The Survivor’s Guide to the Wasteland

As expected, after our fusion cores checked out, the residents of Vault 81 couldn't care less about the details of our party. They still asked questions, but it was more like trying to strike up a conversation instead of an interrogation meant to see whether or not we were telling the truth. They seemed to accept Tanya and Cait as the companions I picked up while adventuring in the wasteland. The residents of Vault 81 weren't as prejudiced since some were wasteland immigrants themselves.

After I got out of my power armor so I wasn't stomping around and startling people, we were quickly ushered into the Overseer's office, where she could brief us on their situation.

"*AHEM* Is there a problem, Basil?"

We found ourselves in Gwen McNamara's spacious, well-lit office, with Cait and Tanya comfortably seated on a plush sofa opposite her. McNamara had just uttered something, but my attention was elsewhere. I was captivated by her striking resemblance to Marissa Tomei, a fact that I still found hard to believe.

"Huh? Oh! I'm so sorry, Overseer McNamara. It's just that you look exactly like someone I know, and my brain's having difficulty reacting."

"I see. I imagine that would be weird. Who is this person that I look like? Are you two close?"

Thinking on my feet, I came up with a lie on the spot.

"Well, I don't 'know' know her. She's a movie star from some films we had from the pre-war era."

McNamara's eyebrow arched in response, a subtle indication of her curiosity.

"Now that is interesting. Do I look like an older version of her?"

"What? No, Overseer Macnamara, you look exactly like her as you are. She was in movies when she was younger, but she's been in plenty of stuff later on as the hot, mature type."

A slight blush came across MacNamara's face. She grinned, lounging back on her sofa and crossing her legs, letting me get an eyeful of those beautiful slender limbs outlined in a skintight jumpsuit.

"Please, call me Gwen. And flattery isn't going to get you anywhere, young man. Though it definitely doesn't hurt as well. I'd love to see these movies one day. Maybe we can schedule a cultural exchange between our vaults sometimes, and you can show me your movies."

If I hadn't known better, the Overseer was flirting with me.

"Ma'am, perhaps it is best to continue with the matter at hand. Repairing our generators to full capacity is of the utmost importance."

Old Rusty, the Mister Handy, who was with the welcoming party at the entrance, cut into our conversation. It was probably for the best, as even though I would enjoy getting to know the mature beauty better, I was making up our backstory. Sooner or later, the razor-sharp Overseer would catch on that something wasn't quite right. 

Being reminded of why I was here, Gwen took on an air of professionalism, and she was all business.

"Of course. We need to get back on track. Sorry Calvin couldn't be here; he's our head of maintenance. He's been swamped with other issues. But Old Rusty here will fill you in on anything you need to know; he's been running the generators since we first closed the vault doors."

And boy, did Old Rusty look his age. The Mister Handy was missing one of his eye stocks, and there wasn't a single body panel left, leaving his inner workings wholly exposed to the elements.

"Right. Those fusion cores you brought us will help take the load off the generators, but they won't last forever."

"What's the problem?"

"It's the alternator, you see. The service life has been shorter than expected, and we are running out of parts. We only have a few rotor shafts left; without those, the rotor and stator can't generate the alternating current. But that's not even the worst part! We've entirely run out of slip-ring end bearings. We've been breaking apart and refurbishing old bearings, but that will only last us so long."

I nodded along, pretending I knew what the robot was talking about. Hindsight is 20/20, and I probably should have brought Isabelle instead of Tanya.

"Of course. It shouldn't be a problem at all. We packed everything we needed with our robots."

"Wonderful! Ma'am, If I may, I would like to bring Basil and his friends to our generator room post haste."

"Go ahead. Make sure that our guests have everything they need. Basil, your food and housing during your stay have already been taken care of. The Combes should have any supplies you need, while the Summersets will cook you a meal when you are hungry. It's the least we can do."

The three of us took that as our cue and stood up together.

"Thank you, Gwen. I'll keep you posted on the situation."

Tanya, Cait, and I followed Old Rusty through the vault after we commanded a couple of scrapbots to follow us. We soon found ourselves in the generator room. It was immediately apparent upon walking in that the place wasn't kept as pristine as most of the rest of the vault. There were shelves and crates haphazardly thrown everywhere. Dirt and grime had been accruing on the floor and walls. Combined with the dim lighting, the place seemed straight-up decrepit.

"Horribly sorry for the mess. But it's just been me and young Bobby who's been running the place. We just don't have the time to maintain the generators and keep the place clean at the same time."

"Not a problem, Rusty."

Alright, here it goes. 

"Can you give us one moment, Old Rusty? I need to activate the repair protocol on the bots we brought."

"Of course, Sir."

I then approached the two Scrapbots with us, which had their usual armaments removed for a series of tools, and gave it a series of verbal commands Isabelle had told me.

"Initiate Repair Protocol. Set diagnosis target as Vault-Tec Reactor."

The robots took a second as the vocal recognition software parsed the command. Eventually, the robots straightened up before wordlessly turning toward the reactors and circling to scan them.

The 'repair protocol' was something Isabelle cooked up that should be able to autonomously diagnose a mechanical design and fix whatever was wrong with the machinery. The plan is to ask whoever from Vault 81 is with us to look for a spare part we happen to have 'forgotten' to bring along. While it's just us inside the generator room, we just happen to 'stumble upon' the hidden access tunnel to the observation wing of Vault 81.

We'd then tell the Overseer that we saw a Mole Rat running around and needed to clear the place. Ideally, Vault 81 security would guard the entrance while Tanya, Cait, and I ventured into the observation wing. If McNamara or the Chief of Security insisted, we just had to be slower and ensure no one got bitten by mole rats. We'd clear the place out of all the mole rats and other dangerous critters before grabbing Curie.

We'd then leave with the modified Miss Nanny and the universal cure, inform everyone of what happened, close the area off, Isabelle fixes the generators, and bing bang boom, local heroes. And right on cue, the robots have found what's wrong with the reactor.

"Diagnosis complete. Rotor electromagnets, bearings, and shaft need replacement. Stator coating coils are insufficiently coated. Chances of shorts and corrosion are expected at 153% of standard rates."

"Why, of course! Why didn't I think the coatings were the reason they were failing so quickly? Vault-Tec must have delivered a bad batch, and no one caught on before the bombs dropped."

Knowing Vault-Tec, it was doubtful that it was a 'bad batch' and not planned.

"Error. Repair requires 1-inch diameter grade 9 hex bolts. Current kit only includes Grade 5."

And just like planned, the Scrapbot then announces something we need.

"Damn it, I knew we were missing something. Old Rusty, can I bother you to see if you can find some Grade 9 1-inch bolts?"

"No bother at all, Sir! I'll immediately requisition the necessary fasteners."

The Mister Handy floated out of the room, leaving Tanya, me, and Cait all alone.

"Alright, girls, start looking for that hidden entrance."

As Tanya waltzed past me, she patted me on my ass in a playful manner.

"Maybe you can look for my hidden entrance after all this is done?"

Ciat blushed and nervously shuffled around, not knowing what to do. Giving Tanya a disapproving stare, the woman simply shrugged before running off and looking around.

"Just ignore her."

The three of us spread out to look for any signs of the false panel. It didn't take long before one of us came up with something.

*THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUNK*

When Cait banged on one of the panels underneath the stairs, a hollow-sounding knock was distinctively different from the others. We looked at each other before Tanya, and I gathered where Cait was. Cait's fingers searched along the panel's edges before she dug her fingers in and pried. There was a creak, and the panel gave and was pulled out slightly. 

When the panel got jostled free, a motor activated, and the panel jerked. Cait quickly stepped back, just in time to see the motors overcome the centuries of dirt and rust, sliding the panel up to reveal a hidden Vault-Tex door.

I couldn't help but let a grin show on my face.

"Jackpot."

*Skitter*

As I said that, I heard some noise, like tiny claws quickly running over the hard floor from the other side of the Vault-Tec door. None of us, including the mole rat, expected to see anything on the other side of the door when it opened on its own. This mole rat was somehow even more malformed than its regular counterparts. Its limbs were crooked, and bulbous growths were all over its body. Humans and wildlife stared at each other briefly, both sides not entirely understanding what had just happened.

The beast was the first to react, its fight or flight instinct coming through and choosing fight. Probably because I was the closest to the little bastard, it targeted me and leaped toward my position. Before I could react, Cait's boot flew through and kicked the mole rat right in the side, changing its trajectory and slamming it into the wall.

None of us had weapons since vault security had us check them in, and I couldn't just pull a shotgun out of my inventory since that would blow my cover with Cait. I knew I should have kept a pistol on me.

Thinking on my feet, I looked around, grabbed a nearby wrench, and rushed up to the mole rat before it could regain its bearings. Then, I started savagely wacking the thing on its head. Blood sprayed everywhere as I caved the mole rat's head in, only stopping when I saw even the jerking of its legs stop.

Having killed the mole rat and not seeing any more come out, I backed away from the door and closed it.

"Thanks, Cait. Without my power armor, that thing could have really hurt me. You alright?"

The redhead nodded. I sighed and wiped some sweat off my forehead, thankful she wasn't bitten by one of those diseased rats. But something wasn't quite right. My sweat was red, and that's when I realized that the mole rat's blood must have sprayed onto me. Shit! Is getting in contact with the fluid enough to contract the disease?

I quickly pulled up my interface to check my stats. When I saw no adverse effects on me, I exited and again let out a sigh of relief. Right then, Old Rusty came back and floated down the stairs. Not expecting us to be underneath the stairs, the Mister Handy took a second before he found us.

"Ah! There you are. Sir and Ma'ams, I have returned with the bolts you reques- What is that door? And Sir, why is there blood all over your face?"

A Few Hours Later

"So let me get this right. You found a hidden entrance while looking for wiring. That hidden entrance leads to a secret part of Vault 81. And in that secret part of Vault 81, mole rats are malformed mole rats. Did I get that right?"

We were back in Gwen's office after Old Rusty was kind enough to lead me to a restroom where I could clean myself of mole rat gunk.

"Pretty much. I don't know what was wrong with that mole rat, but you saw the corpse. It couldn't have been good."

"*Sigh* I really don't have the time for this right now."

Admittedly, an actual mole rat showing up instead of us just telling them one showed up was outside of what I planned, but if anything, it worked better. Now, they had proof of a potential threat to the vault from within and had to plan around it.

I watched as Gwen massaged her temples, probably thinking about the whole situation. The vault's generators were breaking down, and everyone was busy patching the holes in other parts of the facility. Being the excellent administrator she was, Gwen recognized that she was stretched thin and might have to sacrifice something else in the vault to fix this immediately threatening problem.

I felt terrible putting Gwen in this position; she was overworked, but this was for the best, right? I mean, this was going to be a problem sooner or later. It's better I deal with it for her now than have some poor boy get bitten in the future. We'll be fixing the generators, too, which will take care of the most significant long-term threat to the vault's continued existence. I don't like manipulating her, but it had to be done.

"Look, this is partially our fault, so how about you let us deal with it?"

My offer got Gwen's attention, and she stopped rubbing her eyes to look at me. Seeing her roll her hand in the universal 'continue' motion, I laid out my offer.

"You're already short on manpower, so let us help. We'll determine the purpose of the hidden area and eliminate any possible threats."

"Really? That'd be great! Thank you sooooo much. I'll owe you one."

The Overseer lept out of her seat and hugged me while I was still sitting. She pulled my face into her soft bosom like an older woman would hug a cute young kid. 

I'll admit, I might have enjoyed the impromptu motorboat a little too much. Tanya nudged me when she saw I wouldn't voluntarily separate from the mature enchantress. With my head out of the clouds, the three of us got geared up for war before returning to the generator room's secret entrance.