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[Vikarion]

1.
January 27th, 2077
Dear Nate,
Yes, I did get your last letter, only after I sent mine, of course. I know that the Postal Service is struggling, along with everyone else, so I try not to worry too hard when I miss one from you before I write again. And you shouldn't worry either - we're fine.

I'm glad you liked the photo of Shaun and I. It was a little rushed - I was busy trying to help your parents get to Boston Airport to fly back to California. They wanted to stay longer, but your brother's family is still getting Jim back into walking condition. If you haven't heard from him recently, he's up and around on crutches now - oh, you probably don't know, but the doctors out there managed to save the leg.

Your parents made it back ok, too. They gave me a call after they touched down. I was worrying about another long range Chinese fighter trying to rack up some easy kills on passenger jets, but apparently you decided to take care of that! Ha!

And now we come to the part of the letter you knew was coming. Anchorage is free! Well, just about. You finally did it! I know you'll say "we", but "we" haven't been on the front lines. You are. Your friends are. I wish I could be there with you, too. Well, I wish you could be here with me, I mean. But I think I'd take Anchorage and you over this crummy little apartment by myself.

Nevertheless, buddy, you have also a lot of questions to answer when you get back. I want to hear all about it - where you were, what happened, when, where. I'll take notes. It'll be history some day, along with your stories of Brown trying to cook rations with a microfusion cell and that other guy who tried to dry his boots over the fire with his feet still in them.

Oh, speaking of which, one of the neighbors nearly burned off his rear end with a model rocket engine. One of them with the name like the soup company..."C"-something - yeah, I know. Apparently he had it in his backpack along with some batteries and it went off somehow. Everyone is fine, except for the picket fence that got trampled.

I want to write more, but I'd better go. Have an appointment to keep.

Love,
-Erin

[Vikarion]

February 3rd, 2077
Dear Nate,
Promised I'd write again soon, so here we are. I've been reluctant touch your enlistment pay or my savings, but I really do think we are going to have to buy a car. I'm sending you a few brochures. I know you just said to pick something, but it's not urgent. What do you think about just settling for a station wagon until you get back?

I know you don't like the whole '50s thing that's been hanging around, but I think we're going to have to bite the bullet on this one and just accept it for now. We can always get a new car later, once people stop wishing for the good old days, or at least wish for different ones. Besides, what else can we do? The fashion industry is pretty well shot with the war requirements and makeup is hard to find, though not as hard as it used to be.

The protests aren't as bad as they used to be in Boston. Mass Fusion is everywhere, setting up power stations, and we didn't have a brownout for a week, much less a blackout. The supermarkets are still pretty empty, though - mostly just the preserved crap that we're all used to eating.

I've heard that you are still cleaning out Chinese holdouts. Please stay safe. Any idea when you might make it back?

I am going to do naughty things to you. Many, many things.
-Erin

[Vikarion]

March 10th, 2077
Nate,

I miss you. It was so good to get your letter. And so much better to hear that you are coming home, even if only by September. Shaun is two months old now.

Tired ^{I am I mean} , because I've been doing a bit of cleaning when not looking after Shaun. I'm looking for a job, now, but positions are tight. Until then, cleaning houses helps pay the bills.

There's been more news of food riots. Apparently even some of the preserved food isn't making it everywhere. Everyone is hoping that with the victory in Alaska, China will sue for peace, but no one in the government is talking about any sort of settlement. There's a rumor that our policy is "unconditional surrender", as in World War 2, but I don't know. I hope not - I don't think China will surrender any time soon.

News from the diversionary front (I guess it's the main front now?) is good. They've broken through many defenses with the new power armor and weapons the government was promising for so long, and at sea, our ships are destroying the Chinese merchant marine.

What else is new? Oh, there was some other news, but it'll have to wait until you get back, because the censor would get it.

Kisses, and a hug, too
-Erin

P.S. Someone across the street is moving, so I bought his TV. It's a Radiation King. I know, I know, but Shaun likes to watch morning cartoons while I get ready for the day. Well, hopefully he likes them. He's quiet for fifteen minutes, at least.

I know that you want at least two kids, but I think we should wait between trying for us to regain lost sleep. Four years, say, at least. Or we could get a dog.

To put it another way, when you get back (and I can say that without being presumptuous now, too!) from the military, your early mornings will have not yet ended. 

Much love and zzzzzs.
-Erin

[Vikarion]

April 4th, 2077
Dear Nate,

If you don't write soon, I am going to call you "Nathan" from now on. I mean it.

Since you haven't written, I suppose I will use this opportunity to write down a few thoughts I had after listening to the radio the other day. It was some conservative old fuddy-duddy, started back from 2050 maybe, still running his talk show and his mouth with it. Only one of them I could ever really stand, as you know. And he was talking about how we're only in this situation because we "abandoned our capitalistic principles".

I suppose he's right, in a way. I think this will probably get by the censor, because we've had congresspeople stand up and say as much. That we should have sold oil to China, and the world, even. That oil had been a poison that has blacked our lungs, clouded our skies, and melted the icecaps. That we should always be willing to make a deal. Or that, even though we had all the right to do as we did, "right" and "wise" are two different things.

And now we find ourselves on our eleventh year of war. All of that oil? What good did it do us to hoard what was rightfully ours? Now it's been used to power Chinese tanks and trucks, and when recaptured, every last precious drop used to energize and supply our own vast military machine. And all the microchips, and electronics, and nuclear cars and fusion power plants we were going to get? How we were going to boost ourselves into the next generation of technology? Well, that became explosives and jets and rockets and bullets.

You're right. We owe the Chinese a debt of blood for that, at least. What did they think would happen? Capture Anchorage and the last oil fields on the planet and we'd be all "oh, ok, sure, it's yours now"?

Isn't oil just a bit creepy, though? Like, two centuries ago - yes, a history lesson. Sorry. But in the Gold Rush, in California and - yeah! Alaska then too - people would kill each other for their claim, or their gold. With oil, nations kill each other.

Speaking of which, regarding the, uh, "virus news", there's been rioting in whatever is left of Germany over our "superman project". They aren't buying it as an anti-bio-weapon program. Of course, they haven't had to deal with New Plague, have they? No, they pretty well managed to destroy themselves without it, didn't they? Well, themselves and the Middle East over - yep, black gold. Who even knows what's going on in Africa or - shudder - Australia.

But shouldn't we have seen this coming? Shouldn't we have not made just EVERYTHING out of plastic? I mean, plastic silverware? Really? Throwaway plastic CUPS? And then it turns out, you need fossil fuels for nearly everything. You need them - haha, joke's on us - for alternative energy - solar, wind, even for the supporting structure for nuclear. So now the dwindling supply of oil and synthetic oil is drained away to support what we already have.

I know, preachy. And I know you don't entirely agree. But it's early in the evening, and Shaun is sick, and I have nothing to do but rock him in one hand and write with the other.

We, as a nation, really should have looked down the road to see what would happen when the oil ran out. It had too, eventually. But all the people predicting it had been wrong for so long, and it was so useful. So we kicked the can down the road and now here we are.

And it sucks.

Wow, I am really depressing this evening. I suppose it's because I was cleaning the house of a nice lady who lost two sons in Anchorage. That's...I don't know what it would be like to lose a child, let alone two.

I can't wait until you can see him. I know I'm not always as romantic as you. I look at little Shaun and I think "aw, how cute"...and then I notice he's soiled the diaper. But there is deep...something there. Hope for the future - his future. I don't just mean that he will grow up, but the future he'll belong in, that he'll help create, too. I want to protect him for that future, as you already have been. And teach him what we know, and don't know, and then let him see it through for himself.

That's our job, as i have to remind myself, especially just now, as he just spit up all over me.

Bye-bye!
-Erin

[Vikarion]

May 28th, 2077
Dearest "NATE",

Wow, who did you piss off to get sent on a patrol up the Yukon River? Well, at any rate, no I really can't say that making such a dire threat was justified. I do apologize, and you will note, good sir, that I have carefully printed your name in beautiful capital letters.

RE your response to my "thoughts" -
You are right. I don't really see how the President could have survived, politically, either accepting Chinese offers or the later attempted strong-arming. And in a democracy, "politically viable ^{acceptable to the electorate} " is a necessary condition of political action. And democracy is still preferable to any alternatives.

Could things have been otherwise to how they are? Maybe, maybe not. The war with China looks inevitable, but if it hadn't happened, wouldn't that look inevitable?

Still, we're winning the war, at least defensively, and that gives us a chance, a hope for a bright future. Mass Fusion is putting up their power stations all over the place, and the food situation, while not good, is much brighter for next year. Heck, even Vault-Tec had to admit it, if you haven't heard. Something along the lines of "the chances of Total Atomic Annhihilation (yeah, like that, you could hear them as proper nouns) have been slightly reduced, but we must emphasize that the overall picture remains dire and yada yada yada". Vault-tec. Ever cheerily optimistic in their total negativity about the future, aren't they?

I get that it's a very popular project for out-of-work voters who elect the representatives who vote for ever-continuing Project Safehouse, and I suppose it also makes people feel more secure about the future, but you have to imagine that even their political pull will be fraying as the war stalemates or even draws to a close. I saw the other day that they have some exhibit - I'm looking at the paper - "Vault-Tec among the Stars:" So I guess they want to expand in a different direction.

Living in a Vault on Mars could be pretty interesting, don't you think? Maybe once the war is over we'll do that. As a nation, I mean. I want to stay on Earth, though I'd watch a movie about it. Maybe once the war is over, Hollywood will get back together and start making good movies again, maybe some color pictures once we can afford to make them again.

What a stupid war. I hope it's over soon.

Come home soon, darling.
-Erin

[Vikarion]

June 1st, 2077

Dear Nate,
Writing very soon after last time, yes, but I wanted to tell you that our station wagon came in today. Nuclear Fusion Powered, and, I have to admit, very very nice inside. Apparently some models even have a minibar, though I haven't seen any.

Well, ok, it's a station wagon. If someone has a car, there's a reasonable chance they went for one of these. But it's OUR car. And yes, it still looks like a 1950s Studebaker Starlight. Somewhat.

I'm going in for some job interviews tomorrow. It's time to start looking, what with the current market. I also have started hunting around for a house. Not anything in town - that would be far too expensive. But there are some new developments going up, they have been for a while, and some are reasonably close.

Love,
Erin

[Vikarion]

July 15th, 2077
Dear Nate,
Big news! So, first of all, we have a new house! Well, I am trying to get us a new house, rather. Normally I would send you some pictures and an assessment, but you said to snap up any deal I found, and this is one. Here's the bullet points:

1. New development. It's called Sanctuary Hills.
2. Small, but good quality and definitely affordable.
3. Especially affordable because no one is buying it due to the construction on Vault 111, just to the north in some hills.
4. Construction is finished on Vault 111.
5. I sent form for you to sign if you agree, and what pictures I could, but nothing in the way of an assessment that I could get to you in time for you to sign and return.

It's up to you, I think we should do it, though.

But that's not the only news. Rather, I was looking in Sanctuary Hills because I have a job offer from - guess who? Vault-Tec! They wouldn't be able to bring me on until December, but the pay is good, although a little unorthodox. They are looking for a legal liaison between their establishment at Vault 111, and Concord, and they are offering me a contract.

There's just one catch, as you might have guessed. They want us to sign up for Vault 111. And agreement in principle is all they are asking for right now, but I'm guessing that they're having trouble getting enrollments, since we've had ten years or so of no "Total Atomic Annihilation".

Still, it's your call too. I think this is a bit of a package deal - we probably shouldn't buy a house so far outside Boston unless I can find a job outside Boston as well. I know I've been negative on Vault-Tec, but nothing says we have to do this. It's just an offer we probably shouldn't pass up.

Like you pointed out, it does give some peace of mind. With all of the experts on TV talking about how, at worst, nuclear war here would simply reproduce the world in Europe and the Middle East right here, it's hard to imagine that sitting underground for the rest of our lives would be all that productive. But Europe is supposed to be pretty chaotic. Assured safety, or taking your chances?

Well, let me know what you think. The house down payment would wipe out about half of our savings and all of your pay. But we could afford it, with the job, and if you could find one, we could actually begin paying off the car ahead of time.

Business, then pleasure,
-Erin

[Vikarion]

August 27th, 2077
Dear Nate,
We're all moved in, and all ready for you. I have your arrival details, and I can't wait! Just another two weeks!

Uh, also, you know my old stereo? The one you told me not to touch? Well, obviously I had to move it. And now it doesn't work again. Sorry!

The news has been mostly quiet, aside from a riot here or there. There are rumors going around that living off of all this processed, preserved food is giving people scurvy. And with the cost of food, a lot of people are going hungry, especially rural and urban areas without arable land, like in the Southwest and Mexico. Around here, a lot of people are growing their own backyard gardens, and I suspect everyone who can, is. Some people are even trying those new hybrids and species out from Vault-Texc.

I guess some of the things they wanted couldn't be accomplished in one species, so some of the stuff they're selling is really weird. Like "Mutfruit". Mutfruit is this weird...well, it looks like a bunch of grapes and a mango got in a fight, and the bunch of grapes swallowed the mango. I guess. It's very off. Then there's the potato-tomato hybrid, the "Tato", and the fast-growing melons, and the fast growing carrots, and...yes, the biggest draw of these things is that they grow really incredibly quickly.

By the way, have I mentioned that the neighbors across from us have a garden with some of these monstrosities? They have little brochures about it and everything. The plants? All accomplished by "genetic check-sum implementation, genetic redundancy elimination, and phenotype development streamlining". At least, I think that's what the brochure said.

I can see the Vault-Tec posters now: Vault Dwellers of the Future, Beware Carnivorous Plants!

Aside from that, the President remains at an "undisclosed location", the nation is still technically under martial law, and we still have military checkpoints and occasional blackouts.

Given your last letter, I am enclosing a bottle of mosquito repellent. Hopefully it will do you some little good in the time you have left there. Also, the jerky was quite good. I totally ate it. Now tell me what it was.

Love,
Erin

[Vikarion]

September 4th, 2077
Nate,
Well.

I did it. I signed the employment contract with Vault-Tec.I'll be going through some employee orientation meetings throughout the next three months.

I have to say, I'm questioning my decision. These people are really, well, I don't want to go too far, but "controlling" is perhaps the best word. Oh well. What's done is done, and we'll make it work.

You said you enjoyed my longer letter, so I thought I'd do one again, on oil, of course, because I'm just such a nutty environmentalist. Of course, soon you'll get to hear these lectures face-to-face, so know that I indulge you (alright, and myself) at the expense of poor proletarian inkpens everywhere. By writing these letters literally in their spilled blood, I prove my rights by dint of oppression to the capitalist class.

Right then. Levity aside...

You say that I worry too much. Honey, it's worse here than I let on. Not as bad as there, no, and it looks like it's getting better, but it's slow. And I try not to worry. But it's hard. It's hard not to worry, sometimes.

I went down to the library and looked up some things ^{on oil}, including on the 'nets. I still would really like to get a personal computer. Maybe some Christmas. *hint*. Anyway, it turns out that oil is used to make all sorts of things, such as sulfuric acid - which is used in industry AND to create fertilizer (helps explain why our farms are so much less productive, eh?) - and other industrial chemicals. Oh, and plastics, as we all know. And wax (did you know that wax was used to package frozen food? I had no idea). Asphalt - so we're having to replace more and more of our roads with concrete. And all sorts of various other chemicals - benzene, toulene, stuff like that. Which are used to make even more chemicals.

You. Would. Not. Believe. how much stuff oil is used in. It's used to make paraffin wax, which is used to lubricate bullets, preserve cheese, stabilize high explosives and propel solid rockets, in printer ink, and in neutron radiation shielding. And that's just paraffin wax. Lack of oil is what is keeping us from developing electronics at any great rate, as we need it for the necessary plastics, though we are developing work-arounds. Oil is used to - well, mostly was - make cloth like nylon and elastic and polyester and etc. And you would not believe how many things nylon was used for alone. Well, maybe you would.

I was 5 or 6 when Project Safehouse - the vaults - were started. I don't really remember that. I do remember when, when I was twelve, how everything...just...stopped. There was no gas, for anyone, anywhere. And then the news from the Middle East - after all the religious violence, all the western meddling, after Europe decided to take the oil by force - that it turned out to be all gone. They'd pumped out the very last of it to fuel their war machines, or to sell to China and Russia and Australia for Uranium for their atomics. And, Europe, used the oil they captured for the same things, according to the archived newspapers at the library.

And, of course, I was eighteen when China invaded Alaska. Just getting out of high school, what passed for it. We were still battling inflation and deflation, with barely enough oil to keep bare transportation and essential services going, with the government frantically selling junk bonds to finance vaults and attempting to rapidly build electric mass transit. I know you remember, but it was...more immediate out in California, I guess. Or maybe that's unfair. But I remember them working on the Vaults. I remember that winter, the blackouts.

And then, of course, I went to college, which led to meeting guess who?

Despite all that oil is necessary for, I still recall my feeling of disbelief when I heard that Anchorage had fallen to a surprise attack. And after all the time and money that had been spent on fortifications and preparations. And the sheer arrogance of it, the total greed. The Chinese learned nothing from Europe and the Middle East, and their justifications resemble nothing more than those of Japan over one hundred years ago. What did they expect to happen? Or were they just that desperate? I thought we were desperate, how much worse must it be under Communism?

Well, this will be my last letter, I think. With you heading home soon, any more would probably cross paths with you. Be safe, and I'll see you at Boston Airport.

Love,
-Erin

[Vikarion]

September 27th, 2077
*Note, left on kitchen counter*

Dear,
I couldn't sleep all that well last night, after last night, I guess, and I have to go early to a Vault-Tec thing.

I'm not mad, but I didn't want to get into an argument. I know you wanted me to say more, but I don't know how to respond.

Yes, I didn't tell you all about how bad it was back here. But you've told me about how bad it was up there, should I have added to your worries?

I know you hate all of this 1950's stuff. It's popular for a reason, though. It reminds people of both another great struggle in World War 2, and that we came through it. That good times will be here again. That we'll have color tv and fast cars and even a colony on Mars. That we are creating the future, and it's going to be GREAT.

And, without putting too fine a point on it, it's also because other media has been censored since the introduction of martial law, not that anyone makes too much noise about that.

If you must, we can buy the damn robot. Fine. I just don't see why it needs a buzz-saw. We don't even have much of a hedge - and that picket fence will last a hundred years. But if you just HAVE to have it, fine. You can even name him Mr. Codsworth, after that stupid comic book guy. But I'm still pretty nervous about having it around Shaun.

See you this afternoon!

-loves xoxo

[Vikarion]

October 4th, 2077
*Fridge note*

We need:
Nuka-Cola
Any fresh veggies available, no matter condition. (Not moldy)
Same for fruit.
Salisbury Steak
Instamash
Fancy Lad Snack Cakes if you want them. I can't stand them.
Bread, if it's in.

Don't worry about waiting in line too long. If there are too many people, we'll go out tomorrow and wait together. It's been getting better, though. If you make it back in time, we can catch the Silver Shroud while eating dinner. I know, it's over the top, but it's supposed to be.

Can you please finish putting the Mr. Handy together? I stepped on one of the robot arms when I got up to use the bathroom last night. You are very lucky that you didn't have to help me clean up a puddle after I felt what seemed like cold fingers grabbing my toes.
-Love

[Vikarion]

October 11th, 2077
*Note, left on dresser*

Dear Nate,
I know that this will be difficult for you to accept, and even harder to believe, but I believe the time has come.

Ahem.

It was I, yes, I who cooperated with Bob to help snuff out your dream of winning last night's game. I also drank your beer when you went to the john. So there!

Serves you right for eating the last of the potato crisps AND drinking the last Nuka-cola. Once is transgression. Twice is aggression, and shall be met as such!

Speaking of which, I'll pick up some Nuka-dark on the way home. Gwinnett seems weaker than usual. I hope we can get some fresh meat before it's too cold out to barbecue. One last little outdoor party would be nice.

I hope the job search is going well. By the way, look at the mail, you've been invited to give a speech down at the fraternal post.

Oh, one last thing: please, please, please finish watching those Vault-Boy videos about SPECIAL from Vault-Tec. I know that they're stupid. But I have to sign off that you've watched them, and I'd rather not lie.

Love,
-Erin

[Vikarion]

October 13th, 2077
*Fridge Note*
Ok. I admit it. The robot - Codsworth, is alright. You were right and I was wrong. Now you are just going to remind me about it forever, aren't you?

[Vikarion]

October 15th, 2077
*Note, left on dresser*

Nate, love, couldn't sleep. I'll probably want to sleep in if I can make it to sleep sometime.

What you were saying about putting in your speech worries me. A lot. The government is less tolerant, and it's not always clear what will set them off. Sometimes people disappear, and sometimes people go nearly to treason and nothing happens. Is it random, or incompetence? Or are the people that get arrested or fired actually security threats? I don't know.

We need to be active guardians of our democracy, I agree. But you and I have a child, and a future to think about, together, too.

I know, coming from me, Miss Tactless. But as much as I'd like to be all-in on peace and ending martial law, I'm getting a job at Vault-Tec. You know, "End of the World Inc."? And you don't have a job yet - I'm not trying to be mean, just practical. Say what you believe, but keep in mind our circumstances.

Gah, I feel guilty just saying that. But maybe let's not go after the government too hard? I agree, we've been losing our freedoms wholesale. And the war HAS to end - I'm even more there than you. But the government is also struggling just to get food to people.

Anyway, whatever you say, honey, I'll back you up. I love you.

-Erin.

[Vikarion]

October 18th, 2077
*Note, counter*

Dear Nate,
Off to a VT orientation again this morning. Afterwards, the paper had an ad from the SuperDuperMart that there's been a large pumpkin harvest this year, so I'm going to swing by and pick up a couple. We could make them into jack-o-lanterns and then pumpkin pie.

The HVAC is on the fritz again, and it's getting cold out. Perhaps you and codsworth could take a look at it?

I read your speech, like you asked. I like it. I think it carries your point without being offensive, and yet keeps to your principles. Now just repeat it until you can say it backwards, right?

A neighbor had some of that new fast-growing Vault-Tec corn, so I bought it. It's not great, but we can at least have corn on the cob, and hot cornbread-and-cram sandwiches for dinner tonight. And now that I've made you hungry...

Morning,
-Erin