Queen's note: Sleepies time! My goodness it's exciting getting these chapters outright now XD

Welcome to the Wasteland

Chapter Thirty Three:

Night in the vault

The three humans, one robot and one dog were all in really good spirits. It was still early evening and as the Vault was as stable as they could get it to be, they took a rare chance to just relax in some safety. Even when the entrance was now dimmed down to only a few lights on, they were able to move the crates of dirt and plants into the vault proper.

Lana was not the only one fascinated but the purple potatoes. They weren't like the potatoes from her home, slightly mutated through the years to be a bit bigger, about the size of a tato. Codsworth was willing to cook one, sliced up and fried in the squirrel fat as there was no butter just yet.

Sturges paused as he listened to Lana and Codsworth talking about plans on using the Vault and the bunker to grow the robot's potatoes and the surviving squash types.

It was all really good! And Sturges had found a storage place with intact lights and assorted bulbs a year ago they might be able to use. To light up more places to grow more things safe away from rad storms. Not just here but the bunker as well.

Jake was doodling a rough plan on how to make a curved frame for plants on the walls of this odd little vault.

But a thought stuck with him that had the man thinking. There were two working fridges at the Co-op now, and one at the Abernathy farm, Sturges was planning on getting one set up at Sanctuary when they moved there. And apparently it was working in the vault.

Once they get people safe, maybe use the cryo stuff to help make true freezers? They could store food here even if not everyone could stay here… Freeze meat that's not used in a few days so it doesn't go bad. Not that much went bad when there was a full sized Deathclaw around.

Come to think about it, Sturges had more meat with every meal the last few weeks then he had in months, thanks to Valory needing to hunt once or twice a week.

"Lana?" Sturges asked in a lull of the conversation. The humans- and dog settled after dinner and Codsworth had cleaned up, leftovers put away in that awesome working fridge. "Do you know how butter is made?"

"I know some of the basics," Lana admitted, looking up from her clipboard of notes. Pausing in her own writing, "At least those at home? We have a kind of butter but Luna and Grace aren't from the creamery lines of moose exactly. Grace produces more than normal, just not as much as the other breeding line."

"I think the cream needs to be rotated and separated," Jake put in, squinting into the distance. "You might want to ask Jacky, I think he did small scale things for an event way back then. What are you thinking?"

"Well, we got quite a lot of brahmin that are milking with calves." Sturges motioned to the kitchen, "And fridges, I know we have some milk and cream separated… that whipped-cream was amazing… can we make butter, you think?"

Jake and Lana thought about it, but it was Codsworth that spoke up.

"Mr. Sturges, if you want to make some butter we can do so, though it does not take as long as you think." the Mr. Handy lifted his grasping claw and motioned to the fridge, "And now we can keep it with access to this. One of the families that stayed with me made small batches every few days, and left one of their churners. I'm afraid it was broken but you may be able to see how it's made."

"There's that old creamery as well." Jake added, "I wouldn't imagine everything is working as the veterinarians made it home, but maybe they know something too."

"Small batches would be awesome though." Lana sighed wistfully, "It's been months since I had butter, it was at a ranch Val and I stayed at for a storm and let the moose rest for a while. They had a dairy cow. Kinda like the Brahmin, just a bit sassier."

"I think it was last Christmas I had some." Sturges admitted, he too was missing it. "We had just enough at Quincy to share for the village dinner to put on the mashed tatos and razorgrain bread."

"We need butter," Jake smiled, understanding the wistfulness of the younger two. It was one of the things that had barely changed over the years, no more different than the different areas the competing companies were based out of in the old states. "We need to see if we can find how to grow sugar cane, or find a trader that comes up from the farther south. Maybe berries can be turned into a sweetener."

Jake was remembering pie and ice cream. For the first time in a long time he felt homesick, not where his descendants were safe outside of Parsons. But for those times long since past, all the small things that could be gotten in a store. Where he did not have to plan things out.

"I brought sugar beet seeds with me." Lana noted, for a moment unfocused as she thought, "Two types, one prewar one from home, and another one that's post war mutated from a farm area in the midwest we trade with… would have to modify grow containers for both." She taped the pencil on the paper before drawing something on the bottom of the page. "The mutated one is really sensitive to radiation but grows to like… three to four feet long. I keep the dried seeds in active radexes."

"What are...sugar beets?" Sturges asked, glancing at the woman confused, but interested.

"Uh, it's one of the plants you get sugar from. They're about this big, at least the original type." Lana measured something under a foot between her hands. "The post war version gets much bigger, higher yield for sugar but it takes just as long to grow. You cut or shred the beet up, boil it and squeeze as much of the liquid as possible. Then boil the water down as much as possible and let the syrup crystalize into sugar. But I brought the seeds for roasting the roots instead of sugar."

"There is another option as well." Codsworth added drifting closer now that the kitchen was cleaned from dinner, "Up north in the wilds is an old village, a few families still harvest sap from maple trees. It's a few families that consolidated the once competing companies' resources and forests. They make both maple syrup and maple bars. The mum used to order all sorts of maple things from them."

"Maple?" Sturges felt like he was going to be learning an unexpected amount of new things tonight. Much like when he was introduced to Lana and Valory for the first time.

"It's a tree that produces a sweet sap, you harvest it and can turn it into syrup or keep evaporating the water until it turns to sugar, just flavored." Jake explained and looked excited, "I completely forgotten about that industry, now and then over the decades I would find some syrup in jars not bottles, but didn't think to hard about where it came from,"

"From what one of the families said, they nearly still have the same yield as before the war, but not the pressure of the national demand for export." Codsworth wiggled on his thruster, excited to possibly be able to help make some lives if not easier then bettering them. More so when he could in turn help his family. Plus baking with razorgrain flower and maple sugar was not that hard, there used to be wild turkey and chicken descendants in the forest around Sanctuary. One could also use iguana eggs if you wanted and timed it right.

How splendid would it be to bake again?

Even simple cookies and bread! Cornbread was not hard to do nowadays, and if one had a good razorgrain field... Codsworth made a mental note to find a place to grow the rest of his razorgrain before his family woke up. The seeds would nearly be stale for eating by now but surely they could be sprouted?

"How far are they?" Lana asked with interest, bringing Codsworth's attention back. Though it barely had been a few seconds.

"From what Miss Amelia said... a few weeks of traveling with a brahmin. It took a little over a month round trip, but that was around a hundred years ago."

"So...cut that in half on moose back," Lana said thoughtfully, squinting into the middle distance. "Buck can carry a lot but he can pull more if the roads are decent enough, though a sled would be better in thicker woods instead of the cart... I wonder if they have seeds or saplings from the surviving trees."

"For now let's focus on what's around us." Jake sat up and stretched his back, "Spreading those Mulberry trees, the big and dwarf ones, I haven't seen them as spread out as up here in Sanctuary, mixed with that moss of yours it'll help feed people better. Add in Mut-fruit trees and those blackberry trees of yours..."

"True," Lana nodded with Sturges, "That can be a trip in a little while. For now we should get the fast growing crops established and happy down here and the bunker."

"Ideally before the Vault survivors wake up." Sturges added, "I still think they can and I hope… I hope there's more hidden areas that Marcy can find."

"What do you mean Mr Sturges?" Codsworth shifted his eyestalks, giving the impression of a head tilting with his optics.

"Something about the power drain readouts." Sturges tapped his own paper of calculations. "Something isn't making sense."

"There's not much we can do about it?" Jake half asked, half stated, and after getting a nod from the younger man he continued. "For now, let's take this rare chance to take a shower, borrow some vault suits and wash our clothes. The sheets and blankets are dry about now, and the mattresses are clean as well. Cloths can dry over night and we can maybe make some garden boxes and fill them up in the morning."

Jake looked at his empty plate, smiling a bit at the feeling of being well fed and full. "We can load a lot of dirt on the lift and find some supplies to get things going. Once those we need to help show up we can focus on the power and stabilizing the vault."

"Do you guys mind if I take a shower first over in the Overseer room?" Lana asked hopefully. "I'll do laundry."

Sturges grinned, "Go ahead Lana, and you don't have to. I'll find a suit and nap a bit. If you want you can sleep in the Overseer's room, I think we pulled all the sheets off and cleaned the pillows… at least the ones here. I'm going to take a nap before getting my shower, I'm still stuffed."

"I will see what I can do about cleaning up the place some more while you all sleep tonight." Codsworth said, holding up a full box of abraxo cleaner. "The showers don't look bad but after you're all done with bathing I'll scrub them too."

"At least the gray water tanks in the vault are empty, and the filters are still good." Jake gave a nod.

Lana stood up, gathering up her clipboard and pencil, taking out the soap bar, "The vault suits were all in the main entrance right? I'll see you guys in a bit."

The woman waved, heading back around the long way to the Overseer's office. It was a nice little walk after dinner… but the chance at a hot shower that she did not have to wait or take rad-x first, and rad-away after?

Lana picked up a dry sheet and a sealed Vault suit that seemed her size on the way to the far shower. As much for giving herself privacy, but also to give it to the two men. So Jake and Sturges would not have to worry about her nearby, given how open that other shower was.

Someone had indeed pulled the blanket and sheets off this bed, and pillow. Likely Marcy when Lana had been running back and forth with data reports for Sturges. The new sheet was tossed over the bed.

Lana pulled her short sleeve under shirt off once in the room. Clothes were all folded on the far dresser by the door. Lana did make a face as the scarring on her back stretched a little bit too much as she tried to loosen up her back. She turned her back to the mostly cleaned mirror in the bathroom. Checking to see if any of her scarring across her shoulders needed attention. Just a little dry feeling though.

The hot shower would help, and it did.

It really did help far more for mental health. Hot water with no rads, being in a semi familiar safety of underground with an easy way in and out.

Once she scrubbed and rinsed, Lana let herself mostly dry in the shower taking shelter in the hot stream, shaking her hair free of most water. Lana still had to use one end of the sheet to dry off, then flopping on the dry part. It seemed oddly large for the bed, but there were no fitted sheets so… maybe the bigger sheets were to be tucked. For now she could cover herself while resting before getting up again.

Lana did not get back up, she was not aware of when Codsworth came to check on her. Or when he returned with a blanket and a clean pillow. The robot collected her clothes and left to wash them with those from the others.

Lana was not the only one to stay asleep like a rock that night. Something about the quiet hum of the vault, and just truly feeling safe enough to drop guards even in sleep.

It was a very satisfying night for Codsworth though. Familiar actions of not just taking care of people, cleaning and tidying up, but more being able to see the progress of cleaning. He was very quiet and slower around the humans, so as not to disturb them. But things were righted, gently moved to sweep the floor and put tables and trunks against the walls. Laundry was a steady thing overnight. Codsworth may have washed some of the clothes two or three times before finding a heating vent to dry the clothes.

Except Lana's jacket, the leather was new and had some reinforced bits in the back, and arms. So Codsworth just gave it a good wipe down and spot cleaning inside.

The halls he could scrub a bit easier, and the main entrance. Over on the lift he had left a pile of dirt and an old traffic cone for Duke to do his business on in the night. Though the big dog was happy to settle in the Overseer's room with Lana, stretched out on one of the rugs by a warm vent.