We open below Vault 98; the amber light bathes the brick walls as Erik Holland lifts his former cryo-pod open, vapor falling out as he reaches in a hand and pulls out an ice-cold beer. Ripping the tab off he plants himself down on a lawn chair and continues watching the TV, a mountain of holotapes beside it.
We float up through the pipes and concrete into a tiled bathroom, Atara Raven relaxing with a face mask in a large bath overflowing with bubbles as she sips from a champagne flute, Billie Holiday playing loudly as we pass through the halls, residents mingling, we glide into a refurbished gym. Dolly Waters stands in front of a heavy punching bag as a few people watch while she talks before striking the bag with a forearm following-up with a knee. She gives a smirk throwing her hands to the bag to the onlookers as she takes a step back.
Going again through the halls, abodes on either side as people step in and out, greeting others with a smile, their homes lively as we pass into the atrium filled with people eating and drinking as Christmas lights of blue and yellow dangle from the walls and ceiling. Going up the staircase, passing doors marked “security” and “reactor", the churning of several generators on the other side cutting through the music before we finally arrive at the overseer’s office. Game Girl stands there, her hands on her hips as she looks up at a large, blank monitor behind the oval desk.
Her arm extends, the dull metal fingers clink atop the oak desk while stroking up toward a Pip-Boy bobblehead which she flicks. Her eyes stare at the flailing bobblehead briefly before she looks to her left to the large window overlooking the atrium. She folds her arms with a sigh, her eyes flick between the people outside the window back to her monitor.
“Ma’am?”
Mister Gutsy’s voice rips through the silence as GG jolts up and swivels her head to him.
“Is everything well?”
GG hesitates, her fingers tapping rhythmically on her crossed arm as she looks back to the dead monitor.
“Mister Gutsy, have you ever felt like you escaped a tomb only to be pushed back into a sarcophagus?”
The lens on Gutsy’s round chassis twists inward as he rotates to the window and back to her.
“Literally never, ma’am.”
Game Girl gives a breath of a laugh as she turns around fully leaning up against the desk.
“I did what I needed to do. We helped people; we got generators for power, we syphoned from Vault 99. We built a real community here! Everything I wanted for this vault, OUR home, is happening! … But I feel… Empty still.”
Mister Gutsy raises one of his appendages towards GG, briefly and subtly, before taking it back down.
“Ma’am, I understand your reasoning in not taking the reactor core from Vault 99… But, could this empty feeling be from knowing that what we have here is finite?”
Game Girl shrugs with a slight shake of her screen.
“Maybe? But is that truly a bad thing? Humans are finite. They know one day they will die, heck! The end of the world didn’t stop them from carrying on.” Game Girl pushes off the desk and moves toward the large window. “Is it honestly even a problem that this vault doesn’t last forever? Look at them!”
Mister Gutsy floats over beside GG. They look as the residents laugh merrily with one another, children playing games. Sharing stories, experiences, wisdom, knowledge, jokes! Game Girl’s fingers uncurl as she places a palm on the glass.
“It doesn’t matter if this place ceases to be. It doesn’t matter who joins or who leaves. These people carry a home with them, who they meet is their family, their neighbors. When I left the vault and met Dolly, Atara, Erik… We were ready to go on a warpath! … But-”
An otherworldly image flashes in Game Girl’s mind. She is trapped by ghouls as Dolly Waters gives her a solemn nod. Sebastian Everett-Bryce aiding his teammate. SEB flying through the cage ceiling and Lucy Wylde giving Game Girl a look of pure determination. And finally, GG looking up at a tall and proud Lucy bathed in light as a bell sounds and a crowd roars. The image fades as quickly as it entered.
“We just found another family trying to survive. Their ways seemed wrong to us but they were doing what they thought was right. And they’re still out there, together… Living…”
Her hand falls from the glass as she looks at the hue of green reflecting from her screen in the window. Gutsy gives the robot equivalent to an awkward clearing of the throat.
“I’m - er - Unsure of what to say, ma’am.”
GG gives a slight laugh, a smirk entering her face as she looks at Gutsy and places a hand on his chassis.
“You don’t need to say anything, Mister Gutsy.” She lightly pats the shell of Gutsy who bobs down with her hand. “I don’t know what to say to be honest, I think I’m just…”
She pauses, rethinking her words as she looks to the automaton at her side.
“Analysing the data I’ve collected and working on a thesis.”
Her hand falls away as Gutsy gives a nod.
“I understand, ma’am. Perhaps Robbie can help you pool this data and aid you in reaching a favorable conclusion.”
She nods, a slight raise of her brow with a hint of sadness in her eyes. With a brief sigh she goes to speak again but is interrupted by a jarring, robotic voice entering the office.
“Di-i-id some-bod-eee say_ pool_par-ty?”
Robbie the Robobrain asks as he joins the two, his arms stuck in the air like a marionette.
“Pool data, Robbie, you buffoon.”
Robbie’s turns on his treads to look between Gutsy and GG, appearing visibly more excited than before.
“E-e-e-even bet-TEr! H-how can_I_ b-e of ass-ist-ance?”
Game Girl closes her eyes for a moment and goes to rub her brow but her metallic fingers plink off her screen. Her brow furrows as she looks down at her hand. Gutsy and Robbie have a distant conversation which fades out with the sound of tinnitus as Game Girl rubs her finger along her thumb before clenching into a fist.
“I don’t think I’m supposed to be here.”
She says quietly to herself. Robbie and Gutsy end their conversation abruptly as they look at GG.
“O-ver-see-er?”
“Is everything alright, ma’am?”
GG puts her hand down to her side and hesitates looking at the two.
“I’ve been having these weird flashes from time to time, of things I shouldn’t know about, like alternate realities. Things I’ve done that haven’t happened… Or have happened but I wasn’t present for… But I was also present for… I don’t know and I’m doing a bad job explaining it BUT I just went to rub or pinch the bridge of my nose because I was getting annoyed at the conversation.”
“... Why would you do that, ma’am?”
“Get annoyed or the nose thing?”
“Both, ma’am.”
“Well, annoyed because you’re both idiots. No offense :) . But I have no idea about the nose thing.”
“Hu-mans_ tend to pinch the br-idge of their nose_ wh-en they are ex-per-ien-cing si-nus pres-sure, for head-ache re-lief, stress_or frus-tra-tion, eye-strain, to help con-cen-tr-”
“Robbie, that’s enough. Clearly none of those are what the overseer is suffering from.”
“Well.” GG bobs her head. “Stress makes sense here.”
Gutsy scoffs.
“But ma’am you don’t have a nose, you have a series of pixels resembling a nose and always have and always will. Perhaps you’ve been with humans too long and just picked up on their social cues.”
Game Girl gives a slight nod pondering this as Robbie adds.
“Per-haps you sli-pped in-to_ an alt-er-nate u-ni-verse ala the an-cient hol-o-se-ries SLIDERS”
Game Girl looks at Robbie with a raised eyebrow as Gutsy gives an affirmative nod.
“Or Quantum Leap, ma’am.”
She rubs the back of her neck with a sigh, her eyes glancing to the middle distance before bouncing back on her two comrades.
“I mean… Anything is possible right? Quantum Immortality. Mandela effect… Sliders. Sure, I guess I could be bouncing between realities or maybe I have just picked up human habits thanks to this stupid sentience I got granted.”
“It could be a good idea to mingle with your human compatriots, ma’am, see if they scratch your existential itch.”
GG gives a short impressed nod.
“That’s actually a great idea, Gutsy. Good thinkin’.”
Gutsy lets out a dull trill as he hovers up a little, almost fixing his posture. Robbie looks awkwardly between the pair.
“I wa-a-ass des-ig-nat-ed_ the l0gic-al one for vault nine-ty eight, o-ver-see-errR// . In my o-pi-nion, I be-lieve the best_course of ac-tion would be to0 to foc-us on these flash-es you have been_ ex-pe-rien-cing to see if you_could sliiiide into_ them. It would_truly be a sci-ent-if-ic mar-vel and prove man-y-y-y hy-poth-e-sis cor-rect.”
GG nods again with a sharp sigh.
“I mean, I suppose it won’t hurt to try.” GG thinks to herself for a moment. “Okay, I’m gonna see the others, maybe have a meal! Make it all cozy and go do human stuff. Then I’ll sit in a dark room and think about the universe and its endless possibilities, what could go wrong?”
GG gives a smile to the two as she brushes past them and leaves the office. Gutsy and Robbie watch as she leaves and turn to one another. A silent, one second long exchange is had between the two automatons before they move over to the window and watch the residents going about their day.
As Game Girl exits the office, her heavy footsteps beating off the metal floor drum into a heartbeat. The walls fade, the fluorescent lights dim and the space she occupies falls back into an endless black ocean with only stars illuminating her. She stops suddenly. The robotic chassis around her crumbling away to reveal something almost human, but just off. A cartoonishly large head and big round eyes, azure hair and dressed in stereotypical 90s alt chic.
Game Girl stands there for a moment, her head swivelling around in the space around her. The hues of black rippling amongst the stars as comet trails fly past her. No confusion on her face. Like she belongs here and always has. She finally faces forward.
“Hi Matthias.”
A calm tone exudes from her as a genuine, kind smile crawls onto her face.
“Let me be the first to say this. I’m sorry I referred to you as mediocre in the past when I was talking about the Tunnel Snakes.”
“It wasn’t just rude of me, it was simply untrue. There’s nothing about you that is mediocre. I just wanted to garner a response from you, an interest and that is how this match has come about. You see, Mister Syn, I have a duty here. It’s a job I have fallen away from for a long time but I tend to ebb and flow from this place to a LOT! And that’s putting it nicely.”
“But my job is this.”
“Beating up bad guys.”
“And my, oh my, are you a bad guy.”
“Not THE bad guy. Just A bad guy.”
“I’ve beaten Sebastian Duke who wanted to burn down the Vatican every week, Bobby Bourbon at the peak of his mad scientist high playing the villain on a Saturday morning cartoon, Dolly Waters just having a bad day which trust me is much more threatening than yourself. You’re not mediocre, Matthias, but you’re certainly not special or unique. Not extraordinary nor remarkable. You’re just…”
“... You.”
“Another cog churning against the machine they’ve been placed in.”
“Spouting naughty words like a teenager who discovered the internet for the first time and actually thinking they’re getting under people’s skin by flinging meme insults like a gosh darn school kid. I honestly wouldn’t be shocked if you hit the griddy and said my skibidi rizz isn’t Ohio enough.”
“... Whatever the heck that means.”
“Here’s your whole deal, Matthias, and listen up because I’m gonna blow your mind with how hard I’m nailing your persona right now. You’re a sub-par wrestler pretending to be a hardcore fighter hiding insecurities behind bland insults and trying your hardest to promote this image that you’re a rebel, a sicko, a twisted mind. That you want to be the wolf among the sheep when this place you’re in has seen your kind endless times and will continue to see them long after you are gone and forgotten.”
“The cool kid who can’t fit in and refuses to be part of the bigger picture.”
“The bad A-double-dollar-signs who shows himself with a cool gun plugging holes into someone. The child playing with knives. The wild child handling needles dangerously… That was old when Fuzz did it twenty years ago and YOU ARE doing the exact same thing.”
“Another cog in the machine churning. Crunching. Agitating. But still in that machine that has been going for twenty five years…”
“You are not mediocre, Matthias, you are just another man with a brilliant spark in them being dulled out by doing the same thing as countless people before them.”
“And here’s where I step in.”
“Do I help you ignite that spark?”
“Or am I going to have to snuff it out for good?”
As quick as it entered, the void around Game Girl violently rips away in blocks of pixels and color. GG stands there at the top of the stairs, her metal hand wrapped around the guardrail. Her screen looks around, taking in her surroundings back in the familiar vault. Letting out a panicked breath, her face on the screen shows a bead of sweat.
She composes herself slowly as she takes each step downward slowly into the busy atrium.
“GG!”
Dolly’s voice rings out and Game Girl snaps her head to the source. Waters sits beside Atara, her hair wrapped up in a towel, while they both eat at a table. GG forces a smile and bounces over to her friends.
“Good morning, Dolly, Atara. How are you enjoying the easy life?”
Atara rolls her eyes, throwing out her nails with a delightful flourish.
“Ah, delightful, dove! Bathed, fed and I finally shaved EVERYTHING! I feel like a plucked chicken!”
GG’s eyes widen as she nods her head.
“And this is a good thing?”
Atara nods as Dolly sticks a forkful of pork n’ beans into her mouth.
“Oh you wouldn’t believe how good, like shedding weight without any of that dieting shit.”
“Wonderful to know! And Dolly, how are you? How is the food?”
Dolly swallows and gives a smirk.
“Better than gecko tail that’s for sure. As for how I am? … Okay, thinkin’ bout leavin’ by the end of the week.”
“Wait. What?” GG lets out a nervous laugh as she places her palms on the table. “Is there a problem? Anything I can do? Do you wish to be shaved like Atara?”
Atty points a nail file towards Dolly with a pout looking between her and GG. Waters laughs and shakes her head.
“There’s nothing wrong, GG, this place is great. You built something good here, but the vault life… It ain’t for me. Why I left the first time.”
GG’s shoulders drop. Atara clears her throat and places a delicate hand on Game Girls.
“Same for me, dove.”
GG’s eyes slowly move to meet Atara.
“This is a lovely break and it is so nice… But… You can’t cage a Raven!”
Atara lets out a chuckle as she pats GG’s hand and goes back to filing her nails. Dolly chirps up.
“Erik seems happy in his man cave if that’s any consolation.”
She wipes her mouth with her sleeve and slides the tray away from her as Game Girl’s eyebrows fall. Her eyes are unmoving as she processes everything she’s heard.
“I-erm… I just kinda assumed I’d have more time with everyone here but-” GG looks around the atrium before going back to the girls in front of her. “Everything is finite… This place will cease to be…”
Atara and Dolly share a look.
“GG… You good?”
Game Girl looks up and there’s a long silence before she final nods with a kind smile.
“Yeah… I think I just figured something out.”
Game Girl pats the table before standing up with a sigh.
“I’ve been having these weird flashes in my head for a while. Nothing has really felt right and I’ve been having some weird thoughts about existence and how things won’t last forever and I realised something.”
“I’m not here.”
GG looks around again as Dolly and Atara squint at her.
“Dear, do you need to lie down or something?”
“No. I’m good.” She says matter-of-factly before giving a big smile to her comrades while placing her hands on her head. “It’s been an absolute pleasure being with the both of you and Erik too. I’m so happy you came with me through all this and helped make something great… Even if it didn’t last long.”
“I’m also reeeeallly sorry for doing this.”
“GG what-”
Before Dolly can finish her sentence Game Girl pushes up with all her might and tears the screen off her shoulders with a loud crack. Wires burst out from the neck, sparking wildly. The screen turns black and the body stands there motionless for a second before falling back onto the ground.
“THE FUCK!?”
Game Girl sits up with a sharp breath of life. Panting heavily she clutches her chest and looks at her surroundings. A dingy, dark room. Only the light of a monitor illuminating the bare surroundings. She looks at her hands, turning them over and flexing her fingers. One, soft and flesh. The other, cold and metal. She places her fingers on her face prodding into the chubby cheeks and waving past strands of blue hair.
Calming herself down and slowing her breath, she places her hands on her knees and looks down at the dusty carpeting at her feet.
With one long breath inward.
And a much longer exhale.
She stands moving over to the curtain pulling it back. She flinches, shielding her eyes from the bright light before slowly she adjusts and sees the castle in the distance, the walls of Narfinex city and vast woodlands surrounding them. From her small house, atop a large hill, Game Girl’s tired eyes look at somewhere she tried to forget. With a sigh she speaks with a croaky voice.
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