Chapter 44: Slice Of Life

After several minutes of navigating the extensive vault hallways, we arrived at the entrance of the pool. Heading on in, we got changed into swimsuits that were provided on-site to any vault resident that wished to use them and grabbed ourselves a couple of towels. Once we had our towels in hand, the two of us proceeded to the pool and found that it was nearly empty with only a few older residents relaxing or doing laps back and forth to keep themselves in shape.

Looking at the large pool of water feet away from us, I asked. "You ready to jump in, Amata?"

"Of course. It's just too bad we won't have the ability to go for a swim out in the wasteland."

"I mean, we could build a pool, so it's not like we won't be able to forever."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I just need to prepare a few more things before we're in the position to do so."

Ready to hop in, Amata and I made our way over to one of the many benches around the pool area, set our towels down, and walked over to the pool to get our swimming in. As soon as we reached an area of the pool that had no vault residents in the way, we dove right in and began performing laps back and forth.

Some time into our swim, I noticed Amata was beginning to tire out, so I got her attention and stopped her. We then transferred from that activity to enjoying ourselves relaxing in the pool, talking to one another. This went on for a little more than an hour and as we came up on the one hour mark, we started to get hungry, thus we decided that was enough swimming for today and removed ourselves from the comfortable water.

Upon getting out of the pool, we headed over to the bench that had our towels and dried ourselves off. Once we were sufficiently dried off, we left the poolside for the locker rooms separated for the different genders and got back in the clothes we were wearing prior to swimming. After spending a few minutes getting changed in the locker room, Amata and I met back up outside and headed to my home to have an early dinner between just the two of us.

Following another walk through the gray vault hallways later, we arrived at my dwelling where we entered and sat down on the couch by the old-styled tube television for a bit, chatting away about this and that. Doing so for a decent length of time, I eventually got up to go whip up some dinner, but before I could venture off to go do that, Amata offered her help. Unwilling to shut down her attempt at trying to spend time together, I took her up on her offer, and thus we went to the kitchen. 

When we got there, I asked her if she wanted to have anything in particular. "So you care what we have for dinner, or do you have no preference?"

"I don't really have anything in mind. We can just have whatever you feel like eating. You were eating quite ferociously at the welcome-back party as if you were a starving animal. So I think you are due for some of the dishes you haven't been able to eat out there." She shrugged, happy to just be spending time together.

"Well, you would probably react the same if the only thing you've been eating for a while now is the same bland, high protein MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) every day. But that won't be an issue for much longer since I'm working on getting food production up and running back at the RobCo Facility."

"Unfortunately, it won't solve the meat issue. Therefore, something is going to have to be done about it since I can't see us subsisting off of MREs for very long."

"Very true." She nodded, agreeing.

"I guess I should probably make a refrigerated truck or a specialized robot for refrigeration so we can have meat while we're living at the RobCo Facility. Which will be our new home for the foreseeable future, other than Vault 101, of course." I said, noticing her eyes gain a bit of sparkle to them when I referenced the words 'our new home'.

Waited a couple of seconds for her to come back to reality, her mind seemed to be focused elsewhere so I tried getting her attention. "Earth to Amata, you there?" I called out to her.

"Ahh-uh, yeah, that would probably work, and when we're set up enough, we can think about pursuing animal husbandry on our own out there. That would eliminate our need to get our meat from here, thereby making us entirely self-sufficient."

"Mm, we could do that. Good thinking, Amata."

"Hehehe." She smiled happily at getting praised.

"As for what I think we should have for dinner, what about some pork chops and several sides?" I asked her 

"I have no complaints about pork chops. They sound great, in fact. Also sorry about spacing out there."

"It's no problem. Now let's get the ingredients we're gonna need for the pork chops and the sides." I said lastly as I went to the refrigerator and started pulling out all the needed ingredients we were going to require for dinner. As I was doing that, Amata was off to the side, taking the different seasonings out we normally used for the pork chops.

...

Almost half an hour later, we had everything made, so we began bringing the food to the table and the moment everything was set, we sat down and started working away at the meal we had prepared together. As we ate, we conversed about several different topics, ranging from subjects such as what I'd been up to in the wasteland to what sort of things we'll be doing out in the capital wasteland. And before either of us knew it, we had completely devoured our early dinner and been chatting for nearly an hour and 30 minutes.

Time sure flies by when you have good company.

We would've kept it going for longer, but my dear ole dad got off of work and came walking through the entrance, so we cut it at that. Thankfully, it wasn't much of an issue since Amata was practically smiling from ear to ear just about and was radiating such positive energy, that I may just have to start calling her sunshine at this rate.

Whilst my old man entered the home, Amata got up and greeted him and when she was done, I asked him how'd things had gone today. "How was work, dad?"

"Not too bad, son. There were no big injuries or any other emergencies today. Although it would've been nice if I had my boy there to give me a helping hand, like old times." He answered while taking off his outer work attire before handing it to Amata, who had partially gotten up to help my father.

"Well, you know how it is. Gotta keep my promises and all that. That said, I'll give you a hand the next time I stop by the vault."

"Phew, I was hoping you would say that and don't worry, son. I'll make sure you keep your word." My old man said while patting my shoulder and grinning at the fact that he roped me into his work once again.

With my dad arriving home, the three of us moved to the living room and talked for a while before my dad started to get hungry. So I got up to make him a hot meal, which was something he really appreciated. When the food was done, I brought it over to him and handed it to him and as he ate, Amata and I conversed about what she could help me with when we got to the RobCo Facility.

"For starters, things aren't really going to be all that different from when you were assisting me in the lab. That said, I suppose you can help with organizing the facility and getting it into tip-top shape, and if you want, you can help design the different rooms for the facility such as the bedrooms, entertainment area, gym, etc." I told her after explaining several other things in detail.

"Really, that's all?" Amata asked, surprised with a glimmer in her eyes at the mention of designing the rooms.

Looks like she has that homemaking streak that most women have.

Happy to offload the job of making the facility feel homely on to her, I responded. "Yup, there's not a whole lot we need to do since I have over 200 worker bots running around now. They handle a majority of the menial tasks and don't really require my help at all other than me giving them direction and assigning new tasks for them to complete."

Hearing my reply, my dad paused his chowing when I mentioned the number of worker bots I now had in my possession.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up a second there, son. How many robots did you just say you had now?" He asked in disbelief.

"Over 200 worker bots, dad. And that number is currently increasing as we speak."

A few seconds passed by while my dad was in a bit of a stupor, so my girl and I talked for a short time before my dad came back and joined the rest of us in reality.

"Is what you said really true?" My father asked, trying to confirm the validity of my statement.

"It's 100% true, dad. Why do you ask?"

"Well, son, you're producing robots at such an absurd rate that you could probably take over the capital wasteland in its entirety within a few years' time, if not even sooner than that. I just find it to be a bit unbelievable that you have accomplished so much in such a limited timeframe."

"Ahh, I guess it is a slight bit unbelievable, given the current state of the world. Regardless, that's the reality of my current situation. I had the materials and the know-how to get the RobCo Facility back up and running and that's the number of robots I've been able to produce thus far."

A few moments of silence passed before dad commented in a sad voice. "If what you said is the truth, Harold, I guess you'll be able to accomplish your mother's and I's dream within a very short period of time."

*Sigh*

"I only wish she would be here to see what you'll accomplish in the near future." Dad continued, somewhat depressed that his wife, my mother, wasn't here to see what I will accomplish in due time.

If only you knew, dad that she'll be able to see it as well in the future, but I can't really tell you that since you'll think I'm nuts if I was to come out and say that I could revive the dead.

"I'm sure mom is watching us from wherever she is now, dad. So she'll be able to watch us turn the world into a better place in the not-so-distant future." I told him, trying to comfort him, which did noticeably improve his mood.

Following that, the three of us discussed several of the other things regarding what I've accomplished in the time I had been gone and after a while, dad finished his meal and retired to his room for the night, leaving just Amata and me. And since it was getting around time to head to bed, I got up and walked Amata back to her home, even though she was very reluctant to leave my side.

Upon reaching her home, we found her father sitting in the living room, likely waiting for his not so little girl's return. So I talked to him and inquired about how the three ghoul brothers were doing. He told me that they were doing just fine and were with the other ghouls the vault had among their population. The ones that came from the wasteland just like my dad and me all those years ago. Though there weren't all that many ghouls, only a few handfuls of them actually, since they were rarely seen due to them usually being busy with elder council work.

After dropping off Amata, I checked up on the three ghoul brothers myself and once I was sure they had accommodations for the night; I headed back through gray vault hallways, passing by significantly fewer vault residents due to it getting late. The second I reached home, I hopped in my bed that I hadn't slept in for a minute and fell asleep right away.

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If you're looking for something else to read, that's similar to this, check out my other webnovel Wasteland Conqueror.