Night had fallen, the excitement had died down, and for the Vault's medical team the real work had begun. With the smooth jazzy tunes of a piano playing from the nearby radio, Patty Delaney set her now empty glass down with a sigh. She needed a break. Staring at Albert's medical data for the past four hours was more than enough for the nurse. There was so much work to be down now she hardly knew where to begin. Tomorrow they would measure Albert's walking speed, from there they could make an estimate for how long the journey would take him, and from there they would need to calculate his calorie and water intake for the journey there and back, and even when that was all figured out there was still the most important question of all. How would he carry all of his supplies?
"Could have been literally anybody else." She muttered to herself. Maybe then she'd actually give a shit.
The hiss of the door pulled her from her irritation. Glancing over she caught sight of the intruder and gave them a soft smile of relief. "What have I told you about coming in here and distracting me?" She asked with a smirk as Daryl Porter made his way into the dimly lit office.
"Oh I'm a distraction now?" He asked with a wide grin. "And there I thought nothing could break the focus of the greatest mind in the Vault." The tall, handsome man said as he pulled up a chair from another desk and rolled it over next to Patty. Head of the Vault-Scouts, Daryl had crafted a rugged and hardy look for himself. Tussled hair, short scruffy beard, and a well defined physique made Daryl stand out among the sea of clean shaven and perfectly styled haired men that inhabited the Vault.
"Well it's not hard considering I've been staring at this screen all day." Patty said, leaning back into her chair and settling in beside Daryl.
"What even is all this stuff anyways?" Daryl asked as he looked at the green text that was displayed across the screen.
"Albert's G.O.A.T. Scores." She said with a soft sigh. The G.O.A.T. Or Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test that was an assessment that every Vault inhabitant had to take once they turned sixteen. The test in question determined one's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Scores and their job within the Vault.
"Since he's going out, the medical team's primary mission right now is ensuring that he actually survives out there." Patty continued.
"Riiight." Daryl nodded. "So what are those numbers up there? S.P.E.C.I.A.L.? What's that?" He asked, pointing to the screen.
"Something you're not supposed to be seeing." Patty said offhandedly. "Medical records are supposed to be private after all." She said, glancing over at him though not doing anything at all to remove the scores from the screen. "Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. Everything that makes you special." She said, reciting the acronym in a flat tone.
"And he's got nothing above a ten." Daryll said with a sigh. "We are fuuucked."
"Ten is the highest." Patty answered offhandedly.
"Wait what? What the shit?" The feeling of dread was quickly replaced with another feeling entirely as the meaning behind the numbers became apparent to him.
"They're not the highest in the Vault." Patty said in an attempt to reassure her boyfriend. "But, yeah Albert's up there."
"How?" Demanded Daryl. "He has two tens! How many do I have?"
And there it was. Daryl's need to be the best rearing its ugly little head. "He doesn't have two." She said, avoiding answering his question just yet. She needed to soften the blow first. "Only in perception. The luck one's a farce anyways. You can't put a numerical value on something that doesn't exist. I swear they just added it on to make the acronym. Besides, he cheated on it. He couldn't stop himself from bragging about it after the scores all came in."
"A nine in charisma though? Really? Everyone knows he's a lying snake."
"And yet he had a quarter of the vault behind him wanting to leave this place just a few days ago. He knows people, knows how to get what he wants out of them. Fortunately, charisma doesn't equal likability so you've got him beat there." She said, looking over at him with an appreciative smile. "Even if you are a little sensitive."
"I am not." Daryl countered with an exaggerated pout.
"No, of course not." Patty said with a small laugh as she reached out and ruffled Daryl's hair.
"Alright, alright." He said, playfully swatting at her hand. "So what's my score look like?"
"Why? Don't tell me you've forgotten them."
"It was ten years ago! Don't act like you remember every test score you ever got... you don't do you?" He asked, suddenly very curious.
"The G.O.A.T. is the most important test you ever took. How could you not remember your score?" She asked with a shake of her head.
"You didn't answer my question."
"Yes I do in fact,. It's really easy when the lowest score you've ever gotten is a ninety five."
"Oh a ninety five, say it ain't so!" Daryl said in feigned shock. "The brightest mind in the whole vault got five points below a perfect score. Truly the greatest tragedy to befall upon our poor earth."
"Are you done?"
"Depends on what you're doing later tonight." He said with a grin.
"Playing Catch the Commie with Sally." She said as she turned off her computer.
"For real? Sheesh I feel like I haven't seen you all week. What's a guy gotta do to spend time with his girl?"
"Look, I'm sorry. She practically begged me to come home with her after the selection. Getting up in front of the whole Vault stressed her out. She didn't say it but I think her being so close to Albert bothered her." She said with a sigh. "Sure bothered me how close she came to being picked." She said looking down at her hands. If she had been chosen, there would have been nothing Patty could have done for her, and her sister would have had no hope outside on her own.
"Fair. I think anyone would be bothered standing next to him for that long." Daryl said with a snort. "Dumbass probably talked her ear off about leaving the vault."
"If he did I'll kill him myself. We'll just have to find someone else to go after the chip instead." Said Patty.
"Might actually get someone who won't just take off and abandon us all to die."
"Albert won't do that. He's a rat bastard sure but, he wouldn't leave us all to die. Can't be the big hero if he did that now could he?" She said with a scoff.
"You just had to be the hero didn't you?" The Overseers voice was full of spite as Albert groaned on the floor of his office. To be struck by the Overseer was to be struck by the Vault, and that's precisely what happened to Albert. Him and his big mouth had once again gotten him into trouble. Albert had thought that if anyone should know what had happened that it should be the Overseer, but as it turned out Jacoren already knew.
"There are rules here Albert, rules that we must adhere to if we have any hope of surviving down here." The Overseer said as he made his way across his office, past his desk and over to a cabinet. "You seem to believe that these are simply polite suggestions. Always have." He sighed, removing two glasses from the cabinet and setting them down onto his desk. "I was there when you were born you know." He said as Albert slowly got to his feet. The sight brought a smirk to the Overseers's face, the boxing regiment had paid off it seemed. "And I'd be lying if I didn't say that some days I wish I had thrown you to the incinerator then and there." He said grimly. With a smack of his lips and a shake of his head he rid himself of those dark thoughts. "Woulda been a waste though." He said, turning back to the cabinet and retrieving an old glass bottle filled with the finest pre-war wine. "As much as I want to Albert, I can't hate you." He said as he popped the cork from the glass bottle
"I'm flattered." Albert said as he took the nearby chair with a wince, his ribs were definitely going to be bruised in the morning.
"You should be. The days I don't wish I had strangled you in your crib are the days I find myself wishing I was more like you." He admitted before pouring the wine into the glasses and handing one over to Albert.
"Do you now?" Albert asked, tentatively reaching for the glass.
"Believe it or not." Jacoren said with a light chuckle. "I've always been a stickler for the rules. Rules and guidelines, it's what keeps us safe. Without them we would have broken everything and died out generations ago. Not everyone my age saw it that way though." He began to monologue, enjoying the sound of his own voice.
"I had a friend when I was about your age. He was a wild child let me tell ya. Always getting into trouble, breaking the rules. He wasn't the sort that the future Overseer could be affiliated with you see. So I was given a choice. I was to either end my friendship with him, or lose out on the chance for the office. Now here we are, some forty years later. Him with a loving wife and family, surrounded by people who cherish and adore him, and me here with my rules." He let out a rueful scoff and took a drink from his glass. "Pretty sure I made the wrong choice." He said softly.
"You see all these books." He said, pointing back at the wall of bookshelves that lined his office. "Instructions, rules, and guidelines for every conceivable issue that an Overseer might face. They have all the answers, and I've relied on them throughout my entire administration. But now, we have a crisis that Vault-tec hasn't given me an answer for and I'm completely useless." He admitted with a sigh. "And there you are taking the lead and actively trying to do something about all this mess while I'm sitting here with my thumbs up my ass."
Albert had barely touched the wine; it never was his preferred drink of choice though he did appreciate the idea of drinking something that was bottled long before the world had ended. "Well, you could always try and think for yourself every once in a while." He dared to say before raising the glass to his lips, half expecting another blow to his ribcage.
The expected assault never came and he was instead answered with a low chuckle from the Overseer. "Well you know what they say, can't teach old dogs new tricks. I'm too stuck in my way at this point. Not you though, always willing to give something a shot even if it ruins someone else's plans."
"Other plans?"
"Mhmm." Jacoren nodded. "If you had followed the rules just this once it'd have been alright. See, I'm not angry that you volunteered to go out to save a young girl. I can't be, what sorta monster would be? Any other person and I'd be ready to throw them a party. It had been my hope that if someone less than able had been picked, that someone better suited for the job would volunteer in their place. I just didn't want it to be you." He said with a long sigh before taking a drink from his own glass.
"And why not?" Asked Albert, setting his own glass on the desk.
"Well I can't exactly have my intended successor dying outside of the Vault now can I?"
Every singular detail in that room became crystal clear to Albert in that moment. The spinning fan in the corner, the lone bubble that floated atop of his wine, Albert's own heartbeat all seemed to slow to a crawl as the message was received. Jacoren had chosen Albert to become the next Overseer. "You.. your what?" Albert stuttered out.
"My successor." Jacoren answered with a nod. "I've spent the past thirty years trying to keep the peace here. To keep things running smoothly, but in doing so we've stagnated. Even I can see that. I followed all the rules to the letter, and there are others who have followed my example but rules don't inspire hope in people. You've always had that gift, you could convince anyone of anything. People want to like and believe you and with a bit of proper guidance you could become a great leader." Jacoren said with a soft smile. "I never had that gift. When I first got the job there were actually people here who had no idea who I even was." He said with a laugh. "Because I had kept my head down, my mouth shut, and I obeyed the rules. But when your time comes? There's not gonna be a soul here who'd wonder why you got the position."
As Jacoren spoke Albert was still in a state of shock. To be the Overseer, to lead the Vault. It was a possibility he had never even dreamed of. Help keep the peace and keep the people happy? He could do that, but lead them? He shook his head slightly as he came back to the present. "I uhh. I don't know what to say?" He said with a surprised chuckle.
Jacoren let out a laugh. "I left Albert Cole speechless. Now there's something to drink to!" He said, finishing off his glass.
Half an hour later Albert was back at his family's room and as the door hissed open he wished he wasn't.
"Well look who it is! The hero himself!" Came a shrill voice. There in the cramped living area was the gaggle of hens that were his mothers friends. How the six of them ever managed to all seat themselves comfortable in that tiny room he'd never understood.
"Well heya sport! Where have you been?" Asked his dad, peeking out from where the kitchen was located.
"Jacoren wanted to talk to me." Albert said as he tried to squeeze past a few of the women that crowded the room.
"Oooh he's on a first name basis with the Overseer!" His mom squealed excitedly. "Oh sweetie, Bonnie here made you some of her lemon cake that you love so much." She said, pointing over to the dark haired woman who's glasses seemed to cover half of her face.
That at least made the headache that Albert was beginning to feel somewhat worth it. "Oh thanks." He said to her with a nod of his head.
"Well of course! Anything for the Vault's newest hero!"
"Careful there Bonnie, you're blushing like a schoolgirl." Said Marie, the oldest of the group.
When Albert finally forced his way towards the back of the room he glanced over at the kitchen to see his father scrubbing away at the dishes, with the faucet turned on full blast. "Do you people not know what rationing means?" He said, anger boiling up inside him.
"Oh relax sweetie. "His mom scoffed with a dismissive wave of the hand. "It's a party! The rationing can wait."
"Yeah Albert!" Said Marie. "There's no reason to be a 're just gonna take a quick little walk and you'll be back before Christmas and the whole Vault can relax. This whole water ration idea is just a silly waste of time." She said with a wave of the hand.
Slamming the faucet shut, Albert growled under his breath. "Right, not like any of our lives are on the line."
"Oh sweetie, you'll be okay. You're just going out for a walk then you'll be right back home safe and sound." His mom said as she shuffled her way towards the kitchen. "You're just… going next door to ask for a cup of sugar."
"Sure, right. Except outside's likely a nuclear hellhole and if I don't return with that cup everyone in my home is gonna die. Easy peasy." Albert said unable to hold back his venom.
"Honestly I think it's all just theater." Scoffed Jodie, the youngest of the group. "The Overseer is just wanting an excuse to try and control us. He's just bored and wants a crisis that he can claim to have fixed!"
"It's not fake." Albert sighed. "If you paid attention to shit other than your fucking hair you'd have caught on by now"
"Albert, language." Warned his mother. "There's no need for such outburst young man. Now apologize right this instant."
The rage was boiling up. The briefest of moments he envisioned slamming a nearby cup into the face of the snooty bitch sitting in his chair. Jodie was the youngest, and the dumbest of his mother's friends. Never one to have an opinion of her own and always repeating what she had heard. Blind obedience had always irritated Albert, sheer stupidity was further up on the list.
"Look, buddy." His dad said, putting a reassuring arm on Albert's shoulder. "The Cole's aren't any stranger to this sorta thing. I don't exactly brag about this sorta thing but, your old man actually saved the Vault once before too." Dean said with a proud smile, trying to calm down the situation.
"Oh he did!" His mom said excitedly. "It was super cool!"
"What?" Albert said, doubting every word.
"True story. A little while before you were born, well… about nine months exactly hahah." Dean added unnecessarily. "Anyways the Vault electrical database crashed on us. Whole thing just bloop, gone. A full reset would have taken us weeks, weeks to do. On top of that we were risking losing months of data. Lucky for all of us I had been making separate backups on my workstation so's to not lose my score on Red Menace. So right there on my own computer was all the info we needed. So while the techies were fixing the database they had me manually enter the data on all the other stations. We would have lost so much if I hadn't done that, we're talking months of power consumption data just gone forever. But your old man managed to pull through and save the day." He finished, looking incredibly pleased with himself as his wife clung to him as she looked up to him in admiration.
"Yeah, sure that's exactly like what I'm gonna have to do." Albert said in a flat tone. "Good talk dad, thanks. Good to know I'm not the only person to have everyone's lives in their hands, really makes me feel better about all this." The sarcasm was palpable, or so Albert thought.
"Anytime buddy. Anytime." "His dad said with a warm smile, confident that he had just qualled his son's fears.
"I'm going to bed." He said, shoving aside his anger and instead simply removing himself from the situation.
"I swear his generation just has no respect." Jodie scoffed as Albert ducked into his room, the hiss of the door cutting off any further remarks.
Across the other end of the living quarters the Delaneys were settling down after a busy day as well. The radio nearby playing a smooth jazzy tune, the sisters Patty and Sally sat at opposite ends of the table. Between them a large contraption set up on a board with an assortment of pieces and figures placed here and there.
"Come on , come on, come on… yes!" Patty giggled as a net dropped down on top of a bright red piece. "That's how we do it." Despite any earlier complaints, Patty had fully thrown herself into the game as she tended to do. Bouncing in her seat as she nabbed the piece off the board. "I'm catching up to you now." She said, flashing a grin at Sally though not receiving much in return. Sally had been quiet all day, more so than usual it was obvious that earlier events had shaken her. But the true reasoning was something that Patty had yet to find out. With a soft sigh Patty reached across the board and took Sally's hand. "Hey, you're okay. I know the whole waterchip thing is scary but it's gonna be alright. We may be down below but we always come out on top, right?" She asked with a smirk, parroting an old Vault 13 slogan.
Sally was silent for a while, merely nodding her head before looking up at her sister. "Am… am I a communist?"
The question caused Patty to pause. "The… Are you what?" She asked with a scoff.
"Am I a commie?" Sally asked with a cracking voice and a pleading and fearful look in her now reddening eyes.
"Are you a…? What are you talking about? Are you a commie? Seriously?" Patty asked, finding the whole question ridiculous. "What the.. Heck are they teaching you in school?" She asked, leaning back in her chair with a bewildered look.
"That… commies have other people do their work for them while they sit around and do nothing." Sally said with tears dripping from her eyes.
"Oh honey." Patty cooed as she moved from her chair over to kneel beside Sally, wiping away her sister's tears with her sleeve. "Just because someone picked up your trash or something like that doesn't make you a commie. Come on, what happened" She asked gently, all the while cursing the fact that despite the war having been over for nearly a hundred years the propaganda of the age was still alive and well there in the vault.
Sally gave a sniffle before she could choke up the words. "At the meeting, Albert didn't get the right straw."
"Okay, stop. Breathe." Patty interrupted. "His was shorter than everyone else's. That's how he got picked."
"No! It's not okay!" Sally cried out. "I saw the straws. Everyone had red ones. Even Albert's was red, BUT MINE WASN'T!"
The comforting expression on Patty's face remained, but inside her she could feel the panic rising up. "S… Sally what, what do you mean?" She asked, not realizing that she was now clutching her sister's hands in her now shaky grip. The straws were red,. She saw them all. It couldn't have been by color, it just couldn't have.
"I had a yellow one. Mine was yellow and I showed Albert. He got scared and broke his straw. I'm the one that's supposed to be going, not him!"
Patty's hands rose to cup her sister's cheeks. "No." Her face now pale and colorless as the news hit her. Her own eyes watered as she repeated the only word she could utter. "No.. no no." With tears in their eyes the two sisters clung to each other in the confines of the small living room. It was supposed to be her, another part of her family ripped away. She could see clearly then, the blood running down her father's hands. She had been the one to find him, and that scene replayed in her mind only now it was Sally who's lifeless eyes stared back at her.
"What is going on in here?" Their mother's voice broke Patty from her vision. Pulling away from Sally she moved past her mom and towards the bathroom. "Take.. take care of.. Of her." She stuttered out, just as she entered the room and pulled shut the door. It all came crumbling down, she wanted to scream, wanted to cry, wanted to break something. But in that moment, all she could do was slam open the toilet seat and give in to the urge to vomit.
The next morning the door of the gym was opened by a calm and collected Patty. The normal morning hustle and bustle of the gym was replaced by a different kind, medical workers all surrounding and collecting data from an already out of breath Albert. His normal slow morning routine had been rather rudely replaced with a quickened breakfast and a full lab coated escort straight to the gym where he was immediately put under immense physical strain. Hooked up to all sorts of oversized pieces of medical equipment, the man had zero chance in hell of making any attempt at looking cool once the woman of his desires walked into the room. Instead all he could muster was a small half wave that rattled a cable that was connected to a sensor on his arm, whacking a nearby nurse in the face with the connector. The wave was met with a reproachful scowl from the nurse, and a cold stare from Patty. "What are you doing?" She asked him, watching him as he ran at full sprint on the treadmill.
"We're recording his speed, Doctor." The nearby nurse answered before Albert could.
"No you're not." Patty answered as she stepped further into the room. "You're recording an idiot. Clear the room. I need to talk to him."
"But doctor we're in the middle of."
"Scrap it, we're starting over. Now clear the room." She barked, her seniority over the medical team silencing any further arguments. As the nurses took their leave, Patty reached over the treadmill and turned it off, almost causing Albert to slam into the user panel from the sudden stop. "What are you doing?" She asked again, her green eyes piercing right through him.
"I'm… running. They wanted to measure my speed so-"
"It's not a race." She interrupted. "Think marathon, not a race through the halls." She explained, speaking oddly gently to him, keeping any signs of her anger at a minimum. "How long have you been at this?"
"Uhh, about an hour?" Albert answered after looking up at the clock, if only to cover for a chance to get his breath back.
"An hour and you're already out of breath. You're pushing yourself, don't do that. Take it slow, walk at your normal pace. We get a chart that says you move quicker than you actually do and that's less supplies you'll get. Alright? We get to crunching numbers and we end up loading you with less supplies than what you actually need you're dead. Understand? You show off, you die." She said with an intense gaze that Albert couldn't break away from.
""Yeah… Yeah I understand." Albert finally said with a nod. "Sorry I was just trying to uhh.."
"Trying to show off." Patty interrupted coldly.
"Yeah little bit."
"Don't. Keep it a casual pace. Gives us the actual numbers for the baseline. You're already going to have a bad time with how much you'll be carrying." She said with a rueful sigh. "But that's why we got a team working on it. Your job's just to do the walking, you let those of us who can actually think three steps ahead worry about the numbers."
"Right." Albert nodded. "Well hey, upside of getting the wrong numbers is that if I die out there you'll never have to deal with me again." Albert said with a playful smirk.
"True, downside is that we'd all die soon after. So, hate to say it but I gotta try and keep you alive for a little while longer." Patty said, scrunching her nose as she spoke. That bit of playfulness coming off of her was enough to make Albert's heart skip a beat, something that became noticeable on the EKG meter he was hooked up to. If Patty took any notice she wasn't about to show it. "Now come on." She said, patting the treadmill's console before moving back towards the door. "Let's get to work." She said before opening the doors and allowing the swarm of nurses to resume their poking and prodding.
—-
Within a few days the medical team had their numbers and a whole new problem to face. Sitting in the mess hall stretched out on one of the benches, Patty sat with a stack of paper and maps laid out on the table in front of her. Legs crossed over one another she had leaned across the bench, crossing her arms behind her head as she lay there deep in thought.
Bringing two trays of food over, Albert paused for a moment to admire the view of her stretched out body before delivering a tray to her side of the table before he took his seat on the other. "So what's the verdict Doc?" He asked her before biting into a forkful of spaghetti.
"You're dead." Patty said simply as she sat back up, smoothing out her hair with a sight.
"Love the confidence there." Albert said through a mouthful of pasta.
"Well we can't all be bullshitters." She said with a shrug before picking up her own utensil. "You're looking at about a week's walk there. So you need fourteen days worth of food and water on top of your other gear."
"Thought you said a week?"
"Return trip. Gotta work with the assumption that they won't be too open to the idea of giving a stranger supplies, or if they'll even open up for you at all." She said grimly.
"Again, loving the confidence." Albert said, pointing his fork at her.
"None of that is even going to matter cause getting you to be able to walk with 14 days worth of water is gonna be an impossibility." She continued. "That's a hundred and fourteen pounds on top of food and other supplies. So yeah, you're dead." She finished, staring down at her plate with a defeated look on her face.
"Aww, you do care." Albert couldn't help himself, the dirty look Patty shot him brought out a chuckle making the look even angrier.
"I care about the vault. I care because this could have been Sally." She bit back.
"Ah, was wondering when she would tell you." Albert said, the smirk on his face fading away.
"She told me that night." She said after a pause. With her fork in hand she twirled her spaghetti for a few silent moments. "So thank you." She said softly before taking a bite from her plate.
"Yeah." Albert said with a nod. "Hell of a birthday gift for her I guess." He added with a chuckle. "Sorry you'll never be able to top it."
"Albert took my place getting the waterchip last year and all you got me this year were some more text books?" Patty said in an imitation of Sally's higher pitched voice. "Though I suppose you'll have a bigger problem." She added in her usual breathy tone of voice. "Will make every girl in the vault jealous. You saved Sally Delaney for her birthday, what'll you get them?"
"Oh that one will be easy. I'll just point to the nearest water source and grin." Albert said with a smirk.
"Fuck you're gonna be insufferable." Patty groaned with a shake of her head. "Maybe it's a good thing you can't carry all the water you need. Saves us having to live with that hanging over our heads." She said with an uptick of her eyebrows.
"Yeah, shame I've got a solution for that though." Albert said with a winning grin.
"Oh this should be good. I'm all ears."
"I don't have to drink all that water." He said, propping himself on his elbow looking very pleased with himself.
Patty looked at him for a moment, searching her vast library of knowledge to try and figure out just what the hell he was getting to, and then it hit her. "Oh you fucking rat bastard." She wasn't angry that he knew, she was angry he thought of it first. The IV fluid that manufacturing had been pumping out for weeks now, One bag alone could give him his recommended daily intake, and would weigh much less than the amount of water he'd need to match.
"I'm sure you all have the bags to spare. I know you guys had a surprise stock of IVs come through a few weeks ago."
"Yeah, we did. Turns out the overseer ordered them in a panic. Told the guys in manufacturing that it was likely just a bug in the system but to go ahead and honor it. Prepping for when the drinkable stuff runs out. Least he wasn't just sitting on his ass and ignoring the problem like we thought." Patty said with a shrug.
"So that solves the water problem." Albert said hopefully. "More hydration for less weight."
"Not quite, it's not a good idea to go that long with only IVs, you still need real drinking water. Just less of it. So that'll cut down on your carrying weight, aaaand I might have an idea that'll make what you've got a lighter load too." She said with a thoughtful expression before looking back at him. "Well congrats Albert, you might not be dead after all."
