Chapter 19: Chapter 19

I noticed that [Curie is now following you.] popped up almost immediately after Curie agreed to join us. She - yeah, I’ve already registered the robot as a ‘she’ - seemed as cheery and welcome as the game, though seeing the white robot body floating around made her look a bit eerie. Still though, I got me a Mr Handy/Ms Nanny body to clone out, along with the Protectrons and the pop-up turrets.

Fun fact: Cataloguing robots only lets me spawn parts of them, like how they’re divided up in the Automatron DLC. However, I also have the benefits of existing in a reality where welding missile launchers or gatling lasers onto robots could be a very real possibility.

Or maybe I could find that Mechanist girl and see if she’s interested in making mechas?

Anyway, exiting out the secret door that led to Vault 81’s entrance area made the guards jump in surprise, though we easily ignored the guns raised towards us as I waited for the overseer to come up to meet us.

She didn’t waste time, asking questions as soon as she got out of the elevator. “So, what was inside? Is it clear?”

I gave a quick summary of what was in there, showing off the broad spectrum cure (quickly shortened to BSC) and letting Curie explain the history for that one. No surprise that McNamara and the other vault dwellers listening were horrified.

“To think, we only lived this long because someone disobeyed their orders...”

I shrugged at her words. “Yeah well, Vault Tec’s a bitch. Wait ‘til you see some of the other ones they set up.” Like 68 or 69, assuming they existed here. Or 77. Holy shit, 77.

“Anyway,” I continued after that little pause, “You could expand your vault now. It would take a bit of work and you’ll probably need to keep an eye for any more mole rats, but the option’s there.”

The overseer shook her head, not at all happy with that idea. “Vault 81 is breaking down as it is. We don’t have the resources to repair a broken down hulk. At best, we’d be cannibalizing that hidden vault for parts.”

Eh, true that. Maybe it’s time to score more diplomacy points here.

“Hm, if I said I could help you...refresh your vault up to non-breaking down condition…”

Piper and Nat gave me a knowing look, though the older Wright frowned a bit. No Piper, I wasn’t going to use this opportunity to net some Vault pussy, don’t worry. Not yet anyway..

Again, overseer McNamara shook her head.“You’ve done plenty as it is with the resources you’ve given us and the revelation of our secret neighbour.”

“Well, I have some ideas that might be worth discussing if you’d like?”

We ended up heading up to her office for talks, along with the docs and the security and maintenance heads. I offered to help tidy up 81 and its sister vault, and provide some spare parts.

In exchange? The girls got to attend the vault’s school if they wanted to. Also, Vault 81 would open up to free trade once I got a settlement up (had to emphasize that it was just a matter of time) and allow for controlled movement of people between borders. Vault 81 would also maintain strict confidentiality in regards to whatever deals I made with them, this one included, unless they had my permission to share.

Did they take my offer seriously? Of course, especially after clearing out the secret vault.

Did they accept straight away? Nope, they mulled over it, having an actual civilized debate on the pros and cons.

“Having reliable help from the outside would be beneficial to our Vault’s growth...” Overseer McNamara hummed.

The head of security, Scott Edwards, countered. “But we’ll share the dangers too. Not to mention we’ll be put in the spotlight.”

“We’ve already been attracting attention ever since we opened up, what’s a bit more? If Sev opens a settlement we’d also have a safe destination on the outside, instead of people going out practically blind and lost to the dangers out there.”

That was from Miranda Song, the one who would’ve been scammed. Not the doc’s assistant as I thought, she’s instead in charge of making sure the vault’s instruments work correctly. Anything goes wrong, she either figures it out or gets Calvin Whitaker to add into the ever growing maintenance list. QC tester basically.

“And it’s not like we can just shut ourselves back in if things get dicey,” Dr Penske added. She probably liked my idea of getting the vault better access to new foodstuffs to grow.

In the end, despite their concerns, they unanimously agreed with varying degrees of eagerness. As a sign of my commitment, I left the vial of CBR in their hands (yeah, I already catalogued it). Me and the girls and Curie left, where I swore my new follower to secrecy before we got back into the Zippy Lid and headed back home.

The medical Ms Nanny got far more reaction from her tour than the girls. Probably was due to the Zetans around during their first time on the ship sucking all the interest out. Her chassis vibrated with excitement and the three eye stalks swivelled like a bird’s head to take in the sights.

“This is marvellous, Sev! With a little addition, we will be well equipped to attend to any medical issues that would be encountered. And for both Nat and Piper, I am sure I would be able to conduct lessons in their rooms with little problems.”

And then I showed her what my console could do, and boy did that French accent sound cute with Curie being so excited. Like with the sisters, I didn’t give the full details, just made her as damage resistant as we were, and reseted her frame (had to carefully deselect her internal programming) back to brand new condition.

Of course, she was also eager to join exploration trips back on Earth, though I convinced her to stay on the ship for the time being, to get better acquainted with the place and provide any feedback on necessary facilities and improvements for a small group of us residents.

Piper took me aside as Nat gave Curie a more detailed tour of the storage and junk piles. She seemed concerned ever since we left Vault 81, though I could only guess why.

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“Sev, is Curie… Are you going to...” Ah, my guess was correct.

I gave her a kiss to reassure her. “Not as a robot I’m not.”

Of course, Piper being sharp as she was, she gave me a look. “So...you’re going to change her into a human?”

“I don’t think I can, but with synths running around the Commonwealth, there might be alternatives...”

She shook her head at that, and I was glad she didn’t seem to be too jealous. Still, just to keep her happy, I embraced her and gave a soft pat on her head. “Don’t worry, number one fuck slave, remember?”

She giggled and we shared a silent moment together. I wasn’t in any hurry yet to work on 81, giving myself about a month or two of unneeded prep time. And since we had time...

*****

“It still is most unwise to continue with this.”

So me and Piper got caught as we were about to start...well, ‘piping her’, when Curie somehow floated in on us. I guess we were too distracted with each other to notice her arrival.

Mutual consent wasn’t the problem, obviously.

“Such a relationship at such tender ages can have severe detrimental impacts on your growth mentally,” she lectured Piper. I already got the whole ‘being a responsible adult’ lecture before Piper protested.

“I know what I got myself into!” And of course, Piper didn’t like being lectured. “And Sev’s not abusing me or anything.”

The back and forth between them looked like it would escalate, so I stepped in via console. Probably because she was a robot, Curie had extra variables on her. Hoping it was as it said, I triggered ”Override”.

She suddenly was just silently hovering in place as a menu similar to the game’s terminal screen appeared. No simple hacking commands though, just lines and lines of extra stats and numbers to dive into.

I noticed Piper looking confused at first, but she saw me in my ‘weird mode’ stare and kept silent.

Thankfully, this terminal gave some additional information for some of their options, especially “OwnerOverride” and “SetOwner”, which basically meant the robot would take anything its owner said over whatever programming they had. Guess what’s going to happen next?

[NBotCurieOwner:Sev]

[OwnerOverride:Always]

[(NBotCurieSkillMedic&NBotCurieSkillResearch&NBotCurieSkillNanny)=100]

I also set her skills up since they were available for editing, because why the fuck not.

“Look, Curie,” I said after leaving console and the eyestalks started moving as normal again, “It’s a different world compared to before the bombs fell. Besides, it’s not like Piper’s a victim of Stockholm Syndrome or the like, right?”

“No, she is not,” Curie admitted easily after a second of silence. “You are right Sev, the values of this world have changed from before. I will be sure to learn and adjust my protocols accordingly. Thank you for enlightening me to this fact.”

“No problem, though others might not be so easy to change their views as you. Better keep things within ourselves for now.”

“I understand Sev.”

With that, Curie left the room, leaving me and Piper to share a sigh. She then gave me a very dirty grin.

“So… Got yourself another slave Sev?” Piper asked cheekily as she sidled up to me.

“You want to keep talking or should we continue what we started, Piper?”

Not the most subtle way to kill a topic, but definitely effective.

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