"Happy birthday, Sir"
"Happy birthday, Boss!"
I smiled and then blew out the candles on the cake that Alfred prepared for me.
It was officially my birthday and I would have forgotten if that info wasn't general knowledge that the bots didnt have access to.
I was 19 now but my actual age was 69. Heh.
I dont count my previous life since theres no point. My age is inflated enough as it is.
"Thanks guys. I didn't expect this surprise but it's still nice."
"Happy birthday, sir..." Lady sat to my right and a double layer cake topped with chocolate was on the table in front of us.
"Thanks Lady. Want some cake?" I asked.
She nodded. "Yes please." Her eyes betrayed her desire for the cake as she was locked onto it.
"Please, allow me to cut the cake, sir." Afred said as his buzzsaw approached it.
"Wait, Alfred!" I tried to stop him but cake splattered over me and Lady, leaving us sitting there frozen in astonishment.
"Alfred..." I started, "Didn't I tell you not to use your saw blade to cut food?"
"I'm... I'm sorry sir. I forgot." Alfred replied in sadness and guilt.
"Buahaha! Boss you look like a giant pile of-"
"Shut up Rosie!" I stopped her and then looked over at Lady who was eating the cake off herself without worries.
*sigh* "I'm surrounded by idiots..." I said and then began eating the cake off myself as well.
'Still, this is kinda fun...'
It had been a full month and the Hydra was scheduled for a test flight tomorrow. It seemed the bots wanted to celebrate my birthday before I left again.
After eating the messed up cake, I had the bots clean up while Lady and I retired to our quarters.
The next day I began preparing for the test flight. I moved the completed Hydra outside the warehouse and then began double checking everything.
The Hydra was a thing of beauty. Its matte black sleek edges made it look imposing and the weaponry attached made anyone who would look at it shiver.
I took over three hours inspecting it. If I messed something up, I could die a very real death so making sure everything worked was vital.
When all checks were done, I put on my fly boy outfit that came equipped with a parachute and then started the engine.
With a quiet fwoosh sound the vertical takeoff thrusters ignited.
I pulled back on the throttle slowly, increasing the lift force of the thrusters gradually.
1 meter, 2 meters,3...
The Hydra rose above the trees and soon I could see the entirety of Boston from my window.
My heart was thumping in my chest. I had completed a successful takeoff, however I still needed to test many other things.
Like landing.
I slowly ease back on the throttle and the craft lowered back to the ground.
I made adjustments to the thrusters, making them pivot to turn the craft and hover over my landing site.
The landing was smooth without any issues. The landing gear absorbed the weight thanks to the suspension springs.
But my test wasn't over, so I performed liftoff again and rose back into the sky.
"Its time to test the jet thruster..."
I got about 50 meter up before angling the Hydra toward the east, where the sea was.
"Okay baby. Show me what you got!"
I eased off the vertical takeoff thrusters and then ignited my main engine.
The engine roared to life and the craft started moving forward like a bull.
I almost lost control and went down but I was able to angle my flaps and ascend.
My heart was racing as I began getting closer to the clouds.
Despite being in a jet, the sound was quiet inside.
"Naw, we need some tunes for this..."
I reached down and turned on the radio/ holotape player and the holotape I made filled with music began playing the first song.
*Come Fly With Me- Sinatra* My current selection of music was still limited.
"Wooohooo!"
The music played as I barrelled through the clouds and reached a suitable altitude.
I opened up the throttle slowing gaining speed.
"400 knots, 500... Come on!"
My excitement was palpable. Once I hit 666 knots, I will have reached Mach 1 and broken the sound barrier.
Even in my excitement, I kept an eye on all my instraments. Ready to abort at any moment if things went wrong.
With a final burst, the Hydra reached mach 1. Surprisingly there was no boom or sudden turbulence like you see in the movies.
The inside of the cockpit was eerily calm as the craft moved through the sky like a knife through butter.
I ascended higher reaching 50,000 feet above sea level. With a smirk I opened up the thrusters and then began accelerating to reach mach 2.
At this altitude, I could see the curvature of the earth. The ground looked like a blur of texture on a rounded surface.
I just flew at at that speed for awhile before easing off the throttle and beginning to descend.
If the craft can handle mach 2, then that was enough for now since that's twice the speed of sound and I could fly to the other side of the planet in 8 hours.
In the future, I'll have other crafts that could enter space.
With alien technology available in this world, it shouldnt be a problem for me to move my operation into the vastness of space.
I let the craft slow and then began practicing maneuvers as I moved towards home.
Left, right, up, down. Doing barrel rolls and loops was fun and I could do it all day but after an hour of playing around, I ended the session.
I passed back over Boston, its crumbling ruins similiar to what is seen in the game but better since there isnt issues with textures.
I slowed down my approach as I got closer and then killed the main engine and activated the VTT. (Vertical Takeoff Thrusters)
I decended and landed without any issues before opening the cockpit hatch and departing.
I looked over the Hydra with a sense of pride. I didnt use the system to craft this. Almost every part of this was designed and built with my own hands.
I began inspecting everything to make sure there wasn't any issues with anything and found there wasn't any problems. My work was meticulous.
I rolled the Hydra back into the warehouse and then shut the door.
'Tomorrow. There's no need to delay this quest any further...' I thought to myself.
With Lady at my side and all the preparations I have made, there was no reason to wait any longer.
It was time.
<><><><><><>
In the morning, I sent a few bots over to concord with the propellors for the crashed vertibird.
I planned to bring it back before I left for vault 120.
I suited up into my adventure equipment and then left for Concord.
I left Lady behind to pack her gear and move supplies into the Hydra.
I arrived to the Concord museum and met the robots. I had them haul the propellors up to the roof for me then I began installing them in place.
The work took about an hour and the vertibird was ready for flight.
I sent the Collectrons back to base and then started the vertibird engines.
The vertibird slowly rose into the air, the sound of the propellors chopping the air filled my ears.
It took me a few moments to get used to the controls but I quickly mastered them and then proceeded back to the warehouse.
Once back, I parked the veribird and then moved it inside the warehouse and then pulled out the Hydra.
Lady had already moved the supplies inside and was waiting for me.
"All set?" I asked her.
"Yes sir. All supplies have been stowed and I am ready to deploy."
I looked her up and down, nodding my head in appreciation.
She wore the modified marine wetsuit I gave her, which hugged her curves. A sight that would make any man salivate.
She also wore a harness around her waist that had several throwing knives and a holster for her pistol.
"Go get seated in the Hydra, I'll be there in a minute." I told her and she nodded and then boarded the craft.
I checked my inventory one more time to make sure everything I needed was with me.
The income of caps over the last month was enough to buy what I needed for this trip. Several thousand bottle caps spent but I was expecting a good return on my investment.
Earlier I had recalled all the Collectrons and had them on standby in the warehouse. A few had gone missing lately and I was paranoid someone might follow them back here and cause trouble.
It could have been wasteland creatures that destroyed the bots but you can never be too careful.
The bots wont target humans unless attacked first or the human tries to get too close and doesnt listen to the first warning from the bot.
I hadn't seen any logs about human encounters so I wasn't really worried but those bots that got destroyed, there's no way to know what or who did it.
After my last minute checks, I boarded the Hydra.
"Good-bye, Sir." Alfred waved his pincer.
"Bye bye, Boss! See you when you return. Bring me back something cool, ok?" Rosie also waved us off as I closed the cockpit door and waved back.
I sat down at the pilots seat and strapped my seatbelts on. The seats are made from modified airplane seats, so you know they're good.
I looked over at Lady who was already seated in the co-pilot seat, already buckled in and waiting. "You ready?" I asked her as I started the VTT.
"I'm ready." She said with a hint of a smile.
"You've never been off the ground. Have you?" I asked as the Hydra began rising into the air.
"No... I haven't."
"I see... then I'll make sure your first time is a fun experience." I chuckled as I ignited the main thruster and launched us into the sky.
The Hydra breaking past the clouds in a matter of seconds.
Our destination?
Vault 120...