"I have a letter here, which I think should be given to you, and I cannot find a more suitable recipient here than you."

Andy pulls out the letter and hands it to Isaac, but he doesn't reach out.

"Who gave me the letter? Why? What was written? ”

He took a puff of his cigarette and asked unhurriedly, looking like he had no idea of taking it until he received a satisfactory answer.

Andy sighed helplessly.

"I came to you on behalf of Fort Maxson, what do you think of this answer?"

Isaac immediately looked up.

"It seems like it's not been long since we last met, right? Maybe it's the illusion that I've spent too long in this remote tribe? How long has it been since you were able to come to me on behalf of the Brotherhood of Steel to deliver something? ”

Andy knew he had guessed correctly, shrugged his shoulders, and then took out Pierre's token and showed it.

Isaac looked even more surprised, and circled Andy with a cigarette in his mouth.

"I'm really impressed."

He took the letter, unfolded it, read it carefully for a moment, and then put it in his pocket.

"Those idiots want me to go back, but they don't even want to admit their mistakes, and in turn say that they don't blame me for the past, who do you think this will impress? Well? Or I shouldn't have asked you this question, after all, you're just a messenger. ”

Andy also felt a little helpless when he heard it, obviously without the brocade brotherhood in front of him, he couldn't even take out his weapons, and the cause of the incident was just a dispute of words, but he still couldn't write a few soft words in the letter.

"But... Now Elder Brixley is in danger and needs someone to save her. ”

He tried to be emotional, but Isaac scoffed.

"They'd rather let such an incompetent and incompetent fool be the commander of Fort Maxson, and if she dies, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing for them, and what they've done has never surprised me, and this time it was no different. But then again, did they allow you to join? Let's say you're a knight or something? ”

Andy thought about it, and felt that the temporary maintenance worker must not be considered an official member, let alone a knight who is the backbone of the Brotherhood who wields the force.

"No, they didn't mean that."

Isaac laughed.

"I'm just kidding you, a long, long time ago, probably back to when Roger Maxson was still alive, it was hard enough for an outsider with no insiders or affinity at all to join the Brotherhood of Steel and become a full member of it."

Andy listens and thinks that what Isaac said is not right, which is inconsistent with what he has seen with his own eyes.

"I think you're wrong, I've just left Fort Maxson, and there are outsiders in charge of cooking, as well as technicians who have been recruited from outside to become new scribes, so how can it be said that it is so difficult to join them?"

Isaac held out a finger and shook it.

"You don't know anything about the Brotherhood of Steel, first of all, what kind of official members are a few guys from outside? To put it bluntly, it was a few laborers who had been tricked in, and the Iron Brothers would not pay them half a bottle cap for their labor, because they thought it was a great charity to keep those fellows under the same roof as them. If these second-class people don't know how to lift up and do some bad things, then I don't need to say anything more about their fate.... Just find a reason for this kind of guy to be burned to ashes on the spot with a laser by some excited guys: violating the law, stealing secrets, leaking information, colluding with foreign enemies, embezzlement and theft, filth and eyesore... And so on. ”

"Secondly, it also makes me feel angry, the group that holds the real power in the Brotherhood of Steel has always been the knight, whether it is the right to use weapons and equipment or the right to speak in internal meetings, the knight is obviously the subject, and the only subject. It can be said that there is no problem at all with changing the name of the Brotherhood of Steel to the Knights of Steel, but what about the scribes? Some stupid people would go so far as to say that the scribes were nothing more than legged pre-war technology, and that they were to be contained and protected by the Brotherhood of Steel, just like those technological creations. Aside from the old records in the Codex, I have never heard of a single chief scribe who has been promoted to elder, because they believe that the scribe is not worthy of touching real power, and only needs to obey the knight's command and assist the knight..... Do you understand what they think of the scribes? ”

Andy had already guessed this in his heart, but he didn't know how to evaluate this matter, the Brotherhood of Steel has a long history, the organizational structure has long been finalized, and Isaac's complaints can't change the reality.

"I also think there should be a balance between the knights and scribes within the Brotherhood of Steel, but..."

"Balance?"

Isaac interrupted Andy.

"What is balance? I deeply understand that there can only be one ruling group in a large collective, since it is destined to be controlled by people, there should also be people to be controlled by people, there is never a perfect symmetry between the public and the upper and lower levels, fairness is always flawed, this is a universal sociological law, even the so-called kiva worshipped by these natives also records similar information. ”

Andy was stunned by what he said, this man is indeed very smart.

"So... If you understand this, why do you still ..."

Isaac waved his hand and spoke his thoughts impassionedly.

"Because of what? Because the Brotherhood of Steel began to make a sociological mistake from its founder, Roger Maxson! The Brotherhood of Steel was founded by a group of soldiers who killed the scientists they were supposed to be guarding and then turned their backs on the country they were originally affiliated with, and this was the beginning of the Brotherhood of Steel, and from a humanitarian standpoint, I may not be able to say that they did something wrong. ”

"But what a deformed and contradictory idea that they insist on a military-first power tilt structure when they are already in the wasteland and are not willing to trust the people who master science, and on the other hand, they are unwilling to let any technology out of their control? In the countries of the Old World, it was common for technicians to participate in politics, and they would not do any worse than a bunch of big old and rough soldiers! It can even be said that it is often done better!! ”

Andy was stunned for a moment, understanding Isaac's thoughts.

"So, you're trying to say that you left Fort Maxson not because you were against the Brotherhood of Steel, but because you were against the Brotherhood of Steel's political line."

Isaac nodded slowly.

"I've got to say, you're a little smarter than the last time we met....."

Andy brewed in his mind for a moment, the main purpose of his coming here was to persuade Isaac to return, and he was still a little uneasy to see this, not only because of Traciniels' brainless speech before, but also because of his long-standing questioning of the internal conditions and hidden rules of the Brotherhood of Steel, which contributed to his final choice to incite all the scribes to flee Fort Maxson and hide in the crypto tribe.

"What do you mean... In your opinion, the scribe should not only be a follower of the auxiliary knights, but also... The leader of the knights? ”

Isaac nodded heavily.

"Quite right!"

He walked over to the stone wall next to him and pointed at the kiva.

"The Brotherhood of Steel's philosophy, formulated by its founder, Roger Maxson, is a noble one, and since the beginning of human society and knowledge systems, science and technology have been used to destroy their own kind far more than to benefit their own kind, which eventually led to the Great War of World Destruction and a series of deformed and horrific things against humanity wreaking havoc on the world. So someone has to step up and act as a force to control the use of science and technology and stop it from being misused by various groups and for all sorts of reasons, and you can understand what I'm talking about, right? ”

When Andy heard Isaac say this, the first thing that came to Andy's mind was the new plague virus, how crazy it is for humans to release their natural enemies from their cages in order to destroy the enemy in the war.

"I can understand that once science and technology get out of control, it will only bring disaster to mankind."

Isaac nodded again.

"Very good, it seems that now your intelligence has reached the level of ordinary people, which makes me happy. Then, now that this lofty ideal has been established, the next step is to develop a system to realize it. Admittedly, I admit that what is needed first and foremost to achieve this ideal is strength, pure power, violence. This thing is ugly and has been scolded by humans for thousands of years, but humans just can't live without it, because man is just a man, an animal, not an otherworldly god. Human beings have long understood one thing, if man loses his humanity, he will lose a lot, and if he loses his animal nature, then man will bring about his own demise and eventually lose everything! ”

Andy was speechless by the deafening speech, and the dead ashes began to ignite in the eyes of the scribe, and his heart was not too calm in the years he had been away from Fort Maxson, on the contrary, after studying the Kiva of the crypto tribe, the man's heart seemed to be even more violent.

Isaac tossed the cigarette butt on the ground and stepped on it, then said what he had in mind.

"So, it is necessary to create a strong enough force of violence, it is a prerequisite for the realization of all ideals, but who is the one who holds the violence? A knife can be used to chop vegetables or kill people, can the murderer who kills someone with it shirk his responsibility and argue that the law should punish the knife? Of course not, because the person in control bears the responsibility, and the murderer is of course the one with the knife, not the knife. ”

"Do you think a knife should be taken by a butcher, or by a blacksmith?"

Andy hesitated for a moment, and he could understand that it was Isaac asking him whether the Iron Brothers should be given power to the scribes or the knights, but the butcher and blacksmith analogy didn't seem so apt to him.

Isaac impatiently didn't wait for him to answer.

"Blacksmith, of course! If the blacksmith had a knife, he would have learned how to smelt iron, to forge ploughs and buckets for water, but what about butchers? They will only force more blacksmiths to serve him with their knives, forge faster and bigger knives for him, kill more and bigger oxen, or define anyone who disobeys him as an ox... So once you understand this, do you hesitate who to choose? ”

Andy was tempted to admit that he was right, but on second thought, it didn't make sense to admit it.

"I can't tell you, Isaac, but I don't think you can change the world or achieve your ideals with your mouth alone."

Isaac sneered.

"Don't stand on a high place and talk to me, I can see more clearly than you do, you know? Giving practice also depends on whether the time is ripe, and any idea needs a cost to be formed in reality, and everyone's cost is limited. When the wind is in the right direction, the two-headed ox can also take off, and if the conditions are reversed, the eagle will also fall to the ground .... Only a fool will be impatient, blindly and recklessly sent to death, and hope that others will call this courage, and hope that others will praise this meaningless action. If you want me to say, fart. ”

"The Brotherhood of Steel never let me down when it comes to disappointing me, they could have used the technology they've collected over the years to bring down the New California fools, but instead they chose to let the technology rot in the warehouse, rudely collecting what they liked from everywhere like a hoarder, and throwing it at home and leaving it alone."

"I watched as the NcR developed step by step, from a small village to a force, and from a force to a real state, and finally it grew to the point where it could create a threat, thanks to the decay and conservatism of the Council of Elders. Instead of making good use of what we already had to build a new state, we fell behind in the progress of the times, and we were even dragged by the NcR into signing the merger agreement and joining the NcR as a state. How do they do it in Navarro? And what did they do at Hoover Dam? ”

Isaac spat on the ground.

"I came to the east, nothing has changed, all the choices the elders have made have been foolish and wrong, and Brixley, a guy who really should have lived with these natives, has taken the throne of commander. She watched the NcR gain a foothold at the Hoover Dam, just to wait for the 'order' from the elders of the Lost Mountain, and then we saw the NcR expand wildly throughout the Great Southwestern Federation, from Denver to Bull City, they controlled more and more territory, and took more and more pre-war technology with them, and we watched as we watched. ”

"When the so-called 'order' finally came, the gap in strength was already as big as that of New California, and we were using a small bunker military force to attack a force that controlled almost the entire Great Southwest Federation, and this obviously unsuccessful operation was still carried out, and we were forced to lose a large number of men and ammunition but found nothing, exposing our existence and strength in vain, or because of that 'order'."

Isaac walked up to Andy, his eyes full of anger.

"Tell me, what have they changed now? Are there those who want to remain closed or even evacuate the east? And there are those who want to continue the attack with eggs and stones? It's all self-defeating, mediocre and incompetent! ”

Andy thought about it and told him something.

"Fort Maxson has the will to make peace with the NcR at the Hoover Dam, and the other side has that will."