Scene 16
Zelda P. Winfred. She was one of the five science officers in the vault, but what exactly their job description was Lawman still had no clue. That is he didn't, until the green words and letters began to spill upon the old computer screen, lighting the small office cubicle in that strange eerie half-light that only made the darkness more pronounced. It sent Lawman's and Vyatch's shadows dancing away from them, climbing the wall behind them, and hunching over them as they reached the ceiling. There they loomed, like angular, hooded specters watching over their every breath.
Over on the far side of the office, beyond the cubicles, was another door. Lawman was just able to see it, blanketed by the dark, from his seat inside the cubicle. He recalled the map he'd seen at the entrance to the vault. If he remembered correctly, that door led through a winding tunnel to the stockroom, which the medical bay also shared a link to. From there Lawman had forgotten the rest, but he guessed that it would be reasonable to expect it had access to the doctor's clinic, which would lead him back around to the foyer. Lawman eyed the hefty looking handgun in Vyatch's hands, gleaming in the unnatural green light. He decided it was probably best he focused on the screen in front of him.
Once it had loaded, and Lawman had spent a lengthy amount of time hacking into the damn thing, the screen read, 'Hello, Zelda. Welcome back.'
It then listed report after report down the screen, each of them dated. Lawman couldn't find anything like a mission statement or anything, so he simply clicked on the first one, which was dated '23rd October 2077' and watched as the green words tumbled upon the screen.
It read, 'The residents have arrived. They've all been through orientation and, as of midnight, all old garments have been successfully destroyed. They have all been given the tour and they've been allocated their own rooms. Vault Tec decided long ago that separate rooms and greater personal space leads to less infighting and quarrels. Studies demonstrate this to be true. If any couples wish to share rooms then they are of course permitted, but should there be problems then Vault Tec Security are on hand to separate any trouble makers.
'Most of the residents were listless and bewildered as they arrived. Some still believe it is just a drill. This is to be expected and shall pass with time and conditioning. Soon normal life – Vault life – will take hold once more.
'There are a couple of issues that exist with the residents, however. While most are complicit subjects who have excellent mental health, a few exceptions exist. Namely Bertrand T. Beacznik and Arthur. Beacznik is a deeply troubled man with a criminal history and a sense of entitlement that is as big as his ego. He is personal friends with Overseer Turnbull so it is understandable that he'd be on the list, however I foresee complexities occurring should he be given a completely free rein. His mental health is questionable and his physical health with all the alcohol he drinks is bound to suffer. He is liable to be a great expense to our medical resources.
'Arthur has no problems with his mental health but he has proven to be obstinate and irreverent. While I do not suggest action at this moment in time it is advised that an eye be kept on him to ensure he integrates well with others. I have confidence that with time Arthur should prove to be an asset to this vault.
'In other news, the experiments have started out a success. We've had a lot of time leading up to this and so far the Calculator is functioning perfectly well, as is the one in Vault 0. I was concerned at the beginning that using death row inmates for the machine might prove counter-productive due to questions surrounding their psychological make-up, especially as Vault 0 are using some of the world's greatest minds. However, the Calculator appears to have sublimated any inadequacies in the subjects it uses and, so far, is running smoothly. It shall be interesting to compare differences in both machines' output over time. Should anything happen to Vault 0 it is good to know that we're on stand-by as the back-up network relay point.
'Of course all appropriate measures have been set in place to keep the inner workings of the vault a secret from the residents. They are simple people, still clinging to their ignorant beliefs in the divine like children who cling to teddy bears for comfort. If they knew what it was that kept the lights on they would be, to say the least, disturbed. Discretion should be maintained by staff at all times. As head of the Science Office, I shall make sure no one learns what lies in the basement.
'Zelda Penelope Winfred.'
"What does it mean by 'Calculator'?" Vyatch rumbled from behind Lawman's seat.
Lawman had no clue. He scanned through the report a second time, murmuring to himself as he scanned through the flickering green words. "'Vault 0'… 'death row inmates'… 'Calculator' … 'Network relay point'…"
Lawman turned to Vyatch. "The only thing that kinda makes sense so far is the bit about this place being a network relay point."
"What does that tell us?"
"Nothing we don't already know." Lawman turned back to the screen. "It just means that all Vault Tec info might have been funneled through this vault onto somewhere else…"
"Lost Orleans?"
"It doesn't say so far."
Vyatch leant over and tapped the screen with his gun. "Read the next report. See what it says."
Lawman didn't object. The next report was dated, '10th Novemeber 2077.'
'I have submitted my complaint to Overseer Turnbull. To allow Beacznik into the vault is one thing, but to make him the head of Security is a gross miscalculation of character and threatens to disrupt and destabilize the vault. So far the residents have been getting along well these past eighteen days. There has been little to distract my team from their vital work. But this? Turnbull knows as well as I do that Beacznik's psychological profile does not condone his elevation to a position of authority – and now he's been made the second in command? With this move Turnbull has turned his security team into a band of thugs. This is unlikely to end well.
'The Calculator runs as normal. There have been no anomalies as of yet and absolutely no degradation of the test subjects. The hardware of the computer system and its organic counterparts seem to have fused together perfectly, and are functioning seamlessly as one entity. I had some misgivings about using the FEV virus to preserve the organic elements of the Sunshine Calculator, but so far it has done its job perfectly fine. It's too early to tell, but who knows? Perhaps the twelve inmate brains of the Sunshine Calculator can outperform the eight eccentric brains of Vault 0's Calculator. Only time will tell.
'Arthur approached me, inquiring about the basement again. I told him the same story we've been told to give to any and all querying civilians; that it only contains the reactor and some important wiring that should never be interfered with, and so on. But he doesn't believe it. He says his lights keep flickering in strange ways. I asked him how it was strange and he replied that he thought it was in Morse code, and that his lights were signaling for help, over and over again. It'll be just some faulty wiring of course, and I said as much. Perhaps, the vault is getting to Arthur more than I thought it would? Nevertheless, I expect Arthur shall learn to drop the issue with time.'
Brains? Lawman scanned the report, checking he'd read that right. '…twelve inmate brains of the Sunshine Calculator…'
"What does it all mean?" Vyatch asked in a more perturbed voice than Lawman had been expecting as he leant over the screen. "What in the hell is this fuckin' Calculator."
"I don't know," Lawman breathed, "but it sounds like it's part computer and part human, as though it uses human brains as part of its computer matrix. The brains of twelve death row inmates."
"The FEV virus… that's…"
"…the Forced Evolutionary Virus. The thing that made the Supermutants."
"Shit," Vyatch whispered conspiratorially as though they were amongst the pews of some cathedral and were being watched. "And they were using it to preserve the …You don't think… you don't think it's still running do you?"
But Lawman remembered the Vault Status Report once more. 'Lighting: minimal. Security cameras: minimal.' And lastly, 'Calculator: irreparable.'
"No," Lawman said at last, almost with a sigh of relief. "Something's destroyed it. Whether it was time, or… something else, I don't know."
They both turned back to the screen and Lawman anxiously clicked on another report, further down the list. It was dated 'March 4th, 2083.' Three days before Arthur's last journal entry…
'I'm worried about Arthur. He continues to be ostracized by the other residents and the isolation over the last six years seems to have taken its toll. He no longer seems the same person he used to be. Nevertheless Turnbull has ordered that no one in the science department speak to him. I can't afford to spare a moment with him. And especially not in the current climate.
'The Calculator has become unstable. It turns out the FEV virus didn't just preserve the brains, one of them has had its cognitive capabilities heightened well beyond what the inorganic component of the Sunshine Calculator can handle. The vault is facing power outages and there's been a shut down in the water recycling unit. I can't understand how this is happening. It's almost as though the brains in their vats are... But no, that's just ridiculous.
'To make matters worse there has been another tussle between some of the civilians and Beacznik's thugs. I'm proud to see that not all the security staff were on Beacznik's side, but this Martha Braun situation can't go on. It's sickening. And I don't care if Turnbull reads this.
'The situation is turning desperate. If this vault is going to survive then we need to find a way to fix the Calculator, and soon.'
Lawman wordlessly clicked out of that report and clicked into the next. It was labelled 'March 9th 2083.'
'I stopped believing in God well before the day the bombs fell. And in truth, I had started turning my faith to Science well before even that, but one thing I know is that Science doesn't forgive. Science has no compassion. All Science cares about are empirical facts. That's what I believed was all I cared about too. Now I know that was not true.
'What we did to Arthur was just horrifying. I feel, in my gut, that with this action we have crossed the Rubicon. There is no turning back. It was one thing to experiment upon Death Row inmates who had willingly signed up for the program, but to trick a fellow resident and then forcibly extract his brain…
'I have committed a grave crime. I cannot blame it on Turnbull, on Beacznik, on peer pressure, or on any of my staff. I shed my humanity the moment I took the scalpel to Arthur's forehead and watched the blood trickle over his face.
'All that matters is the science. That is what all this was for. With the replacement of one of the FEV infected brains with Arthur's brain the vault systems have stabilized. The vault has been made secure once more and life can resume as normal.
'Questions will be asked about Arthur. We will say that he died a hero, helping us to fix a problem in the basement. The lie turns sour in my mouth, and it almost makes me want to vomit, but I'm now tied up in this sick deception with Turnbull and his cronies. If he goes down for this then so do I, and when the vault residents are so riled up over this Martha Braun business I can be certain that should word get out then things will turn ugly, fast.
'If things go well then, hopefully, the vault will remain stable. The question remains though; if it doesn't, then who will be next?'
Lawman didn't understand what Zelda meant by the 'Martha Braun business', but he intuitively pieced together what had happened next. The vault hadn't stabilized, at least not for long. Soon they would have been sacrificing more people to the Calculator, all in an effort to keep the vault systems running. People would have begun to know that something was up - Turnbull couldn't possibly keep tricking people into going into the basement, so Lawman felt sure he'd have had to try something else. Perhaps he'd used Beacznik and his security thugs to kidnap residents, to break into their apartments at night and take them away. Perhaps he'd begun to use the calculator's malfunctioning as an excuse to eliminate opponents to his tyranny. Lawman didn't know, but either way, he had a sense already of who this man, Turnbull, was. He'd faced off with such people before; cowards who hide behind their goons. He knew that whatever Turnbull had done, two things had happened: The truth had gotten out about the basement, and there had been a revolt.
Lawman had no idea how many people were sacrificed on the altar of this perverted science, how many people were offered up to the Calculator that kept them alive like some fucked up deity, but he did know that the foyer had since remained a killing field, meaning nobody had stayed long in the vault afterwards. They'd either all died after the revolt, or whoever had been left had escaped and deserted the place.
Lawman was about to close down the terminal, too nauseous to wish to learn anything more about what had happened, until he spotted the last entry. It had no date and was simply titled, 'Obituary'. Going against every fiber of his being, which told him to pull away, he clicked on it.
'Everything has come crashing down,' Lawman read as he wiped his brow of the cold sweat glistening under the flickering glare of the terminal's screen.
'After Turnbull passed away, Overseer Beacznik could not maintain control – too hooked up on drugs from the medical bay to control even himself. Now William Braun has killed every last one of us in on the conspiracy, temporarily sparing only myself for reasons I'm still uncertain of. He's allowed me to write my own obituary on this computer. I'm unsure if he means it to be some sort of torture but I no longer care. I feel grateful for the opportunity to write some final words. I knew justice would catch up with me, with all of us, sooner or later. I could never get the nightmares out of my head. I had always thought the brains were dead things before, but I've never since been able to shirk the inalienable feeling that in some way they were always waiting… Waiting for something to slip.
'I always sensed things would come to a head, but I never thought William would be the one to lead the vault rebellion, let alone emerge triumphant. He had help from some of the former security guards who were disgruntled with Beacznik, but he's changed a lot from the bewildered five year old boy I once saw shuffling his way into the vault all those years ago. His father's murder, mother's rape and sister's brutalisation have changed him – Darkened him.
'Perhaps soon they will kill me. It's what I deserve, and it will be a relief when they do. Living with what I did all these years, sitting on what I knew, hating myself for the atrocities we committed – I was glad when I finally spoke the truth at last, even if it was in my autumn years. When I revealed to everyone else what had been happening I felt a huge weight lift off of my chest, despite the bloodshed since then. I still feel relieved that it will soon all be over for me.
'I warned them not to touch what lay in the basement, but the Calculator stopped them from leaving the vault so they had no choice. They took whatever brute instruments they could find and smashed apart the Vault Tec machine we'd been sacrificing our lives to this whole time. I tried to tell them they didn't know what they were doing. I yelled after them what dangers they could unleash. They didn't listen. Why would they after what I've done?
'The FEV virus leaked, contaminated those who entered the basement, and the reactor suffered a radiation leak. William had to seal them inside. Had no choice. I can still hear their anguished screams even now as I type my last words, and I know, deep in my heart, that it's my fault.
'The wealth of all Vault Tec research and data, from this vault and Vault 0, will have already been passed on, long ago, to the facility in New Orleans. The Overseer's terminal was linked up to the calculator and automatically streams data there from all the other vaults in the area and perhaps beyond.
'It has now become apparent that this place, along with vault 0, was never meant to succeed. We were just puppets in some grander scheme. I should have listened to Arthur more when I had the chance. We should have all done that. He was right. He'd always been right. For Vault-Tec this was all just a trial run – a trial run for something bigger.
'Soon the vault doors will be opened, but my guilt binds me to this place. I must stay behind. It was all a lie. This vault was never a safe haven. It wasn't even a tomb. It was a petri dish of nightmares.
'God save us all…'