Dweller from Vault 00 Part 1

A Vault Tec scientist, when asked about the use of the Vaults and their ability to protect those inside of them by a younger colleague once answered with a smile, "The Vaults were never meant to save anyone." This comment was later stricken from the record and the young scientist who asked the question in the first place disappeared shortly afterwards.

Vault 00 was a Vault designed to help figure out a way to genetically alter a woman's womb while she is pregnant, ensuring that the children she bore were the perfect human in every way; a shining beacon of humanity and perfect for repopulating the world. Fifty couples were chosen to enter Vault 00; all of them young and fertile. An Overseer was elected into office and allowed to govern the Vault for four years before an election was held for a new one and the Vault was properly equipped and ready to easily handle five times the amount of people originally chosen and placed in the Vault.

There were scientists in the Vault too…and it was they who were truly in charge. The Overseer had no idea what the true purpose of the Vault was and so the scientists from Vault Tec worked under the woman's nose, waiting patiently for people to become pregnant; slipping fertility drugs and aphrodisiacs into the food to speed up the process.

Whenever a woman became pregnant, the scientists went to work. They immediately took the women under their care, assuring them that the constant checkups were solely to make sure that the child growing inside of them was healthy and safe. What they failed to mention as they put the women under was that they were injecting the fetuses with various chemicals, working to change and alter not only the fetuses but the women's wombs themselves.

Nine months later the first set of twins was born to a woman who had believed she was only carrying one child. The first born was perfect, ten fingers that moved, ten toes that could support the body, two eyes that could see, a mouth that shrieked when the child was lightly slapped, ears that could hear, and a nose that could smell. The scientists were glad of the baby's health from the start, silently congratulating each other.

The second child however…was not born as perfectly as his older sibling. He was completely blind and both of his legs were grossly shriveled and useless. His parents were greatly distressed by this and worried that the child would not be able to survive. They were assured however by the medical staff that all care would be taken to protect the child and that the Vault's large amount of supplies were a clear promise that he would not be considered a burden to anyone.

The first experiment was a success.

Urged on by this, the scientists began to push their research and experiments further. The head doctor convinced the Overseer that the only way to protect against any more children being born with such defects would require more examinations by the staff of the Dwellers. The Overseer agreed to this and the staff began to work around the clock, putting their plan in motion.

The Vault Dwellers did not know it, but their exams were far more than simple exams. Drugs and chemicals were injected into their bodies, changing the men's bodies so that they produced a larger amount of strong sperm and altering the women's bodies to make them produce more eggs, increasing the chances for twins to be born.

And twins were born… slowly but surely the birth rate of twins began to rise and the Dwellers began to notice a disturbing trend; one child was always born perfectly normal and the other…the other child always suffered from physical and mental retardations of some kind.

The scientists struggled to calm down the Dwellers' fears, waving away their concern and claiming that there must be something foreign affecting them in such a way. Perhaps there was a leak somewhere…

But the Overseer was done listening to them and a search was ordered of their labs. They protested against this but no one was listening to them anymore and they were forced to watch as their true research was revealed and read aloud to all of the Dwellers.

It was here that the people learned of the terms "Gifted" and "Wastebin". The "Gifted" were the children born perfectly healthy and normal. They were of a superior genetic make-up and carefully designed to be an ideal American citizen in appearance and mental ability. The "Wastebins" were the children given the leftovers, the recessive and harmful genes the "Gifted" were able to avoid.

The Vault Tec scientists were killed for what they had done to the Dwellers of Vault 00 but their legacy lived on. As the Dwellers read on they learned of the experiments conducted on all of them during their supposed physical exams and found that the results could not be reversed or changed. They passed this down to their children and unless they strictly stopped all sexual contact with each other, the Dwellers were forced to deal with the fact that all pregnancies would end with the birth of twins; one healthy and one disabled.

This brought up a disturbing question for the Dwellers; what were they to do with the disabled? According to the scientist's reports, they had planned to euthanize the so-called "Wastebins", finding their existence to be a simple annoyance. The idea of killing another human for such a reason however disturbed them and so they looked for another way.

The Vault was designed to take care of many people…the Dwellers did not want in food, water, shelter, or clothing. They had everything they needed and so the choice was clear; they would take care of their disabled children and when they grew up they would teach their children to care for their siblings just as they did. There was no need to treat them any differently.

In this way, Vault 00 thrived for many years. Those the scientists called "Wastebins" lived their lives just like the others and some it was discovered were only disabled physically, retaining their mental abilities despite their physical problems. The Vault lived in peace, the door sealed to keep them away from the outside world and their vast supplies helping them to survive the birth of twins.

Little by little however, the attitude towards them would change…and the roots of resentment would start to take hold of people's minds and hearts. The terms "Gifted" and "Wastebin" began to be used to identify the children and adults and slowly but surely the "Wastebins" were forced to live separately from the "Gifted", locked doors keeping them away from the ones that had promised to help them.

It was in this Vault and during this troubling time that a boy named Clarence Martin and his brother Paul were born to two disabled parents; a mother named Maggie born without eyes and missing her left ear, and a father named Jon, unable to speak and slow to learn new concepts.

The boy Paul was the "Gifted" one; born with two cornflower blue eyes and a mind sharp and ready to learn.

Clarence was the "Wastebin"; born missing his right eye, the left one the same color as his brother's and with a mind slower than his father's.