Executive
Nobody spoke for several long seconds. The red glow from the Pip-Boy washed across Adrian's face as the message remained fixed on the screen.
EXTERNAL ACCESS REQUEST DETECTED
PRIORITY: EXECUTIVE
Around them, Shady Sands carried on as though nothing unusual had happened. The fire crackled nearby, music drifted through the warm desert night, people laughed around the celebration fires, and somewhere near the brahmin pens someone shouted something drunken and unintelligible to a chorus of cheers.
Normal life continued. Meanwhile, Adrian felt like his entire nervous system had stopped functioning.
Tandi leaned closer first, staring openly at the display. "What the hell does that mean?"
Excellent question, Adrian would have loved the answer himself.
Across from him, Cassandra's expression had gone completely unreadable again. She wasn't confused. She was studying the screen with an intensity that made Adrian increasingly uncomfortable. Her eyes tracked every line of text, every flicker of red light, as though she were trying to recognize something she'd hoped never to see again.
He forced himself to breathe normally. "Probably a malfunction." Nobody believed that. The Pip-Boy vibrated softly against his wrist, and another line of text appeared beneath the first.
AWAITING AUTHORIZATION
Adrian simply stared, every survival instinct he possessed screamed the same thing. Do not touch anything. Unfortunately, another part of his brain, the part that had spent years modding Fallout games and clicking buttons clearly labeled DO NOT PRESS just to see what happened, was becoming dangerously curious.
Tandi looked between Adrian and Cassandra. "Is it supposed to do that?"
"No." Cassandra answered so quickly that the single word changed the entire mood. She hadn't guessed, she knew.
Adrian slowly turned toward her. "You know what this is."
She met his eyes without flinching. "No." A tiny pause followed, "...but I know what it isn't."
That answer bothered him even more. The Pip-Boy pulsed again, the crimson light reflecting across the three of their faces before settling back into its steady glow. Still active, still waiting and still expecting an answer.
Adrian suddenly became very aware that they were sitting in the middle of Shady Sands. Nobody was paying attention yet, but if the strange glowing computer strapped to his arm suddenly started talking, exploding or activating some forgotten pre-war defense system, the entire settlement would notice in a hurry.
The wasteland had already taught him one valuable lesson, attention usually led to trouble. Cassandra seemed to reach the same conclusion. "Inside," she said quietly.
Tandi blinked. "Inside where?"
"Anywhere private."
Adrian stood immediately. "Yeah... that feels smart."
The three of them slipped away from the central fires while the celebration continued behind them, unnoticed by almost everyone. Every step made Adrian's heartbeat climb a little higher. Until now, he'd convinced himself the Pip-Boy was just glitching.
Random flickers, weird messages caused by broken software. This... this felt intentional. That thought scared him far more than any radscorpion ever had.
☢ ☢ ☢
They entered one of the unused storage huts near the outer wall. The room smelled of dry grain, dust, and old wood. A single lantern hanging from a ceiling beam cast a weak yellow light across stacked crates, farming tools, and forgotten supplies that hadn't been touched in years.
Cassandra shut the door behind them before turning back toward Adrian. "Show me."
He hesitated for a second. Yeah… he had trust issues. Ok… massive trust issues. But there wasn't much point hiding it anymore. Cassandra had already seen enough to know something wasn't right, and if she genuinely understood old government technology, keeping secrets might make things worse instead of better.
Slowly, Adrian raised his arm, the message hadn't changed.
EXTERNAL ACCESS REQUEST DETECTED
PRIORITY: EXECUTIVE
AWAITING AUTHORIZATION
Tandi hovered nearby, looking equal parts fascinated and nervous. Cassandra stepped closer, very close. Adrian found himself noticing entirely unhelpful details. The faint smell of gunpowder lingering on her jacket. Thin scars crossing the back of one hand. The sharp focus in her eyes beneath the lantern light.
He mentally slapped himself… Focus!!! This was probably the most important conversation he'd had since waking up in Vault 13.
☢ ☢ ☢
Cassandra studied the screen in silence for several long seconds, then something shifted. Only slightly, recognition. Not complete recognition, but enough. "You've seen this before," Adrian said quietly.
"No." Too fast, it was definitely a lie. Instead of arguing, Cassandra pointed toward the lower corner of the display. "Those authorization headers."
Adrian frowned. "What about them?"
She hesitated again, as though weighing how much she was willing to reveal, finally, she spoke. "They're federal."
The room fell completely silent, Adrian stared at her, "...federal?"
She nodded once. "Old-world government formatting."
His heart skipped, several pieces that had never seemed connected suddenly slammed together inside his head.
Tandi looked completely lost. "You're saying his Pip-Boy belongs to the old government?"
"Maybe not," Cassandra corrected carefully. "But something inside it does."
Adrian lowered his eyes to the glowing screen again, a cold weight settled in the pit of his stomach. For the first time... the idea of the Reclamation Protocol stopped feeling like a strange mystery hidden somewhere in the background of his life.
Something cold settled deep in Adrian's stomach. Some forgotten piece of pre-war America was actively trying to reach him. Why? How? He didn't have the slightest clue. Somehow, the uncertainty felt worse than whatever answers might be waiting on the other side.
Tandi folded her arms uneasily, never taking her eyes off the glowing screen. "So, what happens if he... authorizes it?"
Good question, Cassandra remained focused on the Pip-Boy. "I don't know."
He'd known Cassandra Hale for less than a week, but he'd already learned one thing about her. She hated uncertainty. She planned, she prepared and she always seemed to know the next move. Right now, for the first time since they'd met, she genuinely looked unsettled.
The screen pulsed again.
AWAITING AUTHORIZATION
COMMAND PATHWAY OPEN
The words glowed steadily beneath the lantern light. Adrian swallowed and looked toward Cassandra. "What would you do?"
The question escaped before he really thought about it. The surprising part was that he actually wanted her opinion.
Cassandra held his gaze for several long seconds before answering. "I'd want more information first."
Practical and careful. Exactly what he'd expected. The logical answer and yet... the message continued waiting. The red text seemed almost alive, patiently expecting a response.
Adrian couldn't explain it, it wasn't an emotional pull. It felt deeper than that. Instinctive. Like an itch buried somewhere in the back of his mind that refused to go away until he scratched it. It was wrong, he knew it was wrong.
Every rational thought told him to step back, leave the Pip-Boy alone, and figure out what he was dealing with before pressing anything. Instead, he stared at the authorization prompt for one more heartbeat.
Then, before common sense could catch up... he pressed ACCEPT.
Tandi immediately stumbled backward. "Are you insane?!"
"Probably!" The Pip-Boy screen exploded with crimson light, then static flooded the display as a deep, distorted burst of audio crackled through the tiny speaker, harsh enough to make all three of them flinch. Then... everything went dark.
Adrian stared at the lifeless screen. "Oh... that's bad."
Nobody moved, silence settled over the storage hut, broken only by the faint hiss of the lantern. Tandi looked horrified, Cassandra looked like she was seriously considering shooting the Pip-Boy before it could do anything else.
Several long seconds passed. Then the screen slowly came back to life. Not with the familiar interface, or with the map, not even the red status display he'd grown used to. Something entirely different appeared. The lettering was crisp, sharp and clearly pre-war military.
There were no Vault-Tec logos, no cheerful icons and no user menus. Just plain text. At the very top of the screen, in clean black letters against the crimson background, appeared a title.
UNITED STATES CONTINUITY AUTHORITY
More lines populated beneath it one after another.
STATUS: DEGRADED
NETWORK AVAILABILITY: LIMITED
EXECUTIVE BIOMETRIC CONFIRMED
Adrian felt the blood drain from his face. Tandi simply frowned, confusion written all over her expression. "I... have absolutely no idea what any of that means."
Cassandra didn't answer she had gone perfectly still. Not the calm stillness Adrian had grown used to, this was different. Recognition. The moment her eyes found the words United States Continuity Authority, something changed. Her breathing slowed and her jaw tightened.
For just an instant, the carefully controlled mask she'd worn since the day they met cracked. She knew exactly what she was looking at. Adrian's stomach tightened. Until that moment, he'd suspected Cassandra knew more about the old world than she admitted.
Now he was certain and the expression on her face told him something else. Whatever the United States Continuity Authority was... it wasn't just dangerous. It was something she'd hoped never to see again.