52 You ruined my childhood, lady!

Lily decided to give Gary the full three hours before returning to check on him, so she had begun to disassemble and pack up some of the things in the laboratory, firstly the Fancy Lad people mulching machine.

The people mulcher was fairly large, but only about half the size of the cloning machine and she still needed to disassemble it, so the cloning machine would be even more of a pain in the rear.

She was doing all the disassembly work herself using hand tools, and when she got a section took apart and ready to be taken upstairs, she would trigger the robots to start moving it.

They were quite slow with the process, and the areas where they had to navigate stairs to go up the two levels were even more glacially slow, but they would get the job done, she felt. It was one of her more complicated tasks she had created and took most of them working together using rope and mobile ramps, and she had already tested it on the genetics sequencer and editing terminal, although they were much smaller than any of the disassembled sections of either of the bigger machines.

She had delayed her looting by about twelve hours in order to see to Gary's revival, and she might delay her departure to go visit Sophie and the Mechanist even more, depending on what his plans were. She was a little curious, and she didn't actually trust the man, so the room he was in had a few small microphones but mostly what she heard was various forms of, "What the fuck..." rather than anything that indicated he was planning to harm her.

Humming, she ladled a little bit more stew into the bowl this time and would have to select something else for his next meal unless... She glanced at the cloning machine, feeling a little odd at the thought that it was more valuable to her to make stew at present. She could probably run one more rabbit off before she had to start disassembling it.

Setting the bowl on a tray, she added a small cup of beer and a larger cup of ice water. Nodding, she took the food down a hall towards his room. Pausing, she knocked first and then opened the door and let herself in.

Gary was sitting at the desk, not really reading the terminal but looking at it, his face red. He turned to face her and seemingly calmed down a little bit, saw the food and looked interested.

She sat the tray on the table at the desk in front of him and casually took a seat in front of him in a second chair in the other corner of the little room. Gary looked hesitantly as if she wasn't sure it was appropriate to eat in her presence since she wasn't eating as well, so she made a gentle rolling motion with her hand and said, "Don't mind me, I've already eaten. You don't need to be polite."

He nodded and began spooning some broth into his mouth quickly, and then took a sip of the beer and looked at it in what Lily thought was a weird way. Her social assistant program pegged the action at [Confused (64%)].

Lily nodded and sighed, "Yes, sadly, I don't believe 'ops survived zhe Great War, at least not around zhese parts. I 'ave no idea how zhey make zhis, but it doesn't quite taste like zhe beer you or I probably remember." She was intentionally implying something here to see if he would notice.

"It wasn't that I didn't recognize the taste, but more like that, I did and was a bit confused. It tastes a bit like a gruit-based beer, which was a mix of herbs they used before hops were widely adopted in the 15th century in Europe. I was something of a beer snob in the past. It's not bad, actually," Gary mentioned, giving the cup of beer an appraising look before setting it down.

Lily, internally, confirmed the social assistant's assessment as it did appear his expression and actions were of confusion. Continual training of the machine learning model was the only way to progress towards accurate results.

Then he blinked and turned to stare at her, "Wait. You said, 'you or I.' You seem to look awfully young for what you're implying, lady. Hell, you barely look old enough to be a new doctor, much less one that can do half of what your files I've been reading seem to suggest."

Lily put on what she called Friendly Smile #6, a smile with a slight hint of flirtatiousness but mostly amused, "You're looking pretty spry, yourself, Monsieur." Then she held out a woman's compact and gently tossed it underhand to him.

It was a low, slow lob, and it would smack him right in the chest to fall onto his lap if he missed the catch. It would serve as a test of his reflexes T+3 hours from regaining consciousness. Lily expected him to flub the catch, but how bad he did it would give her a small amount of diagnostic information.

However, he surprised her and caught it out of the air, which caused Lily to raise her eyebrows, 'Not bad, old man. Especially for someone who tumbled out of bed from sitting three hours ago.'

He glanced at it, quickly identified it and looked confused, which caused Lily to nod at him and make a 'get on with it' motion. He opened it and looked in the mirror, and his mouth opened in a wide O of shock. He sat there moving the mirror around to get different angles of his face and head for about thirty seconds before he sat the compact, opened, on the desk and turned to her, "What the heck happened to me?"

Lily blinked, selecting Genuinely Confused Expression #1, which was her most commonly used facial expression to express confusion, "Did you not read the files on the terminal? Especially my files on Vault-Tec, and Vault 108 in particular?"

He sighed and slumped his shoulders, "Yes, I did! But they were crazy talk. I thought it was bullshit, alright," he muttered before eating some more of his stew.

He downed the rest of his small cup of beer in one more gulp and finished his stew, taking a few sips of the ice water as well, before turning to face her, "So... you, like, rejuvenated my body? And you've been alive since before the bombs fell, also?"

Lily pursed her lips. Her files didn't mention she cloned him, so his assumption wasn't entirely stupid, "No. Your old body wasn't available, so I 'ad to clone a new one for you. I figured zhat you would prefer a return to your... ah... youthly vigour. I don't know anyone who wouldn't. I set zhe clone's maturation to two hundred and forty months, and bob's your uncle."

Lily knew immediately that she had said the wrong thing somehow because he started to look like he was going to freak out, and his tag changed to [Shock (90%)]. He was pale white and started clearly hyper-ventilating, "Wait... Am I a fucking clone? I'm not... me?"

Ah, that existential rabbit hole. How quaint. As someone who had in the past forked and merged herself over fifty thousand times, she knew that there wasn't anything good at the bottom of those thought patterns. At some point, you just have to accept things as they come.

Gary hadn't even had the experience of meeting a forked copy of himself that, in a particular twist of fate, had diverged so far that a merge wasn't possible. They considered having a duel to the death to settle the matter, but in the end, Lily convinced the other her to adopt a different name and style than she had.

Last Lily heard, she was making a name for herself as the Crazy Lamia of Extropia Station, which was the anarcho-capitalist habitat that Lily herself had some roots at and lived at for several decades before shifting as one of the principal investors in the construction of Tannhauser Station. Generally speaking, other habitats besides Extropia would not permit her to be a long-term resident for some reason, and she had to practically build her own to have a place to live. Many didn't even let her visit! Something about not allowing walking weapons of mass destruction through customs.

'Wait,' she blinked. She was much more receptive to human motivations and emotions now that she was in a human-formed body and had an organic mind. She supposed that their objections might have had some merit, as her glorious spider body did have over ten grams of anti-protons aboard to provide both an alternate source of power in the event of a main power failure as well as to provide primary power for her plasma weapons.

She had achieved an absolutely ridiculously rate of fire, equivalent to some small warships, on her primary plasma caster by utilizing anti-protons to achieve the stable plasma mass. Other off-the-shelf systems that relied on high-energy lasers to heat up a working plasma medium had barely any rate of fire at all, she felt.

And if ten grams of antimatter had escaped her containment, it might... reasonably be considered to be a weapon of mass destruction. But it wasn't like that would have ever happened!

She blinked. She had been reminiscing for the past few seconds while Gary looked more and more green. How impolite. "Monsieur Kaminsky, you are not a clone. Your body was cloned. Zhen you, zhat is to say your brain, was transplanted into zhis new body. My notes did say zhat your brain was in a jar, yes?"

It looked like he was calming down a little, "Oh. Ohhh... I thought you just... fixed what was making the clones crazy." He started chuckling, but it was a little manic. "You're not fucking with me, right? I didn't know fucking brain transplants were even possible."

Lily blinked. That would have been an option, too, as far as she was concerned, but then what would she have done with the Gary Prime in the jar?

Lily shook her head slowly, "I'm not aware of anyone else zhat can conduct the surgery, but it isn't zhat difficult a procedure for me. Just a little bit hectic in parts. I recorded zhe whole thing..." she trailed off before deciding for the moment to lie, "on a headband camera, as I do most of my surgeries. If you wanted to watch it. It's about zhree hours long, but I could put it on a couple of holotapes," she offered.

Although she didn't suffer from it anymore, anyone from transhumanity who had a history of swapping into and out of bodies like clothes would be fairly sympathetic to a flat which just had their first experience with existential anxiety like this. Plus, it wasn't that unusual for a patient to want to watch a recording of their own medical procedures, anyway.

He nodded slowly, "I'd like that if you don't mind. Not only would it be a big peace of mind for my budding existential dread, but I think it'd be bloody interesting to watch."

Lily nodded and decided to try to calm him a little with her wisdom, "Even if you were a clone, though, it wouldn't 'ave been a big deal. You are you. A person shouldn't be so attached to zhe particular atoms zhat make up zheir body. It isn't as if those particular molecules haven't changed. In ten years of living, most of the particular molecules, zhat comprise your body 'ave been all changed out."

Gary chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, "You're talking about the Ship of Theseus question, right?"

The fact her expression changed into Surprised Look #1 without her even having to will it meant she was genuinely, really, surprised, even beyond the threshold of her usual serene placidity.

Except for curiosity, Lily didn't typically experience emotions at the same amplitude as other people; she had long known that. It wasn't that she didn't feel them at all, like a psychopath, but they weren't the controlling factor in her life like she thought they were with most people she met. Mostly, she considered this situation a benefit as she could generally pick and choose which emotions to externally affect, which was one of her primary social strategies.

However, when an emotional level spiked past her threshold, it caused her to be a bit flustered briefly. It mostly didn't happen around other people, though, but it had been occurring more often lately.

Gary's expression at her seemed amused, which agreed with her social assistant. He chuckled after a while, bragging, "Don't look so shocked, Doc. As I said, I'm an educated man." He puffed up his chest but then comically deflated and added, in a softer tone, "I took one whole philosophy class, even, as required to get my degree. The Ship of Theseus was discussed in that one class."

Lily finally got ahold of herself, and given what Gary said, she slid directly into one of her amused expressions, saying honestly, "I didn't mean any offence, Monsieur." She was surprised; although transhumanity would have used more modern analogies like the teletransportation paradox to grapple with clones and forks of oneself, the Ship of Theseus was the better direct analogy to what she was saying. And she hadn't expected him to know of either.

Still, she liked that he did. Genuine smile #2.

He waved his hand, "Ah, no worries. I kind of get what you're saying, but I'm still kind of attached to the specific bits that make up, at least, my brain. Even if a perfect copy of me might have a claim to be me, I feel I have a better claim since I have my original brain!"

Well, he was taking that pretty well. That hadn't been Lily's argument with her fork, though. She said she was the one true spider because she had gotten there first! It was a hard argument for the duplicate to contest, given the fact that she was her, also.

She nodded, "I can understand zhat perspective. I would say what is really important in these matters, zhough, would be a continuous stream of consciousness. But you were robbed of zhat when zhey put you in stasis."

"Do you know what they did to my actual body?" he asked, and she thought he seemed curious, but her social assistant labelled it as feeling "unsure."

She shook her head, "No. I don't. Zhe stasis machine zhey used... even I 'ave no idea 'ow it works. But zhey only had zhe small one, sized for a brain." She paused, "You realize zhat zhere is essentially no way zhat zhey intended you to live through zheir experiments? Pre-War, zhere was no way to re-implant brains back in bodies. I zhink they just tossed your body away like zhe garbage. Even if not, it is bones now." She pronounced garbage as 'gar-bahj.'

He sighed and nodded, "Yeah, I kind of got that impression. Is all that shit in the files on Vault-Tec the real deal?"

Lily made a waffling hand gesture, "All zhe facts are. Like, zhe Vaults here in D.C. and zheir experiments are. Zhe rest? My speculation as to zheir motives? I 'ave no idea. I will say zhat you were quite insightful earlier when you said zhat everyone with a brain knew the Great War was coming. You were right. Zhey did."

"Fucking crazy is what it is," he mumbled, "And you've just been, what? Roaming the blasted Wasteland for two hundred years?"

Lily blinked and shook her head, "Ah... no." She pursed her lips and considered, "I was... well, still am, zhe scientist, yes?"

He nodded, "Yeah, that's pretty clear."

"Well, my research is not merely in zhe human body, yes? Mostly related to zhat, I suppose... I'm not entirely sure 'ow, but I moved zhrough zhe time and space, yes? And suddenly found myself in zhis vault just a few months ago," she said the complete technical truth carefully.

Usually, she implied that she was from the Pre-War period, but with someone who was genuinely from that period, she played less coy. She didn't trust him with any of her secrets, really. Plus, she felt like he would be more likely open to cooperating with her if he felt they had something in common.

He looked horrified, "Wait... that means... you were suddenly in the midst of all those crazy... versions of myself?"

Lily nodded slowly.

He chuckled, "Wow, I'm surprised and thankful you didn't come here to burn the place to the ground on top of the clone's ears. Also, that pretty much must mean you had to have uhh... killed a few of me?"

Lily nodded slowly again. She had considered doing just that, as the Gary's had traumatized her a little bit. But she thought, correctly, that there would be a lot of loot in here, plus it wasn't like a Vault was a log cabin; it wasn't flammable!

Gary shook his head, whistling, "Well, thanks for not holding onto a grudge or anything. So, we're both like pulled out of time and space, huh? Sounds like the plot to a bad sci-fi novel."

"That opens up a good segue for a discussion. What are your intentions going forward? You could be considered zhe last surviving resident of Vault 108, so you might be considered its owner -- although I zhink you shall find zhat in the Wasteland the law of ownership 'as simplified to pretty much finders keepers," she said.

Then she did a delicate cough, "I 'ave to admit that I am in the process of," and she made the air-quotes gesture, "finding some things from zhe Vault, myself." Her eyes were firm, though, and implied that it wasn't open for discussion.

"Well, who am I to deny my saviour anything? What are you hauling off, if you don't mind me asking?" asked Gary in an amused voice.

"All of zhe genetics equipment, cloning machine and zhe organics material recycling machine zhat was in the cloning laboratory downstairs," Lily didn't hide anything.

"Yeah, fuck all that shit. Beyond the fact that I have no idea how to use any of it, I think I'm a little leery at the concept of cloning..." he said firmly, paused and then asked in an unsure tone, "By organic material recycling machine... uhh... do you suppose that's what they might have done with my body?"

Lily nodded slowly again, "Almost positive zhat is exactly what zhey did," which caused him to shudder a bit. Lily had a funny thought and genuinely grinned, "Say... did you ever eat Fancy Lad cakes?"

Gary looked confused but nodded, "Yeah! They were great! You know... they say they don't have any expiration date on those things! Are there any still around?"

Lily nodded, "There are, in fact. However, while the cakes themselves don't have an expiration date, I think some of the flavourings did. Zhere is no real taste to zhem anymore, but zhey are quite edible, and people often find unopened boxes." Then the grin reappeared, "But, you'd be surprised that the manufacturer of that organic materials recycler was the Little Charlie Corporation."

Lily watched Shock turn into Horror, carefully noting each emotion down for her social assistant's edification, and finally, he asked, aghast, "Fancy Lad cakes are... made out of actual lads?!"

Lily wanted to clap in happiness; he made the same joke she had the first time she saw the manufacturer. Except... he didn't appear to be joking, "No way, please say it ain't so, Doc. I ate those all the time!"

Waving her hand dismissively, "They're not. Don't worry! The default settings for zhe device, and what the user manual talks about, is for setting it up using raw sewage as an input."

Surprisingly this didn't seem to make him feel all that better at first, "So no big deal, they're just made of shit? You have no idea how many of those things I ate over the years! You've ruined my childhood!" In the end, his humour showed through, and he didn't look as disgusted.

Lily didn't see what the big deal was. What did he think was used to fertilize tomatoes or other produce? This was just removing a couple of extra steps first.

They made some more small talk before Gary asked her to brief her as to the current state of the world, or at least as much as she knew, before he made any decisions on what he wanted to do, as well as what resources he would have at his disposal.

So Lily spent about an hour talking about what she knew about Vault 108, the Capital Wasteland, Megaton, the state of humanity and some of the factions, and dangers.

"What, money is bottlecaps? Like... Nuka-Cola bottlecaps?" he asked, in a tone that was half-disbelieving and half-amazed.

Lily nodded, "Yes, it sounds ridiculous. But god knows what they used to make zhem, so they're impossible to counterfeit, at least until someone finds and restarts a Nuka-Cola bottling factory." She rubbed her chin, "If I did that, I would make sure it was done really, really quietly, so as not to destroy the value of the," she did air quotes, "currency and just add a little extra every so often."

She coughed and tabled her plans to go find a Nuka-Cola plant before continuing to explain the complex beverage-based economy, "Zhat isn't zhe only thing zhat is used, gold and precious metals are also used, as is zhe barter of all kinds. But generally speaking, caps are cash. A Nuka-Cola Quantum cap is usually worth about a 'undred regular caps. Sometimes we get some Vim caps around, and most people value zhem at about the same as a regular Nuka-Cola."

After talking for a time, he hummed, "It sounds as if purified water is worth significant amounts of ready currency. That kind of makes me sad, but it is an opportunity. Do you know how much water the Vault's purifier can make daily?"

Lily hummed. He was smart to jump directly to the most salable thing about the Vault, the only problem was the purifier depended on the ample electrical power to operate, so it couldn't be moved. Lily had way too much on her plate to add another purified water-based business, which would require more employees and more equipment like water trucks, guards and the like.

She had a little bit of an idea, but she arched her eyebrow at him with Spock Brow Raise #1, "Wouldn't you have some idea? Didn't you train to maintain it, at least clean the filters and such?"

He coughed and nodded, "Yeah, although they kind of grabbed me right away, I did do some pre-employment training. Vault-Tec budgets about fifteen litres of purified water per person per day, including both drinking use and miscellaneous uses. This Vault was supposed to be sized for three hundred fifty people unless that was total bullshit."

Tilting her head to the side exactly forty-five degrees, she considered. "No, I zhink that is about the size of it. I'd say the purifier here could supply a little less than six thousand litres a day if it was in tip-top shape, but it's probably outputting about 'alf zhat, now."

"That might be my best bet. I definitely don't want to live here, but maybe I can make enough money to survive using this place. Interested in running a water importing business with me?" he asked good-naturedly.

Lily shook her head slowly, "Running? No, definitely not. I might be willing to invest, though." Then she told him in general terms about all her own businesses. "You might make as much money on power if you could run a powerline zhe four klicks to Canterbury Commons."

She also explained her plans to visit around that area before heading back to Megaton.

He rubbed his chin, "I'd definitely need to find a discreet partner or partners willing to live here. Otherwise, it sounds like this place might just become a raider den if they're as bad as you were saying."

"I might have an idea for that, yes? I was considering inviting some friends of mine to move in here. Zhey currently live in a falling-down electronics store. Zhey definitely have the capability to protect the place from raiders. You'd have to go in with them for at least half the profits, zhough," she warned.

She didn't think the Mechanist had the social skills to run any kind of business that actually had to employ someone longer than a few days, so she thought their potential partnership would help both sides.

"Then I'll definitely take all the guns here, and if I could have my PipBoy back or a replacement. Mind if I follow you around until at least we get to Megaton? I figure that's the best bet for starting a business," he asked.

Lily smiled, "I don't mind. You're probably right, but you'll want to do some preliminary work in Canterbury Commons. Zhat's likely where you'll sell most of the water, anyway."

"Now, where could I find a fucking water tanker truck..." he asked himself aloud.

Lily wondered how many gallons a jury-rigged truck that had a single Corvega motor driving each wheel could carry and if there were many salvageable and working motors in the Corvega factory nearby. Perhaps the Mechanist and Sophie would join her and Gary Prime for an exploratory adventure of the factory.