FFF - Agree to help

This isn’t good. But you don’t know what else to do. You aren’t especially attached to Shell, but you can’t leave Dr. Curio down here. She’s so important to the Vault. The fact that she’s still alive is incredible, and it doesn’t look like she’s aged a day. You have to get her home, even if it costs you. This is about so much more than your mission now. Her safe return could change everything.

“OK, I’ll help you. But don’t think that you can fuck me over,” you warn.

“I’ll let you go as soon as I don’t need you anymore,” Annette promises.

As she says the words, you hear the distant doors seal.

The lights go out for a moment then come back on, dimmer than they were before.

“We’re on emergency power. Get ready. I’ll open the tanks. You can open the doors when they’re dry.”

It’s strange. Annette doesn’t talk like a robot or an AI. The fluid in the tanks is draining. There’s nothing to fight down here. You dump your equipment and hurry to Dr. Curio’s tank. The door unlocks with a hiss. You climb in and help lower her to the wet floor, pulling the breathing mask off her face and disconnecting the tube.

She coughs weakly.

“How long has she been in here?” you demand.

“A long time. Don’t worry. My solution kept her from aging. Her muscles haven’t even atrophied. It has surprisingly few side effects…”

“Where is there a bed?” you cut Annette off.

“Take her to the infirmary. And don’t be too long. I want to get started.”

Annette is delusional. Helping her is the last thing on your mind, and you don’t know why she’s worried. It’s not as though you’re going anywhere.

The facility is bigger than you realized. Annette is able to talk to you wherever you go, and cameras let her watch you. The place is a bit of a mess, but most things seem at least partly operational and plenty of supplies remain. Annette has not always been alone down here. Where did the people go? You aren’t sure that you want to know the answer to that right now.

Dr. Curio is as hung as you are, and probably a beautiful woman when she’s not wet, coughing, and delirious. You leave her in the infirmary and run back to the lab, where you get Shell free of her vat. She’s a little heavier than Dr. Curio, but not nearly as hung. Her penis is no larger than Shiv’s or Shank’s. From the way she acted, you’d have expected her to be much bigger. She has a nice body, but she has nothing on Melody.

You try not to think about Melody.

Dr. Curio is sitting up as you reach the infirmary with Shell.

“What’s happening?” she asks, shaking her head.

“We’re in trouble.” Your voice is strained from carrying people. You put Shell on a cot and straighten, rubbing your sore lower back.

Dr. Curio swings her legs off the cot, looking remarkably lucid. She is supposed to be a genius, after all. She looks down at her body, then peers around at the room.

“What’s the situation?” she asks.

“You don’t know how you got here?” you reply.

She shakes her head, looking uncertain.

“I think you’ve been here a long time. You’ve been a prisoner,” you say, looking through cabinets for something that she can wear. You find a hospital gown. It’s not much, but it’ll have to do for now. You hand it over to her.

“Whose prisoner?” She sounds wary.

“She calls herself Annette. Ring any bells?”

“No.”

“We’re in a Vault. It’s not like our Vault. There’s an AI that’s got us trapped down here. It won’t let us go unless we help it,” you tell her.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Jane. I come from Vault F, like you.”

Dr. Curio focuses on you, staring.

“I remember you,” she says after a moment. “But you were a child.”

“I told you. You’ve been here a long time.” You go back to check on Shell, whose breathing and pulse are steady.

“Who’s she?” Dr. Curio asks as she gets to her feet, donning the gown.

“Her name’s Shell. She works for something called the Sisterhood of Steel. She’s not our enemy, but she’s not our friend either.”

“I take it you rescued me,” Dr. Curio says, looking you up and down. “Jane.”

You take a deep breath. “Not yet I haven’t. We’re still trapped down here.”

“Thanks all the same.”

You gaze at her. “I can’t believe I’m meeting you. You’re a legend back in the Vault.”

“Really? How interesting.” Dr. Curio puts her hands on her hips and looks around curiously. “You’re right. This is no Vault. Too old. But advanced for the time. Impressive.”

“These people took you prisoner.”

“I wonder why.”

“Something to do with penises,” you tell her.

“Doubly interesting.” Dr. Curio approaches Shell curiously. “Pretty girl. Looks like she’s lived a hard life.”

You join Dr. Curio in admiring Shell’s slim body with its array of scars.

“She’s tough,” you say.

“You must be as well if you’ve left home,” Dr. Curio remarks.

Tough, sure. Smart? That remains to be seen.

“You’re ill,” Dr. Curio observes. “Or mutated. I can fix that for you.”

“Are you ready to get started?” Annette interrupts cheerfully, her voice coming through the speaker on the camera above you. You have just met Annette, but you know her type. She won’t be ignored.

Shell is still ****. Someone should stay with her. One of you needs to placate Annette.

Should you stay with Shell? Or should Dr. Curio?