Part 3

Day 5 (cont.):

I have decided to enter the town. My fever hurts quite a bit, and besides. Maybe they have a water chip.

First I spoke with Seth, quite a personable guy. It seems that the town is being menaced by Radscorpions. Not that I know what those are, but it certainly does not sound good. I'll hazard a guess that they are like the scorpions dad told me about, except... Rad. Maybe radiated? They also seem to have an issue with raiders. So many troubles for such a peaceful place.

I also spoke to a young lady named Katrina. She also came from a Vault! In fact, the very same Vault I am headed towards, Vault 15. She says that it was attacked by raiders, which is why she's in this 'Shady Sands' town. This might put a kink in my plans. But she did say they had a water chip.

I was directed to speak with the leader of the town, Aradesh. He told me about the towns woes, and I offered to assist. Really now, he's such a nice guy, and this is a very pleasant town. I would hate to see it destroyed because of bugs.

I also met his daughter, Tandi. She seemed quite excited to meet someone new. Shady Sands bores her, it seems. I don't see why it would be boring. They have two headed cattle! And easy access to the sun! And there's dirt EVERYWHERE! Plants, too! This place is great. But, familiarity breeds contempt, I suppose.

Something smelled delicious, and I decided to investigate. An irate looking lady was cooking, and did not seem to interested in talking to me. Of course, I know how to win over a cook, and I complimented her cooking. It was by no means a lie, but she seemed quite surprised by this compliment. I won her over, and she gave me a bowl of the stew she was cooking. Fresh Brahmin Stew. I've never had fresh meat in my life, and this was delicious. Wonderfully tender, not salty at all, and quite a change from the rubbery hard dried stuff we have precious little of at the Vault. Fresh two-headed cattle are better then decades old mono-headed ones.

Then I met Ian, a trader. Nice guy.

I then went to look for Razlo, the town Doctor. I did a bit of doctoring back in the Vault Clinic, and looked froward to meeting another follower of Hippocrates. Unfortunately, he did not seem to enjoy meeting me. Granted, it was dark out. Time for him to sleep, I suppose. I did ask him about my rash, though. He said it was a 'Sun Burn" (makes sense), and that I was a big wimp. he then told me to tough it out, and come back in the morning.

Seeing as everyone else was quite happy to talk to me at that time of night, I wandered around a bit, talking to people. As I wandered, I found a small farm! I have always been interested in farms, ever since I was a child singing that 'Old MacDonald' song. Old MacDonald had a farm, Ei-ai-ei-ai-ooohhh... It's a good song. This farm had a farmer, who's name was not MacDonald, of course. That would be silly and contrived. We chatted a bit, and he told me about his farm. Now, at the Vault, we have micro-farms, were they grow soy. He seemed quite interested about that, and I think we both came away from that conversation a bit wiser about farming techniques.

I wandered back towards the entrance, hoping to talk to Seth again. I noticed one of the houses had a light on, so I decided to check it out. All the people here seem so friendly, I doubt anyone who was already awake wouldn't mind a visitor asking vague questions about the town.I went in, but nobody was home.

I'll admit, I'm nosy. Maybe the homeowner was out for a moment. He certainly would not mind me casting a glance about his things. I saw his bookshelf, and one thing in particular. A guidebook.

I had read every book in the Vault 13 library twice over, and the prospect of having something new to read was quite exciting. But the home owner was not there. I could not ask to read it if the owner was not around. The book was quite ratty, and looked well-thumbed.

I doubt he would even miss it...

Really now, he's probably read the thing a thousand times...

...

As they say in the cartoons, 'Yoink'!

I had something to read as I waited for Razlo to sleep and not be cranky any more. Let me tell you, diary. I feel smarter already. I learned a lot from that book. it helped pass the time quite a bit. Also as I waited, of course, I updated you, diary. There still seems to be an hour or two until 'sun rise', so I will nap. See you tomorrow!


Day 6:

Razlo was not much more personable in the morning. He did tell me about the Radscorpions, though. They do not sound like pleasant bugs to tangle with. I am going to need some help, I think.

I went to Ian, and he seemed willing to help... If I had 100 'caps'. Bottlecaps seem to be the monetary system around here. Darn. Nothing I own is worth 100 caps, and I cant think of any other options to get him to help me out. I'm certainly not strong enough to take them on my own. At least not yet.

What should I do, Diary? I can go back to the Vault with the new information about Vault 15. Or I can go on to the other towns, Junktown and Hub, to see if they know anything about a water chip. Or, I can stick around here. I think i'll go hang out with my farmer friend, and think this one over for a bit.

Day 7:

I decided to hang around town for a bit, and see if I could scrounge up enough to hire on Ian. I did not enjoy doing it (much), but I found some more unprotected bookshelves. I found a few things that were pretty worthless to me, so I sold them off in order to get the hundred caps in order to hire on Ian. Now we can take care of those Radscorpions, and help out Shady Sands.

I'm also feeling a lot smarter lately! I think i've learned some neat new things so far. I'm gonna have to take a step back and take a long, good look at my life, and where I'm going with it...