CHAPTER 1

A loud buzzing noise strikes my eardrums as that familiar sound hits me again. T
ime to wake up. Still with my eyes closed, I slap my hand on the bulky metallic
box on the bed stand to the right of my bed, attempting to find the correct butt
on. Finally. I yawn, and attempt to get in another comfortable position, falling
back asleep. I lie in bed for awhile, yet to no avail. The damage was done. I w
as awake. I sat up in bed, back slouched with my palm over my face, elbow diggin
g into my knee. Sitting up, attempting to fully awaken, my vision slowly returni
ng to me from my 'blur of sleep'. I look over toward my alarm clock. November 25
th, 2161 -- 5:17 A.M. Time to get ready. Standing up, still wearing my 'bedtime
clothes' which consist of underwear and plain white t-shirt, I move around my be
d in my rather small dorm and walk over toward the bathroom, about thirteen feet
from my bed. Starting my morning routine, I do the same thing everyday. God I w
ish it was Friday already. After brushing my teeth and showering, I dry off and
step out of the bathroom. My little Vault dorm consists of only three rooms. A l
ittle bathroom with only a shower, toilet and sink, about 10x10 feet. Then there
's my bedroom in the back of my Vault dorm, a small 20x20 foot room. Then north
of my bedroom is my general living area, about 40x35 feet consisting only of a c
ouch, a small refrigerated storage for my food rations, and then a shitty table
stand maintenance gave me so they could save supplies, which I eat on. The most
important things however, are a monitor which, I've had to have fixed a million
times to watch my holotapes on, (yes, I'm a huge fan of old Pre-War westerns and
war movies, I was raised with them), and finally a computer monitor on a desk w
ith a chair, standard for every dorm. Usually, the rules for dorms (or apartment
s as the Overseer likes to use the word) are the larger the family, the bigger t
he dorm. Since I'm a one man family I'm given the smallest version of a Vault ap
artment. Luckily, '13' isn't over it's one-thousand two hundred population limit
, so on the plus side I don't have to bunk with strangers.
As I step out of my bathroom,I turn toward my wardrobe, which is stacked neatly
in the rooms corner next to the automated door leading to my living quarters, w
ith a small bookshelf I stack my holotapes on. After putting the 'everyday Vault
13 jumpsuit' on, I slide my security officer armament over mo jumpsuit, throw o
n my boots and put my security officer helmet on. It's tight, has no padding, sl
ightly harder to see in, and doesn't even fit me... I hate the thing, but I only
need to wear it into the security office to please the uniform rule, where I ca
n take it off there. Looking at the clock, I reassuringly told myself "well I do
n't have to be to work 'till 6, so I got another 20 minutes to eat a quick break
fast". Opening my refrigeration storage, I took out my last night left overs, ha
lf a bagel, artificial ham, and a half-drank Nuka Cola and jury-rigged myself a
breakfast (or as close as a bunch of random foods can get). Finally, after finis
hing my self-serving meal, I hit the 'release' button (which is peg-shaped) on t
he side of the automated door to my dorm to leave, and as the door slide upward
into ceiling, I left my dorm, down the hall and toward the security office, maki
ng sure my apartment door actually shut behind me this time.
-------------------------------
Three years of being a Vault security officer I had already memorized my patrol
routes and the usual bullshit that happens on a day-to-day basis. No one hardly
ever actually gets arrested on this floor, just domestic disputes from the McCon
nell's, old timers Nick and Harry getting drunk and bothering the women on the f
loor's diner, and old, senile Martha locking herself out of her dorm. Like I sai
d, usual bullshit. The Vault has a total of seventeen floors, counting the entra
nce floor. The entrance floor is where, well if and actually when one day we get
the all-clear signal we would line up to leave (which I doubt I see happening i
n my lifetime), and the medical offices are located on the same floor toward the
right. Then we have another ten floors, all residential areas, each floor holdi
ng about 100 citizens, some less, some more. After that there's maintenance, liv
ing and entertainment, reactor and purification where all the techies hold up, s
torage, general security offices where they keep the cells, the armory, and "aca
demy" to train new officers, and finally the control center where the Overseer's
office is, and also conveniently holds the library. All the residential areas h
ave their own particular smaller entertainment area, but the floor specifically
for living and entertainment is kind of 'the place to be' on your day off. Each
residential area also has their own school, for the children of that floor, thei
r own diner, own cafeteria or 'store' to spend ration coupons for food for the w
eek, and everything else to keep that residential area functioning on its own.
For that reason, there are security offices stationed on every residential floor
. Every floor has a different number of officers, for example, my own floor, Res
idential Area 2, has four officers including myself. Each floor has their own Se
curity Officer Captain, and then the Commander is held up on the General Securit
y Offices floor. From what I heard, there's only one person who has found themse
lves a long sentencing down there, supposedly for murder, but I've only heard ru
mors. We usually just fine, but if it comes to the point where we are forced to
make an arrest, the Overseer is the judge and jury for everyone down here. Since
we don't have 'lawyers' of sorts (the accused defend themselves), the officers
are supposed to learn vault law like the back of their hand. They taught that sh
it in the academy, God most of it was pointless.
With the bottom of my fist I hit the "release" peg to the right of the door, whi
ch is the exact same 'metallic-light gray' color as the door, but sticks out as
a peg shape. Doors with locks on them, such as my dorm, require a key. When secu
rity officers need the key for someone else's dorm, we have to check it out and
fill out a form, almost a warrant of sorts, at our local security office. I walk
ed in, only to be greeted with the usual "Your five minutes late Jason". Securit
y Captain Barnes. A good man, but very 'by-the-book'. That doesn't mean that the
re were never any exceptions when dealing with him however. He lived by the rule
s, but could also be very reasonable. "Yeah, my alarm clock was having problems
again" I replied while walking toward my locker. "Yeah, that's called the snooze
button." Barnes said sarcastically, without following with any laughter in an a
ttempt to remind me he was serious, and I wasn't getting off. "You know I'm goin
g to have to dock you a ration right?". "Yeah, thanks for reminding me..." He co
uld immediately tell I was annoyed. "Sorry Jason, but your a security officer. Y
ou can't enforce rules that you don't live by" Barnes told me. Barnes had always
been a father figure to me. My own father, who was Barnes best friend died from
prostate cancer only four months before my own birth. He died while in surgery
with the Auto-Doc. While Barnes didn't exactly adopt me, he looked after me. Ba
rnes stood about 5'11, a thin, slightly muscular posture, with a buzz cut on his
head, tiny black hairs sharply sticking up like needles, he held a lightly grow
n goatee to fit in with his buzz cut.
Barnes knew I had sleeping problems. He sighed. "Hey, look I'll let it slide but
you know I can't keep covering for you J. Really, you have to start coming in o
n time. You know, I won't be here forever." After his usual lecture, he took his
attention back toward his monitor's screen, filling out the daily paperwork. St
ill typing, he asked "So, come on, REALLY, what was it this time?". "Well I coul
dn't sleep that well last night," I began, hearing Barnes say 'of course' slight
ly sarcastic under his breath, "I didn't fall asleep until about 11:30, maybe mi
dnight. I may or may not have tried to sleep a little past my alarm. Plus, a man
's gotta' eat ya know". Barnes pulled his Pip-Boy out of his pocket, checking th
e information on the monitor to the information on his Pip-Boy. "Heh," he laughe
d, "you need to learn how to walk while you eat". After getting my extra clip fr
om my locker and the handcuffs, I shut my locker and turned to him. "Yeah so I c
an have the Janitors on my ass about eating in the hallways? No thanks." After h
olstering my extra clip and putting the handcuffs in my utility belt, I checked
out my 10mm pistol which he retrieved from the armory. As I was filling out the
form to check the pistol out for today's workday, I told him "Hey, thanks though
. I mean it. I have to go to the doctor to see if he can help me with my insomni
a. I've just been kind of... well... lazy. Plus, last night was my night off, an
d I wanted to meet up with Kate but..." I noticed him put his Pip-Boy on the tab
le and turn his attention to me, "You have to tell her how you feel J", "trust m
e, women are, well they're prideful. And they aren't mind readers. She's not goi
ng to approach you, you have to approach her. You will never know until you try.
My guess is, she didn't reject all those kids in school because she didn't like
them. You guys have been close since, well since you were just this little," he
gestured his hand a few feet off the ground. "Chances are, she feels the same w
ay about you". Yep. Kate. This was the woman I had been in love with for as long
as I could remember.
After nearly nineteen years of knowing her I still can't manage to find the word
s to tell her how I felt. However, now that we weren't in school anymore, we bar
ely saw eachother. Not to mention she moved to another Residential Area in the V
ault, a completely different floor, making it even harder to be able to find tim
e to talk to her. I still had feelings for her, but the more years I spent not b
eing around her, the more my feelings were starting to dissolve.
Looking down toward the floor, in a deep state of concentration, I looked up tow
ard Barnes. "I know. I just... I just need more time. I'll get to her eventually
" I told him. I started to walk out of the office and embark on my daily route,
and as I had one leg moving toward the door, with my hand on the 'release' butto
n and the automation mechanic sliding the door upward into the ceiling, Barnes t
old me "Just don't wait too long. She can't wait for you forever...". As the doo
r shut behind me, I stopped to think about what he had just told me, going into
a deep state of thought for a breif moment, however when your in that 'realm' of
deep thinking, a second can seem like hours. Shaking it off, I headed for my pa
trol route.
At 2 P.M., my shift ended. Nothing exciting for today. I patrolled my route, hun
ted down some of the teenage 'rebels' who tried to skip school. They call themse
lves a 'gang', naming themselves exactly that; 'The Rebels'. They're harmless th
ough, just getting into teenage mischief such as graffiti, bullying the certain
kids for their ration coupons, and hanging out around the floor diner. They comb
their hair slick back like greasers, wear their Vault and speak with that 'cool
' etiquette that was common among the old Pre-War rock n' roll bands. I stopped
by the pay a visit to Clarence, the eldest person on the floor, however everyone
just calls him 'Old Man'. Every work day I stop by for my hour lunch to visit t
he old man. I feel bad for the guy, he outlived all his sons and daughters, and
his own wife. His 'mind is still sharp' though, as he says it, and makes a good
conversationalist. A good majority of his conversations start out with the 'in m
y day' phrase. I think he's gotten to the point where he looks forward to my vis
its. Poor guy is to old to work, and has no more family. Except for his nurse, n
o one stops by the visit him.
After dropping my side arm off at the Security Office - 'checking it in', and ta
king my Security gear off at my dorm, I headed toward the elevator. Just before
actually moving toward the elevator however, I had forgot one of the most import
ant parts of my week. Three times a week, I drop by to visit Anna. Upon my birth
, my mother had went into cardiac arrest and died, giving birth to me. Not even
the damn Auto-Doc could save her. Anna, my mother's sister and my aunt, adopted
and raised me. I loved, well, still love Anna as a mother, and call her exactly
that. As the mechanical sounding of the door opened, she was right there, standi
ng directly in front of me to greet me on our Thursday meet. Anna, 45 years old,
still young. She stands about 5'8, with long blond hair flowing about four inch
es past her shoulders, a white, nearly albino skin complex and green eyes.
"Hey. Your a little late, I figured you had forgotten" she told me the moment th
e door had fully opened, turning around to head into the dorm. She had nearly th
e same size dorm as mine, beside her living area which was a bit bigger. "Yeah,"
I laughed slightly, "almost. Don't worry though Ma, this is one part of my day
I actually looked forward to" I said while walking into her dorm, and starting t
o sit down on one of the chairs she had. She had handed me some tea, along with
my favorite lunch. More of a breakfast really, but she didn't mind cooking it fo
r me. Three four-inch link artifical sausages, lightly cooked hashbrowns with a
ready amount of artificial salt and pepper, artificial bacon, and orange juice t
o drink with. Most of the food was artificial in the Vault except for the fruit
and vegetables which were grown hydroponically in one of the lower levels (on th
e same level as the reactors and water purification center) using advanced hydro
ponic techniques. The food extruders did a great job of dispensing artificial fo
ods using just water and some other raw materials, adding vitamins along the way
to keep the health of the Vault inhabitants up. I never had actual meat before,
but it can't be much better than this. The sausage and bacon was extremely swee
t and juicy with grease, which is made up of organic vegetable oil (also made fr
om the food extruders) and holds a great flavor.
"I know you wouldn't miss this unless you absolutely had to son," ma told me. Sh
e sat down with her own lunch, a simple ham-and-cheese sandwich with tea. We sat
and talked about things as usual. I told her about my day, my normal routine an
d how nothing interesting happened, assuring her I wasn't in any danger lately.
She had always been single. She had many boyfriends, or so I heard, but from wha
t I remember when I turned thirteen or fourteen, she suddenly stopped going on d
ates, stopped seeing people. I wanted to have her meet up with Barnes on several
occasions, however she just doesn't seem to show any interest in him. After we
ate and talked, about three hours passed, putting the clock around 5 P.M. I even
tually left, and headed toward the elevator. I took the elevator down to floor 1
4, to the 'Living and Entertainment Area'. There's several things to do down her
e, but I particularly head one place, especially when my day off is tomorrow. Th
e bar. After reaching the bar, it was live with chatter, a few people sitting at
the actual bar and a few sitting at the tables. "Hey Jim, throw me a whiskey on
the rocks will ya?" I told the bartender, Jim, a short but sturdy man, as I sta
rted to sit down on one of the stools in the middle of the bar while giving him
a ration coupon.
I felt a hand slap me on the shoulder, slightly startling me. As I turned around
I recognized a familiar voice "Hey man, I figured I'd find ya down here". Harry
. Me and Harry grew up together, I first met him in school when I was 12. His fa
mily was transferred from the 7th Residential Area to the 2nd Residential Area b
ecause they had a three-bedroom dorm with only Harry and his parents, and the ro
om was needed for a larger family. Moving to a new floor in the Vault as a kid i
s kind of tough. New school, new people... its almost like moving to a whole new
Vault. It's easier for adult's to do this, chances are they already know people
on the new Residential Area they are moving to, and can get settled in easier.
And it's not like they can't just take the elevator when they wan't to visit old
friends or family. But kids... its tough. I remember him being nervous. Kind of
scared. When I first met him, we were in school, and I saw that some of the old
er kids had taken his cupcake at lunch after bullying him for being the new kid.
I walked up to him, offered him mine, and we hit it off. I had his back and he
had mine. The older 'bully' kids still messed with us, but they weren't pushing
us around anymore, or outnumbering us five to one. We eventually met a few other
people in our group of friends, but him and I kept a tight bond. I eventually b
ecame a Security Officer and he became a doctor. Tough job, lot of learning. He
is a year older than me, 23, but technically he isn't a full resident doctor yet
. He still has to attend classes and act as an intern for another few years.
"Yeah well, tomorrows my day off, heh" I said, with a slight laugh. "Hey, you kn
ow that shit's bad for you" he said, taking my glass of whiskey off the bar tabl
e and taking a sip from it. Looking down toward the bar and slightly laughing, I
replied "Yeah? Well that's theft. I could have you in a cell for the next week"
. Laughing, nodding our heads, he asked me "So, hows work man. What have you bee
n up to?" After we graduated from school in the Vault, Harry was able to gain a
transfer back to his old floor to be close to his family, including his mother a
nd father who were bunked with their own parents in a two-bedroom dorm. We both
had jobs, so we only got to see each other, relax, and spend time really once or
twice a week on our days off. "Same old thing man. Trust me, nothing exciting h
appens on the second (referring to the second Residential Area). Same old shit m
an, same old shit. Old ladies locking themselves out of their dorms, Rebels ditc
hing school, giving fines to people who try to throw trash in the hallway instea
d of just taking it down to the trash compactor. Same thing as always man". Harr
y laughed, "I thought you joined the Vault Security for the 'exciting life', the
'action', 'chases'..." his sentence interrupted by our conjoined laughter. "Yea
h sure. And you became a doctor to be a regular hero and save lives, instead of
treating colds and bruises, or just sticking people in the Auto-Doc. Hows work u
p there anyways?". "Well man, technically I'm an intern. I mean when people come
to get care, I can still treat them and give them the medication or procedure I
think might be best for them you know, but eventually everything I do has to be
cleared with a full-resident doctor. If its not that, or if I'm not in class, I
just follow the other doctors around to learn from experience, or do 'nurse dut
ies'. I hate that shit. I thought that's what we hired 'nurses' for, ya know?" H
arry said, putting great emphasis on the word 'nurse'. "But, only another year a
nd a half man, and I won't have to deal with that anymore". "Well at least you d
oing good man," I replied, "how often do you guys actually use to Auto-Doc anywa
ys". "Well," he started, pausing for a few seconds while taking a drink of his o
wn glass of Scotch he had ordered, "usually we use it most when the doctors can'
t figure out the exact diagnosis of a patient. It usually diagnosis' them pretty
accurate, however its an old Mark. II so it does make mistakes. If someone is i
n real bad shape, then the Auto-Doc does our surgery for us. It out-performs the
few surgeons we have here, so the surgeons have really just taken on doctor dut
ies".
Harry and I sat at the bar, we talked and ordered a few more drinks. Eventually,
around 9 or 10 P.M., we said our goodbyes', and I headed for home. After slight
ly staggering into my dorm, and turning on the light, I lie down on my bed witho
ut changing out of my jumpsuit, and that was the end of that. I was out for the
night. After sleeping through the night, and morning, I woke up in a blurred vis
ion at 12 P.M., it's my day off this Friday. My head was pounding, almost as if
it was coordinating with the rhythm of my heartbeat. I got up, and very slowly w
alked toward my bathroom. After taking some headache medications out from the fi
rst aid kit, I put them on my tongue, went toward the sink and cupped my hand, d
rinking water I had caught in my hand from the faucet of the sink, swallowing th
e medication. After I lie back in the bed, resting for about twenty minutes wait
ing for the medication I had taken to kick in, really hoping I had taken the rig
ht amount since I wasn't sure if I hand taken two or three, as two would be inef
fective. However to my luck, my head eventually started to clear. After cleaning
up in the bathroom, I left my room toward the Vault Security Office.
"Hey Barnes, how ya doing today?" I said, walking up toward the front desk where
he was working again, on the computer monitor. "Ah, its payday right?" he repli
ed. "Yes sir," I said enthusiastically, "thank god". He stood up from his chair,
and went toward the desk in the back, which was in plain sight. He took a round
key out of his pocket, opening a locked drawer in the desk. After taking out a
stack of papers, he turned and walked back toward me. "Alright," he said, and st
arted counting as he put the papers down in groups of five "one-hundred, two-hun
dred, three-hundred, four-hundred" the next stack then consisted of only two of
the same type of paper, and one smaller, different colored one, "four-hundred fi
fty" he said, handing it to me. "One week's pay of rations, don't spend it befor
e next pay-day J" he said, letting go as I took my payment from him. "Alright th
anks Barnes, I'll see ya" I told him as I started to turn around, about to head
for the door. Just as I was about to hit the release peg on the latch to open th
e door and leave, he stopped me. Looking at his computer monitor while standing
up, he said "Hey wait Jason, did you get this?" Just before I opened the door, I
turned around and started to walk back toward the counter. "Get what?". "You di
dn't check your messages today in your dorm?" he said, still staring at his comp
uter monitor. "No....." I said, dragging the word out. "This looks..." he paused
, "this looks important. The Overseer wants to see you, in person at 3PM" he tol
d me, still staring at his monitor. "The... Overseer?" When the Overseer wants t
o see you in person, it can only mean two things. One, you've done something ext
remely bad, or two, something serious has happened. The Overseer wasn't the kind
of person you saw that much. There are some people who may live their entire li
fe down in the Vault without seeing the Overseer. I myself, had seen him once, a
nd he was simply passing by in the hallway in my Residential Area, with a four-m
an Security Officer escort, including the Commander himself. Usually when the Ov
erseer needs to talk to you, he simply sends you a message through the computer
system in the Vault. Each dorm has its own computer terminal. When he wants you
in person...
I didn't know what to do, or say. I was... I was afraid. Barnes saw this. He sen
sed these things in me. He saw the fear in my eyes, I think that fear even refle
cted into him some. "Hey, look, you've done nothing to be ashamed of, and nothin
g wrong. I will stand by you in that fact. You need to go, go see what he wants.
Meet him, present yourself nice, and do as he asks. Everything will be alright,
OK?" Barnes told me, putting his hand on my shoulder. After a quick moment of t
hought, with silence in the room, I told him "Yeah, yeah... ok. I'll uh, I'll...
I'll be back alright?". "Alright" Barnes told me, taking his hand off my should
as I walked out of the room. As I descended the elevator all the way toward the
bottom floor, the control room, I got more and more nervous with every floor I
passed. As I heard the click, the door swooshed open, I shook off my fear. I too
k a few steps. I had only ever been down here three times in my life. The meetin
g wasn't in the Overseer's office from what the message said, it was in the Gene
ral Meeting Room. That gave me some confidence. As I entered the General Meeting
Room, I had discovered that I wasn't the only one there. Most weren't sitting y
et, instead talking amongst each other, wondering what they were doing here, jus
t as I was. Most were standing up, but some were sitting. I looked toward the ba
ck of the room, where I saw the Overseer himself, the chief Vault Technician, an
d the Vault Security Commander all conversing in a triangle. I looked around for
a moment, and there I saw Harry sitting down. As I noticed him, he had also tak
en notice to my presence, and waved me over. People were beginning to take their
seats, however there were still a few empty chairs near Harry, so I made my way
over to the third row to the last to sit with him.
I sat to the right of Harry. The meeting room had been re-arranged. There were t
en rows of chairs, ten chairs to each row. In the front, there was a pedestal, w
ith three chairs to its right facing the rows of chairs we were sitting in. As I
sat down next to Harry, he immediately asked "What the fuck are we doing here?
Whats going on man. I'm in the middle at work and suddenly I get a private messa
ge written by the Overseer himself telling me he needs to see me immediately in
person. That isn't exactly the kind of shit that just happens every day, you don
't just say 'Oh well, I guess I'm needed I better go see whats happening!'" Harr
y pronounced the last part in a faux voice. The entire time he was talking, you
could see the nervous etch in him, he was talking faster, tapping his foot on th
e ground as if to the beat of music only he could here. It was mainly anxiety, w
ith a small edge of fear. "I don't know man, but I got the exact same message. L
ook, we're not the only ones here, so I mean obviously it can't be anything bad
to do strictly with us. Perhaps, perhaps he just needs something from us" I repl
ied, trying to reassure and calm down not only him, but myself. "You don't think
the Vault is over-populated do you? You don't think they are kicking us out?" h
e asked, again talking fast-paced, however the nervous tapping of his foot had s
eized. "Well, I don't think he would do that to us, and if it were over-populate
d people would probably be-" I was interrupted, along with the rest of the chatt
er in the room, by the Vault Security Commander Jackson.
"Excuse everyone, If I may please." he said, with the chatter in the crowd dying
down. "I know you all are probably wondering why the Overseer personally asked
you all here, perhaps even a little nervous" he said, with reassuring laughter i
n the crowd. "Well, the Vault has recently come across a rather, well rather unf
ortunate problem which could, well not could but 'will' (emphasizing on 'will')
become extremely serious if we don't act now". Harry then turned to me, tapping
my arm with his elbow, slightly leaning in "I told you,--", "Shhh!" I interrupte
d him. He nervously turned his attention back to the Security Commander, and beg
an the rapid tapping of his foot again. "It turns out, we have experienced probl
ems with one of the most vital components that keeps this Vault running, and sta
bilized. This part, so small, so peculiar, yet so important, is the water purifi
cation chip. Our Vault, Vault 13, was built before the war on top of an undergro
und stream. This is where our water comes from. However, due to the nuclear effe
cts of the war, the stream was highly irradiated, to dangerous points. However,
our water purification chip managed to purify the water of all radiation, thus p
roviding us with clean, pure water. I don't have to tell you, ladies and gentlem
en, how important this little piece of equipment is, and why we couldn't do with
out it. It keeps our crops growing. Water is required for the food extruders to
create food for the Vault, we need it for drinking water, we need it to bathe, a
gain, I could go on all day. Something has happened, and we need to act. I am go
ing to transfer you over to the Vault's Chief Technician, Ms. Veronica Hastings.
"
The lady, who seemed to stand about six foot tall, with flowing brown hair, clea
r light skin complextion, and glasses, walked up to the podium with a clipboard
in her left arm. "Well it," she interrupted herself, adjusting the microphone to
fit her tall posture. "Well it appears that our Water Purification Chip has mal
functioned. Now normally, we would be able to simply repair it with either spare
parts or other recycled materials. However, over the years we used up the spare
parts for the few times it has broken, and after doing a through-and-through ch
eck in storage, it would appear we used our last spare water chip about 7 years
ago. After looking through the Vault-Tek archives for Vault 13, it appears we we
re supposed to get extra water purification chips, however due to a mix-up with
the Pre-War Vault Tek Corporation, our spare water purification chips were inste
ad sent to another Vault, Vault 15. At first I thought we may be able to use rec
ycled parts from other equipment and/or machinery to fix the broken piece of the
water purification chip, however it seems that very, very few parts on these ch
ips can actually be replicated from scrap, as while small, they are extremely un
ique and rather impossible to replicate without the actual proper equipment. Tha
t is the unfortunate problem our Vault is facing" the Chief Technician said, pro
ceeding to sit down, while the Overseer stood up and then took his turn at the p
odium, bringing the microphone back down to his own height.
"So, it appears my friends, that the only possible way we can replace the chip i
s to find another. I don't mean tear apart our storage facilities and cover inch
-by-inch of the Vault looking for one, because we've tried that. No, I mean vent
ure outside of the Vault and attempt to find another one" the sudden silence in
the crowd turned into light gasping. "I know, I know. We have no idea what's out
there, or how dangerous it is. We don't even know if there are actually people
out there. But look, this is the only chance we get. It can happen one of two wa
ys. One, we send one of our own to find a replacement chip. Or two, we die from
radiation poisoning. Trust me, we have looked it over with our technicians, ther
e is no possible way to fix this without going outside. So, we have prepared a w
ay to choose who will leave the Vault, venturing outside on a grand mission to s
ave our population of 1,027. I called you here, because, well because it's like
this. I still need people here who know how to run the vault to keep the vault r
unning. Chief technicians, chief doctors, security captains and the commander he
re, and so on. So, I selected ten of the most healthy, fit, intelligent, and abl
e men and women for each of the ten residential areas of the Vault. Each one of
you are going to draw straws, and, as tradition, whomever draws the short straw
will be given the chance to save us all. Unfortunately, I can't send more than o
ne of you, as I said before, we can't risk the Vault also falling into chaos on
the inside. Its possible that, now that the word is out about the chip, people m
ay start panicking. I'm going to need every possible body to remain in the Vault
. That is why, unfortunately, I may only send one".
After the Overseer's speech, Security Commander Jackson held out a hundred straw
s in his fist, all perfectly even and the same color so that there was no possib
le way of knowing which one was the 'losing straw'. We were to each draw one as
he called our names randomly, drawing them from a hat. As more and more people d
rew their straws, each one came back relieved. As Harry and I saw the relieved e
xpressions on each face, our expressions became increasingly worried. Eventually
, Harry's name was called. I put my hand on his shoulder and told him "It's goin
g to be OK man, alright? Your not going to get picked. There is still a one in f
orty-two chance. Those are great odds". "Yeah", he told me with a sigh. The comm
ander again, called his name. He walked up there. After taking a few seconds to
decide, he closed his eyes, and drew a random straw. He drew the straw out slowl
y. Slowly, slowly, and then pulled it. Once he realized it's length. He held a g
reatly relieved sigh over his face, walking back to me. This gave me confidence.
Harry was only a doctor. What I mean is, he is nothing close to a survivalist.
Well, none of us were, but Harry more so. I feared he wouldn't have had what it
would take to survive whatever horrors lie out there in the desert. If he had fa
iled, the Overseer would have had no way of knowing. Not only would my best-frie
nd had perished in the desert, but the Vault and all the people in it, Anna, Kat
e, Barnes, and myself, we would die. I was relieved that Harry wasn't picked, no
t just for his own safety, but for ours. Eventually, my name was called. A huge
weight came over my shoulders. My odds were one in thirty-four, still very good
odds. Harry turned to me, still clutching unto his drawn straw, patted me on the
back as I know him to, and told me good luck.
I walked up to the commander. Thirty-four straws were clutched in his hand. Afte
r each person drew one, he mixed them up again, and reset them to look even. I r
an my fingers around the straws for a second. As they moved toward the center-bo
ttom, suddenly it felt as time itself had stopped. My index finger in particular
stopped on one straw, right in the center-bottom. It was as if fate was telling
me to pick it. That this would be my way out. Suddenly the weight on my shoulde
rs lifted. I felt better. As if I was going to be OK, as if my gut, or fate itse
lf, was telling me that this straw would keep me safe, at home, in the vault. I
gripped it. The commander looked at me, and asked me if I was sure. I said nothi
ng. I looked back at the straw. Something came over me. He again asked me if I w
as sure. The weight started to come back to my shoulders. So I moved my fingers
over one straw instead, and began to pull that one. I had left behind the straw
that I had originally chosen. I started pulling slowly. As every centimeter came
loose, more and more of the straw revealed itself. I pulled faster. The straw r
evealed itself more and more. I pulled even faster. The straw started to reveal
itself even more! This was it. I was in the clear. I could already feel more wei
ght at the end of the straw, and since the straw was already of such long length
, I knew I had chosen right. So I ripped the straw out of the bunch, pulling it
out with force. The moment I pulled, it suddenly and abruptly ended! The straw w
as still long, so I figured maybe I was still OK. However, as I held the straw c
loser to my eyes, I noticed it was cut unevenly.
That was it... I had chosen wrong. I should have chosen the straw my gut had tru
sted to me. I should never had switched. Why the hell did I ever do that. I was
so sure. It was so perfect. This straw isn't mine. It doesn't belong to me. It w
asn't destined for me. Fate destined for me to chose the straw I had originally
laid my fingers on and gripped, not this clipped, stubbed abomination! Still hol
ding the straw up, it is like I had killed myself. As if I pulled the trigger, p
enetrating my brain with a bullet the moment I ripped the straw away from its or
igin. As I looked at the straw, I felt as if death itself was behind me, grippin
g me with it's hand, it's claws digging sharply into my shoulder. I might have w
ell as volunteered myself. I was going to die, and the wasteland was going to be
my tomb.
All that thinking. All those thoughts rushing through my mind while still holdin
g the stubbed, losing straw just inches from my face horizontally, with my hand
clutched tightly, perhaps angrily, gripping the straw at the bottom. But angry a
t what? The straw? The Overseer? No, myself. At that time. It felt like I had st
ood there for nearly an hour. However, all those thoughts had gripped and left m
y mind in a matter of seconds. The silence, well, my own silence, my own daze, m
y mind stuck in my own world of illusions, was interrupted by the simple placing
of a hand on the side of my arm. The hand brought a gentle thunderclap to my da
zed state of mind, snapping me back into reality. I immediately turned to see wh
o had placed their hand on the side of my arm, as lone behold it was the Oversee
r himself. He told me that I should meet him in his office, as he lifted his han
d from my arm and started to leave the room. Everyone else silently, but happily
got up, and left to their original dorms, jobs, or whatever they were doing the
moment they had been interrupted by the Overseer's message on their computer te
rminal.
I slowly walked by Harry as I could feel the weight of his eyes upon me, neither
looking at him nor saying anything, following slightly and silently behind the
Overseer to his office. As we passed by the Vault's main computer, we descended
down a long hall into his own office, which had several computer monitors on all
sides. He sat in a circular chair, which had his own personal computer terminal
s and keyboards on all sides. His chair started to lift several feet into the ai
r, about a foot or two higher than myself. He told me that since I had been sele
cted in the drawing of the straws, I would be the one to find the water purifica
tion chip on the outside. Basically repeating to me what the stubbed straw I sti
ll held in my hand had already told me just minutes before.
"Listen Jason, we have no idea whats out there, or even who is out there. For al
l I know, once you leave the Vault you will be the only person out there. Hell,
if your lucky maybe you will be the only thing out there period. The only thing
I can do to prepare you is give you the few books we have from Vault-Tek and the
former United States government on what might be out there, as even they weren'
t sure". There, an assistant walked toward me, and silently handed me three rath
er large books before walking back to her post. The books were, foremost and mos
t importantly, the 'Vault Dweller's Survival Guide' with the several handbooks i
ncluded, the second book was 'Theories On the Post Nuclear World, Classified Eye
s Only', and 'Affects of Atomic Blasts On Living Organisms and Material Things'.
"The Vault Dweller's Survival Guide," the Overseer said, taking a brief pause; "
that book there I'm going to suggest you memorize and go over every part more th
an once. I have even added notes for you on more, rather important parts. The 'S
urvival Guide' is the closest thing anybody before the War ever came up with in
according to how anyone would survive after a post-apocalyptic event, in particu
lar, a large scale nuclear war. The other books I also recommend you read, howev
er they aren't as important. You have one week to study and go over those books,
read them back to back because the future of yourself and the Vault depends on
it. One week from today, I will meet you on the first floor of the Vault for you
r briefing. Until then you are given paid time off of work. Thank you Jason, we'
re all counting on you".
I took the books back to my room, and threw the books on my table as I sat down
on the couch. I picked up the Vault Dweller's Survival Guide, and began to read
through it. Within the first page of text, I saw a strip of paper covering a par
agraph in the book. The strip of paper had 'Don't let what could have happened b
other you. We have enough problems to deal with in the here and now.' written on
it, with the Overseer's name tagged at the bottom. What was so important he did
n't want me to see in this book. I realize it's probably years before we should
be reading these books, but why cover up parts? Without paying further attention
, I continued reading through the Survival Guide. I read through the 'Important
Vault Statistics', coming across the 'Nuclear Blast Effects' chapter. It had a l
ot of information of the immediate effects of a nuclear blast, but no informatio
n of long term effects, or how to survive them. Finally I came across 'Delayed E
ffects'. It was mainly on radiation, telling me the long term effects of radiati
on and what it does. Still however, no notes on how to avoid radiation sickness.
I felt like this book might be a waste of time for me.
Then I came across SimTek. Finally something that might be useful. SimTek was su
pposedly computer simulations the Vault Tek and US Government scientists ran whi
ch simulated a nuclear war, and what could be expected afterward. As I read on,
it included basic but sort of useful information such as; remain calm, make a pl
an, and keep an eye of surroundings. It notes how the world will be unrecognizab
le to what we learned in our history class. Then it gave tips on how to note whe
n you are around radiation without a geiger counter. My PipBoy 2000 will tell me
when I am taking in radiation, however exactly how much and if it is dangerous
it cannot perdict. I would need a geiger counter for that. It notes that if I do
obtain radiation sickness and do not have any medication to treat it to drink p
lenty of water to keep hydrated and immediately move away from the irradiated ar
ea. While the Survival Guide didn't offer extremely useful help that assured me
I would survive, there was several useful tips to surviving. It took me about 5
days to read through the Survival Guide, locked up in my room focusing only on t
he book. I skimmed through the Nuclear Blast Effects, however it was just inform
ation on, well, the effects of nuclear blasts, it didn't offer any actual surviv
al information. The last book, Theories of a Post Nuclear World, I spent all of
Wednesday going over. It offered strange theories such as using uncooked, dried
beans for currency and wastelanders collecting rocks. On the final day, I sat in
my room, watched my Pre-War movie holotapes, and drank a bottle of whiskey, thi
s time taking medication to prevent morning hangovers beforehand.
As I woke the next day, a sense came over me as I knew right away. There was no
doubt in my mind of what day it was. It wasn't Friday, there was no number, mont
h, or even year attached to the date of this day. It was simply 'the day I would
leave the Vault'. I took the elevator down to the first floor to meet with the
Overseer. It was a long, slow ride. I had a lot of things cross my mind. I was t
hinking of what I would find out there, who I would find, if I would find the wa
ter purification chip, and most importantly, if I would survive. The more I appr
oached the first floor, the more I became afraid. As the door to the elevator op
ened, a bright light blinded me for a quick moment, and it was as if my heart st
opped. But it was not the Overseer standing there to greet me. There was several
people. I walked out, and my eyes started to come into focus. First, was my mot
her. Anna. She had tears in her eyes.
I started to talk to her, however she immediately interrupted me, and hugged me.
"Just promise me one thing. Just one thing." She said, with a deep sorrow in he
r voice. "Anything mom..." I told her. "Promise me you will come back to me aliv
e. Water chip or no water chip. Promise me that if ever your mission becomes to
dangerous, if ever you are close to death, you will abandoned the water chip and
immediately come back to me. Promise me you will do everything in your power to
come back to me alive" she said, tears running down her cheeks. "I promise" I s
aid. After she let go of her hug, I put my hands on her arms, and told her "Don'
t worry, I promise nothing will happen to me. Ok? I promise" and again, I hugged
her. "Just bring my son back to me" she said. She stepped back and glanced at m
e, as if I was a sight she had never seen before, or as if this was the last tim
e she would be seeing me. "You know, you're father would be so proud of you." Ex
cept for 'stay safe', that was the last thing she said to me. After saying final
goodbyes, she wiped the tears from her eyes. I then walked toward the next pers
on waiting for me.
There, Barnes was standing there, with his arms folded. "Damn it kid" he told me
, unfolding his arms and nodding his head at the ground. "Why couldn't you choos
e right" he said, referring to the straw drawing. I laughed. "Well actually, I w
as going to pick one straw which my gut told me to go with, but for some reason
decided not to" I told him, laughing along with him. "Well, listen" he said. "I
never had a son, but If I did, I'd want him to be you. My father passed this dow
n to me, whom was passed down from his father, from his father, and so on way be
fore the Great War" Barnes said, handing me a small gold crest, as a necklace. "
Its a family heirloom," he said, as I put it on around my neck "Keeps you lucky.
My grandfathers fought in and survived both World Wars, the Chinese invasion of
Alaska, and several others, each one of them was wearing this" he said. "Hopefu
lly it will give you the same luck it did them" he said, patting me on the shoul
der, as if signaling me to carry on.
Then, I walked up the Harry. He was standing there, waiting for me. "I just want
ed to wish you luck man. Just, just be careful out there, alright?" he told me.
"Yeah, sure thing man. Look after my mom for me, alright?" I said to him, before
giving him a quick hug and moving on. Finally, there was Kate, standing there.
"Hey, I heard it was you they were sending out yesterday". She told me, nervous
with a hint of sadness. At first, I kept silent, not knowing what to say, finall
y, I simply said "Listen Kate, I love you, alright? I was always to nervous to s
ay anything before, but this might be the last time I get to say it. I just want
ed to let you know" as I finished, I noticed her starting to lean in, perhaps fo
r a kiss? I then started to lean in, as she seemingly accepted my small advance
and leaned in a little bit more. Slightly nervous, and slightly excited, I went
in to seal the kiss. Just moments before or lips touched, she put her fingers on
my lips. As I backed out, looking at her in confusion, she told me "this will b
e your reward. Now you have more than one reason to come back to me, to us, aliv
e".
She cared for me. Perhaps even loved me. This filled me with comfort. With a hea
rt-warming comfort. But, I was still nervous, nay, afraid, of dying in the Waste
land, but if I were to face my death, it would not be with an empty heart. I now
had more than one reason to come back to the Vault alive. I was not just embark
ing on some suicide mission. I was going to attempt to save my people, and all t
he ones I love. And I would not fail. I'm betting my life on it.
There, I approached the last man waiting for me, the Overseer himself. Before al
lowing me to depart, he gave me a small pack, along with a 10mm pistol, with fiv
e fully loaded clips. The sack held five canteens of water within, a simple knif
e, and five stimpaks, along with the clips loaded with 10mm ammunition mentioned
above. I was departing in my simple Vault jumpsuit, with only a 10mm pistol, so
me ammunition, a few stimpaks, and water.
After handing the pack and pistol to me, he looked at me and told me;
"Ah, your here, good. I know you heard this at the briefing a week ago, but we'r
e going to go over it again, along with some information I left out at the gener
al briefing to the others in the room. We've got a problem, a big one. The contr
oller chip for our water purification system has given up the ghost. We can't ma
ke another one, and the process is to complicated for a work around system. Simp
ly put, we're running out of drinking water. No water, no vault. This is crucial
to our survival, and frankly, I think your the only hope we have. You need to g
o find us another controller chip. We estimate we have four to five months befor
e the Vault runs out of water. Around 150 days. We NEED that chip. We marked you
r map with the location of another Vault, Vault 15. Not a bad place to start I t
hink. Look, just be safe... ok."
He then signaled to the operator at the controls for the door with a slight nod,
and the operator signaling him back in the exact same way. The operator gripped
a large vertical bar on the left side of the panel, and pulled it down. There,
as I stepped up, a large thick steel door started to open sideways, instead of t
he usual upward rotation the Vault's door mechanisms have. As it opened, a long
steel dark hallway stretched before me, with a small grating type floor. As I st
epped forward, the lighting for the hallway turned on. I took another step, and
turned to my left, noticing a computer terminal rapidly displaying information,
I figured it was probably projecting reading to make sure the Vault was opening
properly, and radiation wasn't going to leak in as soon as the main door opened.
The hallway's lights then immediately shut down, as three red siren lights line
d up on the roof started flashing, providing the only light in the corridor. As
I further walked down the corridor, the Vault door has shut behind me, and the m
ain circular steel door, weighing several tons started to open, with the flashin
g sirens sounding and growing louder. The door slid out and dropped unto a steel
track, after which a mechanical arm reached out with prongs on its end, moving
toward the center of the door. The prongs then latched onto the large circular s
teel door, and tightened its grip, creating a soft metallic sound followed by th
e sound of steam being released by pressure, however I saw no steam in sight. St
anding in the center of the hallway corridor, I slowly walked toward the end of
the corridor. I thought I was prepared just a few minutes ago, but as I walked d
own that corridor toward the opening of the Vault, it grew darker, and my soul g
rew afraid.
I stood unto the steps of the door, and looked out into an extremely dark cavern
, the only light nearby coming fro flashing red sirens. A fear greater than anyt
hing I had ever known as about to consume me as I put my first foot out of the V
ault's doorway...