What's Going on?

This is extensively strange. I don't understand anything going on at all! It's like, one minute I'm me, then another minute I'm someone else. I share a memory with this other... presence, and I'm still trying to work out what's going on. I finally realized a few things too. I had a few holotapes saved in my memory banks, from James. He was saying that he was going to use his old Memory Drive from his lab computer, since he was on a shortage of parts. The reason he dropped me off in Oasis is the fact that he hoped I'd never learn of what I truly am. This changes everything. I need to find out where he is so I can ask a few questions. Devs can handle himself, but I heard a few things from a couple of Big Town refugees that he's been up to some bad things. I think he might accidentally steal the thing I'm looking for. A few people have been giving me things for my trip back, I have a new wasteland engineered outfit, a hunting rifle with 6 shots, and a couple of spiked knuckles. I should have left today, but Red, the Big Town medic/engineer is working on a few upgrades. She's making me taller and giving me some artificial hair follicles so no one will recognize me. As soon as she's done, I'm on my way to Megaton. Someone has to do something about the slavers, and Devs and I share a hatred. I hear he has a camera too, so I need to make sure he doesn't take any pictures of me.

I think Red is finishing up with my facial reconstruction, so she's moving onto-- Wow that's tingly. She separated my abdomen. Oh, and if this matters, this is a holotape too. I no longer need to write or speak. I can think and it'll save some sort of text document that can be uploaded to any Vault-Tec Terminal and viewed like anything else. This is actually kinda fun, because if I talk it records that too. I have my vocal receptors turned off for the procedure, but it doesn't mean I know that. I can try to make sound, and my mouth, or whatever i should call it now, will move but no sound will call out. I have a whole new body now that I think of it. I don't really want to get my mind wiped, so I don't have to meet this man in Rivet City. I have some extremely awesome reflexes now that my.. what should I call it? My cell blocker has kept from my abilities, and now I can jump onto buildings without trying. Those slavers are in for a big surprise. I just hope Devs is up for it. What will I do then, though? Live a regular life? Not happening. I'll probably find random jobs to do. Then again, there's still this matter about my dad too.

Next to that, I've still got to come up with a new name. What shall I be called? Red threw around a few suggestions. Harkness, Dave, Shorty, and The Replicated Man. The last one sounds more like a super hero name, but Dave doesn't sound too bad. I'll never really get my mind wiped, but maybe I'll get Red's AI package that can make me forget like a regular person, but I'll never forget everything. I have to leave though, Red's gonna download a few new files.

Loggin' out.. whatever my name is now


[Can I please have feedback? It kind of sounds like I'm begging, but I noticed I either have 3 viewers or one person who views a few times a day. I would really appreciate feedback on if you like where my story is going, or if you want me to change direction. After my story gets to where it gets, I'll be fresh out of ideas. Drugs being illegal, I'll also be out of inspiration. I would appreciate, also, knowing exactly how many viewers I have. Whether regular or getting in the groove, just send me an email or post a comment when you visit.]

Who am I?

Wow. This is the world? I found this book and read it, and I guess it's about me. I... I don't really know what's going on. I have... two memories I guess? I... I remember killing two men, but, one of them said something, I can't remember it, but all of a sudden I was awake again. I'm an android. Some man named James made me, and then ran away from some 'Vault'. I guess He built me somewhere away from there, but he made me in Oasis, Jay's home. My real name is D863-Q1, but I think I'll stick with Jay. I don't really know what's happened, I freed a bunch of slaves in that brahmin, but I don't know what I'll do now. I guess go back to Megaton? I think I can find someone in a place called 'Rivet City' that can fix me. I'll easily be back to just plain Jay. No idea what to do once I get there, but the Journal's been talking about someone named 'Devs'. I think after I do what I need to do about him, I'll head out to find my creator. I need answers.

The town that was next to me, I now know is called Big Town, accepted me when I took out the slavers. They saw what happened, and they think that if I get to Little Lamplight Squirrel maight be able to help me. I guess he was one of my friends, god, it's so hard to understand what's going on. I'm going insane just trying to remember things. I think I can also fix the camera on this PDA I have, it shouldn't be too hard. I now understand how hard it is to live like a human, I think that's what a slaver said, that I shouldn't hide behind false memories. I don't have any idea what's going on, but from what I read in the journal I have to get back home... get back to Megaton quick.

~Jay/D863-Q1

Death on the Horizon

Day 13,

I know it's earlier than usual, but I had to write now. There is some good news, but then there's a lot of bad news. Devs got up and went ahead with killing some of the slavers, but as a couple of them were leaving they caught a glance at me. I knew I didn't have much time until they found me, but I didn't know I'd get captured while I was in Megaton. Simms told me, in a whisper, that he'd come help me, but I don't think I'll be going back to Paradise Falls. I think a few of them started talking about some place called 'Point Lookout', but I don't know. They said I'll surely die there, so I have to get out of here quick.

I'm riding in a bag on the slavers' pack brahmin, so they can't here me. I have a plan, but it's not well made out. You see, I found a knife in the bag next to mine, so I'm going to jump out and them down. There are two of them, and right now we're by that town for adults only, so if they see this happen I might be able to stay there for a while. The other bad news is that about 40 slavers are walking around in Outskirts, buying weapons and are ready to spring. I hope John calls off the attack soon, but either way I feel bad about Megaton.

I know this is early, but I have to go. They might catch me writing.
~Jay

Technological Prowress

Day 12,

[Note: My Print Screen button cracked in half because I was pissed at it, so I won't take pictures for a while. The reason I haven't posted is 1) I got the new Dissidia PSP bundle and 2) Lots of clothes shopping going on that I missed for school. I also NEED feedback, because if I know that people like how I'm making the story go, please email LordSoy@hotmail.com If you have any suggestions, just email me, and I'll get back to you. Also, if you want any of the Megaton Mods featured in my previous post just check out lifeinthewastes.blogspot.com, it's another amazing fallout story written by a friend.]

Dammit! That stupid camera on my PDA cracked, and I used this email function to contact Squirrel. He told me he used the glass from this gun called a Mesmetron, but his camera was breaking all the time, too. Whenever I get the chance, I'll ask Moira to fix it for me. Now, I know it's been a really long time since I wrote here last, but it's been hard for me to stay covered. Simms told the town it was ME that disarmed the bomb after he found out Tenpenny had killed Burke. Now slavers everywhere are following me around. I guess they knew my name, but I heard someone say that Devs was going to get rid of the slavers.

I don't have much time, and I almost found the way to the x on my map, but the thing is it's on top of Simms' house. It's locked at night, so I can't get there until the slavers are gone. I think they found out where I've been hiding, so, since no one knows where I live, I'm staying in my house. I also learned that I'm really good at electronics. I even made a vocal receptor on my own. I leave a bunch of them hidden around Megaton with those spare memory chips so that I can find some juicy information. I have 2 bits down at the bottom, but one of them is really scratchy. The other one is two slavers talking about me, so I'm gonna hide it in my journal. I know I haven't been able to move around much, but from what I heard, I'll be able to walk in the sun.

I also made a small remote detonator, so far I can only hook it up to Weld. I aaaalmost blew him up, but Simms caught me and said robots were citizens too. I disagree, they're our servants, but whatever. He's the boss. I'm trying to find someone to move into my house, too, because unless I have someone over 18 in there I'm not allowed to live there. Simms says he'll take care of me, but I have to leave my house and belongings behind. I have a bunch mof spare junk that I'm not going to leave behind. I hope I find a soluution soon, or it's back to the outskirts for me.

~Jay


(Fig. 1)
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"Okay, here's what we're going to do. I found out that little escaped slave has been hiding in the empty shell of the bomb. I think, when he's asleep, we can jump in there and grab him!"

"Good idea, but really? If we jump in there we'll be stuck! Plus, we're only here for Devs. That's what John said, and if we catch him, we're free to do what we want!"

"I don't know. Devs is a little dangerous. I bet we can hold the kid hostage, and get him to come with us of his own free will"

"What if he left? I heard him writing in some journal as I ewalked past, and the old coot said it was Atom writing us a message. He said he could envision it in his head, and it said something about 'moving back into my house'"

"That was the readiation, man!"

"My brother was radiated, and now he can lift things with his mind. Think, that guy spends HOURS sitting in that pool around the bomb. Something has to have happened."

"Whatever, I still think he's crazy"
[End Playback]


(Fig. 2)
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"Ug----at is why I am where I am now. I needed a drink after today and Gob is always there to supply my n---- sufficient relaxant. But ....



This time was -----ent. This time a --------ere and had a wor------- gave no name or identif-----he did give was an oppo----ty. He said he would pay me handsomely to rem-----aver presence in Megaton. I don't know if it was the ra-----ooze, but I accepted his offer.



I need to think of a------s good to know I will get the pleasure of tearing those slaver's lives asunder. I will never forget what happened at Para------s just the beginning ...."
[End Playback]


[To see full story of Fig. 2 go to lifeinthewastes.blogspot.com!]

Back in Buisness!

Day 9,

Simms let me get a home in Megaton, even though I'm just a little "runt". I disarmed the bomb, I think, and he was so grateful that he gave me 100 caps and a key to a house. I told him I was trying to keep low, that I was an escaped slave tailing a man in the same situation, somewhat. He said that he was perfectly fine with me staying in the house, but he asked me who to give the credit. I told him to tell some 'Mr. Burke' had defused the bomb. 'The shady guy?' He said, and I realized that he wasn't talking about Devs the first time. In a few days, I might make a move and tell him the danger he's in, but now's not the time. Burke left Megaton a few minutes, and, later, I saw his head on a pike in the Outskirts. I think this 'Tenpenny' guy he works for was trying to blow Megaton sky high. Oh well, I feel much better with Megaton all in one piece.


I don't have much to say today, except about the map that was in my pocket. I was scouting around from this weird helipad, and I saw a gun shop up there. Maybe it's a new lead, but also, I think I may be able to buy a gun up there. All I have is some Brass Knuckles, so I won't last long in a fight. I got some pictures to make up for the short entry, so here you go. It's night time, but I just recently got my stuff back. Well, here they are.

The Helipad I spoke of

A ramshackle hard to see roof, built over Megaton

My humble abode

I heard some people talking about cutting out a hole in the roof to put a ray of light on the bomb, showing Atom's love of mankind because he disarmed the bomb, and apparently if you die directly from a bomb it is sinful, opposed to dieing from radsickness.


~Jay

Another Episode of Good Idea, Bad Idea

Day 8,

I made it into Megaton, but Mr. Simms confiscated all of my stuff, except my clothes. I'm writing on a random sheet of paper I caught floating in the breeze. Simms won't give me back my stuff until I've proven that I was well mannered, and he said that he's had way too many refugees, and the shady looking man in shades, whom I suspect to be Devs, earned his housing by doing a job. I'm pretty sure that he didn't get his stuff taken when he came in, but I already have plans on what to do. He said something about the bomb not being disarmed, so I have a plan. I'm going to use Birch's Sap to grow plants into the nuke. I used to do this to frag mines I've set in order to disarm them in case I need to use them again. If I'm right, the roots of the new plants will seep into the bomb, immediately neutralizing the arming mechanism

I'm probably going to do this tomorrow, and Cromwell, some psycho praising the bomb, said if a plant could beat the bomb, he'd convert to being a treeminder. I have 8,000, 000 caps on it, saying that he prays to the bomb even though I disarmed it. Oh well, it's not like it matters. After I found a few books saying 'The Holy Book' and 'The Bible' all over some ruined church, I'm interested in this 'God'. Perhaps he's the reason there are the Children of Atom and Treeminders. I think he comes in many forms and the Nuclear Holocaust was his 'reset button' for the planet. Maybe he got fed up with humans, and figured they needed to start from the beginning. I'll ponder this some other time, but I need to find some sheet metal to sleep under.

OH! I almost forgot, there are slavers crawling all over the place. I need to lie low, or they might recognize me and take me back to Paradise Falls. Lucky me, though, Squirrel taught me all of his tricks. Plus, I overheard someone talking about the 'Temple of the Union', some place for escaped slaves. Plus, Simms said that if I disarm the bomb, I'll get my own house here.

~Jay

Salvation

Day 7,

I made it to Megaton. I don't know what to do now, the map that Maple gave me showed a crashed airplane section, the middle of it, on top of a building. There's an X on top of it, so I'm guessing what she hid for me is up there. I haven't seen Devs anywhere, but them again, I wasn't allowed in. Apparently after dark they don't allow anyone to come in, and because of my treeminder robes Deputy 'Weld' thinks I'm some sort of 'trouble maker'. I was a little ticked off, but I have managed to scrounge up some other clothing around me. On my way to Megaton, apparently there was a little town started by a bunch of 18 year olds. I walked by, but since I wasn't 18 yet they told me I needed to head off to Little Lamplight. I walked off, tired and weary.

The town of Adults

When I made it to Megaton my PDA started saying 'Personnel Detected'. I guess it has some sort of radar in it, but it scared me to death. I fell down right after I figured out it was a Ghoul. He was friendly, apparently he's a guard for Megaton, so I got up. Harold was a ghoul once, before he got exposed to FEV, whatever that is, and apparently got Herbert... I mean Bob, to grow out of his school. It being after dark, though, the Ghoul made me soil my garb.

The Ghoul

And finally, I have pictures of Megaton and my bed in a place called 'Outskirts'.

Megaton (top) My Outskirts humble home (Bottom)

~Jay


[NOTE: School is starting again, and between homework and school itself I may not be able to post an update every day. Though, I will explain made up reasons in the story.]

Race Against Time

Day 6,


I'm changing the way I travel. Squirrel is walking along this ditch with a huge bag of electronics we scavenged from the terminal, and I'm not carrying anything, yet we have to stop every now and then because I'm falling behind. I need to exercise some if I'm ever going to live out here. I could've sworn I saw a giant scorpion while we were walking a while ago, and I mean bigger than a regular Radscorpion. It looked like it was guarding some sort of refrigerator, but that's just crazy. What would a scorpion want with Nuka-Cola?

We're still following that Devs guy, because now I'm sure we're heading towards Megaton. Squirrel gave my PDA the operating system from a Pip-Boy. I don't know where he got it, but he says there are a lot where he comes from. We had to split up our group a while ago, because his home is in the other direction. He marked Megaton and Little Lamplight on my PDA, so if I ever want to go see him, I can just follow my PDA. He told me to look out for 'mungos', but I think he was referring to adults. Before leaving, he handed me a big bag full of the cards my PDA uses to store vocal and picture references. I should now be able to record ~100 hours of sound, and take ~10000 pictures. I might not need to soon, but he also told me how to make my own data cards. He said that I need to take Holotapes apart and take out the recording system in it, and then put that into any terminal operating system chip. I plug that into my PDA, and, instantly, I got recording capabilities. Now I see what I've been missing as a Treeminder. I can also use the makeshift data card as a portable memory drive. He told me to search for some terminal like the one at Paradise Falls in a place called 'The Brass Lantern'. It's supposed to have a program I can use to hack into any computer. That will be helpful.

I hope that someone finds my journal, so that this story can be told to the world. That would be nice. It's not that bad out in the wasteland. Any time I run into some wild animal, instead of attacking me, they befriend me. Sometimes if a Radscorpion attacks me, they'll fight them for me. That's good, because I don't have any weapons. I got held up by a Raider and they stole everything I had except my PDA and my clothes. I had set up camp, so my journal and my data cards were safely hidden. I wonder what happened to the dog John was talking about. I haven't seen it around Devs, so maybe it's been walking further away. When I catch up with him I should ask him what happened with his dog.

Here are some pictures I've taken of the surrounding wasteland,

A dead pack Brahmin, scavenged some knuckles from itThe scorpion I saw

The humble view from where I'm writing

It Gets Worse... (2)

Day 5,

LATER THAT NIGHT


It.... it was horrible. I was woken up from my rest by screaming and the sound gunshots. I snuck out of the house, and climbed atop the rubble of a building. I didn't take pictures, it was simply far too horrible. Too horrible. Lucky was being hoisted onto a streetlamp in some sort of cruel cage. I noticed Lucy rushing this 'Devs' person into the bathroom, telling him to go to the sewers. I figured that Squirrel, Sammy and I could take the same tunnels, and that's where I'm writing you from. Lucy ran back out and was immediately given a collar, she tried to struggle, but she too was hoisted into a cage. I couldn't believe my eyes. These slavers were just horrible... I would've recorded the situation on my PDA voice access, but the last chip was important and Squirrel is still making me a bag full of them to record more things. I'm still trying to find my way around these sewers, and we have to be quiet. We're tailing Devs right now, and if he sees us he might think we're slavers and run too far away. This is a short entry, I'm running out of space on this page. I hope they don't catch us, or else we might not go back to our pens.

~Jay

It Gets Worse...

Day 5,

A lot of bad things happened today. The best it got was a slave escape. The adults managed to get out of their cage, and they didn't bother waiting for anything. They just up and ran when the gate opened. I managed to get my PDA out of of the fence and get a picture of the massacre. Just our luck, Bleak died right outside our pen. Things started getting worse and worse from that point. We didn't even have a chance to get out of here.

We decided to leave Penny, and we were about to leave, but... but that Lucky person the slavers have been talking about came here. He and one his bodyguard, Lucy, went into Eulogy's building, along with someone I haven't seen before. John, the slaver that caught me, started eying him like his new prize and sat up out of his chair. Eulogy and Lucky spoke for a while, and then they parted ways. John caught up with Eulogy as he was going to check on 'The Box'. I managed to grab my PDA and start the recording, which I'll tape down on the bottom of the page. (See Fig. 1) I couldn't hear what they said, and I've been too shaky to activate my playback after I picked up the mic.

Here are some of the pictures I posted today, and I might write another entry tonight, after the look on John's face as he saw the new person.

My PDA


Bleak:

(Fig. 1)
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[Opening....]
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"All I'm saying, is that you get Lucky and Lucy, scare Devs out, and then I go after him!"

"What do I have against Lucky? What would I have against Lucky? Without him, Paradise Falls would fall into a state without weapons!"

"I can get you weapons after I take Devs out. Plus, I don't even have to move, how about that? I'll send some of my slaves out, hand them some Mezzers, and then they can take him instead of me!"

"You haven't answered my question, John, are you hiding something?"

"Look, everyone knows about Lucky. You tried to get a collar on him, and it ended up being a dud. It's not a secret anymore!"

"You think I don't know that? I hear everything that goes around Paradise Falls! I just didn't think my best slaver would believe that. It's true, but no one's been questioning their leader... I expect that a mutiny might start soon, every thinks that I'm a washed up old coot now..."

"I didn't say that Eulogy, no one would think of defying you"

"Oh well. Okay, I'll send some slavers on his tail. We'll get a collar on Lucky, get rid of Devs' damn dog, and catch Lucy on her way out. Plus, they'll be going to sleep soon. I'll send Clover to... keep Devs company..."

"Okay Master Eulogy. I'll keep an eye on him. I payed good caps for my slaves, so don't send em armed with a Fat Man or something that might get them killed."

"Don't worry. If anything you'll lose them to Devs, the weak fools."

"They may be weak, but Devs isn't used to this scenery. He won't last long."

[End Playback]

On the Way Out

Day 4,

Okay, thank goodness this is all done for. I'm writing while we're waiting in the pen for Penny. I managed to convince Forty to talk to Eulogy while he took a step too close to our pen, and that sent him off. Apparently Eulogy won't let him guard the pens anymore, so he's back to the front gate. The collars are off, we established communications with the pen next to ours, so they're escaping too. All we have to do now is wait for Penny to come out of our room. She was muttering something about staying here, so I don't know what will happen....


Also, Squirrel finished his surprise for me. He made me this strange machine called a 'PDA'. It has a camera on it, so I can now get pictures to paste into my journal. He says that there's a voice memo system in it somewhere, I just have to find it. It also has a holotape port, terminal analogue cable, and it tells me what exactly I have with me at all times. Squirrel made his own version, too, so I'll let him take a picture of mine when we get where we're heading. I can't wait until we leave this dump and make it to... well, wherever it is we're going! It has to be better than Paradise Falls, I mean a man murdered a Bartender for giving him a watered down drink! We may have to stay here for a little bit, though, because Penny is getting really annoying about not coming with us. Tomorrow, if she decides to stay, we're leaving her. I also got some pictures of Squirrel's Anti-Radiation Shrooms and the Pen that we stay in.

Anti-Radiation Mushrooms

And our Pen:

Our dilapidated Pen, during the safest time of day

I haven't had much time to take more pictures, but as soon as we make it out of Paradise Falls I'll take pictures of everything I find interesting. I haven't gotten the hang of taking pictures of myself, so it might take two or three days before I can get a picture. I'll probably find a mirror in this Megaton place I need to head towards. I sure do hope that point b in our little expedition is close to Megaton, or I might have a few days' walk ahead of me.

I have little time to finish this message, our new pen guard may have tunnel vision, but he has an extremely twitchy trigger finger.

~Jay



[Author Note: If anyone is interested in getting any of the mods I use in this story or want their character to be mentioned in my story just email me at LordSoy@hotmail.com and unless your character looks distinctively like an NPC, I can't show pictures of them, because I fail at the GECK. Also, links to mods used in pictures will be posted the following day in the form of a new blog post.]

Give my regards to Ellen de Groot

Day 3,

I've been reading this book I scrounged up and somewhere along the lines of Chapter Nine it talks about how these people were exiled, much like me, from their hometowns and would communicate with hidden messages. They would put down on the bottom "Give my regards to Ellen de Groot," which, in their language, could be switched around. The Nazis would censor some messages about how they were living in these labor camps, and 'ellende' in their language meant 'misery' and 'groot' meant 'terrible'. Since the Nazis didn't speak their language, they could pass the message 'terrible misery' without the Nazis noticing. I find it somewhat clever, and I think I could learn a bit from these 'Jews'. I guess being Jewish is a lot like being a Treeminder, some sort of religion. I think I'll try to make my own private language when I get out of this dump.


Good news! Number 1, I found out that other kid's name. He wouldn't tell me, so Squirrel told me to call him Sammy. Number 2, some idiot slaver dropped his weapon that they use to convince people into putting on slave collars, and I turned on him. I managed to get him to connect our pen's terminal to the main network, and we turned off our collars. Now, the only thing standing in our way is a guard named 'Forty'. What an interesting name, but I guess it's normal for a slaver. Squirrel's present he was going to give me needed a few parts from the weapon, so I guess we can't use it on Forty. Maybe, if we're lucky, someone will end up disturbing the peace so that we can escape without notice. I also saw someone rig a few explosives on this... cylindrical tube, I guess, that has a door. Apparently someone is going to go in there and get executed, most likely. Maybe then we can get out and find some sort of tiny opening that will help us out of here.

Our flowers that eat through dirt are grown, and, when it's daylight, will eat a tunnel into our neighboring slave pen. I hope it gets finished soon, because I heard that there's a sewer tunnel leading into some sort of experimentation chamber. They say that there are zombies in there, but I'm the only one Small enough to fit in, except for the kids, but I wouldn't put them through that. They could get killed! I found a small map of Megaton in Squirrel's mattress, along with some sort of brochure for a place called "Lamplight Caverns". It says 'Squirrel' on the back, so I think it's his, but I can't talk to him about it or he'll know I was snooping in his mattress. Penny was sold off to some man named 'Alistair Tenpenny' so I don't think she'll be able to help us at all. She's still here, but she gets to wander through Paradise Falls without penalty. Only thing is, she can only sleep on the dirt, and isn't allowed indoors.


I have to go now, if Forty finds out I'm staying up late, he won't hesitate to sell me to the next industrialized fool from 'The Commonwealth'.

~Jay

Storm on the Horizon

Day 2,

I know it's later than usual, but John came by and tried to offer me a deal. He said that if I became his personal slave, he'd let me free and I could tag along with him on some search for a man named "A3-21". I told him no and he tried to grab at me, but cut himself up on the barbed wire window. I'm writing in the light of the mushrooms that Squirrel and someone else from his home used to make. He said that they cure radiation, so I'm gonna save some of them for when we escape. We made a hose that will water those plants that I made so that they can burrow a hole from our pen to the one next to us, but every time we tell the old man that stays awake all night he babbles on about how he never knew that we were fly swatters. One of the other slaves says that he's losing his hearing through his old age, but that never happened to the Treeminders. Must be the radiation.

Last night for dinner the slavers came by and fed us table scraps, sadly that usually meant the stick and tiny rotten bits of iguana. Squirrel used some of the twigs on my robes to spice the Radiation Mushrooms and we ate those instead. He has a few friends with him, a girl named Penney, and... I forget his name but there's another boy here who usually gets dragged to Jotun's house. He comes back crying, so I think Jotun abuses him. As soon as we get a chance, I'm going to convince someone to go into the head slaver's house. I think he's called Eulogy or something like that. I've never actually seen him, he usually gets someone else to do his dirty work, and there's a Brahmin outside of our pen that will probably attack us if we got out, so I think we'll have to take care of that before we get out. Squirrel also says that he's working on a surprise for me at his home town, so I hope we can get out of here soon.

I found a small lump in my robe today, too. I think Maple slid something in there before I left Oasis. I pulled it out before I wrote today, and it was a note, telling me to look for a town called "Megaton". I'm afraid, though, because John was talking about some pickup he needs to make there, probably some high value slave. I also heard something about a man named Lucky, and his bodyguard Lucy. I think that they're just a slaver and his slave, but from the way they're talking about it... I think Lucky may be in trouble.

I have to go, I hear Jotun yelling at that other boy again, so I should go step in.

Sincerely,
Jay

Exile

Day 1,


My name is Jonathen, but people just call me Jay. I've been searching around for some sort of wire, but I came across this old journal. I tore out the pages that already had writing in them, just a bunch of notes talking about "The New Church". Well, as ironic as this is, I need to keep from straying into insanity, so I'm going to write in this book like I'm talking to someone else. Who knows, maybe I'll find a terminal or holotape for easier access.

Just the other day, some wanderer came waltzing right into our Oasis. Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. I have always lived there along with the other Treeminders. The Great One has always been trying to tell us about how he no longer wishes to live. Everyone has been wondering about how to figure this puzzle out, when along comes some stranger. They simply let him walk in, they didn't shoot him or question him. He walked right over to me before doing anything, probably realizing that I was the youngest, and asked me if I wanted to leave this place and come travel the wastes. He told me his name, and strangely it was the same as mine. I turned down his offer, even though he insisted that I wear this weird collar and join him on adventures. He told me that I'd regret defying him, so I slipped some extra sedatives in the sap he had to drink.

Next thing I know, he convinced our leader to exile me, and in turn all of the Treeminders around me held up their assault rifles, aiming for my face. I had to rush out in order to make it to the gate before I was shot. I saw a couple of my old friends running towards this old shopping center with strange collars on, a lot like the ones that John guy tried to put on me. I noticed him holding this weird gun, and the next thing I knew, I was in some strange cage with a bunch of 8 year olds! I'm 15 and they throw me in a pen with a bunch of brats because of my height? Well, just my luck, there was a kid there that was really good with computers. He found an old terminal in our quarters and all he needs is someone to sneak into the head slaver's house and connect his terminal to the main one.

I was rummaging around in my mattress, and I found this book, so I guess this is all I have. Well, I have to be going, I think Squirrel (The computer kid) needs me to come help him with his fungus growing. He makes these strange plants grow that, when mixed with the right herbs from my stash, can eat through a bucket full of dirt in mere minutes. Too bad the front gate has a cement foundation, or we could break out sooner.

~Jonathen