As Rusty and Vix left for the junk yard, AJ and Silver went over the formula of the bio fuel. Luckily, in their exploring and salvaging, the married couple had plenty of pencils and surprisingly, a pencil sharpener.

AJ filled in the blanks to the smudged formula. “Where did ya even find these pages?” She asked as she kept writing.

“You know that old Military base Vix mentioned?” Silver asked in return. “She found a bio-science lab.”

AJ hummed in thought. “Well, we're gonna need a distiller.” She said as she flipped through the pages. “And keep in mind, I'm going off what I remember. Should be good enough, but might not be as efficient as we want it to be.” She looked at Silver. “Like, miles per gallon as this suggests, for example. It says 50-55. Ours might be 30-35 at best.”

Silver nodded in understanding. “Well, a distiller should be easy enough to get. We can get one from Albany.” She thought for a second. “As for the efficiency issue? We do have half an acre of maize... we might have to use all of it.”

“I don't think we will,” AJ said as she read the notes. “This formula makes about 50 gallons. Using about 3 ears gallon...”

“Well, our plants yield 4 ears per plant.” Silver said. “So, we'll only need about 14 plants.”

“Ronto is about 410 miles from here. De Writer showed me an old world map of his.” AJ said as she flipped the paper and started writing numbers. “That bein' said, with 4 adults, weight for the fuel barrels... food, equipment...” She hummed. “Yeah. We're gonna need, at minimum, 6 barrels.”

“That's going to weigh a lot...” Silver sighed.

“Yeah. Unless we can find a way to make this process more efficient...” AJ said as she sighed deeply. She set the papers and her pencil down and stood up. She yawned and stretched.

She looked at the wall clock. They had been working for an hour. She looked at her bedroom door. “I'm gonna check on Kara.”

Silver nodded. “Sure thing.”

AJ walked over to the door, and opened it. She gasped at what she saw.

“Silver!” AJ shouted as she ran to the bed. Kara wasn't on the bed. Instead, a hard shell... chrysalis pod was where she had been laying.

Silver came running into the room at AJ's shout. “What? What is it AJ?”

AJ knelt on the bed next to the pod. “Kara... she's... she's a...” She gently touched the pod. “She's cocooned in a...”

Silver walked over to the bed and knelt beside AJ. She gently touched the pod with both her hands. She titled her head and listened closely.

“She's growing.” She explained to AJ. “A forced growth.” She looked at the worried AJ. “Remember those brown flecks you washed off her during her bath?”

AJ blinked. “Uh, yeah...”

“You and Rusty explained that the Institute fixed Rusty after being attacked by the Death claw.” Silver said. “How did they fix her?”

“They used a modified version of the FEV.” AJ answered honestly. “The Forced Evolutionary Virus. A version that wouldn't turn her into a Super Mutant.” She shook her head. “The night that Rusty and I found Kara... the central AI of the Institute told us that Kara was also exposed to a further modified version of the FEV...”

“Right. Evolution.” Silver surmised. “My guess? She's making herself grow older.”

“She is?” AJ asked. “I wonder why?”

“Well,” Silver said, “She's what? Three months old? Maybe she felt like a burden? Or, she wants to help us as much as she can.”

AJ looked at the cocoon. “I wonder...”

The shell cracked open and two furry paws gripped the edge of it, and pushed it open. A much older Kara, with the appearance of a four year old, and covered in... slime pulled herself up into a sitting position and looked at AJ.

“M-mommy?” Kara's glowing green eyes settled on AJ as she smiled widely.

“K-kara?” AJ gasped and pulled her daughter into a hug. Kara giggled and hugged mother tightly.

“Imma big girl now.” Kara said.

Rusty, Vix, and Oni looked at Kara.

Rusty blinked and looked at her much older daughter. She knelt down in front of her. “Wow... Kara. You are a big girl.”

“Is Mama happy to see me?” Kara asked as she tilted her head cutely.

Rusty nodded. “Yes, Kitten. I am.” She held out her arms. “Come give Mama a hug.”

Kara ran over to her and hugged Rusty around her neck. Rusty braced Kara on her back and bottom and lifted her up. “Whoa... you're so much heavier too.”

Kara pulled back and looked at AJ. “Mommy said I have thick bones.” She pointed at Silver. “Auntie Silver said I'm 4 years old and healthy as a brahmin.” She looked at Rusty. “Does Mama like my clothing?”

Rusty nodded. “Oh, yes. Very pretty.” She looked at AJ and Silver. “So, uh... she just changed by herself? And can talk?”

Silver looked at her niece. “I don't know how it happened. Kara said she wanted to help. Right Kara?”

“Uh-huh!” Kara giggled excitedly. “I wanted to walk and talk.” She looked at Vix. “Hi, Auntie Vix!”

“Hey, Kiddo,” Vix waved. “Gotta admit... I didn't expect for you to grow so big in a few hours.”

Kara looked at Oni. “Hi Pretty girl. Who are you?”

Oni blushed on her undamaged cheek. “Oh, um, well, my name is Oni.” She looked at AJ and Silver. “I'm the one that was living in the junk yard.”

AJ's eyes went wide. “Wait a sec... you're Alpha!”

Oni's went wide as well as she pointed to AJ in recognition.“Tech Amanda!”

“Uh, yeah. Just AJ now.” She shook her head. “And, uh... I'm one of the good ones. You don't have to feel unsafe around me.”

Oni blinked rapidly. “Yeah. You were in Advanced systems. You helped design me. Don't worry, I have no hard feelings.”

“Oni, is it?” Silver said. “I'm Silver. May you come over here? I need to, well, use my hands to see you.”

Oni walked over to Silver. “Okay. Go ahead.”

Silver gently touched the young Synth's faced and smiled. “How old are you, Oni?”

“Technically, I'm 7 months.” She answered.

“Wait... Oni is younger then me?” Kara asked cutely. “She looks older.”

“I would say she's 16 years in appearance.” Silver said simply. “What do you think, Oni?”

Oni shrugged. “Sure. I think that's accurate.”

Silver looked at Vix. “I take it that you invited Oni to live with us?”

“Well, it beats living in a junk yard.” Vix admitted. “Also, I don't think she'll eat much.”

“Not really, no.” Oni shook her head as she looked at Vix. “I don't eat all. I'm actually powered by a single fusion cell,” She tapped her chest. “I don't have to recharge like the earlier synths. Or sleep.”

Silver giggled. “I don't have a problem with you living with us, Oni. I always wanted a younger sister.”

Oni snapped her head around and looked at Silver. “What?”

“What?” Vix repeated.

“Oh!” Kara said suddenly . “Is she gonna be my aunt too?”

“I wouldn't say that, Kara.” Silver answered as she looked at Oni again. “But since you're too old, well, in appearance anyway, to be a daughter to me and Vix, I thought a kid sister would be okay.”

“Too old...” Oni repeated as she look ed around the room. “How old is everyone?”

“Well, I'm 21.” Rusty answered.

“Mommy says I'm 4.” Kara said.

“Uh... I'm 25.” AJ said.

“I'm 27.” Vix admitted.

“And I'm 28.” Silver answered. “So, as you can see, having a 16 year old daughter wouldn't make sense.” She explained. “You know, as a cover story.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Oni thought about it. “I guess that would make sense.”

“So, uh, is Oni... gonna be related to me?” Kara asked, rephrasing her question.

Oni looked at Kara. “If it's okay with you, I'd rather just be your friend.”

Kara giggled and hopped down from Rusty's arms, hitting the floor with a heavy THUD! She ran over to Oni and hugged her around her legs. “Yay!”

Rusty blinked. “Jeez. She's really heavy now.”

Silver shrugged with her hands up. “I examined her, you know, being a medic. Her bones are really dense. Like a brahmin. Nearly unbreakable. Also...” She looked at Kara. “Kara? Show Mama your claws.”

Kara let Oni go and turned to face Rusty. She flexed her paws, and 2 inch claws sprang from the tip of each of her fingers.

“Holy.” Rusty gasped.

“Yikes!” Vix said out of surprise.

“Sharp as heck, too.” AJ said as she pointed with her thumb to a 4x4 standing upright in the corner. It had deep gouges in it. “Nearly cut through that 4x4.”

“That's my scratching post!” Kara exclaimed happily. “Mommy and Auntie Silver said I can't use my claws on the furniture.”

“That's a really good idea, Kitten.” Rusty said with a nod. She looked at AJ, “So, um... how'd your work go? Before everything happened with Kara?”

“Oh. Right,” AJ gestured for them all to sit down. She waited for her seemingly ever growing family to sit of the various seats. Kara sat on Rusty's lap. AJ picked up the formula. “So, uh, I managed to fill in the gaps for the bio-fuel formula enough make it. Although, there are still pieces missing.”

“Which means?” Vix asked, curiously.

“Which means we can make it, but it won't be as efficient as the formula suggests.” AJ answered.

“Wait,” Oni said suddenly. “Is that the formula that the Institute was working on?”

AJ looked at the pages. “Uh, not exactly the same one. Vix found it at an old Military base nearby.” She handed the pages to Oni. “Why?”

Oni quickly thumbed her way through it. “I can help fix this.” She looked AJ and tapped the side of her head. “I have the collected knowledge of the Institute in my memory banks.”

“So, you're not only a synth, but you're also a walking computer?” Vix asked.

“To put it simply.” Oni answered. “See, the computers they used in the Institute and in the wastes, use vacuum tubes. I have a prototype called a microchip in my head. It allows me to think faster. So, the Institute used my as a Data back-up.”

AJ whistled impressively. “Okay. So, can you fill in the gaps I couldn't?”

To answer her, Oni picked up a pencil and started writing. After a few moments, she set the pencil down. “There. With the changes I made, I made it a lot more efficient.”

AJ looked at the papers. “Yeah. So, instead of 6 barrels of fuel, we only need three.” She looked over the notes. “Ah. You added Ethanol using grain to the whole mix. Smart.”

Vix looked at Silver. “So, using the crops we have, we can make fuel for the car. How?”

“We need a distiller.” Silver answered. “I think we can get the parts from Albany.”

“That's the best place to start.” Rusty said. She frowned as she heard Kara's stomach growl. “Are you hungry, Kitten?”

Kara nodded. “Uh-huh. Imma really hungry.”

Silver giggled. “Again? You ate two bowls of noddles an hour ago.”

“Can't help it.” Kara said simply. “I'm a bigger girl now.”

Silver shook her head and giggled more. “Sure. We have some brahmin steaks. I'll cook them up. Mind helping me, AJ?”

AJ headed to the kitchen with Silver. While they did that, Oni looked at Kara. “So, um Rusty? I take it that Rusty is your biological daughter.”

Rusty picked her kitten up, hugged her tightly and nodded. “She is.”

“I have to admit,” Vix said, “She's talking really well, you know, considering how she grew up so quick.”

Kara looked at Vix. “I heard you guys talking when I was a baby.” She said. “I was kinda learning how to talk, just... couldn't.”

“What about reading and writing?” Oni asked.

“Uh, I don't know how.” Kara shook her head. “Can you teach me?”

Oni smiled. “Sure thing, Kara.”