"So what do you what to know, and do you lock all of your visitors up when they arrive? ", I say; trying to keep the built up anger from my voice.
"I want to know where you have really come from. You say you want to trade, but you haven't got anything to trade with... It makes us wonder if in fact you are here to spy on us from the non believers in Unitown". The man calling himself 'Mayor' looks directly at me, all trace of congeniality disappearing from his face.
"Unitown?", I ask, genuinely puzzled. "I come from Vault 71 - to the south of here; and I'm wanting to trade services for the goods - not items...". I just made that last part up, but I recon that it sounds fairly plausible.
"Vault 71 ?", the mayor replies, "...there's no such place, our scavengers would have already found it"
"Well aparently you need better scavengers - which is maybe where I can help, everyone needs better intel, right...?". I actually start to sound confident - if I'm going to sell this lie I may as well start to believe it myself.
So I tell him some very brief details about the vault - I don't tell him the real location of it, and I tell him that we are guarded by mines and gun turrets. No harm in a little fabrication I figure. The more I speak to the Mayor, the more I get the feeling that there's something more than a little off about him; certainly more than natural paranoia would explain. I tell him that my name is 'Bret', because I guess that telling him I'm an amnesiac will guarantee a bullet in my head. He asks why I'm only carrying a pistol and no armour. I tell him it's all I need. I also point out that no one other than a vault dweller would still be wearing a bright blue jumpsuit. He nods his head to this; it is, after all, a good point. After a while I sense that our conversation, or should that be thinly disguised interogation is finally drawing to a close.
"Ok, Bret", Mayor Thompson says as he turns around to start to leave, "let's say that I believe you...you are free to wander around our fine township - maybe I do have a job for you. I will summon you when I have decided what to do with you."
With that he leaves, closely followed by his enforcers. They leave the door open.
I sit for a few minutes wondering wether this is some sort of trap, thinking about the few details the man in gray has given me. He kept mentioning something called the 'Grand Rodent', and kept refering to the people who he governs as the 'true believers', but other than that I still feel very much in the dark about this place. After a few minutes the silence in the room gets the better of me and I decide that it isn't a trap.
I walk across my cell, and out through the door. In the long corridor beyond I see no one, so I continue on to the only other door I can see. I try the handle - it is also unlocked. I push the door and step out - the bright sunlight making me blink a few times. I squint for a second or two until my eyes adjust and then I get my first proper look at township called 'The Orb'.
