Professor Emerita

While Lily trusted Grace to some extent, she definitely didn't trust either the expertise or the morals of Grace's contact to whom Grace originally tried to sell the robots. Lily was, in part, relying on his representation of the condition of the merchandise, after all.

She had been peeking in the boxes as they came off the truck, and they appeared to be good. Still, after inviting Grace's team inside for refreshments, she excused herself to go downstairs. She took a quick ten minutes to briefly plug a self-powered diagnostics terminal of her own devising into the auxiliary maintenance ports of about half the robots at random.

Some of the motivators were shot, but in all the cases, the quantum processors and power systems were in good condition, which was the main thing Lily was concerned about.

She smiled as she walked back to the cafeteria, where her Apprentice offered the crew some lunch and refreshments. Thankfully, they arrived around lunchtime for the workers, anyway, so the catering staff was still on duty and was able to accommodate six more mouths to feed easily.

While Lily usually cooked for herself or ate her Apprentice's cooking, when the girl was attempting to be filial, she decided to eat a sandwich from the cafeteria today.

When she considered Alice's cooking, she shuddered and then thanked ThorAllahJesus that the Apprentice's culinary skills were improving rapidly. Lily did not even have to turn off her sense of taste anymore surreptitiously.

"The merchandise is of better quality than I thought. Almost everything that is important is in good condition," Lily told them.

That cheered them up considerably. Lily sat with them and ate her roast beast sandwich; it always generally a better idea not to question which exact beast you ate today.

She sat, ate and considered the origins of all the parts of her sandwich that weren't alive at one point. Processed grain and flour was a trade good from as far away as the east part of Ohio, which was the closest place which had something resembling a civilized government in place, even if it was theocratic.

The so-called Dominion was based out of what was once called Cleaveland, now called Temple, and the vast and, for the most part, clean waters of Lake Eerie gave them ample wealth to expand and control economically a relatively large portion of that former state. They did not have a high level of technology, but they had a large number of men at arms who were crack shots with rifles, so their territory was mostly quiescent.

The Mormons weren't that bad as feudal post-apocalyptic warlords went, quite friendly, in fact, most of the time. However, their stance on the proper place for women meant that it wasn't ever going to be an option for Lily, even if she wanted to move somewhere safer. They tolerated "foreign harlots" if they were visiting or just passing through, but they expected everyone who put down roots to assimilate with their monoculture, or they would be shown the door.

They even shipped some water to the Capital Wasteland, but it was over 700 kilometres between Lake Eerie and D.C. which tended to make water priced exorbitantly, not much different than purifying your own or even more expensive.

Actually, compared to some tales she heard from the few people in town who claimed to be from the West coast about what was happening in Arizona and New Mexico, the Dominion were practically feminists. They would not, in fact, crucify you if they thought you were a witch, but they would talk to you about your immortal soul (and nothing else) until you toed the party line or got out of town. Kind of reminded Lily of how the Quakers or Amish handled social problems in some ways.

Lily did not know if she believed the tales of a resurgent, genocidal Roman Empire on the Colorado River, of all crazy things, but the two men who claimed to be from the New California Republic did seem genuinely terrified.

Both polities, even if one might be fictional, combined with what she knew of the NCR, did bring to the forefront something she had been thinking about for some time, which was obvious when she put it into words. She said it out loud to the mercenaries and her Apprentice, "You know, true upper order 'uman behaviour and civilization can't exist if zhere is not a ready and ample supply of potable water. Most people around the Capital Wasteland are barely more zhan cunning beasts."

Eyes stared at her; some looked surprised, and others looked like she was stating the obvious. Her Apprentice piped up, "Isn't that why you're creating the water purifier at the electrical station, Dr St. Claire?"

Lily squinched up her face, "Zhat thing will only ever be able to produce zhree or four thousand litres a day, at zhe absolute max. Even zhough we're pricing the water very low, all it will do is make Megaton slightly more tolerable, relieve the stresses of zhis one community just slightly."

Lily shook her head, "It's of no matter. It will take a transformative change to solve zhis issue. I was just ahh.. talking to myself out loud."

Miller looked at her, perhaps slightly approvingly, "At least you consider the logistical implications. Most people never do."

After the lunch rush ended and the cafeteria cleared out of workers, Miller and Grace glanced at each other, the former nodding at the latter. Grace looked at Lily, "Ah, we wanted to put some cards on the table. Is it OK to talk in front of Alice?"

The Apprentice looked affronted, which Lily thought was quite funny. Lily tilted her head to the side and nodded, "Yes. Of course, what ez zhe issue?"

Grace scrunched up her face, "Well, the truth is that we've been intentionally dropping some hints, hoping you'd ask us about it. But you haven't, so I'm just going to say it -- we used to work for the Enclave, all of us, in fact. Captain Miller here was my CO. Our unit and a group of non-combatants deserted to a man when they gave us a suicide mission into the Commonwealth to the north."

Lily's eyebrows raised slightly. She wasn't surprised at Grace or Miller, but she was surprised it was all of them. She was a little surprised that Miller was the CO, he had been pulling off a pretty good annoyed enlisted vibe. She glanced at New John and his sister, "Them too? But she's not supposed to be a soldier?"

Miller sighed, "Daughter and son of one of the civvies we were escorting. A group of scientists. I had a short company, really more like a platoon, and we had about that many civvies, also. Plus their families, too. That was the real hint that something wasn't on the up and up. I don't know what you know about the Enclave, but it has internal politics like any other organization. My dad and the current military commander grew up together on the west coast and were something like rivals, I guess. My dad died in the line of duty, and the Colonel was always a real pragmatic sort, you understand? Our mission consisted of all the rejects, hard cases and the scientists were all the ones who questioned things a bit too much. As far as I know, nobody has even looked for our bodies, nor been surprised we suddenly stopped checking in."

Alice had wide saucer eyes and said, "Awesome! This is just like The Guns of the Congo! You even became mercenaries! Right under the nose of your former unit!"

Lily rolled her eyes. Had the girl read all of Lily's books?

It WAS interesting, though. But she was curious why he was laying all this on the table, as it were. Right before she was going to ask him just that, he continued, "I mention this because I wanted to ask you -- did you escape from Raven Rock or Adams, too? I don't recognize you, but that isn't that unusual, especially with the best researchers at Adams. We can provide help, maybe obfuscation. It was a good idea coming to Megaton; Autumn likely won't invade it to rendition or kill you, no matter how good of a doctor or researcher you were. If so, we're offering to help you, plus we hope to get your help also."

'Oooohhhh... I get it. Well, the Enclave must be bigger than I thought if he wouldn't recognize me. Combined with their willingness to throw fifty or so undesirables away and not blink twice at it, they have to number at least in the thousands,' Lily thought quickly to herself. She thought it was quite nice of him to try to help what he thought might be a fellow deserter, though.

Lily tried to think of a way to both deny any Enclave bonafides while also sticking to her existing plan of insinuating, but not outright stating, that she was a pre-war researcher.

Finally, she said, "Ah. Zhat's almost sweet. But I assure you I have no relationship with zhe remnants of zhe federal government." She pursed her lips, "While I apologize for not being able to reciprocate entirely about my own past, I can say zhat I have no outstanding entanglements or loyalties to any party... I have been almost entirely in Academia, you see, until I found myself in these Capital wastelands. I wouldn't even dare call myself a Professor anymore."

Lily smiled internally. There! That should be a pretty blatant hint that she used to be involved with a pre-war University.

She was a little surprised that Miller's emotions he was displaying on his face seemed to go from disappointment and confusion to shock; he even paled a little.

Alice, once again, piped up, "You were a Professor, Dr St. Claire?! Weren't they all old?! You don't look very old at all!"

Lily grinned internally, 'Thanks, Apprentice! This should seal the deal.' "Ah, but I am zhe master of zhe life science, yes? Life extension research has always been an interest of mine. I am a little older than I look."

Miller and Grace were sharing looks that Lily could only describe as deeply concerned, which wasn't the reaction she was going for. Odd.

Miller finally said, "Ah... I see... I think... You don't have continuing correspondence with your ... uhh... Institute ... of Higher Learning, do you?"

Lily blinked. She was missing something, she realized. But she was already too invested in this backstory to pull out now. She shook her head but laughed, "No. I would be deeply shocked and concerned if zhey came calling." She was trying to imply that they were all dead, after all.

Was there an organization she didn't know of that sprung up from a pre-war University? Wasn't Rivet City a Naval Research Institute? Was that what he was implying?

In any case, her response seemed to make Miller much more relieved; he even audibly sighed in relief, Grace smiling too, "Ah.. that's good. So you're not so much different than us, then."

Lily pursed her lips, "Well, I have no one to rely on but myself and perhaps zhe friends I make, zhis is true. You don't have to worry; I will remain discreet regarding your origins. And I would definitely be open to cooperation with your group, or at minimum Grace's Grenadiers."

Oops, she used her private name for them. This caused Grace to look confused and Miller to grin. Finally, Grace asked, "Grace's Grenadiers?"

"Well, every mercenary band needs a pithy name! And you have to admit that grenades figure very prominently in your small unit tactics," Lily rationalized, blushing slightly.

"She's right about that," mouthed off Big John.

With that, Lily and Miller talked some more, for around thirty minutes. While neither side was willing to offer themselves to the other like a blushing bride on her wedding night, it was still early days yet. So, they merely agreed in principle to help each other where they could and just continue as they had been. Grace's group was based out of Megaton most of the time, in any event, so she would be Lily's main point of contact.

Lily did appreciate that he tried to rescue her, though. She wondered how many times he's done so to Enclave deserters? Or how large the Enclave in D.C. was to begin with?

"Do you want to disassemble the bomb today, then?" asked Miller, "Grace wasn't lying when she said bombs were my speciality. While I was always a better administrator than a combat leader, I was still an engineer." Lily assumed that meant combat engineer.

Lily pursed her lips and shook her head, "We either 'ave to do it in the dead of night in total stealth or get the Sheriff on board. I recommend the latter; as such, it will take some time. I suggest we do your team's surgeries and treatments today and tomorrow. Then after you've recovered, you guys visit my hôpital, and when you come back, we can make safe Megaton's homonyme."

Miller seemed a little surprised she was willing to stick so close around a live nuke, until she shrugged, "There's still dozens in Fort Constantine, after all. I probably wouldn't be in a good way if they went, either."

Miller groaned a little, "Well, I didn't know that, either. We'll just have to put a pin in that at the moment. I guess if it hasn't blown in a hundred years, it probably won't blow in a week."

When they got to discuss the treatments, Lily pulled out a small inhaler, copied exactly from the ones that Jet utilized. She held it out, and Grace looked confused, "Uhh... we don't really want to party, Girlie. Thanks, though?"

Lily snorted, "Zhe reflex treatment is inside. I needed a way to deliver a metered dose. One puff for every part of 50 kilos of body weight, so if you weigh 51 kilos, two puffs. OK? It takes a day to propagate and then about zhree days to see full results. Go with my Apprentice, first, though. She'll run you through the reflex test we use. If you happen to be preternaturally quick already, maybe we don't treat you. I doubt that, though. I would have noticed. We can do the same three surgeries for the phoenix device starting at... 1500?"

Miller hummed and suggested to Grace, "You, NJ and Melissa today, then, you think?" Lily thought it was interesting it was framed as a suggestion or advice rather than an order. How military was this group's bearing still, she wondered? They didn't seem to have more of a goal than to survive and seemed to me more of a mutual assistance society.

Grace, however, agreed, and the three of them walked off with the Apprentice. "You're also welcome to utilize the isolation ward I had set up as a barracks. It's clean, has beds but no linens."

Miller considered it before nodding, "We have our sleeping gear bags and such, so that'll work well. Thank you."

Lily wasted no more time to go look at her new robots for a few hours before the time for the surgeries arrived.

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POV Miller

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The man once called Captain Sean Miller watched the Institute scientist walk off. 'Former Institute scientist,' he corrected himself. As an officer with a mission in and around Boston, even if it was a thinly veiled murder attempt, he was naturally well-briefed on all of the players inside what would have been his AO. And there was no bigger or more mysterious player to the north than the Institute.

They were, in fact, the main reason his mission would have been so suicidal.

She didn't seem willing to straight out say she left the Institute, but he supposed it might be a concession that allowed her to walk around without a bunch of robot assassins showing up to shish-kabob her. Or maybe they just didn't give a fuck about things this far south. He just didn't know. Nobody really did. That was the problem with the fuckers.

Well, she wasn't wrong that two people or groups abandoned in the world could find a common cause. He didn't know anything about the internal ranks of the Institute, either, but Professor sounded important.

Well, he didn't think she was or planned to kill them, anyway, and he had a really good sixth sense about that sort of thing.