Tobias watched Charlie type away, glancing to the old robot. He tensed slightly when it suddenly changed direction and came back towards them. He watched it closely, tilting his head. He never did trust robots much, but Charlie seemed very good with them.
[DECLARE DESIGNATION!] Shouted the robot to him, making him take a step back.
"Tobias...and this is Spike." He said, motioning to the dog.
[UNIT NOT PROGRAMMED FOR CANINE CARE.] Chirped the robot, turning to Spike.
"That's fine. He's just with us. Keep him safe too." Said Tobias.
[AFFIRMATIVE]
"Alright. Let's go." Said Tobias, looking quite pleased. Though stealth wasn't really an option now with that old robot following them. But he suspected it wouldn't matter.
Checking an office, Tobias found a terminal. He checked it, poking through the entries. "Woah....I think I just found something even bigger than a stash of chems...there's a Vault down there....a real pre war vault." He said, grinning to Charlie.
Charlies eyes get wide, "Did you say Vault? If its actually a vault we could be rich!" He responds enthusiastically.
"I don't know what we are going to find in here, but I'm so excited." He hugs Tobias without thinking.
Tobias laughed when Charlie hugged him, returning the gesture before stepping back to check the terminal. "Yeah. It was good we ran into each other." He chuckled. "Data says it's down in the basement....probably behind some security....then there's the vault door....we don't have a pip boy. So that'll be a problem." He said, looking back at Charlie.
"If I can find a control panel or anything on the outside, I might be able to override the locking system." Charlie is still smiling from the return of his unintended affection and is trying to hide it.
"And any security should be a big problem with this big guy here." I pat the Protectron following us.
"What do you think we will find?"
Tobias grinned when Charlie said he could override any security they faced. "Well, if you can't override it, you can probably overload it with that thing." He said, pointing to his odd weapon.
He looked at the old robot, moving over to wipe some dust off its 'face'. "This big guy needs a name." He said, watching the internals whirr around inside for a moment. "How about Doc?" He suggested, glancing to Charlie again. They'd have to set up some kind of personality for the robot, but a name was a good start.
He looked thoughtful when asked what they think they'd find, tilting his head slightly." Hmm...Well, I've heard stories about some pretty nasty stuff going on in those vaults....and stories of ones that were pretty normal living spaces. So, who knows...Even if there isn't anything fancy, people pay loads of caps for vault stuff." He said, heading towards an old flickering elevator. He knew it wasn't safe, but it was the most direct rout.
"Doc sounds good," Charlie smiles brightly. He wiped the rest of the dust off of Doc revealing the shiny white of the medical protectrons.
"Yea I heard about that Vault with all the mutants in it," He shivers as the thought of super mutants runs through his head, he brushes his hair out of his eyes.
"The elevator? Are you sure that's safe?" His voice clearly nervous.
Tobias watched Charlie wipe down the robot, admiring the pre-war technology. "Once you give him a personality, he'll make a great companion." He said, smiling to the other man.
"I heard about that vault. But if this one had mutants, I think they would've gotten out." He said as he walked.
He looked at the elevator, pressing the button and watching the doors slide open. "Well, this building hasn't been compromised. And the power is still on. It's the fastest way down." He said, glancing back to Charlie. "And I'm sure it can handle Doc. All the elevators can." He said, motioning for the robot to enter. Doc didn't hesitate, which told him he was right. He motioned to Charlie, then entered after him. Pressing the button to go down.
As the elevator goes down Charlie taps away at a panel on Docs torso. "There that should better." He stands up straight and looks at Doc. "Doc, who am i?"
The robots lights blink for a moment, and in a much less severe and calmer tone, "You are Charlie."
Charlie does a little happy dance, "That was way easier than I could have hoped, just gotta work beyond his voice systems now. But I'll do that later."
The elevator chunks to a stop and Charlie flinches, as the doors slide open "Doc, you go first."
Tobias watched Charlie, curious about what he was doing. He blinked when the robot spoke again, smiling. "its a start." He said with a nod.
His attention turned to the elevator doors when they opened, lifting his gun slightly. He watched the robot stomp out and pause, then turn back to them. "All clear" it chimed.
Tobias looked through the door, slowly stepping out and looking around. He stopped, looking amazed at the huge gear door. "wow. Its still sealed." He said, eyes wide.
"Wow, I've never seen a closed vault before. It seems so much bigger closed." His mouth hanging open.
He looks around for an external panel to potentially crack the vault.
"I've never even seen a vault....Well, there was one, but it was mostly destroyed. Good pickings for scrap metal." He said, going a bit off topic.
He shook his head and walked towards the gear door, noticing a control panel. "hmm, looks like access for a pip boy." He said, tilting his head. "But there's more stuff." He said, following the conduit from the panel to one on the wall the door was in. "Here's a maintenance panel." He said, pulling out a small pry bar to get the lid off.
"Maybe we can go get one of those computer terminals and patch it in here." He said, looking back to Charlie. "Or patch Doc in, and you work through him." He said, looking curious.
"Might be an easier way in, there is probably a reason this Vault is below a hospital." He nods in agreement as he leads the robot over, and pulls a few cables from.its chest panel to the maintenence panel.
He starts tapping on the keypad, cursing every few minutes. "Damn they lock these things tight. There's got to be an emergency medical override or something." After about 10 more minutes of typing and intense cursing,"got it!" He triumphantly hits a button and anot alarm immediately starts going off as the vault door lurches and creaks and makes all sorts of unsettling noises.
Tobias quietly watched Charlie work, Spike sitting patiently by him. He was excited to see his first vault. They'd be the first people to enter it since the great war.
"Well, its sealed to keep anything bad out." He said, tilting his head slightly. He blinked when the other finally exclaimed, looking up when the lights came on and the alarm started. He heard something moving within the vault, metal scraping metal, then suddenly the great gear door lurched back with a loud screech and a hiss from the seal being broken.
He watched with wide eyes as the gear rolled to the side and the walkway slid into place....then silence aside from the soft whirr of the caution lights turning and the hum of the fluorescent lights within....
"Its way too quiet...." He mumbled, lifting his rifle and checking the ammo.
"Wouldn't there be someone coming to investigate that? That was really loud." Charlie looks petrified.
"Do we go in? Or should we send Doc first?" He pats the robots torso.
"Yeah..." He said, looking back to Charlie with a frown.
"That's a good idea. Send Doc and Spike." He said, looking down at the dog. "Doc doesn't seem as observant as Spike, but he's more durable." He said, patting the dog. Tobias didn't like the idea of sending Spike into danger like that, but he would be able to respond to threats quicker than the robot.
He watched the dog and robot head into the vault, following behind them a bit and looking around. It was bizarre how quiet it was...The air smelled stale...and somewhat rancid as they walked. He soon found out why.
Doc and Spike had stopped by a skeleton dressed in an old vault suit. "Ah, shit....something happened here..." Said Tobias, shaking his head.
After waiting a few moments for Doc and Spike to relay any danger to the two of them Charlie put on a brave face and walked into the vault. The vault dwellers jump suit seemed intact, if a little desiccated.
"I wonder why this guy is dead. Or girl I guess." He examines the dwellers suit being as respectful as possible to the corpse. After a few moments, "Sorry about this," he unzips the suit all the way down to see if there are any broken bones.
Tobias kept watch as Charlie checked out the corpse. It seemed mostly decayed, with only a little dried out flesh clinging to some of the bones. It was hard to tell just by looking at it if it was male or female.
Tobias couldn't help making a face when Charlie unzipped the suit, praying there wasn't anything hiding inside it. What they found was certainly not what he was expecting. More mummified flesh was under the suit, especially around the abdomen. Tobias knelt down, pulling out a knife to gently lift one side of the suit. The dry flesh broke away, exposing what seemed to be a mummified fetus, startling Tobias enough to make him topple back onto his butt.
"Th-they were pregnant..." He gasped, eyes wide.
Spike barked from down the hall, standing by a closed door labeled "Cafeteria". A window beside it showed mummified bodies in vault suits...A few of them laying on tables, legs bent and vault suit removed....Others clearly had round pregnant bellies before death, their suits keeping the stretched out shape.
"H-holy shit....What the hell happened here?" mumbled Tobias, looking in through the window.
"They can't all have been pregnant, that's not possible, they would have had to have gone into the vault already knocked up." Charlie looked horrified and confused.
"That one on the table there looks like it was giving birth, thats the only time I've seen that position," He blushes brightly, "For something you could potentially do in public, not that it would be a good choice to do that anyway." He realized he was rambling.
"Plus why would you fill a vault with pregnant women? That just doesn't make sense, the population would overflow almost immediately. Lets try to find the overseers office and find the terminal to figure out what the hell is going on here." There is tangible fear in his voice.
Tobias looked at Charlie, worry clear in those intense blue eyes. "It must've been whatever sick experiment they were doing here..." He said, giving another glance to the dirty window.
He nodded at Charlie's suggestion, heading down the hall with him. They passed a few other bodies, some huddled together, some alone. They all seemed to be pregnant. "Was this vault just women?" He mumbled, looking curious.
Spike barked from down the hall, standing at the doorway to the overseer office. It slid open easily, showing a scene frozen in time. The overseer's body sat slumped in their chair, a large hole in their skull. A gun sat on the floor, clearly dropped after shooting themself. Their vault suit had the same stretched out belly as the others...
Nearby lay a labcoat clad body. This one hadn't been pregnant...but from their position and the old stain on the wall, it was clear the overseer had shot them first... "something went terribly wrong here....check the terminal..." Said Tobias, carefully moving the overseer in their chair.
On the terminal was the usual Vault Tech greeting and information on the overseer's role in the vault. As well as some personal journal entries. Things had started out pretty normal when the signal came to lock down, but a few months in, things changed. First they spoke of a rise in pregnancies within the population, then about how they progressed rapidly. Then a gap in the entries, followed by one which sounded quite desperate.
[It was all a lie! Vault Tech was doing this on purpose! Fertility drug testing, genetic manipulation, forcing us to breed! And when they ran out of women, they changed us. Men having babies! We can't stop! God, I can already feel contractions starting...I can't do this again. I've called the lead doctor in and I've set up the population purge protocol...this ends today.]
"Men having babies? What the hell?" Charlie looks terrified and confused, "Where.....where would it even come out?"
"It was a fertility experiment? I think I'm going to be sick," he runs to the corner and throws up. When he stands his skin is pale and clammy and his eyes are red.
"I can't believe anyone would actually want to follow along with this experiment, its just awful." He slumps against a wall and slides down, he almost looks as if he's going to cry.