At The Precipice Of Something New

Something Independent

The Commonwealth
April the 22nd, 2289
8:07

Somehow, the factory floor was in much worse a state of disrepair than any of them had anticipated.

No stranger to sites looking difficult to comb through, the Scribe simply let out a tired sigh, still sleepy from several long nights of scouting and staking out the facility. Though loathe to admit it, the Knight was beginning to feel the same way; the aching of his limbs a testament to it. A little irritated by their surroundings, the Paladin tried not to dwell on the mess and mayhem and instead on their successful put down of a small force of robots running rampant in the lobby. It was a start, and, he reckoned, at least partially explained the state of the factory floor. These robots seem to eat each other alive. That may prove beneficial to us. Fearing complacency, the Paladin paused at the top of the first set of stairs up to the catwalk overlooking the factory floor. Seeing the Scribe was already dutifully taking notes and logging a few items of interest, he smiled a little to himself under the helm of his power armour. It faded when he noticed their odd 'companion' – if the machine could be called such – was attempting to investigate some of the rubble. His discomfort eased only when, upon being called to follow after the Knight, the machine obeyed immediately.

Taking another look over the factory floor below him, the Paladin frowned, a pair of heavy doors broken down and pinned down by the remains of a conveyer belt. Seeing no other way to cross deeper into the facility than through the rubble, the Paladin descended and ordered his Knight to begin moving enough of the rubble to make it passable. It was only after a minute of hesitation did the Paladin order the machine to assist the Knight so as to speed the progress in the rubble removal. I don't like that machine's insistence on being spoken to as if having a human name. If it refused to acknowledge it is a machine, then it would be an abomination plain and simple but the...slight signs of 'sentience' or 'autonomy' are considerably concerning. After another few minutes passed with only the screeching and scraping sounds of metal brushing and sliding against metal, the Paladin descended from the vantage point and approached his Scribe, still taking notes. When he felt assured she was doing her job as prescribed and with the same meticulous precision as always, the Paladin made for the Knight and the machine. Relieved to be no longer alone in the task with the machine, the Knight offered the Paladin a polite nod when his superior officer began to help him lift several larger pieces of rubble up and out of the way.

"The state of this place is similar to the one our Brothers and I found ArcJet Systems in shortly after our arrival in the Commonwealth," The Knight darkly noted. "I was sceptical of our ability to retrieve what we had been sent out to there, and I hope my...trepidations about doing so here will be proven wrong as they were previously."

"If we are not able to find this 'radar beacon' the automaton informed us of, then I suspect Proctor Quinlan will still be satisfied if we are able to find and bring him any useful artefacts or technical documentations," The Paladin replied with a wary look at the machine moving rubble with him and the Knight. "I believe Scribe Haylen has already retrieved a decent bit of information he'll be pleased to receive."

"She has," The Knight confirmed. "She provided me a brief overview after she finished the report on what we – and, of course, you, Paladin Danse – retrieved from the former consumer electronics gallery. It appears the corporation that owned the building may have been involved with the US Federal Government at the time of the War and just before it."

"Fascinating," Danse said mildly. "I'll be curious to know if anything substantial comes out of what we retrieved. Far too often, things that look promising don't end up panning out, so I hope luck holds up for us. We need every advantage we can get."

"Yes, we do," Rhys agreed with a disdainful glance at their 'companion.' "Should we be able to pass through here in both directions, unit? Or do we need to flatten out the incline more?"