"Nice day," Piper commented as we stepped outside the following morning. "Where are we going first?"

 

I chuckled at that, "same plan as yesterday. We'll start with Abernathy Farm, then on to Ridge. We'll visit the quarry on the way back if we have enough daylight. First though, let's check in on Nick and Doctor Cain."

 

We found the two of them taking a coffee break outside Jake's workshop. I nodded in approval, noting that Cain had obediently left her work smock back inside when she ventured out, though I raised an eyebrow at the high heels she was still wearing.

 

"Testing the limits of what I meant when I said 'naked,' Doctor?" I asked

 

Jake looked like he was about to snort his coffee, but Cain handled the question with her usual cool aplomb. "I stepped on a piece of glass coming back from the bar last night. I think until the roads are in better shape, I'm going to help myself to a little indulgence when it comes to my heels."

 

 

"Fair enough," I conceded. We're leaving for a day or two to visit the other settlements. Any updates on your work with the comm hub?"

 

"Well," Jake said, "we've got it more or less assembled. The doc here's working on fixing some of the parts that were banged up. Main problem we have now is getting the thing powered up."

 

"Should I bring some batteries back from Sanctuary?" I asked.

 

"No, we need more juice than that. Don't worry, I've got a plan I'm working on. I'll fill you in when you get back."

 

"What about you, Doctor Cain? I see you've made yourself at home," pointing to the lurid painting that she'd hung behind her workbench.

 

"Oh that? Ha, I saw that in your Workshop catalogue and figured a, um, scientific themed decoration was just what my little space needed. Not much to report yet. Like Evans said, I'm doing some repairs and maintenance work while he figures out the best way to power the hub."

 

"Alright," I said, "sounds like you two have the situation under control. We'll see you in a few days."

 

"Yes, shoo," Jake said with a laugh, "we've got enough pressure without the boss staring over our shoulder."

 

It was a sunny morning, and we enjoyed a nice walk to Abernathy Farm. As we crossed a small rise and the farm came into view, Piper whistled.

 

"You guys really like your walls, don't you?"

 

 

"Kind of a 'fences make for good neighbors' thing. When we first started setting up, there was a lot of raider activity out this way. Probably still is once you get a mile or two further west. I think that's why Preston was talking about setting up an outpost at the old country club. Push the frontier a bit further back."

 

"Yeah, that makes sense. Have you been thinking about his plans? Which one do you want to go with?"

 

"From the way he described it, it sounds like it really depends on how things go with Graygarden. If we can get them to side with us, then we'll push on Bedford. Otherwise, it's the country club plan. I think though, eventually we'll want to grab both sites. I was looking at some maps back in Concord and the old country club is really strategically situated; it's got a controlling position not just on the pond, but also on the Route 117 bypass and the dam it runs over. And Bedford... well, that rail line is an obvious strategic asset. Imagine if we could find an engine that was still working? We could run supplies all up and down our territory."

 

"Wow," Piper said, "I didn't realize this had you so fired up."

 

"I keep thinking about what things were like in Boston. I don't want that here, so the stronger a position we can build, the better."

 

"Yeah, that makes sense," she said as we reached the gate to the farm. "By the way, what's up with the three flags? I saw them hanging up at the Diner and up on poles in the roof garden. Why not just fly your Vault flag?"

 

 

"I'm not a queen, Piper, and I don't want to be one."

 

"What's that got to do with the flags?"

 

"The point is that while this is Vault 111 territory, we derive our authority from the United States of America and from the Commonwealth of New England. The three flags remind us that me, and whatever leader comes after me, isn't the state."

 

"OK, but Charley," Piper said, frowning a little, "you are the state. If you walked away tomorrow, this would all fall apart. You know the state of the Commonwealth - it's been 50 years since it had anything like a government. And America? That's just a fairy tale."

 

I shook my head, "no, Piper, it's not. The United States of America is more than just a country, it's an idea. It's a concept of a type of society where there's a rule of law that is above any one person. Where even the ruler - and I reluctantly accept that I'm the ruler of this community - is subject to the law."

 

Piper turned, looking down the hill in the direction of Lexington, before saying - or rather, thinking out loud, "that's convenient when you make the laws."

 

I shrugged, trying to drown the frustration I was feeling at her line of reasoning. "Maybe," I confessed. "To tell you the truth, it keeps me up at night sometimes. I have... dreams. Not really nightmares, but they're dreams where people call me Queen Charley, where I sit on a throne and dish out high justice, and everyone just bows and scrapes before me. And it terrifies me. I could become that person today. I could walk through this gate and say 'hi Blake, I'm the queen now,' and he'd ask me if I prefer bowing or kneeling. Maybe Ridge might get cold feet, they've always been kind of aloof, but the rest? In a second. And then... what? The last little spark of this being a free country dies."

 

"Shit," Piper whispered, "this is really eating at you, isn't it?"

 

"I mean, shouldn't it? What's keeping me from being a despot like McDonough or a bitch like MacNamara, completely ruled by my fear and paranoia with no room for progress?"

 

"I think what's stopping you," Piper said, her face set, "is that surplus of love you have. You built all this, right?" she waved her hand towards the green tile shell of the Abernathy homestead.

 

"I did, well, Winter and I took it in shifts. But love isn't enough. Love can fade, hearts can fill up with darkness. These people, the whole Commonwealth, they don't deserve to be at the whim of a ruler staying good. We need a system that's bigger than, well, bigger than me."

 

Piper considered me for a long time. "I don't think the Commonwealth can handle that yet. I think if you try and build that today, it'll crush everyone who's just trying to survive. So you need to be the queen for now, even if you hate it. And you need to surround yourself with people who'll keep you honest. Preston, Jake, Winter. Well, maybe not Winter. Hell, I'd like to help too. But you need to be in charge for now. If you want that flag," she pointed at the American flag over my head, "to mean something here again, you need to build us back up until we can bear its weight. You... Blue, are you crying?"

 

I wiped at my face, smearing some of the dirt on my cheeks. "Maybe you're right, Piper. You certain got damn poetic about it. But I won't be a queen. We don't have queen in this country, and we won't have peace in the Commonwealth until every fucking raider 'king' or 'queen' is put up in front of a wall, run up a flagpole, or strapped tight into a punishment suit. Call me whatever you want, just not queen."

 

"How about 'Overseer?' You being the leader of Vault 111 and all."

 

I groaned, "oh, MacNamara would just love that."

 

"Fuck MacNamar," Piper spat, "what she thinks doesn't matter. You're not a mayor - that would put you on McDonough's level - and you're not a general. And you won't call yourself queen. So what other option is there? What was the leader of America called? Or the Commonwealth, before the war?"

 

"President, and Governor," I answered. "But I won't accept either of those titles until the Commonwealth is united again."

 

"Fine, then it's settled. You're Overseer Ellison. That's what my paper's going to call you, and that's what MacNamara and all the other 'foreign leaders' are going to also, whether they like it or not." Quick she added, "of course, you're still Charley to me and your friends."

 

"Are you two done gabbing?" a familiar voice called from within. "Blake's putting together lunch, come on in and tell me how you've been!"

 

 

I greeted Connie Abernathy with a quick hug before asking her how things were going at the farm.

 

"Not too bad. Got a little worried a few days back, the pack brahmin from Concord never showed up. Everything's OK now, though."

 

"What happened? This is the first I've heard about this?"

 

"The brahmin got something in its hoof and the folks down at Concord spent the whole day patching up the poor beast. But in the confusion, no one thought to send a runner. I almost held off on sending Winter with the provisions the next day; I was afraid there'd been another raider attack."

 

I nodded, "that makes sense. But you did send her after all?"

 

"She didn't give me a choice. Said she was going, brahmin or not, because she wanted to know what happened to her friends. So I let her take the provisions, and when she got back she filled me in on the whole story."

 

"I'm glad everything turned out OK," I said, "but I feel like this is an opportunity for improvement. We have to have a better way to send messages when something like this happens."

 

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," Connie admitted, "do you have any more of those wrist-radio things?" She pointed at the Pip-Boy attached to my suit.

 

"I wish. Unfortunately, we're missing some critical parts that we can't fabricate ourselves. But maybe we can still set up a radio link between the outlying settlements and Concord. I'll talk to Winter, and to Sturges back in Sanctuary... and actually," I trailed off.

 

"What are you thinking?" Connie pressed.

 

"You know Jake down in Concord? He's working on a communicator machine... long story... but I wonder if it could help with this problem. I'll follow up with him when we get back to Concord. By the way, how's trade with Diamond City? I heard you had some surpluses you were able to put to market."

 

"Good," Connie said with a nod, "when my husband actually gets around to doing it. I think he's more concerned with the Rust Devils showing up again - spending a lot of time working on the defenses. With all the time he spends on it I wonder if I should be selling ammo and meds instead of food."

 

 

"That's not actually a terrible idea," I mused. "You've got a lot of space here on the farm. If I can find someone with the right skills, what do you think about us setting up an armory here? Nothing fancy at first probably, just a powder mill and a machine shop to make shells and bullets."

 

"Hmm," she said, wrinkling her brow a little in thought. "That's not a half bad idea. But like you said, it depends on you finding the right person to run it."

 

"Leave that to me. If I can make it work, I'll be in touch."

 

"Thanks again, Charley. Come on, let's have some lunch." 

 

I was familiar with the way of course, and Connie followed me as I walked into the homestead where I found Piper already chatting with Blake Abernathy. He rose and beckoned me in. "Charley, have a seat, we were just getting ready to dig in."

 

 

Blake had laid out a nice table for us, with piping hot bowls of soup, juicy fresh tatoes, and a positiviely huge chunk of cured meat.

 

"What the hell did that come off?" I ask, pointing at the slab of marbled flesh.

 

Blake chuckled, "we had a Yao Guai try and break into the farm... he busted open the security door in the southwest corner of the wall, but then he got stuck in the doorway. I put him out of his misery and ever since we've had plenty of good meat. Now dig in, before the soup gets cold."

 

I took some time to sample the food while Piper chatted with the Abernathys about their farm and how they'd come to meet me. They retold in general terms the story of our first meeting and how Sanctuary and the Farm had started cooperating closer and closer until the big Concord operations kicked off. 

 

After I'd devoured one of the tatoes and had a few good drags on my soup, I gestured towards the ceiling and asked Connie, "I can't help but notice a lot of the framing from the old fort is still here. I would have expected the new structure to be done by now. Did Winter run into a delay?"

 

 

Connie shook her head, "yeah, we hit some delays, but don't hang that on Winter. It was more my fault than anything. A little while after you moved on to focus on Concord, our... well, you remember those water storage tanks Seth helped build up? The old plumbing that connected them to the house and to the well started leaking; looked like they might fail altogether any time. So Winter ended up focusing all her effort on that. Well, that and tuning up the farm plots with those ASAM sensors. I'm sure you saw how much nicer they looked and how much we've diversified the crops. 

 

"I did indeed notice that. But still, you two - and Lucy and your farmhands too - all deserve a good place to live. Where did Winter wander off to, anyway? I saw the pack brahmin in her pen, so I'm assuming she's not out doing a supply run."

 

Blake rolled her eyes, "she's probably up in Lucy's room. Girls are gonna do girly things, I guess."

 

Connie smacked him gently on the rump. "Put a cork in it, honey. Your daughter's an adult and she can be friends with whoever she wants."

 

"I know," said the farmer, "but there's so many nice young men on the farm these days. I'd just hoped... you know."

 

"Grandkids?" Connie asked wryly.

 

The conversation simmered down into small talk and catching up on events, though I did make sure to fill in the Abernathys about our agreement with Vault 81. "...so next time you send produce to market," I finished, "make sure your people change out of their uniforms when they cross the river. The neural sentries are OK, we've got approval to use those, so your crew doesn't have to worry about withdrawals."

 

"Well that's a relief. This little thing," Connie tapped her collar, "is the only reason I gave up smoking. I think I'd go crazy if I had to stop using it. Hey, speaking in which, Piper, I think I smelled a little smoke on you. Why don't you try the Sentry?"

 

 

The reporter seemed surprised by the question. "I never thought about it. What do the collars do, anyway? And hey, what's wrong with smoking?"

 

"Gives you cancer," I mumbled.

 

"Bullshit," Piper challenged," you just made that up."

 

I shook my head slowly, "sorry, Piper, those things are pure poison. Plus, they're wrapped in asbestos, which also gives you cancer, and..."

 

"Hold up," Connie said, "we used asbestos for insulating the farm. Is that a problem?"

 

"Probably not as long as you don't cut into the insulation or otherwise damage it, but if you can find an alternative you should try to go that way. But as I was saying, they're not just poison, cigarettes are more addictive than Med-X."

 

"Fuck," Piper mouthed, "you're serious, aren't you?" 

 

I nodded slowly.

 

"Fuck," she repeated. "So how does the collar help with this?"

 

I started to try to explain, but I gave up. "Winter!" I called up towards the direction of Lucy's room, "Winter, I need your expertise!"

 

When I didn't get an immediate response, I paced over to her alcove, where I found her with her face buried in Lucy's crotch. 

 

 

I took a moment to appreciate the two of them before I cleared my throat and addressed them again. "Lucy, can I borrow Winter from you for a moment?"

 

Lucy Abernathy flushed bright red and gripped her fingers deep into Winter's hair, who in turn squealed and tried to struggle free. "Oh, sorry Winter, are you OK?"

 

She disentangled herself from Lucy before smiling up at her erstwhile playmate. "I'm OK, Lucy. But next time you want to do hair pulling, let me know first so I can do some too." Standing, she gave Lucy a quick peck on the lips before moving to join me. "We'll finish up later," she promised.

 

We found Piper out on the porch, and I asked Winter to explain to her how the Neural Sentry worked. They took a while to go over a simplified version of how the system worked, and then talked about some of the ways it helped out the user. Piper interjected one question that veered a bit off the health benefits: "so are these, um, Neural Sentries why everyone's so horny out this way?"

 

Winter laughed, "if they are, it's subtle. I think it has probably has more to do with the outfits and, you know, the general vibe of the place. But who knows? Charley tells me the original Vault guys were perverts, so anything's possible."

 

Piper chuckled at that and shrugged, "yeah, now that you mention it, I've been feeling pretty frisky lately myself with no help from the collar. So... if I wanted to try it out, how do I get one?"

 

"We keep a few on hand for any immigrants who show up. The bigger question is what Charley wants from you." Turning to look back in my direction, Winter asked, "if Piper wants a Neural Sentry, does she need to put on a Vault Suit and officially join up?"

 

 

"Under normal circumstances, that would be the deal. But since Piper's here as a journalist, I'm willing to let her try out the collar without any special commitment. You're planning to write about your experience using the Sentry, right Piper?"

 

"Hell yes, Blue. Good or bad, people want to know about things like this," she said.

 

"Alright, well that's that, then. Winter, can you fit her with a Neural Sentry? One of the ones from the farm is fine, I think."

 

Winter stepped away, and when she returned she had a dark green Neutral Sentry in her hands. "OK, Piper, lean your head back a little so there's no slack in the skin of your neck. We need to get this adjusted so it's a snug fit, don't want to slipping or wiggling."

 

Winter seated the Sentry and Piper jumped a little. "Ouch, that poked me!" she protested.

 

"Don't worry, those are just the contact leads. They won't actually break your skin. Alright, come on, stretch a little further."

 

 

Piper choked a little and grabbed at Winter's hands. Winter held her fast for just a moment more, until the collar clicked closed and the indicator light briefly lit up. With that done, Winter released her grip and Piper stepped way, coughing.

 

"Ah, gah, you're too rough, Winter," she complained.

 

"Sorry, my dear, but like I said, it needs to be snug for it to work right."

 

"So you say, but I think you enjoyed that a little too much." 

 

Out of Winter's reach, Piper stretched her neck left and right, then gave her hips an experiment wiggle.

 

"Well, it doesn't feel like it's chafing at all and I can still move around just fine, so I guess you didn't do that bad a job," she concluded, albeit a little reluctantly.

 

 

"Jeez, Piper," I said, "you look delicious when you roll your hips like that. Makes me want to get my hands all over that lovely tummy and bury my head between your tits."

 

"Too much information!" Blake called from inside the homestead, making Piper blush a little. Or maybe it was my remarks that had that effect. Either way, Piper looked even cuter as her cheeks - and the top of her breasts - reddened.

 

With her Neural Sentry equipped, Piper decided to spend a couple hours interviewing the farmhands about their experience working on the Farm, and I spent the time doing a walkaround of the farm with Winter to try and identify good next steps for improving the settlement.

 

We deployed configured an ASAM sensor to guide Blake and Connie through some fairly easy DIY improvements to their bedroom, and did the same for Lucy's room. In the latter case, we had to do a little prep work by knocking out some old framing left over from the original fort and adding some load-bearing supports, but we left the actual decoration and other improvements to Lucy, under the guidance of another ASAM sensor. 

 

 

With some work on the interior done, I organized a work party to finally drag an abandoned capsule home out of the meadow west of the farm and into the perimeter. Winter and I helped the farmhands set up a wooden foundation and then we levered it up onto the platform. Fortunately, the capsule was mostly aluminum, which kept the weight down just enough that our gang of healthy young men and women could get it into position. I deployed another ASAM, this one calibrated with instructions on how to fix up and furnish the capsule. I hoped I wasn't getting too liberal with the ASAMs, but I didn't want these projects further distracting Winter from finishing work on the main homestead.

 

As you can imagine, that particular project took the rest of the afternoon and ran into the evening, and when we finally activated the ASAM and called the first part of the job done, it was clearly too late for us to make it to Ridge that day. Moreover, the farmhands had all gathered in the homestead's dining room, and they made it clear that not only were we invited, but our attendance was not voluntary.

 

 

So we pulled up some chairs and joined the others for beers, followed by an extended bull session where I learned a lot about the perspective of the farmhands on being part of our community. As it turned out, they were pretty happy; all of them talked - and laughed - about how embarrassed they'd been about the dress code, but they also shared how much they liked the sense of camaraderie, how much they appreciated that the Abernathys treated them with respect, and how the housing was a lot better than other farms they'd work at. The main thing they wanted was more options for off-duty recreation, kind of rhyming with Lily's request for more shops. 

 

I picked at the question of safety and security a bit, and everyone reluctantly admitted that they wished it was better. When I asked them why they were so hesitant to say so, it basically boiled down to 'the situation here isn't great, but everywhere else is worse.' They'd heard the news that the Minutemen were reforming and wanted a garrison deployed here - not just the little camp that watched over the road to the east. I thought about what Cain had said about the ASAMs' walled-off defense mode, and I asked how they'd feel about building fortifications if we could give them directions. Eloise, one of the most senior farmhands, told me that if the directions were as good as the housing ASAMs, that she'd love to work on a project like that. I made no promises, but told them that I might be back soon with some new options.

 

When we finished off the last beer, it was well into the night and clearly time for us to get some sleep. Blake and Connie offered us their spare mattress, and we all settled down in their room to pass the night. I tried to get to sleep, but every time I started to drift off, Piper would wiggle her soft rear end against me and wake me back up. I tried to ignore her provocations until I could hear Blake snoring softly, after which I retrieved a strap-on from my travel bag and started to quietly bang Piper. As I slid the dong in and out of her slick pussy I whispered to her, "not a sound."

 

 

She mostly managed to obey me, only letting out a little whimpering moo as I pushed her into climax. With her needs attended to, I took of the strap-on and ordered her to lick it clean before I put it away. Under other circumstances, I'd have ordered her to eat me out afterwards, but I didn't trust myself to not get noisy, and so I settled for watching her slide the rubber cock between her lips until she'd gobbled up all of her juices. "You owe me," I whispered.

 

"I know, you'll be on the receiving end tomorrow night," she promised. With that matter settled and her libido at least momentarily sated, we shifted until we were comfortable again and then snuggled until we drifted off to sleep.