Vault 69/Nexus-Intro

You wake up after your first night in Vault 69. Things yesterday were pretty intense. It's hard to imagine that you'll never see your dad again. It's best not to dwell on the past you suppose. On to the future then.

You wake up and get out of bed. The room is rather spartan. You didn't pay it much attention when you went to sleep. Yours was one of two bunk beds in the room, allowing for four people to sleep. There is a dresser at the head of each bunk bed, and a desk at the foot of each one. Above the dresser, in the wall, is a mirror. The dressers have two sets of drawers, side by side and four high. You wonder which side is yours. Luckily, you don't need to know right now as a new vault suit awaits you on top of the dresser by your bed.

You pick up the vault suit, and head toward the well-marked bathroom. You notice the wall clock, that is actually in the wall, as you do. It's already after ten. Your mom must have let you sleep in because of all of the stuff that went down yesterday. That was nice of her. You enter the bathroom, half expecting to get yelled at to get out; but it seems you have it all to yourself. There appears to be two areas, one with a pair of bathroom stalls and a pair of sinks, and a room further in with two shower stalls and a bench in the middle. You find a shower stall ready for you with a towel, washcloth, soap, and shampoo all ready. You set your vault suit on the bench outside, and seeing what you take to be a hamper, you divest yourself of your underwear. You quickly shower, and put on the fresh vault suit, which thankfully comes with fresh underwear. You brush your teeth and comb your hair at the sinks outside, and are ready for the day.

You leave the bathroom, go through the bedroom into what appears to be a sparse living room / kitchenette. The single room seems to serve both purposes, but there isn't much to either. The living room area is defined by a television and a sofa with two end tables and a coffee table between the sofa and TV. The kitchenette is at one end of the room, behind the sofa, and consists of a small counter with a sink, a stove, a miniature refrigerator, and a small table with four chairs. Your bedroom opens to one side of the kitchenette, and there is another room on the other side. By it's orientation, you assume it to be the master bedroom, and assume also that it adjoins the bathroom you were recently in. On the far side of the room, next to the TV is what you assume to be the door out.

Having oriented yourself, you notice a note on the coffee table. You walk over and pick it up. It reads:

Tay,

I let you sleep in. There's no school today, but we're trying to get all the kids oriented so we can start school up as soon as possible. Remember our berth number. It is 22, that isn't that hard right? Feel free to roam the vault, but be back by lunch. I will be in morning meetings until then. It turns out I am the Security Chief. Did I already tell you that? Well it's a big promotion. I'll see you at lunch.

Love,

Mom.

Well, that didn't leave a whole lot of time to explore, but a little time was better than none. You head for the door to look around. As you exit the quarters, or berth, or whatever you want to call it, an assultron suddenly steps in front of you. It's very feminine appearance when compared to most robots is at once appealing to you, but also makes you uncomfortable in your pants.

"Mister Willis," says the assaultron in a mechanical feminine voice that isn't entirely unpleasant, "you will come with me." It wasn't posed as a question, and you seem to recall that obeying the assaultrons is kind of a requirement of the vault. Also, she is rather scary.

"Umm, okay," you say sheepishly.

The assaultron leads you through the vault without pausing for you to take in the sights. People seem to be wandering around, getting their bearings for the most part. Everyone is in vault suits, but some of them have lab coats, some of them have armor, and some of them have toolbelts. It's all very surreal, compounded by the fact that they are all women. The assaultron takes you to the elevator, and waits for you inside. You enter and the elevator begins to ascend without either of you touching the controls. The assaultron much have remote access to the elevator systems. That would be handy for security purposes.

The assaultron gets out on the first floor. This is the very top of the vault which contains the decontamination and orientation rooms you were in yesterday as well as the vault door and Auxiliary Command and Control. It is to the latter that the assaultron leads you. She opens the door to reveal a small reception room with a secretary at the desk. You recognize her immediately. It's your Aunt Evelyn!

"Aunt Evelyn," you say, "what's going on?"

"I don't really know," she says, "these machines rounded up a bunch of us and brought us up here. I knew I was being assigned as an assistant, but apparently this is my desk, and Auxiliary Command is going to be the new Overseer's office since the one in the Nexus was destroyed. I guess I'm the Overseer's personal assistant."

"That's great," you say, "but what is going on?"

"They have everyone in the conference room. They have-"

"Enough social banter," says the assaultron. "This way, Mister Willis."

You shrug at your aunt as you are guided toward the conference room. Opening the door, you see the back of another assaultron. It steps out of the way to allow your entrance, then steps in front of the door again.

"-tired of waiting for this damn Overseer," continues your mom before she registers your presence. "Why can't they just wake her - Oh Tay, what are you doing here?"

"Silence," says the new assaultron, "duty 001 to commence. Mister Willis, by the authority of Vault-Tec, it is my duty to inform you that you will be taking the office of Overseer effective immediately." Then a small fanfare plays from its speaker.

The room is dead silent as everyone tries to comprehend what is going on. You take a look around. There are placards at each chair. The far chair is empty, and has a placard with the name Mr. Willis - Overseer on it. It was probably for your father, but somehow . . . To the right of that seat (left as you face it) is the placard Chief Willis - Security, where your mom is seated, of course. To the left of the chair (right as you face it) is the placard Dr. Charbonneau - Psychiatry. Alternating right to left thereafter is: Chief Killian - Engineering, Dr. Romero - Medical, Dr. Whitney - Hydroponics, and Chief Runningdeer - Animal Husbandry.

"There must be some kind of mistake," says your mother. You could have guessed that she would be the first to speak. "This is my son. My husband . . . my husband is trapped in Vault 68."

"Directive 001 is to instill Mister Willis as Overseer. Is this Taylor Lynn Willis?"

"Yes, but yesterday you thought he was a girl!"

"I umm," says Doctor Romero, "I corrected his records last night."

"Well that's just peachy!" exclaims your mom.

"I was doing my job. Maybe you can do yours and get someone from Cyber Security to fix this damn machine!"

"I have not met my staff! Who would I call? Also, from what I've read about security's authority over assaultrons, it stop short of Overseer Directives and Vault-Tec Directives. No one, even the Overseer can override Vault-Tec Directives . . . in their infinite wisdom."

"Well," says Doctor Romero as she sizes you up, "maybe it isn't a bad thing. He might be able to be Overseer."

"Do you hear what you're saying? He's ten years old."

"I was ten years old when I went to university," says Doctor Charbonneau in her lovely French accent. "But I agree, he is not yet mature enough for this position."

"A vote of confidence can be convened by the council to depose an acting Overseer," says the assaultron. "In the event of a unanimous vote of the council members present, the Overseer can be terminated."

"Well, there we go then," says your mom. "We can vote him out and he can go back to being a child."

"One moment," says Doctor Charbonneau, "you say terminated? This has two meanings in English, oui? Which do you refer?"

"Overseer is a lifetime appointment. To assign a new Overseer, the current Overseer must be terminated."

Your mother turns white as a ghost. "Who made these damn rules?"

"Vault-Tec created these rules with your safety in mind," replies the assaultron. "Your statement is a minor violation of the Faith and Security clause and is being reported to security." At which point her Pip-Boy immediately chimes.

Looking at the device your mother shakes her head. "The robot just reported me . . . to myself."

"Well, there is no other way it seems," says Doctor Charbonneau, "Taylor is our Overseer for good or ill. It is up to us to help him make good decisions, no?"

"This is all well and good," says the Native American Chief Rancher, "but can we address this racist placard?" She holds up the placard that reads Chief Runningdeer - Animal Husbandry. "Just because I'm Native American doesn't make me a chief!" Her easy smile quickly brings tension-relieving laughter to the room.

"Well then Overseer," says Doctor Charbonneau as she holds your seat for you, "What business shall we attend to first?"

What business shall we attend to first?

• Get the introductions out of the way.
• What is the state of the vault?
• We need to address the population issue.