Lewis

Soon using the first bits of light to arrive in the day we both work on getting everything we looted from that basement ready for that arrogant scientist. Indigo is unsurprisingly still asleep. She must need it for all the energy she seems to have. Once she is awake we can head over to that office and show off that we are telling the truth.

The sunrise is beautiful peaking over the farms people beginning to rise and start work.

"How long have you guys been up?" the very sleepy sounding indigo peers at us with some pity.

"We are usually awake at night to utilize our personal advantages and today we woke up just before dawn" i explain to her hoping thats the end.

"Wow what are those advantages"

"I can see perfectly at night" carter takes his chance to jump scare her. Seeing her jump a few inches off the ground does add to the morning.

"Anyways i also have goggles that help seeing in the night since then we have stuck to doing night trips only. Makes things easier since most people stay inside during the night" doesn't hurt to mention the goggles i take everywhere helps see at night.

"Those must be really rare i wonder how they work. Oh i should go save us a spot at the market so we can sell everything!" with that she is running off. Im curious how she will tell us where the stall she finds for us will be. We might not even have anything to sell after this.

Arriving just an hour later i can see the man very impatiently waiting nearly pacing. Must be very excited. "Got everything here for you to browse mister lead supply officer" wow that is an aggressive sneer.

"Ill see if anything you have said is true" ignoring him carter starts pulling out the bags we stuffed with everything from the basement except the medicine.

I watch him look at every piece gently inspecting everything the impatient and arrogant sneer disappearing after the second item. After a while he had everything laid on a blanket that one of the workers brought out.

"These are in good condition i will buy everything for 800 caps" holy shit thats a lot of caps. I don't think either of us had ever held that many. How are we going to carry that many.

"No ill make it 950 i need these today" i forgot to agree tot he first deal and he already upped it.

"We agree to this thank you for this we will gladly take that deal" i held out my hand to cement it.

"Good good ill have someone bring it to you i will stay here to watch over it. Seems as though you now have a house here do spend that money soon" and now hes watching over the blanket filled with things like a hawk. The people in the office are already running to get his "subtle" orders completed.

Looking at the now nearly empty cart the only thing left is the steel box and our 2 bags of personal items. Betty looks happy with all the grass to eat and the cart must be lighter. I decide to pull carter to the side.

"You scanned every item right?" i ask just to be sure.

"Oh yes if this is how they react then we are set for life" he is now whisper shouting the excitement on his face clear to see for everyone. My face is probably the same with a bit of dread. What are we going to do with all those caps.

"Listen i say we stay here for a month get that house built up with a space so we can make whatever we want buy what we can from the market and the caravan" i interrupt him.

"Wait we still need to figure out the metal situation" i mean it cant be too difficult but still.

"Youre right and how are we going to break this to indigo" huh

"What do you mean are we not ditching her?" shes too talkative for me.

"She seems nice i think we could trust her" i don't agree but its carter.

"We wait a week then we will tell her. She will probably get very suspicious if every day we have new things to sell" i watch as 4 guys very careful package the equipment stuffing them between blankets and pillows.

"Guess this is done lets go find her and bring her to the house" with that carter is moving to betty. Softly sighing i follow him. Might as well watch over this mess.

Taking betty and the cart down back to the market we went through earlier the streets already crowded. Walking down one side with stalls lining the street vendors calling out it doesnt take long to find indigo having a very loud conversation with a guy.

"Listen again im telling you i reserved this spot you cant just sit there with your blanket of things and start selling"

"And im telling you this is my spot since 3 years ago aint no one taking it now fuck off"

Stepping behind indigo i tap her shoulder.

"Its fine we don't have anything left to sell were going to check out the house we are renting" she turns around and smiles.

"Heh all that work well you gonna have me stay with you guys longer?" i look over at carter and he nods. Sighing

"Yeah sure carter seems to trust you" and with that shes beaming the guy she was talking to does not look amused.

"Stop flirting and go away unless you're going to buy something" i scoff at that thought she doesnt got the right equipment to be my type. I can see carter is already leaving.

"Wait let me jump on" she runs pst me jumping onto the back of the cart.

Well theres that. Looking at what the guy is selling and all i see is scrap you can find in any house. Shaking my head i follow carter to the new house. Now its a walk back almost the same route we took to get here.

Looking at indigo as i walk beside the cart i contemplate wether i should also jump on. Nah ill stick by carter. Walking past the hotel we didn't stay at and now we are turning left to get across the highway. Through a suburb that is in use surprisingly.

"Ah yeah this is where the more rich permanent residents live since its so close to the heart of the settlement and the safest part so of course its the richest part" indigo is always ready to start talking about a topic she knows about.

"Go on"

"Well theres also the group to the east they live in large apartment complexes and are usually the workers or poor merchants that stick around then we have already seen the 2 large hotels that host the constant flow of travellers from distant cities we got people from as far north as victoria and as far south as salem now we don't get that many from the far east as anyone that comes from there usually don't get far into the mountains. Met a person while i was still home that was from some distant place called spokane they were ghouls that wanted to see the space needle. Pa and ma convinced them that it wasn't a great idea to keep going. You know my parents are really good at that" she really did go on.

"Have you met any of the broken isle raiders here?" those pirates from the far north terrify everyone the only keeping them from overrunning any coastal settlement is victoria and koover those combined fleets are not something to mess with. I have heard so many stories of the epic clashes between them and the heroics that take place to keep those pirates from raiding.

"Never from what i have been told they don't host raiders here personally don't believe a people this mercantile would turn down money but hey thats what they say now up ahead you'll see these fancy buildings that look like they are special well turns out they are full of traps except one of them is full of caps you walk into one that isn't the "bank" you die but its only from what i heard people talking about so it might not be true" thats one way to hide your money. Surround it by a bunch of explosives and hope that in the process fo killing the thief you don't blow up your caps too.

"And whats this?" i point at the next building she might have heard its story too.

"No clue but here is the old main road for this town before the bombs fell you can tell because the side walks are made out of these bricks now be careful cuz people are known to steal the bricks and leave gaping holes but the leaders like having it so they have a fund to replace the bricks my bet is that some rich kid gang is going around messing with people but its pretty annoying when you're having a nice stroll and then you trip" personally don't think too many people are actually tripping but i might be wrong.

"Well carter will stay in the road then there doesn't seem to be any cars so it wont be difficult" now its time to turn right and go down old main. This part of the settlement seems dead compared to the busy market might have seen one or two people but otherwise its empty.

"Oh and up ahead we will be passing the clinic its smaller then the main hospital that is attached to the university buildings but theres a good doctor and a couple assistants that treat you well they are really nice and im friends with a couple of the people there" i try and see if i can spot the clinic but every house looks dead and empty.

"I don't really see it"

"Well yeah obviously its up ahead a bit more" i ignore that comment.

"Anyways we were told its a lakeside residence do you know if theres a mirelurk colony or another mutant animals?"

"Not that im aware of every mutant animal is killed on sight by the patrols its really easy to tell even for a mister gutsy but i have been told that the leaders just programm the gutsy to shoot at anything larger then a dog and that seems to work" guess thats one way to do it.

"Theres the clinic" i look at where indigo is pointing. A beige 2 story building with a small line outside.

"We will visit them another day let us first get to the new place" don't need to spend another hour with indigo talking to her friends. With that carter keeps going.

We keep moving forward avoiding some fallen trees that have cut across the road to our left we pass by an old wooden bridge.

"That was a cool adventure walking through that trail of wooden bridges im amazed most of them are still standing we should all go one day would be great!" i can see the appeal to a safe forrest that you can travel through.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"Sure why not have to convince carter to come"

"It doesn't sound too bad i wouldn't mind" huh he was listening didn't really expect that.

"Great ill find a day we can do it" guess indigo is going to make the plans for this.

This is definitely a longer trip then i was expecting to the right i notice a large clustered group of house surprisingly theres a good amount of people walking around.

"Oh yes this is where the embassies are located you got NCR emerald city the brotherhood of steel you got the NWFA there used to be a gates but they got kicked out after what that whole mess a couple years ago"

"What mess?" i never heard anything about the gates family having problems.

"Well you know how the gates family are well known to sell good condition servant robots and a few other software things usually pricey well couple years back every thing the from the gates started going haywire and attacking everyone luckily this was after i left so i only heard about it recently but i guess they are no longer welcome" makes sense even if it wasn't part of the design if they could so easily be hacked and grouped together to attack all at once then how could you trust the equipment they sell you.

"We will have to stop by here later we have some deals to make with the brotherhood" they would adore having us sell them fusion cores.

"I try to avoid those serious types they really don't like me for some reason" i truly wonder.

"Do you know why they have all the embassies so far out and all in one place i doubt that they are all friendly with each other" i know the brotherhood have issues with the NWFA and NCR

"Its to keep them contained they don't go around trying to recruit everyone and any mess that happens is kept far away form everyone" that makes sense.

"We turn right here" carter complies and now we are on land we rent.

Walking through the dirt paths that have been kept by probably mr handys to a medium sized 2 story building with not that many windows. The house is painted a light blue with bushes that are well trimmed none of the wood looks rotting and the roof doesn't feel like its about to collapse. This is what you pay for that we really didn't.

"Looks great cant wait to see what the inside is like i hope they kept the place furnished i didn't bring any furniture" she did bring a lot with how big her personal bag is.

Walking inside the door felt heavy a couple windows let the light from the mid day sun in. the first room is a wide and open space filled with a random assortment of couches and chairs a large table sits in the middle that is low enough that people don't need chairs for it. Deeper in is a large kitchen that seems stocked for a restaurant past that are 2 separate bathrooms with bathtubs. To the left is a garage space this will probably be where we make the secret basement just got to make sure the garage door cant actually open. Going up stairs there are 3 separate rooms one an office space and a master bedroom with its own bathroom while at the end is an additional room that seems like a standard size. I watch as lewis goes to test the water just to see if its running or not. From the color it looks fresh and clean but its also irradiated. Each room is furnished with different furniture sets that aren't too badly rotted they must have gotten them from all across the suburbs surrounding this place.

I go back outside to take me and carters bags and put them in the master bedroom indigo obviously taking the smaller room since its only her and we can fit 2 beds in this one. Moving on i get everything in the room set up for the both of us while carter is downstairs checking everything making sure that he can do the work with taylor.

Carter

Closing the door behind me i move the cabinet next to the wall against the door now there wont be any interruptions. Going through TAYLORS modes i find the blueprints. Adjusting it so that it can be a hatch into a ladderwell i hit confirm. Now i get to watch as the floor slowly dissolves into material that will then be made into a reinforced concrete bunker below the house. Now how to hide the hatch thats the difficult part.

Looking around the room i don't notice anything that i could really use maybe i can make some sort of button that can hide the hatch ill have to edit it again once i can find the right schematic for a hidden door.

I might have to convince lewis that we should find an old bunker or when we talk to the brotherhood of steel we could trade a fusion core for caps and information. Ill probably use whatever metal is left after making the bunker on the fusion reactors see if i could hook the power generation into the house and power the house. I noticed that while the water is running probably from the lake the power isn't but with this that shouldn't be an issue.

Indigo is going to be an issue hopefully we can trust her but i don't know if she can actually stay quiet. The only thing that really decided it for me was the fact that her own secrets she has kept and anything she has told us are things most people would know not any state secrets. The question is if thats because no one has really told her a secret or if she can keep secrets.

Me and lewis will just have to test her and see if she can. So far not too many people have been interested in TAYLOR most assume its a pipboy and while those are rare with the current fake backstory going it keeps people away for now.

I don't remember the emerald city vault dwellers had that much of a reputation but i never really paid attention to that. Most of my focus was on ignoring everyone and trying to see the space needle. While avoiding the underground of course.

The backstory is going to be a problem when we visit the embassy district. The emerald city embassy people will easily know we are a lie and if they have seen enough pipboys they might even recognize the fact what i have isn't one. We will have to be careful. Ill mention it lewis for now ill enjoy the show.

Near 40 minutes later its complete now to make the bunker itself. I close the hatch behind me and wait before choosing the bunker entrance schematic i made. Its going to a single large door made out of the strongest metal i had available which i got from the research equipment. Behind the door is a few barricades all encased in concrete walls floors and ceiling i also made space for wiring but i don't know how to do plumbing so left that out. Maybe one day i can figure that out.

Now to sit here another 40 minutes.

Lewis

"Carter is out he will be back don't worry probably went to go check on the embassy district we passed nothin dangerous" indigo has been going around the house looking at all the different couches and chairs in the living room trying to fit together some semblance of a set but for some reason it feels like each chair is from a different house. Now shes wondering where carter is.

"Huh well he should have invited us along would have been nice. We should go check the lake see if theres anything special about it" eh why not i shrug and follow her as she exits the house.

Outside its a quick walk to the lake which feels more like a large pond the trees and plant life are enjoying the absence of humans. The water itself looks stagnant except for one portion which looks new. I go over to see theres a small turbine running under the water by a pipe. This must be where the water comes in.

Wonder how they power the turbine. Looking around at the rolling reen hills and the fog thats stuck around through the day its really a beautiful place to be im truly shocked to see something and know that its safe.

Thinking about it. This place definitely has some romantic feel to it. Maybe i should get carter and indigo out exploring the area that shouldn't be too bad. Would be funny watching those 2 get to know each other and carter finally opening up. Once he does they will be non stop talking.

"Wow this is really nice cant compare to the sights of home but this isn't bad"

"I have been around large parts of the wasteland and this is one of the best natural vistas i have seen now if the people were better that would be nice" there is usually some silver lining to ever dark cloud and every shining city has its shadow.

"Where have you both been?"

"Well we have been to emerald city we have been to see tac furthest south was to see the maw a wondrous river truly terrifying to witness furthest north we have been was the gates estates olympia was a trip the entire town was bulldozed and remade with stone we arent welcome over there anymore due to the NWFA base we even been to snoqualmie we got permission to visit when we helped them find some missing necklace that was a fun time and pretty recent. It was last year actually then we stopped just northwest at redmond stayed there for a while and now were here" me and carter have been around the wasteland ever since his mom died no place has felt like home and we never knew where her own home was.

"You have really seen a lot but aren't you pretty young?"

"Yeah well truth is me and carter arent merchants from emerald city we are scavengers nomads after carters mom passed" if she can keep this a secret then we can put more trust in her. Let us see how it goes.

"Thank you for telling me it must have been difficult not having a family but atleast you have each other. Thank you for telling me." she hugs me tight before walking back to the house.

I take my time outside to enjoy the breeze the water maybe with taylor we could make a home maybe with the right people we could make the wasteland better. I honestly have no idea if we can but atleast i can take the first step.