Overseer: Vault 18 (Fallout)

[Pyritr]

You couldn't bring yourself to sit in the chair right away.

It was just overwhelming you to finally be here. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that your entire life has led up to this. Ever since the last overseer was chosen, back when you were nine years old, it became your overriding goal to replace him.

Life in vault 18 came at a fast pace. There were two categories of kids growing up in the vault: the ambitious, and everyone else. You were in the former category. You stayed on top of your schoolwork, did all the extra assignments and volunteer work that everyone knew was mandatory to be competitive in this position, and finally, when you completed the GOAT, the teacher read out the result you'd staked all your efforts on.

"...most qualified for the position of Overseer. And let me be the first to say Congratulations, sir!"

That happened almost a year ago. Overseer Burdack hadn't exactly stepped down the moment the results had come in. In Vault 18, the rule was clear: a term of office, whether for waste management supervisor or Overseer, was ten years. After that, the old had to make way for new blood, appointed from the most qualified of recent graduates as assessed primarily by the results of the GOAT.

You were only 18 years old, but you'd spent most of them preparing for this. And now, as you're about to assume the job you've worked so hard for, you can barely calm down enough to focus on the present.

You're ready, you told yourself. The old Overseer just shook your hand as he left the office. It was your time.

You walked around the circular desk, pulled the chair out, and took a seat, letting it swivel you back into position in front of the primary command monitor of Vault 18. Reaching forward, your fingers danced over the keys, logging in for the first time.

A video in the classic Vault Boy style started up. It showed Vault boy, sitting behind a cartoon version of the overseer's desk, looking forward with a smile.

"Greetings new Overseer, and welcome!" came the deep, resonant voice of The Narrator over the terminal's speakers. You were very familiar with that voice, from dozens of educational videos you'd watched throughout your childhood.

"If you're here now, it means you've been selected to lead your vault into the future for the next decade! Do you feel a stirring in your chest as you think of the course on which you're about to embark? That feeling is pride, that all your hard work has finally paid off. You're a very bright boy, but now is no time for you to rest on your laurels!"

The scene shifted to one of Vault Boy holding up his classic thumbs up in front of a crowd of his fellow (and mostly identical) vault dwellers.

"Your Vault, your home, is depending on you to thrive, and on your vision to lead them into the future. A future, as you know, that will be led by the young."

A clock faded in, ticking backward, and then faded out leaving you looking at a pair of old men with wispy white hair. One wore a pressed suit and the other in a military uniform, and they both stood over a red button on a pedestal between them.

"The world before total atomic annihilation was run by old men, and we all know how that turned out."

As you watched, the two elders representing the leaders of the old world pressed their fingers down onto the button simultaneously. Through a window behind them you saw a missile flying off into the sky, and then another one flew back over the horizon. The two had just enough time to turn and look shocked at the consequences of their action before the missile hit them and the scene erupted into a mushroom cloud.

When the smoke cleared, all that was left was a metal vault door set into the side of a cliff. The door rolled open, revealing an array of vault dwellers with an assortment of outfits and tools.

"Each of us has an important role to play. For some people, that involves healing the sick. For others, it means growing food, or maintaining the vital machines that make vault life possible."

Another transition brought Vault Boy back behind the overseer's desk, with all the different dwellers arrayed behind him.

"But you have a special calling, perhaps the highest calling of all: to coordinate all the others into a cohesive whole. Because after all the rebuilding of our great nation may fall… to you."

The video cut out, and the overseer's interface flickered into place.

Welcome to ROBCO Industries (TM) Termlink Clearance: Overseer Eyes Only Date: December 29th, 2249 Population: 246 Retirements Pending: 0 Departments: 1: Maintenance; 2: Water Purification, 3: Waste Management; 4: Power systems 5: Security 6: Hydroponics 7: Distribution 8: Morale & Education 9: Health & Life Support 10: Manufacturing;

You checked each of the departments and saw that basically all of your department heads have sent you congratulatory messages. Everyone except the head of maintenance. Huh.

You recognized about half of them from school; they weren't all your age, but class sizes in a vault are rather small.

Tabbing through the department sections, you looked over some of the most recent reports from each department. The ones from Water Purification were rather sparse, while the heads of Security, Hydroponics, and Waste Management have all requested a private meeting with you.

After taking in the situation, you leaned back and started to plan out your day.

What actions do you want to take today? (Choose 4)

[ ] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions).
[ ] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads. (write in which)
[ ] Read through the backlog of reports from one department. (write in which)
[ ] Consult with the previous overseer (Will mean swallowing your pride a bit)
[ ] Walk around, try to get the sense of the vault community.
[ ] Write in a suggestion.

Also, Choose two Perks

[ ] Action Boy: One additional action per time segment.
[ ] Empathy: Get extra insight into what other characters are really feeling and intending.
[ ] Scrounger: Extra resources randomly show up every turn.
[ ] Presence: Significant bonus to getting NPCs you focus on to do what you say.
[ ] Smooth Talker: Once per day, turn a basic dialogue failure into a basic success.
[ ] Cautious Nature: Always get forewarning or advantage of some precaution when dealing with random encounters.

(A note on voting: Everyone gets as many votes as the number of things you get to choose, I will tally up all votes at the end and whichever ones are most popular get in.)

 

[Pyritr]

Saved for future use

 

[MizMahem]

What actions do you want to take today? (Choose 4)
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Security
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Hydroponics
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Waste Management
[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department: Water Purification

Also, Choose two Perks
[x] Empathy: Get extra insight into what other characters are really feeling and intending.
[x] Smooth Talker: Once per day, turn a basic dialogue failure into a basic success.

 

[Ragura]

What actions do you want to take today? (Choose 4)
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Security
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Hydroponics
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Waste Management
[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department: Water Purification

Also, Choose two Perks
[X] Action Boy: One additional action per time segment.
[X] Smooth Talker: Once per day, turn a basic dialogue failure into a basic success.

 

[MarksGGEZ]

What actions do you want to take today? (Choose 4)
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Security
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Hydroponics
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Waste Management
[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department: Water Purification

Also, Choose two Perks
[x] Empathy: Get extra insight into what other characters are really feeling and intending.
[x] Smooth Talker: Once per day, turn a basic dialogue failure into a basic success.

 

[Andy_ARBS]

[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Security
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Waste Management
[x] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions)

[x] Empathy: Get extra insight into what other characters are really feeling and intending.
[x] Action Boy: One additional action per time segment.

 

[mrttao]

[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Security
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Hydroponics
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Waste Management
[x] Consult with the previous overseer (Will mean swallowing your pride a bit)
[x] Empathy: Get extra insight into what other characters are really feeling and intending.
[x] Smooth Talker: Once per day, turn a basic dialogue failure into a basic success.

 

[Erzherzog_Charles]

What actions do you want to take today? (Choose 4)
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Security
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Hydroponics
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Waste Management
[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department: Water Purification

Also, Choose two Perks
[X] Action Boy: One additional action per time segment.
[X] Smooth Talker: Once per day, turn a basic dialogue failure into a basic success.

 

[Exiledparia]

[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Security
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Hydroponics
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Waste Management
[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department: Water Purification
[x] Empathy: Get extra insight into what other characters are really feeling and intending.
[X] Action Boy: One additional action per time segment.
​

 

[Asmalar]

What actions do you want to take today? (Choose 4)
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Security
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Hydroponics
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Waste Management
[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department: Water Purification
Also, Choose two Perks
[X] Action Boy: One additional action per time segment.
[X] Smooth Talker: Once per day, turn a basic dialogue failure into a basic success.

 

[Pyritr]

I'm loving the participation! I'll go ahead and call that voting will close on Monday at 1 PM pacific, but it seems pretty clear what the schedule will be. I expect to release another chapter next week.

 

[drake_azathoth]

What actions do you want to take today? (Choose 4)
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Security
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Hydroponics
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Waste Management
[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department: Water Purification
Also, Choose two Perks
[X] Action Boy: One additional action per time segment.
[X] Smooth Talker: Once per day, turn a basic dialogue failure into a basic success.

Extra actions are amazing. As are automatically successful checks.

 

[Pyritr]

Voting closed:

Spoiler: 9 Votes (Unanimous)

[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Security
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Waste Management

Spoiler: 8 Votes

[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Hydroponics

Spoiler: 7 Votes

[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department: Water Purification

Spoiler: 1 Vote

[x] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions)
[x] Consult with the previous overseer (Will mean swallowing your pride a bit)

And Perks:

Spoiler: 7 Votes

[x] Smooth Talker: Once per day, turn a basic dialogue failure into a basic success.

Spoiler: 6 Votes

[x] Action Boy: One additional action per time segment.

Spoiler: 5 Votes

[x] Empathy: Get extra insight into what other characters are really feeling and intending.

Final Schedule is:

[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Security
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Hydroponics
[x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads: Waste Management
[x] Read through the backlog of reports from one department: Water Purification

Final Perks are:
[x] Action Boy: One additional action per time segment.
[x] Smooth Talker: Once per day, turn a basic dialogue failure into a basic success.

Edit: Rolls. I'm still working on this one, it may be a few more days.

Spoiler: Rolls

Social Rolls against Persuade at 65%
[dice]16536[/dice]
Success!
[dice]16537[/dice]
Success!
[dice]16538[/dice]
Failure Success! (Smooth Talker)
Research roll against Science at 40%
[dice]16539[/dice]
Failure!

 

[Pyritr]

((sorry for the long delay, but finally here's the continuation. In the future I should probably post one event at a time to keep momentum going.

Note: I've made some slight edits to the department names in the first post.))

If some of your department heads had urgent business to discuss with you, you figured it'd be best not to keep them waiting. To that end, you sent out a quick reply to each of them, asking them to schedule a time to come by and chat.

While you waited for them to fill up your schedule, you started digging into the reports from the water purification department. Every other department had been filing multiple reports every day, while these guys had barely written one per week. You were sure something was up with that, but you figured it best to do some research on the matter before confronting Fred about it.

As you worked your way back through the reports, taking notes on the few statistics they bothered to keep track of, your terminal beeped softly to indicate that new messages have arrived.

'Would 3:30 PM work? I think we should be done with the clog in Residential block 3F by then.' -WM Chief Bauman

'I'll be by around 2:00 PM.' - Security Chief Totra

'I'll head over now, be there in about five minutes.' - Hydroponics chief Hendee

You'd just finished tabbing through them when you heard the distinctive hiss of the door to the Overseer's office sliding up.

"Hey boss, how's your first day so far?" David Hendee asked as he strode into the room, carrying an aluminum tray in both hands.

You knew Dave well enough; it was impossible to avoid knowing basically everyone in your age group in the vault. He'd been the 'cool' upperclassman, and while your rigorous schedule didn't leave much time for partying, everyone knew that Dave was the source for vault-distilled booze and other recreational substances. It kinda surprised you when you found out he'd replaced the Hydroponics chief; apparently he'd had time for studying between all the parties he was involved with.

Walking over to your desk, he set the tray down and you got a look at what he'd brought you: it was a small, square baking tray of rich chocolate brownies.

"Thought you could use a little something to get you through your stressful first day, boss man. The ingredients are from the cream of the crop." He waved a hand over the tray. "Go ahead, try one."

This whole thing had put you off balance, but you couldn't completely stifle the impulse to just reach for one of the neat brown squares. Treats like this were rare in the vault, usually reserved for special occasions like birthdays and retirement parties. It wasn't until the crumbly morsel was under your nose, and the smell hit you, that you stopped.

That wasn't the smell of chocolate, or at least, not just chocolate. The scent rattled around in your brain until it connected with a memory; one of the few times you had gone to a party with Dave. There'd been a plate of cookies up for grabs, and everyone had one. You'd had more than one, despite the odd smell. It was only after you'd started to feel the effects that Dave had explained what was in them.

You blinked, and set the brownie back in the tray. "Dave… are these Reefer brownies?" you asked.

A knowing grin stole its way onto his face. "Oh yeah, only the best for the overseer, too. Don't you want to try one?"

You slid the tray off of your desk and carefully place it in a drawer. "Maybe later." Looking back up at him, you blink. "Dave… how much Reefer are you growing in my vault?"

Seeing that he wasn't getting quite the reaction he hoped for, Dave shrank back a bit. "It's just a half-dozen or so plants, man. The vault produces more than enough food, so we have the space in the grow-rooms. People need a little help to relax sometimes." He sank down into the chair opposite your desk, watching your face with an anxious expression.

You weren't immediately sure how you felt about this. Vault regulations were pretty clear that this stuff should be considered contraband, but having tried it before yourself, despite being incapacitated with giggles and demolishing a box of sugar bombs, you hadn't noticed anything really wrong with the experience.

Still… "I haven't seen this available at the commissary. How are you distributing it, exactly?"

Dave shrugged. "I used to be involved in that part. That's how I got in with the old Hydroponics chief; he took me under his wing and taught me how to pass the test. I pass the stuff to a few popular kids and a few people in Morale to hand out. Once they know what it's like, people will trade favors and stuff for it. And as Overseer, you always get the cream of the harvest."

New Resource: Reefer Your hydroponics department produces a small amount of the chem Reefer. A mild psychoactive that alters mood and relieves stress. New Resource: Abundant Food Your hydroponics department grows more than enough food to keep your vault fed, and you have a sizable stockpile of dry foodstuffs. You also have the facilities to manufacture some old world food. New Complication: Contraband Booze, Reefer, and who knows what else can be found in your vault. People might cause significant trouble to get ahold of these things.

After Dave wrapped up and returned to his post, you were left along with your thoughts, and the lingering smell of the brownies he had given you. The management of 'contraband' hadn't really been a part of your training, other than the general understanding that it should be handled by Security.

While Dave was talking, it occured to you that not only were those plants of his under your purview, but so was every jury-rigged still in the vault. The Med-X supply, too; you knew that somehow people got ahold of the stuff when they weren't technically supposed to, and now it was up to you whether to just let that keep happening or to institute some kind of crackdown.

Things in the vault seemed stable enough, but you resolved to look into this issue more carefully soon.

While you were still deep in thought about that, a voice came over the intercom to your office. "Security Chief Totra here to see you, Overseer."

You recognized the voice as that of Officer Hyland, who you remembered greeting you on your first visit to the Overseer's office a year ago, and again just a few hours ago when you took the office as your own. He was basically your receptionist, though it was also his job to screen people who came through, and make sure that they behaved themselves.

It occured to you that the woman he'd just announced was technically his boss. And it also occurred to you that he never announced Dave.

"Uh… Sir?"

You shook the distracting thoughts out of your head and reach forward to press the flashing intercom button on your desk.

"Sorry, had to figure out how to answer this thing," You lied. "Go ahead and send her in."

The door hissed, and your security chief sauntered in like she owned the place, tossing a confident smirk your way as she approached your desk.

Totra had been security chief about as long as you'd really been aware of the position, so you don't particularly remember her from school.

She had a long mane of striking deep red hair, which she had abandoned the typical helmet in order to show off. She wore her vault security armor with a comfortable familiarity.

The security chief turned the chair across from your desk around so the back faced you, and sat on it with one leg on either side, leaning over to look you in the eyes. "Enjoying your first day in the hotseat, Sir?"

You quickly recovered from her complete disregard for your usual expectations for how these meetings should go, and answered "It's definitely been interesting. The reality isn't quite the same as what we were trained for, is it?"

"You mean a bunch of old geezers who were born more than 200 years ago and never lived in a vault might have had some dumb ideas about how we should be running things? I'd say 'don't let the overseer hear you say that', but the space between your mouth and your ears isn't that long."

You chuckled at her joke before you had a chance to think about it, but once you did you realized that it was probably the right move. You would be working pretty closely with Security, given that sentences for rule violations come from the Office of the Overseer, and it would be best to start out on a familiar footing.

"So what's different on your end?" you asked, leaning back in your chair a little.

She rolled her eyes. "The vids made it seem like we'd be dealing with thieves and riots and murders all the time. The real job's a lot less exciting; everyone knows everyone, everyone knows we've got cameras everywhere, and everyone knows that they can't just 'skip town', like in the old days. I hardly ever make my people carry their pistols except when there's a retirement coming up. Though, speaking of which…"

You winced a little. "There's one coming up soon, isn't there?"

She nodded, the look in her eyes hardening a bit. "Maintenance is having a party for old Nick Hesting today. 45th birthday party. He should show up on your terminal tomorrow."

"I assume security is keeping an eye on the proceedings?" you asked.

She nodded knowingly. "I've learned to keep the schedule a bit light so that it's not too much of a strain when I need to get a bunch of guys to work a double. Half the time, nothing happens, but the other half… well, people go crazy sometimes when they feel like they have nothing to lose. It's the main reason I asked for this meeting, to make sure it didn't take you by surprise if we have to lay down the law tomorrow."

New Resource: Disciplined Professional Security Your security force is well-trained and well-equipped, ready to handle any civil disturbance with all necessary force New Complication: Retirement Retirement age in Vault 18 is 45 years. Most people try not to think about it, and really, can you blame them?

The rest of your meeting with Nichole was spent going over some details of how the security force was structured and what would be expected of you when they brought someone in. When you asked whether anyone was in the holding cells, she waved it off saying "Just one old troublemaker," though you got the sense that there was something more to that she didn't want to talk about. You think that maybe you'll look into that further later on.

Your mind went back to the tray of brownies in your desk drawer, and it flashed through your mind that you were technically in possession of contraband while having a conversation with the security chief.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, leaning a bit closer.

"Have you had any issues with Dave?" you answered her question with a question, instinctively deflecting to something related to your sudden (probably unfounded, you were her boss after all) nervousness.

"Dave?" She blinked. "Ah… one of my officers?"

"I'm talking about the Hydroponics chief."

Her eyes widened a bit as the puzzle pieces suddenly connected. "Oh… You're talking about his little side business."

You nodded, and she shrugged.

"No one has really cared about Reefer for years." She waved a hand dismissively. "Decades, really. Dave doesn't grow enough of it to impact people getting their work done, and it doesn't cause nearly as many social disturbances as booze. It's still contraband, so sometimes we got someone who needs to go down for something and that's what we've got on them, and sometimes the threat of an officer taking their stash is enough of a punishment to keep people in line. People trade the stuff all the time, it's practically a currency down here. And personally, as long as they don't try to smoke it, I don't care. We all have to breathe the same air."

New Complication: Underground Economy Commerce... finds a way. In the absence of a more stable currency, vault dwellers hoard Reefer, Booze, and other high value items, and trade them for goods and services. This means that a significant portion of your vault's activity is not under your control.

You had devolved into listening to some of Nichole's war stories as security chief when the intercom sounded.

"Sir, Waste Management chief Bauman is here to see you," came the officer's voice over the speakers.

"I suppose that's my cue to exit stage left," Nichole said, standing up and flipping her chair more-or-less forward again.

You pressed the button. "Go ahead and send him in, the Security Chief was just leaving," you answer your receptionist/guard, nodding to Nicole.

The door slid open and Chief Bauman strode in, with a deeply sour expression on his face. You'd gone to school with Greg, though you'd had less in common once you'd gotten onto the leadership track and he'd ended up in mechanical last year.

Nichole caught his eye before he got too far, and that stopped him in his tracks. "Take it easy, Bauman. It's his first day."

The man let out a hard breath, with what almost sounded like a growl behind it. "...fine," he grumbled, looking a bit deflated.

"Good." Nichole flashed a winning smile to both of you, but you were left with the impression that she was also baring her teeth. "See you boys around."

She left, and an awkward silence was left in her wake. Finally, you broke it. "Come on and have a seat, Greg. It's clear your upset about something, and the nice thing about this being my first day is that I can definitely say whatever it is isn't my fault."

That seemed to catch him off balance. He'd just twisted his face into an expression that told you he was about to launch into some kind of rehearsed speech, and suddenly what he'd meant to say didn't apply anymore.

He swallowed his words and considered you for a moment. Then he started again. "Alright, not yet at least. And if you listen to me, maybe you won't be responsible for the next cholera outbreak."

That made you shift uncomfortably in your seat. One of your history lessons had covered the events of fifty years ago, when an outbreak of disease had decimated the vault population.

"Ok, Greg," you said, shifting forward to look him in the eye. "I'm listening."

He took that as permission to launch into an extended griping session, seemingly without pausing for breath. He didn't have enough people, and critical jobs were waiting for spare parts to be fabricated. The waste management system was riddled with workarounds and jury rigged solutions, and half of it might fall apart at any moment.

Assuming that Greg wasn't exaggerating, it would be a good idea to reassign some people to waste management and to tell manufacturing to make their parts at priority. But resources in the vault weren't free; anything you gave to one department, you'd be taking from another.

New Complication: Neglected plumbing You live in a hole in the ground. If you don't do something about this situation, that could quickly turn into a literal shithole.

"That's enough," you let out a breath, holding your nose with two fingers. You felt a headache forming. "I can't make any promises yet, I don't know what resources we have. But I'd like you to write up a list of what you need, both the parts and the positions you need filled, and I'll see what I can shake loose for you. OK?"

Greg looked worn out, like he'd been running on anger since he'd come in, and now that you'd disarmed that he was running out of batteries. "I can put that together, Sir."

"Good." You nodded and offer him a weary smile. "Is there anything else?"

He shook his head as he got up. "No Sir… just… this is really important. I'm begging you to take this seriously."

You met his eyes, and hoped that you were conveying reassurance through your gaze. "I can promise you, I am."

And with that, your meetings were done for the day. You glanced through a few more pages of Water department reports, but failed to divine any important meaning out of what you read. Everything's fine with Water Purification, you're sure.

You figure you can focus and do one more significant thing today, but your department chiefs will be off the clock at this point. You decide to...

[ ] Read through the backlog of reports from one department. (write in which, not water)
[ ] Consult with the previous overseer (Will mean swallowing your pride a bit)
[ ] Walk around, try to get the sense of the vault community.
[ ] Drop in at Nick Hesting's birthday party

 

[MizMahem]

I really liked the update and I liked the way you presented the complications and stuff.

[x] Drop in at Nick Hesting's birthday party

 

[Andy_ARBS]

40 as retirement huh, interesting. Ket's see what the new club member says.

[X] Drop in at Nick Hesting's birthday party

 

[Pyritr]

Voting will close on Tuesday at 1 PM central, to give a bit more time for some additional votes to come in.

 

[Pyritr]

Voting is closed, with 2 votes for:

[X] Drop in at Nick Hesting's birthday party
[dice]16890[/dice] Critical Success! This should be interesting.

 

[liberty90]

40 as retirement huh, interesting.

Click to shrink...

Sounds like obvious euphemism for mandatory euthanasia.

Great Quest, by the way.

 

[Omni]

I get the feeling that "Retirement" is very much ala Logan's Run.....

I'm hoping it's not Euthanasia but instead an Exile beyond the Vault to explore and prepare for the eventual "All Clear" and Vault Exodus.

 

[Bla]

I get the feeling that "Retirement" is very much ala Logan's Run.....

I'm hoping it's not Euthanasia but instead an Exile beyond the Vault to explore and prepare for the eventual "All Clear" and Vault Exodus.

Click to shrink...

No its definitely Euthanasia. We cant open the Vault until we get the "all-clear" signal.

 

[Omni]

No its definitely Euthanasia. We cant open the Vault until we get the "all-clear" signal.

Click to shrink...

Fuck..... That is a messy thing we are going to have to deal with.....

 

[tellion]

Cannot wait until update!

Also I am just thrilled to know what "social experiment" that Vault-Tec gave us to deal with.

 

[Omni]

Cannot wait until update!

Also I am just thrilled to know what "social experiment" that Vault-Tec gave us to deal with.

Click to shrink...

The Social Experiment is Youth running things and the older generation getting euthanised from what I can tell.....

Of course there may be more to it than that.....

 

[prince84]

Looking good.

Pyritr Do you intend to thread mark the games posts? It makes it much easier to read and/or manage once the quest grows.

 

[Pyritr]

((Surprise update two years later! I was going through some shit! Now my leg's broke and there's a Coronavirus, so I found my way back to this. I have no idea if anyone wants this anymore, but here you go anyway!))

You'd decided it was time to stretch your legs a bit, and get a feel for the upcoming minor crisis. Locking down your terminal, you took a couple of quick notes on your pipboy and, just to make it easier to find your way, entered in a new 'quest'.

It had been a while since you'd made use of the 'quest' feature. It was useful when you were a kid and needed help navigating through the vault, but most adults had seen everything so many times they could walk through most areas of the vault in their sleep.

New Quest: THE RETIREMENT PARTY

There, now a marker showed that in order to reach your objective, you'd need to go through the door to your office. How useful.

Officer Hyland looked over as your door slid open behind him. "Done for the day, Sir?"

You shook your head. "I'm stopping by the birthday party in Maintenance."

He nodded, locking down his own terminal and pushing his seat back. "I'd better go with you then. Don't worry, I'll stay out of your way."

You strode through the corridors at a brisk pace. While the Overseers office looks out onto the atrium through a unique ovoid window, the actual entrance was accessed through security. It made sense, you suppose, if there were ever riots in the vault you would want to be well protected.

You pass a couple of security officers in the hall, and soon you find yourself in the wide-open atrium, passing under the window to your own office. The main dining area sits just off to the side, with a significant dinner rush coming in. You smiled and waved to a few people, feeling a deep internal awkwardness as you quickly moved on toward the stairs. Maintenance was three floors down.

Once you left the public area, the polished look of the vault gradually receded, and things began to look a bit more dilapidated. You'd always been somewhat aware that there just wasn't enough manpower to keep the entire vault looking like it did the day the bombs fell, and you'd always felt a vague sense of unease around the parts that had been allowed to decay.

The maintenance department was mostly composed of storage rooms for spare parts, and workshops where broken or malfunctioning things could be repaired or scrapped for parts. There were a lot of broken machines down here, seeming to have replaced the neat shelves as the source for spare parts.

"So where is this party exactly?" you asked Hyland as you reached an intersection.

The man gestured to the left. "Over here. They turned one of the old storage rooms into a sort of break room."

You glanced through the windows set into the metal vault doors as you were led through the corridor. The workshops were unmanned, which didn't surprise you, since maintenance work could be done at any time and most of the department would be attending the party. What did surprise you was how sparse some of the storage rooms looked. From the historical footage you'd seen, all these rooms were absolutely filled with supplies and spare parts when the vault was first put together.

It made sense that things were starting to run out after almost two hundred years; in fact, now that you thought about it, it was kind of surprising that your vault had managed this long.

"We're here," Hyland announced, stopping in front of a vault door. The sounds of conversation could barely be made out through it. The security officer reached for the panel by the door. "I'll go in first."

A wave of sound washed over you as the door opened, and it took you a moment for your ears to adjust. They had a broken jukebox, with it's dome removed and the robot arm that selects holotapes twitching and extending and contracting along with the beat. The song was one you recognized, but played louder and faster than you were ever used to hearing it.

Standard issue Happy Birthday balloons floated around the ceiling. Someone had set up a miniature bowling lane with party hats and a baseball.

The party had clearly wound down somewhat by the time you got there. Only a small wedge was left of the round birthday cake in the center of the table.

About a dozen vault dwellers, all wearing tool pouches alongside their standard issue vault suits, we're sitting around the pair of tables, about half of them slumped over. You got the impression from the empty drink cups that there'd been quite a few more of them when the party was in full swing.

A Mr. Handy robot hovered around, refilling a drink cup. On noticing that the other cups were still full, as the dwellers had already had about as much as they could stand, the machine rotated around and pointed It's single mechanical eye at you, its ocular filter rotating to bring you into focus.

"OH good evening, Overseer, and welcome to the party!" The robot had a drink cup and party hat dispenser strapped to his shoulder, and he deftty grabbed one of each with his metal claw and held them out toward you. "Would you care for the customary party accoutrements?"

You took the cup and hat, but a quick glance told you that no one else was wearing the hats. The robot's other arm was equipped with a hose leading to a tap, which it positioned over your cup, filling it with fruit punch.

By this point, you'd drawn the stares of nearly everyone in the room, including a few you'd assumed had passed out. Some had looks of confusion, and you quickly realized why: they were probably expecting Overseer Budack.

Not sure what else to do, you took a drink to stall for time, then raised your cup and smiled. "I heard there was a celebration, and thought I should come down and see how everyone was doing." You turn to Nick Hesting, giving him the best smile you can manage. He wore glasses over a thinning face that had begun to wrinkle at the cheeks, and wore a green baseball cap to cover his balding head.

"Happy birthday, Nick. And thank you for everything you've done for our vault over the years."
A moment of silence passed between everyone, as they digested that. You could feel the presence of Hyland over your shoulder, though you made an effort not to look at him.

Then Nick laughed, raising his own glass to you. "Fourty five good years in vault. Didn't even occur to me that there'd be a new overseer soon. Funny that the same day that's your first is my last, huh?"
You manage a half-hearted chuckle, and Nick waves for you to come closer. "Come on, Overseer, you're old enough for this now." He tilted the glass bottle of clear liquor on the table over into your cup, spiking your fruit punch with a generous helping.

"Now it's a party. Come have a seat."

With a shrug, you joined them. You kept your own drinking a little light, wanting to make sure you kept control of the situation while you listened to Nick enthusiastically pick up a conversation about an old maintenance war story, slowly dragging the others back into it.

A while later, Nick, standing up with a bit of a wobble, got you to try a few of the party games they'd been playing. You bowled for the party-hat pins, you played a round of cards, and you played a round of darts that the maintenance crew had filed from metal shavings, which he handily won. Then he went over and shook Allison awake.

Allison Levin, head of maintenance. You recognized her from the picture in the overseer's terminal as she blinked her bleary eyes back to wakefulness. "Wh-what?" she muttered, eyes focusing on him. "Ni-ick?"
"Sorry to wake you," Nick said, chuckling. "I know you need your sleep, but the new overseer is here, and I thought you should meet him."

He waved in your direction, and her eyes followed, slowly focusing on you. "New Overseer? Oh… oh right." She shook her head, trying to pull herself together. "S-sorry, you… you shouldn't see me like this, first time…"

She was clearly still quite drunk. By this point, you were a bit tipsy yourself. They distilled some strong stuff down in the vault. "It's OK," you reassure her. "I came to see Nick on his Birthday."

"Nick… fuck, right…" Allison staggered up to her feet. You and Nick both got ready to catch her, but you weren't quite ready for her to throw herself toward the old man, grabbing hold of him tightly. "Nick… Nick I'm gonna miss you so bad. What am I gonna do down here without you, Nick?"

The old man awkwardly patted her back. "You'll keep this place running, just like I did when I was your age."

"Niiiiick," she whined, thumping her arm on his chest. "When yo-ou were my age, you rebuilt HALF the vault! You still teaching me how to… to fix all that stuff…" She let go of him with one arm, but held on with the other as she drunkenly swayed back, blinking at you again.

"Wait… You're the overseer." She pointed at you. "M-make it so Nick can stay. We need him."

Other conversations around the party immediately died off. Everyone just stared at the three of you in shock. Even Nick seemed extremely uncomfortable. "Ally… no," he muttered to her.

You weren't sure how to react. Could you do that? Just decide, as overseer, that Nick had more time? The idea sent a shiver through your spine, as you thought of how many people had retired at 45. It wouldn't be right to make an exception for Nick, would it?

Fortunately, before you could say something you might regret, Officer Hyland marched up to save you. "Alright, party's over. Overseer, it's clearly time to go." He glared at Allison, who just clung to Nick's side more tightly, but he put a hand on your shoulder.

Still not sure what to say, you let him usher you out of there.

Well, that was an enlightening experience.

Complication: Poor documentation. Centuries of jury-rigged maintenance solutions without proper documentation have left the vault in a state where the current maintenance personnel struggle to comprehend what they're working with. The reality under a given service panel hasn't matched the textbooks for decades.

Despite the vault moonshine you indulged in, sleep didn't come easily. It was only last year that your parents retired. Your mother's birthday came first, but your father wouldn't let her go alone; he insisted on holding her hand as they went together. The vivid memory plays back through your head, watching from the gathered crowd as the great vault door rolled open, revealing the between chamber and the second vault door which would only open when the first one closed. They walked together into that empty space, and then you have to assume out beyond the vault, to whatever fate awaits those who retire. It was beautiful. Some people still talked about it.

You knew it was necessary, that an aging population would lead to the collapse of society in another great disaster. But knowing that didn't make it stop hurting.

You wake up suddenly as your Pipboy's alarm goes off, to find yourself once again in the Overseer's quarters. You might think you hadn't slept at all if you didn't remember the dreams. More luxurious than any other room in the vault, the Overseer's quarters feel alien and unwelcoming to you as you push forward into your morning routine. It will take a while yet for you to accept that you belong here.

Still, there isn't anyone else ready to sit behind that desk, and you're damned sure you're not going to go crying to Burdack to take over for you, so before long you find yourself in front of the Overseers terminal again.

Welcome to ROBCO Industries (TM) Termlink Clearance: Overseer Eyes Only Date: December 30th, 2249 Population: 426 Retirements Pending: 1

What actions do you want to take today? (Choose 5)

[ ] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions).
[ ] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads. (write in which)
[ ] Read through the backlog of reports from one department. (write in which)
[ ] Research retirement in the vault's history.
[ ] Walk around, try to get the sense of the vault community.
[ ] Write in a suggestion.

 

[BENNYJETS]

Welcome back! No time like Corona time

[ x] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions

[ x] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads. Allison Levin

[ x] Research retirement in the vault's history.

[ x] Walk around, try to get the sense of the vault community.

 

[Loveschach]

My goodness, I guess something good had to come of this.

I completely agree with the above poster. Heck, since it's been 200 years, perhaps we can establish a "Scouting Corps" or something using "retirees" to see habitability on the surface.

[X] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions)
[X] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads. Allison Levin
[X] Research retirement in the vault's history.
[X] Walk around, try to get the sense of the vault community.

 

[JohnnyIreland1929]

[X] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions)
[X] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads. Allison Levin
[X] Research retirement in the vault's history.
[X] Walk around, try to get the sense of the vault community.

 

[Omni]

[X] Call a meeting of all department heads. (Takes 2 actions)
[X] Call a private meeting with one of the department heads. Allison Levin
[X] Research retirement in the vault's history.
[X] Walk around, try to get the sense of the vault community.