FFF - Ch80

Jane’s mouth drops open. Curio is right; that’s Annette’s voice.

No wonder she didn’t act like an AI.

“You put yourself in there?” Shell asks in disbelief.

“It was the only way to be sure,” Annette snarls.

“Sure of what?”

“The mission!” Annette’s eyes dart to Jane’s groin. Even in loose clothes, her bulge is noticeable. “Perfection. For all women.”

“You’re insane,” Shell says.

“You’ve destroyed my work,” Annette accuses Curio. “It’ll take generations to perfect the F-Virus and the transmission vector. In that vat I was immortal!”

“Oh, I think not,” Curio replies, kneeling. She touches the fluid on the ground and sniffs it. “I think if we looked, we would find the toxicity level in this system approaching lethal levels. You had a few more years at most. Less, given that the Enclave will probably storm this place within the week.”

“I have security systems. I could’ve found a way to keep us safe.”

“Keep us prisoner you mean,” Shell snaps.

Annette gets shakily to her feet, dripping and hugging herself, shivering.

“I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The bombs fell before this place was ready.” Her eyes grow distant. “I don’t remember.”

“You were hooked up to that interface for a long time. There’s no telling how much of you is left in it, and how much of that code is left in you,” Curio says. “That’ll be a matter for another time. Jane, get her cleaned up and dressed. Don’t let her out of your sight. I’m going to open all the sealed storage areas. Shell, can you see about supplies for traveling?”

“For how many?”

“Four,” Curio replies.

“I can’t leave my work behind,” Annette protests as Jane grabs her arm.

“And you can’t continue it here. You’ll be killed or captured. But you may be able to continue it elsewhere. I’m not asking, Annette. You’re the prisoner now.” Curio nods to Jane, who drags Annette into the corridor.

Annette’s body is weak from her time in the vat, and Jane senses that she was no fighter to begin with. She sulkily complies, walking pitifully to the showers and standing under the water with her head bowed and her eyes closed.

She looks much better dry, dressed, and with her hair in a loose ponytail when Jane takes her back to Curio, who is busy packing up everything that she wants to take with her: notes, computer chips, and pieces of the device that was attached to the head of that Deathclaw.

Meanwhile, Shell has other priorities: she’s brought out body armor, weapons, and ammunition. She packs provisions the same way that Curio packs data disks.

“I’m hungry,” Annette says grumpily. “I want to eat. And I want some of my things. Where are you taking me?”

Shell and Curio exchange a look that Jane doesn’t like.

Curio looks away first. “We’ll talk about it over dinner.”

[ Note: if there's no new chapter tomorrow it's because I got murdered by the hurricane. Thank you for understanding. ]