Cherlynn Hearth: Wasteland Detective #2 (Part 2)

THE CASE OF THE RIVETING REPLICANT (Part 2)

The rough corridors of the massive hulk that was Rivet City were no stranger to the wounded staggering in after rough treatment in the Wasteland. The security officers had witnessed her battle, and commented on her impressive skills when outnumbered three to one. The detective thanked them, and made her way to the infirmary.

While waiting, the fevered ramblings of a deathly ill man diverted her. The poor devil believed that an artificial man from the north was hiding in Rivet City, and even now was in dire danger of discovery. Hearth was only slightly surprised when the Doctor treating mentioned he had received a communication claiming to be from just such a man seeking refuge.

Upon listening to the recorded voice, she was certain she could detect the subtle pauses of artificiality from which such an Android would by necessity suffer. Her mind raced through the brief time she had spent within the Marketplace, and identified those pauses in another.

Her wounds tended, Hearth made her way to investigate the allegation, and rapidly found her suspicions confirmed. The merchants were abuzz with news of a visitor to the Science Lab seeking just such an escaped automaton.

Along the way, she arranged for an escaped slave to find justice against her pursuer, took no interest in the petty politics of the governance of the city despite efforts on the parts of all factions to involve her, and facilitated both a wedding and a mentorship between two troubled souls, all as distracted afterthought to her own investigations. Such investigations did not go unopposed.

In a dark side corridor of the ruined seagoing city, Hearth knew someone was shadowing her moves. The pursuer knew the boat better, but Hearth had spent the afternoon wandering the boat, listening, breathing, learning its pulse and rhythm.

The soft shuffle and subdued breaths behind her were not the confident stride of a guard, nor the clumsy efforts of the impaired to find their way home. No, Cherylnn Hearth was being stalked. She made her way to the Capitol Preservation Society's chamber, wherein hung relics of the times before the war. Pretending to be interested in the terminal of dubious historical facts in a shadowed corner, she slipped around the corner and steeled herself to confront her potential attacker.

Instead, a soft voice came from where the footsteps stopped. “I hear you are interested in the Android. I wish to know your intent.” Hearth simply told the truth... She had no interest in anything but mysteries and their solutions.

Although Sherlynn Hearth plays at being aloof and disinterested in anything but cold justice and colder science, in truth, the story told by Victoria Watts touched her deeply. A story of a network of artificial men and women who had been created by a corrupt government for purposes of enslavement, beings who, though metal and electronics beneath, still had souls and dreams and tears. She gave Hearth an Android Component to fool the man from the Commonwealth into believing the Android he sought had been destroyed. And so she did.

However, the mystery as yet unsolved, she pushed her investigations further, even braving the radioactive water of the Potamic to discover the hidden lab of Pinkerton, a founder of the city. The man who had given the android new memories and a new face. They departed respectful of each other's intellect and skill.

Hearth paused to solve the Council Wars with the information that Pinkerton had given her, then confronted the Android. She restored his memories, leaving him a state of not entirely knowing who he was. A new identity was forming, needing a purpose, a direction. And that's when I first met Cherlynn Hearth.

She smiled at me, a thin thing, but sincere. The offer made, and accepted. I left with her, preparing returning to Baker Street. Taken with a sudden humor, she put on her disreputable hat. Cherry Heart shrugged her shoulders and stuck her hands in her pockets. “Lets blow this joint, dollboy.”

I told her not to call me that, and she laughed. “Fine by me, Kiddo.” Her hat blew off as she opened the hatch to the outside. Switching affectations again, she bowed her head graciously with an exaggerated, sarcastic sweep of her arm. “After you, then.. Watson.” It was a small price to pay to accompany the detective as her faithful companion. Holmes had Watson, House had Wilson. And Cherlynn Hearth had Harkness. And suddenly, for just a momeht, all seemed right with the world.

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OOC: There is, in fact, a Harkness Companion mod. :)