THIRTEEN
Vault City, Inner City Gate
September 15th
15:06
"Day Pass, please."
"Here you are," Lysanna said cheerfully to the woman at the gate. The guard scanned the pass for what seemed like an age, but eventually, and with great reluctance, she handed the Day Pass back to Lysanna. "Remember, you're outta here by six PM." The guard was middle-aged, rather plump and very ugly. And she looked immensely unhappy with her job.
"Yeah, I know."
The guard pointed her chin at Lysanna. "And before you go in, we need to search your belongings."
"What for?"
"Because sometimes you outsiders try to smuggle alcohol or chems into the city."
"Ah, I see," Lysanna said. "Hang on." She pulled an untouched beer bottle from her pack and gave it to the closest person, who happened to be Lara. "Hold this for me."
Lara nodded.
The guard gruffly took Lysanna's pack and threw the contents out. After being satisfied that nothing alcoholic or chemical was in there, she told Lysanna to raise her arms.
Lysanna blinked. "What?"
"I need to search your clothing too."
Lysanna sighed, rolled her eyes and raised her arms. The guard came closer and started frisking her. She stank of sweat. When the guard's hands went between her breasts, Lysanna gritted her teeth, but she kept silent.
"OK, looks like you're clean. You can head on in."
"Thanks," Lysanna said, suppressing a shiver as the gate sank into the ground.
Vault City itself did not stink. Rather, it was completely devoid of smell, save perhaps the smell Lysanna imagined: that of a sterile doctor's office like Edwards' office had been. She wondered how he and Nikita were doing and had to fight off a creeping feeling of worry. Now where had that come from? She shook her head to clear it and set her first steps into Vault City. The city was so orderly it almost seemed dead. All the stones in the paths were cut at straight angles, all the trees were set at symmetrical places. The buildings themselves were spotless and white, with windows set at mathematical positions.
Without any directions, it would be hard to locate the Vault, so she gestured toward the first person she saw, a young man with sandy hair who wore a Vault Suit like the one she had, only without the number on the back. He looked at her with disdain.
"Excuse me, sir, could you tell me where I can find the Vault?" Lysanna asked as politely as she could.
"Get lost, outsider," the sandy-haired man barked, "before I have you arrested and thrown into the Corrections Center!"
Surprised, Lysanna could only stammer, "But I… I just…" But by the time she had overcome her surprise, the Citizen had already turned his back and walked off.
Lysanna scratched her head. People seemed to be very welcoming in this city. Maybe she could find a fellow "outsider" and ask him. She walked on, and by what seemed to be a stroke of luck, she saw a man in grungy clothes exit a building. His head was down and he seemed in a hurry.
"Excuse me sir," Lysanna began again. The other outsider stopped briefly and said, "What is it? Hurry or we'll both get whipped."
"I'm, uh, looking for the Vault."
He jabbed a finger to the Northeast. "That way," and then walked off. Lysanna looked at the building he had come out of. There was a large metal sign on it. Like everything else in this city, it was neatly polished and unerringly straight. The uniformly black letters on the sign said "SERVANT ALLOCATION CENTER". Looks like this man was a servant, and since he talked about being whipped, most likely even a slave. Lysanna liked this city more by the minute.
After walking in the direction the servant had pointed toward, she saw a large opening in the rock wall. That most be the Vault. Two guards were posted at the entrance, their faces set permanently on "bored". Lysanna decided to take her chances and walked toward them. The minute she came closer, the guards trained their weapons on her. "Hold it," one of them snapped.
Lysanna stopped and asked, "Hello, I'd like to enter the Vault."
The guard shook his head. He was dark-haired and handsome, quite the opposite of the rhinoceros at the gate. "Sorry, miss, the Vault's Citizens only."
"I know," Lysanna said, "But can't I get in when I'm accompanied by a Citizen, or something?" Lysanna didn't even know if there were any Citizens crazy enough to volunteer to escort her, but no harm in asking.
"I'm sorry, miss," the other guard said. This one was female, with long blonde hair. She was quite the looker. Odd that both those guards were very attractive. "But there's no way you can enter the Vault unless you become a Citizen yourself."
You could become a Citizen? "And how would I go about that?" Even though she wasn't interested in joining this undoubtedly wonderful city, she might need to, to get inside that Vault.
The male guard pointed at a nearby building. It was just the same as all the other buildings, except it was larger, and had a sign saying "Vault City Central Council". "You need to ask over there," he said.
Lysanna nodded. "Thank you very much."
The dark-haired guard smiled warmly, and Lysanna thought she saw a flicker of jealousy in the blonde guard's eyes. Lysanna thought she realized why those two were posted together.
Lysanna inhaled deeply, and then entered the Central Council building. Inside was a long hallway with lots of doors. When she looked around in the hallway, wondering where she had to go, a man in a Vault City jumpsuit walked past her, carrying papers. He was in his middle-ages, with dark brown hair graying at the temples. He quickly nodded and said, "afternoon," as he walked past. Lysanna was too surprised by the greeting to be able to reply, but since he was in a hurry, he probably wouldn't have heard it anyway.
"Help you?" a man standing in the hallway suddenly said. He wasn't wearing a Vault City suit, but his clothes were far less grungy. Probably some kind of upper class servant.
"Hello," Lysanna said with a smile. "I'd like to know who to talk to if I want to become a Citizen."
"I see," he said. "Well, you can either go directly to Proconsul Gregory for the Citizenship test, or you can speak to First Citizen Lynette."
"And what's the difference between the two?"
"Well, the Proconsul gives you a test to determine if you're intelligent and psycho-technically qualified to become a Citizen. First Citizen Lynette prefers to test aspiring Citizens in other ways."
"What's 'psycho… technically'?" Lysanna asked. The servant snorted and said, "Never mind, you won't pass the test anyway if you don't even know that. So you're best off asking First Citizen Lynette. But she probably won't allow you to be a Citizen unless you prove to her that you can truly be an asset to Vault City."
"Well, maybe I can be. Can I use your bathroom, please?"
"Sure. First door to the left."
Lysanna shut the door of the cubicle (it was one of those new-fangled bathrooms with sewage system and all, and of course, everything was spotless), took off her jeans and denim jacket and squeezed herself into the Vault 13 jumpsuit. It was a bit tight around the chest area and a bit loose in the groin, and the seams of her bra showed through, but no matter. At least now she'd fit in a whole lot more, and maybe she could make a good first impression on that First Citizen-person.
"First Citizen's Office," the sign said. Lysanna rapped loudly on the door. When there was no answer, she raised her hand to knock again, but as she did so, a stern woman's voice said, "Enter."
She cleared her throat and opened the door. Sitting behind her desk was First Citizen Lynette, a rather young black woman, with her hair short and stern glasses on her nose. When she looked up at Lysanna, her eyes widened. "You're… you're wearing an original Vault Suit!" Looks like Lysanna had been right about making an impression. "Where did you get that?"
"I inherited it from my ancestor, the Vault Dweller of the Holy Thirteen."
The First Citizen looked Lysanna up and down. "I've never heard of a Vault 13, but do you have any more proof that you truly came from there?"
Lysanna nodded and took the water bottle out of her pack, the one with 13 emblazoned on it. The First Citizen took it, and turned it over in her hands. "This is most interesting. We've been wondering for a long time if there were more Vaults that had survived. And where is this Vault 13?"
"I uh, was kinda hoping it would be this Vault," Lysanna said quietly.
"No, this is Vault 8. Or at least it used to be. But if you don't know where it is, how come you have all those items?"
"Well, my ancestor, the Vault Dweller, left Vault 13 to start a small village on his own, and that's where I'm from."
"I see."
"So now I'm looking for Vault 13, because our village is starving from the drought, and the Elder thinks an item called the GECK will save it."
"Well, it certainly could, but we've used ours to start Vault City. Normally every Vault had two GECKs, but we only got one. We think there's been a problem with the shipments, and that our GECK was sent to another Vault, and we got a shipment meant for them."
"What was in the other shipment you received?"
The First Citizen chuckled. "Water chips. Several of them. Pretty crazy, ours has never needed replacement."
Lysanna didn't know what water chips were, and she didn't care either.
"Anyway," the First Citizen said, "if there really was a Vault 13, its location will probably be logged in our central computer."
Lysanna felt a rush of warmth go through her. "Could I check?"
The First Citizen smirked. "We could check the central computer, but it's located in the Vault, and only Citizens have access there." Figured.
"How can I become a Citizen?"
The First Citizen suddenly lost interest, and waved her away dismissively. "Proconsul Gregory handles the Citizenship tests."
Lysanna cleared her throat. "I was told you could make someone a Citizen if they proved themselves."
She looked up again. "And what makes you think you could prove yourself?"
"If there was a serious problem that needed solving, I'd be happy to take care of it."
"I see. Well, there is one thing."
Lysanna remained silent.
"Have you ever heard of Gecko?"
Lysanna opened her mouth to reply, but the First Citizen quickly said, "and I don't mean the lizards." Lysanna closed her mouth again.
"Gecko is a small settlement populated by ghouls. You know ghouls? Those hideous zombies that seem to love radiation?"
Lysanna nodded, even though she had no idea what ghouls were. Lara or Cassidy would doubtless be able to fill her in.
"Well," the First Citizen continued, "those creatures are using an old nuclear plant for energy, and that piece of junk is leaking radioactive coolant into the groundwater. Our groundwater."
"I… see," Lysanna said, even though she did not. "Can I borrow a piece of paper, please?"
The First Citizen nodded and motioned toward a blank piece of paper on her desk. Lysanna jotted down the words "gools", "nookleear plant", and "leeking coolant". When Lynette tried to look at what she had written, Lysanna quickly stuffed the paper in her pocket.
"So… anyway," the First Citizen continued, "if you could put a stop to those ghouls, and their reactor, then I'd probably be grateful enough to grant you Citizenship."
Lysanna nodded. "I'll see what I can do."
The First Citizen looked at her wrist. She had something strapped to it that looked like a less complicated Pip-Boy. It probably only showed the time, since after looking, she said, "It's over six PM." She pressed a button and said, "I'll have a guard escort you out. I don't think you'll be able to solve our problem, but if you do manage it, let me know."