RobCo Facility

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The trek from Megaton to where Moira said the RobCo facility had been took longer than Ellen had expected. She'd started out from Megaton just as soon as the sun came up, the better to make her way south over unfamiliar, uneven ground. Moira had given her a processor widget to install before attempting any downloads; it was nestled snugly in her backpack between two days' worth of rations for two people. No sense taking chances, after all.

The distance hadn't been the big issue, though. The real source of delays, Ellen felt, was the landscape itself. Southwest of Megaton the surface became more and more uneven, rocky and hilly in places, studded with the long-dead remains of multiple trees in others. More than once she had to climb over the fallen rubble that was all that remained of the old elevated roads, only to have to turn around and pick her way across some other area to avoid landing in radioactive ground-water. And if that weren't enough, all of it was anything but empty. More than once she found herself chased by starving wild dogs or harassed by mole rats. In one area, she had to outrun a gang of spike-wearing Raiders, one of whom was armed with a missile launcher. She regretted leaving the sniper rifle home then, to be sure.

Eventually, though, she spotted one of the huge metalwork towers she'd assumed were navigational markers. As she followed its lines to the next tower, and the next, she spotted a hefty-looking grey building up ahead, easily twice the size of Super-Duper Mart. It was surrounded by broken grey stone that might once have all been of one piece, and here and there slender metal posts- possibly lamps of some kind- rose from the ground. The slanting rays of the sun as it crept down the western sky picked out faded red lettering over the door, an R and a couple of O's; she checked her Pip-Boy.

Yep. Looked like the RobCo facility, all right.

Ellen glanced around and started a perimeter sweep, just to be on the safe side. There were no enemies in sight, whether Raiders or Talon Company, save for a black beast somewhat larger than Ellen that turned out to be a giant scorpion, of all things. It was a tough one, too, not giving up the ghost until she'd emptied five or six shotgun shells into it. She eyed it, opted not to bother trying to butcher it (Moira had said she could get good meat butchering any mirelurks she managed to kill, but never said anything about scorptions), and moved on. There was some kind of enormous tower to the south, she noted, possibly the single biggest building she'd ever seen. She'd have to explore it later, if she ever got the chance.

For now the important thing was that there was a bit of chain-link fence up ahead that still had its gate hanging on by rusty, fragile hinges. She opened it and stepped through to Milliways in search of Alyx Vance.

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"As far as I can tell, the whole place is built from pre-war airplane parts," says Ellen, leading the way down the nailed-in steps and over the water pipe before turning onto the landing outside her house. "The original settlers were trying to get into Vault 101, but the Vault was sealed at the time. They made do with what they could find."

She opens the door and a set of lights swing into view about at eye level. As the room beyond illuminates, a tinny, English-sounding voice calls out, "It's good to see you alive and well, madame! Well, alive, anyway."

[vance_prime]

Alyx perks up. She knows a mechanical voice when she hears it. "You didn't tell me you had a robot..."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"He kind of slipped my mind," Ellen admits. "I'm sorry. Wadsworth, I'd like you to meet my friend, Alyx Vance. Alyx, this is Wadsworth."

"Good evening, Miss Vance!" the bobbing, hovering form of the Mr. Handy announces. It waves one of its three jointed arms in what's probably meant as a jaunty greeting. "How do you do?"

[vance_prime]

"Quite well, thank you." That smile just might be the broadest one Ellen has ever seen on Alyx's face. She likes robots. "And you?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, I can't complain," says Wadsworth. "It has been rather quiet about the place today. I've been taking the opportunity to tidy things up a bit in Miss Park's absence. Might I offer you a drink?"

[vance_prime]

"Sure. What've you got?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Atmospherically vapor-distilled water, the purest in the Wasteland," says Wadsworth proudly. "And there are some bottles of the stronger stuff about, should you prefer something of the alcoholic variety."

[vance_prime]

"Water would be great, thanks." She looks over Wadsworth with obvious interest. "So who built you, if you don't mind me asking?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Certainly, madam. Just a moment." As the robot reaches around to one of its concealed panels to extract a sizable flask it notes, "I was a product of General Atomics International's factories in Philadelphia, as it happens. Somewhat prior to the War, naturally."

[vance_prime]

Alyx lets out a low whistle. "And you're still functional more than two hundred years later? That's damned impressive."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"My model, the Type II Mr. Handy model, is fully capable of keeping ourselves in working condition when necessary and are also fully programmed to perform nuclear fuel replacements. Secondary programming handles radiation cleansing after refueling," says Wadsworth, holding out the flask. "Although I admit I spent about fifty years inactivated. That likely factored into it."

[vance_prime]

--oh, right, there's a drink being offered, isn't there? Alyx takes it.

"You run on nuclear power?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Of course, madam. Doesn't everyone?"

Ellen clears her throat a little.

"A joke, I assure you." Pause. "Everyone metal. My central power systems contain one nuclear power unit with 200 KW output and eight rechargeable E-cells with a combined potential output of up to two hundred and seventy thousand KW per second."

[vance_prime]

"Man, what do you do with all that power?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Aside from powering my hover-thrusters, you mean?" inquires the robot. "Well, something's got to keep the saw and the blowtorch attachments functional."

[vance_prime]

Alyx wonders why on earth anyone would make a hovering robot that could just as easily function with legs or wheels, but she's got enough tact not to say it to the robot's face. (Not that Wadsworth really has a face, but you get the idea.)

"So what else have you got in there?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"A full mechanical toolset, of course," says Wadsworth. "Several units of blowtorch fuel, enough so that I can deploy the torch as a flamethrower should the need arise. Three extra-flexible arm motors and the necessary mechanisms with which to control them. A moisture condensator, although that last is an after-market addition installed by one of my former masters as a means of making the best of the current environmental conditions. And, of course, the requisite General Atomics compu-cores and personality programming data storage."

[vance_prime]

"Damn. I don't suppose there are more of your model available someplace?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Unfortunately the only other robots of which I'm aware are both right here in Megaton, and neither of them is a Mr. Handy," says Wadsworth somewhat regretfully. "Although Deputy Steel, who guards the town armoury, is of extremely similar design. The Mister Gutsy model was built for military duties rather than housekeeping and security, however."

[vance_prime]

Alyx looks thoughtful. "Might have to go looking for one of those."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Good luck, madam," says Wadsworth solemnly. "Is there anything else I can do for you? There are several currently available options for supper, should either of you be hungry."

[vance_prime]

"Thanks, but I think I'd rather just get some sleep. What about you, Ellen?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I could do with some rest myself," Ellen says.

"Very good," says Wadsworth. "In that case I shall stay out of the way until morning."

"Thank you, Wadsworth," Ellen says. "Alyx, there's a bedroom upstairs. The bed's just a mattress and a blanket, but you're welcome to it as a guest."

[vance_prime]

"You go ahead and take it. I can sleep pretty much anywhere," says Alyx. "Good night."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods. "In that case, there's a small room next to the bedroom- it's got a couple of file cabinets and shelves in it, but it's private and there's enough room to lie down or get dressed. You can have the blanket."

After that, whether Alyx accepts the blanket or not, there's not much left but bed. Morning comes with dawn's light creeping through chinks and gaps in the welds of the house's outer walls, and the hum of Wadsworth's thrusters as the robot makes its way down to the kitchen to prepare something for breakfast.