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From The Personal Recollection Of Leanne Walker(Continued)

I found myself staring straight in the business end of Autumn's pistol. Thanks to hopped-up reflexes, I could see bullets in flight.  So I wondered if the close-in muzzle-flash would dazzle me this time or if I would see this bullet coming.  Certainly, while held in that forcefield, I had no hope of dodging.  It was all I could do to keep my eyes open - but no way I'd let him know how scared I was.

But it didn't happen.  In the next heartbeat, an especially familiar voice boomed out of an EyeCam set in the wall, "Colonel Autumn, the young lady will obviously not be intimidated.  Kindly stand down, and resume your other duties.  I will handle this."

Autumn didn't take it well.  He lowered his pistol and turned towards the voice, his voice a blend of fury and total disbelief, "Mister President?  We AGREED that I had overall command of Project Purity, as well as all related matters ... "

"Nonetheless, Colonel, you are dismissed.  Carry on, if you please."

Autumn stood there for a second or so, then stiffly holstered his weapon and said through clenched teeth, "Yes, Mister President."  He stomped out of the room, the door opening by itself to reveal a massively reinforced passageway outside.  OK, it seemed I was in some kind of Enclave Vault.  The look Autumn gave me while exiting was pure murder.

Unable to answer his gaze with The Finger right then, I settled for sticking out my tongue at him.  Not much of a clever comeback, but the sudden possibility that I might not be tortured and might even live past the next five minutes had together left me feeling a bit giddy.  Any way, it didn't improve his mood.  The door smoothly shut behind him.

"Just a minute,"  the President said, apparently to me.  A wait.  "He is leaving the section altogether.  Good.  Stand by, please ... "  The force field that had been holding me upright slowly faded, giving me time to regain balance before stepping out of that booth.  "Yes, Miss Walker.  I am John Henry Eden, President of these United States, and I sincerely apologize for the manner of your arrival.   But I am delighted to finally meet you.  We have a great deal to talk about."

"I'm sure," I said carefully.  Here I was in my birthday suit, being greeted and apologized to by the President of the United States.  What a world this was.  My Vault upbringing would have made for serious embarassment (in Vault 101, nudity was something that happened to other people), but experience since (Megaton's only shower - outside AND communal, for one) meant my current state was less bothersome than it could have been.  At least, that's what I told myself.

Rubbed my eyes and asked, almost absently, “How long was I out?”

Eden answered immediately, “Six hours, seventeen minutes.”  He had no reason to lie about that, and a check of my Pip-Boy confirmed it, but his answer still bothered me.

The door swooshed open again for a male Enclave officer, who was trolleying a large storage box that sported various 'WARNING' stickers.  "Ahhhh.  Thank you, Lieutenant Williams.  Miss Walker, here is your armor and all of your personal equipment, including weapons.  They were on the way to R&D, but I knew you would want them back, so here they are instead.  My promise that none of your belongings have been tampered with in any way.  Except for the G.E.C.K., I'm afraid, which has already been shipped to Project Purity.  All I ask is for a temporary truce while you are my guest here at Raven Rock.”  Pause.  “Lieutenant Williams!  Kindly wait outside, would you?"

Unexpectedly meeting a naked female while on duty had clearly shaken Lieutenant Williams, who looked about my age.  He was dazedly holding a clipboard and pencil out to me, obviously awaiting a signature for delivery.  The President's words to him made him visibly jump and scurry outside.

I dressed quickly, doing an abbreviated checklist for my Ghostarmor and random checks on a couple of other items, just in case.  They all seemed OK – the worst to happen was that pretty much everything had been cleaned to an “as new” shine, and given its own ID tag.  Even the bobby pins I hoarded for ‘unauthorized entry’ situations had been scrupulously sorted, counted and individually tagged.  I wondered how much time Enclave eggheads had wasted cataloging all of my mundane gear.

Finally … “I’m ready.”

“Excellent, Miss Walker. Exit this room, and proceed to the right, would you please?  Lieutenant Williams, waiting just outside, will be your guide.  All personnel in this complex have been instructed to allow you to pass unhindered. I only ask that you hold to our truce until after our face-to-face talk.”

“I’ll be good.”  Silently reserving the right to change my mind, I left the room.

Williams waited in the passageway, blushing and very unsure where to put his eyes. He settled for staring at a point above my head,  “This way …. uh, ma’am,” and turned to lead the way.

It’s my nature, what can I say?  I automatically looked in the opposite direction, and saw more doors similar to mine. Ignoring Williams’s startled “Ma’am?”, I stepped up to the closest door, and hit the OPEN button beside it.

The room inside was certainly nicer than mine, at least as prison cells go – bunk,chair, desk and even a terminal.  The lone occupant had been doing push-ups on the mat, and looked up startled by my arrival.

I was fairly startled myself, but think I hid this well.  “How’s it going, Somah?”

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

Another of those times when I can offer only a mundane pic for relevance, but the story itself is too important to skip over this bit.  Sorry.

Yes, I changed several things about the entire Raven Rock experience, but The Big Picture will go more or less the same.

Seemed very very weird that the Enclave would interrogate the reknowned LW while keeping ALL of his/her stuff in the same room (instead of at least shipping the GOOD stuff to R&D posthaste).  If so, then what's that locker in the above pic for, if not the LW's stuff?  My guess is storage of jumper cables and waterboarding gear.

Wandering around Raven Rock completely unsupervised (at least in the beginning) also seemed strange – hence Lt Williams's employment as a guide.  He ain't gonna have an easy time of it, poor guy.  ;)