Hiding In The Green: A Fallout 4 Story

Vault 81

Okay, this chapter and the next are the fault of a friend of mine, because he spotted that I tried to sneak Curie in without explaining how she got there. (Remember the brain surgery performed by the Mr. Handy? The one with the French accent?) So I had to write it. Most of the chapter is a flashback, but Nick and Raina are hitting the road to General Atomics Galleria, and the chapter after next will involve Danse.

Seriously, though: Thanks, Guestman, because as it was, it was sloppy storytelling.

"You need not worry about the well being of this unfortunate young man," Curie told them, her manner cheerful. "He has passed the crisis point, and I shall be taking care of him—and watching over him as well." X6 had been moved to Raina's place, the Red Rocket, to continue recovering (or to die if he didn't) at a distance from the rest of the settlers, and Curie, who lived there anyway, had been put in charge of him. It was the easiest place to restrain him, if that should prove necessary, too. Sturges and several other settlers had built a concealing wall of cars and salvaged materials around the homestead, and between that and the wall of Sleeping Beauty roses, getting in was nigh impossible. Getting out was almost as challenging.

Curie continued, "If he continues to improve, in a few days' time I shall begin rehabilitation by assigning him some light duties around the settlement, such as combing les lapins and collecting eggs. If he can manage those, perhaps he may be assigned a garden patch to care for. Charting his recovery will add a great deal to my database, and of course I shall supervise him at all times. You must go and recruit other Mr. Handys and Miss Nannys for the trip into the Glowing Sea, and you can do that very well without me."

"I'm not so sure," Raina grimaced. She had been counting on Curie's help when they went to General Atomics Galleria and Greygardens.

"But of course! I am sure you will do splendidly. And you have Monsieur Valentine with you, so all will be well."

"Thanks, Curie," the detective replied. "See you in a few days."

As Raina and Nick threaded their way through the maze around her property, they bid farewell to Jonny-Say-Quoi, who was directing the agrobots in digging over the garden beds. Like Curie, he expressed confidence in them.

"I never realized how different bots can be, or how much we took them for granted in the Vault," Raina said once they reached the road. "The agrobots are meant to be drones, and they weren't given much in the way of cognitive capacity. However, they are bright enough that you can show one a bed of plants and say, 'These are beans, those are radishes, that's lettuce. If you see anything growing here that isn't a bean plant, a radish or lettuce, pull it up and throw it on the compost heap,' and they'll do it. Yet they weren't given the ability to communicate. I never questioned that until coming up Topside."

"You think they should be able to speak?" Nick asked.

"I think they should have been given more in the way of cognitive capacity as well as the ability to speak. Then there's Codsworth and Jonny. They're the exact same model—they're even in the same serial number sequence—but before Codsworth asked to be reset, he was a real mess. He sometimes talked about his family like they were there-and acted that way, too."

"Ooh. That's not good," Nick winced.

"It really wasn't. When it came to family charade night, he was....both pathetic and a little terrifying. Jonny told me it came from losing them so soon after activation, that Mr. Handys and Miss Nannys are programmed and primed to bond with the people who are there when they're activated the first time. Or the first time after using the reset codes. So it was like a small child losing his parents and growing up on his own. If he was a more mature bot, he would have coped better. I suppose you're wondering what my point is," she looked up at Nick.