Fallout Equestria: Oasis

Chapter One - Hexed

"It's a curse I tells ya."

The click a lock gives when it's tickled open with the proper application of a bobby pin is my favorite sound. Sure, the lock I opened was on my hooflocker and I have the key – but a mare has to keep in practice. Besides, right now it's safer to stick to breaking into my own things even if it isn't nearly as much fun. I checked the clock on my PipBuck again; still plenty of time to waste before the first round of punitive duties. At least the Overmare had finally let me out of the security cell. After a week of nothing to do and no pony to talk to I'd been ready to tear my own mane out. After a while it felt like the walls would start talking back to me and it just isn't possible to sleep for a week straight. I tried.

Of course, being let out was just exchanging one kind of cell for another, but at least this cell had my meager collection of stuff. I could go anywhere I pleased that wasn't off-limits, but I had a shadow with even less of a sense of humor than the Overmare.

So I might have gone a little too far. I like to think it would have taken a few days for her to notice that all the pictures on the walls of her quarters were upside down. The notes I left in anything with a lock on it were probably a bit too much; but honestly – a week in a tiny room barely big enough to lie down in for one little prank? Overreaction much?

Okay – maybe the latest in a long history of pranks. Fritter is still convinced her filly's griffin doll is possessed and stalking her – priceless. What's the point of having special talents if you don't get to use them?

And that there, is the crux of my problem.

The stable is, well, everything. The only thing waiting outside the door is a radioactive nightmare and slow, horrifying death. Most ponies' talents are related in some way to the health and upkeep of the stable and the ponies inside it. Socket Wrench is a genius with machines and will be head of maintenance someday. Blueberry Strudel, my shadow, is good at glaring and keeping the peace – and has the humor of a bent tin can. The Overmare is good at locking ponies in tiny rooms for a week, and running the stable I suppose. I'm good at not being noticed and sticking my hooves where they don't belong; some ponies deem those to be useless talents.

Sometimes I'm inclined to agree. I could steal everything not nailed down, but what would be the point? Everypony has more or less the same Stable-Tec approved belongings and they would know who had taken their stuff. So I try to amuse myself instead, and once in a while I manage to amuse other ponies too. Or at least one pony. Socket loves my exploits. Making her giggle is worth being locked up and almost worth having to scrub the recyclers.

I can honestly say Socket is the closest thing I have to an actual friend in the stable. She's the only one who doesn't see me as a horrible insult to unicorns everywhere, stable fifteen, and the goddesses themselves. It's my magic, or more specifically, my telekinesis. Even if a unicorn doesn't have a lot of magic, at least they still have their telekinesis. Mine is horribly, pathetically weak and the only spells I know suit my talents – which is to say, are useless to the stable.

My PipBuck chirped at the same time a hoof pounded on my door. Time to go. I put on my rattiest, dirtiest utility barding. At the end of the day it would be going into an incinerator and I would be scrubbing unspeakable muck out of my coat. Nastiness aside, it was still worth it for the look on the Overmare's face when she found my notes.

"Mornin' Strudel," I gave the blue stallion a bright grin after opening my door. It was time for the midnight shift, not that time of day really matters when the halls are always lit in the same off-yellow that is supposed to mimic sunlight.

He scowled at me in return and nodded down the hall; he hates his name. Everypony calls him Tack. Nothing gets past him, not even me – he's that sharp. I still call him by his name because he's my foster brother and he will always be Strudel to me.

I nodded hello to Berry Sparkle as I ambled my way toward maintenance. She looked away and hurried past. That hurt, even my favorite foster mother was snubbing me now.

I don't know my mother or father, no pony in stable fifteen does except maybe the Overmare, who has access to all the stable records. The stable is mother and father. It provides for us, it protects us from the horrors of outside; its maneframe teaches us everything we need to know and tracks the bloodlines to keep us from breeding too closely. Foals are raised in pairs by foster parents who change every few years – the whole stable is our family.

Down, down and more down from the living quarters to the maintenance levels. I glanced longingly at the air vents we passed, but that was not to be anymore. Not only did I have a shadow that would pounce on me if I so much as looked over long at one of the grates, but the Overmare had had the ducts trapped with flashbangs and foam grenades just for me. No more hide-and-seek in the air system with security, and next to rearranging furniture while ponies were out of their rooms, it was my favorite game. Security always won in the end, I can't hide from my own PipBuck and its locator tag.

~

The maintenance levels were a tangled mess of exposed pipes, grated floors and locked storerooms full of crates. I had been through them all, except the ones with terminals or electronic locks. There were quite a few of those frustrating doors that would not be tickled open by a screwdriver and bobby pin. No lock left unpicked! Someday, someday I'd get a look inside those rooms.

"Whisper!" A yellow unicorn mare fairly bounced to see me. "I'm so glad the Overmare finally let you out. How did you get into her rooms? You have to tell me."

Strudel stomped impatiently. So it was going to be like that, huh?

I sighed. "I'll tell you later, have to work now."

"Oh, right," all of Socket's bounciness evaporated. "Recycler four is clogged again – I think the last shift left it that way just for you. I'll get the tools and you can meet me there."

~

I tried not to think about what the muck I was chipping at consisted of, it was just a black slimy mass in the bluish glow of my PipBuck's light. At least the mask cut down on the smell. My horn was starting to throb from the effort of wielding the little pick hammer against the clog above me. I would probably have to just dig at it with my hooves before much longer. What were ponies putting through the system anyway – scrap metal?

Usually I considered my small stature to be an advantage. It made crawling through the air system and hiding in nooks much easier, but it also meant I could fit in these pipes. If I were a little larger this job would have been passed on to somepony else, a foal probably. Oh well, might as well wish for wings and a bigger horn.

The mass gave slightly and I felt a splatter of warm slime on my foreleg accompanied by a sucking gurgle. Oh – oh no.

Those – those fuckers! They were supposed to purge both sides of a blockage from the shut-offs!

I started to shimmy back down the pipe toward the access hatch. The patter quickly became a stream. My picking at the mass had given the pressure of the liquid behind it a weak spot to work on. If I was lucky I'd get out before the whole thing broke loose.

Have I mentioned how my luck usually goes?

My ears twitched at the gurgling rumble coming down the pipe. I took a deep breath and shut my eyes tight as a deluge of partially reprocessed… stuff washed over me.

~

Strudel danced away from the spreading pool around the access hatch, looking decidedly green. I slopped forward a few steps, ripped the mask off and retched until I couldn't see straight. At least I hadn't bothered with breakfast.

"What was that sound?" I heard Socket gag.

"Got the clog," I spat on the floor. Bile and recycler sludge don't mix well.

Okay, heaving again.

The slime coating I could deal with, it would wash out eventually, but the taste – sweet goddesses the taste.

~

"Cold!" I sputtered as Socket sprayed me with a fire hose.

Strudel just looked on as Socket finished hosing me down and went to scrubbing me with Abronco detergent and a harsh brush. My barding was a lost cause, but that had been the plan from the start anyway.

"I can clean myself, y'know," the yellow mare seemed determined to scrub the gray out of me. I was fairly sure I'd already returned to my normal color.

"It's all my fault," she scrubbed my mane into a sudsy, tangled mess. "I should have checked to make sure the pipe was empty before letting you in there. You could have been killed!"

The prospect and near reality of drowning in bilge muck was not something I wanted to contemplate over much. Like nearly being chopped into little unicorn bits by a duct fan or – well, there were places in a stable that ponies were never meant to go skulking through and I'd found a few of them. Mostly I just tried to ignore those near disasters.

I grinned at her. "Nah, I'm too pretty for Celestia to let me die."

Strudel snorted and rolled his eyes and Socket looked at me skeptically. I grinned even wider. Nope, I was definitely not thinking about drowning in a pipe full of horrible sludge. As if that could even actually happen – I was way too good at escaping for that to happen.

The maintenance mare sprayed me with the fire hose again to rinse off the soap.

I shivered – from the water.

Yes, just the water.

"Cold!"

~

The rest of the shift was sedate – boring even. It might even have been nice, if Strudel hadn't seemed determined to kill every opportunity to make things fun. Still, it was a chance to pal around and chatter with Socket while I helped her look for leaking pipes and make sure nothing was trying to explode or break down. I was just happy to have somepony to talk to.

"I can't believe the Overmare let me work under you for my punishment."

Socket coughed and looked at the floor. "I was the only one willing to take you."

"Only one in maintenance?" I could see that; my wimpy telekinesis meant I wasn't very good with tools.

"The stable."

"Oh," I fell back on my haunches. I didn't mean to stop – I wanted to just keep walking like it didn't bother me, but my legs gave out on their own. Was I that disliked? I never did anything malicious – everything I did was harmless fun.

"The Overmare made a broadcast about you. Didn't you listen to the radio when you were locked up?"

Radio, on my PipBuck, right; I forgot it could do that. I mostly used mine for an alarm clock and not much else. That might have been nice instead of the endless silence and talking to the walls.

"No. I had other things on my mind." Like forgetting basic PipBuck functions and going crazy.

"It wasn't very nice, so it's probably for the best."

I glanced at Strudel who was watching me with a stony expression. Whatever the Overmare said had managed to sour even my foster brother against me. I guess I had really stepped in it this time – but wasn’t this a bit much for a little mischief?

Sure, the Overmare and I didn't get along. I might even have made a habit of going out of my way to tweak her tail at every opportunity. I certainly failed to show her the proper respect due her position but it had never gotten personal before. This felt personal and I had a hard time imagining that after everything else I'd done, messing with some pictures and leaving cheeky notes behind was what it took to make her actually hate me; and where the Overmare lead, the stable followed.

If that was the case, life was going to get much less pleasant, at least until everyone forgot about this. That might be in the next week, or never. It was hard to say. Some ponies still gossiped over things that happened years ago because so little changed in the stable.

"Don't worry about it," Socket smiled, trying to be reassuring. If I was getting snubbed at every turn, what were they going to do to her for being nice to me? Worse, if that pipe being left full had meant to do more than just cover me in filth – if they had meant to hurt me or, or…

Accidents happened, and I was known to get into dicey places.

A chill ran through me. I really didn't want to consider that. I was just being paranoid. Just because everyone was giving me a cold shoulder didn't mean anypony was out to actually hurt me. The stable is family, after all.

Still. "You shouldn't be so nice to me."

"I don't care what the others think," Socket said, staring at Strudel. "Or what the Overmare says about you, you're my friend. I spend most of my time down here anyway, so their snobbery doesn't make any difference."

The intercom crackled. "Shift three, turn in your status briefs; shift one report to your work sections."

I glanced at my PipBuck. Amazing how time flies when you're not locked in a cell.

"I have reports to file, but you're off now – see you around." Socket waved a hoof before trotting down the hall.

~

"You can talk to me – I promise I won't tell the Overmare."

My shadow sighed, "Overmare's orders okay? She only let you out 'cause I said I'd watch you, but I'm not supposed to talk to you. Sorry sis."

"Why all this for one little prank? It's like she's trying to turn the stable against me."

Strudel just shook his head.

"Fine."

I felt better, in an odd way. If Strudel hadn't volunteered to watch me, and Socket hadn't taken me for work duties I would probably still be in that cell. There had to be something else I'd done to bring down the Overmare's wrath, I just couldn't imagine what it was.

Figuring out what else I had done was important, but trying to think with an empty stomach is nearly impossible, so I headed toward the cafeteria. It would also be a chance to wash the unspeakable taste out of my mouth.

The cafeteria was crowded with ponies between shifts. I could hear them long before walking through the door, with that many I could slip in and get something to eat without being noticed. Well, the big blue pony in security barding made actually sneaking through the room impossible – maybe they would be more interested in their bowls of oatmeal and clover smoothies than me. They could snub me by pretending I didn't exist. I could handle that.

The overlapping conversations in the cafeteria died the moment I stepped through the door. A hushed mutter passed between the tables as every eye turned on me. I balked as I looked into too many faces that wore expressions ranging from disapproving to angry.

No, no, no – why couldn't they just ignore me? My heart was pounding under the scrutiny. I shut my eyes and started to back away; I just wanted to disappear. Magic tingled through my horn, I'd fade away and get out of here – maybe Socket would bring me something to eat if I asked.

The impact of Strudel slamming me into the wall shattered the spell and drove the breath from my lungs. I slumped to the floor and wheezed for air.

"No spells; that was one of the rules."

Strudel's telekinesis pulled me to my hooves while I blinked away tears and tried to catch my breath. I looked at the hoof cuffs on my forelegs; he'd knocked me down and cuffed me in an instant.

"You're going back to your room," he said. I nodded and hobbled ahead of him back into the hallway.

My side ached as I walked back to my room as fast as the hoof cuffs would allow. How could he do that to his sister? The spell had just come, I hadn't cast it on purpose – I'd just needed to get all those eyes off of me. I wanted to yell at him, but every time I opened my mouth a sob tried to work itself free instead of the angry words I intended.

He dissolved the magical cuffs and let me back into my room. I glanced at him, hoping for some kind of apology, something in his eyes that said he was sorry – anything. All he returned was the same stony expression he had been wearing all day.

When the door slid shut I curled up on my bed and let the tears flow, not that I could stop them, but I refused to give in and bawl like a foal.

~

At some point while wallowing in misery I fell asleep. I awoke feeling drained and empty to a light tapping on my door. I checked my PipBuck but it wasn't time for work yet. The tapping repeated, more insistent this time. I considered ignoring it – maybe whoever it was would give up.

Tapping turned into pounding. "Fine, fine! I'm up!"

I rolled out of bed, staggered to the door and opened it mid-knock. Socket blinked in surprise and gave a little smile.

"Brought you something to eat – can I come in?"

My eyes fixed on the tray floating next to her. "Sure."

"I heard what happened in the cafeteria."

"Oh." Could we talk about something else – anything else? "It's fine. I just – panicked a little."

I looked over the tray; oat cakes and an alfalfa salad with – celery and radishes? Socket had friends in hydroponics and always seemed to get ahold of choice bits of the scarcer crops before they made it to the kitchens.

"I hope the guard didn't get a look at that tray."

"Cobalt's too busy fiddling with his PipBuck to notice anything."

Strudel was my shadow during the day, but other security ponies were assigned to make sure I didn't wander out of my quarters during off-hours. That apparently didn't stop me from having visitors, for which I was grateful.

Socket set the tray down and I pounced on it. Emotional misery took poor second place to a ravenous stomach. I could be sad later.

I paused in my onslaught of the tray when I noticed Socket watching me with a little smile. I mentally smacked myself for being rude and offered her one of the oat cakes, but she just shook her head.

"My name came up on the breeding roster from medical. I got paired with Fern," Socket rolled her eyes. "He's such a bore – all he talks about is plants. There isn't any room for new foals yet, but it was suggested that we, er – get friendly before they take the sterility implant out anyway."

I shrugged. It wasn't new news to me.

Wait. How did I already know who Socket was going to be paired with? Something I had read, somewhere – something that said they were projected to produce gifted offspring. Where had I read that?

Sweet goddesses I am an idiot. I smacked the side of my head with a hoof. The Overmare's terminal with the password written on a note under the screen – something silly that should have been easy to remember. I had peeked because, well, it was what I did – stick my muzzle where it doesn't belong. There had been breeding records, maintenance reports, too much to read in a short time so I had downloaded it all into my PipBuck.

"What's wrong?" Socket was staring at me.

"I'm an idiot."

I brought up the files on my PipBuck after a few moments of trying to remember how to find them and showed them to Socket.

The mare looked at me in horror. "You shouldn't have those – they're restricted to the Overmare!"

"The password was honeydew."

"You really are a menace to the stable," Socket shook her head. "Let me look at those reports."

When she got tired of trying to read off of my PipBuck, Socket plugged a cable from hers into mine and copied the files for herself and set to reading them. She took over my bed while I finished off the tray.

"Shouldn't you be getting friendly with Fern instead of spending time with the stable reject?"

Socket looked up from her reading. "I'd rather spend time with you. Besides, I don't want to learn more about the various breeds of clover being grown in the hydroponic fields."

"So what's in the files?" I tried to read a little of it, but it was mostly techno-speak that made no sense to me.

"Nothing good, just things I'd been guessing at recently," Socket grimaced. "The stable is breaking down – the repair talismans are wearing out and we're almost out of spare parts."

"The Overmare must have known that I'd copied them. She didn't want me telling anypony what was in them; but why turn the stable against me – why not just erase them after I was caught?"

"You copied them to a hidden folder – she probably couldn't find it. Pretty good, really – I didn't know you had that much skill with files and such."

"I did what?"

Socket laughed. "Or just dumb luck."

"More like terrible luck. If she'd found them I probably wouldn't be shadowed everywhere I go with every pony in the stable hating me," I muttered.

"If it hadn't been this, it would have been something else sooner or later."

"Thanks." I pushed a piece of celery around the plate.

I should have been happier to have Socket keeping me company. She was even sitting on my bed; a place I had daydreamed of having her in – something more than friendly circumstances a time or two. I gave myself a good mental buck. Now was not the time – never was probably the time.

"Thank you for the breakfast… dinner… food." I wasn't sure exactly which it was anymore. Did I go off the clock – or off my shifts? I suppose it didn't really matter.

"I came here to hide from Fern," Socket looked up from her reading. "I was hoping that you'd let me stay until our shift starts."

I stared at her. "Somepony could get the wrong idea, spending your off-shift here."

"I don't care."

"I do!" I sputtered. "I don't want them treating you badly because you're my friend."

"It'll be like a slumber party," Socket tapped her hooves together. "We can tell ghost stories and pillow fight –"

"You're not even listening, are you?"

"Please Whisper?" her voice was soft.

She looked at me with wide, pleading green eyes. Not fair. Not fair at all.

~

For once I actually woke up before my alarm went off. Somehow Socket had taken over most of my bed and was using my shoulder as a pillow. I was pushed up against the headboard where the pillows should have been; I wasn't quite sure where they had gone. Socket thrashed a lot in her sleep. It was a miracle I didn't have bruises.

"Hey," I shook my shoulder. "Wake up."

"Don' wanna," Socket snuggled closer. "Five minutes?"

My PipBuck emitted a grating metallic buzz. The volume and pitch changed every few seconds. It was the most annoying alarm sound it was capable of making. I didn't like mornings either.

"Make it stop!" Socket flailed and rolled out of bed.

"Morning," I toggled the alarm off.

I cleaned up my room while Sockets went to get us both breakfast. My pillows had found refuge from Socket's assault under the table. Cleaning kept my mind off of other things, at least until I was finished.

Could I appease the Overmare somehow? Just delete the files? I already knew I wouldn't delete them, though. Everypony in the stable deserved to know what was going on. Now there was no way they would believe me, even if they may have before all this; the Overmare had succeeded on that point. There still had to be something I could do to fix this mess.

When Socket returned with breakfast, Strudel had already taken up guarding my door. I ate quickly while Socket toyed with her portion.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it."

My PipBuck chirped. It was time for shift three to start.

~

Ponies in the stable belonged to work sections their talents fit in to. Socket was in Maintenance, she was a genius when it came to fixing and building things. Strudel was in Security and kept peace and order; Socket's assigned mate, Fern, worked in Sciences which – among other things – produced food for the stable. Others ended up in Morale, to keep ponies happy and occupied in their off-hours. I didn't belong to any of those sections. Technically I was "unassigned," the status given to foals that are old enough to work but haven't earned their cutie marks yet. Unassigned ponies did whatever little jobs needed to be done around the stable for other sections.

I had my cutie mark, for all the good it did me, and I was still stuck doing the work of foals. My "punishment duties" really weren't anything other than what I would normally be doing. The difference now being that the only pony in the stable willing to work with me was Socket.

So it was another day spent in the maintenance levels checking for leaking pipes. My shadow was even more disapproving today, if that were possible. That disapproval seemed to be extended to Socket as well. I wanted to yell at him, but Strudel wouldn't listen; not if his ungentle treatment yesterday was any sign. There was dull ache in my chest at that. This nonsense had cost me a brother.

"Hydroponics has been complaining about the water pressure, so that's the next thing to check," Socket looked at a list on her PipBuck screen.

We checked the pumps and found nothing wrong, but Socket wanted to be thorough – which meant checking the water talisman. The talisman was central to the stable's water system; an enormous blue gem that purified the water after it filtered through the recycling system. I tried not to think about the stable water supply too much. The idea of drinking two-hundred year old recycled fluids just did not sit well.

Socket was busy checking consoles and gauges while I stood off to the side and felt useless. All I was good for were menial things, really. The second she needed a button pressed or a lever pulled though, I was her mare.

The yellow mare growled at the gauges. "That doesn't make sense."

She smacked the gauge with a hoof and glared at it. One of the consoles started beeping franticly. Socket rushed to it, fiddling with dials and switches.

"No, no, no. Why couldn't it do this on Spanner's watch instead?" Socket kicked the console.

"What can I do?" I didn't like various sounds coming out of the consoles now.

"Just pull that switch over there when I tell you," Socket pointed at a switch marked 'emergency shut off' on the wall.

Socket finally seemed to give up after more a few more seconds of frantic button pressing.

"Pull it."

I flicked the switch with my telekinesis. It toggled easily, which surprised me, though nothing seemed the change. The alarms were more insistent, if anything.

"Turn it off!"

"I did!"

I flipped the switch again. On off, on off. Nothing happened.

A high pitch whine filled the room, drowning out the alarms. Searing blue-white light poured out of the little window that looked in at the water talisman. That couldn't possibly be good.

"It's getting too much power from the spark reactor, if we don't cut the power it's going to –" Socket was interrupted by a horrid metallic screeching.

One of the overhead pipes split open, dousing the room in scalding water. The consoles sparked and went dead.

"I have to stop this," Socket stared at the smoking consoles.

I tried to push her toward the door. "You can't, and if you don't move right now it's going to take both of us with it when it blows."

Socket took one last look at the water talisman and the consoles before running through the door. The whine from the gem rose to ear-splitting levels. I thought I could hear a sound like glass slowly cracking as I jumped through the door.

Strudel slammed the pressure door shut behind me. I stared at it, wondering how long it would take for the talisman to actually –

It was quieter than I expected, only a dull roar. The floor and walls shook from the concussion; the whole stable likely felt the rumble. The lights flickered off and were replaced by red emergency lighting. Something was being shouted over the intercom.

"That's it," Socket said. "The stable's dead – we can't repair a water talisman."

~

To say there was chaos would be an understatement, and I found myself caught in the middle of it. It seemed that every maintenance and science pony in the stable took a turn interrogating me about what happened. By the time they ran out of questions I doubted that I knew anything at all.

After what seemed like hours I was lead into the Overmare's office along with the heads of the sections, Strudel and a very miserable looking Socket. For once I wasn't the focus of the Overmare's attention. It was a nice change. She was pacing, her green striped mane disheveled; I'd never seen her any way other than perfectly groomed and composed.

"If both your estimates are correct," the Overmare looked at the heads of Maintenance and Sciences in turn. "We have at least two months of water left if we ration carefully."

Spanner, the head of Maintenance and Wildfire, head of Sciences both nodded.

"Thanks to Socket's quick thinking, the shut-off valves around the water talisman were all closed when it overloaded, otherwise the lower levels would be flooded right now." Spanner smiled at Socket.

"Is there any chance of repairing the system?"

"The control room and the pipes can be repaired, but there's nothing left of the talisman," Spanner shook his head.

"And we don't have the materials or schematics to make a new water talisman," Wildfire said.

"Then we'll have to find one," the Overmare stopped pacing. "Somepony will have to go outside and bring one back."

My blood froze as she stared right at me.

"That's suicide, the radiation –" Wildfire started.

"Is low enough for a pony to have a fighting chance," the Overmare interrupted.

"Whisper," I jumped at hearing her address me. "Your… talents could keep you safe out there so you can find a talisman and bring it back. There are old maps in the maneframe of Stable-Tech facilities in the area that should help you find one."

I took a step back. Didn't I have a say in this? Anypony other than me had to be a better choice – somepony from Security or Sciences.

"You do want to help your stable, don't you?" The section heads were all looking at me now.

Not. Fair.

"O-of course I do."

"Then it's settled," the Overmare said primly. "Be at the stable door in an hour."

An hour to say goodbye to everything I knew. I stumbled numbly out of the Overmare's office and simply stood outside the door for a while. There wasn't any reason to go back to my room; there was nothing I wanted to take with me. Worse, the only pony I wanted to say goodbye to was still in the Overmare's office.

~

I had never actually been in the stable airlock before. The giant steel door that separated the stable from Outside was not offering me any comfort. My legs were shaking no matter what I did to try and stop them. At least Socket was here to see me off. It was a small comfort, but it was the best I was going to get.

"I'm not sending you out there without help," the Overmare said as Strudel attached saddlebags to my barding. "You have a few days' worth of food, anti-radiation meds and ammunition."

Strudel belted a holster with a pistol to my foreleg opposite my PipBuck. The weight of it was disconcerting. Socket plugged a cable into my PipBuck and suddenly my vision was full of flashing words and symbols. I blinked and shook my head out of reflex.

"All of your PipBuck functions have been switched on," Socket said. "S.A.T.S. inventory spell, auto mapping, medical spells, everything."

I couldn't quite look directly at the overlay in my vision, it was odd. I was facing west, apparently; S.A.T.S. was fully charged and my pistol had twelve rounds in its magazine with another thirty-six ready to go.

Socket hugged me tightly. "Please be careful and come back. If you don't find anything, don't worry – maybe we'll figure something out."

When Socket finally let go of me Strudel hugged me as well. "Be safe, sis."

The Overmare coughed.

"It's time to go. The hope of your stable goes with you, Whisper."

The Overmare shooed Socket and Strudel out of the airlock, closing the pressure door behind her. A moment later lights near the giant stable door began to flash. Locks popped open and motors whined. The stable door rolled open, letting in a rush of cool, damp air.

Footnote: Approximately sixty days of water remain.
You haven't done anything to level yet.
Traits:
Jinxed: Maybe you were born under an ill star, or perhaps you offended one or more goddesses in a past life – either way things around you tend to go horribly, horribly wrong. Enemies are much more likely to suffer critical failures - then again, so are you and your friends.

Telekinetic Lightweight: Lifting things with magic is not your special talent. In fact, it might be better to just stop trying. Your telekinesis is limited to light weight weaponry: pistols, SMGs and melee weapons with a strength requirement of 4 and lower, but you gain a chance to ignore target's DT.

(A/N: Props to Kkat for devising such a wonderful playground.)