Not a minute after the conversation with Hades was over the sound of the Vault Door opening along with the sirens whirred from down the hall. Adam was not exactly sure who it was, but in all probability it was Paxton and the Vault Guard coming back inside after training. It was a bit early but not so early Adam couldn't understand them returning now. He had nothing to do for the moment other than talk to his friends about his plans, so he decided to take the moment to welcome the Vault Guard back home. However what met him as the door opened was not what he expected. Chuck and Salvatore.
"Well I'll be. Quite a pretty metal box you got here, Adam." Chuck said as he led Bessy inside through the Vault door. Bessy looked completely placid and did not even hesitate to step inside through the door. Guess she was already used to being underground thanks to Renaissance's underground tunnel.
"Its a lot prettier further inside, too." Adam chuckled and offered Chuck his hand, which Chuck readily shook. "I'm glad you could make it."
"Glad I could come." Chuck chuckled a bit. "Now, where can I hitch up 'ol Bessy."
"Well I don't have a good hitch, honestly, but you can tie her lead up along one of these railing here." Adam said as he gestured to the railing that helped prevent people from falling over the edge when the vault door opened.
"That'll work just fine." Chuck smiled as he led Bessy out of the way and to a nice spot to tie her off. Salvatore then walked over.
"Hey kid." Salvatore said, a bit somber, but no longer looking or acting awkward like he was the last time Adam saw him.
"Great to see you again, Salvatore." Adam said to him with a smile.
"I gotta talk to you, man to man." Salvatore said, seriously. "But not now." He said, preempting Adam. "Chuck's your guest and I'm sure you got shit to do. We can talk when you got time." Adam nodded and then changed tracks since he was stopped before he began by Salvatore.
"Okay, that's fine." Adam began, letting the matter drop. "I'm actually planning on leaving soon, heading to some new settlements, scaving, selling things. If you are back…"
"Not yet, I am still on Chuck's clock until he gets back to Naper, he will probably stay here for a few days before ending his trade route. This was his last stop." Salvatore paused and then added with a soft chuckle: "Even stopped at Naper for a bit to get your damn fish in a barrel." He grinned as he gestured to the barrel strapped to Bessy's back. "But if you are still around by then…"
"Well I was planning on leaving today, however now that Chuck is here I might need to wait until tomorrow. But maybe we could figure something out. Meet us somewhere, or something." Adam offered.
"Or maybe I could just come back here and put my feet up." Salvatore laughed.
"Maybe." Adam smiled.
"Well for now don't worry about it." Salvatore said as he walked past Adam and gently fist bumped Adam' chest. "Go do your thing. I'm gonna go check on my room, see if my stuff is still there." He said as he began to leave the room only to stop short. "Oh and by the way, nice job with the upgrades, and the guards."
"Can't take the credit, that's all the people here's doing." Adam chuckled.
"Nah, kid. It's on you. Feel proud." Salvatore said, without explaining and then left the vault entrance room to head back to his own.
"Well then, shall we get to selling'?" Chuck said with a smile to Adam.
As news of Chuck's arrival spread through the Vault more and more people came out to see what he brought along. Chuck was quickly swamped with trades, mostly purchases, from the mercantile starved residents of the Vault.
Adam had every intention of buying the fish so Jefferson could begin his conversion in the hydroponics bay but he was stopped by an overwhelming flood of residents who more or less muscled him out so they could collectively pay for the fish. In an, apparently, long planned move by Jefferson and the others to ensure Adam did not take on this burden alone. Adam, along with many other residents all chipped in exactly 25 caps each to pay for the barrel of fish without even needing to haggle with Chuck.
Over this rather busy time for Chuck Adam noticed a few things got accomplished. For one Henry and Darla Bateson used Chuck's arrival to pitch to Adam the idea of them opening up a Bar in the Vault. Adam loved a good drink as much as the next guy so he did not want to be a prude. However he was worried that it was a slippery slope from selling drinks to eventually charging for food in the cafeteria, which he expressly did not want to do. However giving out drinks for free even to the residents felt like it was a situation that could quickly get out of hand. So Adam decided to, for the time being, allow the bar to open on a probationary basis. To see how well it would function. They agreed they would not serve food, only drinks and snacks and thus allow the Cafeteria to be the main eatery. However this posed a new problem. How do people earn money?
Obviously if someone wanted to get a drink they had to spend caps, but aside from himself and his friends who go scaving there was no real way to make money down here. Of course the shop owners would, but that was it. So an idea was pitched that the vault would have a central fund that would pay out daily wages to anyone who clocked in for work. Whether that be working at the cafeteria, maintenance, construction, or being a vault guard. It incentivized people to help out in the community, rewarding their efforts fairly, but did not deprive them of housing or food if they chose not to work or were unable to. In essence the central fund would almost act like a bank funded by taxes and all money the residents ended up earning would effectively be fun money, not needed for anything essential for life.
This was, admittedly, quite a huge development. The idea was not Adam's but he did support it, finding the idea that people had their basic needs met but still had to pay for everything else beyond that appealing. However needless to say this was a massive change. This was real city management stuff. It went far and above Adam's head. Even if he wanted to manage it directly, which to be clear he did not, he was too busy as a Scaver to take up what will likely be another full time job. However one of the Vault residents decided to take up the role herself. Karla Manfried.
Karla did not speak much about herself, other than alluding to a dark history with The Guild she seemed to wish to forget, however she proved to be very capable with organization and handling numbers, having already done so behind the scenes multiple times. Though her taking up this new role was the first time Adam had ever really spoken with her.
Of course she would not be the sole person in charge of handling all money matters down in the Vault, especially since Adam did not know her very well, but she would handle most of it, which Adam was grateful for since it took the issue out of his hands. Primarily she would be responsible for ensuring the central fund is actually funded, deciding on a fair pay for each job and keeping a log of everyone who did. And finally ensuring that those who did want to work had options for job assignments. In order to help this central fund get established right off the bat while Karla worked out the more intricate details of how it all worked, Adam personally donated 1000 Caps to the fund so she immediately had money to work with. This way she wasn't starting off from zero.
Of course, due to developing new economic ideas to live under, this all raised entirely new issues. However Adam, who's head was already hurting from having to try to play mayor of a new budding society, especially one that seemed to be looking to him for guidance, decided he could put the rest of the questions off for another time. Obviously a society that feeds and houses its citizens for free was attractive, especially when the housing was inside a safe Vault. So naturally when news of this spread it would attract a lot of people wanting to move. But they simply couldn't accept everyone. Even excluding those who would just take advantage of the system, the Vault simply could not sustain an infinite number of people. Some other method would need to be established to determine who was let in and who was not. However, again, Adam's head hurt so he was satisfied with simply putting it off for another day. For now, he was satisfied that no new people would come to live in the vault until this issue was settled.