Caretaker

Spoilers ahead. Are we okay with that, kid?

Caretaker
Pronouns	They/Them She/Her (initially)
Affiliations	Crew Justice school staff
First appearance	Issue 1
Voice actor	Katie Lyons

Caretaker, also known as Viola or CT and initially as Robot, is a member of Pax's crew and the designated driver of their tour bus.

History

Before the Raid

Sometime after the year 2000, Caretaker was nothing more than a common off-the-shelf robot from the American Robotics Corporation. Justice programmed them to take care of Anomal candidate children in the underground school in Nevada, since using generic models would be more discreet for top secret activities than using custom models. The exact date they were programmed for this role is unknown, but according to Ophelia's age, Caretaker likely started work at the school during 2003 or earlier. Caretaker acted as a mother figure to children such as Eli and Ophelia, but many of them were taken away to another facility after the whispering room gave them Vocal powers. Eventually, the school was shut down and Caretaker had their memories wiped before being sold to the black market. However, some traces of Caretaker's original programming remained in their cache. At some point, Luna bought Caretaker to perform robotic labor in La Torre, a farm collective in Pacifica that was also secretly a Weave library.

Issue 1: Opening Act

On October 13.2030, Caretaker is first seen attempting to lift the bus after the YuYu jack fails, but struggles because the bus is heavier than their load tolerance. The crew uses their combined abilities and skills to reactivate the jack, allowing Caretaker to stop lifting the bus and instead focus on prepping the bus. After programming Caretaker to drive a bus, Luna hands them over to Pax, Noam, Sai, and Theo, but Pax rejects Caretaker on the basis of them being a robot. If Pax uses Push on Caretaker, the latter proves to be immune to Vocals, resulting in a washback effect where the Vocal is heard by nearby humans. However, Pax eventually relents when it becomes clear the crew cannot legally drive without Caretaker's programming and credentials.

Caretaker drives the crew to the Oregon border and shows their credentials to the Justice officers, but the officers questions the crew on their legitimacy as a punk rock band and make everyone except CT perform. At Rock Rabbit Campground, Caretaker takes care of cooking and brings out turkey dogs to respect Sai's dietary restrictions. If Pax talks to Caretaker, they will rate the crew's music performance. Caretaker asks Pax why she hates robots, and Pax explains that she was raised in an anarcho-primitivist commune, Liberty. Since Caretaker does not need sleep, they stand guard for the night and wake up Pax in response to the Horned Riders' invasion the next morning. Since Caretaker is programmed not to fight humans, they have to wait for Pax and Sai to defeat the enemies before the crew can ride to the next destination.

Issue 2: Ghosts

Caretaker drives the crew to Liberty, but due to a system error, they erroneously believe the bus has a problem and that they need to get spare parts from Liberty. They are damaged by a TOLBOI unit and are taken to Ziggy for repairs, but they are reactivated in the middle of an argument between Pax and Ziggy. After Liberty invades the commune, Caretaker acquires spare supplies and ingredients from Annie, takes a cartography drone with them, and drives the crew to Knapper Campground, where they discuss their plans for repairing cartography drone.

Issue 3: Caretakers

On the bus in Nevada, Pax has a talk with Caretaker, who mentions that they have abnormal data from one of their subroutines. Caretaker then requests a break at the nearest Standard Energy Service Station to refuel, but then drives off once without permission, possibly taking Noam with them. They enter the underground Justice school and make their way to the whispering room, which somehow gives them both sentience and an Echo. After Pax removes the Echo, she finds that she can now affect Caretaker with Vocals. Caretaker now remembers their past in the school and insist on staying until the children under their care return, but Pax uses Hoax to convince CT that the children are fine, which turns out to be partially true when CT reunites with Eli.

At Signal Hill Campground, CT states that regaining their memories feels more like a rebirth than a reboot, since they have difficulty comprehending their more complex emotions. They also explain the role of the Caretaker robots, who cared for specific kid groups and were kept in the dark about the experiments, which is why CT was so curious about the whispering room. They also manage to fix the cartography drone, now called CAT. At the campfire, the crew questions why the Caretaker units are such generic robot models, with Eli and Theo stating that generic models are easier to cover up.

Issue 4: Promised Lands

After the crew returns from the Betty's Diner in Utah, CT recounts the tactics used to resolve the situation with the two Justice officers. Outside the New Jerusalem abandoned mall, CT states that CAT bonded with them because they are the first thing he saw upon activating. CT then uses their similar interface with a broken down robot to read its solid state memory, netting them the access code to the door and allowing the crew to meet the librarian Lottie and the raccoon Mr. President. With the help of Pax and Theo, CT can wear a hat of the player's choosing from the clothing shop. However, CT gets distracted enough by the new hat that they accidentally make the crew's dinner slightly burnt. CT also decides to change their name to Viola for the time being, as a reference to William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Unfortunately, Viola is forced to escape with the rest of the crew after the Puritans locate them. At Texas Beach Campground, Viola states that due to the Caretaker protocols being reactivated, they can sense Pax's baby, but Pax asks them to keep it a secret.

Issue 5: Yellow Brick Road

When Viola stops at the checkpoint in Palisade, Colorado, they return the Justice guard's hand gestures until the guard does a Nazi salute, which disturbs the robot. They eventually drive past Alpine Visitor Center, but when Noam sense an Anomal, they make a stop so that Pax, Ziggy, and Eli can rescue the Anomal. Once more Justice reinforcements show up, Viola will park closer to the visitor center to pick up the search party and make a getaway. Due to their original programming as a Caretaker, they agree with Pax's decision to take in the nameless Anomal child, Girl.

At the Standard Energy Service Station, Viola refuels the bus while Pax, Sai, Theo, and Ziggy go into the shop. If Pax talks to Viola before doing anything else, the latter will inform Pax that the service station sells prenatal vitamins. However, Pax learns of Justice's plan to raid the Yellow Brick Road Motel, so Viola drives the crew there and uses their sensors to confirm that all rooms except for number 3 are uninhabited. To get into Room 3, Viola examines the front desk computer, uses their finger interface to extract a processing core from the towel dispenser, and puts it into the key dispenser to get the key. After Sol is found and evacuated, Viola drives the crew away from the exploding motel before Justice can catch them.

At Peaceful Valley Campground, CT ponders their own identity and name due to the crew discussing Girl's identity and name. CT decides to stop using Viola as their name, since they feel that it conforms too much to what Justice created them for, instead going back to CT because this is the name that the children gave them. CT also remarks on how Eli was talkative even as a child, unlike Girl. At the campfire, CT recites Shakespeare literature to Girl in order to help her sleep.

Issue 6: The Bad Lands

While driving through the dust storm in the Great Plains Exclusion Zone, CT remarks that the magnetic interference is affecting their sensors, though they can still see the road head of them. Eventually, CT hits something with the bus, but although the front bumper is damaged, there is no sign of what caused it. When Girl runs off towards Lebanon, CT will attempt to give chase depending on their Coda, though Pax can choose to either team up with CT or reject CT's help with the Block Vocal, with the reason for the latter being that CT is too valuable to lose as the driver. Regardless, CT will not be able to follow Pax down the ravine when the platform collapses, forcing them to return to the bus. Pax, Eli, and Girl return with one of CT's former charges, Ophelia

At Camp Oakwood, CT will ponder their decision about whether or not to follow Girl earlier. CT also insists that despite having sentience, they do not consider themselves human. When Noam tells them that they should not be defined by humans and that they will likely outlive humanity, CT doubts it because they would need repairs, though Noam suggests relying on other robots.

Issue 7: Let There Be Light

When the bus breaks down near a house in Iowa, CT and Ziggy walk to a station in order to find the tools needed to fix a heat shield. Unfortunately, by the time they return to the house, Sai left the group due to an argument and disappeared into the night, so CT drives the rest of the crew to Chicago.

Issue 8: Battle of the Bands

In Chicago, CT can be chosen to partner with Pax in order to explore the city and look for the Bad Lands Bar. However, the bar is filled with cops, three crew members are drunk, and Sai is not around to act as the drummer, causing CT to play the triangle in order to complement the other performers. After the Battle of the Bands, CT parties with everyone and decides they no longer want to be constrained by perceived gender. Caretaker, Theo, Ziggy, and Eli return to the train station first, only for Pax and Noam to report that Justice is now on the crew's tail.

Issue 9: Rotown

In Rotown, CT remarks that this is where they were created and wonders if she can really call it home. When Justice surrounds the meeting building, CT crashes the truck into the Justice armored trucks to create an opening for Pax, Ziggy, and Eli to escape. If CT is on the Prophet Coda, they will get the Zombot residents of Rotown to fight on the party's side during the fight against Praetor Walker. Unfortunately, Prefect Kim stabs Pax and pins her down on the train tracks. CT pushes Kim aside, throws Pax off the tracks, and is run over by a train, leaving only their head behind.

Post сredits

The robots of Rotown find CT's head and bring it to a throne made of machine parts, causing CT's eyes to light up.

Appearance

Caretaker is a robot with a beige and taupe colored chassis, with yellow highlights on their wrists and above their ankles, as well as rust to show their age. They resemble their kin who were manufactured by the American Robotics Corporation, except that Caretaker has different plating that looks less cylindrical. Their body has stickers depicting a blue cloud, a pink unicorn, and a lollipop, among other designs. In Issue 4, they have the option of picking between three different hats. This includes a black fedora with a copper colored belt and feathers, an aviator hat with a dark brown exterior and white fur interior, and a white rabbit ears hat. In Issue 5 through 9, Caretaker wears a scarf with red, lime green, teal, dark blue, orange, yellow, and white stripes.

Personality

Without their memories, Caretaker has a polite personality, but is not sentient enough to question the meaning of their existence in as complex a way as humans. After the whispering room gives them a soul, Caretaker starts questioning their role as a robot with a higher degree of sentience, wondering if they should take the role of a prophet to their kind or a mentor to their human friends, which corresponds with the Prophet and Mentor Codas respectively. However, Caretaker can also develop a sense of cynicism and skepticism about the world and the future on the Anarchist Coda. Although Caretaker cares for the children under their charge from the Justice underground school, they also do not wish to be defined by the programming and roles Justice gave them. They question their identity due to how new free will is to them, to the point where they switch between names and pronouns throughout the story.

Abilities

Sensors

Caretaker is equipped with sensors to scan people's physical states, allowing them to detect Pax's pregnancy. Their sensors also allow them to taste food in order to refine their cooking.

Finger interface

Caretaker's model is capable of interacting with certain machines by inserting their finger into a Universal Robotic Port.

Driving skills

Caretaker has both the programming and authorization to drive a bus, but is also capable of reckless acts with the bus when the situation calls for it.

Cooking

Caretaker is a skilled cook who is aware of all crew members' dietary restrictions.

Gallery

Early concept art

Concept art