They stopped inside the cave, listening, sensing the area. They headed down the steep tunnel. Calli pointed at a refuse pile along the wall.
"Mirelurks", Jack said. Calli nodded.
"You can smell them.", she added. "That isn't fresh but they're nearby." Mirelurks. Six foot tall and completely armored, the gigantic crustaceans had only one weak point. The face wasn't armored. It was also very small and they tended to run with their heads down to use the helmet like skull cap as a battering ram. This made them not only difficult to kill, it made them dangerous. A hit by a Mirelurk could break bones and crush organs.
The path ended in a small underground lake. It wasn't empty. The first Mirelurk attacked before they even left the tunnel. It didn't take them long to clear the lake of the few Mirelurks inhabiting it. Although they were excellent eating Calli didn't want to take the time to butcher the dead animals.
There wasn't much of a ledge around the lake, so small it was more of a small pond. Calli checked the entire perimeter but found no way out. The Mirelurks hadn't come in through the gate, so they must have come from somewhere. She looked at the water dubiously. Water was more Jack's thing than hers. He grinned at her.
"Let me", he said, handing her his pack. He slipped into the water and dived under. He reappeared shortly. "There's an underwater tunnel not far below the surface. I'm going to check it out." He disappeared under the surface again.
Calli waited nervously for several long minutes until he reappeared. "The tunnel isn't very long. It comes up into a cave. Come on, you can hold your breath that long." Calli handed him down his pack and slipped into the water.
"You coming?", she asked Hawk. He really didn't like water. He grunted and jumped into the pond. She took a deep breath and followed Jack under the water.
The tunnel closed around Calli, the water surrounding her. Controlling her fear she swam after Jack, following his lead, going up and up until suddenly she saw light. Heading for the light she swam briskly upward, breaking the surface, gulping in a great gasp of air. She felt Jack grab her, treading water, and looked into his smiling face.
"See, that wasn't so bad was it?", he asked, water plastering his honey brown hair to his head, streaming down into his golden eyes. She smiled back at him. Hawk broke the surface beside them.
"Come on, you two", he grunted. "You can stare at each other later. Let's get out of this water."
They swam to the other side of the pond and climbed out. A tunnel led out the other side. After following it just a short distance it branched in two directions. With a shrug Calli chose the left branch. It dead ended after just a short while at a deserted camp. Calli perused the old, moldy mattress, table and chair, and decrepit bookcase. Some of the items on the book case weren't that old. Someone had used this camp fairly recently. They couldn't rest now, though. A chittering echoing in the tunnel informed them more Mirelurks had become aware of their presence.
They moved cautiously back down the tunnel. As Calli had expected a few Mirelurks had caught their scent and were tracking them. There was nothing for it but to take them down. Since they were all good shots they managed the face shots without any injuries.
They hadn't come here to hunt Mirelurk and didn't want to have to kill more of them than necessary, so they quickly headed up the second tunnel. Roots grew along the sides of the tunnel and crisscrossed the roof. This was promising, since they were looking for the heart of the tree-man. The tunnel gave way to a large cave. Huge roots grew everywhere amongst the boulders, reaching from ceiling to the floor. The sound of a beating heart echoed in the cavern.
The heart was there, in the middle of the cave, surrounded by a cage like structure of roots, hanging in mid-air. They stood around the beating heart, awed at its size and strength.
"What are you going to do, Calli?", Jack asked. She considered the heart. She had three options. Use the seed stunting sap, apply the seed enhancing liniment, or stab the heart, killing the man-tree as he had requested.
"What do you think I should do?", Calli asked, addressing both Jack and Hawk. They debated the issue for some time before coming to a decision. They would do what was best for the wasteland. Calli took out the liniment and smeared it on the beating organ.
It had only taken a few hours to complete the task and return to the surface. Now Calli had to face Harold.
Calli stood in front of the man-creature whose wishes she had betrayed. "So, of all the wastelanders that could have come here, I had to pick one with a conscious. You have decided for them.", he said sadly.
"No.", Calli responded. "I have decided for life, Harold. To give you a chance to live. I understand you are bored and lonely and have been that way for too many years. But consider this, the wasteland needs you. It needs what you can give it to rejuvenate. So I am going to make you a deal. I will talk the Treeminders into reading to you, telling you stories, talking to you like a friend, not a god. In other words treating you like any other shut in person who can't travel the wasteland. I'll return in the time of seeding and in exchange for Bob's seeds I'll bring you holo tapes, new books and news from the wasteland. And just think of all the things you could choose to 'see' if Bob's seeds spread throughout the wasteland! If life is more interesting will you choose to live?"
"Can you do this? Do you think you can talk them into treating me like a person? What if you can't? I can't live like this. I just can't!", he wailed.
"I understand that.", Calli said. "If they don't abide by this bargain, I promise you I will go back down there and stab you in the heart. You have my word. Will you give it until the time of seeding to decide? I think they will be agreeable since they need you. They wouldn't know what to do without you."
"Do you really think they need me? All right, I'll give them another chance. Talk to them, and return in six months. I'll have them save Bob's seeds for you. I'm trusting you with this, Calli. I'm trusting you with my life and my sanity." , he said grimly.
Calli smiled at him reassuringly.
"I'm a trader, Harold. When I make a deal I always keep my end of the bargain if I can. These men have heard me. Even if I die, unless we all die, one of us will keep my bargain. We're partners." Hawk and Jack had been silent while she bargained, but now they spoke up to give Harold their assurances.
"Tell me, Calli. You let me live because the wasteland needs me. What if I hadn't had anything to offer? Would you have killed me then?", he asked curiously.
Calli didn't blink. "Yes."
Harold cackled. "Then travel safe, friends.", he said.
Calli called the Treeminders together and offered them the deal she had made for Harold. There was much discussion and some objections but in the end they accepted this was what their god wanted. They would treat him like a person, visiting with him and reading to him. They would discontinue the practice of purification and allow any outsiders in to see him that he wanted to see. Most importantly, they would save Bob's seeds for her to spread through the wasteland, far from Oasis, drawing attention away from the hidden enclave.
Father Tree Minder was the most difficult to convince. "Listen.", Calli said. "No, don't just hear me, listen to me. Harold wants to spread out into the wasteland. He's bored, Father. You have confined him here. Whether he's a god or not doesn't really matter, does it? This is what he wants. Let him go. Don't just worship him. Really love him for what he is."
The Father held out his hands and took Calli's. "I will try, child", he said. Calli didn't mention that Harold could 'see' through his children. If he wanted the Treeminders to know he would tell them.
The bargain struck, Calli held some personal conversations with her new friends. Amongst them was an old woman who was said to be able to tell the future.
Calli smiled at the seer and held out her hand. "Future teller", she said. "What do you see in my future?" The seer took her hand.
"I see a woman obsessed and the man who desires her." Calli thanked her and wandered over to Jack.
She whispered "I think she got the timing a little off, love." Jack didn't smile. The future teller had been staring intently at Calli. She had not spared him even a glance.
"Calli." Calli smiled down at the big brown eyes of the young girl.
"Hey, now, Sprout. Harold's going to need you to talk to him now, you know. You're still his best friend." Sprout smiled at her shyly.
"I know. I want you to have this. It brings luck and I want you to have all the luck there is. I want you to come back to see us. Will you come back?" She held out a leather string with a bear ornament attached. Calli slowly reached down and took the necklace.
"Oh, Sprout, this is beautiful! I'll treasure it always! Of course I'll come back sometimes. Thank you so much! I'll always keep it with me." She hugged the beaming child.
They had only spent three days at Oasis. It was late afternoon on the third day when they reached the Cliffside cabins where they had left the bikes. "We still have time if you want to visit the Settlement.", Calli said to Jack as they approached the cabins. "We could spend tonight and tomorrow night there. It won't take more than a few hours to get back to Rivet City on the bikes."
"Only if you don't get side tracked.", Jack grinned. "But, yeah, I'd love to visit the Settlement."
They left the bikes since the path into the Settlement was too rough to ride them down. It wasn't that far. Halnet greeted her husband and his partner warmly, and Jack was welcomed by the community. It was a pleasant, peaceful interlude before they headed back up the path into the wasteland. It was definitely an interesting experience for Jack to be surrounded by super mutants who were intelligent and lively and best of all, weren't trying to kill him.