(EDIT: When I wrote this I hadn’t considered that there’s a chance the water chip could be salvaged by the vault in the alternate ending, this entire post is written under the baseless assumption that it’s not. This is merely a persuasive essay based on my understanding of the game and its themes, and responses are welcome. Though Fallout 2 and the Fallout Bible (lol) expand on the lore of Vault 13, Fallout was written as a stand-alone story without any anticipation of a sequel, and this analysis focuses on the information presented in the original Fallout.
