Heart Like a Machine

Chapter 33

Erik fell to his knees as we were close to finishing him off. Zo came up from behind him and finished him off.

"Now we're having fun."

Erik fell to the ground, dead. I made sure he was dead by kicking him over. We all let out a sigh of relief and Aloy and I headed back to the elevator.

"I'll be right up," Zo said.

"Be careful," Aloy said to Zo.

"With him dead," he said and tapped Erik with her spear. "The world is already a safer place."

She nodded and we got onto the elevator, heading back up.

"How's your hand?" Aloy asked me.

I looked down and saw all the blood running from it. I let out a sigh and pulled out a small cloth, tying it around my hand.

"I'll be fine. We can fix it when we get back to the base."

We reached the top of the base, but before walking off the elevator, she reached down and intertwined her hand with mine.

"Whatever happens, we're going to make it out of this base alive, together. With Beta and with GAIA."

I nodded and we walked off. She let go of my hand once she saw Beta strapped to a chair. She rushed over to her and released her from her bindings. 

"Aloy," Beta said. "Y-You saved me."

"I made a promise to you."

"There's something more out there. Something is coming," she said and showed us this red orb. "This is Nemesis. This is the signal that caused HADES and the other subordinate functions to become self aware."

Aloy looked up at it. I did as well. This was definitely something we needed to take care of.

"The Zeniths were wiped out because of this thing," Beta said.

"That's not good," I said.

While we were discussing Nemesis, Gerard was thrown out of a room in the base, Tilda walking out. Aloy pushed Beta away and she ran off. Tilda looked up at Nemesis.

"I see Beta has told you about Nemesis."

"She did. What exactly is Nemesis?"

"A failed experiment. We tried to make a database of the minds of Far Zenith. Their minds were left contained and intact. But we abandoned it. It ultimately got out and wiped Sirus clean of all habitablity. That was when we were going to Earth to find refuge. But it turns out, Nemesis awakened HADES so that it would destroy GAIA, therefore leaving all of life on Earth unhabitable. Leaving us no place to return to."

Aloy looked at Tilda, "What the hell were you thinking doing something like that?"

"We wanted to experiment with AI like how Elisabet did."

"But Elisabet didn't leave it alone to rot in a container. Elisabet took care of GAIA and actually treated her like a person. You treated that AI like it was an outcast."

"I know. That is why we have built this ship so that we can go into space together. To find a new place to live."

"We?" Aloy asked.

"Yes, you and I. We can leave this forsaken place to the hands of Nemesis and the machines. With GAIA, we can make a habitable planet far away from Nemesis."

Aloy shook her head as she looked over at Tilda, "I saved Earth once and I will do it again. I won't leave Earth to perish."

"You really are like Elisabet. You have her empathy of the world and living things."

"You're right. I'm like Elisabet. I have the same genes, the same mind as her, and a bit of the same personality as her. But I am not her."

I looked at Aloy as she said that. It took me back to the night when the battle of Meridian was over. We were talking about how she was a clone of Elisabet Sobeck and how she felt like she was the same person as her. But I told her otherwise. I told her she was her own person. Sure she may have been a clone, but she's much different from the person she was made from.

"Of course you are. It's like you said, you have the same genes and the same mind. You certainly have the same personality."

"I do not, Tilda," Aloy said. "Someone made me realize that a long time ago."

"Well, if you're not going to come with me, I'm going to have to force you to come with. I lost Elisabet when the Faro Plague hit. I will not be making the same mistake with you."

A Specter came out from no where. I guess it was camoflauging itself. Tilda was raised into the air and this capsule encased her and she merged with the Specter, creating this squid like monster.

"This isn't good," I said and scanned this monster.

"You're not kidding," Aloy said and got her bow ready.

"Ready?"Aloy asked.

"Yeah," I said and got my bow ready.

"Don't make me kill you, Aloy! I just want what is best for us."

"For us? Or for you?" she asked and shot at Tilda. 

We were both shooting and running around for what felt like hours. This thing was hard to take down, but the parts covering the wires were pretty easy to tear off, but it kept repairing itself over time. I was starting to run out of steam and I could see Aloy was as well. We had to get this over with here and now. 

"Enough of this!" Tilda yelled and started using stronger projectiles. I could see one was coming right for Aloy, but it was going faster than she predicted it.

"Aloy!" I yelled and ran towards her, getting in front of her and taking the hit, right in the stomach where the other wounds were.

"Y/N!" she yelled as I fell onto the ground, blood pouring out of my wound.

"This is what happens when you're just a mere human. Weak and fragile."

"That's what makes human life irreplaceable," Aloy said.

I looked up to see another projectile coming. With the remaining strength I had, I grabbed my bow and tried to divert it in a different direction. But my calculations were off because when I hit it with my arrow, it went right towards Aloy's chest. Before I could see the outcome, I blacked out.