Part 6: Mean Streets and Meaner Men

Update 6: Mean Streets and Meaner Men



Looking at the map the Den was about as far from Klamath as Arroyo was. The caves where Smiley had gone off to were a good bit closer, but if he'd been right about the golden geckos I wanted more ammo and possibly more help before I went out there. I also knew where Vic was, and he was my only lead on the GECK. It took us more than three days to walk to the Den.



The Den was a whole different place from Klamath, and a whole lot less friendly. They didn't even have a town greeter, which I'd been led to believe was a must for any civilized town.

"Sulik, what do you think of this place?"

"They say people get lost here real easy. In many ways."

"That's what I think too."



The first building we came to had a glowing red sign and a couple of adorable urchins acting as miniature bouncers. I thought I felt one of them almost touch me when I walked in, but at the time I thought it must have been my imagination. I didn't have time to investigate at the moment, because I was ambushed the moment I walked in.



"Great. How are things with you?"

"Oh, very good. Thanks for asking. Becky has such an interesting family history. Do you have one yourself?"

"That's a really weird question to just come out and ask someone you met 30 seconds ago, but yes. My ancestor supposedly saved the world from someone called the 'Master'."

"How interesting. That reminds me of a story I heard a long time ago. Something about a master. Maybe if you bought me a drink..."

"I'm probably going to regret this, but okay."



"Really big mutants with weapons as tall as you and me came from the south. Mom said it looked like a big migration of some sort. Some of them kept heading north, and some of them headed east."

"You still haven't said anything about a 'Master'."



"I still don't follow what this has to do with me."

"Well, don't you see? They were talking about the Master, the one your ancestor killed."

"I guess that could be the case… wait, your mom saw this 70 or 80 years ago? How old exactly are you?"

"Well, I never! If I hadn't finished my drink I would throw it on you. You should buy me another one for just that reason!"

"Whoa mon! Dere some questions we don't ask the women. You gotta lot to learn."



"Maybe so… do you know anything about a guy named Vic?"

"Yeah, I know Vic. Metzger's got him locked up. I'm not sure why though."

"Dat's okay den. We and I and dis guy got to talk to Metzger about a few things."

"Meantime, do you know anything about getting work here in town?"

"Well, I actually need someone to collect $200 that Fred owes me. If you can get it for me I'd be really grateful."

"That sounds easy enou… wait, what's the catch?"

"Catch? Oh, well, if you knew Fred you'd understand. He's owed me the money for quite a long time. I'd written it off as a loss, but if you can get it back I'd be amazed… and grateful. He's somewhere in town, I'm sure."

"I'll see what I can do."



It turned out to be easier than I thought it was going to be, mainly because Fred was right outside the door. I'd actually walked past him on the way in to the casino. I pulled him off to the side in case Becky was looking out the window… it'd have completely ruined my plans if he'd actually been coming to pay back the loan.



I could have tried to be rough with him, but he seemed so clueless and lost that I didn't think I'd need to intimidate him.

"C'mon man, hand it over."

"Oh, damn it. I can barely afford $100. Could you spot me half? I promise I'll pay you back."

"…so basically I'd be paying half your debt, and now I'd own the other half and could collect it later."

"Whatever you say man. Here's $100, I'll get you the other half as soon as possible!"

"Probably for the best. I'm not as patient as Becky's been."

"About that… d'you think I could borrow $50? I've got a system that's about to pay off!"

"You do realize that's only going to leave me with $50 to pay off your $200 loan."

"Wow, you're good at math! I wish I was as good at math as you are…trust me, it's gonna pay off big!"

"Alright… but you owe me big time for this."



"Yes, I did."

"I can't believe it. How did you do it? Oh, never mind. I'm just stunned, that's all. To show my appreciation, I'll split it with you, right down the middle. Thank again, that was very honest of you."

"Sure thing. Got any more work, that maybe doesn't involve collecting from deadbeats?"

"Derek borrowed a book of mine a while back. I'll pay $80 if you can get it back for me."

"So is this the only book in town, or is there more you can tell me about it?"



"Oh, it be dat kind of book…"

"I don't understand what you're getting at, but it shouldn't be hard to find."



There was something weird about this town. Some people were fairly normal, but the rest of them… they looked at you, but they didn't look at you. They looked at empty spaces and acted like there were people and creatures there, and ignored people who were right in front of them.



Most of them walked listlessly back and forth, but I could see that they clustered around one building on the east side of town. I had a feeling that whatever was causing their strange behavior was inside.



"Hey Sulik, you've been around a bit more than I have… is it me, or does this guy kind of talk funny?"

"We and I not be having no room to talk about how somebody else talks, fren."



I was fairly sure that Flick wasn't a clown, but I couldn't rule it out. What I did recognize him as was a snake, and in Arroyo we know exactly how to deal with snakes:



So, I shot him in the face. Astonishingly he survived the first shot and tried to run into his bedroom, but Sulik caught up with him. I don't know if he agreed with me about why Flick needed to die, but he didn't stop to ask questions and he didn't complain when I asked him to carry most of the spare weapons and ammo. I kept a .44 revolver as it seemed an improvement over the 10 mil.



Halfway done, I headed to the other store in town. It looked like a more upstanding place, but the owner tried to convince me that drugs were the same thing as money. He had a couple of friends, so it took a bit longer.



He also had a couple of emaciated, drugged up women locked in the back room. I felt like they probably deserved something, but considering the fact that they were drugged enough to not know what I was handing them. Giving them some of his drugs was also out. In the end, I just left the door open and decided to tell Becky where they were when I handed over the book.



At least some of the things that Tubby had were useful. It was quite a haul, but I had a feeling most places wouldn't be nearly as open to me killing merchants and helping myself to their inventory.



The building between their stores was full of people in armor holding weapons. They kind of stood out in comparison to everyone else I'd seen in town. I asked the woman who looked like she was in charge if there was anything they needed help with.



"That's it? Doesn't sound like much, but $200 sure doesn't sound bad."

"Thanks. Don't get in a fight… yet. I have a plan."

"It seems like half the people in this town have some kind of plan. I just hope they don't all run at cross purposes."



I wasn't in a hurry, so I continued making a tour around town. There were some.. interesting… places, but I wasn't sure what an Egyptian or a Mummy was and I definitely wasn't going to pay to see one. Far more interesting was a mysterious black building with a flag out front and a man in some kind of uniform.



"Your recent activities have drawn attention to you. People talk and people listen, and word gets around. You need to remember that you are only one small fish in an ocean of sharks, Luke."

"What do you mean by that? I mean, I know what a fish is and I've heard of the ocean, but what the hell's a shark?"

"Let's just say that you're the new kid on the block and you don't know what's going on in the neighborhood. There's a lot more going on than your simple quest…"

"I've been sent to find a miracle in a box that nobody can describe to me from a vault that nobody knows the location of using a trail of clues that starts with a trader who's been locked up by slavers. Simple quest, right. But, do go on."



After my last rant, I really only had one choice… my real goal here didn't necessarily have anything to do with Vault 13 or Vic.

"Do you know where I can find a GECK?"

"The GECKs were a standard issue item for all vaults. If memory serves me right they were to be used after the vault opened to rebuild civilization. I can only assume that one could be found in an unopened vault. Good luck, Luke."

"That answer was technically correct but told me nothing useful. Thanks, I guess."



Still shaking my head, I wandered between the buildings and down the street into a fenced off area full of old cars including one that looked just like the one I'd seen in Klamath. The only difference was that this one wasn't on blocks, and it looked like it was in much better shape. I had to ask the person in the shack about it.



"Nice car you got there… this part have any relation to it?"

"Hmm, that looks jist like a fuel cell regular. If I had a car that ran, it'd sure improve the mileage on it."

"Wait, what about that car out front?"

"Oh, that one ain't running'. If someone brought me a battery… wait, no, I'd need a fuel cell controller. Yeah, if'n I had one of them, I'd sell the car for $2,000. Even install the controller so it'd run right."

"Oh really now? If I ever find that part and $2,000 I might come back here."



At that point I was fresh out of things to do on that side of town, and decided to head over to see if I could find that book or get a look at the merchandise Lara was curious about. On the way I passed a trio of punks standing around smoking like they owned the place and didn't have anything better to do, and marked them as people I might have to ask some questions about Vic.



It wasn't hard to find the people Lara was talking about, since they'd appropriated the biggest and creepiest looking building I'd ever seen. Without a fight, there was only one way to get inside...



"Metzger sent me."

"What the hell for? His stuff's not going anywhere."

"He wanted me to check it for him."

Let's just say that they weren't the sharpest spears in the bundle.

"Fuck it. Just go in. Does he think it's just going to up and leave? Who the hell would want that shit anyhow?"

"Thanks. He probably won't ask, but if he does I'll tell him you were real easy to work with."

"Man, we gonna have to get you some bigger pants to hold all those balls."



Not that I could make heads or tails of what I found… just a bunch of neatly labeled chemicals whose names I couldn't even make a stab at pronouncing. I just had to hope that Lara would accept "boxes full of chemical crap" as an answer.



I waved to Tyler on my way out, and just as I stepped back into the sunlight I caught a glimpse of a book sitting next to a barrel across the street. I ran over and picked it up, and sure enough it was 'The Lavender Flower'. Easiest $80 I'd ever made.

The book can actually be in about 5 different places in the second half of Klamath. Finding it this easily was actually pretty lucky!



Right at the end of the street I found the first restaurant I'd ever seen. I didn't know what to make of the concept, entirely, but the idea of food I didn't have to cook myself seemed like a pretty good one. I introduced myself to the person who had 'cook' written all over her face and asked if there was anything I could help her with. That's usually a pretty good way of getting yourself a meal on the house.



"Er… maybe? Hey, you know anything about Vic or vaults or anything like that?"

"Well, there's a Vault City a ways east of here and a little north. And Vic… I think he's still with Metzger's place. Ain't seen him in a while. Are you gonna take that meal over for me?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Thanks so much. I'd do it myself but there's nobody to watch the place while I'm gone. Here's Smitty's meal. If I didn't have it brought to him I'm sure he'd forget to eat."



There hadn't been any discussion of payment, but I found myself well rewarded by Smitty since a Stimpack was a lot more valuable than a plate of spaghetti. While I was in the area I decided to stop by and tell Lara what I'd found.



"Raw chemical compounds in large crates. I think it started with a C and had some numbers in there and an H and an N."

"That makes sense actually. Here's your money."

"It does? You've got to know more about chemicals than I do."

"Not that, I don't know what that shit is either. But I've seen caravans from Vault City come in and then some of it gets picked up by caravans from New Reno."



"I don't know where either of those places are, other than Vault City being somewhere out east."

"I'm not sure exactly either… just to the south somewhere. I've never been there, I just see their caravans stop by once in a while - once in a long while. Hey, wanna do me another quick favor? $50, easy money."



"It'd give it away if he saw one of your guys nosing around? Sure, no problem."



I also handed over the book while I was in the area, since I had a feeling I'd be a bit busy once I got a chance to see Metzger. If nothing else, I'd have a hell of a time just keeping Sulik from tearing the place apart.