“Who are the best doggos? You all are, yes you are,” Franklin told the viciously loyal NCR attack dogs. They were guarding one of the two computer terminals needed to reset control of the solar panels in the solar yard. Franklin had already gotten to the first one, which was trapped by a shotgun tied to a trip wire and a few mines. The second one was guarded by these adorable examples of man's best friends, and Franklin was ecstatic to have some K-9 attention.
Franklin believed that befriending dogs was one of the best things humanity had ever done. Eternal friends who gave us nothing but love and joy. You couldn't ask for anything better.
“Alrighty, guys, I need to get back to work. You behave yourselves, okay?”
Resetting the terminal was effortless. They were unlocked and had a simple command for connecting to the main terminal, but had no way of controlling the main terminal remotely.
He was left with no choice but to see what these defenses were. Stepping inside the collection tower building, Franklin found a hallway in the Brutalist style. Metal grates, piping, and wires crossed over the walls, and hard, dark grey concrete hid behind them. The architecture said survivalist nuclear bunker, which made sense given the culture of prewar America.
“Would it have killed them to put in some better lights? How about ventilation? The company made weapons for the military; surely, they could have spared some money for renovations. How-FUCK!” Franklin screamed as he turned a corner. He had entered a large room with a pit to a lower level. The metal floor continued into scaffolding that wrapped around the pit with stairs leading down.
It was also guarded by a sizeable three-legged robot and two automated machine guns on the walls. All of which immediately shot him.
Franklin had only been exposed for a second, but that was still enough time for each gun to spew out a dozen rounds each. Now, with many more dents, he quickly ducked behind the corner.
“I can see why the NCR gave up. Those poor flesh bags wouldn't have lasted half as long,” Franklin said, ordering his nanites to repair the damage he sustained. The turrets used 5.56 rounds, which couldn't penetrate Franklin's outer shell on their own, but given enough ammo and direct hits, it would do some damage.
“It’s nice to have a challenge finally,” Franklin said before unloading on the defenses. The turrets each recieved a swarm of anti-armor missiles from launchers on his shoulders. They were his favorite fire-and-forget kind that tracked their prey even around corners, so he didn’t have to leave cover. After enjoying the sound of two-hundred-year-old military equipment exploding, he leaned out from cover to fire his next weapon, a railgun. Thanks to the wonders of nuclear fusion, Franklin could feed the extreme slingshot all the sweet electricity it could want and watched it fire a one-pound metal ball through the robot's chest and the wall behind it.
It wasn’t the best railgun he could make; that would be his satellite hunter, but it was still satisfying. He didn’t get to use the weapon often, given the fact that accelerating a piece of metal at Mach 10 was everything but nonlethal. Outside of shooting down gunships, attack helicopters, robot dictators, or the occasional overgrown lab experiment, nothing could handle the lethality of such a weapon. Now sentient robots on the other hand, were fair game.
The facility continued through a series of hallways, work sites, generators, and other equipment meant to harness the power collected by the solar panels. Most of the wiring led upwards into the tower, which was strange. If you were building a power plant, you would want it leading outwards to power the surrounding towns.
But there was also Project ARCHIMEDES. Whatever superweapon the U.S. military was commissioning seemed to require a lot of power.
“Intruder! Intru–!” a dopey walking robot said. It had that classic 50s machine of the future design: a big, round body, two grabby hands, and legs that only allowed it to shuffle. The design also included all the processing and decision-making hardware in its head. This is a common mistake with early designs in the field of robotics. You didn’t have to make all the essential bits in the head. They don’t even have to be in the chest. Franklin read about a successful series that placed the CPU in the crotch, at least until it became an internet trend to kick them in the groin.
Franklin shot the defense robots with his railgun, sometimes taking out two or more at once since they were stupid enough to line up in the long hallways.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“I am starting to lose interest in these vacuum tube computers because if this is the best they could make, I might need to rethink exploring these ruins.”
The boredom was soon interrupted as Franklin found the server room.
“Ah, finally. Tell me your secrets, ancient ones,” Franklin said before typing away at the server console. “Let us see here. Orbit, energy production, and some logs from the old Brotherhood Elder. Wait orbit? What is this? Oh! Oh, oh, oh! Hahaha.”
ARCHIMEDES II was a satellite in geosynchronous orbit above the Mojave desert and not just any satellite. It was a weapon platform with a very, very powerful laser or, as Franklin would say, “A DEATH RAY! They made an actual death ray right above our heads. I want it. Its mine. Sorry, Ignacio, but I can’t let this thing be forgotten.”
The satellite was powered by the solar farm on Earth. It collected solar energy, which the tower converted into a beam of microwave radiation that the satellite used to charge the laser. There were a few noticeable flaws, though. First, it orbited only above the Mojave, so its range was limited. It also wouldn’t hit targets underground. You might be able to melt a building with it, but that might take a few shots, which was worsened by the next flaw. It took a whole day to collect the energy to fire the weapon. It was a massive flaw in Franklin’s opinion, and it would require him to make some improvements to the satellite once he got his nanites in orbit. There was also the last problem. The satellite needed a range finder to help aim the laser. Something called Euclid’s C-Finder. A gun that would mark a location you pointed it at and send that information to a dish on top of the solar collection tower. The server here in the tower would then triangulate the coordinates and send the signal to fire the laser.
That last one wasn’t a problem for Franklin, though. He was more than capable of sending the signal himself, so he didn’t need the Range Finder.
With the push of a key, Franklin diverted most of the solar farm's collection panels to beaming energy into space. Not all of it, though; some would still go to the locations the NCR requested. This would keep them from looking too hard at where all the power was going. Franklin also locked the server behind a few firewalls and a hardware restriction that only he could deactivate. This would prevent Fantastic from accidentally fucking up his work… hopefully.
______
“Woooow fuck yeah! Don’t know what you did, man, but you really saved my ass and, more importantly, made me rich. They said something about caps per kilowatt-hours or some shit don’t matter cause I am gonna get paid,” Fantastic cheered.
At least he was happy. Franklin hoped that would prevent him from investigating the tower's systems too deeply.
Ignacio waved Franklin over to his room. “I see you diverted power to the NCR, but I know a lot more is being produced, and I can’t find out where it is going.”
“That was by design. Don’t worry; it is going to a good cause.”
Franklin’s giant space laser cause. Mwhahahaha.
“Guess I will have to trust you then. Good luck out there. If you need any help, stop by the Old Mormon Fort in Freeside. The Followers are always looking out for those that need it, and if you have the time, they will probably need help too.”
Franklin shook Ignacio’s hand and left the building, avoiding any further interactions with the NCR. Helios One had been a profitable side quest that had left Franklin one satellite richer. Maybe after his Bunker Body finishes dealing with the supermutants on Black Mountain, he might be able to investigate some prewar space installations further.
______
Bunker Body
“RHONDA! You’re alive!” Tabitha screamed with joy, rushing to embrace the floating robot. Tabitha was a Nightkin who wore a wig and ridiculously oversized heart-shaped sunglasses. She is the now former leader of the supermutants of Black Mountain.
Franklin had infiltrated the supermutant population and reached Neil. Unlike most of his kind that Franklin had met, he seemed to be free of any mental conditions or diseases. He and Franklin had a long conversation on the history of supermutants and their creation. They were created by the Master over a hundred years ago using an experimental virus created by the American Government.
FEV, or the Forced Evolutionary Virus, was the virus that Franklin had seen in dozens of mutated creatures roaming the wasteland. It was what created the ferocious Deathclaws, Radscorpions, and much more. It was a super soldier serum. Capable of manipulating DNA so effectively that it might be the only reason humanity survived at all. The number of mutant plants and animals that survived because of FEV exposure has led to a growing environment from which humanity can source food. It has also kept human populations somewhat in check, not that the radiation levels needed the help. Dangerous wildlife would prevent people from expanding too much. Take the Deathclaws. All they had was a signal matriarch laying eggs, but they booted the NCR from Quarry Junction themselves.
The FEV is a miracle in the field of biological manipulation. It's just a shame that the only people who could make the stuff were scientists without Franklin's moral code. He hesitated to admit it to himself, but he needed a pure strain of FEV—the things he could do with it were unreal. The versions found within supermutants and other creatures wouldn’t do. They would only make more of the same creatures he found the samples from. The pure strain would let him cheat and unlock the DNA of every living thing.
Franklin took a breath. The air circulated through his chest, passing through several heat sinks and escaping when he breathed. It wasn’t the most effective way of dealing with overheating, but the motion kept him grounded. He mentally stepped away from thoughts of FEV and the mad scientist part of his mind. Giving it too much attention outside of lab environments wasn't good. Doing so would make him forget why he lived and those who needed his help. The means don’t always justify the ends after all.
“Tabitha, let's get away from here,” Rhonda said.
“Yes, Rhonda. We are going to go on so many adventures!” Tabitha yelled.
With that, Black Mountain was no longer under the control of the Nightkin Tabitha. Neil would take charge of his people and help some of them make it to Jacobstown, a supermutant town founded by a supermutant named Marcus. Franklin would like to visit that place. That could be the next stop for Adventuring Body. Bunker Body would stay here at Black Mountain, repairing all the satellite dishes and healing the Nightkin from the REPCON facility. When they recover they might help with contacting Jacobstown.