Queen's note: When you do things out of order, the (game?) world tries to sort itself out. I also maaaay have taken a few liberties on the amount of people in the vault for later plot reasons.
Welcome to the Wasteland
Chapter Thirty one:
Vault 111
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Lana fussed, lingering behind the others as Mary had to stop. She caught the other young woman's free hand, "You're still healing, do you want to ride up on buck?"
"I'm fine for now, just need to rest a second." Mary smiled, even as she leaned against Lana for the moment. Smiling as Buck dipped his head lower to nose at first Mary's shoulder and then his human's. The moose checked on them both, careful of his antlers.
"Okay, but I'm tossing you up on Buck for the trip back." Lana smiled, nudging Mary with her shoulder. Admittedly fussing, "You'll stress your healing ankle if you're not careful."
"I know, but… I just want to explore on my own feet for a bit." Mary shifted and held up the cane she had been using off and on the last week. "Plus I have this, and it's pretty safe here."
"Soon as it hurts though, let me know. Buck is a good boy and loves you too." Lana said, staying beside the other until Mary started walking slowly up the hill.
It took a minute, at least a good dozen paces before Mary paused as she flushed a bit. "Wait. Buck loves me too?"
Lana felt her cheeks flush a bit as she looked down, unable to say anything at first but smiled at the ground and the footprints of the others. Mary opened her mouth, then closed it as she squeezed Lana's hand back before sidestepping to her left. Making them both pause so Mary could squish into Lana's side to press their heads against one another.
"You guys okay back there?" Sturges' voice drifted back to them from just out of sight.
"Yeah, I'm just slow!" Mary called back up, nudging Lana to get them both walking. A moment later, Codsworth drifted through the fence gate at the top of the hill. The robotic butler tucked his arms in as he followed the path back to the two women.
"Its the path too hard for you miss Mary?" Codsworth asked, worry in his tone.
"Maybe a little but that's my endurance right now." Mary reassured and explained, "But we're also enjoying the hub flower bushes."
"Are their wild dandelions between them?" Lana asked, distracting long enough to try and get her blush under control, "It's nice to see them again, I was worried they weren't in this region. It'll be good to get some more as they get bigger, I don't think I have much left for tea or soup."
"Once everything heals up from that last storm, I'll be happy to make you some dandelion soup Mis Lana." Codsworth started, paused and hummed a moment, "I might still have some dried in the basement and the neighbor's cellar. Both places have been excellent for storing seeds and provisions when there's families around."
"That would be wonderful Codsworth," Lana smiled, "Even having some mixed in a salad like mom used to make would be nice."
"I like the flower petals in razorgrain, I know they don't add a lot of flavor, but its pretty." Mary admitted, smiling as the two woman relaxed talking with the Mr. Handy. Slowly walking up the hill as he floated beside them, on the farther side away from Buck.
The moose seemed quite happy to alternate eating the wild grasses as well as taking a nibble off a hub or rose flowers and hips. He did not have his proper bit in after unhitching from the wagon and having a few days after the calves being born the bull moose was… content again.
"There you guys are." Sturges sighed in relief, waiting by the gate for them to catch up. Adding as he waved up and to the left of the clearing on the top of the hill, "There's a few trailers you can sit in to rest Mary."
"Thanks." Mary leaned against Lana for a moment before taking a deep breath and making the last part of the walk up the hill. It did even out, and she did plop down a little heavily on the stairs to the off white office like trailer.
Buck gave a goan as he was queued to kneel and then lay down beside Mary. Lana digging into the smaller saddlebags against his side. She came up with a canteen and a small bottle. Handing over the canteen and then two of the small pills from the bottle to Mary.
"Here, take this, it'll help with the pain and swelling." Lana said as she knelt beside the other young woman. She held out her hands to the formally broken leg, and helped take off the shoe and sock to make sure Mary had not hurt her ankle.
"I think you should be off your feet as much as possible from now on, at least for the rest of the day kiddo." Jake noted as he came over, stooping down to get a look as well, "And stay up here while we check the vault. No telling what's down there."
"Yeah," Mary nodded, reaching out to clasp Lana's hand, watching Codsworth go to help Marcy and Preston in clearing the winter debris off the vault's hatchway. There was not a lot of build up it seemed, but enough the group would not want things falling on them. "Be careful in there yeah?"
"Of course." Lana smiled and nodded, "You be careful too Mary. I don't think Valory and I came too close to this area on the way into the commonwealth. Or if she's been up here to chase out predators."
There was a pause before LAna ducked her head almost at the same time JAke ruffled her short hair. "I'm fussing aren't I?"
Jake laughed, "Just a little bit. If it makes you guys feel better, Jack told me he would be following behind us after he was done with the floor of the latest cabin we were working on." The scarred man glanced up at the afternoon sun, fingering the old watch in his pocket with his other hand. "I'd say he'd be here in an hour or so. Keep an eye out for him Marry?"
"Can do." Marry nodded, pausing as the resident robot came drifting back over to them, "Are you going down too, Codsworth?"
"I…don't think I can just yet, so I will man the button, and stay up here with you Mis Mary." Codsworth admitted with a helpless wave of two of his arms. One optic staying on the hatchway, the other two peering between the group and around them. "If you'll have me as a companion for the afternoon…?"
Mary beamed up at the Mr. Handy, "That would be nice Codsworth. If you don't mind, I'd like to see around your garden spaces again. And those smaller nut trees you mentioned."
"I would love to! We can see what winter melons are ready to harvest inside the old Donoghue house." Codsworth happily trilled, and then spluttered at the sound he made. Tucking his arms in and down to reflect his embarrassment. "Oh my, I'm sorry, some things need patching up in the main chassis frame…"
"Its okay, maybe Noel might be able to give you a check up?" Jake offered as Mary decided to be up on Buck. Lana helped her over, and then checked that their weapons were secured on both of them.
"Would you get the buttons Codsworth?" Preston called over once seeing everyone was clear of the stairs. "Looks like we're all ready."
"Yes!" the Mr. handy drifted up into the trailer. Codsworth peered out as he carefully tapped the button that had faded text of 'lift required'. He was not the only one surprised that the hatchway started to open, showing the lift was already raised.
"Huh." Lana rubbed Buck's face and reassured him before needing to trot after Jake and Sturges, "Stay here with Mary, my big walking tank."
"That's odd." Sturges hummed as he stepped on the lift. "Who came up?"
"Guards, scouts, survivors?" Preston offered, reflexively making sure his laser rifle was fully charged. "Or it was sent up to get another round of people before the bombs dropped?"
Jake rubbed at where he once had a mustache ages ago, that action had never really gone away. He had lent his sidearm and holster to Marcy and held his old shotgun, but was staring off to the south. "They would have seen the main bomb drop from here."
"Really?" Marcy paused as the lift started to descend. Looking over the hill they were on, seeing the old neighborhood, semi distant Concord, and the overall spring landscape.
"That area over there," Jake pointed to draw the attention of those on the lift, "Some trees have grown by the old highway, but keep going as the birds fly, that's the glowing sea. And where a lot of the radstorms come from."
"Damn," Sturges rubbed at the back of his neck, glancing down at the lift and then up as they sank below the ground level. He watched the hatch start to close only then.
There was a clicking as Lana turned on a small electric lantern that came from the saddle bags. "Hopefully whatever people didn't have to see the bombs drop? That would have been horrifying."
"Hopefully," Jake nodded, focusing on keeping his balance, but ended up crouching with his shotgun over his knees.
The group became quiet, listening intently for any signs of life in response to the lift. It was not fully dark, but it definitely was... empty once the group made it down. The air was not stale but old, having been scrubbed so many times without new input. It was not lived in, though the oxygen levels were higher than on the surface. Maybe 28 percent instead of the average 20 or 22 percent.
"Everyone is going to be pretty hyper down here," Lana commented as she peered around the bottom of the lift once it settled, considering the place and looking up to the vent that kept air circulating even here in front of the vault door.
"How do you mean?" Preston wondered, Sturges tilting his head and even Marcy looked confused.
Jake snapped his fingers softly, "Better oxygen levels means you don't get as tired as fast. Seems like you have more energy, but we need to be careful not to over do it, if I remember."
Lana nodded, staring at the Vault Door with the giant '111' painted on and got an interesting expression. As if not fully sure how to express what she was feeling about the extra extravagance of the door. "Maybe not slow going, but steady as we go. None of our bodies are used to higher oxygen so we might hurt ourselves without realizing it at first."
"If you say so Lana." Marcy shook her head, wondering a bit as Preston and Sturges investigated the controls. "I... don't know how that works but I don't feel like I'm out of breath from that hike up here."
"The human body is really strange," Lana said with a sigh, turning to Marcy and giving a smile, "Some like the challenge of studying it, all the power and grace to them. But I just liked studying plants and animals more. But I took enough classes before leaving to know enough to be careful… at least I hope I did."
The young woman shifted, looking a bit worried. Lana really did hope she was doing things right, or well. Even with the security of Valory most of the time, she still had a possible seed vault or bunker to find. Marcy stepped closer, putting a hand on Lana's shoulder as she found herself responding to the moment of near hidden insecurity in the younger woman.
"As far as I can tell, we should be able to get the main door open, it looks like…" Sturges stood up and scratched his head, "If I'm understanding things right, the vault door is unlocked."
"Hmm…" Preston gave the main door another look, before making sure his laser musket and a pistol were both ready to be used or pulled out quickly. If it was unlocked, that did seem to hint someone left with how the lift was. "Everyone make sure things are loaded just in case. Considering how Vault Tech is with their lack of care for human life when something isn't a control Vault…"
Lana frowned as well at that, but did check the pistol in her leg holster. As well as the bow she had were both in good shape, and that an arrow was notched, "I hope even half of the stories about Vault Tech aren't true for the sake of those poor people.
Marcy, Jake, and Sturges did last minute double or triple checks as well. The scared man was the one that spoke up, resting his shotgun on his shoulder, "Likely all true, some in the old Capital, even down south and out west...were not pleasant."
"At least the vault over in the south east from here was lucky enough to be one of those control ones." Marcy sighed deeply as she stood to her left so not to be in direct line of sight, and was relieved that the others did the same.
Sturges opened the main door, wincing at the general alert alarms sounded. As well as the grinding of old but still working systems. The heavy gear shaped door opened by retracting inwards and then rolling to the side. Sturges was not the only one scanning inside and he caught the movement of Lana drawing her bow while Preston hissed as he was the second one to spot what was inside.
"Roaches," the current Minuteman commander warned, as Lana took the first near silent shot to get one of the roaches on the ceiling.
"Damnit," Marcy muttered as she bit her lip, lingering in the back as Preston and Lana headed in first, then Sturges and Jake. The fact that there were rad-roaches did not give Marcy much hope. More so when she saw the picked cleaned bones of skeletal remains.
Considering the alarms sounding deeper in the vault it was not such a great surprise that even when Preston fired his musket that it did not bother any bugs farther in or draw out any people. The bugs may not be able to hear anymore at that.
"Can the alarms be shut off?" The older woman asked, wincing.
"I think so, it sounds like a few different ones." Lana was moving to one of the control panels, Sturges on her heels. Together they managed to turn off the local alarms for the main door.
"Power is low," the dark haired man said as he scanned the readouts at the security station. Using his sleeve to wipe the screen clear. "Ummm, you still have that other power cell from near the school, Preston?"
The Minutemen poked his head around a corner, having moved to clear the next passageway. Taking the working left hand door in the back, "I do, and power looks to be this way. Something is odd over here."
"How so?" Lana notched another arrow and moved after, keeping an eye up on the ceiling and walls.
"This is a hall, it connects to the vault's Overseer's office room. I thought those are in the far back from the main door? But the glance I got, it seems small." Preston motioned for the group to follow him.
"The bunkers I'm used to, some of the administration is near the front." Lana put in, following Preston, wincing a bit at the noise in the hall, no wonder they did not hear the man clearing the bugs here. "Though the seed bank was supposed to have a reception area back home."
"If it is the Overseer's office I can take care of some of these alarms." Sturges had a palm to his left ear too, pausing with Marcy to let the other three go in first to do a sweep for threats. Once he got the okay, the man rushed to the big desk. Finding the not so hidden master controls. He looked relieved as Lana found a personal notebook near the skeletal remains on the floor behind the desk. It had notes of the computer systems including old passwords… and how to reset them.
It was a minute later and then with a last blurp of the alarms everything went quiet. All five heaved a sigh and relaxed tensing shoulders and backs.
"Gods that just hit the wrong pitches." Jake sighed, the scarred man hummed as he rubbed the remains of his outer ears. "I think it's been going on for a while and the speakers warped."
"Looks like the vault was supposed to shut down, but it's internal systems override external commands." Sturges frowned as he skimmed the displayed code, "Whoever this Overseer was they modified the Vault's automatic systems to keep... 'subjects in the pods alive at all costs?'"
"Pods?" Marcy echoed, looking suddenly very worried, "Sturges, are there people in here alive?"
Preston and Jake looked back from inspecting the next room through a window.
Sturges hesitated and tapped the screen, "...maybe? Lana, what's this word? I can recognize the root word here but I don't know the rest."
Lana moved back from the room in the back, a living space. "What word?"
The taller man pointed. "Here, and here. They're alike but different? A misspelling?"
"Cryogenics, cryostasis… It means keeping things alive or preserved for longer using cold methods. We froze some seeds to extend their longevity back home…" Lana started to explain before the context of the rest of the log started to sink in.
Jake was stepping over as she talked, the pre-war man looking suddenly very worried, "Wait, Lana cryostasis? Does that mean-?"
"Oh gods I think it does," Lana dropped her arrow and set her bow down, taking the time to skim through the logs a little better. "Oh gods, what the hell did Vault-Tec do to these poor people?"
"Makes seeds last longer," Marcy murmured as she looked between Jake and Lana's alarm, the growing worry in Sturges face. Preston worried but like her not fully understanding. "What...are you saying there's... pre-war people here that…."
"That aren't ghouls," Jake motioned to his own scarred self as he stepped behind the desk as well. Hovering a little closer to the other two. "I think so. That's what Cryostasis implies. But I thought it was all science fiction consents?"
"Cryogenics was used for, well, for things like seeds and microorganisms for years and decades before the bombs dropped." Lana shook her head, "Even for preserving human or animal eggs and semin, but never to the extent of a whole person. At least that wasn't a corpse. If I'm reading this right they were studying the effects of the process on these people… it looks like there were a few pods that catastrophically failed over the centuries but the rest are alive."
"At least according to the computer." Sturges cautioned, waving at the screens.
"We need to help them." Preston stepped away from the closed door that led deeper into the vault. Digging into the side bag he had on, pulling out the full power cell that he had found. "Would this help the power? To make sure these... cryostasis pods are stable as we try to get the people free?"
"It should if the vault is low in power. We may have woken the vault up by coming down too," the carpenter stood, tugging Sturges sleeve to pull the man to the closed door and the window. "The generators are bleeding energy, you can see it arking from here. Think we can get the core into a backup or something, shut the mains down-"
"-to get new grounding rods in and anything patched." Sturges continued the thought, studying what he was seeing. This was something he knew, electrical engineering, and it helped ground him with the new information. People needed help. He could help. Sturges tapped the glass, "I think so… Lana, can I get to that computer again?"
The young woman stepped back after a second, "Yeah,"
Sturges righted a chair and pulled it over, "I need to get into that code again, see how much these, 'cryo' pods are really draining and do some emergency math. Is there some usable paper and a pencil around?"
"Here," Marcy stepped over, rooting through some of the papers and finding a folder on hand that was blank, "Are any of these 'pods' open? The people awake?"
"I don't think so, just the 'failed' pods, and as far as I can tell the three people died in...stasis."
"Okay, I think we can clear the vault of the bugs," Preston glanced around, "Marcy, do you think you can stay and watch Sturges back for now in case a roach gets back in here?"
The woman nodded, finding something to write with.
"Lana?"
"I'll come with you Preston," Lana fetched her dropped arrow, "That way I can see if there's another terminal by the pods that have an actual power reading and headcount."
"Good idea!" Sturges smiled, "From what I gathered this place isn't that big. There's at least one blocked door but that's to the entrance."
"Don't mind that for now," Jake shook his head as he unlocked the door, it opened to the crackling generator room and a startled rad roach. Lana shot it before it could click, "...That'll help corral the bugs and we don't have to do a second sweep."
"Come on, let's make this place as safe as we can to work, and not worry about a chunk being taken out of our legs or ankles." Preston nodded, feeling an odd sort of determination swelling in his chest.
Thankful it was only an hour to make sure the bugs were dead, and cleared the remains back to the lift area. Garvy may not have the technical knowledge to help much with the power and pods, but he and Marcy were able to find small boxes and bins to fit the skeletons in, setting them out by the left and to the right. General clean-up and taking stalk.
Marcy found two hidden doors, murmuring something about treasure hunting roots. Nothing really to eat but maintenance supplies that Sturges descended on.
Lana had stripped down to her under shirt and was just carrying her holstered pistol as she jogged back and forth for Sturges to get information before they tried to shut down the power to fix the generators. Making sure the backup would reach all needed areas.
It was about six or seven when they grouped together again in the Overseer's office again.
"We can fix and get the main generators stable," Sturges reported, taking a moment to really look around at the room and send a grateful look at Marcy. The floor was cleaned of debris and most of the dust. Not completely spotless but still impressive to him. "The backup generator is ready and will run on a full load of the vault for almost a week. But with the pods… I want to say two days for safety sake. On my own I can just get the mains fixed but it'll go faster with more knowledgeable hands helping."
"Noel, Lana, Jake... Connie and Abby back at home know the best about generators." Preston glanced down at the cup of clean water in his hands. He was sitting in one of the chairs he dragged in, and a small table that he and Marcy brought. The water was…. oddly not tangy. It just tasted like fresh water without the internal warm tingling of rads.
"I'm assuming, who's spending the night here?"
Lana lifted a hand, "I will, Mary can ride Buck back home safely so he can help guard the calves at night. He'll trust her to take his gear off."
"I am, I can finish prepping things, and find out what that other door Marcy just found goes to." Sturges reached for the water pitcher to refill his cup.
"I can if needed," Jake said, the scarred man was not sitting, but lying stretched out on the floor. Getting his back to stay straight, "Though most of what I can do will be when the power switches."
"The beds and sheets at least are all clean." Marcy aloud, motioning to the Overseer's room and then in the general detection of the staff bunks, "They even have functioning washers and dryers here...try not to cannibalize those? I need to get back and make sure Jun is okay. I...don't want to leave him alone at night."
"That's fine." Preston nodded, "It's not too dark yet… I can go inform the others, and make sure I send the lift back down with some dinner for you three."
"Is the kitchen working?" Lana glanced over at Marcy, who nodded, "If you could shoot a few squirrels, Mary can get out some of the herbs from Buck's saddle bags. I always keep something in there just in case."
"You'll want to make sure to talk to Connie first." Jake snorted from his spot, getting chuckles from the others and an odd gleam from Marcy.
She had only fully committed to helping those in the vault after getting to peek in the windows of the pods. The assortment of scared and confused faces... and finding there were at least three teens frozen inside. The loss and grief she had flared and latched onto who she saw. Not unlike how she was feeling with the orphans. "I will. Blake would help but he's at the Co-Op. Have any of you thought where these people are going to go? The vault had no food or growing space."
"The ration bunker." Lana said looking up, "I've started growing crops down there since before your guys showed up. Not just pre-war seeds but the rapid crops from home and here. At least two hallways and the main areas have good lights to do so, and other areas like the old tunnels where I set up Radexes moss to grow. I've been cultivating as much as I could down there for dispersing around and...well, to make mattresses and pillows."
"I also noticed the pods," Sturges lifted his head from writing a list of things to do in order. "They can be moved. In the second maintenance room you found Marcy, it said they came in last. We can get them outside or break them down once the people are safe. It'll open up a lot of room inside the vault here."
"Plants grow just about anywhere, any kind of pot in basics," Lana hummed thoughtfully as she looked up at the lights. "From how fast of a turn around for tatos they would be able to grow faster down here like they do in the bunker. If not better."
"If I didn't know any better I would say we somehow had a plan and long term plan." Marcy marveled looking around.
Preston laughed suddenly, "I know where there's a robot junk yard, if it hasn't been scavenged out, there's a drill for a protection, we could make a tunnel to Sanctuary and install a heavy door. Make a path to the side of that entrance lift in the wall. To keep the big doors from draining too much energy."
"Depending on the power, we could get some rapid growing plants down here and started." Jake laughed as well, lifting his right arm, "By the gods, we have A Plan!"
Reviews!
Justsomerandombastard:
Codsworth needs love man, and someone to take care of I think. Plants too! but I can see him needed people to mentally handle not being with his people. Engoy the next few chapters my man!