“Vault Remedial systems in shutdown mode, releasing test subjects from confinement.” A robotic pre-recorded voice rings out from the overhead speakers while a soft alarm blared and red overhead lights illuminated the room as they spun, indicating some sort of emergency. “All Vault-tec personnel are to report to assigned areas for orders from Overseer.” It continues as a number of large vats of liquid containing human bodies slowly begin to open throughout the room. One of those bodies slowly stands up, looking around confused.
He was naked, of course, but he looked to be a man in his 20’s, well built, abs and solid musculature, brown hair and green eyes. However he looked super confused as he looked around the hallway of vat containers now covered in the same liquid he had been suspended in.
“Hello?” He called out to the empty and quiet space only to be met with no response. Instinctively he looked at the other people who were like him, just moments ago, suspended in the tanks full of a greenish liquid but saw no other movement. They all seemed dead. Or at least catatonic.
He pauses to get his bearing, thinking to himself about who and what he was to ground himself.
He was Adam Baxter. A man working for a Vault-Tec Subsidiary, Second Life, but he did not really know what they did. All he knew was they were a scientific research company that had something to do with genetics? He was unclear, he, himself, was nothing more than a repair technician, it was the best job he could find after he got out of the military, but knowing what the company did behind closed doors was beyond his pay grade. But he remembered it all, his life, his home, his job, schooling, the threat of war,, everything. So he wasn't confused about who he was, although something was confusing him about his body.
He walked over to one of the glass tank vats, now opened from the bottom to spill out the unmoving human body. It disturbed him but he did his best to ignore it as he examined himself in the reflection of the glass.
This was not… his body… this man, whoever he was, was far more attractive and in shape than he ever was. Not to say he used to be ugly but this man looked like a model, or maybe a movie star? He was uncertain, not only that but his physical age looked to be about 21? 23? Again, it was unclear, but he himself was older than that, so he also was younger than he was before too.
He found himself lost in his own reflection as he failed to understand his situation before the sound of the siren finally broke his concentration. It did not get louder or anything, it just woke him from his daze, the constant droning infiltrating his thoughts.
Deciding there was nothing further to gain from waiting around he followed the path through the long metal hallway, carefully avoiding the bodies laying on the ground unmoving.
This was a vault, of that much he was certain, he had seen advertisements for them on TV, Vault-Tec's biggest seller, of course it was well outside his pay grade, even with his military discounts. So he had built himself a small fallout shelter in his backyard if the apocalypse ever came. So not only was his body confusing him, but how he even got into a vault in the first place was also quite confusing.
As he walked he passed a few rooms of interest, a mess hall that looked to be abandoned, though it was left in a mess it was still empty of anything useful except a few knives, one of which he took with him as he still knew very little of what was going on. Another section with a suite of bedrooms, each with their own beds, living rooms, kitchens, and showers. Also in a state of disarray, papers and clothes all over the place as if someone ransacked it. After looting one of these domiciles he found himself a set of clothing, a vault jumpsuit labeled with a gold 42 on it which he promptly put on so he was not naked, as well as a Pip-Boy sitting on the dresser where he found the vault suit. The Pip-Boy seemed to be in working order as well, though he was unfamiliar with the UI of it so he decided to familiarize himself with it later and instead kept walking.
Eventually he found himself in the deepest part of the vault, on accident of course, as his goal was escape, but he wandered into the Overseer's office, the head manager of the vault. A terminal, still on, lit up green as he entered the room, facing away from him and towards what would be the overseer's chair, if there was one. There was none. In fact, so far, after wandering for probably 20 minutes he had not stumbled upon a single person, no security, no scientists, no support staff, no residents, it was as if the place was abandoned, which he assumed it was. If it wasn't for the mess left everywhere he would have assumed he was the only living person to have ever been here.
So, with no moral repercussions for peeking, he walked over to the terminal and sat down in the overseer’s chair, booting the computer up. It was password protected, of course. But he knew his way around computers and machines. And this was a standard rob-co terminal, nothing out of the ordinary, a simple root command call on the password screen brought up the debug menu, and from there he could play around a bit with the password software until he could find the code and unlock the terminal. It took him no more than 2 minutes. Stuff like this is super easy when you know how to do it. And he used to do stuff like this all the time back in his old job, you’d be surprised how often high level scientists would lock themselves out of their computers, and then it was up to him, the IT guy, to come and fix it.
Opening the computer files he was met with a few options. [Log entries] [Research Breakdown] [Vault maintenance and health] [Vault 42 Experiment Overseer’s eyes only]
This was already more than he was expecting, after all the computer could have been wiped before the place was evacuated. But it was not. While we would have loved to start at the top and work his way down, his attention was caught by the last option. Experiment? What does that mean? The vaults were supposed to be places for people to survive the bombs if needed, what experiments could it be referring to?
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However as soon as he opened the file he was met, in abject horror, with the truth.
[Vault 42 is an experiment in Human cloning, gene manipulation, and memory replication, human cells are forcibly grown in vats with accelerator hormones injected into them for rapid growth. After they have been grown they can be used for gene therapy and stage two of the program {see Second Life Notes} Memory Manipulation. The new body will be transferred with all the memory of the scanned person’s mind or whole brain and uploaded with all critical data, experimental variants apply. Overseer is to use vault residents as test subjects for both memory extraction, transfer, and replication, death is expected, scientists and guards will comply.]
After reading this Adam covered his mouth in horror. Not only were they creating artificial humans in this place but they were using the vault residents as human subjects to get genetic material from?! And… memory manipulation… Second Life… does that mean he is…
No, he stopped himself, he couldn't go further with this line of thought, right now he needed to focus on survival. That meant learning what he could, not questioning his own existence.
He read on, reading the log entries now. [Log entry 10.24.77. I have finally got to head to my office. I am now an overseer, certainly a step down from Chairman but I will adapt, as I always have. I've always said my best trait is that I can grow into any role] [Log Entry 10.30.77. The experiments have officially begun, the chief scientist has assured me that this research will bear fruit. I for one look forward to the results. After all the ideas proposed, the ability to live forever in a new younger body is enticing, I can only hope the theories crafted will live up to expectations.] [Log Entry 12.25.77. Christmas, not much of a celebration when the most we have is stacking a bunch of tables on top of each other and decorating them with Vault suits and tinsel, but we make due. The Chief of security and I are doing a gift exchange. I'm thinking of gifting him my old copy of Moby Dick. I'm hoping Santa brings me a bottle of bourbon this year.][Log entry 4.15.8. Experiments are going along well, Stage 1 testing is proceeding apace, and we welcomed our newest Resident, the baby Kady. Seems Mrs. Michaels was carrying when she made it into the vault. We threw a bigger party than we did for christmas.][Log Entry 9.7.78 Things have been status quo for a while, I find myself, somedays, wishing for the excitement from before I came here, or at least the parties i used to throw, but the world is not so kind as to indulge me.][Log Entry 3.11.79 The experiments are ramping up, the residents by now know, or, at least, are aware of, the things we are doing behind the scenes. One too many residents have gone missing by now. After all it's a small place, you can't very well lose people in a vault. I'm surprised they haven't rioted] [Log Entry 5.3.79. I'm not sure what I said in my last log, perhaps that the residents weren't rioting? Well I was wrong, I heard rumors of something stirring. I should be aware at all times. I think they are plotting something.] [Log Entry 5.20.79. Another break into the armory, that makes the third this week. Where the hell are they stashing the weapons? There's not many places to hide them! I think the guards are in on it! There's no other way!][Log entry 6.15.79. Am I just paranoid or am I getting weird looks every time I head out for meals? If I so much as leave my office for food The residents stare at me like I'm in some kind of horror movie. I don't know what's going to happen, I'm going to keep a pistol in my desk from now on just in case.][Log Entry 8.9.79 I can feel the tension in the air, they are no longer hiding the weapons, the residents are armed at all times, and so are the guards, and so are the scientists, it's like a mexican standoff and everyone is the loser.][Remote Log Entry 11.12.79. Well, this is it. I am trapped in the reactor room with nothing but a 9mm and the maintenance terminal. The Mr. Handy who runs repairs won't protect me from the mob outside the door and even if they can’t get in, I'm positive the radiation leaking from the reactor will. Im fucked. This is my last log entry. This experiment was a failure. If you are reading this, residents of Vault 42. Fuck your mothers, fuck your fathers, fuck your wives, and FUCK YOU.][End of Log Entries]
There was… a lot to unpack there. It seemed as though riots from human experimentation had caused the vault to implode on itself, though there was a lot left unclear, it seems as though the scientists and guards had failed to quell the rebellion, and thus they left? There were still too many unanswered questions.
Curiously, he opened the top drawer on the right hand side of the desk. One of the log entries had mentioned that the overseer kept a gun in his desk, perhaps it was still there?
And upon opening the drawer all the way, it was! A 10mm pistol lay on its side next to a box of the appropriate ammo.
Adam pulled out the gun, inspecting it, the magazine loaded into the gun was full and so was the box of ammo next to the gun. Well good at least he had a weapon other than a knife now, if he needed it. But his investigation was not over. He wanted to know more about what was going on here, and luckily there was still the log of the Experimental Breakdown he could look at.
[Experiment Breakdown. The initial stages of experiments using the data collected from Second Life before operations were moved into Vault 42 seem promising, I have ideas on how I want this to develop. The Alpha series will be for combat clones, replicated humans grown in vats with specific augments and gene therapy and limited memory implementation. If this series works we can mass produce soldiers with naught more than the energy needed to produce a body. The Beta series is for servant staff. Much like the Alpha series this group will be bred in large numbers for the pure sake of producing a class of people designed for menial labor. Maid work, heavy labor, secretarial duties. This series will be designed for tasks suited for those of lesser intelects. Then lastly the Omega series. Omega series will be split into two types, but the primary focus will be type 1. Type 1 Omega Series will focus on creating perfect bodies for those of value to be swapped into when the experiments are proven to be successful. If it works a scientist could continue their work indefinitely if they swap to a younger body everytime they grow old, VIP’s could be given preferential treatment and given bodies to their liking, we could even custom make bodies for those that want them. The possibilities are endless. Type 2 Omega series is to be a backup in case type 1 fails. Ultimately it uses the bulk of Second Life data to upload specific memories into a host body’s mind, in effect, creating a second version of that person who can live their life going forward, while it is not ideal, as I myself would rather keep on living, If I can live on vicariously through my younger clone I suppose that will do. This seems more viable but it is the lowest priority.]
Once more Adam’s head was spinning, the sheer audacity of this experiment. To try to create humans, human bodies for VIPs to transfer into no less was… insane… However he couldn't deny that they must have been successful to some extent he was… Probably… an Omega Type… and as much as it scared him, unless the scientists had taken his brain from him before they left for this vault then he was… Omega Type 2.
He was not Adam Baxter… he was a genetically modified clone who thought he was Adam Baxter.