The Tunnelers

The Tunnelers is a side quest

Detailed walkthrough
The quest begins when once entering the cave. During your journey, The Courier will encounter many tunnelers and the tunneler queen. The quest ends when upon entering the Boxwood Hotel roof.

Beware when approaching the end of the cave, as when the player character passes under the large archway the tunneler queen and at least 4 tunnelers of varying types will appear.

Upon exiting the cave, another conversation with Ulysses begins. Regardless of which conversation options are chosen, Ulysses will initiate a remote override that results in ED-E being called to him and taken away as a companion. Everything that ED-E was carrying will be returned to the player character's inventory when this happens.