While Winter worked her shift outside cleaning up the neighborhood, I focused on drilling into the Workshop technical manual. In particular, I started looking deeper into some of the access codes the previous owner had penciled into the margins of the manual. Some of them, unfortunately, seemed to be regionally locked or tied to specific firmware versions, and they didn't work right on the Rosas' Workshop. One in particular that caught my eye was a region-locked code accompanied by a note: West Everett Estates construction support - 10/24. 

 

That name stood out to me, because it was another community that Nate and I had been thinking about moving to. In fact, the pricing was a bit better and it was close to a good public school. In the end, we didn't buy in because it was still under construction and we didn't want to wait. West Everett was a project by the same developer as Sanctuary Hills, and its houses were very similar to the ones here. If there was a Workshop there with patterns specific to that developer, I might be able to use them to work around some of the sticking points on the repairs here. 

 

At the end of her shift, I talked it over with Winter and explained my plan: I was going to travel to Malden and try to find the Workshop at West Everett Estates. My goal was the to retrieve the DRM controller card from the Workshop and bring it back to Sanctuary Hills, then to hook it up to the Rosas' Workshop and get access to the developer's proprietary patterns. From there, if we were lucky, we could fabricate like-new replacements for the damaged parts of the houses. 

 

Winter wasn't thrilled with the idea, but she also admitted it had a good shot at working. In fact, she told me, she was pretty confident she could integrate the DRM controller without losing any of the other patterns that we'd unlocked previously. She'd already been working on porting the proprietary Vault-Tec patterns and told me she was making good progress - despite its claims to the contrary, the DRM program wasn't very sophisticated, and with the controller card in our possession she believed she could clone the relevant keys onto any other DRM controller.

 

That settled it for me - this was too good an opportunity to pass up. We traded off the power suit and I checked my supplies before heading out. I took care to avoid Concord, following the outer shore of the lake until I got to Route 225. Then I'd follow the road past the Air Force base where I'd fought the raiders, past Concord, and down to Bedford Station, then cross under the Route 3 overpass and scout out the vicinity of the Malden-Medford area. I remembered from our tour of the development site that West Everett Estates was on the east bank of the Malden River, right next door to the Park at River's Edge. I could practically see the route in my head as I worked through how I'd get there. As long as I played it safe and didn't rush things, I was confident I'd get there safely.

 

And so, I gave Winter a parting hug, thanked Codsworth again for sticking with us and asked him to keep things safe while I was away, and set off on my path to West Everett. 

 

Things stopped going to plan that evening. Just short of when I should have hit route 225, I froze at the sound of voices in the distance. Crouching down, I drew closer with great care and found myself looking at a campsite. The two writhing, groaning bodies tied to crosses, however, told me I couldn't expect to find any hospitality here. I knew immediately that it had to be a raider camp, and I checked my shotgun to ensure it was loaded before I pulled any closer. 

 

 

At that moment, I decided on my course of action. I'd kill the raiders with a surprise attack, then free the captives. I knew on some level that this was a stupid risk to take, but I'd already seen what fate awaited raider captives when I went on my ill-fated attempt to rescue the Abernathy girl, and if I could head that off this time, I would. Taking in the surroundings, I saw there were three raiders and a mean-looking dog. I didn't really relish shooting the dog, and I hoped it would run away when I started blasting. The raiders though, I was sure they'd try and make a stand. Outnumbering me and not knowing the capabilities of my suit, they were sure to falsely think they had the upper hand. 

 

As I fell into something akin to a sprinter's stance and prepared to rush the nearest raider, a message flashed on my helmet display.

 

Prestride posture detected. Administer Biofuel? [Yes] [No]

 

I'd forgotten about the now-diluted biofuel. In fact, it looked like the supply had doubled since I'd last put on the suit; Winter must have converted more during her shift. I let my eyes fall over the 'yes' prompt and I gasped a little as I heard a hiss that reminded me of nothing more than a well-shaken can of whipped cream and a chilling, frothing mass started to fill my belly. Even as I thought on what was happening, the world seemed to slow down around me. 

 

I surged forward levelling my shotgun and blowing off the first raider's head before he even stirred from his spot. Then, pivoting on my right heel, I leaped over the fire and similarly dispatched a man dressed in improvised armor. Hear a growl behind me, I threw aside the shotgun and pulled out my 10mm, just in time to stop the attack dog with a single shot to its chest. Even as the animal was falling, I saw the final raider getting to his feet and with an unearthly slowness I leveled the pistol on his center of mass and shot him twice. He fell, not getting off a single shot. 

 

 

I recovered my shotgun and checked each fallen raider to ensure they were truly dead. As I did this, my perception of time started to normalize and I became aware of the shocked cries of the two crucified prisoners. Approaching the first one, I immediately saw to my relief that she was tied up and not nailed to the cross. As I undid her bindings, I asked her if she was all right.

 

"Just get me down," she begged, "please!"

 

 

Once I'd freed both of them, they took a moment to scavenge some clothes from the raiders and then finally calmed enough to answer my questions. Both women were travelling traders, following 225 to the northwest. They'd heard rumors of a new trading post just outside Groton, but on the way they'd been ambushed by these raiders. If I hadn't shown up, the plan had been for the raiders to see who froze to death first, then make the survivor butcher and cook their meat before receiving their 'prize' of a quick death. The white haired one, seemingly the leader of the two, told me that this was the last straw for her, and that she was giving up on the traveling lifestyle.

 

I almost just wished them good luck and let them go, but at the same time it struck me that some experienced traders might be just the kind of person we need to help our settlement get off the ground. So I float the idea - what did they think about joining a new settlement and helping set up some shops? They discussed it amongst themselves a bit, then gave me their verdict: yes, absolutely, if they'd get a fair deal and a no one breathing down their neck about how to run their business.

 

I explained that I'd support them in setting up their businesses. In fact, I said, I was on my way to scavenge some resources I needed for expanding the settlement, so hopefully I'd have a home for them fairly quickly. I also explained that I'd be providing equipment and basic supplies, and that we had a reliable long-term source of purified water (I didn't go quite so far as to advertise that we had the vault operational). Both of them seemed very interested in the prospect, and I used the map on my pip boy to show them the fastest route back to Sanctuary. I told them to check in first with Codsworth, and then meet up with Winter for uniforms and work assignments. I assured them that they would probably be working inside heated buildings until spring came, so they wouldn't need to worry about cold weather gear.

 

We parted ways then, and I hoped Winter would remember how I'd explained my vision for how I wanted future residents to dress. Getting them 'with the program' now, while the shock of their captivity and the rush of their rescue was still fresh in their minds, struck me as the best chance to overcome any lingering doubts... and the more folks I could get suited up in the vault gear, the easier it would be to leverage peer pressure and normalization on future recruits. As they headed south towards Sanctuary Hills, I sat down in front of the raiders' fire, deciding to rest until the sun came up. The suit had a monitoring system that I knew would wake me if it detected any potential threat - it had woken me a few times when I was sleeping suited up after Winter roused in the middle of the night to use the toilet - so I was comfortable getting some sleep while the opportunity presented itself.

 

 

After an uneventful night, I woke just before dawn and crossed the final bit of forested land before route 225. From there, I made good speed towards Bedford, taking advantage of the suit's assistance to maintain a loping run all the way to the station. Of course, once upon a time this had been more than just a train station. Before the New Plague and the Resource Wars, Bedford had been a little town of a few thousand people. As that dwindled, however, the Commonwealth decided to disincorporate the town - around the time I was born, they were buying out the last few homes in the area and tearing down the whole place to reclaim its resources and materials. By the time the bombs dropped, all that was left was the rail yard.

 

And that rail yard? Not uninhabited. As I approached, I could make out the shambling shapes of Ghouls.

 

 

I took a wide route around Bedford Station and managed to avoid drawing any attention from its inhabitants - but I was sorely tempted to take a different, more violent course. Why? Because as I circled the warehouse at the edge of the yard, I could clearly see a more-or-less undamaged, bright red Workshop sheltered within. In the end, however, my discretion won out and I didn't risk taking on the whole nest of them alone. Still, I made a note that this might be a place to return to in the future. At a minimum, the Workshop might contain useful patterns (I suspected that at a minimum there might be kits for building freight containers or similar industrial goods). Longer term, a place like this might make for a pretty defensible base.

 

Indeed, once I was far enough away to let my mind wander a bit, I wondered if it would be possible to find and repair a locomotive. Being able to run goods by rail instead of hauling them with pack animals would make a lot of sites viable that currently were just too remote to survive. And based on what I'd seen at the Red Rocket and elsewhere, settlement viability was a big problem.

 

A ways longer, and I found myself on the west side of the Malden River. In fact, I was just on the outskirts of Park at River's Edge, across the street from the Taffington Boathouse - or what was left of it. I remember back when I was eight or nine years old and the news was full of outrage over how a wealthy local had bought the historic Tufts Boathouse and was going planning to tear it down to build a mansion - a mansion with a public park for its lawn, more or less. The howls died down a bit when Bud Taffington revealed his plans to build his mansion in a historical style that he promised would enhance the park, not take away from it. 

 

 

Evidently, Bud Taffington's aesthetic sense hadn't been enough to save his boathouse from the ravages of time... and the enormous mosquitos I could see stalking and buzzing around the house convinced me that I didn't want to investigate it too closely. I detoured south, giving up on the idea of crossing the river at the culvert just north of the boathouse and instead hoping that the route 16 bridge was still intact.

 

 

The good news was that the bridge was still standing. Not so great was the way it was barricaded. It positively screamed 'ambush.' I considered it for a while, thought through how I might get across without being a sitting duck, and realized that my best bet was actually to take some Rad-X and swim the river. I was standing at a point closer to the far bank then anywhere in my immediate vicinity, and I was confident that with the power suit's boosted strength I coudl make it across in good time. 

 

Bringing up the medical system menu on the helmet display, I selected 'Radiation prophylaxis' and let my eyes fall over the 'administer' button. I felt a small squirt of saline solution into my rectum, and then a slightly stronger surge that filled me up and flowed into my colon - still using much less fluid than some of the other treatments I'd received. A moment later, a confirmation message appeared on my screen.

 

Rad-X™ 20mg Immediate Release administered.

!! WARNING !! No amount of radiation exposure is safe. Consult your unit dosimetrist upon mission completion.

 

So protected, I dove into the river and started swimming hard for the far shore. At first, everything was going smoothly - the suit was not only keeping me dry, but it's smooth exterior was letting me slide right through the water and its powered extremities made the swimming effortless. Then a message flashed on my screen.

 

First pass filtration completed. Starting water collection.

 

With no further warning, I gasped as ice-cold water rushed into my stomach through the feeding tube. The sudden cold shocked me out of my rhythm and I thrashed in the water for several seconds before I got back in control. The cold water kept filling me up until I could feel my stomach pushing against the snug embrace of the body sock. Only then did a second message appear.

 

Purified water collected: 1.5L. 

!! WARNING !! Medical system reports Dicyclomine stock at 0%

!! ALERT !! Unable to increase purified water storage capacity. Collection terminated.

 

Making a mental note to not put any Dicyclomine into the medical system until I had a firm grasp of what it would do, I awkwardly swam to the far shore. Standing, I felt a wave of nausea as the water in my belly sloshed left and right, but after a moment of steadying myself and slowing my breathing I started to feel better. For better or worse, the tight body sock reduced the amount of movement in my tummy, and after a little bit more careful movement I started to get used to the feel, unpleasant as it was. I checked my range of motion and I was pleased to see that my ability to mend, crouch, stretch, and so forth didn't seem impacted. 

 

At last, West Everett Estates came into view. I was relieved that I'd made it in one piece, but I was also worried. Why? Well, someone had decorated the water tower with hanging bodies and bags that appeared to be full of dismembered body parts. At this point, I hadn't seen a Super Mutant before, but Fred had told me about the Supers and their 'blood bags,' and I was pretty sure this is what I was seeing. Getting to that Workshop, it seemed, wasn't going to be easy after all.