Fallout Play-By-Post

[Songbird]

Robin

Robin's eyes snap to the latest entry in the logs. Sixty years was bad, this is much worse.

The other men are talking but she can't quite make sense of it. The tall older one must be as old as her father. Her father who, unless he somehow stumbled on a cryogenic pod in the middle of the Gobi desert, was very much dead. She blinks when the man points in her general direction before talking about leaving.

"Wait!" Robin looks down for a moment, trying to string a coherent sentence together. Between the shock and feeling sick her mind is too slow, so she ultimately just lets words tumble out of her mouth before the men have the chance to get too impatient.

"You sit down," she says to the one who had been trying to get her to leave. "Did you hit your head getting out of the pod? You might have a concussion. Stay still, rest, but don't fall asleep.

She turns to the older guy, staring blankly at his feet. "Remote Override. Our pods were opened remotely. On purpose. But it's more than sixty years. Two hundred. They left us down here for two centuries, then someone opened our pods and activated the protocols to get us to leave."

She takes a deep breath. She sounds incredibly stupid! It's so hard to think and that warning won't shut up. She closes her eyes and briefly raises her hands in "I need a moment" gesture.

"I'm Robin. I didn't consent to being put in cryosleep. I do not trust Vault-Tec but I don't think they woke us up. The logs say people started to die in the same year they were put to sleep. Why didn't they remove the bodies? If they're Vault-Tec why aren't they here to deal with us now? I don't know who woke us up, I can't imagine why, but it doesn't matter. Vault-Tec or someone else, they should be considered hostile forces. Maybe they are here to receive us.

"There's more. Three pods were manually opened sixty years ago," Robin glances at the terminal. "They didn't touch the other pods; They came here, moved past us, did something then left us here.

"B1, B2, G2. B2 has two people inside."

[amaranthineamusement]

Roll 3 + 5 = 8

Jay doesn't find much of use behind the pod - some wires and big tubes connecting back up to the ceiling or to the floor, but no control panels or anything like that.

Jay emerges from behind the pod, disappointed, to a bit of a commotion. Seems like everyone's stopped crying on the floor and has moved on to a lively debate.

Robin

"Wait!" Robin looks down for a moment, trying to string a coherent sentence together. Between the shock and feeling sick her mind is too slow, so she ultimately just lets words tumble out of her mouth before the men have the chance to get too impatient.

"You sit down," she says to the one who had been trying to get her to leave. "Did you hit your head getting out of the pod? You might have a concussion. Stay still, rest, but don't fall asleep.

She turns to the older guy, staring blankly at his feet. "Remote Override. Our pods were opened remotely. On purpose. But it's more than sixty years. Two hundred. They left us down here for two centuries, then someone opened our pods and activated the protocols to get us to leave."

She takes a deep breath. She sounds incredibly stupid! It's so hard to think and that warning won't shut up. She closes her eyes and briefly raises her hands in "I need a moment" gesture.

"I'm Robin. I didn't consent to being put in cryosleep. I do not trust Vault-Tec but I don't think they woke us up. The logs say people started to die in the same year they were put to sleep. Why didn't they remove the bodies? If they're Vault-Tec why aren't they here to deal with us now? I don't know who woke us up, I can't imagine why, but it doesn't matter. Vault-Tec or someone else, they should be considered hostile forces. Maybe they are here to receive us.

"There's more. Three pods were manually opened sixty years ago," Robin glances at the terminal. "They didn't touch the other pods; They came here, moved past us, did something then left us here.

"B1, B2, G2. B2 has two people inside."

Huh. Well, the kid seems kind of freaked out, but she's speaking sense. Jay's also freaked out, but in the way where he's panicking on the inside and a little glassy but effective on the outside. It's less the military training and more his experience with getting in dumb situations, but...

"Who were they? The people they woke up." He doesn't try and reassure anyone. It's not his strong suit.

"...I, uh, tried to see if I could do anything with the mechanics, but there's not much exposed. You found a printout? Data?"

[Songbird]

Robin

Robin checks the terminal again before replying. "Nate Concord, Nora Concord and Shawn Concord in the same pod. Then John Doe in G2, the last pod.

"No printouts so far. Just pods status and a technical log. It's partially corrupted. Can you check the pods for people or anything else? Do you think they can be opened from the inside?" She tries to access the [Room Door: Open] option.

[R.M.S.N.P]

Nine

Vault. He's in the vault, and that means the World ended.
Nine grabs momentarily the thin gold chain he carries. He mutters "Dead... Must assume they are all dead. Must move on."
He takes another deep breath and stands up. This time he's steady, and manages to walk toward the others. They gathered around a monitor. Nine arrives exactly when a young woman speaks monotonically "A bit over 60 years. We've been here for 60 years."

His eyes open wide. He moves to check the monitor, wondering how she came to that number. It's there, over 20 thousand days. The math is right. Unless the machine has a glitch they have been on ice way too long. He recalls people talking about 5 or 10 years, 20 tops, to reach a safe level of radiation and to go through the nuclear winter. And why the cryo? He heard about it, but the vaults weren't supposed to rely on that, right?

"What is this place? Why are we here? How did we get here?" A young man with unkempt hair asks quietly.
Nine looks at him, puzzled. He's about to speak harshly but remembers how confused he was a few minutes ago. "We are inside a vault, to survive the bombs. It seems that part worked. We came when the sirens began... I believe. At least I did that."

Nine looks around, not waiting for an answer. Another woman is coming back from the door, it seems she took a look but decided not to venture further. Damn, he's clearly the oldest one around, and by a clear margin. He's not the command kind of person, but for the moment he will have to try to organize things. Nine decides to speak to them all.
He clears his throat. "Hum... Well... Look, it seems you're all as confused as I am." Oh, how much he wishes to be better with words! But it's not the right moment to be shy. "You don't know me, and I'm not trying to assume any kind of command here, ok? But I see no immediate danger, and we need more info. I think it's best to go check what's out there." He points at the door, and then to the terminal. "while you try to figure something out of that thing."

There's a very tall man, slightly behind the others. Military, no doubt. Nine can tell just by the way he stands. "Sir, I believe it would be better if we did it in pairs, so no one goes anywhere alone. Would you come with me?"

The strands of fate fade away as a voice cuts into Arthur's mind.


Almost reflexively, he replies "Don't call me sir, I'm a seargent, I work for a living." with a jovial tone.


But speaking regrounds him. Thinking properly now, he looks at the presumed soldier with a gaze more suited to a hawk than a human, and responds "Of course. Even I need an extra pair of eyes sometimes, captain ninefingers."


He's thinking enough now to realise the tactlessness of what he said, but not enough to care, so he just gets up off the floor and walks over to the man, the effects of the cryo-stasis having faded enough for him to regain his soft but confident walk, ready for the hunt.   

[Ragnarok]

Robin

Robin checks the terminal again before replying. "Nate Concord, Nora Concord and Shawn Concord in the same pod. Then John Doe in G2, the last pod.

"No printouts so far. Just pods status and a technical log. It's partially corrupted. Can you check the pods for people or anything else? Do you think they can be opened from the inside?" She tries to access the [Room Door: Open] option.

The large sliding door that marks the divide between room and hallway closes. The option now reads: Room Door: Closed.

[Kitty]

"Thanks... Robin. I don't have a concussion. It's just that the last thing I remember doing before waking up here is getting incredibly drunk with my friends. So I'm missing a lot of information" he says.

Danger, though.

He gets that.

How quaint.

"Uh, I think the man is right. We shouldn't split up or go alone anywhere. And I also don't think it's right to have kids check out places with maybe dead people. You don't need to see that. Just tell me what to do..." his voice fades as Robin starts to talk to another engineer-like guy.

He listens to their discussion and goes to check the last pod, where John Doe once was. Definitely the most suspicious name... But he can't see anything inside. They seem all empty.

[amaranthineamusement]

Robin

Robin checks the terminal again before replying. "Nate Concord, Nora Concord and Shawn Concord in the same pod. Then John Doe in G2, the last pod.

"No printouts so far. Just pods status and a technical log. It's partially corrupted. Can you check the pods for people or anything else? Do you think they can be opened from the inside?" She tries to access the [Room Door: Open] option.

"....Wait. Nora? Nate?" Jay frowns. "I... huh. I feel like I've heard those names before. Give me a second." When it doesn't instantly come back to him, he sighs, then snaps his fingers. "No, wait! I feel like I definitely saw them around. She was a mucky muck, I think. Lawyer lady."

As the door closes, he heads over to the pods, starting with the ones nearest to the terminal. He checks inside for people as he also scans for any way to get them open. He's jimmied open his fair share of doors, but this one seems like a real problem. "Did you do that, or is the door haunted now?"

[Songbird]

Robin

"Short-term memory loss due intoxication then," she states matter-of-factly. "We should all go together. If the world outside didn't end why did they forget us? What if we lost the war? That would explain why we were left here, invaders didn't know about us. There could be an hostile army waiting on the surface."

Somehow the doors closing takes Robin by surprise. "Sorry. That was an accident." She opens the it again and refrains from clicking on the Error entries. Who knows if they'll crash the system?

"Who is Shawn?"

[amaranthineamusement]

Robin

"Short-term memory loss due intoxication then," she states matter-of-factly. "We should all go together. If the world outside didn't end why did they forget us? What if we lost the war? That would explain why we were left here, invaders didn't know about us. There could be an hostile army waiting on the surface."

Somehow the doors closing takes Robin by surprise. "Sorry. That was an accident." She opens the it again and refrains from clicking on the Error entries. Who knows if they'll crash the system?

"Who is Shawn?"

Big headscratcher on that one. "Uh, I think they had a kid? Pretty recently, maybe a year ago. Maybe they named it Shawn? Can't think of anyone else with that last name."

[thegreyarea]

Nine

Nine stops. The confused man gets up, asking. "What's a vault? What bombs?", but now is explaining that he was drunk. A part of him is deeply annoyed by that, remembering his father, but the rational part recalls that the world was in the verge of war, so someone getting drunk wasn't a big surprise.

He tries to calm him down. "Don't worry, you will probably remember that, but if not I'll tell you later."

He starts to walk toward the door when the young woman speaks. Nine hears, and decides that he likes this Robin. She goes straight to the point. Now, two hundred years is a lot! What may have happened outside? He decides that speculating will not help. And Robin is right. There may be hostiles around, but... Nine's train of thought stops as another person comes from behind the pods. Another military guy, and a mechanic it seems. This one surely will be very useful, he thinks.

Meanwhile the tall man answers. He's ready to go. Nine instantly likes that guy too. looks like the kind that covers your back on the battlefield.

The mechanic guy and Robin are talking, and suddenly she closes the door, scaring him. What if it breaks and they get trapped? He's relieved to see that it opens again seconds later. Then they're talking about the people on the pods, the ones that got out 60 years ago.

"Ok Robin. I'm Grey, but you..." He looks around. "All of you can call me Nine." She looks back, and he can tell she's tough. Good. "Whoever left us here didn't want to do harm, else they could just shot the pods and kill us. And it all happened, if the numbers are right, 60 years ago, so those people are now very old, or dead. And so are the ones that left the pods back then."

Nine lets the idea sink for a few second. "We may never know what happened. Right now I believe we should focus on getting some supplies... and weapons would be nice too. Then we can sit and think on what to do next, or maybe we just find a way out on the next corner. So what do you guys say? Shall we move?"

[Mirasol]

The terminal reads:

CURRENT PAGE: TECHNICAL LOGS
<Back | Refresh | N/A

10-23-2077: Cryo Chambers activated
10-30-2077: Routine Maintenance Check
11-7-2077: Routine Maintenance Check
11-14-2077: Routine Maintenance Check
11-21-2077: Routine Maintenance Check
11-22-2077: G1: Terminal Malfunction, Occupant Deceased
11-28-2077: Routine Maintenance Check
1-1*!&@#*!%$(: Error, Files Corrupted
4-16-2078: C2: Terminal Malfunction, Occupant Deceased
5-1-2098: F2: Terminal Malfunction, Occupant Deceased
8-18-2121: E1: Terminal Malfunction, Occupant Deceased
10-21-2220: B1, B2, G2: Manual Overrides Engaged. Security Systems Engaged.
10-23-2281: A1, A2, C1, D1, E2, F1: Remote Override from [UNKNOWN USER] Engaged. Sounding evacuation protocols.

Charlie freezes in all movement while she reads the logs. Less because of the numbers, computers sometimes do that, but the fact of how many people here apparently died. And that even though no one besides her and the others seems to be here, someone let them out.

When she catches herself again almost everyone in the room is gathered around the terminal and discussing what to do next. They all seem to be taking the numbers on the screen for granted. Over 200 years. Holy f- Breathe. Continue. It will be ok.

"Ok Robin. I'm Grey, but you..." He looks around. "All of you can call me Nine." She looks back, and he can tell she's tough. Good. "Whoever left us here didn't want to do harm, else they could just shot the pods and kill us. And it all happened, if the numbers are right, 60 years ago, so those people are now very old, or dead. And so are the ones that left the pods back then."

Nine lets the idea sink for a few second. "We may never know what happened. Right now I believe we should focus on getting some supplies... and weapons would be nice too. Then we can sit and think on what to do next, or maybe we just find a way out on the next corner. So what do you guys say? Shall we move?"

Charlie finds her voice again. She peeks over to the screen, then to the others.

"Can... can we be absolutely sure that all the other people here are... you know... dead? Because I´m not leaving if there´s still a chance to save my family."

Also weren´t they talking about the door?

"Oh, and I looked into the hallway over there." She points at it. "I saw nobody, but there´s a door leading to another room with pods. Might be people in there too. We should check, I think."

[Kitty]

"Ok Robin. I'm Grey, but you..." He looks around. "All of you can call me Nine." She looks back, and he can tell she's tough. Good. "Whoever left us here didn't want to do harm, else they could just shot the pods and kill us. And it all happened, if the numbers are right, 60 years ago, so those people are now very old, or dead. And so are the ones that left the pods back then."

Nine lets the idea sink for a few second. "We may never know what happened. Right now I believe we should focus on getting some supplies... and weapons would be nice too. Then we can sit and think on what to do next, or maybe we just find a way out on the next corner. So what do you guys say? Shall we move?"

"Can... can we be absolutely sure that all the other people here are... you know... dead? Because I´m not leaving if there´s still a chance to save my family."

Also weren´t they talking about the door?

"Oh, and I looked into the hallway over there." She points at it. "I saw nobody, but there´s a door leading to another room with pods. Might be people in there too. We should check, I think."

"We should absolutely check all the pods before leaving" he decides. "And a check if computers are right would be... good. Is there maybe some way to confirm they are dead without opening them, though...?" He has a feeling that if idiots like him open a pod without any knowhow, if the occupant wasn't dead already, they would quickly be. "But Robin could check these screens for out pods, she should check them for other pods, too. At the very least."

He's not worried about the closed door. Robin could fix it, right? And if this girl was Robin, then the other girl was Charlotte, right?

"Also, nice to meet you all. I wish circumstances were different."

War, they said.


Well, it was going to happen sooner or later. Two centuries is enough for the Earth to get rid of the fallout, right?

"...wait. If we were... released... via a remote override... How remote is it?" he says quietly, more thinking out loud than anything. Did the people sixty years ago set it up? Was the override programmed at the very beginning? Was there maybe a special control room for controlling all the pods somewhere here, which would make it a 'remote' override? Was someone here...?

...look at him, accepting two centuries have passed just like that. He's dealing with this well.

[R.M.S.N.P]

The terminal reads:

CURRENT PAGE: TECHNICAL LOGS
<Back | Refresh | N/A

10-23-2077: Cryo Chambers activated
10-30-2077: Routine Maintenance Check
11-7-2077: Routine Maintenance Check
11-14-2077: Routine Maintenance Check
11-21-2077: Routine Maintenance Check
11-22-2077: G1: Terminal Malfunction, Occupant Deceased
11-28-2077: Routine Maintenance Check
1-1*!&@#*!%$(: Error, Files Corrupted
4-16-2078: C2: Terminal Malfunction, Occupant Deceased
5-1-2098: F2: Terminal Malfunction, Occupant Deceased
8-18-2121: E1: Terminal Malfunction, Occupant Deceased
10-21-2220: B1, B2, G2: Manual Overrides Engaged. Security Systems Engaged.
10-23-2281: A1, A2, C1, D1, E2, F1: Remote Override from [UNKNOWN USER] Engaged. Sounding evacuation protocols.

Arthur walks up to the computer, scanning the screen calmly.


He checks the occupant list.


It doesn't explicitly say Becca's dead.
But that's probably just the bit that got corrupted.
There's no point getting his hopes up.
No point letting the flowers bloom when the winter winds still blow.


He turns to the man he's internalised as "ninefingers", but has now heard introducing himself, and says "Right, Grey, time to get this door open", gesturing to the door at the end of the room. "I'm sure we can find an armoury and an exit somewhere" he continues, punctuating the end with a curt laugh rather than a full stop.

[Songbird]

Robin

"We may never know what happened. Right now I believe we should focus on getting some supplies... and weapons would be nice too. Then we can sit and think on what to do next, or maybe we just find a way out on the next corner. So what do you guys say? Shall we move?"

"That doesn't work for me. We do have to move soon but I have to know exactly what happened here, if not now later. If there's the remotest chance of finding anyone involved in this I will find them and I will make every last one of them pay," Robin stares at him with dangerous eyes, leaving no doubt to what she implied.

"Can... can we be absolutely sure that all the other people here are... you know... dead? Because I´m not leaving if there´s still a chance to save my family."

"Alright," she raises her hands and repeats the gesture asking for time. "I'm not prepared to assume the people who didn't wake up are dead. I don't know much but I know enough to know I don't understand this process. And until I do, unless they start to rot in the meantime, these people are not dead.

"We should be dead too. People have been talking about freezing people for ages but no one tries not for lack of a big enough fridge, they don't do it because it destroys your body. You need a way to preserve cells when freezing and another process to reverse it when thawing them. The people in the pods are intact. It points to the freezing procedure being successful. That doesn't... that doesn't mean—

Robin grasped for words. "Their bodies are intact, that doesn't mean they didn't die during the procedure. Big chances it's toxic to live, unfrozen humans. But it took a little time for the first failure message happen and unless we got briefly thawed in the meantime by energy spikes in the pods or something, I don't see how they could have died while frozen solid. None of us were technically alive.

"Remotely opening the pods means whoever did this didn't personally check the pods. Maybe the failed pods can't be thawed remotely because decomposition, maybe they simply trusted the logs and didn't try. The only people we're sure walked these corridors are the ones from sixty years ago and they weren't interested in us. As far as I know the staff froze us and left soon after, leaving pods unattended, otherwise why not remove the bodies?"

"If they're alive they're safer frozen until we figure how to reverse the process. We need to look for more information. We need security logs and radiation readings and..." Robin throws an odd look at them. "...are any of you diabetic?"

[Kitty]

Robin

"That doesn't work for me. We do have to move soon but I have to know exactly what happened here, if not now later. If there's the remotest chance of finding anyone involved in this I will find them and I will make every last one of them pay," Robin stares at him with dangerous eyes, leaving no doubt to what she implied.


"Alright," she raises her hands and repeats the gesture asking for time. "I'm not prepared to assume the people who didn't wake up are dead. I don't know much but I know enough to know I don't understand this process. And until I do, unless they start to rot in the meantime, these people are not dead.

"We should be dead too. People have been talking about freezing people for ages but no one tries not for lack of a big enough fridge, they don't do it because it destroys your body. You need a way to preserve cells when freezing and another process to reverse it when thawing them. The people in the pods are intact. It points to the freezing procedure being successful. That doesn't... that doesn't mean—

Robin grasped for words. "Their bodies are intact, that doesn't mean they didn't die during the procedure. Big chances it's toxic to live, unfrozen humans. But it took a little time for the first failure message happen and unless we got briefly thawed in the meantime by energy spikes in the pods or something, I don't see how they could have died while frozen solid. None of us were technically alive.

"Remotely opening the pods means whoever did this didn't personally check the pods. Maybe the failed pods can't be thawed remotely because decomposition, maybe they simply trusted the logs and didn't try. The only people we're sure walked these corridors are the ones from sixty years ago and they weren't interested in us. As far as I know the staff froze us and left soon after, leaving pods unattended, otherwise why not remove the bodies?"

"If they're alive they're safer frozen until we figure how to reverse the process. We need to look for more information. We need security logs and radiation readings and..."

"Alright, works for me. Unless they're rotting, maybe something can be done" he says. That sounded like a solid enough argument.

Robin throws an odd look at them. "...are any of you diabetic?"

"...no."