A/N: 500 clicks is approximate for the Geiger reading around the crash site. 300-ish is the reading that favorite professor of mine I mentioned earlier got off a chunk of uranium ore through its glass container in a class demonstration. The chemistry department keeps it in a lead box normally, or did while I was there.

Chapter 45

"This is it," Xen said, staring up at the wall of dirt and gravel and slabs of concrete. It was too thick for her to read any heat signatures from the other side.

"How do we get in?" Bell asked.

"There used to be a gap at the top," Xen said. "I climbed over it to get out."

"Huh," said the gynoid. "Well, if you give me a few minutes I can probably dig through it." Charon stood scanning up and down the main tunnel, apparently ignoring them both.

"But then you might get shot on the other side," Xen said. "If anyone gets through there, I need to go first - "

She halted at a loud scraping noise from the other side of the mound.

"Sounds like the roach did have a camera," Bell said. "I'd move back if I were you. Whatever that is doesn't sound like it was built for digging."

Xen ran back to the main wall of the tunnel. The others followed her. She turned just in time to be knocked flat by a large body as the explosion shook the tunnel. Debris rained down around them as Charon crouched over her, supported by both knees and one elbow as he tried to protect his head with the other arm. She heard a grunt as a fist-sized chunk of concrete bounced off his upper back. She had lost sight of Bell.

The rain of junk only lasted a few seconds. Charon rose easily and offered her a hand up. Xen allowed herself to be pulled upright. Bell stood between them and the wall, the net bag on the ground behind her. She was holding a jagged piece of cement slightly larger than her own head.

"Now that could've left a mark," Bell said. "Whoever's in there, I don't think much of their concept of problem-solving."

"The sentries aren't very bright," Xen said apologetically. She had scraped her left palm a little. She wiped the bits of dirt and gravel off on her pants leg, leaving a black scrape mark but no actual bleeding.

Going to leave a bruise, though. First things first.

She approached the wall of junk, which was now broken by a five-foot opening near the ceiling. "Recognize voice command and state ID," she called through her cupped hands. The sound echoed through the tunnel around her. "Anyone in there?"

"Voiceprint recognized," said a familiar flat voice from the other side. "Identification: Michelle. I have been instructed to convey the following: Welcome home, Xen."

"Thanks," Xen said around the lump in her throat. "I have one organic and one inorganic person with me. Prepare to accept new targeting parameters and pass them on to Stephanie and Tawnee. You'll see the inorganic first."

"Acknowledged."

"Bell?" Xen said.

"Right," said Bell. She dropped the chunk of cement, picked up the net, and started up the little hill. She was a little unbalanced by the additional weight, but she made it up without slipping very much. She squatted in the low opening for a moment, looking at what was on the other side.

"Gynoid unit added to targeting exceptions," said Michelle's voice. "Please state an identification for yourself."

"I'm B2-09," said Bell. "Call me Bell."

"B2-09 secondary ID Bell accepted. Voice print and IR signature logged."

"Follow me up," Xen said to Charon. He nodded. She turned to climb up. It was easier than she remembered, even with Bell helping her scramble the last couple of feet to the top.

So at least I've gotten a little stronger.

Bell took the net bag and half-slid down the other side to the ground. She was not as graceful as the A3 unit had been; less, in fact, than Charon would be, Xen was sure. She narrowly missed Michelle, and then only because the sentry bot rolled aside at the last minute. Bell dusted herself off casually as Xen watched. She wasn't quite short enough to stand up in the opening, so she elected to squat also.

"Hi, Michelle," she said. "It's been a long time."

"It has been exactly ten months, two weeks, three days, and - "

"Yes, thank you. Where are Bunni and Tori?"

"Inside the Lab," said Michelle. "I have been instructed upon visual contact to relay video."

"Relay video - ?" Xen frowned at that as she made her way down, Charon close behind her. Why hadn't they come out to see her? She'd left them the ability to do that, hadn't she? She was sure she had.

Then she looked at Michelle, whose laser cannon was still powered up (the heat bloom was quite clear). Stephanie, identifiable only by the letter stenciled on her steel pauldron, sat a few yards away, similarly alert. Xen was not entirely surprised to see the Mark V laser turret's barrel tracking Charon from fifty yards away.

And hello to you, Tawnee.

"Radiation-mutated human added to new targeting exceptions," Michelle said. "Please state an identification for yourself."

"Charon," he said.

"Charon accepted. Voice print and IR signature logged. Xen, I have been instructed to relay the following query: Are these your friends?"

"Yes," said Xen.

"Query: Are you under duress?"

"No," said Xen, startled. Then she saw the whole paranoid line of reasoning.

I left with Changeling in Camel's chassis and nobody else, she thought. I came back without her and with a large, armed male and a gynoid they don't know, and there's a bruise on my left palm. I'll bet one or both of them calc'd a moderate probability that I was caught, tortured, halfway-stimmed and forced to lead someone back here to loot the lab.

"No, these really are my friends," she said. "I'm not a hostage and I'm not being coerced."

Michelle whirred for a moment. Xen watched the wavering pulse of radio travel from her chassis toward Tawnee and back. It had been so long since she'd seen one that she almost didn't recognize it.

"I have been instructed to relay: Voice stress analysis indicates high probability of veracity," said Michelle. "Just checking, kiddo. We'll be right out."

"It's not personal," Xen said to the others.

"You don't have to tell me that," Bell said mildly. "I'm not organic. And I don't think Charon cares."

Xen started off at a fast walk toward the familiar clamshell door. She was a few yards away when it folded open. And there was Bunni, looking exactly as she had the day Xen left, except that the padding on her chassis was newer, made from what looked to Xen like chair cushions. The fabrics were a cheerful yellow gingham. The tape looked fresh. And the brain pulsed quickly behind its glass dome up on top.

"You put new pads on," Xen said.

"As soon as I knew you were coming, Dear," said Bunni, and rolled out onto the sidewalk with arms open. Never mind how jaded and disillusioned Xen had imagined herself to be. Never mind that she'd killed a super mutant, and survived losing Changeling, and found her third contributor's ship. She burst into tears and flung herself into the robot's lumpy embrace.

"There, there," said Bunni in her sweet, uninflected voice. She'd put some sort of crude gloves over her manipulators; they, too, were lumpy as she patted Xen's hair. "It's all right. You're home now."

Xen sniffled, leaning her forehead against Bunni's approximate chest. "I missed you," she whispered.

"I missed you, too, Xen."

"Out of the way, fatty," said another familiar voice. "I can't get out the door."

"As you can see, Tori has not changed," Bunni said. Xen pulled away so that she could roll away from the door. The familiar four-armed Mister Handy unit hovered out into the tunnel. Xen watched her train two oculars on Charon and Bell as she rotated to bring the third to bear on Xen.

Xen wiped her eyes quickly. "This is Charon and Bell," she said. "Charon and Bell, Bunni and Tori."

"Hi," said Bell. She smiled curiously at the two robots. Charon nodded minimally. He did not look very interested, but then, Charon never did.

"Big fella, isn't he? Fortunately, we've still got both bunks," Tori said. "He can have Dr. Montalban's. So where'd you come from with that designation, B2-09? Commonwealth somewhere?"

"The Institute," Bell said. "You?"

"Enclave, with Robco parts," Tori said. "Montalban wrote our AI's, though. He was a specialist."

"He must've been," Bell said. "You've got quite a set of personality files, don't you?"

"Everything but the mushy stuff," Tori said. "I leave that to the Robobrain, since she's actually got the wetware for it. Do you need a decon, Xen? You're reading ten clicks."

"No, I'm fine," Xen said. "I'm actually pretty rad-proof. Up to 500 clicks or so, anyway. Which turned out to be a good thing, with what the BOS has been up to lately."

"We heard about that," Bunni said. "We have a radio now. I was worried about you."

"Well, don't worry," Xen told her. "I'm fine."

"Find what you were looking for?" Tori asked.

"Yes and no," Xen said. "I found the ship, but it didn't tell me much. I brought back a weapon and some ammunition that I want to give more study. I'll copy you on Changeling's collected data once I get it uploaded."

"Changeling," Tori said. Xen could almost see the reasoning going on behind her chassis. "How long did it take you to catch her?"

"She talked too much to pass for Camel," Xen said. "I knew when I hired Charon in Underworld and she kept complaining about it."

"I told you to watch out for human men, and the first thing you did was hire a Ghoul bodyguard?" inquired Tori dryly.

"Wait until you see his contract," Xen said.

"Words on paper," Tori said. "To humans they don't mean a thing."

Xen looked steadily at the robot. Her eyes were dry now. "Do you see the hole in his armor there?"

"Yeah," said Tori. "Nice scar, too. Plasma rifle?"

"The same one that killed Changeling," Xen said. "I'd used an epi to boost my reflexes and given myself a heart attack. Charon had a hole in his chest and a punctured lung. He climbed down a ladder, hit the emergency button, and collected up all the stims. Then he used them on me. He would've died right there, if Bell hadn't found some more." She looked at Charon. He looked down at her without any more expression than usual. "And if I asked him to, he'd probably kill Stephanie and Michelle and Tawnee and come out without a scratch." She ignored Bell's snort. "I'm not sure I even trust you more than I do this Ghoul. Less, probably. Charon doesn't lie to me."

"Fair enough," said Tori, quite without any emotional reaction to this. "I take it you didn't get along well with the copy."

"Not at all," Xen said. "Don't expect me to thank you for uploading her without my permission. Especially when she gave uniformly bad advice for the whole time I knew her. She wasn't as adaptable as you are."

"She was a reduced version," Tori said unapologetically. "I'm sorry she turned out so bitchy, though."

Xen laughed involuntarily at this phrasing, her anger evaporating suddenly. She felt a little off-balance, as if she were walking a tightrope.

She's just being Tori, she reminded herself. The bot was no more capable of being sorry than she was of being angry. That's what you get when you give human intelligence to someone who isn't capable of human emotion. And you wouldn't have made it past age 4 without Tori as well as Bunni. Don't forget that.

"You know, I think you're responsible for every gram of aggression I ever learned," Xen said dryly.

"I sure as Hell hope so," Tori said. "Anyhow, you're alive, so obviously I did something right."

"Un huh," Xen said. "Did you start a clone while I was gone?"

"Iwould have," Tori admitted instantly. "But Bunni wouldn't let me. After the first six months or so she got all depressed and mopey. I thought having a rug rat around would keep her busy."

"I was sure you would come back," said Bunni. "I didn't want you to think I didn't love you any more."

"Oh, Bunni." Xen hugged her again. "I'd never think that." This in complete defiance of the fact that she had feared that very thing, Xen realized. But then, that was the difference between herself and the robots.

I can lie to myself and believe it. They need a command override for that.

"C'mon inside," Tori said. "It'll be a little crowded at first, but I'm sure we'll get used to it. I'll get a stim for that hand."

"Thanks," Xen said, and followed the two robots back inside and down the short hallway to the main Lab.