New Vegas: Sheason's Story

Chapter 53: Last Luxuries

Ding.

I tossed away the spent cigarette when the elevator doors opened, and pulled the spear off my back. Knowing my luck, more Ghost People had wandered back into the lobby, and the last thing I wanted was to be caught off guard. Just because I didn't hear any breathing or shuffling... When I got closer to the staircase and the Vera hologram guarding it, however, I did hear something: the overhead speakers crackling and fizzling into life.

"Another fragment," Elijah's voice echoed throughout the lobby. "Good. Almost have the entirety of what I need from the music archives. Once you have the last fragment, you can thread the archives together at the main floor terminal." Hmm. So, even if he had access to the sound archives, it sounds like he can't access the vault himself. And speaking of sounds...

I wheeled around with the spear raised just as a bear trapper tried to ambush me from behind. The blades of the spear hit the bear trap with a resounding metal clang. I used what little leverage I had to shove the bear trap toward the ground, throwing the Ghost Person off balance - not much, but enough. I slammed my right elbow into its gas mask with a crack, and followed up with a left hook.

"You know, I've just about had enou- urk!" I didn't get the chance to finish, as I found a hand reaching up and grabbing me by the throat. The emotionless green eyes stared up at me as the grip around my neck tightened... and the expression didn't change when I grabbed one of the tubes on its face and sliced up through its arm with the knife on my belt.

"Fuckers don't know when to quit, do you?" I said, pulling the severed hand away from my neck. The Ghost Person just wobbled there staring at the stump of its arm gushing white fluids; I jammed the knife into its neck for good measure, and kicked it in the middle of its chest, sending it sliding across the floor.

"Right..." I tossed the hand away and picked up my spear. "So, last one. Where is that elevator to the Executive Suites?"

Ding.

I scanned the hallway with my holorifle when the elevator doors opened. Nothing. At least, no targets. After I shouldered the rifle and took a few steps forward, I noticed that this floor was still tainted by Cloud. It was faint, but... it was definitely there.

"Guess this place is falling apart just as much as the Villa below," I muttered, looking around. The decor was similar to downstairs - except there was carpet lining the floors instead of tile. And this place was much, much filthier than anything on the lower levels. Wherever the Cloud was coming from, it was sure leaving a mess.

When I got to the end of the hall, I started hearing several new sounds. The first was... a female voice? It was faint, indistinct, and off in the distance, but it sort of sounded like a woman talking. Of course, the other sound I heard was more familiar, and much more unwelcome: the crackle and pop of Elijah making contact through the speakers again.

"Find the mute and deal with her." He said with a cough. "She's some-" and with that, his voice disappeared, replaced with static and feedback noises like nails on a chalkboard.

"The fuck?" I said aloud, looking around. The static continued for a few seconds, but then it slowly evaporated - and was replaced by a woman's voice.

"Hello? Hello, can you - engh! - can you hear me?" I heard this new voice over the speakers. Except... it wasn't quite new. I'd heard it plenty since coming to the Madre: it sounded like Vera Keyes.

"If this is who I think it is, this is Christine... er... the mute woman, from the Brotherhood." She said - and then I remembered what Dean had said earlier, about putting her in the Auto-Doc back in the clinic, and how he tried to give her Vera's voice.

Guess she healed up.

"Thought you might appreciate a reprieve from Elijah. Don't know if he's noticed that I hijacked his signal... I'm in an Old World hotel suite, somewhere on this floor. High class, two rooms - and the exit's sealed. All the doors are locked down, security's activated... I'm picking up emitter signals lighting up all - eugh!- all over this floor. Floor's got holographic security. Not latest tech... field-of-view targeting systems. Primitive, but... familiar. I'll do what I can from here to try and shut them down. If you can - nngh! - stay alive long enough to find your way to me, we can talk more."

And with that, the speakers in the ceiling cut out. All I heard now were the indistinct sounds from elsewhere on the floor.

Right. Well, guess I should go find her then. At least she's not trying to kill me, like the other two... I hope.

I made my way cautiously through the hallways, staying low and trying to make as little noise as possible. I had no idea if any of those ambient speakers that could set off my collar were on this floor, and I didn't want to take any chances. The voices - it was definitely multiple voices - were getting louder, but not more distinct. I couldn't make sense of it. What made even less was what I saw when I opened the door to one of the suites.

"Okay, now that is just downright unsettling." In the center of the room was a perfectly made bed, and two skeletons laying on top. Everything in the room was lined with a thin film of what was either Cloud (or just dirt and grime, take your pick) and one of the walls had collapsed, but I just couldn't look away from the ancient bodies on the bed. It didn't look like they'd died there - it was like they'd been placed there after expiring, and then their skin and organs had just melted away after the centuries.

I tried to shake away my unease as I walked through the hole in the wall. It led into another of the hotel rooms - and again, there was a bed, with a skeleton in a similar situation. It took me a minute, but I finally figured it out... Elijah had said something about holographic security moving people when I'd woken up in the casino earlier. These... bodies, they must have been the guests who'd gotten trapped here when the bombs dropped. That must have been why I hadn't seen any bodies anywhere else in the casino: they all died when they couldn't get out, and then security brought the bodies back to their rooms.

"Sinclair?" a voice from a nearby room called out. Instinctively, I pulled the revolver and found some cover. "Sinclair, is that you? Sinclair!?" That sounded like Vera Keyes. Was it a recording of some kind?

"Sinclair, I'm trapped. Please... oh God, the... the security holograms... they won't let me out!" I rounded a corner, and listened at a nearby door - the voice was definitely coming from within. And it was moving. I cautiously opened the door, and it kept talking.

"They're keeping me here. I'm going to die here... amongst the ghosts..." At first I thought it was one of the security holograms... but when it walked past the door I'd opened just a crack, it didn't look anything like the others. It looked like the Vera Hologram on the fountain, or on the stairs. It was sauntering through the rooms, and it was definitely where the voice was coming from - the lips were moving in time with the words.

"I... I'm still being recorded by the holographic systems. Came so far to be here. Now... now I just want to leave." The hologram walked past me, through the frame of a door in the middle of another hole in the wall. I watched as it looked around every once in a while, scanning the room - for targets, presumably - and continuing to speak.

"Please... let me leave?" I shut the door, going to my Pip Boy's map. Maybe I could use it to figure out a way around here. I just wish shutting the door would shut out the sound...

"We all pay for what we've done. I'm... I'm so sorry, Sinclair. Sorry, I... I should have trusted you." The map wasn't all that much help. It was mapping out my location as I went, but the range was pitiful. If I wanted to map my way through... I'd have to just wander around until I found what I was looking for.

"Sinclair, where did you go? Why did you leave me? Sinclair? Sinclair!" I cracked open the door again. I couldn't see the hologram, but I could hear it... I waited a few seconds, and watched as it passed by the door - the same way it had before. It must be set to patrol this area, and nothing else.

"The doors, they... they sealed. I... I can hear the other guests, screaming to be let out. To... to let go..." Maybe I could use the patrol pattern to my advantage - sneak around it. With all the beds, couches, chairs, and wardrobes I'd seen, I'd at least have more cover than in the Tampico.

"Sinclair? Sinclair, is that you? Sinclair!?" I waited until the hologram passed, and then ducked into the room, sticking to the shadows as best I could. The sight of the hologram was unnerving... partly because I was guessing that this was one of the security holograms, taking the form of Vera Keyes, and that if it spotted me I'd have nowhere to run if it started shooting lasers. But mostly...

"Sinclair, I'm trapped. Please... oh God, the... the security holograms... they won't let me out!" ... mostly, it was because I was being forced to listen to the last words of a woman who'd been dead for 200 years.

"They're keeping me here. I'm going to die here... amongst the ghosts..." I hid behind a wardrobe, and waited for the hologram to turn around and head the other way. I really didn't like this.

"I... I'm still being recorded by the holographic systems. Came so far to be here. Now... now I just want to leave." Everyone knew about the bombs, 200 years ago. In some way, everyone who was alive was affected by the nukes that had scorched the earth and turned it into the hell that it is. But... usually, I didn't like to think about it. I just wanted to get by, day to day. I didn't like to think about history - at least, not that part of history.

"Please... let me leave?" Being confronted with the last words of someone who was there... who was forced to watch the warheads scream overhead and the bombs drop and... I really didn't enjoy being forced to think about the people who lived through it - or died through it, as the case may be.

"We all pay for what we've done. I'm... I'm so sorry, Sinclair. Sorry, I... I should have trusted you." I tried to get away from the hologram, but it was no use - that wasn't the only one here. And this one looked like Vera, too. And, lucky me, it was still replaying the same last words, over and over and over and...

"Sinclair, where did you go? Why did you leave me? Sinclair? Sinclair!" I ducked behind a couch, staying as close to the floor as I could. I'd been through a lot of shit today, and... I dunno, maybe this was the bottle that broke the brahmins back? Being hunted by actual ghosts of the Old World wasn't doing anything for my state of mind.

"The doors, they... they sealed. I... I can hear the other guests, screaming to be let out. To... to let go..." I slipped through another hole in the wall, and found myself in another hallway - right next to an open door. I could still hear the holograms in the background, but it wasn't as pronounced over here. This didn't look like -

Beep.

Shit! Shit shit shit shit! I pressed my back against the wall - the beeping stopped. I walked toward the open door... and it started beeping. I pulled out the pistol, ready to shoot the speaker spewing out the lethal ambient noise... but I hesitated, backing up against the wall again. Son of a bitch, that's not Cloud I'm smelling - that's gas! The same kind of flammable gas from the kitchens.

A single spark, or I fire off my gun, and the whole place is liable to go up. Nevermind my collar going off... I ducked into the room as fast as I could, to try and find the radio. My collar started beeping. If it was one of those wall mounted speakers, I'd have to leave it until later - until I could figure out how to turn off the gas. The beeping around my neck got faster.

Wait! There - on the floor! It was a radio, like the kind I'd seen in the Police Station, and in Vera's dressing room. It was lying on its side, but it was still active. The beeping around my neck got even faster... I was perilously close to blowing up, I was sure of it.

I dove for the radio as fast as I could, and turned the dial as far as I could into the "OFF" position. The radio clicked and died... and my collar stopped beeping. I let out a sigh of relief, and practically collapsed on the floor, right on top of the radio.

"Alright, c'mon. Get up, you asshole," I said, trying to urge myself into movement. "You need to find the source of the gas leak. Otherwise you'll die of asphyxiation before long - or something'll set it off, blow everything to bits."

It didn't take me too long. This room looked... a little like the kitchen downstairs. Same kind of gas main - and it was simple enough to turn off. What was harder was first finding a terminal, and then unlocking it to activate the ventilation system. But... in the end, I found that as well. As soon as the fans kicked in, a door on the far wall opened. I checked it out... and realized that I was in the same hallway that led back to the elevator.

"Well, that'll make a good shortcut around the holograms... I guess..." I went back the way I came, trying to figure out if I'd gotten turned around somewhere... and that's when I came to another long hallway. On my right, I saw two big double doors. They were the only double doors I'd seen on this floor, which meant this was probably the 'high class suite' Christine was stuck in.

I tried the doors - nothing. They wouldn't budge. I stepped back, planted my feet, and gave the door a good solid kick - still nothing. It was like the doors had been welded together or something. I looked around, trying to see if I could find anything to pry the doors open, or blow the locks - normally, in this kind of situation, I'd just shoot the locks, but I was trying to conserve ammunition - when I found another door. This door was simple, unassuming, and labeled: "security"

I didn't have to worry if this one was locked - this lock already had been shot off. I pulled open the door, and found myself in what could be described as a closet, if you were being very, very generous. The only thing in here was a single terminal mounted on a wall. Unlike the door, the terminal was locked, and it took me a few minutes to try and break the security... but once inside, I found a command that shut down security for the entire floor.

There was a massive 'THUD!' that reverberated through the entire floor. I heard several clicks behind me. And then... Silence.

I turned around, and tried the double doors again... the handle turned, and the door opened. Finally, something going right. I looked around the room. There was a door on the left side of the room, several sofas, a few easy chairs, and a bar on the right. I thought the far wall directly opposite to me was just that - a wall - but then I looked closer, and realized it was set of floor to ceiling windows stretching across the entire wall. They were so caked in Cloud and grime that they were completely opaque.

Part of me was tempted to go to the bar and start raiding it for liquor, but I decided against that. I'd do that later. If there was a later. Instead, since I didn't see Christine anywhere in this room, I decided to try the door on my left.

When I got close to the door, I heard Vera's voice again... wait, no, this wasn't a recording.

"Hello. Hell-oooo. The, uh... the quick -engh!- scribe jumped over the lazy paladin..." It sounded like she was talking to herself. Maybe she was getting used to her new voice? I rapped on the door several times.

"Hey, uh... Christine? You in there?" I said, to make sure she knew it was me and not Elijah. I didn't want her to try and shoot me as soon as she opened the door. Instead, all she did when she opened the door - still wearing that armor from the Clinic - was look at me serious as ever... with the faint hint of a smile. A smile covered mostly by exhaustion.

"You made it. Good," She drew away from me, and coughed several times into the crook of her arm. "Ugh.. hurts to talk. I'll... try and keep this quick. In case my voice goes out."

"Alright..." I nodded. "Getting used to sounding like Vera Keyes then?" She looked up, confused.

"Do I?" She shook her head. "Sounds off to my ears... hard to tell. Not to mention it..." Christine grimaced. "... hurts like hell to swallow. Might explain why I got moved off to this suite, though..."

"What do you mean?" I asked. She backed up, pointed a thumb behind her, and let me look in the room. I'll be honest, all the shit that's happened today, and I still wasn't really prepared for what I saw. I just sort of stopped. On the wall, scrawled in what looked like ancient dried blood were large letters: "LET GO." And off in the corner, sitting in a chair, and still wearing the dress, was an ancient skeleton, still held together by... fuck if I know.

"It's her suite. That's her over there. Got trapped by security, same as I did. Just... took a different way out, I guess."

"... I need a drink," I said, turning around and heading for the bar. "Do you want something?"

"Please," Christine said with another grunt - or was it a cough? Either way, I was looking through the contents of the bar - and it was the most glorious sight I have ever laid eyes on. It was absolutely magnificent.

"Alright, we've got wine, beer, whiskey, brandy, scotch, gin, absinthe, vodka... wait, hang on, what the hell is soju? You know what, I don't care what it is, I'm having some."

"Can you grab the vodka for me?" She said, sitting down on the couch. I grabbed a few bottles and a few shot glasses, and brought them all to the table next to the couch and the chairs. I sat down on the chair directly adjacent to the couch, and cracked open the bottle of soju - whatever the hell it was.

"So, now you've got your voice back... what did you want to say?" I asked, knocking it ba- HOLY HELL. Damn, that's strong. I like that. Fuck, that's almost like rubbing alcohol. I tried to figure out how much alcohol was actually in it, but I couldn't read the label - was that Chinese? The label was written in some kind of Asian script, but I couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"I've been hunting the one who hijacked your Pip Boy, Elijah, for... some time." She poured herself a shot of vodka. "He cannot leave the Sierra Madre alive."

"Trust me, we're in agreement there." I said with a grim chuckle. Christine didn't laugh.

"What he's done... what he's done here is nothing compared to what he's done in the past. The only way to bring him out is if you get down into the vault. He won't allow you to go down there alone. That's when we kill him."

"I suppose... it's as good a plan as any. How long have you been hunting him?" I asked. She slowly started shaking her head.

"Too long. Thought I might have had a chance to settle it before... nngh!... all this shit happened, but... then the chance slipped away again." She looked away from me with a grim expression, pouring herself another shot of vodka.

"Sounds personal." I set the bottle of soju down. That shit was strong, and as much as I wanted to drink more... I had a nasty feeling that I was going to need a clear head for what was coming next. Didn't want to fight Elijah with my head swimming in liquor.

"He..." Christine stayed silent for quite a while. She gulped down another shot of Vodka. "He cut me off from... someone. Someone I cared about... a long time ago. He used his status to break us apart. So I... I had to find a new purpose."

It was at that moment that everything clicked. The name. The background. I felt like a moron for not figuring it out sooner...

"Well, because... I was in love, once. She and I were both young, but... I mean, I'd like to think it was love... Our Chapter Elder, Father Elijah... he wasn't exactly supportive on my end... I don't know where she is now," Veronica said, looking away and up towards the sky. "...but I'm sure she's moved on. I still think about her, though... once in a while..."

"What was her name?" I remember asking her.

"Christine."

Son of a bitch.

"Sheason?" Christine was looking at me, waving a hand in front of my face; I shook my head.

"Sorry, I was just... uh... what were you saying?" I had a million things rattling around my head now. Should I... should I tell her that I've been traveling with Veronica? Part of me wanted to, but...

"I said, after HELIOS One, Elijah became unstable. He left a trail of crimes across the wasteland. Once word reached The Circle, I was ordered to kill him."

"The Circle?" I asked. I was still wrestling with myself as to if I should tell her about Veronica or not. Why was this so hard? Just tell her that you know Veronica. Hell, just mention her name! That would probably be enough!

"The Circle of Steel. Different purpose, same banner. Think of it like Internal Affairs for the Brotherhood."

"So... he... uh, knew you before then?" I asked. She nodded.

Why was I finding it so hard to tell her? Just tell her that Veronica is still out there - and that she still misses Christine and thinks about her. This is kind of important! JUST SAY SOMETHING!

"He saw me... several times. Before the scars. Most recently at a place... very, very far from here. It's... where he found some of the technology he uses now." She motioned with her head at the rifle on my shoulder. "Like the holorifle you're using. He figured out how to build that there."

"So, where is 'there'?" I rubbed my eyes. No... no, I can't tell her. Not yet, at least. I was starting to come up with a plan for dealing with Elijah, and it required Christine to be focused. If I told her about Veronica... it would either make her fight twice as hard to kill him, or it would distract her at a crucial moment. I needed to figure out how to tell her without putting my own life in jeopardy - I needed to be sure it would motivate her, not distract her.

"The Big Empty. The name's deceptive - if you know where to look. It's... a dangerous place. A crater, filled with technology of the Old World. That's where I got the scars..." She ran a hand along her head. "Most of them... Almost got trapped there. But... there was someone else who came along. Saved me. Knew about Elijah."

"What, like another member of the Brotherhood?" I asked. Christine shook her head.

"No. A courier."

"Seriously?" I asked, trying to hold back a chuckle.

"Yeah. He called himself a courier, at least. Wore an Old World flag on his back. He was the one who pulled me out of there. Told me where Elijah had gone. He helped me heal up, listened to my story. He... sympathized."

"Sympathized?" I picked up the bottle of soju, and held it up towards her. "What, like this?" She smiled, and gave a soft chuckle, toasting my bottle with her shot glass.

"Not quite. But thank you for this, anyway. No, he said he understood what it meant to track someone who had such an... impact on his past life. He said that... people were like couriers, sometimes never understanding the messages they brought. That's who he was hunting for... some courier."

"Hell, maybe he was looking for me," I said jokingly. She looked at me curiously again. "Back in the world, I'm a courier. I mean, literally. I made my living shuffling packages from place to place. Hell, even after I got shot in the face, people in the Mojave started calling me The Courier."

"What?" Christine asked, sounding genuinely curious. I pointed at the bullet scars on my face.

"I got shot in the face. Twice. Dumped in a shallow grave and left for dead. About a week later I woke up, went after the man who tried to kill me." She just sat there, staring at me with her mouth open for a few minutes.

"Okay, you win," She said, knocking back another shot of vodka. "Shit, no wonder this place hasn't killed you..."

"Didn't think we were in a competition." She chuckled at that. "Look, I'm just glad you're alright - and not trying to kill me. I've had enough of that today. But there is one thing I gotta do first. Can I see your collar for a second?" Christine raised an eyebrow.

"... why?"

"I've been resetting the pin-switch on all the collars I can find," Or blowing them up, in Dean's case. But hey, he was the one to put her in the Auto-Doc, so I guess he deserved it. "My guess is that resetting the collars might take them off the network, and make it even harder for Elijah to blow them up. I know he can't blow them up between floors - otherwise we would have all been dead by now."

"Yeah..." Christine started nodding slowly. "That might work. With the collars reset, he might have trouble setting it off even if he was ten feet away." She got up and motioned me toward her, extending her neck so I could get a clear view of the pin switch. I took out a stimpack to hit the switch.

"Hell, that'll be useful when I find that asshole so I can shove my boot up his ass. I'm just glad you're safe. You hold up here, I'll take care of Elijah," I said, putting the stimpack away.

"Good luck," she said, clutching my shoulder and looking me right in the eyes. "He's... he's not an easy opponent. If I can, I'll try and help. Might be able to figure out something using the Sierra Madre's computer systems..."

Ding.

The elevator opened into the lobby, and I was suddenly face to face with two Ghost People.

"Son of a bitch."

The two of them launched themselves at me. The closest one had a spear; I used my own to parry it out of the way. While it stumbled, I grabbed it by the hood, and pulled it down in front of me. There was a rending crunch - the bear trapper's bear trap had closed around the Ghost Person I was holding. I pulled the knife off my belt, and thrust it into the top of the bear trappers head as I yanked the spear out of the trapped Ghost Person's hands. I sliced through the air, cutting off the head of the bear trapper, and shoved the spare spear up through the other one's torso.

"You know," I said, holding onto the spear and forcing it back until it was pushed up against the railing. "I have just about had enough of you assholes." I pulled the spear out of its gut; it doubled over, grasping at nothing. I grabbed it by the back of the head, and started to just smash the gas mask against the railing over and over again; each time its face impacted, I heard another crack, and more shards of glass and more puffs of sickly green smoke started pouring out.

I looked over the railing: right below me was the gas bomb from the Ghost Person that had been disintegrated earlier... and that gave me an idea. I grabbed it by its upper back and the middle of its leg, summoned up as much strength as I could muster, and threw it headfirst over the railing. It hit the ground with a sickening crunch, skidding across the ground and started flailing madly.

"You want my opinion?" I said, pulling out the revolver and taking careful aim. "You fucks need to lighten up." I fired, and I was forced to shield my eyes and face from the explosion. A wave of heat washed over me, and when I looked down, everything in that part of the floor was covered in fire.

I was feeling rather pleased with myself... and then Elijah decided to talk again.

"Ahh, there you are... lost your signal there for a minute. Hmm... You have the last fragment. That's all I need. Good, good... Now - go to the main lobby terminal. Thread the music sequence together." The speakers crackled and went silent again.

I put the revolver away, and walked down the stairs, past the Vera hologram. The fire was starting to die down; I could almost see the Ghost Person that had been caught in the blast. What was left of it, anyway... It looked like the force of the explosion had blown it in half.

"Right, let's see what's what..." I switched on the terminal at the front desk, and started scrolling through functions... there. I hit the button for "Access Music Archives" and was shown a list of three songs, all (presumably) by Vera Keyes: "Begin Again," "Let the Bright Tomorrow In" and "Go to the Faraway." A few more keystrokes later, and I had the pass phrase to get into the Vault:

"Begin again, but know when to let go."

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