Antumbra - A Lost Cause

Changing/Dynamic - Chapter Fifty Nine

When Arva imagined her return home, she thought of the peaceful neighbourhood and friendly faces she left behind. She let it motivate her, keep her focused, keep her from the mounting depression that tightened around her neck with every passing day. The remainder of the boat trip was uneventful, with Arva spending her time recovering, catching up on sleep, or doing what exercises she could manage. That was what Boomer and Kyodai had recommended, and she felt the routine did help. With their help Arva had also spent some time getting acquainted with Antumbra's systems, hoping to discover the trigger and function of that destructive aura, but despite their combined efforts, most of the machine remained a mystery. She did learn the finer details of the functions she was aware of, however, and felt herself able to pilot it much better. This came in handy when they reached land, and quickly discovered IRT squads collecting just outside the GDU territory. The three fought for nearly two days, advancing back to the Habitat and joining up with the Eclipse Guard protecting the borders. The fighting was out of control, a genuine war zone the likes of which Arva had only imagined. She did her best to help, only for two enemy Argonauts to get past them, which she pursued into the Lows. The eagerness to see her home again turned to dread, and she only barely managed to defeat the enemy a few houses down the street of her own home, but the return was not a warm one.

Arva almost didn't comprehend it at first. The people on the ground were so small, and there were so many, it wasn't obvious just what was going on, but soon all was clear. Her home was in turmoil, humans and Hybrids clashed violently in the streets, and her sister and Travis were under attack. Arva quickly ascertained the situation, and as soon as the deluded human had safely surrendered her sister, she felt only the smallest twinge of regret knocking him back with a flick of her finger. That would be plenty to dissuade him, and any others, from laying another hand on her family, but it wouldn't solve the real problem. The escalation of conflict between human and Hybrid was out of control, and the hatred and fear had to end. Arva thought about how much she hated being lied to, left in the dark, and treated like she wasn't worth the truth, and she did what she felt was right.

"I'm not a divine," she said using Antumbra's loudspeaker, "there are no divines, there never were. Just this." Arva banged her fist to her chest, the metal clanking reverberating through the neighbourhood over the utter silence from the crowd. She had their attention.

"Machines," Arva continued, "built and controlled by people. God didn't- wouldn't make this." She took a deep breath, realizing the ramifications that may come from what came next, but decided anyway. She opened the cockpit hatch, and the crowd broke into murmurs and shock as Arva stepped out of the harness and onto the edge.

"This is what you're fighting over," she said, pointing to the disabled Argonaut in the street, "this is what you've been killing each other for. There's a war, a real war, going on above our heads, just outside our borders. Just look." She pointed again, this time to the horizon. Far away, in the haze of the fog and sandstorms of the wastes were lights, the fires of battles still raging.

"Is it worth it?" Arva asked. The crowd said nothing, perhaps thinking it was rhetoric, but Arva wanted to know. She needed to know why, with war so close and lives being lost, people would hurt each other like this. From her perspective it just didn't make sense.

"Arva?" Hannah's tiny voice came from behind her, and Arva looked around the edge of the hatch to see her sister still in Travis' arms. She backed into her harness and knelt down, cupping her hand below the open hatch, then hopped down and rushed to her. Arva nearly tripped as she fell to the grass, the two sisters throwing themselves into each other's arms. Though her eyes were full of tears, Hannah didn't cry, she just kept squeezing with her face buried into her shoulders.