The War Within

Commander w4sted reveals what he has been hiding from the crew: A vertical shaft he dreamed about and subconsciously dug to behind his old bunker is real.

## Details

The episode opens with a slow crawl through the bowels of the Silo Base, eventually reaching the captain's bedroom, where he is in bed, a dark figure looming over him. Eventually, Commander w4sted raises his helmet visor, revealing himself and waking up Shack, noting that they need to talk. Insisting on coffee first, they move to the kitchen, where they encounter Morph. The commander's demeanor is calm but serious as he asks the crew not to interrupt him in what he is about to reveal, cautioning them it won't make much sense.

He tells the crew about the dreams he started having after being healed with the doctor's nanites: Digging out the back of his bunker, which went from being a dream to being actions undertaken in reality. Falling through a massive hole that is actually there. He asks the crew to accompany him to his old bunker, to confirm he is not merely imagining these things.

The crew go to load up the newly repaired Warden, which w4sted points out has some new design... oddities. Shack points out that they were required and the ship should be able to compensate. After some careful close-quarters maneuvering, Shack gets the Warden free of the Silo Base, but on landing at the old bunker ruins, the design modifications cause problems as she lands and immediately assumes an awkward tilt and (somewhat) briefly traps w4sted inside.

We tour the destruction that claimed w4sted's bunker, which he notes started with an artillery shot that hit just outside when he was in the main bay. He suffers a short lapse in concentration, but recovers and leads the crew deep into the tunnel at the back of his bunker, eventually reaching the seemingly-bottomless vertical shaft in his dreams. The idea that w4sted had dug this is shot down by Shack, noting it would take Potatoes months to mine that much out. A flare is thrown into the pit to try to determine how deep it is; it quickly bounces off walls further down and eventually disappears.

Shack wants to leave, but w4sted remains adamant: How has something he had only dreamed of become reality? He insists they need to get down there; the doctor concurs on the basis that there may be answers down there. Shack counters by pointing out what happened the last time they were in a strange underground area, then points out they have no way down. Morph offers up Potatoes as an "elevation device", which is quickly shot down by the crew. (Shack is so taken aback that he replies to Morph's suggestion, "You've done that? You've got bigger balls than I thought.") With Shack noting "I have an engineer and a Morphologist, come up with something," the crew continue to debate ways to get down there, ruling out use of their suit jets or dropping spare hydrogen bottles for suit refills down the shaft. Eventually they decide to make the top of the shaft safe to work in and to build something other than Potatoes to get them down there. Morph sets off to work in the hole and w4sted returns to the Silo Base as well. Shack goes out on a patrol, docking up R-5 with the Warden.

As Shack voices concern over the situation seeming to spiral out of control, he remembers his days as a lieutenant in flight training, where instructor Gopher gives him some wise advice: Focus on the problem at hand, accept what you can't impact, and to tackle one problem at a time.

## Behind The Scenes

Gopher is actually a well known Youtuber in the Skyrim/Fallout Community.

The scene where Gopher is giving Shack advice is the only scene in Season Two where the games HUD makes an appearance.