Note this is an incomplet chapter


" Fuck! " Grayson Black thought to himself as he was still having a hard time beileving that the assholes running the world had gone and finally gone and nuked the Earth to hell and back, when the door chime to his qauters pinged.


" Come in! " he shouted as the video screen next to the door came on to show a young boy who did not look to be more and fifteen standing at his door, " Sargent, the Emperor wants to see you. " the video image of the slightly uptight looking boy said to him.
" Right I'll be with you in a second. " he said as he finished off his cup of hot coffee, " No time for a shower, shit I am getting to fucking old for this fucked up shit! " he muttered to himself and walked to the door as he realized that he did not have time to waste.


When he opened the door he looked at the kid and saw he was just a lowly privet and when the the boy snapped to attention he let out a small sigh, " Relax Privet. " he said with a friendly smile as he could see the look of hero worship in the boy's bright geen eyes, " So what are my orders Privet? " he asked as the two of them were making their way to the throne room.
" I was'nt told Sargent, all the Emperor told me personally was to come and get you and bring you to him. " Luke Hendrix said with a slightly breathless tone of voice as he found himself standing next to one of Purityville's most hard assed heros.


As they were making their way for the aduance with the Emperor the two of them saw a leutent draging a slave by her hair and they both snapped to atention, Grayson looked at the boy and saw the slightly uptight look on his boyish face at the sight of the slave who was naked save for the control collar around her neck.
" So have you gotten your first slave yet? " he asked as they continued on their way after the officer and his slave had passed them by,
" N-No Sargent. " Luke stamered as he saw the wolfish smile on Grayson's scared face as he felt ashamed for getting a woody when he had seen the naked slave since he was still a virgin.


" Heh!, something never change no mater how bad things are. " Grayson thought to himself as he recalled when he had been a young, overly hormonal teenage before the world got flushed down the shitter.
" So are you going for a natral slave of a G.E.L.? " he asked as they passed from the base's barracks into the central part of the base and he could not help but reach out and ruffle the boy's hair when he saw his face turn a bright candy apple red.


" I-I-I have decied it yet Sir..I mean Sargent. " Luke stamered as he was wishing for nothing more then to crawl under a rock and never come out from under it, " Don't worry about it Son, I'm just bust your chops. " Grayson said with a heart felt laugh as they were walking down a long hallway that was leading to the throne room and decied to offer the young boy some sagely advice.
" Well whatever you chose don't get to worked up about, after all they are just slaves so there is no right or worng in how you take them. " he added as they came to a stop in front of the thick steel door that let to the Emperor's throne room that was flanked by six gaurds in M-57 power armor.


" Who are you and what do you want with the Emperor? " the lead gaurd said over his armor's loud speaker, " I'm Sargent Grayson Black and the Emperor wants to see me. " Grayson said to the guard who was scaning him with the armor's computer and sensor systems.
" Hold on a second Sargent Black. " was the gaurd's reply once he had confrimed who he was, " You may go in Sargent the Emperor is exspecting you. " the gaurd said to him with a flat and toneless voice and he could not help but to smirk to himself becuase the Emperor's Gaurds where the cut an dry, anal retentive fantics who always had the bad habit of stating the oboivse and they had no sense of humor to boot.


Once the ten foot thick dimond impregnated carbon steel door to the throne room was opened he walked into and saw two more of the emperor's personnal garuds standing inside and he walked past them and into the spartan throne room.
" Hello Sargent Black I'm glad you could joins us. " Emperor Maxwell Cromwell said as he saw Grayson snap to attention and he gave him a friendly smile, " Relax Sargent, no need to be formal. " he added as he saw Grayson look around the throne room to see the inter-cericle of Purtyville's technocrats watching him with gaurded looks.


" Please sit down Sargent. " Grayson heard Maxwell say to him and he took his seat at the foot of the confrence table in front of the throne.
" What would you like to drink Master? " a feminie voice said off to his right and when he looked over towards the voice he saw one emepror's slaves on her knees before him and looking down at the floor.
" Not bad. " Grayson thought to himself as he saw that the slave looked to be about twenety six at a height of five foot six inches tall and looked to be around the hundred and seventen pound mark.


" I want some coffee, black. " he said as he watched the naked red headed slave looked up at him and he could see the nervoise look in her bright emerld green eyes, " At once my Lord. " she said to him as she looked back down at floor, get to her feet and take three steps back before she turned and went to fetch him his coffee.


As much as he was enjoying the sight of the slave's sung looking ass he knew that something big was up and turned his attention back to the emperor.
" As you know Sargent that seventeen years ago the man hating femanazi bitches unleshed the virus that was designed to exterminate ninety percent of the men on earth and render the survivours sexless and becuase of that all the nations though it was an attack from an enemy nation due to the speed and lethalty of the virus and unleashed their nuclear, biological and chemical weapons on their enemies. "
Grayson heard the Emperor say to him and he could see the cold and hateful look in his eyes that was a mirror reflection of his own hate and anger towards the bitches who had atempted the single most horrfying act of androcide in the history of the human race.


" As you also know the virus was slipshod and it began to kill the women and girls as well, as such over ninety nine point ninety eight percent of the human race died as the war started. " Maxwell said and he could see that even though he was repeting what Grayson already knew as did the survivors of the war, but he could see that he had the sargent's complet attention and spoke once more.


" Also you know that the virus underwent several mutations before dying out and one of those mutations was to mutated over three quaters of the survivoirs, as well as plants and animals as the war took over half of the remaning survivors. " he added and then stopped speaking as the slave came back with the coffee and dropped to her knees in front of Grayson.


Once he took his coffee from the kneeling slave Grason felt a pang of arosual but he decied not to spare the slave a second thought because he could tell from not only what the Emperor was saying to him but from his tone of voice something big was going down and turned his attention back to Maxwell as he took a drink of his coffee.


" Sir what do you want of me? " Grayson asked as he put his coffee aside and skind a pack of Bones brand ciggrets from his pants pocket and fished one out for himself.
" I'll make it simple Sargent, as you know we have no concrens over the matter of energy thanks to our neutrino ractor, also due to our hydroponics bays and our cloning labs that food is not an issue, however even with all of the resorces we have scavaged from River Valley after the end of the war we are running out of crital building suplies in order to keep ourselves afloat. " heard Maxwell say to him and he could see by the grim look on his wrinkled lined face that the sittuation was worse then he was being led on about.


" Sargent we need someone to scout out the surouding area around the city, also we need to know who bad the contimnation is in the surouding lands and we also need to know what shape the city of Forge City is becuase as you know that was a steel manufactering city before the war. " General Willaim Deigo said as he took a drink of his wiskey.


" I see Sir, so you want me to find out if it's worth the risk to send recovery teams to that city right? " Grayson asked as he exhaled a lung full of smoke, " Yes Sargent, also we need to know the satus of the rest of the world outside of the city and if their is any other survivours out there that can be brought into the base in order to incress our gentic diervsity. " Willaim said and he could see that Grayson was carefuly thinking the mission over.


" As you know Sargent that condisions on the surface as extreamly deadly due to not only the fallout from the nukes as well as contimnation from the biological and chemical weapons that were used juring the war, but also from the origdnal virus or it's mutated strains as well as the unperdicable weather cause by the war. " Doctor Brent Markson, the head of the base's scinces devision said and he knew that sending any one outside of the base was tandamount to a death sentnce.


" Sargent I will not bullshit you the chances of you carrying out this mission and returning to us alive and in once peice are slim to none but we need not only critical suplies but we also need to know what it is like on the surface, well more then we know now so we can gage on how long we will have to remain in the base or if it's even possable to live on the surface. " Conol Greg Jackson the head of the base's intealgnce said with a very grim tone of voice that did not sit well Grayson.


" Aww fuck it, why the hell not, I'm getting kind of stir crazy
anyways. " Grayson said with a cracked smile as he knew full well that this was by far going to be the most dangours thing he had ever done in his life and that he would most likely die alone and forgotten in the God forsaken wasteland.


" Are you sure about this Sargent, if you have any doubts of any kind, say so and we'll find some one else to carry out the mission. " Maxwell said as he could see that while Grayson was was once mean and brave son of a bitch he was no fool as he was carefuly considering the odds of completing this mission as well as the muiltude of dangers he would face on the surface.


" Ya what the hell, it's got to be done and besides like I said I'm getting restless, shit this will be the most fun I have ever had since the world went tits up on the platter. " Grason said with a devil may care tone of voice, in fact he was both excited and nearly scaired shitless at the thought of leaving the safety of the base in equal mesure.
He had seen his fair share of death and danger when he had been on recovery duty in the dead city of River Valley and he had not only surivived the horrors of the suface world but he had thrived as well and felt he could pull the mission off.


" Very well Sargent, if you have any question you had better ask them no becuase once this beriffing is over with you will be leaving. " Willaim said and he could not help but to be impressed becuase he had doubts that anyone in their right mind would set one boot outside of the base or the city.


" Well what kind of equimpment will I have? " Grason asked as he could see that not only was the Emperor impressed with him for having the balls of steel to put himself in such dire danger for the survival of Purtyville but he could also see that the rest of base's elites were openely impressed with him which was a nice ego stroke as he realized that his rep as a total hard ass had just gone up considerably.


" You will be issued the new M-79 power armor suits, one of the new Z-88 laser rifles as well as two weapons of choice as well as rations and other survival suplies. " Luetent Hans Kriger the head of operations said and Grayson could see that the young luetent had doubts that he would survive the mission and he decied to make it a point of pull off the mission just to honk him off.


" Ok, what are my over all objectives? " he asked Hans as he was intent to find out what his mission was going to be, " Your main mission objective is to make you're way to Forge City and survay it as well as to locate critial suplies and acess the risks that any future recover teams would face. " he heard the Luetent say to him.
" Second of all you are to acess the condistions on the surface and evaulate the likely hood and possable time for us to return to the surface, also you are to make record of any and all mutant life forms that are not in our data base and acess their threat level. " Hans added as he could see that Grayson seemed to be thinking hard about his mission objectives.


" What about suriviors, what should I do if I encount anyone out there? " Grayson asked as he finished off his smoke and stubed it out in the ashtray on the table.
" In case you encounter any surivivors you are to make an acessment of them, if they are to badly mutated you are to ignore then, if they seem to be in reasonbly good health you are to tell them to come to Puretyville if they are cabale, we not only need any and all unmutated breeding stock but we also need to study any survivoiurs to see what the condistion on the surface are like for humans. " Cheif Medical Officer Dan Moreland said with a hopeful tone of voice that seemed a little to egger for his liking.


After taking a long drink from his hot coffee he decied that he had all the answers he needed for the time being and decided to get the show on the road, " Ok I'm ready to go, who do I see about my
gear? " he asked as he finished off his coffee as he was starting to feel restless with excitment.


" Go and see Dr.Hanford, the head of our weapons resreach and devolpment and he will brief you on the M-79's specs and issue you your weapons and gear, good luck Sargent, dismissed " Grayson heard the Emperor say to him and he could not help but to feel like a teenager once agan, he stood, snapped to attention and saluted the Emperor and the genral staff, turned and walked out of the throne room.


" Ahh Sargent Black good to see you, I hope you are ready for this mission. " Dr.Ted Hanford said as he saw Grayson walk into the deployment room, " Yep I'm itching to get on with it. " he heard Grayson say to him with a grim smile and he could not help but to shake his head as he wondered how anyone in their right mind would undertake such a dangours mission.


" Well Sargent this is the M-79 power armor suit. " Grayson heard the good doctor say to him as hey walked over to to the M-79, " As you can see Sargent the M-79 it bigger then the M-57 power armor. " he heard the doctor say to him and saw that the M-79 was an eight and a half feet tall suit of flat mat black combat armor.
" Also you can see that M-79 is more heavly armored then the M-57 with eleven inches of dimond impreagnated carborn steel, lead and thermo plast that can stop a 90mm H.E.A.T. round without major damage. "
Ted said to Grayson who was looking over the M-79 with a critical eye.


" The M-79 is powered by a microzied neutrino reactor for near endless power, also the M-79's servo systems have been augmented, giving it thrity more percent strength and speed. " he added with a touch of pride that made Grayson smile.
" So what else is new? " Grayson asked Ted as he saw that the M-79 looked like one bad ass mother fucker.
" The M-79 has a raidation limit of 1500 rads without breaching it's sheilding and can protect you up to 2100 rads for three hours before you would need decontimnation and keep fuctioning at that rad count for seven hours before total suit failure and shut down. " he heard Ted say to him which was of a major comfort to him as he recalled how he had gotten a nasty dose of raidtion two years ago and of the unpleasent sideffcts of the anti-raidation drugs that he had to take in order flush the raidtion from his body.


" The multi-optics systems have been enhaced for greater range and cliarty, the teloscopic mode can see a target as small as a hamster at a range of three miles, the same for it's thermal imaging, infra red and ultra violet systems. " Ted told Grayson who had a slight smile on his scard face and he could see that he was pleased with the advancements incropated into the M-79.


" What about the G.I.S. have there been any changes made to it? " Grayson asked as he could see that the good doctor was giving him a very pleased smile, " The Geometic Identfacation System has been updated with ten thousand new shapes for a total regcognision of over six million shapes. " he heard Ted say to him and he could not help but to be impressed, " and it has the same range as the other visual
systems. " Ted added as Grayson started to poke around inside the
M-79.


" The M-79's X-Band radar has been ugraded and can track a hundred and twenety six diffrent target out to a range of seven miles in open terain as well as give a complet read out of each known target. "
Ted said as Grayson looked over at him and he could not help but to give the sargent a knowing smile.
" Damn Doc you really have been burning the midnight oil have'nt you. " he heard Grayson say to him.


" Yes it's been a lot of hard work but it's well worth the effort. " Grayson heard Ted say to him and he felt that with this new suit of power armor he could pull the mission off without to much trouble
" So what else have you done with this? " he asked Ted as he lit himself up a smoke.
" Well Sargent the bio and chem sheilding remain the same as the M-57, however the envromental systems have been enhanced, each molecule of air that enters the M-79 is heat to six thousand degrees by four plasma jets and the biological and chemical filters are good to less then half a nanometer. " he heard the doc say to him and he could not help but to feel a little more safer, he had seen enough good men die horriable, lingering deaths due to biologcal or chemical poisoning because the M-57's filtering systems were not up to the task when he had been on recovery duty.


" Also the M-79's air purfcation systems can recycle the same tanks of air for nine weeks before needing to be replenshed and the amount of fresh air in the suits internal tanks have been incressed by thirty five percent. " Grayson heard Ted say to him as he was scowling at him for smoking in front of him.
" Well that's good to know, what other changes have you made to the suit's envro and life suport systems? " he asked Ted as he was working over what the possable limits of the M-79 would be once he was outside of the base.


" Well the M-79's water tanks of been incressed to twenety liters and the purifcation systems can clean most of the posable contamination of any water you might find on the outside, the waste handling systems have been improved so you can releave yourself inside the suit if you have to and the suit will exspell the waste from the suit. " Ted told Grayson who had a nasty scowl on his face and he could not help but to take a good natured amussment at his discomfort becuase he had heard how the base's power armor jocks had bitched about how umcomfortable it was to releave themselves inside their armor.


" The bio gel injectors are still the same as in the M-57 save for the fact that the M-79 can hold forty percent more bio gel, also I've add a sesmic sensor into the M-79 that can decet groud vibrations out to a range of half a mile depending on the strength of the vibrations. " Grayson heard Ted say and he was become more and more pleased with the M-79.


He looked at Ted and saw the wry grin on his face that told him that there was more techo wonders to the M-79 that he had not yet told him about, " Ok Doc out with it. " he said as he exhaled his lung full of smoke and drop the but to the steel floor and crush it beneith his right combat boot, " Well the best feture of the M-79 is it's upgraded A.I., the A.I. is more aware and more intutive, I'd say it's on par with a high school student untill it grows and learns more about the world around it. " Ted said with a happy tone of voice and a wide grin.


" Really, do tell. " Grayson said as he could not help but to smile back at the good doctor's enthusasm, " Well the more you interact with the A.I. the more you will shape it's personalty as well as how you interact with it. " Ted said to him with a the look of proud father.
" Also the more the A.I. interacts with the outside world the better it will be able to cope with it, best of all the A.I. can use the armor like it was it's own body if you happen to be out of it. " Ted added as he saw the surpised look on Grayson's face.


" Really that could come in handy but what if the A.I. decied to try and use the armor while I'm in it. " he heard Grayson ask him with a slightly distrusting tone of voice and he could not fault the sargent for his mistrust, " The A.I. can only take contorl of the armor if you are incpastated in which case it's prime directive is to bring you back to Purtyville at all costs or untill you are capable of taking care of yourself. " he added as he was doing to reasure Grayson that the armor would not try any funny shit while he was in it.


" Also the armor's computer has been updated with all know mutants and weather condisions that we know of, also the right hand of the armor has a specilzied genetic sensor system that can study unknown mutants and not only determin their basic biology but can theroize as to how the unknown mutant will react in most cercumstances with a fair degree of accurcy. " Ted said with a happy smile on his face.


" Well piss on my back and tell me it's raining, you really have outdone you'rself this time havent you? " he heard Grayson say to him with a wry smile, " Well since we are all in the same boat we all have to go that extra mile you know. " Grayson heard Ted say to him and he could not help but admire the old man who was looking like he was heading for a total burn out.


" Hey Doc, take some advice from a friend, take some time off, if you have a brake down we'll all be in trouble. " he said to Ted and he saw the old man give him a scowling look, " Doc, I don't why you act the way you do but you really need to take a major holliday, you have done more for us then you will ever know and I don't want to see you get all fucked up. " he added with a friendly tone of voice as he reached into his other pants pocket and pull out a copper ciggret case and offered the good doctor a joint as he opened it.


Ted looked at Grayson and he could see that the battle scared soilder was not being like the over protective types that he had to deal with but he was just a man talking to another man and he could see the respect in Grayson's eyes and he decied that the young trooper was right.


" Thanks. " he said to Grayson as he took the case from him and took one of the large joints from him and even though he tried to stay clear of canabis which was leagal in Purityville he felt like he was a lot older then he was now and that he needed to take the time to relax.


" You know Doc, I don't know how you and your team pull all of this off. " Grayson said as he pulled out his lighter and handed it to Ted as he was pleased to see that the old man was will to take his advice and relax, " Well that's mainly due to the Emperor, as you know he is so damn smart that he had enough foresight to plan for not only the world's end but to have built this place. " he heard Ted say to him as he lit up the joint he had taken from him.


" You are not kidding, for some odd reason I don't think he's human, I'm mean I have heard about smart men before like Enstine, Hawkins and the other great thinkers of our time but him, he like some kind a magican to have built all of this shit that has saved our asses. " Grayson said as he fished out a joint for himself.


When Ted handed back his lighter he sparked up his own joint and the two of them sat there and relaxed as they said a heart felt prayer of thanks for having survived the death of the old world.


" So Doc is there anything else I should know about the M-79? " Grayson asked as they both finished their joints, " Well you can also run the Z-88 laser rifle from a direct hook up to the M-79 as well as charge the Z-88's E-clips from the M-79 as well. " Ted said as he felt a whole lot better now that he was mellowed out and relaxed for the time being.


" Cool, what survival suplies have been loaded on the M-79? " he heard Grayson ask him, " Well you have a survival tent, six advanced first aid kits, three weeks of frezze dried raitions, a two liter canteen, twelve anti-raidaion drug injectors, three weeks worth of Rad-Tabs in addtion to the M-79's store of anti-rad drugs. " he said to Grayson who gave him a dirty look at the mention of the anti-raidation drugs.


" Also you have five liters of bio-gel in addtion to the onbord suply on the M-79, also the M-79 has a fully advanced medical system that can save your life if you get wounded out there as well as keep you alive until the M-79 can reurn to Purityville. " Grayson heard Ted say to him and he felt a whole lot better at that bit of news since the M-57's had no internal medical systems other then the bio-gel/drug injector systems.


" Also I have inculded one pound of gold in troy ounces in case you need to barter with any survivors you might find out there as well as ten pouns of canabis and rolling papers and the like. " he heard Ted say to him with a wide smile, " Well let's get my weapons and we'll get this show on the road. " Grayson said with a smirk on his face as he made his way to the deployment room's armory.


" Here's my babies! " Grayson said with a smile on his face as he picked up one of the heavly moddfied Mac-10 and began to go over it with a practiced eye, " Looking good so far. " he thought to himself as he pulled back the charging lever for the Mac-19 and looked into the open ejection port and saw that the chamber for a 10mm round was not only clean but that it was free of any flaws.


The next thing he did was to unscrew the weapon's silencer/flash surpressor and looked it over with a critical eye, once he was sure that the silencer/flash surpressor was up to spec he screwed it back on to the barrle of the Mac-19, " Hmm, seems to be a fault in the muilti-optic scope's housing. " he muttered to himself as he removed the scope from the Mac-19 and begain to look over the spot on the scope's mounting and saw that it was cracked.


After putting a red trouble tag onto the defective scope he russled up a new one and checked it over, once he saw that it was up to par be slipped it onto the Mac-19 and tighted it down and once it was secured he began to go through all of the scope's diffrent modes.
Once he saw that the scope's muilti-optics systems were working normally he went through the scope's infra-red,ultra-vilot, thremal imaging and passvive night scope modes a second time to make damn sure that he did not miss anything.


Once that test was done he tested out ther scope's magnfacation system and laser dot system as he realized that any equipment failure no matter how small could prove to be the diffrance between lving to see another day or taking the long dirt nap.


Once he was done with the Mac-19 he started to look over the diffrent types of 10mm ammo, " Hmm I don't know. " he muttered to himself as he was look over the 10mm Splater round that were filled with moddfied explovse pellts that would expload when it reacted to the oxagen molcules in blood or the 10mm Kraken rounds that consisted of half a gram of C-88 plastic explovse in which it was five time more powerful then nitro stablized C-4 of an equal weight and volume of the C-88.
In addition to the C-88 there was a mass reactive fuse that would detonate the C-88 a few millisecond as the rounds atomicly harded tungsten penatrator tip punched a hole into it's target.


" What the hell might as well go with the standered issue. " Grayson thought to himself as he took eight thrity round clips that were loaded with the Splater rounds and put them beside the Mac-19.
Next he picked up a Black Talon .44 pistol that had been made in the early days of Purityville before the world had gone up in smoke.


He tested the Black Talon's weight and found that it weight no more then half an ounce due to the rare metals and compsite plastics that had been used in it's construction, also the weapon had such an advanced recoil surpssion system that the .44's recoil was no more then that of a .22 short range round thanks to it's design and metrials.


He pulled back the slide and inspected the .44 chamber and saw that it was up to code, " Lookkkkiiinnnggg good! " he said with a '70 pimp voice as he put the Black Talon through it's paces.
Once he was sure that the weapon was up to code he unscrewed the silencer/flash suprssor and went over it and then the multi-optics scope on it.


Once he was done with his weapons he picked out an eighteen inch combat knife and it's seath and straped it to his right leg when Ted came into the armory.
" Well I have fired up the M-79 and ran a system check and it's good to go. " he heard Ted say to him as he gathered up his weapons and ammo, once he had loaded his weapons into the amrored backpack of the M-79 he returned to the armory and walked over to the rack of of the new Z-88 laser rifles and selected one for himself.


" So this is one of the new Z-88's. " Grayson thought to himself as he picked up a flat mat black rifle that was made of super strong 110th generation plastics and composit metrials, " Nice real nice he thought to himself as he actavted the Z-88's multi optics scope and began to flip through it's diffrent modes.


Once he was finished with the scope he went over to a charging rack and picked up one of the flat mat black 13th generation lithum/ion rechargeable energy battries and slaped the e-clip into the mount for it on the Z-88.
" Sweet. " Grayson said to himself with a toothy grin as he saw the digital ammo read out displaying the number 200 with ment that the Z-88 had double the ammo caspsity of the old Z-45 laster rifle.


" I thought you would like that. " he heard from behind him and when he turned around he saw Ted standing there with a knowing smile on his face, " Besides having twice the ammo casptiy of the Z-45 it's total power output is three hundred and fifty-seven megawatts over the Z-45's one hundred and six-nine megawatts " Ted added as he saw the very pleased smile on Grayson's face at what he had just told him about the new Z-88.


" What is the range? " Grason as as he continued to look the Z-88 over, " Sorry to say but it's range is still the same as the Z-45 which as you know is four hundred feet. " he heard Ted say with a slightly frustated tone of voice.
" Well Doc you can't win them all you know, beileve you me you have done an outstanding job on the Z-88s. " Ted heard Grayson say to him, " Well I can't take the credit for the Z-88, it was Dr.Gilbret's brain child. " he said to Grayson.
" I hope he get's a reward for his hard work as well as you becuase with the M-79 and Z-88 most of our boys should be able to make it back alive once they are out on a mission. " Grayson said as he saw that there was a small conection port in the handgrip of the Z-88.


" That's were you can conect the Z-88 to the M-79, the M-79 has charging ports in both it's right or left hand. " he heard Ted say to him, " Well it's time to get cracking I guess. " Grayson said as he slung the Z-88 over his right shoulder and picked up ten e-clips and placed them on top of a small cart and wheeled it over to the M-79.


Once he had secured the E-clips to the built holders around the waist and chest of the M-79 he walked over to the ready room ajesent to the deployment room and saw that Fat Freddy was working away in the kitchen with his few members of the base's cooking staff.
" Hey Grayson you heading out? " Freddy Marks asked when he saw Grayson grab himself a tray and started to look over the food in the warming bins.
" Yep, going to Forge City to scout it out for out recovery teams, taking the new M-79 out for a test spin so to speak. "
he heard Grayson say to him and he felt some major respect for undertaking such a deadly mission, " I guess the Emperor wanted the hardest ass on this one so he naturaly picked you for the job. " Grayson heard Freddy say to him as he he saw him come to the serving window and he saw that his friend was living up to his nickname which was a damn rarety becuase in this new day and age fat people were an almost exstic breed of humans.


" Well I guess I'll have a giant serloin steak, some of the corn nibblets and and a mess of of the mash spuds and fried onions. " Freddy heard Grayson say to him and he snapped to it and loaded up his plate becuase even though he was in no shape to be out on combat missions he was bound and determined to make sure that not only did the brave souls who risk death or worse were well fed but to make sure that the rest of the survivours of the human race were good and fed as well becuase they were a family so to speak.


" Hey Gray, I have made up some new BBQ sauce you want to try it? " Grayson heard Freddy ask him as he saw that Freedy was not being stingey with the grub like some of the other cooks were.
" Sure, sounds good to me. " he said and watched as Freddy's face lit up like a string of christmas lights because he was always tinkering around in the kitchen and coming up with new dishes and other food stuffs which was a major moral boost to the base's popluation.


After he was done eating Grayson got himself another cup of coffee and even though he was saposed to have left the base twenety minutes ago he knew that the emperor would not bust his chops for having one last meal before he left for who knew what in the outlands once he was seated with his cup of coffee he fished out a joint and lit it up as he was hashing out how best to carry out his mission.


Once he was finished his joint he drained the last of his warm coffee as he felt relaxed even though he was face almost certen death on the outside, " Might as well get this show on the road. " Grayson thought to himself as he made his way back to the deployment room and saw Ted waiting for him.
" Are you ready? " Ted asked as he saw the grim look on Grayson's scard face, " As ready as I'll ever be. " he heard Grayson say to him with a sarcastic smirk on his hard face, " I hope you are but if you find your'self in a jam don't try and play the hero, you get you're ass back to the base. " he said to Grayson who gave him a wacked out smile.


Once he was inside the M-79 Ted showed him out to seal the suit and once he was buttoned up the M-79 came on line.
" Input audio, genetic and enpahlo secrety clearnce. " a systhasized voice said to him, " Sargent Grayson Black serile number BN-12-Gamma-6. " he said as he saw the heads up display from into a pale blue humaniod face, " Audio identy confrimed, gentic clearnce confrimed, enpahlo clearnce confrimed, welcome Sargent Black. " Grayson heard the face say to himself he felt a strange buzzing in his head from the M-79's neural input conectors that were mounted in the M-79's helmet.


" Who are you? " Grayson asked the face in the H.U.D. I am the M-79's A.I. as of this time I have no designation. " he blue face said to him with the same sythazied tone of voice that he had heard when the got into the M-79.
Grayson was studying the face before him and he got the strange feeling that he was being studied by the A.I. in return, " Let's see here I think I'll call you...Roy. " he said to the face as he recalled the name and face of a chracter from one of his old SF animes that he used to watch when he was years younger.


" Roy...that is aceptable Sir. " the newly named Roy said with what looked like a faint smile on it's featureless face, " Well Roy are you ready to rock and roll? " Grayson asked and he just about chuckled as he saw Roy give him a strangely confused look.
" What do you mean by that Sir? " Roy asked as he was trying to get a feel for his operator, " That's a slang term for are you ready to carry out the mission. " Roy heard Grayson say to him.


" Yes I am, do you have any specfic orders for me Sir? " Roy asked as he found that Grayson was extremaly intresting since he had only delt with two other humans since he had been created so he was extermaly croiuse about humans since he had no real personalty of his own.
" Well Roy do you have any maps of Canada on hand? " he heard Grayson ask him " Yes, why which one do you wish to see? " he asked Grayson as he felt slightly diffrent then he had been just a second ago.


" I want you to keep track of our progress from out base on an overlay of a roadmap of Canada. " Grayson said to Roy and then nothing happened, " Now what? " he asked himself as he saw a strangely troubled look on Roy's face, " Hey wake up Roy this is no time to be sleeping on the job. " he said to the A.I., " I was not sleeping Sir, I have no need for sleep. " Roy said to him and for a moment he could have sworn he had heard a slightly miffed tone in Roy's voice.


" Roy I can't aford to have you spacing out while we in the outlands so pay attention, " Cash or credit? " Roy said to him and he did not know if he should be pissed off or amused that the A.I. was being a sarcastic son of a bitch.
" Ok very funny wise guy, just pay attention out, now pull up the most up todate road map of Canada and keep track or our progess from Purityville. " Grayson said with a gruff tone of voice as he could have sworn that Roy had intentionaly made the cash or credit crack just to get his goat.
" Ok. " Roy said as he pulled up a computer generated road map of Canada and there was a large green dot with the word Purityville under it, " Colapse the map window and when we get to the surface I want you to run a full envormental check of the surounding area. " Roy heard Grayson say to him and for a moment he/it had the strange desire to make an off handed quip but thought better of it.


" Yes Sargent. " he/it said to Grayson who was walking towards one of the smaller airlocks in the deployment room once he was inside the airlock he closed the door behind him and walk over to the outer airlock and hit the cycle button, once the airlock had been presserized the outer airlock opened and he walked out into the dead city of what once was Hickory Grove and he looked up into the sky and saw the glowing with what appered to the Northren Lights but he knew that the light show was due to all of the raidation in the staroshepare.
“ What's the rad count? “ Grayson asked Roy as he started to fllow the main road out of Purityville, “ The rad count is 750 rems and holding steady. “ was the reply from Roy as he continued to walk, “ Well that's good to know, is there any signs of life? “ he asked the A.I. As he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as he was exspecting to be attack by a ravouse horde of Brain Eaters.


“ No Sargent I am detecting no diserable lifeform in the area. “ Roy said as they continued to make their way out of the dead city, “ Ok keep a sharp eye out, based on the last recovery mission's report there were Brain Eaters and Night Hunters in the area. “ he heard Grayson say to him, “ Yes Sir. “ Grayson heard Roy say to him as he put one foot in front of the other.


As they were walking through the dead city Grayson felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as he saw the bleached bones of River Valley's fromer poluce as they laid were they had fallen once the virus had been unleashed.


“ Quiet as a tomb. “ he said to himself as he was walking when Roy spoke to him, “ Sargent Black. “ are you afriad? “ Roy asked as he was studying Grayson's vital signs, “ Not really Roy, just unstettled. “ Grayson said as he was wondering why was asking if he was scaird for.
“ Well Sargent Black your resperation and heart rate are up an- “ Roy started to say when he heard Grayson laugh a gallows laugh, “ Sargent..are you sure you are up to this mission, you behavoure is somewhat erattic? “ Roy asked as he felt worry for the first time because of the deeply repressed emotins he was sensing from Grayson through the neural interface.


“ I'm fine Roy, if you knew what it was like to be human and of the history of the world juring the mid to late twenetivth century you wold be a little aperhencsive as well. “ Grayson said as they continued to make their way out of the dead city.


“ What was.....human socity like before the world got wasted? “ Roy asked with a strangely dishearted tone of voice that peaked Grayson's interst, “ Well it was a fucking mess that for sure. “ he heard Grayson say to him and when he looked at Grayson he saw a strange look on his scared face that he found extermly intresting yet dishearting for some unknown reason.


“ Look I really don't want to get into it. “ Grayons said as he came to a stop and sliped his arms out of the armored sleves of the M-79 and reached into his pant's pocket, “ What are you doing Sargent? “ Roy asked as he saw Grayson pulled out his copper cigaret case and open it up.


“ I'm going to smoke a joint, you have a problem with it? “ Grayson asked with a slightly annoyed tone of voice as he was having trouble with dealing with Roy and his endless questioning, he would have been more tolent but being not only outside what could be very well the last hatbale place in the alrtered world but seeing the bones of the unfortent souls who had died in the Biocost as the end of the world was called by the survivours at Purityville put him in a slight surly frame of mind.


For a moment Roy said nothing as he watched as Grayson took out a joint in put it into his mouth, “ Are you sure that is a wise idea? “ Roy asked with a slightly aprehencsive tone of voice as he found Grayson's manorsimes and actions to be counter productive to continual survival in the Outlands.
For a moment Grayson considered tell Roy not to question him as he pulled out a lighter and lit up the joint but he remembered what Ted had told him about the M-79's A.I. And he decied to try a different and more consieratory aproch in interacting with Roy.


“ Don't sweat it Roy all the guys on recovery duity are high when out in the city. “ he said as he took a power toke from the burning joint, “ Really?, why as you know marjuana inhibets decision making and reaction times that could be deadly in an attack. “ Roy said as he actvated the fans in the armor to suck out the smoke from the burning joint.


“ Well most of us power armor jocks smoke up when we are outside of the base because a lot of use lost friends, famly, hell the whole world got blasted back into the fucking stone age because of those damn bitches! “ Grayson said with a slight snarl in his voice as he exhaled his lung full of pot smoke and for a moment he thought he had seen a deeply troubled look on Roy's face.


“ You see since you are not human you can never understand the pain we are in, I mean for all we know the surviors at the base could be the only humans left alive after the Biocost and there use to be billions of people before the world got snuffed. “ Roy heard Grayson say as the sargent took another toke.


“ I see. “ Grayson heard Roy say to him and for a moment he could have sworn he heard a deep sadness in Roy's voice that upsetted him slightly, “ Roy how would you feel if I got killed while we are in the Outlands? Grayson asked as he continued to smoke his joint and there was a deep and forboding silence from Roy.


“ I don't know. “ Roy said as he could not understand the strangely unerving aperhenction he was feeling at the thought of Grayson being kill in the line of duty.
“ Hey Roy don't sweat it ok, I'm in no rush to die right now, besides I figure between the two of us we can handel any prombles that might come up. “ Grayson said with a confendent and resuring tone of voice as he finsihed smokeing the joint and put the roach back into the case.


“ Well if you say so Sargent. “ Roy said as he felt a strange sens of resignation and decided that it was pointless to worry about what might happen as as he began to feel weirded out by the sensations of Grayson's drug altered brainwaves.


“ That's the spirt. “ Grayson said as he felt strangely relleved by Roy's accepting mindset and they both set off in order to carry out their mission.


“ Sargent!, possible Brain Eaters at three O'clock east of us! “ Roy said as he felt both excitement and a strange kind of chilling fear at the same time, “ Right game time! “ Grayson said with a mean and grim tone of voice as he unhooked the Z-88 from it's mounting on the armor's right arm and began to search for the mutant monsters.


“ I see six Brain Eaters at 570 yard east of us. “ Roy said as he felt a strangely tense and grim feeling as he highlighted the closest Brain Eater and zoomed in on it, “ I see the ugly son of a bitch! “ Grayson said as he saw that the Brain Eater