POV Rio
It was the day that the Synth Caretaker was scheduled to arrive. I had done a decent amount during the wait. I rickrolled the residents of Goodneighbor.
'Even if they didn't realize it.'
Recently, I have been singing all sorts of Christmas songs. Strangely, very few songs survived the war, so many of the classics I was singing were never heard by most. With the exception of the pre-war ghouls, who teared up hearing their childhood songs. The residents were really warming up to me. And I was glad to spread the joy of my favourite holiday. There was a reason it was called the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
Dr. Amari had set up the downstairs lab for the transfer. When the Caretaker arrived, I was a little surprised that Glory came in person and didn't send a body double. Glory was one of the most infamous Heavy of the Railroad. She was undoubtedly on the Institute's kill list. Either way, she did arrive, and they set up the brain-dead synth in one of the memory loungers. I walked over to the Memory Den to start the discussion.
"So you're the one that wants to put a robot brain in G5-19? She's one of my people. A friend. I promised to protect them." Glory said sadly.
"Yes, I know that this can't be easy. But know that Curie will be able to use her knowledge to help many people. The amount of good she can do will honor your friend's sacrifice," I reply.
"I... I think she would like that. Sigh. Fine... Do it. Do it now before I change my mind," Glory says with a pained expression.
"Curie. Let's begin," Dr. Amari says.
"Connecting with external output now," Curie says.
"Curie, terminate all non-essential operations," Dr. Amari orders.
"Affirmative," Curie responds.
I do my best to help, having taken the time to study how the Memory Loungers work, so I can be fairly certain that nothing bad will happen. It was a fairly straightforward process. Once the transfer was complete, Curies' robot shell would have collapsed to the ground if I hadn't added a small piece of code that would maintain its elevation and put it on standby.
"Alright. Connection complete. I have access to your friend's memories," Dr. Amari says.
"Gasp! I... I... my chest. What is happening?" Curie says with a panicked look.
"Just breathe. It's an autonomic function. Just let your body do what it must," Dr. Amari calms her quickly.
"I. I feel. I feel so strange," Curie says with a disturbed look.
"Listen to me. Can you hear me? What is your name?" Dr. Amari says while flashing a light in Curie's eyes.
"My designation is Contagions Vulnerability Robotic Infirmary Engineer. Or Curie," Curie responds.
"Good. Very good. Now let's test some cognitive functions. What is 1 + 2?" Dr. Amari asks.
"Three," Curie answers.
"If I threw a baseball at your head, what would you do?" Dr. Amari asked.
"Uh. Move," Curie states.
"Think of a strong memory. The first that comes to mind. Tell me about it," Dr. Amari requests.
"Sigh. Doctor Burrow was very old. He was the last living scientist in my section of Vault 81. He was on his bed. Very weak. He said to me, Curie, you must... And he died before he finished the sentence... Oh, my insides feel peculiar. What is that?" Curie says with tears in her eyes.
"You might be feeling grief. For a friend," I reply calmly.
"This unit has no friends. But... There, my chest is tightening when I think of poor Doctor Burrow," Curie says with a saddened look.
"The operation appears successful. But I think it will take a lot of adjustment for your new friend. She may need your help to make the transition," Dr. Amari says with a small smile.
"Thank you, Doctor. If you ever need my assistance, don't hesitate to reach out," I say with a nod.
"Of course, now, if you excuse me, I have to talk with a friend," Dr. Amari says while walking over to Glory.
After Dr. Amari left, I went over to the robot shell of Curie and input a premade program. It would head to the house that we had purchased in Goodneighbor. While I was in town, I had done a few jobs for the Hotel Rexford. Rufus wanted me to retrieve Buddy the Custom Protectron that makes beer. I made sure to make a copy of its schematics and then sold it for a high price. Fred the Chem maker and dealer wanted some Hallucigen Gas. That was easy enough to get, as I already had some. And the last thing I did was talk with the Vault-Tec salesman. He was desperate for a place to stay, and I offered him a place at the Castle. I learned his name was Frank.
"You... You really mean that? The Minutemen would take a ghoul?" Frank asked.
"Of course they would. I am the leader of the Minutemen. Why would they not include those that aren't plain humans?" I comment.
"I... I guess I never thought of that. But you really have a place for me? I am not exactly the soldier type," Franks says cautiously.
"I wasn't asking you to be a soldier. If you want some training in that regard, it will be given freely. No, what I want is your expertise in trading. I assume you are a pretty great salesman and would know how best to get deals for the Minutemen. We've been looking for some traders who want to join the Minutemen. So what do you say?" I offer.
"I... I accept! Just give me some time to gather my things, and then I will make my way over there," Frank says with a bright smile.
"Whoa, no need to rush. If you want to, you can tag along when we leave Goodneighbor. I think it would be safer that way, but of course, you don't have to if you don't want to," I offer.
"That sounds great to me. I agree that traveling alone can be risky. Just find me here when you are getting ready to leave," Frank says.
I leave and head over to our base in Goodneighbor. I had turned it into a fairly well-protected place. I then customized the robotic shell of Curie into a Ms. Gutsy. Anyone unlucky enough to try and break into this house would have a miserable time. I had obtained this house from Finn's old gang. Hancock wanted them gone as they were causing him problems. Then I was gifted the building for my own personal use. I actually really liked it. It had a usable roof access that the AHO could land on. It was far enough from the center of Goodneighbor to avoid most traffic. It was close to the Boston Commons, which meant even fewer troublemakers. And it had a decent view of the surroundings as it was an 6-story building. It was technically the tallest building in Goodneighbor, but that was only if you counted it as being in Goodneighbor. Which most didn't.
Even the previous inhabitants didn't. That all changed with the expansion of Goodneighbor. I was also given a difficult task by Hancock. He wanted to move several families out of Goodneighbor for their own good. He had gotten their agreement, and they wanted to move to The Slog. The issue was that there were 97 people I had to get out of Boston safely. Now my recent activities have cleared most dangers out of Boston, but that didn't mean it would be easy to pull off. My current plan was to use my Vertibirds and a salvaged ship to transport them to Finch Farm and then overland from there. That way, I would avoid most hazards and increase the likelihood that everyone would get there safely.
Wiseman was aware of the incoming settlers and had prepared the Slog to house them. You may wonder why Hancock would want to move people out of Goodneighbor, and there were a few reasons. One Goodneighbor is not a very safe place to live. It was somewhat peaceful, and they didn't fight too often inside the walls, but it didn't change that several gangs still roamed the area. And murder was somewhat common. You often had to sleep with one eye open to survive here. Most were trapped here and couldn't leave, as Boston was too dangerous to get out of. Chem and alcohol use were rampant, and it was a generally unstable living environment. And lastly, Hancock wanted to help Wiseman while getting the more innocent out of Goodneighbor and into a better, safer settlement.
I agreed completely with helping get them out, as even I don't like staying in Goodneighbor, and I am very well-liked here. It should also be noted that Goodnieghbor didn't have a large population. It only has around 310 permanent residents. And around half would be considered gang members or part of some sort of group. The 97 people leaving were mostly people who had nowhere else to go and those who weren't part of any gang. Originally, Hancock wanted to get 120 people out, but several refused or were no longer eligible. Those who refused did so because they either planned on staying, heading out on their own, or wanted to carve out a new gang with the power vacuum.
Speaking of a power vacuum, I still had several jobs I had to complete. I still had to kill Skinny Malone and make sure that his second in command, Johnny Tight Lips, was dealt with as well. There was a gang that needed cleaning out in Goodneighbor. I had to wait on Bobbi-No-Nose, as he is making a quick trip to Diamond City to get some help with his Big Dig. There was a major Chem deal that needed to be broken, but Hancock was not fully sure when it would happen, only who might be able to tell me when it would. The serial killer was Pickman, and I planned on checking out his base soon. Winter was the downtime for most people. It was usually too cold to do much, and even the wildlife wasn't very active during winter. It wasn't always below freezing, but it wasn't unheard of to drop that low.
I already delivered the package to Kessler and then delivered the response. I did manage to break the body double the Institute made to replace Hancock. It wasn't too hard when I just started singing to him. Synths have 0 magic resistance and are therefore very susceptible to magic. Even a normal human has at least a tiny resistance to magic, but that is based on mana capacity. I was a little surprised that my voice worked on synths, as I figured they would be closer to robots and therefore immune to mind control spells, but apparently, 3rd-gen synths are closer to humans in that aspect.
It was very helpful to know that in case I need to use that later. But for the next week or two, I would be relaxing with everyone as it was time for Christmas. Or at least it was time to relax for everyone else. I had discovered a ritual spell that might be a good idea to try.
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Author's Note:
The next chapter will be the Christmas special. Until next time, Ciao.