CHAPTER TWELVE: EMERGENT BEHAVIOURS
They made their slow way into the 'secret vault' through the access panel the controls opened up. The air was a little ripe but seemed otherwise fine, apparently it was on a separate ventilation system out of necessity for when they 'gassed' the residents levels. They crossed down corridors with huge one-way glass observation windows into the Vault they'd just left along with control panels to make observations and control the local rooms.
"Well this isn't freaky at all." Jack muttered as he tried not to hear the domestic that was clearly happening in the room on the right as he walked past. Kind of comforting in a way though to think that couples still rowed about the 'normal' stuff.
"I guess they needed some way to observe their subjects in real time as well as isolating the exposure, they didn't want to wipe the entire population out in one go." Sam sneered, "There'd be no one left to test the next batch on." She sounded about as pleased with Vault-tec as he was right now.
"We have to just hope that the labs are in better condition than the rest of this vault though, or we might not find anything of use." Sam noted, looking at the general rubble and disrepair all around them. Apparently, the scientists hadn't been good at the general upkeep, or simply didn't have the resources or expertise to make the basic repairs. Or didn't care too Jack considered, they had been locked down here indefinitely after all, thing like that might dent your work ethic.
Dogmeat started to growl low and threatening and Jack raised the gun, the Dog didn't growl for nothing. As if on cue a bunch of molerats came bursting out of the rubble and these fuckers were big… and glowing. He darted back letting loose a spray of bullets. Short sharp bursts he focused as he swung around and caught the ones behind them. Dogmeat was darting about herding them more than attacking, which was working well enough as he pinned one down and Jack whipped out his pistol and put a single shot through its brain pan. Sam was fairing equally well as they stood almost back to back and held off the advancing swarm. It didn't take long, but it was intense and they were resilient. He thought Austin had done well to escape with all his limbs still attached if he was honest seeing these things. Their teeth were as long as his damn forearm on some of them.
"I hate these things." Sam muttered as she kicked one to check it was dead. It wasn't and it rounded jaws bared before she slammed her foot on its throat and put three bullets in its head, obliterating it in a slick move that once upon a time would have seemed impressive, but was sadly fairly routine now. He still thought it was sort of hot though, despite the situation, which was probably because they were both getting a bit warped out here. He was fairly sure that if they ever got back to Earth they wouldn't be passing any psyche evals straight away.
"You think there are more of them?" He asked not liking the oddly oppressive silence since everything was suddenly dead.
"Probably." Sam conceded. "This might have been just one pack. If they've been breeding down here for the last few decades, I dread to think how many there are." She looked around nervously and then glanced at her PipBoy, "I'm reading several clusters of heat signatures ahead and below." She indicated looking resigned to the idea of having to repeat this little horror show over and over.
Jack checked his watch. It had been an hour already since they'd left Austin. The Doc hadn't set a time frame but he got the impression that speed was of the essence. "We need to find a cure for the kid, we can do a full sweep and burn these little buggers out later if we have to."
Sam nodded happy to follow his lead. "The Overseer's terminal showed a number of labs in this direction." She said, pointing at her PipBoy, where she'd downloaded the floorplan by the looks of it. Honestly, he suspected that one of these days he was going to actually sit down and have to learn how she did half the crap she did, just in case he was stuck on his own.
They had to clear out several packs of the blighters before they reached the labs, there was a glass observation window and Jack whipped his rifle up in surprise as a robot floating inside appeared in the window, staring at them. This one looked a lot like Codsworth, only white all over, creepy robot eyestalks and all following them unnervingly.
"Ello." The robot intoned and Jack paused, surprised at the seemingly strong French very sultry female accent coming out of the thing. Perhaps he'd imagined it?
"Hi?" He queried, not lowering the gun from the glass, it seemed to have sealed itself inside a lab, Sam was eying the door panel and made a few unsuccessful attempts at opening it before coming to stand beside him.
"You are from Vault-tec perhaps?" The robot questioned again and he definitely wasn't imagining the French accent that seemed to give her a whole other character.
"Sure." Jack replied, "We're based over in Vault 111. Right over the way there." He pointed in the general direction of North West. "I'm Jack O'Neill, this here's Sam Carter, you want to let us in, we've got a sick kid in need of something to fix up a nasty molerat bite."
"I am Curie, but I am afraid I cannot do that." The robot Curie moved closer to the glass. "Alas I have the cure, but it is the last vial. But if the molerats have breached the surface they will wipe out all life, the plague they carry is deadly. They must be stopped."
Jack sighed. "Well, we've wiped out a tonne of them already. So how about you let us in, we get that cure off you, take it up to fix up the kid, then come back down here and finish exterminating the buggers, that suit?" He snapped off, time was a wasting, time Austin didn't' have.
"Non," The robot snapped. "That simply will not do. We must prevent the spread, the surface population cannot handle a pathogen like this, it will destroy civilisation as we know it. It is my prime directive whilst I am inside this facility, to prevent the spread at all costs." Curie it seemed wasn't budging.
Jack frowned but Sam as always was ten steps ahead. "You're the Contagions Vulnerability Robotic Infirmary Engineer aren't you 'Curie', the Nannybot that the scientist Collins reprogrammed to help as his lab assistant?" She asked stepping closer to the glass so that the robot could get a good look at her. Jack blinked… she was a what now? Seriously how did she know this stuff, he got the impression she only ever gave him the clip notes version of anything, which was starting to feel like a tactical weakness on his part.
"I am." The robot replied, clearly pleased to be known. "I have continued the work Dr Collins left me, and I have completed my cure for all known pathogens and diseases." Curie replied sounding almost proud, but then Jack had long since gotten used to the idea of these chrome-dome's emoting.
"Look, you've been down here a long time, 200 years, you do realise that civilisation is already destroyed?" Sam pointed out. The robot's eyes stalk moved and zeroed in on her.
"How can that be?" Curie uttered sounding genuinely surprised but hesitant as he imagined anyone would be.
"You have to know that the vault was activated due to a nuclear detonation on the surface. It's gone, there's literally nothing left up there."
"Were you not up there?" The robot pointed out, "And zis boy?" she replied, "Life has sustained, and life will be destroyed if it is released. Non. I must insist you sterilise the infected test molerat population before I can risk the last of the cure."
Sam gave Jack a look. He glanced at his watch. He wasn't sure how long this would take but the Doc had said to hurry. He looked back at the robot. "Just so we're clear, if that kid dies, I will get in there and turn you into scrap metal Curie. Nes pa?" He ended in his limited French, Dogmeat backed up that assessment with a vicious growl that perfectly accented Jack's mood.
This Curie robot seemed to rear backwards at the threat, like it genuinely hadn't anticipated that response. "I see. Then I 'av no choice but to accept your bargain." The robot replied and Jack nodded with a grimace, 'note to self, threatening robots doesn't work' he filed that away.
"Fine. Carter, we gotta take care of this anyway, let's be fast yeah." He gave her a significant look, she nodded and as a pair they fanned back out into the corridors.
"I'm not sure if it's the French or the robot part that makes me distrust that thing more." He growled as they made their way deeper into the dilapidated laboratory of this side of the vault and downed another group.
"Look at it from her perspective." Sam reasoned. "Collins and the other scientists created a super plague and stuffed it in those molerats. She's doing the right thing by insisting it gets destroyed before she risks the last of the cure. It's exactly the same quarantine procedure we've had to implement at… the SGC." She trailed off and Jack glanced at her, wondering if she'd been about to call the SGC home… and had not been able to bring herself to do it, or if it was just the thought of the place, the memories that had caused that sad thoughtful look to cross her face.
It seemed heartless but he couldn't let her be introspective right now, he needed her head here. "Why the hell doesn't she just make more?!" Jack groused, "I mean who the hell only creates one vial of a super cure?" Questions, even dumb ones were always his go too for getting undivided Carter attention, she never had been able to resist answering him.
Sam frowned, the sadness being replaced with something more calculating she bit her lip, "I imagine there may have been more, she probably used up the materials in the development of the plague and the cure. There had to have been limited resources down here, I imagine after 200 years whatever they were using would have run out – or it had an expiration date." She reasoned. It sounded logical to him.
Turns out distracting her with a problem was almost as dangerous as letting her be distracted with thoughts of home, as a molerat lunged at her leg. They were both too slow in reacting, the deliberate distraction he'd created biting him in the ass and Jack cursed himself as he saw it fly at her. He raised his rifle, a full clip in place and ready but he knew it was going to be too slow as his stomach clenched with dread and adrenalin pumped in the seconds it took for him to orientate. Dogmeat was faster, putting himself between the molerat and Sam's leg. The howl the poor dog let out as the thing sunk its teeth deep into it's flesh sounded far too human and agonised. Jack changed his aim, going for central mass so not to hit Dogmeat, as the wounded dog turned snapping his huge jaws and taking the molerats neck nearly clean off. But the damage was done. His pulse pounded and his hands shook with adrenalin as Sam skidded to a halt next to the dog.
In seconds her hand was clasped over the wound on his neck trying to stem the flow of blood. "Shit." She hissed as the dog whimpered and snapped at her half-heartedly. She shushed it, brushing its head and insisting it lay still as she picked it up trying to keep pressure on the wound, but the sheer amount of fur clearly hindering her.
"Get back to the labs I saw a surgical table in there and supplies, we can stitch him up." Jack ordered.
"What about the disease?" She asked looking pale as she cradled the bleeding dog in her arms and he knew her guilt, that this poor animal had maybe just sacrificed itself for her, was weighing heavier than the actual animal in her arms.
"Let's hope dgs are immune." He snapped. "How many that thing say are left down here." He asked and she unwrapped the PipBoy from her arm and tossed it to him.
"One more cluster, that way, roughly a dozen of the things."
Jack nodded snapping it onto his wrist and noting the heat signatures around them – damn that was handy. "I say we do this the old-fashioned way," he unclipped his grenades. "Get him out of here I'll sort this."
"Jack. Make sure you avoid…" She started to say and he cut her off, knowing where her head was at.
"Structural supports… yeah, I got it big concrete block underground." He replied, nodding, it sadly wasn't his first rodeo using explosives in a bunker either.
Sam ran with Dogmeat in her arms, hearing his pants and mewls as he struggled to breathe around the blood she knew was pooling, he was starting to grow stiller and heavy in her arms as she skidded into the labs. Curie was stood behind her glass as Sam dropped Dogmeat onto the gurney.
"What is it, what has happened?" The white floating robot pressed from her secured location.
Sam ignored her. Shoving aside the useless crap and grabbing the lab materials that seemed to have been left, she found alcohol, gauze, gaffa tape. She turned back to his wound, dousing it and relieved that the poor thing seemed to be unconscious at least.
"Allow me?" Sam nearly jumped out of her skin when she realised the white robot was floating directly beside her. She had her appendages out, one of which was clearly a scalpel. Sam glanced back at the sealed lab closed behind her and then at Curie again.
"The cure is safely inside, but I cannot let zis poor creature die. Not when I 'av the means to help." She replied and gently but firmly moved Sam aside as she began stitching the dog up, cleaning the wound and doing a better job than Sam ever would have and Sam was more than a little grateful, guilt ate at her, Dogmeat had saved her life, again possibly for the last time. But apparently, this robot had been programmed to care, which seemed almost cruel given the function of this vault, either way she was grateful for it.
"What about the disease, the plague?" Sam questioned watching her work with a huge amount of skill and speed. Faintly awed by how something so clunky in design, little more than pistons and gears, could be so precise with its limited coding function. But clearly based on the personality that Curie seemed to be sporting and what she'd pulled from Collin's records about how these machines were created, she was starting to suspect that 'memory' stamping played a bigger part than any code could hope to in the robots actual functioning.
"The disease the molerats carried is designed to affect human populations only. This is a Dog non?" Curie turned to look at her, as if wanting reassurance she had the right animal, because clearly she'd never seen one before. Sam nodded and Curie returned to her work. "He will live, but he will not be as he was, there will be side effects. Lethargy perhaps, but the virus was not meant for his species, it will not survive in this host, he will not be contagious."
Sam breathed a sigh of relief, "Good, he's a good boy, he's saved my life, twice now. I think he's earned his retirement." Sam patted his blooded fur gently; the big German Shephard had grown on her in ways she'd never thought possible. "A big farmhouse, lots of food and cuddles, big bed out in the sun and roaches for him to chase." She stroked his nose and dropped her head to him for a moment whilst Curie worked. He gave her a nuzzle, but he was almost too tired to move she realised and his breathing was laboured.
"You sure he'll be okay?" She asked again one last time and Curie gave her an affirmative sound. "I need to go help Jack, I'll be back." She grabbed her rifle, glanced one last time at Dogmeat being stitched up by the robotic Curie and broke into a run, she wasn't about to lose anyone else on this little field trip to the Vault, which had been her idea to begin with. Certainly not Jack, she didn't want to let her mind consider what would happen if it came down to a choice between Jack and Austin and the last vial of the damn cure. And she really didn't want to put him in that position either.
An explosion rocked her and she hurried, dust and debris billowing around a corner as she found him at the far end of the ruined vault, knee deep in the bastards as he quietly put bullets in anything still twitching. She came to a panting halt and it was a sign of how intense it was because he levelled a gun on her and she put her hands up, letting him calm for a moment, the adrenalin having turned his eyes into black coals that burned with awareness and intensity. He took a beat and lowered his rifle, keeping it to the ground but not sliding the safety on just yet. But he looked whole and intact as she scanned him desperately for signs of bites or scratches, hating that she had left him alone down here.
"Your okay?" She gasped, eyeing once more just how many he'd taken out and scarcely believing he was. He nodded grimly, looking her over and deciding that he clearly couldn't tell if she was from all the blood that she realise coated her and was even now dripping from her fingertips. Dogmeat's blood.
He hurried over, stepping on the bodies with a particular relish she thought as he caved in a skull with his boot and raised a hand to her, his eyes checking once more that the blood wasn't hers.
"I think that's all of them." He nodded, lifting his arm, and she helped, toggling through the setting and finding no other heat signatures, except for theirs and the one back in the lab which meant Dogmeat was still alive at least.
"How's Dogmeat?" he asked the concern pinching his features and his voice. His hand went to her arm, curling around her bicep as if he needed the connection, the surety for a moment.
"He'll live I think, thank God. Seems you were right, that virus isn't meant for dogs, but he won't be as spry as before. Curie's patching him up." She confirmed and he nodded, relief and regret warring across his features and she reached out and pressed a kiss to his cheek, letting their foreheads rest together for a moment of calm amidst the horror around them. "He saved my life." She admitted darkly. "Again."
"Dog needs a damn medal," Jack agreed, "You realise that's like three we owe him, directly." Jack pointed out then as if realising how scary a damn thought that was, he was cupping her cheeks and kissing her hard and fast, then just as suddenly he pulled back and stifled a sound that she realised sounded unnervingly like a stifled croak of emotion as he burying his nose in her temple.
"This Wasteland is going to kill us, you realise." He rasped quietly and she sighed, dropping her head to his chest.
"Then let's keep making it a challenge at least." Sam replied grimly, suspecting he was probably right. One day their luck had to run out.
Curie it seemed was more than happy to part with the cure once they had confirmed that they had destroyed the infected molerats, which they were able to confirm with the scans from her Pip-Boy. Jack was paying them little apparent attention, although she suspected he'd heard every word as he stood hunched over the lab bench, his hand out soothing through Dogmeat's fur, who was still asleep, apparently Curie had given him something to knock him out, along with an anti-scratch collar. Like the one's dogs used to get from the vets. Apparently working with animals down here had its unexpected benefits now.
Curie had one request though, which seemed to peeve Jack given as he clearly thought that holding out on the kids cure was a dick move and meant any such 'requests' from her ought to be ignored on principle.
"I would like your permission to leave the Vault." She asked Sam firmly.
Sam frowned. "Why do you need our permission?"
"As vault-tec employees I require your permission if I wish to leave this place, I cannot do so alone. I wish to explore this new world out there, to help where I can and put all that I know to good use." Curie implored, but she was barking up the wrong tree.
"I got bad news for you, we don't work for Vault-tec." Jack spoke up, shrugging.
Curie's eye pieces roamed over them. "I am sorry. My auditory sensors may be malfunctioning, but I believe I heard you grant me permission to leave this vault after all these years, alone."
Sam smirked and Jack snorted. "Yeah, pretty sure that's what I said." Sam muttered, you had to admire a robot with moxie. Although it's or rather her, somewhat liberal ability to play fast and loose with programming rules gave Sam pause.
"Knock yourself out, Wastelands real fun place for a stroll." Jack offered a little unfairly Sam thought, the robot after all had been following a protocol that she herself tended to agree with, and she had saved Dogmeat's life and she had the damn cure.
"Jack." Sam admonished and she gave him a pointed, 'play nicely' look her eyes lingering on Dogmeat to get her point across and he rolled his eyes with a muttered 'fine.'
"Do I need to remind you that a kids dying upstairs whilst we waste time discussing whose going where?" he growled, and Sam sighed he was right of course, but that didn't always excuse his bloody-mindedness rudeness and not with a robot that had real value not just to them but potentially the vault. But Curie seemed to be ignoring him, focused entirely on her, as if understanding that Jack was not her best bet, and probably recalling his promise to dismember her if Austin died.
"Look, you should head North West to a town called Sanctuary," Sam offered ignoring Jack's clearly harried, disapproving look. "they've got a Mr Handy there who would love to meet you and a nice group of people bunch of people in need of a good doctor." She added "If you wanted to get out of the Vault that is." Although she suspected the people upstairs would have preferred she stayed on here.
"I would prefer to accompany you for a little while, if you would allow it?" Curie replied firmly, "I feel like you may be in need of my services more than a group of settlers." Her French accent was certainly soothing, Sam smiled gently, but she knew a woman using her wiles when she heard it and she realised she might have to watch the robot for the same damn thing, however ridiculous that sounded. But then maybe it wasn't so ridiculous, she'd been duped by her own robotic duplicate in the same way, playing on her sympathies and expectations of what she 'thought' she knew. Just because Curie looked like a flying toaster with a medical licence didn't mean she wasn't sophisticated enough to pull one over them.
"If your both done. Let's get this damn cure to Austin first and put your money where your mouth is so to speak!" Jack snapped and picked up their dog gently, cradling him in his arms like a child and Sam tried not to let the sight affect her too much, it was after all just a dog, but the impression stuck and she followed them glad to see the back of this side of the vault.
The Doctor's at Austin's bedside were more than a little hesitant to believe what they were saying and to let a random former Nanny-bot from a supposedly 'secret vault' inject an unidentified 'cure' into Austin which had been grown out of the testing on molerats.
"Look what choice do you have?" Jack snapped clearly aware time was wasting. "Like we said, this vault was one big sham, she's from the secret labs that were designed to use you lot as Guinea pigs. She has a cure for Austin, step aside and let her give him the damn thing!" Jack gesticulated, he'd give the kid the damn cure himself if they didn't. He pointed sharply at the lab coated Doc.
"I didn't just put our asses and get my damn dog almost killed for you to stand there and let him die." Jack snarled, the threat in his voice quite real as he placed Dogmeat's unconscious bloodied body, down on the other gurney pointedly.
Dr Forsythe hesitated. His mother Dr Penske did not, she whipped the vial out of his hand and loaded up a syringe. She glanced at Curie. "All of it?" She asked no nonsense.
"Oui. A full dose for a child. An adult perhaps half would do." Dr Penske's lip trembled and Curie seemed confused as to the hesitation, perhaps not as good at reading human emotions as Sam had thought, because she clearly didn't understand a mother's fear.
"It will work, I have spent over 100 years perfecting it." Curie insisted a hint of impatience and frustration in her tone that her work was being questioned. Pride then, another emotion to add to the list. And Sam suspected curiosity, the robot wanted to know it worked she was almost certain she was picking that up from her.
But the assurance was good enough for his mother apparently as she stuck Austin with the hard won cure. Sam winced. Experimental cures were never fun and she'd had her fair share.
There was nothing to do after that, but sit and wait.
Sam hadn't left the room, not in the last two hours, observing everything with Curie beside her, asking questions as the Doctor and his mother confirmed that Austin's vitals were stabilising and with relief they announced that his fever had finally broken. Dr Penske looked up from his bedside, stroking his sweat soaked brow, she gave Sam a nod then leant forward and hugged Austin to her, sobbing gently as it became apparent that he was going to live. The sight was too personal and the pain to raw as Sam looked away, focusing instead on her own family crisis it seemed.
Dogmeat was in a different room off to the side, Preston and Jack were sat with him when she came in and she was relieved to see that the dog was awake and getting a lot of attention. Apparently as the only patient able to receive visitors he was getting the 'hero's' treatment. The Sommersets had been by with some of the last of the vaults fresh meat for him as a thank you gesture for his role in saving Austin and putting his life on the line. Perhaps one good thing had come from this and the Vault dwellers might start trusting outsiders a little more. Maybe even consider becoming a part of society again, such as it was. But it was another link in the Minutemen's chain. Preston and Jack seemed pleased at least with that, after all a vault and its group were a useful addition to their network and despite what the Vault had been intended for, these were good people.
Gwen approached her and they exchanged small talk. She seemed to have been in the dark even as the Overseer, but not entirely surprised about the 'secret Vault' and it's willingness to experiment on its own people. Apparently, she'd been warned by her predecessor that it was important that they remained moral, that the vaults survival and that of its residents was paramount. But with Austin's slow but steady recovery, and the connections they had to offer it seemed like Gwen was willing to extend an invitation to them to stay.
At the very least they insisted they take them up on the offer of a room of their own right here in the vault, indefinitely. Theirs if and when they wanted it. Somewhere clean and dry, with working plumbing and clean water, safe from radiation and anything that might attack them; as nothing was getting through that big ass vault door unless it was invited in. Not now they'd taken care of the molerats. Sam considered it, after all it was a truly safe haven, a place where they weren't responsible for everything, and everyone, just somewhere to lay their heads and eat a meal with people they could trust not to stab them in the back. It would be good to have somewhere like this to come visit every now and again she realised.
Sam shook the Overseer's hand and accepted it in a heartbeat. Friends were hard to come by out here, even fewer of them were worth it, she got the feeling that they'd just found one of the few in Gwen.
They agreed to stick around for a few more days, Preston was clearly far less comfortable with the idea of staying in the Vault than they were, apparently living underground wasn't for him and he kept to himself, mostly hanging around the canteen and talking to folks there, spreading the word about the Minutemen and something of General Jack's legend as she caught the tail-end of it, receiving a few pats on the back from the suddenly far more welcoming population. It helped that Austin was doing so well, his recovery quicker than anyone expected, within just a few hours he seemed to be regaining his colour and his vitals were stabilising. Curie whilst clearly eager to leave was also more than happy to watch the culmination of 200 years of work in action with her cure. She'd also given Dr Forsythe and Dr Penske all her research uploading it into their databanks so that they could potentially recreate it if needed once they had the supplies. Although without knocking off a high-tec research facility Sam thought some of Curie's shopping list might be stretching their means, but you never knew. Perhaps if they really could get the Minutemen going properly they could make re-taking one of the big pharma labs and getting it up into production again a priority. A cure for 'every' known disease would certainly be handy out here. Although what was known 200 years ago and now probably had resulted in a bit of a gap.
Jack spent most of the time in sickbay entertaining Austin and keeping Dogmeat company. They'd moved them both into the same room now that Austin was awake and out of the woods and the dog seemed to be cheering him up. The boy had clearly been feeling down on waking and worried about how his actions were going to look in such a small population. But Sam didn't think he had much to worry about. Bobby DeLuca on the other hand had been tossed into one of the lab rooms and Curie and Dr Forsythe had stuck him with something called 'addictol' which was like an all-body flush, to cleanse his system. Between the two of them and a rather pissed off Tina and Holt it looked like he might get clean or find himself out on his ass for endangering them all and not letting them know about the backdoor he'd found in their highly secure vault.
Sam entered the infirmary and Curie glided over to her. "Samantha, it is good to see you." She purred in her French accent and Sam beamed at her.
"Likewise." They exchanged pleasantries, which was odd she realised only after given as one of them was a giant white flying robot-ball, and Sam asked after both patient's who Curie was able and happy clearly to report were doing well, but either the robot didn't want to, or couldn't hide her clear anxiety.
"We will be going soon oui?" she pressed, getting in Sam's personal space, her insistence alarming, but Sam understood the sentiment, after all if she'd been locked in the same damn rooms for 200 years, she'd imagine she'd want 'out' in a big way too. Given the extra time they'd had to discuss it, Sam now had a much better understanding of exactly 'what' Curie was, apparently she wasn't wrong this world really did seem to attempt to stamp human personality profile's into the robots, in the form of memories – compiled from journals and recollections, even brain scans. She supposed if your computer coding language was that rudimentary or they were that resistant to AI's which seemed the case, then it was the next available option, even if it did freak her out a little. The idea that this robot's 'brain' so to speak, was made up of so many of the worlds greatest 'big' thinkers, including her namesake Madame Curie; well it was as fascinating as it was horrifying. Sam couldn't help but feel a stab of pity for the robot, she imagined Curie must have felt utterly trapped in here void of stimulation that her vast and she imagined chaotic intellects thrived on. She had to admit she found the clear personality that had developed from this mish-mash as alarming as Codsworth's butler-esque subservience and clear neurosis. It was strange, of all the robots she had met, all the androids AIs, that it was these strange floating balls of metal who were clearly 'robots' that would seem the most real to her, aping humanity more exactly than anything back home had ever claimed. Not even Fifth had emulated a fully fledged personality so well. It made her wonder what the hell these Synth's everyone was so worried about would be like. She imagined with their luck she'd meet one soon enough, if she hadn't already… given their apparent tendency to 'blend in'.
Returning to the conversation and the clearly anxious French-robot-woman, "Soon." Was all she could offer as she patted her on her white metallic chest in what she hoped was a supportive manner, Curie nodded seemingly accepting that and fell back letting her approach Dogmeat. Sam ran her fingers through his fur, ruffling it up and getting a good lick for her troubles as she dropped her head to his nose and let him snuffle at her, making sure she was fine. Just like Jack she noted, only he had slightly more decorum than to actually sniff her… at least in public. Speaking of the man in question, his hand grazed hers and his eyes lit up as she approached. She slid her hands onto his shoulders and gave them an affectionate squeeze as he reached up and held them there his head dropping back into her chest.
"We've been given a room, I think we should use it, I'm beat." She murmured. She knew he had to be too, sleeping on an armchair or the gurney last night won't have been good for his back. Dogmeat whimpered though.
"You need to stay here boy." She patted him. Keep Austin company." She added and the Dog let out a whuff and lay his head back down on his paws, he looked dejected on his gurney, with a blanket she'd found wrapped around him, but his eyes were fixed on the boy who looked delighted if a little sleepy. Jack nodded and patted both the boy and the dog affectionately, slipping the dog what Sam thought looked like a 'donapple', before they headed back to the room.
The door closed and Sam turned, about to speak only to find Jack literally upon her, his hand went to her cheek and she almost inhaled his tongue with the sudden intensity of his kiss as he pressed his body into her, crushing her close. His hands were almost biting in their intensity as he gripped her hips and she let out a yelp of surprise as he hoisted her up and pressed her into the nearest wall with a 'thunk' that winded her for a moment. Then he stopped, going completely still as he held her there, his one hand cradling the back of her head, their noses brushing.
"I thought I asked you to stop trying to die on me!" He rasped, she expected anger, the fury and adrenalin of before but this was worse, he looked tired… worried, like he'd aged a decade in a few days. This wasn't even that close a call… but perhaps it was just simply one too many in recent days.
"Hey." She rasped and caught his face, seeing his shutters going down as she pressed a soft kiss to his lips, and touched her forehead to his. She didn't say anything else, what could she say, their lives out here were one accident, or bad call away from dying either horribly or pointlessly quite possibly both. Neither appealed but it was the truth of life out here. And that was why they had to take every moment they had together. She'd never been entirely on board with the whole idea of 'living each day like it was your last', that kind of thinking tended to be a way of justifying reckless behaviour, but out here it wasn't just an idea or a motto, it was a way of life.
She kissed him firmly, trying to press the idea that she was 'alive' into him as she began shirking off their clothes. He wasn't his usual self, quiet and introspective instead and she was the one taking the lead this time as she pushed his shirt off him and took the time to run her hands all over his skin, never wanting that to get old. Trying to connect with him and bring him back from the dark place she could see he'd retreated into, as his black eyes followed her with the kind of burning intensity that she'd used to feel from across a room. He was rigid as she pressed her lips to his chest, tracing the hardened planes of his abs, the Wastelander diet sculpting him into something else, something not quite a solider, not anymore. She wrestled with his belt, unclipping it and sliding his pants down, he was commando of course out here where underwear was a special kind of luxury. His dick sprung up hard and weeping, and she wrapped her hand around him and pressed her mouth back to his, there were no words, just silence and the sound of their rasped breaths as she touched him.
She slid down his body, trailing a path of kisses as she went, her hands grasping the toned globes of his ass as she got down on her knees. He was thick and so hard as she breathed over the head watching it twitch, as excitement pooled in her belly and made her thighs clench. His sharp inhale and clench of his cheeks gave him away as she slid him into her mouth without hesitation. He bucked when her tongue hit the tip and she tugged him harder by his ass drawing more of him in as she learnt the taste and feel of him for the first time like this. She opened her eyes at the touch to her face, nothing so pedestrian as holding the back of her hair, Jack touched her jaw with his index finger, gently, reverently in something like wonder, which was in direct contrast with the blistering desire that she saw in his eyes. She tried to show him with every touch of her tongue and her hands to his body that she loved him, loved that she could do this for him now. That maybe there wasn't a guarantee out here but she could give him this, give him her, for as long as they had. He came hard and she kept him inside her mouth, the first time he'd let himself come like this, and she took all of him. He let out a sound that was close to a groan as she slipped him from her mouth and kissed along the length of him. Her heart pounding, no man had ever made her feel this damn alive or grateful in some weird way, to be giving them a blowjob.
"I love you Jack." She kissed up to his pelvis and dropped her head to his abdomen as he slid his fingers into her hair and held her there his breathing heavy as he caressed her. He wasn't soothed she could tell, nor sated, she could feel the tension practically vibrating through him, the clench of his abdominals as she slid her hand back along them and got to her feet. She reached down and took his hand without a word guiding him to the bed… the honest to god, not covered in filth, freshly laundered bed with fluffy pillows and clean sheets. Sam pushed gently against his chest and he followed her instruction, pliant for once and eerily silent as he stared up at her as he sat on the edge of the bed, naked and so hauntingly beautiful. Not that she imagined he'd appreciate her saying that, but she'd always found him to be. Her hand stroked over his newly shaved, smooth cheek and chin, and her fingers slid through his tightly and only recently cropped hair that she hadn't yet had chance to comment on.
"I like it." She murmured, "Perhaps I should give this barber a visit." She smirked and he tugged her by her waist forward, his hands circling her ass and buried his head against her chest.
"Don't you touch those blonde locks." He muttered and she smirked. She knew how attached he was 'growing' to her now shoulder length hair at night as they curled up together, he seemed to find it relaxing to run his fingers through it. It certainly relaxed her so she wasn't going to complain about his recent fascination, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun.
"I was thinking of going brunette." She smirked and he tightened his grip on her ass, parting her legs and peeling off her trousers as he went until he had dragged her down onto his lap. Her attempt to lighten the moment wearing thin she realised as he took a fistful of the still blonde hair and pressed a kiss to it.
"Not the hair Sam." He murmured his 'please' unspoken and she sighed sensing whilst he was playing it off as a joke, he meant it, almost like that would be a change to far for his whispering sanity. She dropped a kiss to his clean-shaven chin. She was a sucker when he rasped her name like that, she wondered just what he could make her do with that voice, that tone… and her name on his lips.
"Fine. I'll get a tattoo instead. How does 'Jarheads rule' strike you… I was thinking right here." She stroked the top of her breast and he dropped his lips to kiss the skin there, before sucking the skin into his mouth hard enough to mark and ignored her teasing as he clutched her closer to his chest until every inch of their bodies were in contact.
"How about an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph," he smirked up at her, "one that says 'lucky SOB', cause that's what anyone… reading it is, namely me?" He quipped and sucked a nipple into his mouth gently caressing the opposite breast as she arched her back and gave him more. It was a good line and she moaned at the feel of him slowly hardening again between her legs with almost breathless anticipation.
She clutched the back of his head to her, her fingers scraping across his scalp through his shorter hair and making him moan around her nipple, sending the sensation straight down to curl her toes. He was good at that she lamented, knowing just how many nights she'd lain awake wondering how he'd touch her, and if he'd approach it with the same level of skill and precision as he did every other delicate physical task she'd seen him perform. She wasn't and hadn't been disappointed since finding out, although she figured they still had a lot of exploring to do. This time, he slipped between her legs into position like an answer to a prayer she hadn't been aware she'd made and she instantly rolled her hips taking him fully inside and then deeper as she locked her legs around his waist guiding his movements in this position. Jack seemed content to slide his hands over her as she rocked their bodies together, lifting up and off him enough to make him clench and tremble with restraint as she dropped back into his lap over and over. It was the first time they'd had a measure of safety and privacy to do this and she relished the chance to take it slow and explore each other together. If they did get back, she'd never underestimate the wonder that was a lockable door and a clean bed. Or internal plumbing for that matter.
He bucked up distracting her from her thoughts as she kissed his mouth swallowing the sound he made as she teased one more orgasm out of him, he gripped her tightly his arms wound fast around her body as he simply held her there, trembling around him her body still throbbing with need, as he softened inside of her. She hadn't come, but then this position wasn't ever going to do it for her, this had been about Jack.
"I love you." She told him quietly, pressing a kiss to his temple as he held her and she clung to him, letting the idea that she'd been a bite away from death today reach her for a moment as she tightened her hold on him. The trembling started in her hands first as she let herself feel it, the adrenalin and shock finally wearing off not from just today, but maybe from that damn Supermutant as well. It felt like she was constantly having to get her head around the latest life-threatening escape.
She buried her head in his neck, simply inhaling the calming earthy scent that was all him. She hadn't realised she was crying until she pulled her head back to find his neck was wet and he gently moved them so that he was lying her down on the bed. His hand rose to cup her face as he lay down beside her.
He didn't say anything, just locked those impossible eyes of his on her and traced his fingertips over her body. Finding the marks and scars that had come with their new life here with a tenderness she'd always suspected he was capable of. He mapped the path of their recent battles and tried to soothe the fears they both held away. His hand found her inner thighs and she closed her eyes responding to his gentle insistence as she parted them that little more for him. He took his time, touching and teasing, never quite where she wanted, tears continued to slip from her eyes and she wiped them hastily away, not certain why she was crying, only that the outpouring of emotion she felt bubbling inside of her was slightly terrifying.
"I've got you." He rasped pressing a kiss to her abdomen. Slowly, slowly enough that she was clutching her hair into fists as he lowered a path of kisses across the soft thatch of hair between her legs and then to her inner thigh. It was exquisite torture and she felt almost electrified the pressure that hadn't exploded building up again to a head as she arched up desperate for his touch. Aching for the relief and the connection that only he seemed to be able to offer. When his lips finally found her there, she keened, her mouth falling open as she tried to hold onto the sound but it escaped her close to a sob. She hadn't realised how much she'd wanted to feel him like this, or let him feel her.
"Oh God." She managed, her one hand shooting down to clutch at his hair holding him there, finding she preferred it when she'd had a little more to grab onto. His hands weren't idle either, sliding over her calves as she bent her legs up beside his head, tracing the paths of her thighs and her hips, one settling between her legs whilst he raised the other to gently brush her breast. It was then, in that exact moment that she knew she had been fooling herself for years, she didn't want anyone else, couldn't 'settle' for anyone else. The feel of Jack, the man she admired and trusted in just about every way being the one with his head between her shaking legs, making her breath hitch and her stomach flutter, was beyond wish fulfilment. Of course, everything else about this reality royally sucked, but this part was pretty damn amazing.
She felt every inch of his tongue and his touch against her and the man didn't disappoint. He'd promised her on the roof as she bit down hard on her lip and he swallowed the sound with his mouth, that she'd scream one day when they had a nice, lockable, room, the soundproof vault walls were a bonus apparently.
"Oh God Jack!" she managed to gasp out again when his fingers slid into her and he all but growled sending the sound thundering through her and she let out a sharp cry of near relief and surprise at the feel of teeth faintly, then she clenched sharply and unexpectedly around him. Her orgasm hitting her hard and powerfully until her whole body trembled as she bucked through it his hands holding her firm his lips drawing every single sensation out of her until she was gasping and clutching at him trying to draw him up.
"Jack." She managed her voice breathless trying to put into words what she felt.
"Sam baby." He murmured, holding her hips tightly as he pressed kisses all along her inner thigh and then gently up her abdomen to her bellybutton. She wasn't much into pet names, let alone letting someone call her 'baby' but when Jack did, in that deep rumble as he pressed himself across her body and sucked deeply on her neck, his hand rising to cup her face as he all but enveloped her, she found it hard to argue, hell she found it hard to think straight with his mouth on her skin.
"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." He drew her lips to his and kissed her thoroughly, until she all but sank into the mattress boneless.
"I have a fair idea." She rasped, having thought something along those same lines as she'd sunk to her knees earlier. He smiled gently as he stroked her hair from her face and they slowly stilled until they were breathing one another in, nose to nose. His eyes found hers and her breath caught, she read about a thousand things in those eyes and she lifted her hand to stroke his cheek, adoring him a little more.
"We did a good thing here." She told him, needing him to believe that again.
"I know." He murmured, and in typical Jack O'Neill style she had no idea if he was agreeing with her, or humouring her.
"I made you scream." He winked and pressed a kiss to her temple, nuzzling her ear.
"A little one." She admitted. "Barely even." She teased and he chuckled.
"If that's you challenging me again I concede. I'm an old man, you're going to kill me." He sighed and rolled off her and onto his back. "And yes, the irony of me and you and 'too' much sex is not lost on me." He groused sliding his hand into hers and lacing their fingers.
"I wasn't going to mention it."
"Good." He hummed and closed his eyes. "Because that would be a cliché."
They stayed in the Vault another 2 days, long enough for Austin to spring back as kids often did and for Dogmeat not to. It pained Sam every time she looked at him as he limped over to her to bury his head in her lap panting from exhaustion, that he'd taken this blow for her. He'd never be the same, the disease had spared his life but he was almost crippled with weakness and a bum leg now. In the end, they made the only decision she could live with. Dogmeat was staying in the Vault, where it was safe, and he got a regular diet and a lot of fuss and love. His Wasteland days were over.
"It's retirement buddy." Jack had sighed, patting him and nuzzling against his neck. "You've earned it. So many times. I have no idea how the hell we're going to keep our asses alive out there without you."
Dogmeat licked him thoroughly, but Sam could see it in the poor creature's weary expression that it knew its days outside were done. Fortunately, he had Austin, the boy looked like Christmas had come early when Jack had sat them both down together and told them in no uncertain terms that they were to keep one another alive and well down here until he next came back to visit.
"You want me to look after your dog?" Austin asked, his eyes wide but he was grinning and staring at the beautiful German Shepard. Even with that ridiculous cone collar on Sam could appreciate the aesthetic, he was a beautiful dog, which was a miracle considering what everything else looked like out there. Sam wondered if he hadn't been bred somewhere like this, away from the damage of the surface and sold up and out.
"Look we had this rule, back in the day. Every kid had to have a dog." Jack started and Sam felt a smile curving her lips at the old memory. Fond and painful though it was to remember Cassie and to think how she and Janet were getting on without her. Jack leant in close to the kid.
"I noticed that no one seems to be following that rule. Thought you could do something about that for me."
Austin smiled, and patted his arm. "I'll take good care of him, I promise. You'll come by and visit us won't you? When he's a little better, maybe you could take us outside, I'd love to see some of the creatures you told us about!"
Jack's smile dimmed a little. "No, you wouldn't kid trust me, I don't even want to have seen them. Look, Dogmeat will keep you safe, like he's kept us safe since we ran into him out there and he adopted us. Won't you boy?" Jack looked at the dog and there was a silent command there. Sam felt him give a whuff of exhaled air, almost a sigh and she patted his side, burying her fingers in his thick fur, realising it might be the last time she could because he wouldn't be their dog after this. Although she suspected somehow, he'd always be Jack's dog and that when they came back every now and again she imagined he'd be just as eager to see them and let her hold him like this.
"Of course he will." Sam hugged Dogmeat close for a minute.
"He's a good soldier, they follow orders, even if they hurt." She would know after all she thought as she pressed a kiss to his fur. "Thank you for keeping me safe." She hummed and he gave her a parting lick and nuzzle before she had to forcefully drag herself away from the dog before she couldn't. She couldn't quite believe she'd let herself get so attached to an animal, especially out here; but he'd saved her life and on more than one occasion she'd awoken to find him wrapped around the two of them; silently and diligently staring into the night, guarding them as they slept. They'd never find another dog like this. But he deserved a place where he could rest and live out his days in peace.
"We'll come visit." Jack smiled, meaning it she knew, after all they had a nice setup here and an offer of a warm bed. "But he's your dog now, you hear. You treat him right!" It was a command and the boy straightened at that and Sam smiled thinly, Jack couldn't help but give them.
"I promise." Austin's eyes were wide and hopeful on the dog who gave a whuff of agreement nuzzling into Austin's proffered hand. He'd always been a quick study, ingratiating himself with his new adoptive parent.
"His names Dogmeat." Sam offered. "But he responds just fine to Dog. And he likes it when you tuck your fingers into his fur, right here." She showed him. With a watery smile for the boy, that was all she could manage before tears threatened and she made a hasty retreat from the infirmary and out towards the vault doors before she was collared by anyone else asking for supplies of this and that from outside. She wasn't sure when they'd be back but she hoped that it wouldn't be too long. But time had a way of slipping out here even as it seemed to stand still.
They left Vault 81 with one member down, but full bellies, a bed to come back to and a new robot medic. Jack even had a brand new Pip-Boy courtesy of Dr Jacobs as a thank you for their 'pristine' blood and DNA samples. Now that they both had them, she could link it to hers and ping his location so that they'd never have to lose one another out here again -at least within a minimum range of a few clicks, which she might be able to improve if she could get back to that satellite array they'd found North of Sanctuary. She even thought she might be able to rig some sort of communication between the two if she had enough time using the radio. It had been worth it she mused and Sam felt a small sense of accomplishment and pride for once in what they'd managed to achieve here. She just hoped that Diamond City, the Emerald Jewel of the Commonwealth wouldn't destroy that fragile hope she'd just started rebuilding in humanity.