NOVEL WEB Chapter 29
It was the morning two days later, and our little trio was in a room deep within the bowels of the hidden robotics facility under the RobCo store. The room was the installation's control center, with one side packed full of various electronics, gauges, and sensors. In contrast, the other side was wall-to-wall windows to let the people inside see what was happening outside. On the other side of the glass was a large open space where people probably gathered for meetings. It was also where the player would have had their final showdown with the Mechanist.
This was the most secure room in the facility, so we decided to make the place where we slept for the night. Usually, when the three of us woke up, we would banter or talk about what we planned for the day, but this time the three of us were unusually quiet. And that was understandable, considering what we were up to in the robotics facility. While the other two were undoubtedly still processing what we found, I was contemplating possibly one of the most significant decisions I'll ever make.
After Tanya and I returned to the RobCo store, we found Isabel waiting for us, jittery from excitement. But it was getting late, so we had the robots guard the entrances, and we slept. When we woke up, we were psyched and ready to explore. The plant's power substations had long since shut off, but we brought one of the fusion generators back online, giving us enough light to explore the place. That sounds like excellent progress and something to be happy about, but the mood quickly soured after we began going through the facility.
Honestly, I should have known better. I've been to the Mechanist's lair several times throughout multiple play-throughs. I knew what this place was about and how cruel and unusual the pre-war military and research could get. The facility was initially meant for testing, improving, and producing robobrains. How could it be anything but fucked up?
The place was crammed full of evidence of inhumane experimentation. Surgery rooms full of brains in jars, prison cells full of corpses, a literal industrial-grade crematorium, and an endless supply of reports documenting what occurred. Some of the stuff we found in the terminals, like security protocols and staffing issues, were relatively benign. Others were more concerning, like approval to use mesmetrons that have a chance to blow up someone's brains on suspected spies. Or the level of 'resources' still available for processing.
Knowing about most things that went down beforehand helped me better handle the information we found. I was angry, but not necessarily because of the experimentation. It's not lost on me that if I was serious about repairing the post-war world and restructuring wasteland society, I might also have to dirty my hands. I understood that sometimes extreme measures were necessary, but the problem here was the blatant disregard for human lives and how casual the staff seemed about their actions.
I also felt guilty because while I could take in the details with relative ease, I couldn't say the same about the girls. Tanya was clearly irritated like me, but having lived longer and seen more of the wasteland, she dealt with the situation by opting to fume while we inspected the factory quietly. Isabel, on the other hand, was disturbed by the place and had a much harder time processing the information.
I could see Isabel being disturbed and maybe having second thoughts on whether staying here was a good idea. I don't know how she convinced herself to stay in-game, but right now, Isabel must be doubting the ethics of using a facility that has wrought so much pain for her own agenda. After seeing Isabel question herself and Tanya's righteous anger, I wanted to kick myself because I failed to temper their expectations.
The silver lining was that exploring the place allowed me to learn more about my powers. While messing around in the factory, I realized that not only did I have access to an inventory, powerful skills, and the ability to increase my physical attributes, but I could also craft various useful objects.
When searching through one of the hallways in the facility, I was greeted with a screen prompting me to choose one of my weapons to modify after approaching one of the workbenches. Apparently, this bench had been a weapons station, and interacting with it allowed me to change the characteristics of my guns. There were some seriously wacky things I could do, but without the prerequisite skills and materials, I was currently limited to simple mods.
From that point on, whenever I saw something that looked like I could work on it, I would covertly try to see if my powers would interact similarly. Workshops, chemistry stations, and armor workbenches all worked like the weapons workbench. And going through some of the crafting options showed me how far I can stretch my powers. Everything from mundane furniture to advanced turret defenses, I could make it all with the right skills and resources.
To put it simply, this ability was completely and utterly busted. But it did bring up a new problem. If I ever wanted to use my power to craft things, I would have difficulty hiding that from Tanya or Isabel. But do I even need to do that anymore? Initially, I worried they would freak out and leave me if I showed them what I could do and know. But after roughing it out together last week, we grew closer, and I feel like the two aren't the type to leave me because I was some kind of interdimensional freak of nature.
The time we spent together helped me realize what was truly important. When I first woke up, I was effectively alone in the world. The family that raised me, my friends that I grew up with, and the earth that I had grown acclimated to, all of it was gone. I said I wanted to make the world safer, but for who? After getting closer to Isabel and Tanya, I knew it was for them and people like them. I wanted to ensure that this world could be safe for them and people like them.
But in pursuit of that goal, I shouldn't hold any bars. Why handicap myself when I have literal god-like creation abilities? Because I was scared people would treat me differently? The ability to craft weapons from thin air, create advanced defenses, and summon new shelters would make improving the world much more effortless. The benefits clearly outweighed the cost. The more I thought about it, the fewer reasons I had to keep it a secret. Well, other than my capabilities painting a massive target on my back for the more unscrupulous factions out there.
If the Brotherhood of Steel heard about the technology I could produce, they would get all zealous and try to destroy or capture me. I'm sure the Institute and what remains of The Enclave be more than happy to get their hands on me and do all kinds of experiments. Having just explored what is essentially a shrine to unchecked human experimentation, a cold shiver shot through my body.
So my current plan was to not be blatant with my powers. Slowly build up our base until we become so powerful that we don't have to worry about an attack from any would-be threats. And since we shouldn't have done anything to be put on any large factions' radar yet, we should be able to stockpile power relatively unchecked. Just have to be careful about those Institute crows.
Still, regardless of what strategy I eventually decide to use, I need to be honest with Isabel and Tanya as soon as possible. It's just a matter of time before they find out, so it's best if the information comes out on my terms in a controlled manner. Looking around, I saw that both the girls had rolled up their sleeping bags and were getting ready to keep exploring the place. Deciding that there was no better time than the present, I stood up and called out to the two of them.
"Morning, Isabel, Tanya. You two slept alright?"
Tanya grumbled something about sleeping on concrete hurting her back, while Isabel stared into nowhere. It took me asking her again to get her to answer.
"You ok, Isabel?"
"Hmm? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, just a bit out of it. You know how mornings are."
It was apparent that she was still feeling uncomfortable. Hopefully, what comes next will give the girls something else to focus on and puts us on the right track to get the place back up and running. My only concern was how they would react to the information that this world was potentially a work of fiction. I have no idea what learning everything was potentially just someone else's figment of imagination could do to a person's psyche. Would they be able to handle it? I'm not even sure if I still fully accepted my circumstances.
"No problem. Being tired isn't something you don't have to apologize for. There was a lot to take yesterday, after all. Can you two follow me? I wanted to show you something."
I walked out of the control center with the two in tow and approached a heavy-duty red table with a lathe, vise, grinder, and drill press built into it. Once I got close enough, green text popped into my vision, asking me if I wanted to interact with the workshop.
Before I did anything else, I turned around to let Isabel and Tanya know what happened next had to stay between us. What happens in a pre-war robotics facility stays in a pre-war robotics facility.
"I'm about to show you two something crazy that will probably change how you see me. I promise I'll answer any questions and explain everything I know as best I can, but this needs to stay between us, understood?"
They both nodded, taking this more seriously after seeing how I was addressing them.
Seeing they were ready, I took a deep breath and entered the workshop interface. Immediately, several new boxes popped into my view, and I was greeted by the familiar settlement building tool from Fallout 4. On the top were a collection of stats ranging from resources to the mood of the settlers, and on the bottom were pictures representing categories I could choose from. There weren't any resources, so I first scraped a few things to get materials.
My inventory still had a bunch of random building materials from scavenging, but I was missing some steel for what I wanted to build first. Just as well since it allowed me to show the two my ability to scrap things. Walking over to one of the large red metal containers in the corner of the open area, I pointed at it, highlighting the entire thing in a vibrant green.
Once highlighted, another prompt jumped up, allowing me to store or scrap the container. I went with the scrap option, which produced a window telling me that scrapping the container would give me 10 steel. Mentally confirming again, the red container immediately disappeared, and I got a little notification telling me 10 pieces of steel had been deposited into the workshop's inventory.
Looking back at the girls, I saw Isabel's mouth agape in shock while Tanya rubbed her eyes, thinking maybe something in her eyes was the cause of what she saw. I didn't wait for them to recover before scrolling to the 'structure' tab. Once there, I opened the 'metal' tab and picked out what I wanted to build.
A few seconds after I made the container disappear, a small metal shack popped into existence in the middle of the open space. It was a shabby little thing, barely big enough to fit two beds inside, but that wasn't the point. The point was the fact was that it seemed to have appeared out of thin air.
I watched Isabel go from jaw-droppingly surprised to eyes rolling up and getting light-headed. Good thing Tanya was next to her because she caught Isabel before she could fall to the ground. With her friend leaning against her, Tanya looked at me with narrowed eyes.
"Explain."
