Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters.

Chapter 4

About two weeks later Doc Church took Andrew's bandages off and the sheriff was right; Andrew had a nasty scar from his left eye to his neck, he shook his head and said, "Boy, this scar's going to a reminder to you I think."

Andrew nodded as he felt his face, his hands ghosted over the raised tissue and he felt a cold chill run through his spine; he could've died or have been blinded in one eye and he was sure that he couldn't pull that look off.

He walked out of the clinic and saw Moira smiling sadly at him and she said, "It's not too bad, I think."

"It's from My fucking eye to my neck," Andrew groaned, "If it had been any deeper or if I didn't have those damned stimpaks I'd have died and you know what I'm afraid of? Fucking needles."

"And you're not afraid of knives or bullets?" Moira smiled, "After all, the needles saved your life."

Andrew stood almost stiff; 'She was right, goddamn it.'

"Now," Moira said, "You know that robot you said you found, we could go and get it and maybe fix it so it can help protect you."

"I suppose," Andrew said, "It's a good idea but it's too heavy for me to carry on my own."

"Oh," Moira laughed, "I have a friend from the Brotherhood of Steel that owes me a big favour for fixing his armour so he's going to meet us there."

Andrew nodded and Moira smiled, "Let's me get my armour on."

He waited by the gate for Moira when he saw Lucas walk by and look at him, whistling at the scar.

Lucas sighed, "Boy, you were lucky that all you got was a scar."

"I know," Andrew mumbled, "And thanks for helping me to the clinic."

"No problem boy, everyone needs help once in a while," Lucas said, "Now you be careful out in the wastes, alright? And remember."

"Yes," Andrew said, "Keep my head out of the clouds and my mind on the here and now."

"You got it boy," Lucas said, "Take those lessons to heart and also don't forget to keep your eyes and ears open."

"Thank you," Andrew said quietly as he saw Moira walk up and wave at him.

"Goody," Moira said, "This is going to be fun Andrew."

As they walked out of the gates of Megaton Lucas sighed, 'I really hope the boy would heed my lessons,' and continued his patrol of Megaton.

Meanwhile on their way to the Super-Duper Mart, Moira was starting to ask Andrew more about where he came from and Andrew told her what he knew.

"Well," Moira said, "If it's out in California then do you think the town's still there?"

Andrew shrugged, "Maybe I'll head out west one day and see for myself."

Moira looked down, it wouldn't be that easy, she knew that but yeah it's been done before; he could join one of the caravans out west that went out there to occasionally find trade routes.

"Where were you born," Andrew, "Was it in Megaton?"

"Oh, dear me no, I was born in a settlement called Canterbury Commons: it's a trade center all of the big caravans that travel there go there occasionally to stock up, you should go there sometime."

'Maybe I will,' Andrew thought to himself, 'One day after I find James and ask him what's going on of course.'

Andrew looked up as they finally got in front of the store and saw a man wearing some sort of armour.

The man looked up at Moira and said, "Hello Ms Brown," and looked at Andrew, "Greetings, I am Knight Captain Joshua."

"Yeah, I'm Andrew Wells."

"A pleasure Mr Wells," Joshua said and he looked at Moira and asked, "What do you need me for?"

Moira explained and Joshua nodded, "Very well then, we shall retrieve the robot for you Mr Wells, follow behind me."

Joshua opened the door and walked into the dark store, he looked around and saw the bodies of the raiders and looked back at Andrew, "Your work I assume?"

He nodded and Moira smiled, "He came here to help me do some research on a book I'm writing, I had a feeling there would be some food and medicine here."

"Well anyways let's get this robot you two wanted, Elder Lyons will want me back at the citadel soon," Joshua said as they went into the back room.

Andrew looked around and saw a statue that kind of looked like a nuclear bomb on the counter next to the tube where the robot was, he picked it up and held it up to Moira and said, "Why would anyone have a statue of a bomb?"

"Oh," Moira said, "That's not a statue; it's a miniature nuclear weapon."

"A what!" Andrew panicked as he put it down, "Why do you even need a miniature nuclear weapon!"

"It's ammunition for something we've designated: the Fat-Man," Joshua said, "Very destructive, might I have it? You haven't seen a super mutant yet."

Andrew nodded as he passed the bomb to Joshua.

"Goody, the computer still is working," Moira said as she began to type frantically and hacked the old computer.

Joshua walked over to the pod keeping the protectron dormant, he picked it up and said, "Now let's depart this place."

Andrew nodded as they left the Super-Duper Mart behind them; he looked at the robot and muttered, "It does look kind of clunky though, doesn't it?"

"Oh," Moira said, "Protectrons are a good mode, if they're functioning right. A bit limited in their thinking but they have good weapons."

"Indeed," Joshua said, "The few models I've seen out here are fairly weak but that's from two centuries of disrepair, if you and Ms Brown work on it then I believe it'll be fine and sturdy."

"Alright," Andrew said looking at the robot a bit oddly, "I suppose if we painted it and things like that."

"That's the spirit," Moira said as they finally reached Megaton and brought the robot into her shop and said, "Andrew, you go home rest up; the knight captain and I'll be working on this all night."

"Okay," Andrew said as he walked home, he wanted to watch at least but he was going to be in the way, he wondered what they were going to do with it to make it better.

The next morning Andrew woke up, ate his breakfast and walked out towards the store, he got in and Moira smiled, "Andrew, meet your new friend."

He looked at the robot which regarded him as well. Joshua walked out of another room and said, "We've done the best we can: its targeting sensors are better and we improved its personality somewhat too."

The protectron looked at Andrew and said in a mechanical voice, "I am Model AL-3 or Al; I've been programmed to aid you in your trip."

"Umm, nice to meet you," Andrew said.

"Now that's done," Joshua said, "I'm heading back to the Citadel and if you want Andrew, you can come down sometime and for some caps we can upgrade it if it needs it."

Andrew nodded and looked at AL-3, who still regarded him, "Do you have orders?"

"Thank you Moira," Andrew said, "I'll pay you back for this."

Moira nodded and said, "Now do you want to do the last part of Chapter one of my book?"

"Maybe," Andrew said, "What is it?"

"Good, now remember that you have to be careful in this area," Moira said, "Remember what Mr Simms said."

Andrew nodded and Moira said, "Landmines are one of the few dangers in the wastes that are profitable."

'Uh oh!' Andrew thought as Moira explained it to him: she wanted him to go up north to this Minefield place and walk into a landmine laden area and try to get to the playground in the middle and maybe even bring her a landmine.

AL-3 looked at Moira and stated, "I have doubts of your sanity."

"I guess we could go up there," Andrew said, "After all I do owe you for helping me with the robot and if I'm careful, it might be alright."

As they left Moira called out, "And do make sure you bring plenty of stimpaks with you, it's a long way to Minefield."

"How long of a trip?" Andrew asked himself.

"Twelve hours, barring any unforeseen accidents such as your death," AL-3 said as they walked towards the town exit.

Andrew winced a bit and wondered what the robot's personality was like before the improvement. He shook his head and remembered to get his supplies from his home, he ordered AL-3 to wait for him at the exit.

"As you command," AL-3 stated, "I shall be here waiting for you."

Andrew walked up to his home and got the supplies: he pulled out his food, the purified water, the Nuka-Cola and the medicine.

AL-3 waited patiently and saw Andrew come back; it looked at Andrew's bulging backpack and stated, "I have storage compartments that you may wish to make use of."

"Where?" Andrew asked, "I don't see them."

"You don't want to know sir," AL-3 said as it placed the excess weight from Andrew's backpack.

As they began to walk Andrew decided to check up on what news he could get from Three-Dog.

The radio crackled as he heard an old song playing, it was actually pleasant to hear and then he heard Three-Dog's voice.

"What's up Capitol Wasteland? It is I: Three-Dog, how are things in the wastes today?

Now the news: unemployment is down, poverty is gone and the UN just declared peace forever. Now here's the real news.

Got some great news out of Megaton: it seems the live atomic bomb in the town's center has finally been deep sixed for good. The town's sheriff; one Lucas Simms commissioned the other vault dweller, who I'm calling the Lone Wanderer, and the kid delivered, with some help from a Ms Moira Brown. Hey kid, if you're in the area sometime, come and give me a shout, you and I got some things to discuss."

Andrew looked at himself, 'Lone Wanderer, what kind of nickname was that?' he shook his head and they continued towards Minefield, 'I'll have to go talk to this Three-Dog and ask about James and find out where he might've gone to.'

The trip went slowly as Andrew noticed a couple of creatures, with Lucas Simms's words still fresh in his mind to keep his mind on the here and now.

Half-way there AL-3 stated, "There are critters of unprecedented size coming towards us."

Andrew pulled out his laser pistol and got ready to fight when the ugliest looking creature he had ever seen came out. He could barely look at it; it looked like a… well, he didn't know what it looked like but it had a set of nasty looking teeth and it was basically naked and pink.

The mole rats sniffed the air and charged towards him, AL-3 blasted at them with its lasers while Andrew managed to hit one of them.

Another mole rat bit at Andrew and it hurt but no worse than the knife in his face, he shot at it and the laser somehow decapitated it. 'What the hell!' Andrew moaned as the blood splattered on his face.

AL-3 looked at the mole rats and stated, "Engaging combat procedure, targeting multiple targets," and fired more lasers at the small group of mole rats, killing most of them.

"Thanks AL-3," Andrew muttered as he looked at the wound inflicted by the creature; it was bleeding but as he jammed the needle in it and he sighed in relief as the chemical did its work but he suddenly grew worried, 'What if these stimpaks were addictive?' He knew he needed these things to heal himself but if he got addicted to them.

He checked the map and it looked like they were getting near Minefield when his Pip boy began to pick up on another radio signal. He frowned, 'What kind of signal was it? It didn't sound right,' he wanted to go check it out; first maybe there was something that he could scavenge for himself.

'Wow,' Andrew thought a bit bitterly, 'Where the hell did that thought come from?'

As they followed the signal to where it was coming from Andrew was getting uneasy, 'What if it was a trap?' He wouldn't put it past these raiders or whoever was broadcasting this signal to trap him so he readied his weapon just in case.

"There is no danger," AL-3 stated as they walked towards where the signal was strongest, he looked into a crater and nearly collapsed: it was an alien ship and he started to walk down when his pip boy started reporting quite a lot of radiation.

'Don't want to get sick again better so I better make this quick,' Andrew thought when he saw a weapon of some kind with a body near it. He was about to grab the gun and some of the glowing tubes around it when a bright blue light engulfed him, he looked around almost afraid as he was floating, he looked over and saw AL-3 standing on the ground.

AL-3 stared as the blue light carried Andrew into the air and stated, "This situation is not in my operational procedures, must report to Moira Brown for input."

Andrew was about to wake up when he heard some sort of clicking sounds, he tried to get up and look at whoever kidnapped him: he saw aliens. Another machine came towards him and he felt a burning pain and blacked out.

"Hey, hey," Andrew heard a voice call to him in the darkness, "Wake up kid."

"Is this a damned nightmare?" Andrew groaned as he got up, "I mean seriously, I'm starting to see some weird things out here in the wastes but aliens?" He looked over and saw a dark skinned woman looking at him with an almost amused look on her face.

"Ain't it a kick in the teeth," the woman laughed bitterly, "I thought I had seen everything in the wastes. Oh, I'm Somah and they must have liked you, they at least let me have my clothes."

"What?" Andrew stammered as he realized that he was only in his underwear, he got up and patted around his body and realized that he had nothing with him: no weapons, nothing.

"Yeah," Somah said, "I checked you over as well."

Andrew turned a bit red and muttered, "Great," as he got up, "I'm on an alien ship in my underwear, this is either a nightmare or the second to first worst week of my life."

"Oh yeah?" Somah said, "If this is the second worst week of your life then I'd hate to see the first worst week of your life."

"When I got this," Andrew said pointing at the scar on his face.

Before they could talk further a machine came by and Somah pushed Andrew into a wall and whispered, "Be quiet, it might be here for us and stay close to the wall."

The machine rolled over them and they heard a scream coming from another chamber and a man was being carried away by a massive claw.

"What the hell was that!" Andrew yelled in shock and fear, "Where are they taking him?"

"What, you never see a mechanical claw grab someone and drag him off into god knows where before?" Somah said bitterly.

Andrew shook his head and muttered, "No I didn't, why?"

"Because now I think you know why it's important that we get the hell out of here" Somah said, "But I've got a plan."

"Alright," Andrew said, "Tell me the plan."

"Perfect," Somah said as she began to explain the plan.

"Well it's that either that or find out what's happening to those people who get dragged off," Andrew said, "Right?"

Somah nodded.

TBC

What should happen on that ship? Do you like Andrew's new robot buddy?

Please rate and review.