Chapter 138: Chapter 134

Listening to the news in the past couple of weeks brought bittersweet nostalgia to Ana Velasquez and a lot of other ghouls. The updates on the Nexus’ expanding frontlines was akin to the overconfident reports about the battles taking place throughout the world back in the Sino-American war.

 

Okay, maybe that was disparaging to the Nexus. At least here the smartly dressed men and women on the flatscreens were not faking their smiles or presenting reports that were obviously twisted to project strength and bolster morale. And the late night airings of the uncensored footage clearly showed the Nexus public of what atrocities its expansion was snuffing out. The Nexus Severalty was trampling and taming all the dangers of Wasteland America, while bringing salvation and a genuine improvement to the many wastelanders out there.

 

Ana chuckled once more as she compared the governments of her pre-war life with her current one. The Nexus Severalty was in essence an autocracy, with practically everything owned and produced by Sev and his technology. He appointed the people in power, controlled the automated factories that distributed the basic necessities for free, and owned every public utility like the roads, powerlines and water pipes.

 

Personal freedoms were limited, if you read the Nexus’ constitution closely, with every right and privilege being revocable by Sev. So piss off the Nexus’ much venerated leader enough, and if you somehow survived the lynching from his adoring populace, you’d lose everything you own, and at best get kicked out of Nexus lands. At worst, you’d be dragged away into the pits of Blacksite Tleilax.

 

Being an autocratic state that controlled practically every means of production and distributed allowances and living necessities equally amongst its people, if Sev wasn’t such a benevolent and generous ruler, he and his Nexus would easily be the ultimate evil to pre-nuked America. They’d have a field day yelling about how liberty and justice was stifled, or point angry fingers at the obvious nepotism and Sev’s iron-clad grip on his state.

 

Of course, Sev and the Nexus wasn’t anywhere close to being comparable to the Commie countries that the United States struggled against. They weren’t even comparable to the corrupt oligarchy that the US had become. Or was it fascistic corporatocracy? Ana couldn’t really remember anymore, having jumped around so many activist groups as they were inevitably crushed  or scattered.

 

The important thing was, for how bad it looked on paper, things were actually far more cushy right now in the Nexus. Supposedly, Sev tolerated civil dissent, but nobody was actually discontent (or ungrateful) enough to test that out yet. Sure, the constant voting in the household terminals for various minor policies was a pale shadow of democracy, but at least those results actually mattered, instead of the poor illusion of democracy Ana had experienced and marched against before the bombs fell.

 

And besides, when it came down to it, there was no contest on whether anyone in their right mind would actually struggle to consider between choosing the politely policed state of the Nexus, or enduring the wastelands beyond. Hell, even if they decided to implement conscription, it’d still be a better option compared to being in slave armies or poorly equipped and/or desperate local militias.

 

So listening to how well the Nexus’ latest round of annexation was going, Ana was genuinely happy that more American soil was being cleansed from radiation and monsters, and she looked forward to the marvels of the growing Boston city being shared with the rest of the continent.

 

“...approving the initiative to restore a portion of New York City to its pre-war urban center.”

 

Huh, NYC’s getting to keep the ‘C’ part of its name? Maybe she’ll take a train down there sometime soon. Supposedly Madison Square Garden got turned into a castle or something. That sight alone would be worth the trip.

 

Ooh. She could also make her way down to whatever remains of Wall Street, and take a good piss on each and every symbol of corporate greed while the ruins were still there. Maybe she’d reach out and see how many of her old friends and comrades were still around, turn this into a road trip for old time’s sake.

 

*****

 

Jack Cabot sighed as he hurried through the streets of Boston, checking his watch and patting the pocket in his coat every now and then. At least the city was cleaned up. There was no more climbing over debris or sneaking past super mutants, only checking for traffic before crossing the road or waving down one of the patrolling robots if he ever got too lost.

 

Yes, he much preferred this new Boston over its previous, broken one. Or even the one before the bombs fell, come to think about it. Far less noise, far less bustle, and far more efficient infrastructure. That he didn’t need to drive to get from any one point in the city to another was a huge convenience, and with how things are improving, Jack was more inclined to step outdoors nowadays for leisurely walks and even socialize with the new locals.

 

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Of course, that inclination was not limited to just himself now. Imogene’s wanderlust only grew worse after the Nexus revitalized the city, which led to moments like this. Thank god that at least this time Jack would only need to drag her out of the new shopping arcade. Immortal or not, he was still human enough to feel self-conscious when looking for his sister in a brothel. 

 

Or an orgy pit. 

 

Or the exhibitionist S&M club.

 

Thankfully, he quickly found Imogene as he arrived at the arcade, his sister just leaving a sex shop with a bag’s worth of stuff. Jack frowned as he noted the slight limp in her gait, and hurried over. “I thought we agreed that you’d stop with the one night stands,” he immediately said, skipping over the courtesy of greeting his sister.

 

Imogene gave her brother a disgusted frown before she exclaimed, “I didn’t fuck anyone!” Then her features shifted to one of dark delight, and Jack had a feeling he knew what she was about to say. She shook the artisanal shopping bag in her arms and feigned an innocent pout. “They allowed for…testing the goods before I bought them, so I sampled them. Thoroughly. Have to be really sure about these sorts of stuff before you buy them, you know.”

 

Jack groaned softly and found himself running a hand down his face. “Imogene, I-”

 

“And I’m so glad I gave them a go!” she continued on, ignoring him and upping her volume a little bit. Just enough for the people around them to listen without trying too hard. “Who’d thought the Deathclaw’s Claw would be such a joy? I mean, fake penises really are such a bore, if you think about it. Using a deathclaw’s finger? Now that’s some innovation!” Imogene put a hand on her chest in exaggerated amazement. “It got in real deep, I’ll tell you that. And it even comes with a sturdy wall attachment. My, my, my, what wonders will they come up with next?”

 

Jack steeled himself to ignore the amused onlookers, as well as the highly unpleasant images his sister had just forced into his head, and grabbed Imogene by the arm. The words were forced out his gritted teeth with restrained calm. “Enough, Imogene. You’re due for a top up, remember?”

 

She gave him a blank stare for a moment, and then comprehension settled in her eyes, along with the rise of genuine panic. “I thought it was tomorrow?”

 

“Tomorrow’s the checkup,” he clarified in a slow whisper. “Today’s the jab.”

 

“Oh. Ohh...” The playfulness left Imogene in a flash, and as her brother let go of her arm, she followed after him in a hasty walk, all thoughts of taunting and pranking Jack gone. While the Cabots were eternally grateful to Sev for his supply of immortality serum, keeping track of the bi-weekly jabs was an annoyance that Jack gladly endured and Imogene barely tolerated. It didn’t help that Jack and the researchers had discovered that the serum gave diminishing returns if taken too far apart. 

 

That, along with the creeping mental instability gained from injecting the serum, made each ‘top up’ and subsequent checkup at a nearby medical center a strictly regulated affair. Neither of them wanted to be like their mother. The Cabot matriarch had kept to her comatose husband’s bedside so stubbornly, and had rejected the serum for long enough that she began wasting away.

 

Jack’s intervention saved Wilhemina’s body from withering, but not all of her mind was recovered. The once haughty woman now needed frequent doses of the immortality serum for her to keep sitting by Lorenzo’s unwaking side. Neither Jack nor Imogene had the heart to tell her that their father had been rendered effectively brain dead at their request.

 

And neither sibling wanted to personally experience such an ordeal. Not when there was so much for Jack to learn and Imogene to experience. Not while the Nexus still freely supplied them with the immortality serum that was produced without the need for their father’s blood.

 

They’d get the jab as soon as they got back home, and then the next day would be wholly dedicated to medical observations before Jack could go back to working in Ix, and Imogene could return to living wantonly in the Nexus on her brother’s pay.

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