The Worst Journey In The World
Nov. 7th, 2010 11:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aaaaaaaagh_skyThere were things in the Vault.
The... mutants... they were the easy part, and they were every bit as huge and terrible as the ones on the surface. They filled all the space there was, looming as high as corridor ceilings, lighting the dark places with muzzle-flashes and madly glittering eyes. They howled for blood and the death of humans, and their echoes took forever to die away. . . and they were the easy part of it.
The centaurs were harder. The centaurs and their tongues and armless shoulders and their toothed chests and the hands that they walked on-
the swollen, teratological mess of flesh lying slumped next to a gurney in one room, only identifiable as human because when Cross nudged it with one toe it had the remains of a Vault suit embedded in its back-
the bearded man who called himself Sid, locked in another room like the one that held the gurney-thing, who upon being freed rocketed down the hallway and died trying to rip a centaur to pieces with his hands and teeth-
And the terminal entries. Oh, Jesus, the terminal entries. Whoever had designed Vault 87 had put extra care into making sure the computers would work, forever and ever and ever.
...quite sad to report that due to a direct hit from what I presume to be a nuclear weapon on the entry area of Vault 87, we will be unable to provide the Scouting Reports as outlined in Vault-Tec's Operations Manual. The main door to Vault 87 is damaged beyond repair and we are detecting extremely high levels of lethal radiation outside and in the entry tunnel...
**
...summoned into the Overseer's office and met with Dr. Merrick, who heads up the Experimentation section. He informed me that one of his devices, what he called an EEP Chamber was XXXXEDITEDXXXX. It was a strange device, but I managed to XXXXEDITEDXXXX which didn't fix the problem. I then tried to XXXXEDITEDXXXX which seemed to bring the device back...
**
... new revised Death Code definitions. Please update all files to include these codes for faster handling. Note that criminal deaths/suicides are NEVER listed in these files as such. They must be listed under a code A008 in Accidental Deaths as per Vault-Tec mandate...
**
... Any Vault member marked as deceased by the special EEP section will be tagged and coded in the computer as an unexplained or undefined death. This comes directly from the Overseer of this Vault, who will be personally inspecting your reports ...
**
Vault 87 Deceased Individuals
Total Deceased: 93
Natural Deaths: 04 (Codes N001-N012)
Accidental Deaths: 02 (Codes A001-A008)
Unexplained/Undefined: 87 (Code UD000)...
**
...Merrick has ordered the latest test subjects in the EEP to be terminated and then disposed of. Please make sure that: bodily remains are placed in the incinerator as soon as the subjects vitals are flat, the entire isolation room is disinfected and any relevant data on the subjects are given to Doctor Merrick. FEV is very unpredictable ...
**
Incredible results! After only three days, subjects B440, B164 and D624 (all our female specimens) are all exhibiting a unique change. Their bodies are undergoing severe physical changes, losing most of their visible female indicators and transforming to an almost asexual state.... subjects C376 and A541 (our male specimens) are losing most of their visible male indicators and taking on the same asexual state as the females....
**
This is the only place I could think of hiding this message. In the event that anyone reads this, please try and get word back to Vault-Tec HQ that something very wrong is going on in the Experimentation section... something they keep referring to as the EEP. My wife, Mercia was "diagnosed" by the Medical section as having some sort of disease they wouldn't identify. She's dead now, and those sons-of-bitches won't even tell me why....
**
I don't know what to do. My Jason, my little boy... he's gone.
My wife won't talk anymore. She just sits in this godforsaken sub-level and stares out of the window at the rock wall as if looking across a sunlit meadow or a lazy summertime lake.
Jason was my life. He was my joy, my meaning. Now all this work seems pointless.
This was a mistake. Better we had all died together outside than inside this permanent tomb....
**
Nothing has meaning to me anymore.
Every time I'm in the outer tunnels I swear I can hear children's laughter.
The Vault doctors say its just my mind compensating for the loss of Jason but I know I'm not crazy. They gave me new pills but pills are for crazy people! I refuse to take these pills!
I AM NOT CRAZY!
Why bring up kids in a hellhole like this? Why? This is a pointless existence.
**
Cantstandthesoundsanymore
takethepillstheysaywhytakethem
IAMNOTCRAZYIAMNOTCRAZYJasonslaughternofamilygoneforever
stuckherefor evereternityend
IamsaneIammeIamforever
There was a skeleton in front of that terminal. Ellen wasn't the least bit surprised to find a revolver nearby, or the little hole in one temple, or the much larger hole in the other.
But that was as much as she was able to find before the tears welled up in her eyes too much for her to see anything. Cross had to put one armored arm around her shoulders and lead her away from there; they still had a mission to finish.
The... mutants... they were the easy part, and they were every bit as huge and terrible as the ones on the surface. They filled all the space there was, looming as high as corridor ceilings, lighting the dark places with muzzle-flashes and madly glittering eyes. They howled for blood and the death of humans, and their echoes took forever to die away. . . and they were the easy part of it.
The centaurs were harder. The centaurs and their tongues and armless shoulders and their toothed chests and the hands that they walked on-
the swollen, teratological mess of flesh lying slumped next to a gurney in one room, only identifiable as human because when Cross nudged it with one toe it had the remains of a Vault suit embedded in its back-
the bearded man who called himself Sid, locked in another room like the one that held the gurney-thing, who upon being freed rocketed down the hallway and died trying to rip a centaur to pieces with his hands and teeth-
And the terminal entries. Oh, Jesus, the terminal entries. Whoever had designed Vault 87 had put extra care into making sure the computers would work, forever and ever and ever.
...quite sad to report that due to a direct hit from what I presume to be a nuclear weapon on the entry area of Vault 87, we will be unable to provide the Scouting Reports as outlined in Vault-Tec's Operations Manual. The main door to Vault 87 is damaged beyond repair and we are detecting extremely high levels of lethal radiation outside and in the entry tunnel...
**
...summoned into the Overseer's office and met with Dr. Merrick, who heads up the Experimentation section. He informed me that one of his devices, what he called an EEP Chamber was XXXXEDITEDXXXX. It was a strange device, but I managed to XXXXEDITEDXXXX which didn't fix the problem. I then tried to XXXXEDITEDXXXX which seemed to bring the device back...
**
... new revised Death Code definitions. Please update all files to include these codes for faster handling. Note that criminal deaths/suicides are NEVER listed in these files as such. They must be listed under a code A008 in Accidental Deaths as per Vault-Tec mandate...
**
... Any Vault member marked as deceased by the special EEP section will be tagged and coded in the computer as an unexplained or undefined death. This comes directly from the Overseer of this Vault, who will be personally inspecting your reports ...
**
Vault 87 Deceased Individuals
Total Deceased: 93
Natural Deaths: 04 (Codes N001-N012)
Accidental Deaths: 02 (Codes A001-A008)
Unexplained/Undefined: 87 (Code UD000)...
**
...Merrick has ordered the latest test subjects in the EEP to be terminated and then disposed of. Please make sure that: bodily remains are placed in the incinerator as soon as the subjects vitals are flat, the entire isolation room is disinfected and any relevant data on the subjects are given to Doctor Merrick. FEV is very unpredictable ...
**
Incredible results! After only three days, subjects B440, B164 and D624 (all our female specimens) are all exhibiting a unique change. Their bodies are undergoing severe physical changes, losing most of their visible female indicators and transforming to an almost asexual state.... subjects C376 and A541 (our male specimens) are losing most of their visible male indicators and taking on the same asexual state as the females....
**
This is the only place I could think of hiding this message. In the event that anyone reads this, please try and get word back to Vault-Tec HQ that something very wrong is going on in the Experimentation section... something they keep referring to as the EEP. My wife, Mercia was "diagnosed" by the Medical section as having some sort of disease they wouldn't identify. She's dead now, and those sons-of-bitches won't even tell me why....
**
I don't know what to do. My Jason, my little boy... he's gone.
My wife won't talk anymore. She just sits in this godforsaken sub-level and stares out of the window at the rock wall as if looking across a sunlit meadow or a lazy summertime lake.
Jason was my life. He was my joy, my meaning. Now all this work seems pointless.
This was a mistake. Better we had all died together outside than inside this permanent tomb....
**
Nothing has meaning to me anymore.
Every time I'm in the outer tunnels I swear I can hear children's laughter.
The Vault doctors say its just my mind compensating for the loss of Jason but I know I'm not crazy. They gave me new pills but pills are for crazy people! I refuse to take these pills!
I AM NOT CRAZY!
Why bring up kids in a hellhole like this? Why? This is a pointless existence.
**
Cantstandthesoundsanymore
takethepillstheysaywhytakethem
IAMNOTCRAZYIAMNOTCRAZYJasonslaughternofamilygoneforever
stuckherefor evereternityend
IamsaneIammeIamforever
There was a skeleton in front of that terminal. Ellen wasn't the least bit surprised to find a revolver nearby, or the little hole in one temple, or the much larger hole in the other.
But that was as much as she was able to find before the tears welled up in her eyes too much for her to see anything. Cross had to put one armored arm around her shoulders and lead her away from there; they still had a mission to finish.