Jacob Burns and the Order of the Algorithm #Wattys2017

Chapter 16: Stranger at the Gate

"Hello? HELLO!? Can anybody hear me? Good heavens, is this thing on? Well, no wonder it's not working right, just look at these calibrations... They're all over the place! Emogene, you weren't messing with my settings again, were you? ...Emogene? EMOGENE!"

"Oh forget it..." The man sighed to himself, "She never listens to me anyway. Why, I could stitch that very message right into her cerebral cortex and it still wouldn't sink in! Now then... What was I doing again?"

Ilya and I looked at each other, no words to describe our surprise. Just who the hell was this? We had expected the cold, calculating voice of the Director to come gloating through those speakers, but instead we were met only with this impossible stranger, a stranger that was starting to seem a few electrons short of an atom, if you know what I mean.

"A BREACH!" The man shouted suddenly as Ilya and I nearly jumped out of our seats, "Yes, that's what it was, a breach! In my security systems. Now then, I'm not sure who you think you are or how you managed to get so close, but you listen here and you listen good. This system of mine is the most advanced security and surveillance network ever developed in the Old World, with a dual-faced firewall and extra-protectionary protocols built right into the base code! Why, not even the most well-trained Chinese spies could hack into this mainframe of mine, let alone a jet-lagged, brahmin-brained ignoramus like yo- Oh... wait a moment. What's this?" The man stopped, the curiosity plain in his voice.

"Why... You're not raiders, you're not raiders at all! Just who are you, then? What are you doing hacking into my systems this time of night?" The haughty voice demanded as it echoed throughout the room.

"Oh! I-I'm sorry," Ilya stuttered, completely taken aback, "Please sir, I promise we meant no harm. We were only trying to open the door out of this tunnel. We are in grave danger and in desperate need of escape, so please, I beg of you, open this door!"

"Oh really, is that so?" The voice asked without missing a beat, "Grave danger, is it? As if I've never heard that one before... You may not look like raiders, but you certainly know how to spin a yarn like one. Of course, that won't be a problem. The surveillance footage should be more than sufficient to discern the truth from the fiction. Don't fret, this should only take a moment."

"Hey! Aren't you listening?" I yelled indignantly, "She said we're gonna die if you don't do something! We don't have time for you to sift through all the data, just open the damned door!"

I cursed under my breath as the man simply ignored me. It was just our luck when you thought about it... that a miracle should arrive at the last second only to leave us standing outside the door. Ilya and I had no choice but to sit and wait in silence, with nothing but this madman to decide our very fates.

At long last, the man spoke again, an awe in his voice as he whispered so quietly that I almost didn't hear it.

"As I live and breathe..." The man whispered in disbelief, "Can it be? Is what I'm seeing true? Why, after all this time, I can hardly believe my eyes... Ilya Astor, you've awoken at last."

"I'm sorry, but... who are you?" Ilya asked, suddenly very unsure of herself.

"A friend," the man said hastily, "and that's all you need to know for now. Please, you'll have to forgive me, I hadn't realized how dire the situation was and there is very little time... I've deployed the remaining security, but that will only distract the Institute for so long. Suffice to say that I am someone who knows all too well the dangers you face, and wants to see you succeed as much as you do. I know of what you seek and as it happens, I can help you reach your destination. I have access to a vast interconnected system that reaches far beyond this dingy old subway, a system that could be of great use to you in your quest. Now, I must ask, do you have the Oculus? Were you able to recover it from the laboratory before it burned?"

"Whoa! Hold up right there, just who the hell do you think you are?" I hollered, all my senses screaming out at once. This guy knew way too much for comfort, and I wasn't interested in making any more "friends" at the moment, either. "How do you know about Ilya and the Oculus? That shit's supposed to be top secret and I've yet to meet someone I liked that knew about it, so why don't you start by telling us your name and then we can talk."

"I'm not at liberty to say much," the man said, "This line is insecure and there's no telling who might be listening in, but for now, you can call me Jack."

As we both looked at each other, we didn't know what to think. Was this for real or just another ploy, some cruel trick to mess with our heads before pulling the rug out from underneath us. As if reading my mind, the man named Jack spoke again.

"I know what you must be thinking... I have a long way to earning your trust, but please, all I ask is for a chance to prove myself. Perhaps now that you're awake, we can at long last finish what your father started so many years ago, and then, maybe, just maybe, the world can begin to heal..."

Just then, the tunnel began to shake around us, a deep rumble resonating from high above our heads. The fire had no doubt reached the main lobby, and now, was threatening to bring the whole building down on top of us.

"Time is running out," the stranger said, "The library is burning fast and it won't be long before the entire building's integrity is compromised. I will explain everything later, but for now, please just trust me when I say I am a friend. Here, allow me to open the gate," he said as the blast door suddenly began to move, shaking off the ages of dust as it slowly retracted into the ceiling.

"Now go, and be careful, the fire has no doubt attracted all kinds of attention and I cannot be of any help once you are inside the tunnel. But worry not, for you and I shall surely meet again... in Nuka World." And with that the intercom clicked off, just as the door gave way above and a flood of synths burst through. Ilya and I didn't say a word as we dashed out of the office and down the tunnel, the blast door slowly descending behind us.

************

As we raced through the darkness of the underground, we ducked down tunnel after tunnel, with nothing but the sound of our own heartbeats pounding in our ears. There was no looking back now, whoever this Jack fellow was, we simply had to trust that he had our backs as we escaped. We owed him our lives, that much was for sure, but something just didn't seem quite right. As we finally slowed down to catch our breath, I played the memory over and over again in my mind. He really had seemed surprised to see us in that tunnel, and yet, he had known so much about who we were and what we were doing. Either way, it begged the question, could we really trust this man?

Any enemy of the Order was a friend of mine, I thought silently to myself, at least for now...

We continued along the tracks for what seemed like an eternity, the occasional rumble from the library our only indication of how far we'd gone, when at last, a pinprick of light shone before us in the distance, the tunnel opening up to the surface where the sun was just rising above the horizon. I turned towards Ilya, a smile wide on my face. We'd actually made it, and in one piece no less. The girl had proven herself to be more resourceful than I ever would have thought, but she still had a lot to learn. Nuka World promised to be one hell of a ride... and I still had no idea how we were going to get inside, let alone how we were going to find the next clue, but perhaps it was this new friend of ours that would be our golden ticket after all.

But as I stepped out into the morning light, my thoughts were cut short.

WHAM

Before I knew what was happening, my legs were taken out from under me and I had hit the ground, my head only just missing the steel rail of the tracks. Through blurred vision, I looked up, my legs entangled in some kind of cord attached to weights, a bola by the looks of it. As I was trying to process this, a figure suddenly appeared from behind a tree, a lash of rope in his hands as he raced towards me. In an instant, I realized what was happening.

"AMBUSH!" I cried out as loud as I could, "Ilya, RUN!!"

As I reached for my gun, I never even had a chance. Before I knew it, the man was on top of me, the end of his pistol cracking over my skull as a dozen more figures appeared above. As I looked over at the tunnel where Ilya had been standing only moments ago, I could only hope she had managed to get out of sight before the scum had seen her, but I had no way of knowing. Before I could even finish that thought, a final crushing blow came down on top of me, everything suddenly turning to black, and I knew nothing more.