Blackwater

Lily cornered the Initiate that Alice had repeatedly flirted with over the past three days while he was off-duty. "Ah, Initiate Wilcox... tell me... 'ave you 'eard of zhe phrase: Fifteen will get you twenty?"

She had two reasons for ambushing the young man during his off-duty period, who had to be at least nineteen or twenty-- and Lily had to say it, the Apprentice definitely had a type. Dark hair, tall, strong and confident looking. He looked quite similar to and was of a similar age to that missionary boy that the girl had also flirted with. Thankfully that one had gone back home, and thankfully this one was going back home shortly, also.

Lily would have to sit down with the Apprentice not only to discuss the truth about the Brotherhood of Steel and their history, but she had decided to confide in the girl about her FEV experiments.

"Uh, no ma'am, Dr St. Claire, no, I have not," the young man told her in an unsure tone.

She used her scanner, which she had concealed as a clipboard, to scan his entire body thoroughly, including his Power Armour. That was the secondary reason for this conversation.

Lily nodded to him reasonably, "At one time, it 'ad a different meaning, but like most zhings in our society, it 'as simplified. Zhe sentiment is still mostly zhe same, zhough. You see, my apprentice Alice seems quite enamoured with you, yes? She is fifteen." She patted her pistol at her waist, "So if you don't want to get twenty new holes in your body, you will keep things platonic between you, is zhat understood, Initiate?"

"M-ma'am, yes, ma'am!" The boy sounded off, stuttering a bit.

"Good," replied, after making sure all of the scans she had taken of him and his Armour were of acceptable fidelity.

---xxxxxx---

The Apprentice interrupted while Lily was working on about three things at once. Her work pattern, to an external observer, would look like madcap chaos. She tended to work on about three to five projects simultaneously throughout the day. With the limitations of her weak and squishy brain, she could only hold her interest unless she got seriously inspired for a limited amount of time on a single project.

So it was her usual custom to flit from project to project, working on each for a while before leaving it where it lay and shifting gears to something else. It only worked because she had a nearly perfect memory of everything she had experienced since she had her brain-computer working properly. It only took a few seconds reviewing her sensorium, especially the internal thought track, to remember exactly where she had left off on a project and continue it as if she had never left.

Right now, she was working on attempting to isolate the gene expressions from the fat man she had gotten a genetic sample from weeks earlier. She was pretty sure she had ruled out an increase in the efficiency of energy usage as being responsible for his reduced calorie requirements, so all that was left was an increase in the ability to extract useful energy from the food he ate or possibly the use of an entirely novel organic compound instead of the adenosine triphosphate that was used as energy storage and transfer media in almost every complex animal.

The latter was a long shot, though, since that would be an incredibly radical change in the body, down to its cellular processes. ATP was also a precursor to RNA and DNA, so it was almost impossible to replace unless it was the result of a top-down redesign of how a body works on a cellular level. She was very sceptical that random mutation could cause it, so she was eliminating it as a possibility only for completion's sake. She should have scanned the fatty as that would have eliminated or proven this second long shot possibility right away, but she didn't think to.

After this, she would continue on the initial design for the truck she was going to make, and then, surprisingly, something right up her alley from her time in America. A consumer electronics device.

Specifically, she was going to attempt to use her already mostly developed e-ink tech to develop something akin to an e-reader from her past, like a Kindle. She couldn't print textbooks, for sure, but this might be a suitable replacement. She had even worked on an e-reader before using e-ink technology in her past life. Although one did not really work on e-ink displays themselves when engineering an e-reader, in the same way, an engineer working on a cell phone didn't design an OLED screen. You simply bought them as a module and incorporated them into your design.

That didn't mean she didn't understand more or less how they worked, as it was important to understand the broad brush strokes of the technology, as you were incorporating both its abilities and limitations into your consumer device. No e-reader featured any features that required a fast refresh of the screen, for example, because their designers knew more or less how the e-ink display worked and its limitations.

She had already tested the e-ink technology; she had created by hand a slightly oversized 10x10 grid of pixels, so she knew it would work. However, the pixel matrix couldn't easily be produced by either of her fabricators, not unless she wanted to alter them radically just for this one project, and she definitely did not.

It would be simpler for her to produce what amounted to an assembly line just for this one product than it would be to alter her fabricator to support utilising the pigments, charging them positively or negatively, and sequestering them in tiny microcapsules filled with oil. Although she hadn't actually got the list of possible tech transfers from the Brotherhood, she was already assured that industrial manufacturing of sapphire, both micro and macro was one of the options, which she was tentatively planning on using for both the screen and microcapsules of these devices. Plus, she could try creating sapphire rods for use in lasers, doping them with random metals until she got one that worked.

Sapphire lasers weren't quite as good as ruby lasers, despite the fact that sapphire and ruby were essentially the same from an elemental perspective. They were both minerals called corundum, which was basically aluminium and oxygen, but she honestly didn't know how particular impurities were present to make a "ruby" corundum red or a "sapphire" corundum blue, as some of them seemed identical. Geology was a bit confusing. Nor did she know precisely how to dope either of those minerals to create a useful laser gain media, so it would all take some research.

However, from scanning ruby rods, she knew the dopants' composition, just not how they were spread over and integrated with the microcrystalline structure of the ruby so completely.

It would be so very nice if she could create lasers in all shapes and sizes from scratch, though, but she suspected the civilian industrial technique to create sapphire glass that the Brotherhood would likely trade her would take a lot of further research until she had something that would be useful in military applications. She'd just have to wait and see, though.

The main problem she faced in the e-ink display project, beyond the obvious one of the time it would take to design, build and test, was the size the production equipment would take up. This might be a project she needed to offload onto one of the properties she owns rather than keeping it in her home, at least until she can start digging out sub-basement levels. Just creating the displays wouldn't expose any of her critical technologies, so she didn't mind it being off-site, although creating the processors and solid-state storage the devices would use would, so the ultimate assembly of her e-readers would have to remain at home.

Sighing, she shifted gears again to the truck project before noticing the Apprentice walking into her workshop. She was carrying that damned stoat. Eyes narrowing, "I told you to keep zhat menace out of my basement, Apprentice."

The girl sighed, "I know. Sir Longius doesn't much like it here, either. But I am worried about him. Look at how his tummy is distended; I think he might have worms or parasites!"

Lily blinked several times. Was she a vet now? She peered at the creature as Alice held the thing out to her hands under its front paws so it was longed out to its full length. It really was long, with small little legs, like a tiny white furred little chéng lóng, except it featured a squished pug-like face instead of the noble snoot she would expect from a dragon. It was already hissing at her.

Its stomach did look a little bit distended, so she made a noncommittal humming noise. She had been about to say something that her social assistant told her would be taken very poorly by the Apprentice, so she had shifted it to the noncommittal hum.

She held out her hands and warned the beast, in a low menacing tone, "I swear to you, beast; if you bite me again, I will take your temperature in a way you will definitely not enjoy."

That took the starch right out of it, and it stopped hissing but still seemed quite wary. Did it understand English, or did it just hear her menacing yet dulcet and commanding tones?

It wasn't surprising that a lesser creature would detect her aura of dominance and submit to her, after all. It didn't, actually, look like it would have a brain big or complex enough to have anything near higher-order intelligence, but she had been surprised before.

The incredibly advanced and intelligent aliens from her past life, the Factors, were basically fungus, and she had never entirely explained exactly how they thought, to begin with, so she wouldn't actually allow assumptions to foreclose options for scientific observations when it came to any creature's intelligence were concerned.

She grabbed it and did a quick exam, palpating its tummy for a moment before reaching over to grab her scanner. She made a mental note to create simple ultrasound imaging devices for medical usage. She could pipe the output to a RadioKing television easily enough, and it would be a useful diagnostic tool for all the doctors. The Apprentice could have used it on her rat and not had to bother her at all.

That would be the project of only a few hours, like her radar wand, whereas actual MRI scanners might take a week or more.

Lily noticed that the Apprentice was wringing her hands anxiously as she scanned the creature before setting her damaged device back into the drawer on her workbench table.

She downloaded the image scans from it, and it didn't take long for her to identify the problem with the creature. She highlighted a section of the 3-D scans with a mental pen and forwarded it over to Alice's implant over the wireless, "I see zhe problem, Apprentice."

She then saved an updated scan of the creature's brain to her To Study directory. She didn't presently want to study the structures of an unusual brain today, and she had been doing that all too much lately, anyway, and it started to give her a headache.

Alice looked distraught, "Zhere's a problem?! It's parasites, isn't it?! But surely we can fix it, right? Can you walk me through how to program medichines for an antiparasitic therapy?"

Lily tilted her head to the side before picking up the stoat and handing it back to the girl, "Just fat."

Then she turned back around and took a half-second to revisit where she had left off. Ah, right. She reopened the correct windows and continued correcting minor elements on the scans of the individual parts of her truck with a number of gestures involving the virtual objects.

She already had both versions of the fission motors scanned and modelled completely. However, she was thinking that she would try incorporating the four-speed automatic transmission that was standard on the four-door Corvega instead of a manual transmission like her truck had. Of course, she'd have to size everything up, but that was simplicity itself in her software.

The real sticky issue would be making a single vehicle using two motors. The four-hundred horsepower motors just weren't enough for a water-tanker truck, nor enough for an up-armoured utility truck. It wasn't a space issue, but more of an issue keeping both power shafts spinning at the same rate, assuming each motor would drive one axle. This was especially true if you considered that it was assumed that one of the motors would need to drive a number of accessories, like electrical alternators and an HVAC system.

She wanted to groan; the truck problem was the project she flitted away from the most often and the one she spent the least amount of time on. Mechanical things were hard! Perhaps, she should ask Gary for some advice. He said he was a car mechanic, but did that translate into designing a car that used two engines? She didn't notice the Apprentice leave.

---xxxxxx---

She met Zhao Yun in her lobby to give him his last treatment and bid him goodbye. The Brotherhood detachment would be leaving tomorrow, which was a day earlier than originally planned, which was great!

She had a meeting with Tombs shortly, but first she was drawn outside as she detected her Apprentice having what sounded like an argument, even if it was a friendly one, with the team of mercenaries that had been arranged to guard the exterior of the building this week.

It was a team of Missionaries, like the ones she hired to assassinate her problem gang leaders what seemed so long ago. However, this one was led by a much older man, in his thirties, leading a team of four much younger men --- boys, actually, no older than fourteen.

She had been, initially, quite against hiring what amounted to child soldiers as mercenaries, however, she discovered that this was mostly training for them. A summer camp of sorts of orienteering and select "safe" jobs, even though it was going to be New Year in a few days.

She wondered who picked the time slots, as it seemed a rough deal to be away from family on Christmas, assuming that holiday was a big deal to you. Perhaps these were the orphans who didn't have families? She made a mental note to get the four kids a belated Christmas gift as a goodbye present when they finished their contract in a few days.

Alice was insistent, "But I have read a bit about your beliefs; how can you kill people and still square that with your beliefs?"

Oh, dear ThorAllahJesus! She is debating a religious person of faith, trying to use either their own scriptures or beliefs against them. This isn't going to end well, Apprentice! They study that claptrap for years. They are going to definitely know it and be able to twist in into a pretzel to serve whatever they want to do!

The older gentleman sighed and shook his head, "Miss Alice, my beliefs are simple. I believe that our Lord was made flesh and blood as Jesus Christ and died to redeem us, all of us. You. Everyone else, too. You ask how I can do the things that I must, but the truth is that I know I sin, that I am a sinner is indisputable, and yet the fact that still I am saved is the Greatest Glory of our Lord. Praise God."

That caused his four students to echo a quiet "Praise God" too.

Lily wanted to facepalm. See? See, Apprentice? You can't argue belief or faith with a man or woman of faith; it just didn't work. She knew this because she was something of a woman of faith herself.

However, her faith was more in her inevitable victory over ignorance and the primacy of science as the best tool to understand the universe rather than Jesus. She'd accept a person's criticisms, even their predictions that she might fail. Everyone did, after all. But if someone tried to tell her that it was impossible to ever explain something, she would get just as unreasonable and twisty as this man did just now. His response to the Apprentice even moved her, a little! He was clearly one of those charismatic build social predator types, so it was best not to engage in prolonged debate with him.

"Even killing, when your supposed holy book says Thou Shalt Not Kill?" pressed the Apprentice. Ugh, the girl was being an amateur here; even Lily knew a good rebuttal to this line of attack. She started walking over to the Apprentice to save her.

The man chuckled good-naturedly, "That has been translated poorly. The Ten Commandments were written in Hebrew, after all, and a better translation would be Thou Shalt Not Murder. After all, there are many other places in the Old Testament where killing is mandated." He then nodded, "You're partly right, though. Nobody should enjoy killing, taking another's life. That's the way to damnation. However, if it is done for a righteous cause, it becomes a necessary vocation, like pulling weeds from your garden. When done right, the work ensures the safety of God's people and instils the fear of His just wrath in the hearts of the unrepentant."

That last part sounded kind of hardcore, actually. Lily was almost impressed. Also, were the ten commandments written in Hebrew? She thought that sounded wrong, but she didn't know what proto-Hebrew language it would have been written in, assuming it ever existed. Which it probably never did.

She sent the girl a message as she approached.

[Lilium: You're not going to sway him or even win an argument. These types of people argue dogma for fun back home, I bet, and he's seen all of your potential arguments dozens of times and has counters for each.]

[Alice: Argh! He is frustrating! I'd almost say he makes some amount of sense.]

[Lilium: No! He doesn't! His entire premise is unfalsifiable and unverifiable, Apprentice! That said, there is no reason to be an asshole about it. I mean, honestly, he really is doing good work if he kills raiders, in my opinion, no matter whether he is or is not being hypocritical while doing it.]

[Alice: You're right, Dr St. Claire!]

Well, of course, she was.

Alice managed to sigh diplomatically and then shrug, "I honestly don't know if that is the case or not, and I realise I am being impolite because raiders truly are a scourge on society; whether you are personally being hypocritical or not doesn't change the fact that you are doing good work when they can no longer kill other innocent people anymore."

Hey! The girl had basically plagiarised her. Still, it was a good way to leave the argument without any hard feelings on either side, she supposed.

The much more experienced debater graciously allowed her to do so, saying, "Thank you, Miss Alice. You are right to question things as you do, and it is never wrong to want to preserve life, especially as a woman or a doctor, both of which are in your future."

Well, that's enough of that. Although it was nice, apparently, that he didn't see anything wrong with woman doctors it was a mite condescending that he saw her concerns over life as stereotypically womanly. She coughed delicately, "Apprentice, I need your assistance inside, please."

The girl nodded and said, "Excuse me," to the man before following her back inside. Then Alice glanced at her and said, "Thanks for the save, I guess. I was reading that debating was useful to build intelligence."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Where did you read zhat? An old debate club recruiting poster?" Although it might actually work a little bit, it kind of depended on what intelligence you were trying to build. She felt the type of social intelligence wherein the goal was to convince people you were right when they didn't believe you in the first place was overrated.

Historically, when Lily was forced to perform diplomacy at all, she had always preferred practising the American style of diplomacy, namely showing up with a gun in one hand and a sandwich in the other and asking which one you wanted. It was incredibly effective!

Lily then continued, "I can see Monsieur Tombs approaching on zhe drone. Would you get some tea ready for 'is visit?"

She brightened and nodded, "Of course!"

---xxxxxx---

She met Tombs in a conference room instead of her office, as she didn't have any goal of impressing him with its ostentatiousness.

They had discussed the status of their comingled enterprises, and most of the news was good. Even the bad news was good news, it was basically that they were accumulating too much money from the water sales. In an economy as small as Megaton, that could be a problem.

"Let us 'ire more of zhe employees, zhen?" Lily offered.

Tombs considered that idea, "And what would they do?"

That Lily didn't know either, at first. Then, however, Lily thought of the mercenaries outside, "Our own security force. Trained from zhe ground up, and provided with good equipment. We mostly 'ire zhe short-term mercenaries for a lot of security services. Let us invest in starting our own PMC, with ourselves being zhe main customer."

Tombs didn't look too interested in the prospect, "That might be a good idea, but it sounds like a lot of work. But, so long as we hire rotating mercenaries as we do, that will always be a security threat itself. What is a PMC, though?"

Lily grinned, "A Private Military Company. Basically, we could start our own mercenary company -- and its only customers, at least at first, would be ourselves. It would take a lot of money to start up, I zhink, but it would be worth it just for zhe added loyalty factor. It's a semi-long term project, but worthwhile."

She decided that if Tombs didn't want to join her in this venture, she would proceed alone. In fact, she intended to be the primary on this, even if he wanted to be involved too, as she intended to hold primary loyalty on any paramilitary force she used.