User:Victor the Securitron/A Message for Him

This is the first half of a Lonesome Road fanfic I quickly made up early one morning. There will also be a second fanfic from the PoV of Ulysses as well. Hopefully you'll enjoy it!

A Message for Him

“Now, mister “Courier”, please state your name, age, date and place of birth for the record.”

“Caleb A. Ryan. 34 years old. June 17th 2249. Hopeville.” A bead of sweat slowly trickled down the courier’s neck as the last word escaped his now dried lips.

“Hopeville? Correct me if I’m wrong, but that was a pre-war town destroyed by the storms of the Divide.”

“No, you’re wrong. Tribes still live there. Two of them. The Gizmos and the Epsilons.”

“Describe these tribes to me.”

“I lived with the Epsilons for a time. They’re named after the machine in the divide.”

“The super weapon?”

“I’ve told you it is no super weapon. It’s a piece of technology designed to create massive storms. That’s why the divide exists, that machine.”

“So it is a weapon.”

“A weapon of nature no human could hope to control, yes. You’re foolish to think it could ever be contained.”

“Yes, yes. We all know of your crackpot theories that this thing is capable of leveling cities. Go on about the tribes already.”

“Whatever you say, officer.” groaned the courier sarcastically. “The machine was code named the “X-17 Meteorological Weather Alteration Device Epsilon”. That is what my tribe named themselves after when they came to the Divide. Originally we all came as one large group. The Gizmos. When the machine was stumbled upon while avoiding the local storms, which weren’t always so violent, the people who came to call themselves the Epsilons cautioned the others not to touch the mechanical beast, leave it be. The others insisted parts could be salvaged from it. As soon as the other Gizmos, the group that wanted to salvage the machine, got with a few feet of the giant it roared to life. As legend goes, a beam of light shot up in the sky, and the clouds separated. But something went wrong. As the Epsilons ran for cover, the Gizmos stayed and watched, thinking it was some kind of laser anti-aircraft weapon. Then the noise came. Oh that horrible noise... I remember it to this day. It was not unlike the horrible screeching sound made by metal being cut by a table saw. Then there was a blinding light, and all I could see was the blurred outline of rocks and Gizmo’s being flung into the air by some unseen force. I ran out past a rocky outcropping, and ducked behind a boulder. Out of the beam of light from the machine came a tornado of a size I have never seen before in the region. It killed nearly all of them. I only saw a handful escape, deafened by the noise and blinded by the light.”

“What do you think happened to those people, Caleb?”

“They ran to the ruins of Hopeville, as did the others in my group. The city was torn apart by the storms of the divide, but out of the fields of rubble skeletons of buildings jutted into the air, like jagged teeth. Presumably they took cover there.”

“What did you do?”

“I was too scared to run. I just laid behind that boulder for a while until the sky calmed enough for me to go. Then I made my way back from whence we came. To the Mojave. We came from Vegas originally. Took the path north of the canyon wreckage, and headed west from there. It was a harrowing trip, with the newly formed storm systems. I miraculously made it, after a few days.”

“Mr. Ryan, I believe you left something out. We know you met a man name Ulysses there.”

“Ulysses… I remember him. A bitter man, obsessed with reviving the old world. America. Before I joined up with the Gizmos I grew up in New Reno. I worked as a hit man for the Bishops there until I was about 20. I thought everything was going fine until one day my contact put a gun to my head. I managed to fight him off and flee the city. I believe Ulysses framed me for the murder of one of the bosses. I don’t remember the details, but he set me up from behind the scenes. He planned to hunt me down and collect the bounty after that, and he made his move in the Divide. We were childhood friends in Reno, but I always suspected he was a thief and a liar, even to his friends.”

“What happened in the Divide?”

“He must have been following me. I was walking through a canyon, and I heard him call out from the right wall. He told me he set me up and that he was going to collect on my bounty. He said he was sorry and that he had to do it. The man is a stone cold killer. He fought with skill, but I overpowered him in a struggle, broke his arm and flung him to the ground. Then I saw the sky. One of those iconic storms was brewing, and I knew I had to get out of there before I met my end. Despite his calls for help, I left Ulysses there. I thought he died but… no. I learned just a few days ago that he survived, and was out for revenge.”

“What made you go back to that God-forsaken place?”

“He sent out a radio transmission. I have it in my pip boy files here.”

“Caleb. If you get this, I have a job for you. I’m sorry for what I did. I’ve changed, and I need your help. The tribes can’t survive without help, Caleb. Please. For old time’s sake, return to the Divide and help me save them.”

“I was foolish to believe him, but I did. I made my way through the canyons and paths. As I sank my feet in that storm-ravaged sand for the first time in years, I knew there was no heading back. What I didn’t know, was what awaited me in the desolate stretches of hills and fissures that made up most of that hell hole.”