“Oh good, you’re up. Was afraid I would have to wait several days like that last one I got.” The elderly man says as he looks up from his clipboard.
I take a few seconds to process his words and take a good look to see if I recognize him. Not out of any familiarity, but rather due to the fact I am having trouble remembering anything over the past day, everything appears to be a fuzzy mess. I was about to ask him where I was but he beat me to the punch.
“So now that you are up and seem to be able to hear me, you mind telling me who you are and where you come from? Sunny says she found you down by the wells, thought gecko’s had got you until she saw you were intact. If you were just looking for water and are worried about getting caught, don’t be. We ain’t like those parasites who charge you for the ground you walk on, won’t mind if you’re just another man down on his luck.” The man explains though most information he gave just goes over my head.
I didn’t know what he meant or who he was talking about so I just focused on the first questions and decide to answer. They are harmless anyway and might mean he will help me get back home. “My name is Benjen Croker, I live in Reno and was out for a walk last night with some friends celebrating my mates birthday. Last thing I remember is Mark, one of the guys with me, pointing to the sky saying he saw something and then I blanked out.” I explain, talking to myself more than the stranger towards the end.
I am still trying to piece together the situation as I can’t think of any reason why I would be here. The room I am in looks to be made from wood and the only indication of its purpose is the few medical items that rested on a shelf to the side. The place reminded me of this time I visited a friend in Mexico. She wanted to become a nurse and was taking a year to volunteer at this free clinic and showed me where she worked when I visited.
“Reno huh? I think I remember a place like that being up north somewhere in the old Nevada before the war. Got no idea if it is the right place or if there is somewhere else with the name now, only that there likely isn’t one in the Mojave. You from a vault up there then? Oh, sorry forgot my manners there. Names Doc Mitchell, I’m the man people go to get patched up around here in Goodsprings.” Mitchell who I confirm is a doctor introduces himself.
The fact he is a doctor makes sense judging by the stuff in the room but the fact I am not in a hospital makes no sense. I don’t think I had that much to drink, I usually pace myself and never take drugs so I can’t imagine myself passing out, but since I can’t remember what happened that night it is entirely possible I had more than I thought. Though if I passed out then surely they would have called an ambulance or taken me to a hospital in the city rather than what is clearly a wooden house. Since I can’t hear much noise outside we likely aren’t in the city either and that just makes no sense.
“Sorry but I don’t know what you mean by vault? Also, what do you mean you don’t know where Reno is? It’s one of the few cities in Nevada and was where I was when I lost consciousness.” I inquire.
“Sorry son, I vaguely know where you mean but that is only because I saw a few maps of the old world when I was growing up though I have mostly forgotten now. As for thinking you came from a vault yourself, I just assumed from the pipboy on your wrist.” The doctor says with a shrug and points to my left wrist.
I glance to my arm and see that there is something there. A metal object that is slightly bulky, has a screen and several dials. It is kept on my arm by a leather strap with padding between my arm and the machine.
“What the fuck?!” I exclaim sitting all the way up on the bed. While I am trying to process why I have an unknown computer strapped to my arm I realize several things Mitchell said is now feeling familiar. ‘pipboy’, ‘vault’? These words when put together immediately bring to mind an old game that I used to play on the Xbox.
Fallout 3. A game set in a dystopian world where the world which underwent several divergences after world war 2 and ended in a nuclear war. The person you play as is someone from one of the many ‘vaults’, supposed to be bomb shelters to save people in the event of a nuclear apocalypse, spread all over the united States. They turned out to be mostly strange, cruel and even stupid social and science experiments, and the fact they did save some people was almost an accident in many cases.
To summarize the story, you leave the vault looking for your father and end up saving the capital wasteland, or DC in this case. The point is that it should have nothing to do with my situation as I definitely didn’t have this admittedly good replica on my arm before. Looking at the doctor he seemed to be giving me time to have my panic attack, so I decide to take whatever information that I can and try to piece them together later.
“Doctor Mitchell, I am sorry sir but I am having a lot of trouble remembering what happened to me. Could you tell me where I am?” I ask.
“Well son, first just call me Dor or Mitchell, and you are in my clinic in Goodsprings. East of the I 15 and south of Vegas. If you’re looking for a more general description then we are on the border of what used to be Califonia, Arizona and the Nevada, what is affectionately referred to as the Mojave Wasteland.” Mitchell explains patiently.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Shit. While I don’t know where Goodsprings and the I 15 is I definitely know where Vegas is. You can’t consider yourself a resident of Nevada and never gone to Las Vegas. As a 23 year old man I can proudly say I have been twice to the city, once for my 20th and another for my friends wedding. Great times though I would gladly never see those lights again if it meant I could go back to my safe house in Reno.
“Sir, is there a nearby law enforcement office nearby? Or know who is in charge of this area?” I ask tentatively. I nearly ask to use his phone to call the police, but if this is what I think it is, and I pray to god it isn’t, I don’t want to highlight how strange my situation is just yet.
“If you mean a sheriff then we don’t have anything quite so formal. Sunny patrols the town and deals with the occasional troublemaker usually, though with the powder Gangers recently she’s taken it upon herself to organise a militia. As for who manages the area, I suppose we are technically with the NCR, New California Republic, but other than the few times they send someone to collect taxes they don’t bother us. If you really need to speak to them then the closest would probably be the outpost at Primm but I wouldn’t try that while the roads are blocked. I’ll tell you more details later but for now you look like you’re still piecing your thoughts together. Stay here and see if you can think of anything else, I’ll stop by Trudy’s and rustle up some grub. There is some water in the canteen by the bed if you’re thirsty, be back in 20.” Doc says with a gentle smile and leaves the room. I hear a soft noise that is probably the door closing.
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. He didn’t mention the police and if there was a government you wouldn’t talk about them like they are irregular tax collectors. This is looking less and less like Kansas Dorothy.
Fighting off another panic attack I decide to look at the pipboy on my wrist. Though I’m still not certain about my situation, I would put money on the answer, as nonsensical as it seems. I still don’t have the foggiest idea how it could happen other than this being a dream, but if that is the case I may as well act like it is real and if I wake up then no harm done.
Looking at the screen it is already turned on. The screen showed a picture of a vault boy with a percentage at the top which was currently at 100%, and several labels pointing to different parts of the body. Below that was a list with the title ailments. The only ones on that list was ‘dehydration – light’. After taking the water that Mitchell I drank a few mouthfuls and waited. The ailment didn’t disappear so I assumed that if it wasn’t broken then I either didn’t drink enough or it will take longer for the liquid to be processed by my body.
Rather than waste any water or time I put that off for now to test later and move on to the rest of my experimentation. On both side of the screen there is a dial and below the one on the right there are 2 buttons. I press the top one but nothing happens, though when I press the bottom the screen lights up and blinds me for a few seconds. That would be the flashlight. Deciding not to waste the battery I press the button to turn it off and try the dials.
The right one changes the screen to what is clearly the radio station, I only saw the Mojave music station which played old country and what I think is called rockabilly music. Though I usually enjoy this sort of music I need to think so I turned the radio off. Turning the dial again I got something that I didn’t expect but vaguely hoped for.
The third screen had the title ‘PERKS’ at the top and under it was a list of what appeared to be instructions.
* You may choose 5 perks from the list below
* The perks can be chosen at any time but none will go into effect until all have been chosen
* Once chosen the subject will go into a period of 8 hours of unconsciousness where they will not be able to wake and perks will be in effect once woken.
* After perks have been confirmed subject may not remove or change chosen perks.
What followed the bullet points was a list of perks that had descriptions next to them. Some of them were familiar from Fallout 3 like Solar powered, but the descriptions were different. For example that one says that from 6am to 6 pm you will be empowered, and will be healed by 1% for every minute provided you are still alive. I don’t remember a lot of details from the game but I remember this perk gave +2 strength and the health increase was every second not minute.
I guess this means the healing isn’t as overpowered but is still incredible provided I can stay alive, and the boost is more general than just strength. Other perks affected damage which I am just going to assume that in the case of weapons that it makes them more effective, and others affect VATS.
That part is particularly interesting as it gives evidence to me having the VATS system which is a game changer all on its own. Deciding to put the perks to the side for a second I would rather investigate the VATS system.
In the game it was activated by pressing a button when there were NPC’s in my field of vision. But here there is no button on a controller and if Mitchell was any indication then there are no NPC’s either. I turn the dial to see if there is another screen on the pipboy but it just sent me back to the health screen. That means there are only 3 menus, which I find slightly odd.
With the pipboy and my current situation being in a game world I half expected to have a pocket dimension like in the game in the form of the items menu. Also there is no SPECIAL or skill options, nor any indication of an experience bar. In other words I don’t see any level up options or specifically defined physical stats.
Going back to looking for the VATS option, if the pipboy isn’t working then the next thing I try is thinking several words or trying to will it but nothing works. In the end I try just saying VATS.
“VATS” Suddenly everything gains a green tint and the sounds from outside stopped. In my vision appeared a circle with blackened outline and a bar at the bottom right corner with several lines. I tried to look around but while my sight could move my body remained in place, like I was a stationary camera with a 360 degree of view. Thinking ‘VATS’ the world returned to normal.
That was weird. I was not expecting VATS to feel like that, the entire world became silent and I couldn’t move my body. I don’t know for certain if time was stopped but judging from the stopping and starting of outside noise I am going to assume for now. I hear Mitchell coming back in the house so I decide to put off further testing, Perks and pipboy till later.
“Hey there pal, hope you’re in the mood for Gecko kebabs.” Mitchell says as he enters with a covered dish and I settle for my first meal in this new world.