The next day Afton was awoken with an unfamiliar sound at his bedside... He wipes the dust from his eyes and takes a blurry look at the disturbance, afterwards spotting the metal ball floating in front of his face while beeping away happily.
...
"Couldn't you do this like, five minutes later?" he asks with a tired frown.
"Beep Beep-wooo!" it chirps happily, though Afton has no idea what it just said, or even if it was intelligible in the first place.
...
"Nyx, did you understand any of that?" he inquires, hoping his AI would have some way to translate the eye-bot's peculiar and strangely expressive beeping.
"I'm not sure... Is there a port I can interface with?" she asks, a wire sticking out from the wrist of the suit.
Afton raises a brow and is about to start looking to robot over for a port when it turns around and presents it to him, as if it'd understood what they were saying. "Huh, that's a good sign." he mutters, plugging the port in... To be honest, this felt oddly sexual despite the lack of, you know, sexuality...
"*Ahem*, is the port in correctly Nyx?"
"It is, give me a moment."
Afton nods and sits up, grabbing some water out of his bag and sipping it to wake himself up faster... Nyx seems to be taking her time, so he brushes his teeth and prepares everything else that might be needed for travel. After a couple more minutes of holding his wrist up against the eye-bot's port Nyx finally finishes.
"User, this eye-bot seems to possess information on how to manufacture more of it. It's a Prototype Duraframe model, and seems more suited for combat than records on the Enclave suggest. This model you have named 'ED-E' has been tasked with delivering this information to an Enclave base somewhere in Navarro, though this data seems far more encrypted than the rest... It is currently beyond my ability to decipher, perhaps my younger sister would have more luck?" Nyx explains.
Afton rubs his face, what's an eye-bot with top-secret information doing wandering the wasteland alone?... The Prototype Eye-bot schematics drew a lot of his attention however, his 'dream' was to conquer the Mojave, and he wasn't planning on doing so via typical means of uniting people and overthrowing the current ruling government. No, robots were far more loyal and stable.
These Eye-bots gave him more leeway though, he could make hundreds or maybe even thousands of them and have them patrol the Mojave as a sort of police. It wasn't out of the means of possibility, and seemed pretty easy to do once the Think Tank was properly set up.
"Dog-meat! Come here." he calls, the Cyberdog trotting through the door not long after, "Nyx, transmit the data to Dog-meat so he can send it to Glados."
"Will do." she chirps and ports into Dog-meats neck, the Cyberdog going silent as it begins sending the data to Glados. It'd take a couple hours as they would be encrypting the data before sending it off, while Afton didn't think anyone would be able to pick it up, it was better to be safe than sorry.
While that's happening Afton looks to ED-E and gives the robot a poke, causing it to wobble in mid-air. "So, since your duty as been completed and all of your data is being sent to the Enclave, what will you do now?" he asks, making sure to emphasize that its duty was done.
"Beep Beeeeep!"
...
"Nyx?"
"ED-E says that it does not know, it is supposed to be reprogrammed after the information was transmitted to prevent anyone stealing it." she translates.
Afton shrugs, "Er, ok." he says, not really wanting to waste time reprogramming it, "I am now your owner, you belong to me and exist to protect me and all I own. Understand?"
"Beep?"
"'What should I do with the data I possess' it asks." Nyx says in a dull voice, obviously concentrating on transmitting data to Dog-meat.
"Delete it." Afton states, knowing that Nyx had already downloaded it. After a couple second ED-E beeps again, signalling that the data had indeed been deleted. Afton smirks at the fact the Enclave would never receive the data that was rightfully theirs.
[Companion gained : ED-E]
[Comapnion Perk gained : Enhanced Sensors]
[Enhanced Sensors] : Enemies are easier to detect and target, even while cloaked.
Huh, Afton wasn't sure that Perk was actually any good... Didn't Nyx basically already do that? Hmm, maybe it affects her as well? "Nyx, something just happened, do you feel anything different?" he asks.
...
"Not that I am aware of?" she says, wondering if her sensors were malfunctioning at not sensing anything. She deactivates and then reactivates them to see if there was a problem, and only then spotting what'd changed. "User, my sensors have somehow improved?... My range has almost doubled and has become better at detecting peculiarities in the terrain."
Afton nod with a grin, "Good... Now, how long left until the data transfer is complete?"
"Two hours and forty-six minutes."
...
"You serious?... God damn it." he mutters. "Alright ED-E, come with me, it's time to introduce you to everyone while we have time."
ED-E ends up receiving a 'warm' response from the group. Boone didn't really care, Karl wanted to know if he could rig a mini-nuke to it, Josie wanted to deconstruct it, and Anja disliked being unable to talk to it.
Indeed, a very 'warm' response. Though, the robot didn't seem to care. It just continued hovering along and beeping happily. Afton wasn't sure whether it was programmed this was, or whether it was simply just an easy-going robot...
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
Once the group was up and the hung-over Karl was watered, they headed back into Primm and picked up some travel supplies before headed out. They bid farewell to Nash and Meyers and went south along the highway.
Unlike last time Afton had trodden this path, there wasn't an army of giant ants to contend with, allowing them to simply stroll up to the giant NCR range statue. Though, as they were headed up the hill to the outpost, the group noticed that all the debris on the road had been shifted to the side, the broken vehicles, the scrap metal, etc.
Most of the group were still pondering why that was when Josie decided to just tell them. "Well, you can't exactly drive a convoy of trucks through a road filled with garbage. No wonder they moved them... With the other route to California blown to pieces, it had to be done sometime." she explains.
Afton nods in understanding, realising that yeah, without the Divide route the convoy would be forced to head through this outpost... Though, at least they'd have some good news for Ranger Jackson.
Once the group reached the outpost they are greeted by Sgt Kilborn who still seemed to be stationed here... Judging by the black bags under his eyes, he ain't enjoying it neither.
He recognises Afton and Karl and welcomes them in, updating them on the recent news as they walk to the barracks. Apparently, the raids from the Legion had stopped after Nelson was captured, but once the Legion retook it they sent almost triple the number of Legionaries into the Mojave, decimating the settlements near the river.
Afton noticed that Cass wasn't sitting around the bar anymore, and found that she left as soon as the Legion had been temporarily dealt with... Kilborn was worried that she might have gotten caught up in the conflict though. He'd make sure to keep an eye out for her, she was one of the top candidates to join his group after all, plus, they were drinking buddies.
"Yo, Jackson." Afton greets the tired-looking Ranger who was currently slumped over a pile of paperwork.
"Ah... Howdy...!?" he starts upon seeing Afton and Karl, a big grin forming on his face as he gets up and shakes their hands. "Aha? Welcome back to paradise on earth boys, didn't expect you to ever come back if I were honest."
Afton smirks, "Well, we're really just passing by to give you some good news." he pauses, "Remember those Deathclaws north of here?" he asks.
Jackson nods, "Yeah? The big ass nest of 'em tearing anyone who tries to pass to pieces. What about 'em?"
"Yeah, well, they're dead now. The route should be safe enough for a few caravans to pass through... I'd still be careful of the Supermutants on Black Mountain though." Afton explains and chuckles at the ranger's reaction.
Jackson's eyes almost roll out of their sockets as he stares at him, "You what now? If this is a prank, it ain't funny." he states.
Karl shakes his head at the side, "It's true, we took the bounty from Dhatri in Camp McCarren. Stocked up on a bunch of Explosive .50 cal rounds and went to down at a distance. Wasn't so hard really..." he says, receiving funny looks from the rest of the group.
"Weren't you pissin' your pants not wanting to accept the bounty, Karl?" Boone blankly asks.
"Nah, why're you fabricating stories? Anyway, the road should be clear." Karl quickly changes the subject after being called out.
Jackson gives them a brief nod, "Well I don't think you guys could'a come at a better time. The trucks are supposed to be passing back through here today, so if you're telling the truth I can send them north instead of near Legion territory.
*Bwaaaaaaummm!*
The sound of a horn going off in the distance alerts the group, most are ready to pull their weapons and await an assault, but Jackson just waves his hand and calms them all, "Hold your horses, that's just the signal that the convoy has arrived." he says, headed outside as the group follows.
They walk outside and approach the gates looking further south out of the Mojave, and spot a long dust trail being created by five large NCR trucks that seemed to be the same ones that were in Camp McCarren. Or at least, Josie seems to think so.
"If we weren't headed to Novac to fix up a car, I'd have half a mind to leave you guys right now." she says, looking affixed at the trucks as they drove towards them.
"Because you want to drive them, or?" Afton inquires.
"There's no 'or', I just wanna drive one until the tires give out!" she quickly says as the group steps back as the gates open to allow the convoy through.
The trucks stop inside the outpost and a Ranger hops out of the lead vehicle and heads towards Ranger Jackson. "G'day to you Ranger, just pass me the paperwork so we can get through here before some shit can happen." the man asks, seemingly slightly on edge. Though, Afton doesn't blame him, Josie almost got kicked out of the NCR for him accidentally repairing one of the trucks... Afton couldn't imagine how nerve-wracking it would be to drive one. It'd be like a different method of playing Russian roulette...
Afton and Josie begin walking around the convoy to take a look at the vehicles conditions while the others mill around buying supplies, cleaning their weapons, and speaking with the other NCR troopers present.
As they're walking, Afton notices something odd however... One of the NCR troopers he'd seen sitting around the outpost before the convoy had arrived is seemingly examining the vehicles too... Though, the way he's looking around for people lets Afton known he doesn't want to be spotted.
If Afton's Perception wasn't maxed out, he may not have noticed the man either, so he must have some practice at this... Of course, as Afton was keeping a close eye on them, he was easily able to see the small package the man is attempting to stick onto the underside of one of the trucks.
Hope you bois liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know. Thanks!
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