The Not So Lonely Lone Wanderer Book 1

Chapter 7 - Scenes from the Vault 3

The atrium had a surprisingly hushed quality despite the small knots of people starting to wander off as the night drew to a close. Not many of the vault residents congregated in the upper lounge after a certain time, more content in the down home vibe of the cafeteria after the simulated fall of night. On the positive, the taped version of a night under the stars had worn out a few decades ago, leaving nothing but the hum of the HVAC and murmur of whoever still sat down in the lower garden. On one side, Arianna, Hunter and Chris took turns at the red felted pool table while on the other Jonas and James stood in the near darkness, both with tumblers in hand.

Jonas sipped and indicated the three laughing as Hunter shot the cue ball off under the jukebox. "I'm still puzzled. Your daughter spends half her time studying, training and half her time hanging out with the overseer's top minions and you're okay with it."

Sighing, James watched the threesome with a look that had a wistful edge. "She's out of place Jonas. Amata and her clique tend towards the shallow end, the rest are intellectually stunted in many ways. I don't fully trust those two but in a way she's safer with them." Swirling the liquid and releasing the pungent hit of whiskey, he took a drink that burned all the way down. "Almodovar is on the warpath and she's a target that I can't fully protect. They might be able to do what I can't."

"So it's like she gained a couple of big brothers..." Jonas nodded in understanding but James shook his head in a negative.

"No Jonas, I don't trust their motives that much." His gaze rested on the tallest of the two men with a father's intuition. "But the lesser of two evils is something I can live with. It's not like she can't take care of herself." Even to himself the words sounded hollow.

Arianna had a unique perspective, one that he cultivated deliberately. He'd fostered a need to learn, a thirst for new and innovative ideas to explore and an openness to change. James wanted her to approach life with a limitless vision that ignored boundaries and preconceived judgements to forge her own path based on personal truth and self. He'd just never realized how quickly his daughter would mature or just how much of a cunning and resourceful creature Arianna'd become. Somewhere though he'd lost control and now could only watch and hope his teachings stuck.

You couldn't miss it though, the undercurrent between the big blond Chris and his petite offspring. Arianna leaned in to hear a comment, then with a laugh pushed off on the other man's chest that reminded him of the halcyon days of his courtship with Catherine. His daughter's mannerisms, her honed wit had become an almost daily reminder of his dead wife and a dream left to moulder on the vine. As much as he wanted to shove the vault guard through a glass window, James understood the more he pressured her to leave them alone, the more the contrary child would run the other way.

Draining his glass, James took one last look and turned to nudge Jonas. "Come on, lets run that last set of tests on the flow issue again. I'm sure we're close to a breakthrough." And truthfully, watching Arianna left him with a worried knot in his stomach and him running across the walkway to pull her out of the lounge was out of the question. The time they were both on was borrowed and he needed as many ace in the holes as he could get.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the lounge, the lack of occupants save the three under observation from across the upper level made the byplay just a touch more raucous. Hunter waved his free hand, beer sloshing just a touch but not enough to really signal just how drunk he was. "No, no I'm sure she's cheating. It's a trick ball or something."

The chorus of 'I'm not cheating' and 'It's not a trick ball for gods sake' brought another round of merriment as Arianna moved to rack another game. Chris got distracted by that firm ass as she bent over but came back with a quick slam at his friend. "Maybe you just suck at the game."