As we moved into the city there were more people. More stares and whispers. Because Pott’s was full of deadmen that could see perfectly in the dark, it tended to be more active at night than other settlements. If you combine that with the attack of the radbats, it makes for some busy streets. Nix and I got a number of stares, but from what I could tell they were mostly because I was helping her walk in a suit of power armor, rather than because they knew who I was. Rumors didn’t necessarily tell people what I looked like, and I took some comfort in that. Or at least I did until I heard one of the people staring mutter my name.
I focused on moving toward the mausoleum. As its black dome started to come into view, I heard a speedy whirring from Nix’s armor,and she adjusted her posture, flexing her power armored hands.
“Seems like the juice kicked back in,” she noted, taking point as we walked.
I followed behind her wordlessly, my paranoia making me wonder if she was delaying me on purpose from meeting with the Honored Dead, or if it was an accident. Certainly the initial failure of the suit was accidental, but it slowed us down to a certain degree, and gave them the time to be briefed on my arrival and assemble… I shook my head. I was still on edge from my time in Eden. Even if it was a delay tactic, it was just to get things in order, not to lay a real trap like there would’ve been there.
Nix led the way through the Mausoleum and to the large central room where the Honored Dead sat. I knew the way myself, but assumed Nix had things she needed to report as well. She pushed open the doors and walked inside. I followed behind her, the bulk of her armor not quite enough to hide me behind her.
Seated in a semicircle in front of us was Mama, Kit, Julian, Solomon, and Jim. Mama smiled widely and warmly when she saw me, and for some reason that reaction made me more uncomfortable than any of the stares I’d received walking into the city. Kit gave me a warm nod, which I returned, Julian kept his expression passive, but his eyes were full of curiosity. Solomon’s expression was truly neutral, but I felt like I could feel something like surprise from him, and his lackey Jim looked completely befuddled.
Nix stepped in front of me and into the center of their semicircle. “I’ll keep this quick so that you can get to the questions you really want to ask. It was a horde of mutant bats. Couldn’t be driven off, so we had to kill them to the last. We took no losses.”
“How’d the Tomb and Hydra function?” asked Solomon.
“Incredibly at first, then I experienced complete power failure. Donovan here had to keep the creatures off of me.”
Julian nodded. “Hmmm, we’ll have to make some adjustments then. Thank you Nix, as always.”
“The bat corpses, I’d like them given to my people. The Bloodmanes have been low on feed, and we can use the rest as fertilizer,” said Kit.
“Two of your people said the same thing, “ noted Nix. “But, I’ll pass on that it should be a priority once I’m out of this armor.”
Kit nodded, and Nix turned and walked out of the room with a grinding of servos, and a nod in my direction.
I returned the nod and stepped into the space she’d been occupying.
“Donovan, I’m so glad that you’ve made it back safely,” said Mama.
I squirmed internally, but managed to say, “Thank you.”
“You made it across and back, or were you forced to turn back before the full journey could be made?” asked Kit.
“I made the full journey,” I said, pulling notebooks and marked maps out of my pack and handing them to her. I left a number of them in my pack as I did so, there were some things that they didn’t need to know.
Kit took the materials, and immediately started scanning them.
“There’s no way,” said Jim interjecting. “It can’t be done.”
I pulled the data squares I’d set aside for Pott’s from my pack and handed them to Julian, who I could tell was resisting leaping over the table to grab them from me as soon as he saw them. “The Remnants gave me these to store data at the R.A.S. bunker, but they gave me extras in case I lost them or they were destroyed. I figured Pott’s should have them first.”
Julian nodded. “We recently discovered these object’s designs in the factory bunker. We can pull the information with little difficulty. I’ll have these taken to-”
“Priorities Julian,” said Mama.
He let out a breath and nodded. “Across the Cut, did you meet any other Deadmen? Our former Pott’s Fielders or otherwise?”
“Yes, I did.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“Why wouldn’t you open with that? That’s wonderful news!” said Solomon in a rare flash of joy that was shared across the table.
“They aren’t…like us. They kept the attitude of those exiled from Pott’s. They don’t have Undertakers who visit human settlements and keep to themselves, they have Shepherds that kidnap men and women and force them to live on a piece of land surrounded by deadzones on three sides, and a massive wall on the fourth that doesn’t let them in or out. They enslave people, worship the deadmen that first crossed the Cut, and even…eat them. They’re not like us.”
Kit frowned. “How did they treat you?” she asked.
I thought of my time in Eden. The rank and file Edenites had been kind, but the First’s reaction to me and my origins when I’d first met him were still clear in my mind. “With contempt. They have no love for Pott’s.”
“They let you leave in one piece though?” asked Solomon.
“Yes,” I lied. “But they destroyed the letter you had me carry.”
I watched the Honored Dead’s faces turn concerned for a moment. Even Solomon and Jim’s. The thing that united them, that made them work for Pott’s future as leaders, was the goal of uniting and growing as a people. Hearing about Eden was likely hard for them. They had to know though. It had been a perversion of everything that Pott’s was. Cruel where Pott’s was kind, Parasitic where Pott’s was symbiotic.
I didn’t want them to know the actions I’d taken against Eden either. Pott’s needed to worry about itself, especially given the hostilities growing between the Horde and the Remnants. Besides that, I wasn’t sure how they’d react to me waging a one man war in their name. I knew it was the right thing to do, but that didn’t mean they’d share my opinion.
“Well, why don’t you start from the top?” said Solomon.
I broke down everything I’d run into on my journey. I described my trek across the early portion of the Cut near Pott’s and running into the mutated Coyote that could make itself invisible. I described the black sand, and the bunker within it that had once contained a weapon capable of destroying civilization itself. Then I went on to describe the Cut itself, and the man-wyrms that lived within it. I left out the part about them recognizing me as one of their own. After that I spoke about the Metal Wastes, the graveyard of Russian and Chinese planes, and finally I described the hunger of the Forest of Teeth. After that, I glossed over my travels up until I reached the bunker itself, only mentioning my early encounters with the Edenites and the horrors I’d discovered when scouting around them as well as the first encounter with the strange human tribes and their odd ritual combat. When I mentioned the First, Solomon cut me off.
“One of the original founders? That’s madness, he’d be ancient.”
“I’m just telling you what happened.”
“Are you? I’m having distinct memories of watching accused thieves attempt to lie themselves out of trouble.”
“Solomon!” snapped Mama. “Let Donovan finish. We are all aware of your feelings about him, and I know you're disappointed to hear about who these Edenites seem to be, but he risked his life to bring us this news, so let’s let him finish giving it to us!”
Solomon gritted his teeth, but leaned back in his chair without another word.
I felt some sympathy for him. He was right, of course, but I still appreciated the assist from Mama. I moved on to talking about the bunker, avoiding any in depth discussion of the gas and its effect on me. I didn’t think they needed to hear about it, nor did I want to talk about it myself.
“The bunker housed three projects. The R.A.S., and the Citizenship Registry, as well as Operation Phoenix which seemed to be based around using narcotics as a form of mind control. I wasn’t able to withdraw any information from the latter two,” I lied. I’d chosen not to save the data from operation Phoenix. I didn’t think Pott’s would use it for ill, but that project deserved to be buried.
“From what I was able to determine, the R.A.S. is only partially complete, and what exists is flawed. The update has to be spread from person to person, and from what I can tell, the only thing it’ll activate is the ability to choose a President. That person would have the ability to actually change the system, but how they’d be able to… I couldn't figure it out. It may be buried in the technical data I saved though.”
“You say it spreads person to person…did you bring it with you?” asked Julian.
I looked at my system display
Advanced R.A.S.patching in progress [99/100]
“Yes. The patching is at ninety-nine percent. Not sure of exactly the distance it needs to spread or how long it’ll take to activate in other people… It hurt like hell when it first started though.”
“You didn’t think that maybe you should wait before doing something so reckless?” asked Solomon.
“I activated it behind glass I thought was sealed. By the time it hit me it was too late.”
“Maybe you should have considered staying on the other side of the Cut then,” he responded.
“Too great a risk he’d spread it to the humans there,” said Julian, his eyes squinted in thought. “This was the right call. By coming here we can control the spread… We can use this.”
“And risk antagonizing the Remnants?” asked Jim. “They’re already pushing us to pick a side between them and the Horde. This is only going to make neutrality harder.”
Kit nodded. “He’s right. We should discuss where to go from here.”
Julian looked to me. “Donovan, would you remain in Pott’s until we can figure things out. Avoid contact with too many people if possible.”
“We’re just going to let him wander freely? Knowing what he’s carrying?” asked Solomon.
“You suggest we restrain him? This is Pott’s, he’s his own person,” said Mama.
Julian surprised me, and everyone else, by chuckling.
“Something funny?” asked Jim, being offended in the place of Solomon who was still attempting to appear neutral.
Julian smiled lightly and looked across the table. “After everything he just described. I don’t think it would be a good idea to try and restrain him.”