Chapter 17: Chapter 17

It took a while before I found Vault 81, having no accurate map to work with just yet. I found the familiar surface entrance and landed the Zippy Lid (Nat drew the lucky straw, she got to name it) on the hill the entrance was built in. I left the ship stealthed as we made our way down towards the cave. We each carried an empty cardboard box I picked up from the Tupile’s junk pile.

Fortunately there wasn't anyone else outside the camp grounds, so no worry about traffic and any unwanted questions.

“Remember girls, behave alright?” I told them, as the thought suddenly struck me: When did the vault go public again? Are they still in isolation at this time?

We entered the cave and to their credit the girls looked only a bit impressed at the scaffolded structure of the vault’s exit, and the massive vault door itself. I headed up to the vault’s console, but didn’t try plugging in my Pip-Boy just yet. I looked around the dashboard and found the intercoms button.

I pressed the button to speak. “Hello? Anyone there?”

Silence.

I hit the intercom again. “I’m looking to offload some fusion cores, also got more to trade if you’re interested?”

A few more seconds of silence, then the crackle of the speaker coming to life.

“Who is this?” Ah, the familiar voice of the overseer...shit, can’t remember her name. Anyway, she sounds a bit stressed, also a bit younger, which makes sense.

“Just someone looking to trade and maybe let a couple of girls have a tour of a vault that’s not populated by raiders, mutants and such.”

The reply came faster this time. “We’re not a tourist destination for wastelanders to simply waltz in.”

“Sure, but if that’s the price of...say a box of fusion cores, a box of tools and a box of meds?”

The silence dragged for a bit. “Alright, we’ll be opening the vault door to have a look at your offer. Don’t make me regret this.”

Cool, first and biggest hurdle done with.

“Works for me. For transparency’s sake, me and the girls are packing enough heat to handle super mutants.”

The machine rumble and the actual shaking of the cave signalled that the vault’s massive entrance was in the process of opening. I put my empty box down, and the girls followed suit. Then I simply spammed out fusion cores into one box, various tools like wrenches, hammers and the like into another, and finally stimpaks, radaways, med-Xs and such into the last box.

It was quite impressive, seeing with my own eyes several tons of metal groan and creak as it was moved out of the way. Again, the girls weren’t as enthused as I was, but hey, they’ve seen the wonders of space and its aliens, can’t really blame them.

As the walkway extended out, I saw through the blinding illumination of floodlights several silhouettes, most of them armed. Maybe I could offer ammo and better guns to up my diplomacy points more with these people?

The lady who was most definitely the overseer finally stepped out to greet us, flanked by a couple of mildly armored guards. Seriously, gambesons and paper armor would do far better in the wasteland than Vault-Tec security gear, especially with the very basic coverage it offered.

The overseer gave us three a curious look, then noticed the boxes of stuff before nodding at me. “Greetings, I am Overseer McNamara of Vault 81. If you don’t mind me saying, aren’t you three a bit too young to be travelling around?”

Piper took offence to that and folded her arms disapprovingly, which made Nat join in too when she noticed. “Sev keeps us very safe.” “Yeah!”

I shrugged to hopefully distract the flow of conversation before things could go bad. “We make do. Anyway, here are the boxes of goodies we’re offering. You’re free to confirm they’re not fakes if you like.”

“Hm.” With a gesture McNamara had more guards step out to pick up the boxes. It was amusing to watch their surprise at the weight a couple of girls were seemingly able to carry, with loud ‘oofs’ gasped out as they lugged the boxes inside.

“Why don’t you follow us in then, while we verify your goods.”

We followed through the catwalk to the reception hall, none of us three remotely worried about the dozen or so guards around us as the vault’s door rumbled close.

The air in Vault 81 was...interesting. It didn’t taste stale, but there was something like disinfectant just barely masking a potpourri of farts, belches and other human stench that was distinct from the varieties of the outside world. Thankfully neither girl commented on it despite their slightly scrunched up faces.

The vault itself looked clean and well maintained, though small patches of rust and the odd dented panel or dimming lights could be found.

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A few non-guards walked hurriedly out of somewhere to look into the contents of the boxes. I don’t remember the names, but two were in lab coats, which I assumed was the vault’s doc and his assistant, and the other was the head maintenance guy.

We watched silently as they inspected the stuff, and I took what little fun I could enjoying the boggled looks of the docs and the maintenance foreman.

The head doctor passed one stimpak to the overseer. “These stimpaks are brand new. See the casing here? Even ours are scuffed a bit from the recycled materials we use, to say nothing of those we got from other traders.”

The doc turned to me with a hint of suspicion. “Where did you find these?”

I just offered a shrug. “Does it matter?”

He and McNamara shared a look, and then turned to the maintenance head who had joined them in not-so-quiet conversation.

“Calvin?”

“The cores I’ve looked through check out. Fresh and full charge. If even a quarter of the stuff in there’s real, it’s more than good enough Gwen. Nevermind the new tools I definitely could use.”

Piper again came to my defense, and again Nat joined her. “They’re all real! Sev won’t cheat you.”

“Yeah!”

“If he says he’ll give you fusion cores, they’ll all be real fusion cores!”

“Yeah!”

I felt the gazes of everyone, first on the girls, and then on me. Holding back the urge to sigh, I just waved a dismissive hand at the sisters. “It’s ok. Remember, try and behave ok? They’re just doing what they need to do.”

I got nods in return, though Piper’s were reluctant and slightly grudging. Eh, it’s a minor thing. I returned my attention to the overseer.

“So, trade?”

“All this, just for a tour?” she asked, genuinely curious about my intentions.

“Eh, a tour and maybe getting pointers on hydroponics? Got a project for self-sustainability, but normal farming would be out of the question.”

The doctor’s assistant chimed in. Wasn’t she the one that got scammed? She didn’t look as pissy as I thought she would… Maybe it hadn’t happened yet?

“An underground habitat?”

“Eh, not really. We got access to sunlight, but opening up the floor to put in soil just to grow stuff seems a crap idea.”

Calvin’s interest was piqued. “An open air vault?”

It was fun trying to sound vague. Looks like Piper and Nat agreed to, judging from their grins. “Um, not a vault, but close enough.”

“Ah. Shame, I’d ask if you have spare parts...”

“That could be arranged, if you tell me what to look out for. Anyway, for now, trade’s on?”

Overseer McNamara shared a final look with her colleagues before she echoed their nods with one of her own to me. “We have a deal. Follow me, and try not to cause any trouble.”

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