Chapter 1 Rosie

“Shut it down! Shut it down!” Rosie bellowed louder than the malfunctioning constructor frame that just limped its way into the repair shop. She cursed under her breath and scowled at the moron driving it. Who’d managed to rupture the pistons down both oversized, powered arms. Leaving the tall, mechanical exoskeleton needing a full rebuild from the waist up.

The truth was she didn’t care about the damaged frame, not even a little. She wasn’t even angry at the idiotic operator, she was angry at John. The love of her life and the only true friend she’d ever had in this awful place. Trapped deep below the ground, working every day to build space they didn’t need for a future they would never see.

They’d barely spoken in the last month, a new record for them, all because John wouldn’t listen. And now he’d set the plan in motion, using her code, unaware of the changes she’d made in the last month. She planned on telling him. Even though that meant also telling her partner that she’d been hacking his pipboy wirelessly, for years. Starting long before writing the code to breach the door that kept them trapped in the Vault. Trapped under the earth, trapped by a lie. A lie reinforced all day, every day, by the faded posters on the dull steel walls, and the degrading recordings blared over loudspeakers. All under the Overseer.

Rosie busied herself by trying to look involved in the repair work despite having no intention of being here to finish it. It wasn’t hard, she’d basically worked on automatic for years. Her small hands rewiring and rebuilding broken parts or machines. Fuelling the pointless expansion of the Vault into the surrounding caves. All while her mind ran through idea after idea to get out.

In the end, the inspiration had been simple, and not her own. As they prepared for their escape John and Rosie climbed through the air recirc vents'. Learning there was no future for everyone they ever knew. Not with the state of the fan blades and main oxygen generator. It didn’t take her long to figure out why, the relentless pace of expansion.

The dust created by the rocks John broke, along with hundreds of others. Twelve hours a day, every day, till he could barely stay awake, had been like rubbing the hard wearing fans with grit paper for years. Ever so slightly wearing the precision contours and angles unevenly, compounding the problem further.

This got John on board with her plan of escape quicker than she hoped. Although only after she’d hacked ninety per cent of the Vault systems. Including the stock check, which showed no replacements. Then faking work orders, and checking the massive store room, in person, despite the risk.

That had been the inspiration for her esc code. When John hacked the storeroom door and tricked it into a fire safety test to get it open. Easily done by changing the time and date on the access terminal. Simple subroutines left relatively unprotected by the basic operating system of the entire Vault. He’d set it a week back, Rosie knew she’d have to set the vast, round, door back further than that. But she knew the spark of idea John gave her would work.

After that moment of genius from the man everyone but Rosie took to be a dim bulb, the code fell into place. It took years of attacking the virtual vault door. One of the jet black devices running the simulated door, with another running the hack against it. After learning from every failure, Rosie finally cracked it, then the arguing started.

Her plan had always been simple. Tell people the truth over the loudspeakers that lied to them their whole lives, wait until there’s trouble. Use the distraction of Vault Sec thugs cracking skulls to get out. Only she’d grown tired of waiting. And thanks to the raw processing power held within the jet black devices they wore, she could cause more than enough trouble.

John refused. He wouldn’t even entertain the idea. His will harder than the rocks he broke all day. Leading to hushed shouting matches in what little time they had together.

It really bothered him, Rosie never understood why, not really. She’d always planned on telling as many people as possible, giving them an option. After that she found tough to care about these morons.

Nothing they did made any sense, you only had to look at the map, even the fake pre-installed map, and it jumped right out. There was more than enough space already. They weren’t building for the future, they were being kept too tired to fight back. So those upstairs could sit on their comfy seats and eat their precious fucking apples. She’d tried an apple once, half an apple, once.

In the end she’d told John he should stay behind. Hoping to snap him out of whatever notion he’d got into his head. Not thinking he’d actually agree, and heart broken when he did. She thought about that moment now, realising the look on his face. The same look she saw as they passed in the corridor, he’d decided to go alone instead.

In a little over an hour the vast, Vault door would open, and stay open, till someone in charge noticed. Finding her barely hidden signature, forcing them to talk to her if they ever wanted it closed again. Giving her the perfect opportunity to broadcast the truth to everyone else, before making her own escape. If John would have just listened they could have gone together. Instead he chose to protect people too ignorant to see the truth right in front of them, and chose to leave her behind.

She couldn’t be angry about that. It would be easier for her to slow things down with her command of the Vault systems. And she knew that in his way, he just wanted her to be safe. Besides, Rosie had plenty to be angry about, she wasn’t going to waste that on the only person she cared about.

Things in the repair shop progressed as usual. Broken machines came into the long, open, corridor at one end. Found an empty bay, and stayed there till someone fixed them. All so they could go back out the other end, reasonably repaired. Returning to helping keep people too tired to fight back.

Rosie hated it. With her athletic, five foot eight build, small hands, and keen eyes, she was ideally suited to the predetermined life. Thanks to that stupid test every child in the Vault took. Although what it didn’t tell the people in charge, what crude questions with multiple choice answers couldn’t even begin to define, was Rosie’s intelligence.

By the time she was issued with the jet black device at the age of ten, she already understood more than anyone she knew. With access to the Unified os anytime she wanted her understanding of coding grew exponentially. The more she coded, the more the device taught her. Five years later she'd hacked enough systems to map the entire Vault. Including the vast door they left out of the pre-installed version, she had to see it.

Rosie thought about that day often. Remembering her excitement turning to rage as she stepped onto level one. Seeing the luxury they lived in. The simulated sunlight, the shining floors, the spacious rooms. The very opposite of how she and John were forced to live.

Her act of rebellion didn’t stop at trespassing. She stole an apple from the cafeteria, real food, not the tasteless protein bars. It took all her discipline to carry it all the way back down to level six, but she wanted to share it with John.

The pipboy contracted on her arm with a notification. John made it to the door, she knew he would, and he’d uploaded her ‘esc’ code. Rosie walked out of the repair shop. Ignoring Waters and his idle threats of reporting her for negligence. Blanking the mush brained, gawking dullards she despised. Knowing this was the point of no return so she may as well watch her code in action, or as close as she could get.

Rosie footsteps echoed through the oppressively low corridors she'd spent every day of her twenty five years in. She couldn’t remember a time she didn’t hate the dull metal. The repeated patterns. The harsh fluorescent lighting that buzzed constantly and made her headaches worse. Her anger stayed close to the surface. She wished that John hadn’t gone without her. She wanted to see her masterpiece in action, but watching the mirrored screen on her arm felt like enough. Even if she had to hide in the toilet to do it.

Her code ran. Drawing in power, air, coming to life before her eyes and high above her. She picked out the dates being altered. The false commands tricking the system into run a simple test, than she saw it, knowing John saw it too.

*Main door cycle: y/n?*

After what felt like an hour Rosie watched as John hit yes, and then presumably left, out into the world above. Rosie tried not to feel abandoned, betrayed, robbed of seeing her creation defeat the barrier that kept them both trapped down here. She couldn’t. “See you soon John.” Rosie said to herself, focusing on her own escape instead of slapping her partner across the face.

With the exception of John, who she loved dearly. And her childhood friend Dutch, who she hadn’t seen in almost a decade, but vmailed almost daily for more than just creating a backup of her code. Rosie despised almost everyone she’d ever known. Saving white hot core of her contempt for those in charge, the liars, stupid liars at that.

She walked the empty corridors. Double checking her locater was on, it was. And still these morons either hadn’t noticed the vast door was wide open for the first time in almost a century. Or they couldn’t even crack her barely concealed signature.

She needed them to get her up there. If Oversight ordered a full lockdown it could make getting up through the five levels above near impossible. Certainly slowing her escape enough to put distance between her and John. She didn’t like the thought of being alone out there any more than John being alone.

The children’s stories she knew were lies implanted fear of the outside in them from an early age. Giving them both nightmares for years. Yet the idea that killer robots actually existed seemed far fetched. However the idea that wolves lay in wait to tear people apart seemed all too real.

Rosie walked the corridors. Let her barely shoulder length hair down, undid the laces on her boots that were too big, even running. Breaking as many rules as she could think of to somehow how draw Vault Sec down on her.

The code ran, infiltrating systems on every floor. Preparing to seal off level one. Trapping the Overseer in his undoubtedly comfortable office. The code did everything her near total access allowed. All except connecting the loudspeakers on every floor. Only the Overseer's pipboy could do that, and she’d never been able to get access. It would have been easy to open the Vault door with that kind of access. But even the morons that struggled to send vmail knew better than to add it to the main network.

After two hours waiting to be detained by security. A feigned attempt to hide. And another four hours left sat on a stool in a stripped out room on the Med deck, someone with real authority came to her. The balance of power shifted in Rosie’s favour for the first time in her life.

The older man before wore the same blue vault-suit as her, but he looked healthier. His skin flushed, his blonde hair thick and glossy, his waistline not the one of a man who lived on protein bars. The opposite of her pallid face and brittle hair. She wanted to punch him then and there, knowing he’d have to take it, then still have to deal with her. Rosie held back her anger, confident in how to play this, plus John already had a six hour head start.

“Do you know why you are here?” Rosie heard the same tone she’d heard for years, arrogance, entirely unearned.

“I walked out on my shift, I’m sorry.” Rosie played her part, the dutiful resident, the proud worker. It made the bile rise in her throat.

“Six hours ago the door that keeps use safe opened, and stayed open.” He sounded worried, she had to mask her delight. “The code used to open it was written on that pipboy…by you.” Took you long enough to work out, she thought, morons.

“He lied to me, I’m sorry. He told me that it was to open the store room. We just wanted to spend some time together on our own.” She couldn’t believe this moron bought that, but he seemed to. Clearly he knew nothing about coding.

“You mean Blake, he abandoned his duty, putting everyone at risk.” Rosie saw this idiot really believed John had a duty to break rocks twelve hours a day while he sat on comfy seats eating fucking apples. She covered her face and pretended to cry, it was that or start punching.

“Please, if I can access the terminal I can close the door.” The blonde man turned and beckoned her to follow him. Thinking those beneath him shared his attitude. Rosie bit her lip to keep from smiling.

Flanked by Vault Sec thugs, the well fed man led Rosie to the vast Vault door. Leaving the terrified guards in the immense storeroom, too afraid to even get close to the outside. Rosie tried her best to mask her true feelings. Her excitement at cracking the code locked door. Her contempt for these wilfully ignorant morons, too cowardly to even consider reality. And her deep worry for John, six hours ahead of her, out in the world.

It took minutes to reach the front freight elevator. Far quicker than the first time she reached the door, and without climbing through vents or long ladders. She saw fear rising in the well fed man as the elevator climbed, then it stopped and the doors slid open.

The dead appendage of the Vault looked completely different to how she remembered. Once dark, dominated by a vast black circle, now filled with warm, real sunlight, the door wide open. Rosie played her part well. Scrolling through irrelevant system diagnostics on her pipboy. Pretending to be afraid of the world she planned on running into as soon as possible. Acting as if her partner betrayed her. Which came easier than she thought, maybe she did have mixed feelings about John’s choice.

Rosie walked right up to the vast door she’d opened, remotely at least. Free to smile broadly as the well fed man stayed back, literally shaking in his boots that actually fit his feet, unlike hers.

“Ok, I know what the problem is, and I know how to close it.” She could close the vast door with a few clicks, but that wouldn’t help get the truth to those below.

“What do you need?” The well fed man looked relieved, eager to go back to his comfortable life.

“I need a sharp knife, a crowbar, and every speaker in the Vault connected to a pipboy.” His face dropped. She knew it would a tough nut to loosen, granting the kind of access usually reserved for the Overseer. “When that bastard opened the door it broke the rock outside. Little bits of which have fallen into the mechanism, jamming it up. We can shake it loose if we get some low frequency noise into the structure.” Rosie had done something similar with a jammed door frame during her Ms Fix It training.

The creative thinking saved a full rebuild, and earned her a week on shit detail for unauthorised use of Vault equipment. Along with another three weeks for throwing a hammer at that jobsworth Waters. The only thing that made her month in organic recyc bearable was John, who got himself sent there by walking off shift. She loved him for that. He never wanted to break the rules, he did it for her.

The well fed man paced back and forth inside the security booth, weighing his options. Rosie gave him a little push in her direction. “We could get a team of rock breakers up here with hammers, ten or so should do it.” She knew that would be a terrifying thought to people who didn’t even put the door on the map.

“I’ll have the equipment sent up, you’ll have your access.” He typed something on his clunky, drab, pipboy then sat down. Rosie’s keen mind worked out who the well fed man must be. He didn’t vcall anyone, he didn’t send a vmail and wait for a response, he made the decision himself. There was only person with that kind authority. The Overseer. The man at the very top, the man responsible for the life she and John were forced into, and they were alone. With weapons being delivered to her.

Rosie broke out more pretend crying that actually became real as she thought of John put there in the unknown, by himself. Further away from her than he’d ever been. It made the Overseer uncomfortable and he gave her a moment alone in the security booth. Just enough time to check her jet black pipboy, seeing her code had seeped into the doors on every floor. Trying to think about the chance to exact revenge on the man she hated.

The elevator arrived with the tools dumped in the centre. No one brave enough, or allowed, to come and see the open door. Rosie set about stripping wire from a fuse box. The Overseer had more sense than to give her the knife. Which meant he began cutting away the sheathing to get the copper core she needed. It took him a long time, which made her angrier. What they did on level six was undoubted useless but whatever they did on level one didn’t even teach them practical skills.

Rosie wrapped the crowbar in the copper, connected it to the stripped down fuse panel , turning it into an electromagnet. Even that seemed to surprise him. More so when it generated a low frequency hum as he passed an open communication channel near it.

"You're sure this won't broadcast anything else?" Rosie nodded, marginally impressed he asked.

"Your mic won't pick up anything that low frequency." She didn't lie, she just didn't mentioned her mic would be patched in.

Working the pipboy blindly behind her back Rosie triggered the full lockdown. Every door locked tight, every pipboy set to receive only. Then she began to ask questions of the man who controlled all their lives.

“It’s working, we’ll have the door closed soon.” She saw the relief on the older man’s full face. “It’s lucky there’s not more radiation, hardly any in fact.” Rosie knew the thousands below her feet would be listening, conditioned to do little else. Eyveryone would be stuck where they were, locked in, no way for Vault Sec to shut this down.

“It’s not like this everywhere.” But it’s like this here, she wanted to scream at him.

“But we could at least try and explore, maybe there are people out there.” She tried to sound passive, meek, but her anger built.

“Rosie, you’re a smart girl, I don’t know why the hell you’re on level six with the grunts, but these people aren’t ready to go outside. They need structure, a purpose, a future to believe in.” The arrogance of the Overseer just proved to be his undoing. Everyone heard that, she’d forced them to, just like the well fed, lazy, ignorant man had forced her to listen for years. Only they heard the truth for the first time, and she wasn’t finished yet.

“But what about the air vents, the fan blades, they’re failing and there are no spares.” The last of Rosie's good resident routine began to run out, her burning anger showing through.

“Trust in the Overseer Ro—.” She snapped. Snatching the foot long crowbar bar from the panel and striking the arrogant, cruel, liar across the face. Knocking him onto the floor with a crunching crack. His nose broken, blood pooling at the back of his head, soaking his healthy blond hair and turning it redder than hers.

Rosie’s temper had gotten the best of her again. It was one thing to be lied to all day every day by anonymous broadcasts. Having the person in charge lie right to her face proved too much. Now the Overseer lay bleeding at her feet, quite possibly dead. She didn’t have time to panic. The sound of the people cutting through the door to the secret escape tunnel with acetylene torches meant she had to move.

Rosie hacked the Overseer’s pipboy. Finally able to fully access it with a direct connection to the four pin plug. The security wasn’t any better on the device, despite it being indirectly connected to the main network. It took mere seconds to breach it, rip the authorisations and crash the os.

The question became who to send it to. Rosie didn’t have anything close to friend beyond Dutch, who wouldn't cope with the pressure, and John, he’d know what to do. So she transferred the authority every system in the Vault to his friend Rick. Not knowing and not really caring, but trusting John to be a better judge of character than her.

Rosie grabbed the retractable knife and the blood stained crowbar and bolted for the open door. Turning to connect to the outer terminal, seeing John hadn’t from the dust on the screen. She set the main door to close just as Vault Sec breached the room. Shouting at her to stop as she ran out in to the sunlight. Free from their orders, free from the lies, free to be something other than a repair shop worker.

The light forced Rosie’s eyes shut, sending her blindly stumbling into the new, old world. She heard the vast door screech as metal scraped against. Finally closing fully with a deep clunk, silencing shouts of concern for the man she may have killed.

Rosie stopped, feeling the sunlight on her ashen face. The wind blowing through her shoulder length, brittle, red hair, all for the first time. Then she forced her eyes open, seeing a sheer drop mere inches from her feet.

For a moment she feared John had fallen. The scree looked fresh, no doubt triggered by the weight of the vast door rolling open. A quick scan showed John to be out of range. A good sign, that gave her confidence. Although it didn’t help her get further than few feet past the door that held them both back all their lives.

Rosie took a few minutes to adjust to her new reality. Trying not be angered further by the breathable air. Feeling little for the man she may have just killed. If the Overseer had been honest neither of them would have been in that security booth. With her eyes adjusting to the warm light she looked out from the cave high above new, old world.

Below her lay great swathes of blood red leaves sprouting from living trees. Row after neat row of houses, all in varying states of decay. Larger buildings beyond them. Rosie’s sharp mind deduced they must be some kind of manufacturing facilities. And there, on the horizon, the slightest trace of something tall. The only thing possibly high enough to broadcast a signal from. Rosie knew John would have made straight for it, heading west.

For someone who'd never been this far away from another person, the idea of finding a single man in all this space seemed an impossible task. Although opening the vast door seemed equally unachievable once. Now she stood beyond it, with no reason to ever go back. She took comfort in the jet black device on her arm. The very thing that helped her do the impossible before, and would again.

Rosie had never felt so lucky to have the sleek device. Instead of the clunky, oversized, low powered versions everyone but her, John, and Dutch had. She’d always thought John’s father had something to do with her getting one. Not the woman who called herself her mother. The only thing she ever cared about was huffing solvent. John’s father felt like her only parent, she missed him as much as John did. Now she missed them both.

Not wanting to linger on the past, Rosie set the mapping pulses to automatic. Set a subroutine to scan for John’s jet black pipboy, out here in the world, then set to solving the more immediate problem. Getting down to ground level.

With the only path away from the Vault she hated impassable, Rosie decided to climb the rock face up and over. She’d kept up with her childhood gymnastics, practising any time she could. That, in conjunction with the generally lifting and carrying of a Ms Fix It, not to mention the strength in her grip, made her believe she could make the twenty foot climb. But not in the steel toecap boots that were at least a size too big, as always.

Rosie's quick thinking found a solution and she set about cutting away the hard wearing rubber sole. Trimming it down to actually fit her feet, then securing it tightly with the laces. Knotted and pulled through slits in the sole, wrapped and pulled taught. Somewhat syrprisingly, it felt quite comfortable, and ideal for picking out footholds in the craggy rock face above.

With the crowbar for extra grip, Rosie started to climb. Methodically finding each hand and foot hold. Testing the strength of the rock before shifting her weight further up the light grey surface. Focusing on her breathing to stay calm.

After what felt like hours, but could only have been minutes, Rosie threw the crowbar over the edge and hauled herself up after. Instantly rolling onto her back and staring into the surreal endless blue above. Trying to make sense of something that went on forever. She had to close her eyes to keep from throwing up.

A few minutes of deep breathing eased the burning in her muscles. Rosie staggered to her feet, staring out, rewarded with a stunning view that brought tears to eyes that only ever saw dull steel. The warm light glinting off the tarnished metal structures. Shimmering, winding, curves that could only be water. An even better view of the tall broadcast tower. All hemmed in by rolling hills, topped with burnt white sticks that were once trees, and that was just the west.

As Rosie turned she saw more of the houses. Taller red brick buildings. A large rectangular structure that looked more ornate than everything around it, dominating the surrounding area. Connecting it all running along the centre lay a wide, straight, black line. Running east to west, intersecting with other lines crossing it, dotted with metal squares. To the east behind her, a way down, leading into a patchwork of concrete squares of collapsed ruins. She wanted to stay here for hours, just staring out over the world denied her. But John already had a head start, and she wanted to see him more.