Fallout Wastelander

Minutes into my exploration of the underground level, I arrived in front of a blast door with a label positioned next to it that read Power Plant. My objective found, I entered inside while also passing four laser turrets guarding the door that I took the time to take control of before proceeding deeper.

Once I passed the hallway, I made it to a room that was lined with systems and a sole terminal. Scanning the rest of the room, I found that this room was sealed off from the nuclear reactors that were in their own dedicated space beyond a see through a pane of some presumably radioactive resistant material.

Not seeing anything else of interest, I walked over to the terminal and took a seat in another 200-plus-year-old chair that somehow held up remarkably well against my weight. With my ass firmly planted on the chair, I scooched a bit closer to the terminal and started typing away on the keyboard to see exactly what type of power plants were installed in this facility and what their current state was.

Moving through the system speedily, I discovered that the cluster of power plants installed were fusion based reactors. In addition to that, they were all in pretty decent condition too, so I won't have to worry about this place going off underneath me anytime soon, as long as I perform the necessary maintenance on them.

That aside, it also shouldn't be all that difficult to convert the reactors over to fusion breeder ones as well, although it'll probably take around a month to do so given my current workforce. But that timeframe can be reduced with an increased workforce and seeing how I'm in a literal robot manufacturing plant, it would be smart to get on that and begin producing more worker bots.

The benefit of changing them over to fusion breeder reactors instead of keeping their preexisting fusion power would be the entire removal of refueling, which is a pretty big incentive to upgrade them. That said, it doesn't really need to be done right away since, from what I'm reading on the terminal, the fuel levels should be able to sustain current operations for another couple dozen years, if not a few more. Thus, I'll throw the upgrade to the low priority list for the time being while I focus my efforts on more urgent problems.

Pretty much finished there, I was about to set off to get some more work done when I decided to check a few more things on the terminal. Following that decision, I double-checked a couple of other important areas on the terminal and when I was done doing my check; I got up and returned the level up above to see how things were coming along.

The minute I made it back to the loading area, I saw my robots had about 30% of my stuff unloaded so far. Which was a decent bit faster when compared to how long it took for us to get everything loaded up at Vault 101, but that's what happens when your workforce increases by many times in size in an instant.

Observing them for a few seconds longer, I joined them.

There's a lot that needs to get done right, hence I might as well help them unload and assemble my automated manufacturing machines to speed things along.

On my way there I thought about all the specifics involved with the next task and right as I neared Hauler I got to work helping my robots.

...

Several hours later.

"That should do it for now." I thought aloud as me and my robots just finished unloading and setting up the last of my stuff, including getting all of my accumulated resources moved over and stored in the warehouse area and setting up the automated manufacturing machines.

Alright, with that out of the way, the worker bots can finally begin repairing and replacing the damaged parts of the robot manufacturing machines. 

Deciding on their next task rather quickly, I immediately put that thought into action and issued a new command to my robots so I could start growing my robotic forces as soon as possible.

With my robots working on their next job, it's probably a good time to give everyone a call on the radios I made. I don't really have anything requiring my immediate attention, thus I should let them know I made it to my destination safely. I can't have them worrying about me needlessly now, can I.

Taking care of a couple of other little things that needed doing by yours truly, I took a seat and made the call with the radio.

"Hey, is anyone there?" I asked over the radio in our encrypted private channel.

A few seconds went by before Amata quickly answered with a number of rapid-fire questions with a large amount of concern in her tone. "I'm here, Harold. Are you injured at all? Did you make it there alright? Have you eaten yet?"

"Woah, woah, Amata, calm down. I'm just fine. I arrived at the RobCo Facility several hours ago safely and I just got it locked down with a decent amount of security not too long ago. So I should be more than safe. As for eating, I haven't had anything just yet since I wanted to inform you guys that I had arrived safely." I told her, trying to calm her down.

"Oh, thank god you're safe. I was so worried something may have happened to you since you called so late." She responded with a distinct amount of relief in her voice.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was just busy getting the place in order and getting all of my supplies unloaded. That's what held me up from calling, but that's enough about me. How are you doing?" I asked with some concern of my own because Amata has basically been attached to my hip since we've been kids, so I don't know if this separation of ours has affected her negatively.

"I'm doing alright for the moment, but I miss you a bunch so I don't know how long I'll last without you." She replied with a bit of a sniffle.

"Well, you won't have to wait that long. I'll be coming back in about a week's time to pick up more of my stuff so we can spend some quality time together while the robots are loading up my things." I informed her, trying to cheer her up.

Hearing me say that, she questioned with a bit of hope in her voice. "Really? You're really coming back in a week?"

"Yup, it should take me at most a week to get things up and running here. Thus, as soon as everything has been taken care of on my end, I'll be coming back, so be prepared to spend the whole day together. Adding to that further, I don't think it will take me all that long to find some power armor like we talked about previously. Meaning the moment I acquire a suit of it is the moment you'll be joining me."

"But before we even get to that point, whatever set I do end up finding isn't going to be enough to satisfy my protection needs for you. Hence, I'm gonna have to upgrade its armor by a significant margin to ensure you'll be safe from most of the dangers roaming around out here, because there's no way I'm letting you set foot out of the vault till I'm 100% sure that your power armor suit can shrug off a gauss rifle shot to the head." I added lastly before I heard a squeal of delight come over the radio.

"That's great, Harold. How long do you think it will take for you to acquire a suit of power armor and modify it for me?" She asked with a ton of excitement and hopefulness in her voice.

"Hmm, that's a good question. I would have to say at most a month, but if I was to really put my efforts into obtaining it as fast as possible then I would say maybe a little more than two weeks and that's including the armor upgrade and getting it ready to go."

As soon as she heard my answer, I heard her say over the radio in a much more upbeat tone of voice with some surprise added in that, then changed to worry halfway through. "You can actually get all that completed in such a short amount of time... But knowing you, I can see you doing something like that. Just promise me you'll be careful and if the two-week time frame is too dangerous, I would rather you not since I don't want to see you hurt or possibly dead, if that was to happen I don't think I could go on."

"Ohh, come on, Amata. You really think I would take the risk of doing something dangerous if I wasn't absolutely confident in being able to achieve it? Plus, all the dangers I met on the way here couldn't even react nor put up much of a fight. Therefore, you have nothing to worry about." I replied, trying to ease her unnecessary worries.

"Well, you're probably right, but I still can't help but worry. Just promise me you won't do anything too risky, please." She responded in a pleading tone.

"Okay, I promise I'll try to stay away from anything too risky." I caved, which satisfied her.

She and I communicated via the advanced radio for a while when I came to the decision to get back to the never ending and ever-increasing amount of tasks I had awaiting me. "Alright, I gotta get back to work and get ready for bed, Amata. Tell my dad and father-in-law that I made it to the facility without issue?" I said lastly before we then wished each other a good night and ended the call.

Time to get back to work.

Now that my call with Amata was finished, I did a few things around the area and headed over to the manufacturing machines to see how things were coming along.

When I got there, I found my robots had basically everything under control. So with my presence being unneeded, I went around the whole facility to see if there was anything that needed to be taken care of. From that walk of mine, I found that there wasn't much of anything other than the place needing to be deep cleaned from top to bottom.

I'll just have the worker bots handle that once the immediate concerns are resolved.

After spending a couple of hours looking around the entire facility, I headed over to Hauler's cabin and took my armor off and stowed it away in my item box. Next, I climbed into Hauler's cabin to take a rest on the seat that folds out into a bed since there was no way in hell I was going to sleep on some ratty 200-plus-year-old mattress.

The second I got myself nice and comfortable, I reached over to Hauler's mini fridge that I stocked with some cold drinks and grabbed myself a nice, cool, non irradiated bottle of water and took a couple of big gulps.

"Ahh, that's the stuff." I commented aloud, satisfied after having my fill.

Now that I'm rehydrated, I need to eat something and get some nutrients in me. I have gone without food for nearly half the day after all.

With my hydration needs met, I retrieved and opened up several high-protein shelf stable meals for dinner.

A quarter of an hour later.

"Ahh, that hit the spot."

That was a pretty decent meal, however it's not a replacement for actual prepared food. But I guess when I compare what I just ate with what most wastelanders eat, this is definitely a luxury, so I can't really complain too much, I suppose.

There isn't too much I can do about my food situation right now due to there being more important things that need dealing with currently. But when I begin resolving and checking those issues off of my list like the security and power situation, I can start work on it...

Hmm, actually I could divert a few of the worker bots to get working on getting a small hydroponics system setup so I can at the very least have some fresh fruits and vegetables sooner rather than later. Yeah, I think I'll go with that, but that plan will have to wait till I have my robot production up and running.

With that thought finished, I got under my covers and rolled over with my head on my pillow for some much-needed rest.

*zzz*

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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. It has a lot more chapters released.