For the next two months Calli sailed with the crew of the Tradewind. She made trades at ports from the Carolina coast to the Florida Isles to the Louisiana wasteland towns that had sprung up on the coast all along the Bay of Orleans. She learned to handle the ropes and sails. Jack was teaching her how to handle the Tradewind in all kinds of weather, on sail or on engines.

She visited with Jack's family, and Caleb, and made new friends in and around Baton Rouge. She made a trip to the vault but only to make sure it was well sealed. She brought the materials with her to make sure no one would be able to get in the vault. She wasn't taking anything since it would be too hard to get items out through the small opening in the boulders, and the items that most interested her were too precious to bring out anyway. She would return when she felt the time was right.

Jack and Zach had organized the new trade route to the southern continent. The Sea Grate had been repaired and converted and was now renamed the Southwind. Jack had offered Aaron the Southwind to captain, but Aaron had declined. The southern trade route would take its crew away from Baton Rouge for 6 weeks at a time, and Sarah was due soon. Zach had taken over the shipyard, so the captaincy was offered to Mike, who accepted. He would make a last voyage on the Tradewind while Zach lined up recruits for the open positions. Their business was growing.

Spring came late to the wasteland. When they returned they found they couldn't get much past Rivet City. The river wasn't completely frozen but there was too much ice to sail further. The overland traders were waiting to take advantage of this. Calli was ready to get back to her wasteland. With Hawk's help she took most of the extra stock and headed north to trade with the villages the route traders didn't deal with.

One of them was Oasis where she kept her promise to bring new books and news of the wasteland. She found Harold was much happier than he had been. The Treeminders gathered in the Grove around Harold and were much entertained by her stories of the sea and the strange land of Louisiana.

Since they had already stopped at the Settlement they also had woven baskets of last year's potatoes to trade. They showed them how to cut them around the eyes and plant them to make a crop for the summer. Only one of the Treeminders had ever seen a potato but assured the others they would be delicious.

After leaving Oasis they gradually worked their way through small towns toward the south. By the time they reached the southern cave they had found, traded for, or bought most of the items they wanted to work on their hidden home.

Calli had made a deal with the Elder before leaving the wasteland. It hadn't been difficult. Faced with the possibility of losing her cooperation he hadn't been reluctant to part with a portion of the tech, even if she wouldn't tell him why she wanted it. Hawk had managed to get 2 of the larger robots into the cave. It didn't take Calli more than a few hours to totally reprogram them to haul the heavy cart.

They were in the end of the tunnel while Hawk strapped one of the robots into the harness. "Once that's gone through the Valley you know it's going to be too highly irradiated to approach without a suit on.", Hawk speculated. "The metal will absorb the radiation."

"I thought of that.", Calli agreed. "That's why I rigged up this remote to control it. We shouldn't have to approach it except when it needs repairs. We'll just keep suits in the cart in case we have to get out in the Valley if something happens to it. We have extra's here, don't we? At least this time I think I'll just walk across to make sure it's working right. I don't think I want to trust it when I can't see out of that cart. Let's just load it up with the supplies and get going."

Calli was delighted that the seeds from the vault came up into tiny, prickly plants. The vault label had identified it as a rose. She carefully transplanted them along the side and front of the house. Encouraged, she planted some grass seeds around the house. The problem of water was solved with a computer controlled irrigation system that sprayed water over the growing lawn at set intervals. Working computers were fairly abundant in the wasteland and Calli had learned how to reprogram them, while Hawk had become very good with the hardware. There was no shortage of sunlight to power the solar energy system.

Hawk had worked on the house over the winter and the shell was now completed. There were no windows or doors yet, but this wasn't a big issue as it never rained and there were no insects. He still had to do the wiring and plumbing but it was nice and solid, bright and airy. They would return every month after leaving Jack and work on the house before going about their business in the wasteland.

The little prickly plants grew tall and green and the grass, uncut, grew tall and seeded. But fall was coming in fast. The roses grew brown and lost their leaves, little tight buds formed all along the branches. The grass stood tall and brown, the seed heads waving in the mild wind. Calli consulted with Hawk. They had noticed a number of mowers sitting around the old abandoned houses. Maybe he could get one to work.

The big issue was the passageway into their home. It was being completed so slowly because they needed the material for the enclosure, a material that could only be crafted from the processed Radilite. The robots were working out fairly well but they weren't really crafted for the job and had a tendency to break down at inconvenient times, forcing them to go into the Valley to repair them. The robots would be much more useful if they could reprogram them to maintain the solar arrays powering the cave and valley.

"Hawk," Calli said, " Do you remember that shuttle we rode, the one from the white house to the air force base?" Hawk merely grunted since it was obviously a rhetorical question. "How long do you think it would take to duplicate that? You know, make a shuttle like that into our home from Entrance Cave?"

Hawk considered. "It's an interesting idea. It might even work. We're going to need to go check that out though. I'm pretty sure there's plenty of material down there for the rails and mechanical parts, but I'm not sure we can duplicate the control system. We might not be able to find the parts for the computers. I think it's worth a try though."

"Then let's head on over there," Calli grinned. "If there's not enough components there we might be able to scavenge parts for a control system from the vaults." She always liked to have a goal, even if she did take a round- about way to reach it.

The next year went by quickly for the partners. They continued encouraging trade and sponsoring businesses throughout the wasteland. It was becoming a bigger part of their life than scavenging. Wherever they went they spread Bob's seeds in areas where they were most likely to grow, but especially in the southwestern part of the wasteland, where conditions seemed right for them.

They spent time in the south valley working on their house and the rail system. They had brought in smaller robots and reprogrammed them to help lay the rails. A couple of Mr Handy robots they took from the southern vault proved invaluable in getting materials in and out of the cave since they had no difficulty in lifting items. When Calli and Hawk left the cave they were put in 'protect' mode. Nothing much would make it past their armament.

It was difficult trying to haul the heavy supplies up the Deathclaw trail without leaving traces. They needed a place to store items they were accumulating without making the wasteland suspicious. Calli contracted with some local builders to renovate some old, almost solid buildings into secure warehouses near the old Riverboat jetty. From here they could take the road west, ostensibly going to towns in the west to trade. It served as a good cover for their true agenda of getting supplies into the valley secretly.

The warehouses were also very useful as a hub for moving items between the Tradewind and the riverboat and overland traders. The Tradewind found it easier to dock at River Port and take the goods overland than try to sail around the islet to Rivet City, and then back around to get to the Potomac.

Calli was very gratified when the railway came online, and it actually worked! With the robots freed up from hauling she set them to maintaining the railways and solar arrays. Without the stress of the weight they didn't break down as often.

Calli continued to spend time with Jack whenever he came to the wasteland. Sometimes she rode the Tradewind, sometimes he left the Tradewind in Aaron's capable hands and disappeared into the wasteland with Calli, and sometimes Hawk. He was learning a lot about wasteland scavenging and justice. It never ceased to amaze him at her easy relationships with the towns and traders.

Jack had left Calli at the Island on his last trip and was now stopping there on his trip back. He was looking forward to seeing her. It was late in the year and time for her to head south with him. She was waiting by the dock when they moored.

"I always miss you so much while you're gone.", she said, holding him close. She seemed quieter than usual. He pushed back her silver hair and looked into her sad face.

"What's wrong, darling?", he asked.

"I've lost a friend, Jack. I'll tell you all about it later. Let's take care of business now." He scanned her expression.

"All right but you have to talk to me." She nodded, pulling back.

"I will."

They had concluded business at the Island. It only took half a day so they now were headed north toward River Port. They wouldn't dock there until the following morning, which gave Jack and Calli plenty of time to catch up. She sat with him in the control room, enjoying watching him as he went about the business of controlling the large vessel.

"The sea's calm, sweetheart.", Jack said. "Talk to me."

"I…I can't talk about it right now. Tonight. Later.", she said, getting up to leave the control room. "I'll just do the books till you're off shift. You won't have to do them then." He watched her go.

It was late and they were finally alone in their room after dinner. Calli was ready to talk.

"You know when I go to the Island I always visit my friends. I also try to explore some of the Island I haven't seen before too. That's what I do.", she half smiled. He nodded. "Anyway I came across this big mansion called Blackhall Manor. I know because the owner Obadiah Blackhall was there, and he offered me 1000 caps to reclaim a book that was stolen from him. Well, that in itself sounded a little off to me. Who would pay 1000 caps for an old book even if it was a family heirloom? Especially when I got it out of him that it was stolen by local nitwits who thought it had magical powers. I didn't think much of that until I mentioned it to Marcella and she just about freaked out. She begged me to bring it to her and under no circumstances to take it to Obadiah. She said he was evil and the book held evil powers. She wanted me to bring it to her. You know I don't really need 1000 caps though that sure is a lot of money." She frowned out at the river.

He glanced over at her. "It sure is. Did you find the book then?"

"Huh?", she started out of her grim reverie. "Oh, yeah, I found it. I had to fight my way down into a nasty cave decorated with skeletons and fetish dolls among other unsavory items. I finally found the book in a basin filled with blood. Yeah, it was gross, but there was a pool there and I managed to rinse it off pretty well. I didn't figure the water would hurt it if it was already soaked in blood. There was an altar and they obviously practiced human sacrifice. I had to fight my way back out too, they seemed to come from nowhere. The ferals on the Island are about the toughest creatures I've come across. I took quite a few injuries actually and had to do some serious healing later. Anyway I got the book out and took it back to Marcella. She was dead, Jack. I found her dead in her tent."

Tears were trickling down her cheeks. He took her in his arms.

"I'm sorry, darling, I know how much you cared about her.", he said softly, trying not to show his worry about her injuries. She seemed fine so it must have been several days ago. She wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"She was lying in her tent. 'Die thief' was spattered in blood on the wall of the tent. I assume it was her blood. She left a holo tape. She made it while she was dying.", she choked. He held her until she calmed down. "It said she wanted me to take the book to a building called Dunwich. There's an obelisk there and if the book is pressed against it, it will destroy its evil."

"Are you going to do it?", Jack asked. Calli pushed back to look at him.

"Yes. But not now. I want to go with you to the south. She left me her bible too. She wanted me to read it and maybe I will even though it's not a complete book. A lot of it is missing. I'll just keep both books for now.", she said.

Calli put the books away and put them out of her mind during her yearly sojourn in the south. There was always so much to do with trading and visiting, fighting her way through the mountains or dancing in the night clubs. The winter had passed quickly and now she was looking forward to meeting Hawk at River Port as they had planned. The Potomac was thawed and the Tradewind was going north on her usual rounds, but Jack wouldn't be on her. He had promised Calli to go with her into the wasteland to Dunwich.