self-gain or any other corruptive ideas. "Firm control in the hands of a technological and economic visionary." That's how Mr. House described the way he'd control Vegas. His soon-to-be autocracy. "Soon to be" because I'll help him. Without ever looking back. Mr. House is a genius. And you know he isn't lying when he tells you he is incorruptable. He was filthy rich Pre-War times, lived a good life, already had power. So why go through living through a machine, through the sacrifice of his body and senses, just to have power? Power that he will never be able to trully feel because he is in a machine? So yes, he is, indeed, incorruptable, caring only about how mankind was stupid enough to destroy itself and how to rebuild it. And he'll have my full support for as long as I draw breath.
Finally we talked about New Vegas itself. How it was but a shadow of the old "Las Vegas". And how Mr. House saved it... Gosh, the story sent shivers down my spine. Mr. House told me that by 2065 he mathematically predicted the Great War in an estimated 15 years time. And as he was working to save the whole city of Las Vegas and, in the process, the future of mankind, he came up 20 hours short. Shit. So frustating... All that work, 17 years (apparently he missed by two years, giving extra time) of hard, hard work... And he comes up short by only 20 hours... He told me that in the day of the Great War 77 (YES, SEVENTY SEVEN! SE-VEN-TY SE-VEN) nuclear warheads were targeted at Las Vegas! His defense systems were able to transmit disarm codes to neutralize 59 of those warheads. Laser cannons destroyed another 9. The rest hit, leaving Mojave as how we know it. If only the Platinum Chip had arrived a day sooner, Mr. House could have defended the whole city and our future would have been much, much brighter. After that whole lightshow, Mr. House had to fight a whole bunch of system crashes, caused by glitches on the defense systems. For five years he fought those crashes. Five years. After the crashes were delt with, Mr. House couldn't take it and went in a coma. Eventually he woke up and the rest I know.
The next step in his plan is to enlist the Boomers' fire-power. I told him I was in (very) good terms with the Boomers. So the next step for me is to go to Mother Pearl and ask them to join me and Mr. House in the upcoming Battle of Hoover Dam.
Love you,
Bill
No comments:
Post a Comment