Queen's note: Mourn for the man's mustache and beard
Welcome to the Wasteland
Chapter Thirty Two:
Vault Prep
Codsworth could not have braved to go down to the Vault's inner entrance door on his own for all these years. Hoping with an irrational and strangely human way that if he did not, Codsworth could live content with that hope of those alive. Not being faced with the possibility of the bodies of his dear family on the lift.
Though realistically a Vault and those inside would be happy to have a willing robotic assistant. Even if… Codsworth had known it would be a very silver aged Mun and Sir, and/or younger descendants that he would serve when he had almost called the lift.
Now…
Now he had at least one of his family to take care of. Others too that would desperately need help getting their bearings in the changed world. Codsworth set down another crate on the lift, one of many that was filled with dirt and a young tato plant. He also had a few woven baskets that he had donated to this cause.
Codsworth had allowed, and asked Preston and Marcy to help him raid his many gardens around Sanctuary, and some of the food stash in the Sir's cellar-like bunker. Two centuries of semi quietly gardening not just rose and hub bushes but corn, a butternut and a pumpkin like squash (that came from one in the fridges after the bombs dropped), tatos, a precious purple potato that he had found and grew inside the house away from rad storms. It had mutated a bit over the decades, grew much faster like the tatos and according to the different families tasted better. Codsworth had allowed each family to take some seed potatoes with them.
He wondered what Miss Lana would think of them.
Codsworth had not the chance to show her all of his garden spots, and she was ever so excited about the ones he did that first showing of the neighborhood. Though miss Mary seemed to have a grand time as well that afternoon.
Codsworth had ten of those purple plants started and also brought the rest of the seed potatoes to be brought down. Risking the evening chill to do so, but all the starts were there on the lift, one crate had some ripe tatos and carrots as well as three plump, freshly hunted ground squirrels.
He felt a little bad that they were the ones harvested, but the young Miss Mary had promised and reassured that the babies they collected would be raised by her and her sister. She even promised to try and keep most of them alive as breeding livestock.
Realistically, Codsworth was not sure if that would be true, but he truly appreciated the intent. Most of the baby squirrels had a high chance of being female so… maybe.
The Mr Handy did put his metaphorical foot down about the small colony of iguanas in Sanctuary. They had not quite recovered from losses two winters ago and the surviving adults were still hand tamed and desensitized to him. They were Codsworth's free roaming pets basically. The robot did wonder what Preston had in mind for helping them.
Codsworth hesitated, doing another careful count of all the crates and baskets, starts that would need more dirt later in a week or so.
Stalling when there were people below that needed him. Even if only three of them were awake.
With a mental sigh, Codsworth moved to trigger the lift, rushing out to get back on and focused on the task of following it down. Surprised to find a big brown form sitting on the lift when he turned around.
"Oh hello there young sir, are you joining us?" Codsworth asked as they descended.
The German Shepherd like dog looked a bit perplexed at the drop, but he was well desensitized to a great many things.
"I suppose you don't have anywhere to go now that we finally buried your master." Codsworth extended his grasping arm, pincer closed and gave a pet to the dog's head, watching the dark golden eyes closed at the odd but still wanted attention.
"I thought you had left with Mr Garvey. Ah well, there are still our other new friends." As the lift slowed to a stop he extended an eye stock to peer around, "I'll make a spot for you out of the vault to relieve yourself with some dirt. But I'm sure you might like the innards of the squirrels for dinner."
The canine looked up from sniffing the crates at the word he knew. Tail wagging for the first time since he met Mary, second time since losing his old master.
It was not quite what he was expecting...then again Codsworth had not really known what to expect.
It was quite, mostly, a few speakers lowly playing instrumental music from inside that drifted out to him by the wide open front hatchway. Other than some trace radiation from the lift going down, there was no risk with leaving the door open now that the lift was down.
"Come along Duke, maybe you will find a new person too, and a new name?" Picking up the crate of food stuff for the night, Codsworth started inside. He paused to peer at the pile of dead rad roaches, and the crates of bones. Huffing at the bugs and thinking where to dispose of them to not attract predators, and where to bury the bones but keep the valuable crates and bins. The big dog taking a minute to sniff and inspect as well, but he had some food this morning so was not desperate enough to eat the insects when he heard the word 'squirrel.'
The Mr Handy made really good sausage for him!
"Hello?" Codsworth called as he drifted into the entrance room. It was both clean and neglected in the vault, but could be cleaned up better.
Not that the humans did not do a good job so far, but they were distracted with very good reasons.
The lights were dimming slowly, alike to the surface so a possible night time setting. It was just a bit later in timing then above. There were two doors open and Codsworth listened carefully before going down the left path, and was rewarded with faint voices. He paused in the Overseer's office, set the crate down on the table, and peered around as Duke invested himself into new and old smells.
The other door he peered through, and did not go in farther, spotting an ark of energy. "Hello Mr Sturges! We have come down with some dinner for you three!"
The dark haired man looked up from the far side of the room, he was by a panel removed from the wall. The man blinked, surprised but smiled, "Thank you Codsworth! Don't come in through here you might get a shock. Kitchen is behind me, you can make it around safely by backtracking and going through the main hall. Just don't go into any of the rooms okay? We're conserving as much excess power as we can and just got them into a good state."
"Righty-o!" Codsworth hid some of his disappointment, but...it made sense. He did not want to risk his family for the want to peek. Picking up the crate he backtracked to the other door in the main way. Duke trotting behind as the robot had closed the door to the generator room.
The big dog followed until spotting someone, woofing in greeting.
Lana jumped a bit, looking over where she was hanging up...a sheet in the hallway? There were several sheets hung up in the middle and down the hall after the security station.
Codsworth peered and yes, that was a damp sheet. "Hello again Miss Lana, we've come with dinner, presents and to keep you company down here. Mr. Garvey had explained...much. I…"
Lana's eyes softened even as she was puzzled at the dog inching over with lowered ears and slowly moving tail. The canine suddenly shy but still desperately seeking attention from people, "That's very brave and kind of you to come down Codsworth. I know it can't be easy… who's this?"
"This is the canine I mentioned this morning. His name is currently Duke. Well, his past owner called him 'Duke of Dogmeat,' but that never seemed as dignified. Miss Mary assisted me with finishing burying his old master. I think he's lonely as well."
Lana gently rubbed the soft head, her expression still soft, "Hello Duke, you're welcome to stay with us tonight, I just don't have dog food… maybe something from the bugs?"
"I can make him a sausage from the intestines and organs of the squirrels and some meat," Codsworth reassured, holding out his crate of goodies for Lana to see. "It would not be the first time… if I may ask, is that sheet clean?"
"Yes it is," Lana looked relieved at that, though smiling as the canine just seemed to be happy with soft head pats and rubs around the ears. "We have general power to the staff rooms, the washers in the cleaning closet aren't using much power, I just don't want to risk the driers. So I'm hanging things up."
"Oh, that's marvelous!" Codsworth brightened, "I can assist you once I have dinner started?"
"Sure, I put in a round of three blankets. But I thought we can get things fresh washed when the people wake up." Lana motioned Codsworth to follow her down to the end of the hallway, bemused at the fuzzy head that tried to stay under her hand. "To the left is the power room, in and to the right is the bunk room and bathroom, and here's the dining and kitchen. Most of the lights are in nighttime mode but the kitchen can be brighter."
"It's all quiet... surprisingly small. Not at all what I was expecting to see in a vault." Codsworth set the crate down on the end of one of the cafetera's two long table tables.
"Yeah, I would call it cozy but not quite." Lana frowned a moment, before peering in the crate, lifting one of the rabbit sized squirrels on top off, "What do you have? Some of this is new."
"Oh! I did not get a chance to show you all if my garden spots Miss Lana, before you left for the vault." Codsworth was happy to start pulling things out, after peering at the kitchen corner, he was for now alright with things on the long table. "I have some winter corn, butternut squash, sugar pumpkins, a winter cantaloupe, white carrots, tatos as well as the squirrels!"
Codsworth tucked his arms in after showing off each of the bigger things one at a time, "I know they are not exactly the same as they once were Miss Lana, but I remembered what each plant was."
"Codsworth this is amazing!" Lana said honestly, picking up a reddish orange squash that was about the size of the sugar-pie pumpkins she knew, though this one had fading spots of green on it. "Just because plants change over the centuries doesn't really mean they're bad. What's this?"
Lana looked back in the crate, finding a tin and large glass dish with a fitted, clear lid, and what almost looked like... blackberries? They were almost as long as her hand, with bubbly sections like blackberries. Both the kind she had and supposedly what they used to look like before the war.
"I have some evening tea. A mix of rose, hub and chamomile, the berries are called mulberry." Codsworth pulled out the round tin, it was an old, smaller coffee tin. He pointed to the berries, "I have a few extra ripe berries for sweeting the tea, the rest is for dessert with the melon."
"Mulberry?" Lana was fascinated, raking her mind for the name. Coming up with something hazy about new tree starts and other plants for the next wing in the mountain. It was something she was only mildly interested in as it would be underway as Lana was planning on leaving. "I don't think I've heard of it? What kind of plant is it from?"
"It's a tree that grows out here, and it fruits almost all year now. Miss Mary and I picked quite a lot of them this afternoon." Codsworth was happy to explain, lifting the dish out and opening the lid, "Your moose seemed quite enamored with them. I saved the ripest berries for sweeting the tea, but the other young Miss had all the rest to share with your settlements. She said that you do not have any of the trees near you right now?"
Lana picked up a berry gently, feeling it bruise under her fingers despite the effort to be gentle. "Nothing I saw was like this. And I've been rooting around the local forest near the dam for a few weeks now."
"Well, there are an obnoxious amount of saplings, shoots and smaller trees if you would like some to transplant. With a bunch of wild berries from the adult trees, it also helps distract the squirrels and iguanas from my garden." Codsworth offered, picking up the corn and moving to investigate the kitchen.
"I think we'd like that. I definitely want to take some home. Wonder if anything in the vault will help me tell a male and female trees?"
"What trees now?" Jake poked his head into the room, having been found by the dog, 'Duke', and led back from the pretty small bunk room. He perked up at seeing everything on the table.
"Tree nerd stuff," Lana gave a smile from around the berry she was taking a careful nibbling on. Testing to see if she had a reaction like with the giant crab-things.
Mirelurks.
Tasty, for the first twenty minutes, but horrible for her digestive system the rest of the night and next day. Lana spent the night in that out house, with Valory crouching awkwardly outside while trying to hum comfort.
"Are those mulberries? I haven't had any in months." Sturges asked, coming over, the second door to the power room shut. Everything for now was as stable as it could be. The back up generator helped to smooth the cryo systems over.
They would be fine until tomorrow, with more people to help out.
And once finished for now, Sturges became very aware of how hungry he was. Dinner may not be ready but he remembered the jerky pack on the table.
"It does not seem too abhorrent in here, I will have a dinner ready soon!" Codsworth announced as he cleaned up a bit, finding a sanitizer not just for the counter but his appendages and blade. "Could someone skin the squirrels?"
"Sure, I just need a knife," Lana stood as Jake got some pans for the meat, fur and innerards.
"Splendid!" Codsworth chirped, "After dinner I can show you all the plants I brought down!"
"Oooh?" Lana grinned as she found one of the kitchen knives still there, that would work for skinning and dressing the squirrels as it seemed sharp enough.
"And we lost her," Sturges teased, nibbling a bit if jerky.
"They have a working fridge!"
"We lost them both." Jake grinned, paused and dramatically rubbed his chin where he once, long ago, had a beard. He was staring at the shower across from them on the end table. "Sturges… do you think the hot water is going in the showers? If it's going for the washers?"
There was this one beside them, and the one in the Overseer's room.
The other man gave him a bemused look that slowly turned to realization. Sturges paused as he considered, there was soap, if very old… but he wondered if Lana had any of her soap from her 'none essential, essentials' bag that also had other small things like dry cooking herbs. Even if its the old stuff, a chance to shower and get the grim off-
Not having to wait all day for a sun heated water blatter, or just use a cloth and a small amount of hot water. But a real shower.
Sturges had to think for a moment, about the readouts and power consumption for the washers, "You know… If we space it out… I think we can all get a good shower in. Hell, Codsworth can probably get a cleaning with the supplies down here."
An eye stack swiveled and the optic peered at Sturges from the kitchen, "Oh?"
"A shower sounds amazing right now." Lana thought, plopping down on the other side of the table from the men, her back to the kitchen corner humming before she tilted her head, noticing the canine Duke was settled on the floor in the half way down the room and slowly rolling over. Near but not really by the hidden supply closet. "Oh, the herbs, did you get those Codsworth?"
"I was unaware mis Lana, I thought the bag left was for private affairs…?" The robot butler paused his own work.
"Not exactly." Lana smiled, "That's another bag. These are skinned and gutted Codsworth, I'll go get the bag."
"Can… you see if there's soap in it?" Sturges asked hopefully, running a hand through his hair, despite what it looked like he never really meant to have a greased look this intense.
"Can do! Dish soup might help more with hair though."
"One of the times I don't miss having hair." Jake teased, running a hand over his bare head, though his hand traced over his face and chin after a moment, "Do miss having a beard though. I used to have the dapper-est of all dapper mustaches before I changed. Both of us brothers did."
Sturges looked up and over at the scarred man, not teasing but meaning his words. "You know I would love to see a proper mustache on you. That's a crying shame."
"Right?" Jake lamented, "Even when I was graying out, it still held up!"
"I'm terribly sorry for your loss Mr. Jake." Codsworth offered, with his own true sincerity.
Lana was sagely nodding. Paused as she looked at the skins in their pan. A sudden gleam sparked in her eyes as she looked up. "There's no true replacement...but at least one Uncle back home plays with mustache prosthetics?"
She lifted one of the squirrels' tails up and wiggled the end at the lucid ghoul.
Jake tilted his head, puzzled for half a moment. Then the scared man burst out laughing, "I like that idea! We need to cure those furs for sure! I want to give Jacky a mustache for his birthday!"
Sturges grinned wide, unable to keep from laughing with Lana, "Imagine, prosthetic mustaches. Hey! You won't have to worry about shaving!"
"That's even better!"