Jacob Burns and the Order of the Algorithm #Wattys2017

Chapter 14: The Writing on the Wall

Ilya whispered so quiet next to me, I almost didn't hear it.

"Where all and nothing does collide..."

"There, you'll find it, in Atom's eye." I finished with a smile, impressed once again by Dr. Astor's ingenious sense of perception. The ceiling above us had concealed a clever secret, a pattern within the tiles that could only be seen by standing in the exact center of the room. The black hole beneath us was the void of "nothing", the geocentric earth the "all" that we knew, and the eye in the ceiling that stared down menacingly at them both.

With renewed excitement, we got back to work. Frantically, we began to tear the room apart, desperately searching for some kind of ladder or step stool or anything that we could climb on top of really. Unfortunately, we had to settle for one of the large mahogany tables strewn about the room. We dragged the heavy wood into the center, but still we were short by several feet. With little other choice, we began stacking chairs one on top of another, until Ilya's hands were just grazing the bottom of the beautiful bronze orb. I lifted the girl up ever so carefully until, at last, she had managed to unhook it from its chain and we clamored down quickly to the safety of the floor.

We stared at the orb for what seemed like eternity, lost in the dizzyingly intricate designs engraved all over its face, when we spotted a small compartment hidden near the bottom. I watched as Ilya reached carefully inside and pulled out a small package wrapped in a magnificent red velvet.

As the wrapping fell away, however, I wrinkled my brow. I had expected to see some sort of electronic device, a conductor or transistor or something... But what I hadn't expected was the small brass spyglass now sitting in Ilya's hands. As she expanded the strange object to its fullest extent, a ray of light managed to glint off of a beautiful, yet incredibly simple inscription gleaming on the side.

Follow the Butterfly

"What the hell is this?" I said, "Where's the Conduit?"

"I'm not sure..." Ilya replied as she inspected the spyglass even closer, "but this definitely isn't it. In fact, it looks like some kind of oculus device to me..."

I looked at her with bewilderment and she quickly explained.

"You know, a sort of special lens to reveal secret messages with? And look at this, the knobs and dials on the side here? They can be used to adjust how the device works, whether you are looking far away or up close. It's an ingenious design, but why would it need to do both?"

As soon as she said it, it hit me.

"That's it! Ilya, do you still have the map I gave you? The one with the message from your father?"

Her eyes widened with realization.

"Yes, yes I do!" And before I knew it, she had the map out of her pocket and spread out onto the floor, Dr. Astor's butterfly grinning up at us once again. I watched as she collapsed the device back down and began adjusting the dials as she peered through the lens. After a few seconds of searching, I heard a squeal of excitement as she pointed off towards the edge of the map.

"Look, over here!" she said as she passed the spyglass over to me.

As I looked for myself, however, my face went pale. All the excitement was instantly drained from my body, replaced only by a cold, sinking feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. I glared at the little butterfly winking up at me from the page. Why? Why there? Of all the places her father could have picked, he had chosen the single most dangerous territory in all the Commonwealth.

Nuka World...

We were going to Nuka World.

It was once an amusement park, the biggest and most successful of its time. It was completely dedicated to the most recognizable of icons of the Old World, that of Nuka Cola. The soft drink had been so popular in those days it was practically sold on every street corner in America, so it was no wonder that the inventor had eventually spun off his brand into dozens of different products, everything from theme parks to children's programming. Of course, it's not what the place used to be that was so concerning to me...

"Ilya, we can't... there's just no way!" I replied, barely able to find the words to express how bad an idea this really was.

"Huh? What do you mean? All we have to do is get inside and use this spyglass to find the hidden symbol, and that will tell us where to go next! It'll be a piece of cake! Just like when my father used to take me there as a child..."

"We used to go every year," she continued softly, "There was a game we used to play, a contest... It was a lot like this actually. They'd give you a pair of glasses and you had to try and find all the hidden symbols strewn about the park. They would spell out a word and that was the combination to go meet the inventor of Nuka Cola himself, John-Caleb Bradberton! I never could find the last letter, but it didn't matter. My father having the influence he did, always got me in to see him anyway. Mr. Bradberton would give me all the Nuka Cola I could drink and tease me about what was going to happen in the next cartoon... He... he was one of the nicest men I'd ever met..." A gentle tear rolled down her cheek before she quickly came to her senses. She wiped it away on the back of her sleeve before looking back up at me, but it was all I could do not to yell at her.

"Ilya, you don't understand..." I said as a headache began to form behind my eyes, "It isn't like that anymore! Nuka World has been overrun by raiders and mutants for so long, it's nothing but a sick, twisted hellscape straight out of a madman's nightmare! The people there, Ilya... they just ain't right, seriously, they're fucked in the head."

"So, what, that's it then?" She said defiantly, "All this ends right here and we just give up? No, I don't accept that, Mr. Burns. There's got to be another way in without alerting the locals. I knew tons of kids growing up who jumped the gate without getting caught, and we're just two people, after all. How hard can it be?"

I shook my head.

"Are you kidding me? That place is an absolute fortress. I mean, the entire park is completely surrounded by high concrete walls the whole way round, and that's just for starters. Then there's all the different raider gangs inside, vying for power in a never-ending turf war, and we won't even get started on all the abominations roaming the wilder parts of the park. Disgusting, monstrous things... We'd never survive!"

"Dangerous or not, that's where the map says to go, so that's where I'm going!" Ilya said as she rolled up the map and the spyglass, a defiant glare in her eyes, "For once in your life, Jacob, have a little faith... I'm certain we can do this!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was one thing to solve a few riddles and hack a few computers, but this was Nuka World we were talking about here. Every single tourist, traveler, and trader that had ever crossed its threshold had never been heard from again, or worse, had been found impaled and decorating a spike around the massive walled city. This wasn't just impossible, this was sheer suicide.

"Ilya, I'm telling you, it can't be done! They actually want people to go there, they entice them in with the promise of wealth and security, but it's all a lie... Just so they can torture them in their sick and twisted games. Look, I don't even want to tell you this, but the truth is there is a way in, but it leads right into a death trap, " I trailed off, a dark shiver rushing down my spine, "And that's exactly what that place is... just one giant death trap, waiting for anyone poor, stupid, and desperate enough to take that risk."

"Poor, stupid, and desperate? Why it seems you would fit right in, my boy." A voice suddenly spoke up behind us, echoing off the cold stone walls.

Ilya and I jumped to our feet and spun around, desperately searching for the source of the sound. As we looked to the entrance, we watched in horror as a large, clunky figure slowly walked out from the shadows, a gun held tightly in his robotic hand.

"In fact, all this talk of death traps almost makes me regret you'll never get to see it..."

Even through that Protectron shell, I could sense that mile-long smile from here.

"Hello, Jacob. So very nice to see you again."