The Good Life: Anything Goes (ch. 42) (Patreon)

“So, you've been stuck here for around two hundred years trying to create the ultimate panacea… and you succeeded?” I questioned with a slight tilt of my head as I looked through the window of a lab. On the other side, there was a robot. A Mr. Handy, as the series was called. A ball shaped body with a thruster at the bottom with multiple attachments for arms and eyes. This one was painted white, and on a quick inspection, it seemed to be better maintained than most.

“Oh, I am afraid not, monsieur,” the machine -- Curie, as it introduced itself -- replied with a distinct French accent. “A true panacea is well beyond my abilities to feasibly create. What the kind doctors started and I finished is merely a cure to diseases and ailments.” It… she replied and I hummed in response. “The difference being that the medicine cannot undo any physical damage, nor undo genetic damage as a true panacea would be able to.”

This world was weird, I thought to myself and not for the first time. I took a moment to drink in my surroundings and while I was technically inside of the Vault, it wasn't a part the locals seemed to be aware of. If they were, they wouldn't be fitting around two thousand people into a space that could barely hold a thousand. The additional tunnels and rooms wouldn't really put a dent in their space issue, but it was still free room.

Only there were no doors to it. At least, no recognizable doors. There were false walls and a secret tunnel in the Overseer’s office, but the space was very much a secret. Inside of it, I found a few mole rats and some graves. The only ‘person’ I found within it was Curie, working away to create a miracle drug. Or, rather, fine tune it because she had already succeeded some decades ago.

“I'm sure you are quite eager to report this success to your Vault-tec superior, yes? Perhaps I might be permitted to accompany you to deliver it?” Curie questioned, and robots were another thing that was weird about this world.

“Still not a Vault-tec employee,” I replied, mostly just to see her reaction because I was just as fascinated by her as I was this miracle drug.

“But you simply must be! Otherwise, you would not have the authorization to be here,” she replied, her tone… urgent. There was a reason why she was a she. This world had AIs. And they ran off of floppy disks and vacuum tubes.

Well, that was a slight exaggeration, but only a slight one. The analogue computers were a big hint, but the bleeding edge in terms of data storage was around one hundred megabytes for a hard disk. Machines like Curie had a linked drive that gave them a grand total of five hundred megabytes worth of data storage. I had apps on my phone that consumed more data than that, but this world created high functioning machines -- information storage, language models, and sub programs -- with that same limitation.

As far as I could tell, most machines weren't sapient. I had seen a few that came out of a box and they were impressive, sure, but they were basically just a computer program. The ones that had my interest were the ones that became sapient -- two hundred years of prolonged activity leading to a series of glitches in their OS that gave birth to a personality. A person.

And the person before me was doing her damnedest to subvert regulations so she could leave the room she was stuck in since the bombs fell.

I pursed my lips, tempted to keep playing coy just to see what kind of reactions I could get, but that felt a little cruel. And I kinda liked the French robot. “Ah, you're right. I must have hit my head and forgotten all about my employment or something,” I said drily with an undertone of amusement.

“Oh, dear! You require examination!” Curie replied, either not hearing the sarcasm or ignoring it entirely. All the same, she took the opportunity and jumped on it. There was a screech of metal as the bulkhead door opened for the first time in a could of centuries and I was hit with the sterile scent of antiseptics. There was a dull roar as Curie emerged from the room, an orange crate in one metallic hand.

Then she presented me with the orange box that I popped open to see a syringe and a bottle of clear fluid. “I present to you Vault 81 Cure- name pending,” she informed. “Now, I am free to continue my scientific research! Oh, what joy!” Curie said as I inspected the medicine, idly noting that she didn't actually examine me.

“Do you have a destination in mind?” I questioned, closing the orange case. We would need to see if it actually worked, but if it did… then we needed to find a way to recreate it. “Because I have a group that could use skills like yours. You'd have free reign to research whatever you like on the condition you give me the data to make more of this stuff.”

“That would be delightful,” Curie replied with an expressive wiggle of her arms. She struck me as a mix of mischievous and naive. “But there is no need for conditions! The purpose of science is to help the world and the people within it. All of my research, including my sixty eight thousand, five hundred and eighty three failures and my four thousand, four hundred and seventeen successes are all located on the hardrives of the terminals.” She informed, and I looked to the terminal.

The thing could hold maybe fifty megabytes. I didn't know much about coding, but I could only imagine how they managed to pull that off. I couldn't even imagine how efficient a code base would need to be to hold all that data in such little space. It was almost worth learning just to see.

“And I most graciously accept your offer, monsieur…?”

“Law,” I answered, grabbing the hard drive from the terminal. I also saw why Curie wanted to leave the room for reasons beyond cabin fever -- the medical room had been well stocked, but two hundred years left only the dregs of the dregs left. I'd give it a week before she ran out entirely. “I have one more thing to take care of before we head out,” I said, turning my attention to Taylor.

She and the Overseer was some distance away, but still within my Room. Interestingly, the acoustics were pretty good to overhear the conversation when I started to carry the sound waves through… “A distribution system?” I questioned, realizing what exactly was snaking into various rooms and hallways.

“Ah, for the testing of cures,” Curie remarked, seemingly knowing exactly what I was talking about. At my puzzled look, she continued. “One cannot test cures if there are no ailments, Monsieur Law. Though, quite fortunately, the distribution system was sabotaged when the bombs fell, so it was never used. It set back our progress considerably, but I cannot complain with the results.”

“... huh,” I muttered under my breath. So, a Vault, that place you were meant to hide out in to survive the end of the world… had equipment and plans to turn the survivors into lab rats… unaware lab rats, based on the secret lab and distribution system. “Thats… kinda fucked up,” I decided. Even for me.

To that, Curie twitched in silent agreement but offered nothing in terms of a defense. Though, now I was questioning if the Vaults were actually the safe havens that I thought they were. They were still worth checking out -- the miracle cure in my hands was proof enough of that, and I hoped that I would find more things like it, but they may not be fit for habitation like I hoped.

Regardless, the sounds of the negotiations reached us after a long delay, and my attention shifted to my could-be-heir. “-rumors of Raider activity,” I heard Qwen say and Curie seemed surprised that we could hear the conversation at all.

“The concern is valid, but the threat is mitigated. We have… understandings with the Raider gangs that are settled between us, so at their worst, they'll be aggressive toll collectors,” Taylor replied and I smiled, already picking up the white lies she was spinning. She was hiding that we were the Raiders in question.

“I wasn't aware that Raider gangs made deals,” Overseer Gwen replied, sounding like she bought it. Sheltered. It made sense -- if I was in their position, I sure as shit wouldn't be caught outside the giant Vault door. They had enough food to sustain their numbers by jury rigging hydroponics, but everything else was touch and go -- medicine, ammo, and with a passing glance I could tell a number of their machine systems were held together with duct tape and spite. Meaning opening the door was a necessity.

“Most don't,” Taylor didn't volunteer any more information. Good. Vague lies were easier to work with.

“And I expect we could feel the brunt of this… toll collection?” Overseer Qwen questioned, and she had a decent head on her shoulders.

“It'd be dishonest to say otherwise. Most likely,” Taylor allowed. Oh, I liked it. We could surcharge the shit out of them without them being any the wiser. “However, we can guarantee deliveries of requested supplies and if the price is agreed upon beforehand, we won't change it.” Liked that a little less, but I saw the logic behind the promise. She was trying to spin reliability as our selling point.

Taylor also had a good head on her shoulders, I thought, listening in on the nitty gritty details. I wouldn't call Taylor sociable, but she knew how to win a negotiation. And that made me curious -- she looked at me like a deer in headlights the moment I volunteered her to play negotiator. She was uncomfortable, uncertain, but she was still getting the job done. While that was a solid selling point for her character, I was finding myself increasingly curious what exactly her game was.

I knew ruthless killers. I was one. Taylor wasn't that, but she was wearing the mask of one. And now she was giving it her best effort to get the best deal she could possibly get in an unfamiliar position with resources that weren't hers to give.

To what end?

“A trial run would be the best starting point. We’ll buy three fusion cores at a… hundred caps a piece?” Overseer Qwen offered.

“Three hundred,” Taylor countered.

“Two hundred, and we are in agreement,” The Overseer replied. Based on the quick agreement, we had gotten a bad or average deal. I didn't particularly care one way or the other. The two shook their hands on it before Taylor was being escorted out of the Vault. As she was being shown the exit, Qwen offered some parting words. “I was surprised when I saw that they chose the youngest remember of your group to hold these talks, but now I see why. You know how to haggle.”

Taylor paused, “... thank you?” She offered, sounding suspicious and I simply chuckled. Sounded like she wasn't used to getting compliments. I dropped the sound waves as I turned to Curie.

“Let's get out of here,” I said, picking out two rocks to swap places with. A second later, we were outside and while Curie gaped in amazement, my attention was stolen.

Rumi reacted to my abrupt arrival with action, kicking out with a foot that would have taken my head right off. I sensed that it was coming, but I didn't bother to dodge as Yoruichi caught the kick in the palm of her hand. My gaze met Rumi's and there wasn't a shred of remorse to be found in her blood red eyes. Slowly, she dropped the kick, “Reflexes.”

A paltry excuse, but one I would accept.

“Hm,” I hummed in agreement, a smile furling at the edges of my lips.

“Hey, don't go making bedroom eyes at her. I saved you. I think I'm entitled to a kiss?” Yoruichi teased and I turned my attention to her.

“Just a kiss?” I replied with a teasing tone of my own.

“Well, if the damsel in distress puts out, I'm not going to say no,” Yoruichi replied. Before the back and forth could continue, the moment was broken with Taylor's arrival. That, and Curie finally breaking her silence by launching a barrage of inquiries at Rumi, who seemed to just now register the presence of the robot.

Taylor approached, her head held high and her gaze unwavering, “I did what you asked,” she informed testily. Oh, it seems I didn't earn any favors by putting her in the spotlight. That was fine. I knew just how to make it up to her.

Reaching out, I patted her on the head, “I heard. You did great.”

It took some effort to not laugh at her scowl. Especially when I knew how furious Cinder would be.

…

Heartless’ power was a difficult one to deal with, Taylor thought, watching him with her insects. The only tell that it had was when he activated it with the word ‘Room’. There were no other signs or sensations to her or her insects’ senses. She had spent the past month investigating, speaking to those that saw him fight, like Gauge. Learned how he wielded different elements. A Mover Blaster combo. A troublesome one.

“You are approached by a frenzied scientist, who yells, ‘I’m going to put my quantum harmonizer in your photonic resonation chamber,’” A man said, sitting across from Heartless, looking down at a clipboard. Swanson was the name that he had given. “What’s your response?”

“Oh, I’d say, ‘Up yours too, buddy,’ absolutely,” Heartless answered with a little too much enthusiasm. Taylor's gaze flickered to the concrete wall that surrounded a settlement -- Covenant, it was called. They rested for a night in the Wasteland before arriving, as it was one of the points of interest that Law mentioned.

Taylor didn't feel great about her chances of beating him in a straight fight. Her power was a bad match up because her insects could be swapped around. Though, Taylor was pretty sure that she had him beat when it came to range. That small advantage was redundant however, because… Taylor's gaze flickered to Yoruichi.

She and Rumi were beautiful. And strong. High end Brutes. They had sparred when they set up camp last night, and they both moved so fast Taylor had trouble keeping up with them. But the victor of the fight was undoubtedly Yoruichi. She and Heartless were also-

Taylor fought back a blush, recalling the sounds that came from Heartless' tent last night. Her gaze flickered to Rumi, who looked tired and annoyed because of the hat she was using to hide her… ears, which couldn't have been comfortable, and because she knew exactly who had kept her up until the middle of the night. The point being, even if Taylor could get around Law's power, she still had to contend with Yoruichi. Taylor had hoped that she would find a tentative ally in Rumi, because she was a powerful Hero, one of the few from Heartless’ world that seemed genuine, but…

“You discover a lost boy in a cave. He’s hungry and frightened, but seems to be in possession of stolen property. What do you do?” Swanson asked. Taylor couldn’t quite guage what the point of the questions were, but Heartless didn’t seem to mind them any.

Heartless didn't even need to think about it. “Oh, I’d check out what he had and if it was interesting, I’d trade him some food for it.” Rumi scowled off to the side, and almost as if sensing Taylor's gaze, Rumi glanced her way. Their eyes met and Rumi's gaze narrowed, her scowl deepening and Taylor looked away.

It was all necessary. Or seemed so, at the time. It hadn't been planned, in so many words. When she approached the Disciples, it was with the intention of subverting them. They were a bunch of villains that chuffed under Heartless’ new rule. Only the rumors failed to do them justice -- they weren't just murderers. They were monsters. They were evil.

Taylor couldn't destroy them, so she decided to contain them. Limit them. Stopped them from torturing, murdering, then raping random people just trying to survive. And the Disciples… they required a firm hand. Consequences. Her authority within the gang couldn't be challenged, so… it worked, but it seemed to have cost Taylor a natural ally in Rumi.

“That's the test done -- you passed with flying colors. You are almost certainly not a synth,” the doorman informed with a winning smile. A synth. Taylor had heard a few mutterings about them, but no one could prove that they were real, so she was certain they were just a rumor. “The Covenant welcomes you, and your group!”

As if to prove it, the large double doors that had barred their entry suddenly opened up. Taylor glanced inside to see it looked like a snapshot of a suburb -- painted houses, dirt roads, with people milling about. Taylor's first instinct was to call it fake. Curie, the machine that Heartless had found inside of Vault 81, quickly entered. “How lovely!” Curie observed in a thick French accent.

Taylor said nothing, quietly suspicious -- why was only one of them tested for being a ‘synth?’ Heartless didn't seem to bother asking questions, simply skipping through the doors after Curie, expecting the rest of them to follow. Taylor’s gaze lingered on Heartless’ back, her lips thinning ever so slightly before she turned her attention to the settlement itself.

People were watching them. Natural, considering that they were strangers in a gated community, and Taylor had learned first hand how dangerous strangers could be in this world. But that ran both ways.

Flies that she kept hidden in her suit crawled out before Taylor had them crawl down her body to be left behind as they walked to an inn, by the looks of things. This world was dead, but Heartless’ world still had the usual household insects -- flies, cockroaches, spiders. Taylor made sure to grab the more subtle versions of this worlds insects whenever she was… on that side of the portal.

Slowly, the flies spread out to the various buildings and Taylor heard and saw through their senses. It worked best when there were several insects in a room overhearing the same conversation, but a single fly would be enough to inform her of the situation as they made their way into the inn, Heartless paying for a night. They attached themselves to individuals within the settlement, hiding in the folds of their clothing.

And Taylor listened.

“He is one hundred percent a synth,” Taylor heard the doorman mutter to what seemed to be the leader of the Covenant. “He gave every answer that we have marked for synths… and there’s something weird about him.”

“They’re lightly armed. I say we grab him, and interrogate the others. They could be innocent,” A woman, the one that ran the general store, said.

“They’re here on behalf of a settlement. There could be repercussions for attacking them. We have one marked, so we should keep an eye on him for now.” The Mayor was cautious, all of them whispering in low tones and Taylor looked to Heartless as he headed to the door of one of two rooms that he’d purchased.

He looked back at her, his dark eyes dancing with mirth and joy. He wasn't as evil as she thought he would be. He wasn't as cruel. He laughed too much. When he praised her for handling the deal, she’d felt… misled, almost. She had been expecting another Cinder, someone who enjoyed cruelty for the sake of being cruel.

But, when she met his gaze, Taylor knew without a shadow of a doubt that Heartless was every bit as dangerous as Cinder.

Because he knew exactly what was going to happen next.

“We blame it on Raiders. We wait until they're sleeping… and then we attack.”