Good Delivery

After walking the three out of the building, Lily returned back to her office and walked carefully over to the side of the room where the "decorative" wall panels were located. She took each one off the wall, disconnecting wires before setting them on the floor, upside down.

Each panel had about a tenth of a kilo of plastic explosive, followed by about a hundred small hardened steel pyramids in front of each carefully shaped charge, with the vertices of the pyramid comprised of a tungsten carbide penetrator.

They were, in other words, essentially small claymore mines. She had carefully designed their placement and the shaped charges to theoretically keep her if she was behind her desk, in the shadow of the explosive concussive waves and combined with the fact that the far wall was built to contain, not ricochet, the pyramids she felt there was a ninety-seven per cent chance she would survive triggering the devices.

However, there was no way she would walk in front of such potential hazards that were connected to her network on a regular basis, even if she felt her cybersecurity was top-notch. So, the arming process was a physical one. After the detonation computer verified her private key and the arming signal, it would trigger springs to physically push a detonator into the plastic explosive, arming the devices. The mechanism also subtly changed the decorative panel's exterior, so she or, rather, her expert system would immediately notice and mark it as a hazard if she opened her door and saw that the panels were armed.

You can't hustle a hustler, and she wasn't about to be turned into chunky salsa on her office wall by some ninja hacker. So, she carefully pulled the detonators out, reset the spring mechanisms and replaced each panel on the wall. However, for now, she left them disconnected electrically, so they were inert. With the two turrets in her office, she felt a lot less at risk with visitors, and no matter what precautions against hacking or ninjas she took, it was still possible for them to be defeated.

This kind of defence wasn't something she would keep installed forever. Any defensive technique or device with a three per cent chance of killing herself was a desperation ploy. History was the sum total of all the unlikely and low probability events occurring one after another; she has known that for hundreds of years.

She finished setting the panels back up on the wall, albeit deactivated, just in time for the Apprentice to knock on her door again, "Dr St. Claire, you have another visitor. This time it is your business partner Ms Grace."

The little minx even waggled her eyebrows at her while saying, 'business partner.' That girl wasn't even sixteen; she was too young to know about business partners! If she had something to say about it, the girl wouldn't be starting her first business until she was twenty-five or thirty, at least!

Lily hummed; she had a turret to assemble as well as the meeting with the Brotherhood exceeded the time she had allocated for it. Moreover, she wasn't anticipating them bringing a Scribe that Lily might describe as slightly educated on the subject of viruses and genetics. Their discussion was pleasant, though.

Oh, well. Her schedule was shot for the day anyway. Lily called out, "Show her in, Apprentice, and if you would bring the tea service and then ensure we're not disturbed."

This caused the Apprentice to grin. What, precisely, was that girl expecting? Was her mind in the gutter, awash with teenage sexual hormones? Lily just wanted to warn Grace that the Brotherhood would be nosing around and perhaps discuss this mysterious Institute with the woman.

Lily decided not to sit behind her desk for this meeting. Instead, they could both sit on the couch on the side of the room. Lily could serve tea from the small coffee table in front of it. She had mostly added the couch to her room design as a show of ostentatiousness, as an actual upholstered couch in good condition was a sign of wealth. However, Grace was a three, so a more intimate meeting, rather than sitting in front of her desk like she was an employee, was called for.

Grace swaggered into her office with the usual braggadocio and confidence that had attracted her to the woman, causing Lily to smile despite herself. "Wow, your place is looking swankier every time I see it, girlie."

Lily stood as she entered and motioned next to her on the couch, "Yes. I built zhis room to impress zhe Mayor, and other similar people who need constant signals to reassure zhem that I am of zheir same class and, zherefore, shouldn't be trifled with. Silly, but actually very effective, I am told. Take a seat. 'ow've you been? 'ows Monsieur Miller and your team?"

Alice slipped in again with the tea service on a faux-bamboo tray and sat it in front of us as we both took a seat before seeing herself out. The girl must have already had that ready; she was already anticipating her. That was good.

Grace sat next to her and chuckled, "Oh, not too bad. Miller's back at our," and she waggled her fingers conspiratorially, "secret base while the rest of us all have been back in town for close to a week, another week off, and then we'll have another mission into the Dominion."

Lily almost flubs a step in the steeping process in surprise, and she glances over at Grace in a sideways manner, "I somehow zhought zhat you might not be entirely welcome in zhat somewhat backwards society."

Grace chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck, "Well, so long as I don't seduce their wives... or daughters... they are actually quite neighbourly, for the most part. I get the impression they're holding out hope for my immortal soul. It's a lot better than going to Norfolk or the Pitt."

Lily made a mental note to talk to her about Norfolk, as if she was mentioning it on the same level as the Pitt DLC, then it was likely dangerous. However, before she made up her mind to ask her about it now Grace held up her hand, "Oh, I have a delivery for you, too!"

Grace leaned down and fished out a few items from her bag that she had sat on the floor, pulling out three fusion cores. "Miller said he owed you these; two are empty and this one has is full. Why were you so interested in them?"

Lily hummed, taking them from her and visually inspecting them. She may as well be honest with Grace, besides her motives were easily guessable, "I hope to be reverse engineer zhem. At the very least, I hope to be able to refuel zhem. I'm not sure how they work, what kind of fusion reaction zhey use or what their fuel is at present, zhough."

Grace raised her eyebrows, taking a big gulp of her tea, "I've seen the refuelling machines. Had Poseidon Energy logos on them, you just slide the fusion cores in and wait about fifteen seconds, and they're good to go again. Some of our techs have tried the same thing, but they say these babies are designed to be tamper-resistant. I don't really know the details, though."

Lily found that interesting. They were made by Mass Fusion, but it sounded like that company had perhaps a strategic partnership with what amounted to the oil company.

That... made a lot of sense, especially considering the most common use for these devices before the war was for fuel in cars. Using the pre-existing infrastructure of a company that had chains of filling stations already around the nation?

The claim of tamper resistance made her all the more curious. That could mean a lot of things, but it sounded like they were designed only to be refuelled by authorized devices. That sounded like a precaution to take when the fuel was cheap and plentiful in order to secure a monopoly against competitors, so she was internally expecting hydrogen as a fuel. She'd have to scan them later. She sat the devices on the floor next to the couch and nodded, "Zhanks for zhat, zhat will 'elp me in my efforts. Maybe all I'll need is to 'it up a few Poseidon filling stations to find a refuelling device?"

Grace sadly shook her head, "We've checked most of the ones within seventy klicks of DC, no luck. If you do manage to build a replacement that works, we'd definitely be interested in buying a few from you. We have to ration our usage of Power Armour, due to the operational cores being scarce."

Lily nodded, "Speaking of Power Armour, zhe Brotherhood paid me a visit. I'm playing nice-nice with zhem for zhe moment, and in fact, zhere will be a Brotherhood Scribe and some Initiates spending a few days 'ere, arriving in a couple of 'ours."

Grace made a face as if she had bit into a lemon, "That isn't surprising. They didn't shake you down too badly, did they?"

Lily considered that. It could have gone a lot worse, "No, not too bad, I suppose."

That caused Grace to grin, "I know how to cheer you up. Say, these walls look really sturdy. Are they soundproof?"

Lily had designed them to contain a pretty significant explosion without imperilling anyone in the offices next door or the hallway, so that was a given. "I suppose zhat would depend on how loud of a sound, zhey are certainly sound resistant zhough, why do you--umph!"

---xxxxxx---

POV Sarah Lyons

"Anything else you want to include, Ferguson?" Sarah Lyons asked after listening to a preliminary briefing.

The man nodded, "I thought it was interesting that she appeared to be controlling first the turrets in her office and then her rebuilt Labourtron without issuing any verbal commands or using any visible remote control mechanism."

The younger Paladin raised her eyes, then looked up for a moment as she recalled, "You're right. When she lost it on Sibley, those turrets were following her eyes like she was wearing one of those gunship pilot helmets." Lyons held up two fingers in front of her eyes and pointed them around as she looked at things to demonstrate. Then she shrugged, "Perhaps a concealed button on her desk? Or someone monitoring our meeting that she trusted to act on her behalf, like a security officer?"

Ferguson shook his head, "The reactions were too fast for that. I think she has some sort of cybernetic brain implant that allows her to issue commands to her computer mentally, somehow."

That caused the Paladin to look interested, "That is interesting. Is that technology that we know about?"

Ferguson paused for a moment before nodding, "Yes, we have a number of cybernetic systems that are designed for brain implantation, such as the ones that make math easier, help learn languages and a few others. We also have one that uses electrical induction and small implanted electrodes to monitor the region of the brain that handles speech, and it lets you send subvocalized commands to the implant and then to any connected computer. It's considered a radical alteration, though, especially since the power requirements are high, as the system needs an integrated computer for the system to parse out words from your brain. I didn't see any batteries or similar power sources hanging off her head. Betavoltaics, which is the usual solution for powering neuro implants, won't cut it for these systems."

That caused Lyons to chuckle, "Did you see how long her braided hair was? It went all the way down to her ass; she could have been hiding a plasma caster in it it's so long."

That caused Ferguson to nod thoughtfully and say, "And what an ass it is..."

"Hey! You're like twice her age, at least! Why don't you stow the creepy Uncle shit, Scribe," Sarah Lyons said, half-offended and half-amused.

Scribe Ferguson chuckled, shaking his head, "Yeah, I'm not so sure about that. She's already admitted she studies life extension. Her breadth of knowledge, from medicine, genetics and virology to cybernetics and robotics? And building improved laser weapons on top of that as some sort of hobby?"

He shook his head, "No. No way. There is just not enough time to learn that many fields. For all we know, she could have lived through the Great War and the last two hundred years, and it would be her that would be robbing my cradle!"

Lyons paused and asked, "Do you really think that is a possibility? That is something the Elder will need to know, if so."

This caused the older Scribe to pause and then shake his head, "No. If that were the case, I would have expected her to have her own small empire or be dead by now. Didn't you say your first interaction was about four months ago when she looted that virology lab? With a few mercenaries, all of which were using standard guns?" To this, Lyons nodded.

"She had nothing back then. She said the main thing she looted was lab equipment, guide RNA for gene editing and a virus that she used to make her first products. That is stuff any scientist doing her kind of work would already have had on hand. No scientist that had spent the past two hundred years living does not have anything to show for it. No, no way," he finished.

The Paladin nodded, "That is logically stated. You've convinced me. What is your opinion on her origins, since she doesn't appear to be from the Institute?"

That caused him to make a thoughtful noise and be quiet for some time, "I do actually think she might be from the Pre-War era. Her education is too... complete, and she mentioned things as an aside that almost nobody alive today would know, like the subject of Einstein's Nobel prize-winning paper. Most people who have heard a little bit about Einstein, and that's not too many, would probably think that he won the Nobel prize for Relativity. We don't even have that paper she mentioned, so that is definitely one of the things we will trade for, even if it is from the 1920s."

"You're being contradictory now," complained Lyons.

He waved his hand in the air to shush her, "Keeping in mind this is a wild-ass guess... The first possibility, she was cryogenically frozen and found herself woken up with basically nothing two hundred years later."

Lyons hummed and nodded, "That is a possibility. Doesn't answer all of our questions, though, but it is definitely more likely than she spent two hundred years twiddling her thumbs."

Ferguson nodded but held his hand up, "Or, and this is what I really think. She is a clone of a much older researcher, with their memories installed in her younger, cloned brain. Perhaps the original Dr St. Claire was a seventy-year-old grandma? You know how many immortality or resurrection research projects the Pre-War elite were involved in. I bet her original was the main researcher on one. Then when the bombs started to fall, before she died of radiation poisoning or whatever, she scanned her brain using her project's equipment. Something happened, maybe the site lost power, and it took until now for the project to clone her replacement body."

He nodded rapidly, clearly getting more enthused with the idea, "It also explains where she got that cloning equipment she brought back in the truck and why she wouldn't reveal its source. Did you notice how she changed the subject when Scribe Williams asked her if it was therapeutic cloning equipment? She never answered her. Therapeutic cloning means cloning equipment designed to just produce a new limb or a new organ for transplant. I bet her system is traditional cloning, where a whole organism pops out."

Sarah blinked and then was silent for a time, thinking. Then she nodded, "That theory answers everything essentially and doesn't have any logical contradictions that I can think of. That is kind of a tragic story, too. I will include that as the most likely origin story for her in our files and brief the Elder. Why do you think she brought the cloning equipment back if it isn't useful medically? I don't want some sort of Clone Army situation."

Ferguson waved off that concern again, "It wouldn't be difficult to adjust it to be useful therapeutically, probably. Plus, it is valuable equipment. She seems a classic introvert homebody from her violent reaction to Sibley, so she might have brought it back to her new home just because it was hers and for no other reason. I'll ask her if we can perhaps buy time on her cloning machine to clone limbs or organs. Her answer to me will answer that question. I doubt we'll see an Army of her. She doesn't seem the type that would accept duplicates of herself around, but that is a question for one of the psychologist Scribes. Order one of them to review all of our interactions with her and everything else we know and make a profile on her if you want."

Sarah Lyons nodded and said, "We'll leave things here for now. I'll have a few Initiates brought over to act as your bodyguards; expect them in a few hours. I will have to deal with this Sibley situation. He almost got me killed, so I am not feeling very merciful. We'll see if it's NJP or a full court for insubordination when we get back."

"Roger, Star Paladin," the older Scribe said, offering a jaunty and non-regulation salute and turning to return back the way he came.

She watched him go, then shook her head with a sigh. Sibley was going to be a problem. He wasn't even Lyons Pride and was included on this mission at Casdin's request. She didn't have a lot of good things to say about that man or his sycophants.

---xxxxxx---

POV Lily

About an hour later, Lily walked out of her office significantly more tousled and significantly less stressed than she had been previously. She intended to head straight upstairs into her quarters, but the Apprentice saw her walking down the hallway, and the girl just cracked up and went the other direction.

She wasn't that dishevelled! It wasn't that obvious, was it? Was it?!

She hurried her steps, and when she got up to her room, she glanced at herself in her bathroom mirror, frowning. Not only did she have a couple of hickeys, although they were already slowly fading as her nanomachines healed the damage and reabsorbed the blood close to her skin, but a good bit of her hair had also been pulled free from her braid.

She closed her eyes, remembering that Grace had been using her braid as kind of a handle for a period of time, including some semi-rough pulling...

Her face flushing and coughing, she disrobed and undid her braid. She supposed a shower might be in order and some new clothes, too.

---xxxxxx---

Lily discovered that the Apprentice had shown Scribe Ferguson his guest room while Lily was indisposed in her office with Grace, which she appreciated. She would not have appreciated an interruption at that time.

She also noticed a new user on her network with guest permissions and sent Scott a message asking if everything was okay or if he needed any assistance. She also elevated his user level to allow him access to some of her networks, such as all of her books, films and media.

[Scott Wollinski: No, everything is going very well. I won't say the initial set-up was very fun, but I have been going over all of the tutorials, videos and read-me files you set up. There are a lot, and it's quite thorough. Some of the help files on some of the applications are especially verbose.]

Lily rolled her eyes. Trust the Mechanist to be incredibly literal and use his full name as a username when the configuration program asked him to enter a name to serve as an identifier.

[Lilium: Okay. I'll come by your room with your next treatment in a few hours, or perhaps Alice will if I am busy.]

[Scott Wollinski: That would be acceptable. I may need some additional resources to understand this computer-aided design system; the help files aren't as comprehensive. That said, it looks incredibly useful. ]

She hummed and then unlocked for his access all of the files she had created for Sophie and the giant magnetron "weapon" he was so enamoured with and forwarded him the links. Some examples of simple things designed would likely help him a lot in his understanding of how to use the system.

She would have a similar DMLS metal-alloy printer and metal recycler for him to take back with him to Vault 108. The Vault's Geo-Thermal power system could output over seven megawatts, so he should have plenty of power to run everything. She was very interested to see what he would make with it.

Finishing the assembly of the turret, she went back upstairs in time to say hello to Ferguson again, watching him greet the detachment of Brotherhood personnel that had been waiting for him. There were four Initiates in Power Armour talking with Alice and one older-looking man in Brotherhood recon armour that was carrying a small briefcase. The older-looking man took Ferguson aside and spoke with him briefly while she looked at the fireteam of Initiates in her hospital.

She thought that there would be only one or two, but then considered the fact that people have to have off-time and sleep, even Initiates, so a total detachment of four made sense if you considered they had to work in shifts.

She narrowed her eyes as she watched and heard her Apprentice flirting with one of the Brotherhood Initiates, the tallest and perhaps most handsome of the bunch. She took a good look at the Initiate in question and committed his face to her memory. She was considering doing something to embarrass the girl when Ferguson walked up to her, carrying the briefcase the older man had once been carrying. It looked like one of those metal Halliburton cases, kind of like the kind that she had hidden back in her basement with a bunch of FEV virus inside.

"Dr St. Claire, can I see you privately for a moment? Star Paladin Lyons has sent back the payment you requested," Ferguson said. This caused her to nod. She turned to walk to a nearby empty exam room before sending eye glares, and negative energy at that one Initiate's back one final time.

She closed the door behind Ferguson and asked, "What's the problem?"

He chuckled, "Well, there is no problem, but usually matters like this are handled delicately." He placed the briefcase on the exam bed and opened it up to reveal... a London Good Delivery bar of gold.

Her eyebrows rose up into her scalp. That was at least ten kilos of gold. She stared at him and then said mildly, "I 'ope you know I can't make change for zhat." The price she was charging Sarah Lyons for all five implants was only about five hundred grams of the metal. Even if she liquidated all of the easily convertible assets she had in the hospital, she might not have enough to pay off the remainder. A lot of her assets were tied up.

He chuckled and nodded, "Yes, that is fine. She said the Elder would like you to keep it on account for potential future sales."

Lily hummed and asked, "You want me to start you zhe tab?" That caused him to nod. Well, she would take bribery over heavy-handed coercion any day of the week and twice on Sunday. She nodded, "Okay, zhat is fine. I will carry it along in my books." She closed the case and picked it up. She'd carry it straight to her office and scan the case itself for bugs, listening devices, nano-plagues or explosives before taking it downstairs and securing it as best as she could. Not only was gold a precious metal and valued for its rarity, but it was incredibly useful industrially in electronics as well.

She wanted to spend some time studying the scans she took of the fusion cores, too. They kind of reminded her of a printer cartridge for an inkjet printer, pure evil, in other words. They were definitely designed to only be refuelled by a proprietary device, but she felt she could probably crack it. The fuel was hydrogen, and it was a hydrogen-boron fusion process, as far as she could tell.

There were boron-impregnated metal alloys in the fusion chamber, which meant that these cores could only be refuelled a limited number of times, as the boron would be used up. It was an interesting design, and Lily had no idea at all how it worked, but she was confident she could at least build a machine to squirt some hydrogen inside it.

"Zhe design consult appointment for zhe two patients is tomorrow at 1015 hours, 'ospital time. Usually, patients are a little early as watches are still a bit of a luxury," she mentioned to him, which caused him to nod.

He said enthusiastically, "I will definitely be there, Dr St. Claire!"