//001// stop me if you've heard this one already.

[knightoflight]

This was...not what he expected the afterlife to look like.  That's the first thought, the first conscious thought, he has as he steps inside, gold optics wide with surprise as he looks around. 

He rubs the center of his chassis idly, as though over an old, aching wound. This isn't death. Or Braid's ship, either.

"So," he muses, quietly, "where am I?"

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"That's what I mean," Ellen says. "The door opens back onto whatever world you came in from, assuming you came in through the door. For me, it opens onto Earth. For other people, it opens onto their worlds. I don't know what planet you're from, but that's where the door will go, if you can get through it."

[knightoflight]

"Then why do people stay here?"

He's turning, looking for the door. He thinks of his last memory, the battle outside, the sun shining over his armor, glinting off their weapons, the steady rhythm of swordwork.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Some people stay. Most people just come for a few drinks and a meal and some company," Ellen says. "Then they leave, and then they come back again. It's not a prison or anything, although the door sometimes stops working temporarily- it always comes back online eventually, though."

"Personally, I tend to come here because the resources are a lot better than what we have available at home, and the people are usually pretty helpful. Sometimes it helps to study here, or work on projects."

There's a pause.

"My name's Ellen Park. I'm a human, from a planet called Earth. I don't know if any of that means anything to you."

[knightoflight]

"So how did we get here in the first place?"

He shakes his head, almost regretfully. "I'm afraid my people have been rather...hidden for a long time." He realizes he's just towering over her, so he shifts back, dropping to one knee. It's not level, still but it's an improvement. He hopes. "What do you study?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"People here tell me there's a dimensional portal involved, and that it can open in just about any doorway or gate we step through," Ellen says. "Some people tell me magic, but... you know, dimensional portals sound like something out of a comic book but at least they kind of make sense. And at least there are people who understand them, sort of."

In an effort to at least help a bit with the size difference, Ellen takes the opportunity to climb up on a table. "I'm being trained as a military chaplain," she says, "so right now I'm studying the prayers and philosophy of the Brotherhood of Steel. Other times it's more scientific stuff, like getting some of the technology of my world's past to work again. There's a roooooo....."

She trails off before she can finish the words 'robot factory', realizing that that's probably not a polite thing to refer to, all things considered.

"A factory back home that hasn't worked in two hundred years," she says instead. "I'm trying to figure out how to get its power needs supplied so that I might be able to revive it if I can get the machines inside repaired somehow."

[knightoflight]

"And do you ever go someplace else? Not your home?"

He nods. "Ah. You have a war where you're from?" Regret in his voice, sorrow. War is a terrible thing.

He tilts his head, clueless at what she was about to say. A roooo? He's never heard of it. "So you can repair machines?" It's curiosity, which he's clinging to to pull himself out of the dark fugue that's trying to settle over him.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"If someone else opens the door for me, yes," Ellen says. "People can visit other people's worlds from here so long as someone else opens their door."

"We... yes. Mostly it's just down to trying to protect people from desert raiders now, and from slave-takers and mutants looking to kidnap people to replenish their numbers," Ellen says. "Not army against army, but it's an ongoing sort of slow war, more or less."

She raises one hand and wiggles it in midair. "Somewhat. I can repair a lot of machines made in my world, but the technology people from a lot of other worlds use is really different. I've never had to work with micro-chips, for example, but I can do basic maintenance and repair on the robots we have back home, and on laser and plasma weapons that run on microfusion cells. And on power armor, stuff like that."

[knightoflight]

That made sense. Well, the most sense anything he's heard here has made. "And you've gone to other places?"

Wing frowns. "That is like our war--long and slow. Sometimes we heard of peace--no shots fired for decades. But it was never really the end, just a pause, each side waiting to strike."

But he brightens. "Have you ever seen my kind? Are we like your robots?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"A few places," Ellen says. "One where the atomic war that my world had two hundred years ago never happened, and one where people were fighting an alien invasion with all kinds of weird technology and superpowers. I've brought other people from here to my world plenty of times, too- they usually come along to help, but there've been a few people who wound up there by mistake when I wasn't careful about closing the door behind me."

At the question, she shakes her head. "I've met a few here who look like you. Your kind are a lot smarter than the robots we have at home, and a lot more sophisticated. I only really know maybe one robot at home who can do more than he was programmed to do, and he's passing himself off as a human so he can live in peace- he's in charge of security in Rivet City, and he's doing a really good job."

[knightoflight]

"This sounds...incredible." In both senses. "Others, if you bring them, can they stay?"

He frowns, hearing her description. "Is that necessary in your world for our kind? Should I also try to pass as a human?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Well, they could," says Ellen. "I'm not really sure why they'd want to, considering how much of a nightmare the Wasteland is. But as far as I know, someone who wanted to stay in my world could just follow me through and not ever go back to Milliways."

Then she blinks, and laughs. "I'm not sure you understand. Captain Harkness is an android. He was built to resemble a human in as many ways as possible. One scientist opened him up once to make some repairs and changes and he said a great deal of Harkness' anatomy isn't really very different from a human's, even though he's a machine. The other robots are another story. Nobody expects, you know, Liberty Prime or a Protectron or a Mr. Handy to look like a human. Robots look like robots, and people are used to that. Around here, I don't think anybody really fusses about it either."

[knightoflight]

"But they could help your Wasteland, maybe? Surely that's a reason."

He doesn't, it seems, have much to go back to in his world. And a Knight without a purpose..?

His shoulders relax. "I wouldn't want to upset anyone. My kind does...not deserve such trust."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh- well, yes, there's that," Ellen says. "I'm just not used to the idea of anybody actually wanting to immigrate there. But it could happen, and I know the Brotherhood of Steel would be absolutely thrilled to learn about you...."

She tilts her head curiously at that. "Why not?"

[knightoflight]

"But if that's where help is needed, why not?" For a super-advanced robot, Wing occasionally has some pretty simple logic. "It sounds like people there need help."

He frowns. "We destroyed our own planet, and began expanding, other planets, other worlds sucked into our wars. The Circle--hiding was the best we could do."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Well, the conditions are harsh, the resources extremely scarce, and the likelihood of seeing a return on one's effort any time soon fairly low," Ellen says. "For a lot of people it all adds up to too much. I'm not saying other people don't feel differently, I'm just saying what I think people would say the arguments against it are."


".... oh." She winces. "Oh, dear. I'm sorry to hear that. That... can't have sat well with the survivors of your people."

[knightoflight]

"But that's all the more reason to work together. To repair that damage. And perhaps one of my kind--a robot--would be better for the long term."

He shrugs, "Few of us survived. We fled. We took all we could with us, but it was not enough. And sometimes I think we should have--could have--done more."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"This is true," says Ellen. "On the other hand, you've only just arrived here. Jumping into anything feet first, totally committing to it without testing it out and seeing what the alternatives are, isn't always a great idea. You're welcome to come and visit at some point, but you'll really want to check out other worlds as well first."

"... I think everybody who ever survives something massive feels that way sometimes."

[knightoflight]

He sighs. "You're right. Of course." It was a sincere offer, and he understood her concern. And he was, perhaps, more shaken than he gave himself allowance for.

He gives a wry sort of smile. "You're not the first to notice I'm not one to think of consequences."

There's something in her tone that gives him pause--that's the kind of wisdom that only comes from experience. And he's so wrapped in his own, he hasn't been considering how it might appear to others. He forces his tone to be lighter. "We did, in the end, the best we could. And we did save many. That's something, right?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"It's all right," Ellen says. "We're all kind of prone to acting rashly when we're suddenly thrown off our guard. I know I've made some really impulsive calls when I'm in over my head, and I'm lucky to have survived them."

She settles back on her heels and nods. "It's an important something," she says. "An incredibly important something, or else what are you fighting for in the first place? ... um, stop me if I start sounding arrogant or anything, I'm just... this is a lot of the kind of stuff I'm learning from Knight-Captain Colvin, and most of his ministry to date's been with soldiers. It kind of colors things a little."

[knightoflight]

"I...did not survive my last one." A sheepish shrug. But what other choice did he have. His city was in peril. He had to do something.

"No, it doesn't sound arrogant. Fighting for something, it's easy to get lost in the fighting and forget the reasons. And it's easy to forget the victories if you concentrate on loss."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Um. My condolences?" Ellen offers. "I know there's a pretty fair number of people who come here who happen to be dead, for one reason or another, but I'm not really sure what the etiquette is for dealing with them."

Then she nods. "No kidding. Knight-Captain Colvin says that kind of thing used to happen a lot in the Western Brotherhood, before they sent Elder Lyons and the rest of his unit east. I don't know if they're still like that out there, but it wouldn't surprise me."

[knightoflight]

He gives an uncomfortable shrug. He's not really sure about the etiquette in this situation himself. "I have no real regrets, beyond the selfish one of wishing I knew what happened to others I care about." Which was a lot, but....

"The Western Brotherhood? They are one of the factions?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"There's always the possibility that one of them may come in someday," Ellen says. "You never know. It might be worth watching out for."

Then she considers. "Sort of?" she says. "I'm a member of the Brotherhood of Steel. We're a military organization devoted to reclaiming the technology of our world's past, from before the nuclear war that pretty much ended civilization. We're based on the western side of our continent. About thirty years ago, the Brotherhood Elders sent a group of soldiers to the eastern coast to see if they could uncover any of the old tech from where the nation's capital had been, under the command of Elder Owyn Lyons. Over the years the Brotherhood in my area's become different from the main Brotherhood back west. They're technically still part of the same command structure, they just haven't been able to communicate in a long time."

[knightoflight]

"I can hope until then." And maybe have that hope dashed, but he's aware right now he needs the hope more than the truth.

A sympathetic noise. "So in your way, you are also refugees from a war. Survivors trying to rebuild. How have the other Brotherhoods changed?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Well," Ellen says, "the main Brotherhood is of the opinion that it's best to reclaim the old technology to keep it out of the hands of people who would misuse it, and study it and use it ourselves without letting it get into the general public. They feel that the mission is most important, and that while any two humans can make another human, the secret of building a P94 plasma rifle is all but lost. Elder Lyons believes that it's more important to protect and work with the people of the Wasteland wherever possible, along with the tech mission- even if other Brotherhood leaders see it as a waste of resources."