Living Antiquity

~6~

After about an hour and a half of explaining and trying ti get him to understand, finally Aloy agreed it would be best to show him at some point.
"Not now, though. Our base is pretty spartan, not much going on, and we're mot exactly ready to bring even more people into the fold to explain how everything works... Nor can we afford to get anyone's hopes up." I explain, looking at him, "Just know that if we make enough progress, we'll be able to help, and we'll be able to tell you and everyone else, everything,"
He nods, thinking, "A way to get permanent wate rthat never runs out... Hmm..."
"That's called good plumbing. What I'm suggesting it just a way to ferry water from clear sources to your clan..." i rub my head, "And we haven't made the progress necessary to achieve it."
He nods.
"You guys'll be the first to know when we do, don"5 worry," I stand, thinking.
"Where'll you go next?" He asks, looking between me and Aloy.
"Home. I want to see how the others are settling in, and take a breather." Aloy looks at me pointedly.
I nod, sighing and following her as she calls our Chargers.
Finally, a breeze as the Chargers took off, Aloy connecting our focuses, "You were worried about him."
"Aloy." I hiss.
"... I know, I know." She chuckles, "Just... Take it like Varl and Zo. I'm the lazt person to give that kind of advice though..."
"Exactly, and I don't need that kind kf advice," I frown.
Just met him, and killed for him. No. No no. I don't need this. People need me to stay focussed.
After hours, we reach the foothills, and she leads the way up the climb, back to the base, where we crawl in and collapse near the vents that brought in cool air.
"I'm so sunburnt, I think i'm gonna be peeling for a week..." I groan, shaking, "I wonder if the Desert Tenakth die of skin cancer a lot?..."
Aloy winces as Zo gives me a concerned look.
"Why would you wonder that?"
"Sunburn can lead to skin cancer," I say bluntly, "Especially constant sunburn."
Zo makes a face, frowning as she looks at me, "That sounds quite unpleasant..."
"I think there's information about it in at least one or two of the documentaries that I saved, but you'd have to look. I'm not sure if transcripts are with any of it," I say, pulling up my archive and flicking through stuff, "Oh, how are you liking the nature docs?" I asked, looking over at her, "I know they cover plants and animals that used to exist, and just... don't... anymore..."
She nods, looking sad, "It is sad to know that so many of those animals that were taken for granted back then just... Couldn't be saved. I wish we could..."
"It could be a possibility that there are zygote stores or DNA stores somewhere that haven't been tapped into because this facility and others like it weren't able to come online. We won't know unless we somehow get the Zeniths' copy of APOLLO. I'm sure Elisabet would have made sure to set up a notes system for people to know what still needed done, and how to aid GAIA in her mission to restore the biosphere. Now that I think about it, the Zeniths also took zygotes and seeds. I wanna get my hands on those, they may have taken creatures and plants with them that we don't have anymore, at least one of them liked animals and would have gone to lengths to bring them along... Maybe the descendants still have them with them..." I tilt my head, frowning.
Aloy nods in agreement.
"I don't get it, why would we need even more animals out there?" Erend asks, looking over at me, frowning.
"Think of the biosphere like a web. Every plant, animal, fungus and insect serves its purpose in that web. GAIA Prime built a new web from what she had available, but its likely that there are pieces that she would have needed help with. There may be some stores that can only be accessed and assigned use by humans. I think that as we explore more of the West, we should pick people we know would be good to add to the web. How many spare focuses do we have?" I ask, looking at Aloy and Varl.
"Thirty some, Erend has gone through one or two, from breaking them..." Varl chuckles.
"Hey! They're too damn dainty, is the problem," Erend huffs, irritated.
"And at least another fifty back in All Mother Mountain. Maybe if we retrieve them..." Aloy frowns, "But they would have questions..."
"Pick people you know would be willing to listen. As well as people you know could fight. This is going to be a slog, hunting down the subordinate functions and retrieving them. If we have more hands to do research, it would help us get ready to fight the Zeniths. We don't need to go build an army immediately, but we'll need extra hands," I point out.
Aloy sighs and rubs her face, "I know. The five of us against the children of the Zeniths isn't exactly a fair fight. We'll die..." she sighs and paces, thinking, "We should wait until Gaia is strong enough to open more of the base, so that we can guarantee we'd even have the space for them."
I nod, stretching, and heading to the makeshift kitchen to work on some food, "Gaia, any progress on the plumbing system for the base?"
"No. Many of the systems would have to be restored with maintenance machines smaller than a human, as many systems are damaged and in cramped spaces. I will not be able to establish such a machine until I have all of my functionality..." Gaia said gently.
"Well, we at least have clean water from the waterfall on the Plainsong side. I guess I can try to get used to shitting in the woods until we can fix the toilets..." I rub my head, thinking.
"Per Zo's request, the waste management systems will later be dedicated to cleaning and re-cycling all waste from everyone to feed the plants. Natural fertilizer, if you will, as well as mulch." Gaia explains.
"Gross. But necessary. I wonder how everything will go as we go along... I'm excited to see the world out there, but terrified that it might be like what we experienced in the Desert Clan's territory," I took my food and went to the workshop, "I guess, if nothing else, I'm getting to be the tinker I always wanted to be. Its fun to try to get things to work like they used to."
Even with my mind switching between eating and tinkering on the machine parts in my hands, I was thinking about Trav. He would have loved all this. He would have thought it was so metal... I just wish that I could talk to him again. He'd love the Tenakth, not that he had the physical capability to join them. Maybe the Oseram? Nah. He works with code, he can't lift a hammer.
Over the last month, I've grown to barely be able to recognize myself in the worn out mirror in the bathroom. I've lost so much weight that I'm even lighter than I've been even when I was stuck on the streets...
Man, I wish I could have gotten him to speed up the adoption process so that I could just change my last name...
Wait.
"Hey, Gaia, can you do my a favor?" I said, tilting my head.
"Yes, Y/n?"
"In any documents you find of me, can you change my last name to Tate? I just realized that old laws no longer apply. My last name can be whatever I want it to be..." I grinned, stretching as the pieces in from of me on the table spark off, "From now on, I'm Y/n Tate. Trav can't be here to see everything, but I can honor his memory by doing whatever the fuck I please, the way he always did."
Gaia chuckled, "Alright. All references to you in the available database have had a successful name change to Y/n Tate."
Cool, now to try and get this to do what I wanted it to... I know I sucked at tinkering before, and I broke several controllers worse trying to fix them as a kid, but this... Hmmm...
With that, another several hours blew by, and the others were all turning out their lights, Erend crashing in the mass quarters, judging by the direction the hacksaw snoring was coming from, and Varl and Zo could be heard retreating to their room. Aloy must've already gone and crashed in the room the others set up for her, since I hadn't heard her in a while, and I didn't hear the outside doors get activated.
Finally, I managed to hook everything up properly, and I lifted my prize as I downloaded the software and information onto the drive, hearing the confirmation noise as it booted up and BINTENDI flashed across the screen with the same old startup sound, "Yessssss..." I mutter, smiling as I set it down.
"A handheld gaming device?" Gaia asks, clearly spying through my Focus.
"Yes. I found some of the rusted pieces a couple days ago, and figured I might as well try it out. Did you by chance record how I fixed it? it? I might try mass producing them at some point just to hand out to people... Especially if I can figure out how to reproduce the parts and programming," I yawn, tired from both the journeys of the past few days, and from scratching my many brain itches trying to build the thing.
"Yes. I approve of the use of Sunwing membranes to allow it to charge itself via solar power... I will save the video your Focus recorded to your archive. Are there any games you prefer to load onto it first?" She asked, curious.
"Not right now, no. I'm going to wait and build a custom storage deck for it. I want it to be able to handle a good large chunk of the games I stored... In the meantime, though, I should head to bed..." I groan, standing and cracking every joint in my body.
"Does doing that hurt?" Gaia asked, sounding curious.
"No, not really. It takes the pressure off and I feel looser afterwards. More agile. But for now, I'm just gonna..." I stumble toward the door, leaving the console on the table, and walk through the dark to the open bunks, passing Erend's rattling cubicle and changing behind the cover of the wall, before flopping into the empty mattress and passing out into the void.
Infinite darkness, surrounded by flashes of red, and the occasional hard metal music heard in the distance. I float and walk at the same time, recognizing the digital space represented to Aloy when she deleted HADES.
"You're rocking a new look, sis! Even your hair's grown out. Be a shame you won't be able to dye it again until you figure out how to make dyes, huh?"
Can't be... "Trav?"
"Ding ding ding! Guess who gets the cookies!" he stepped out of the dark with open arms and lifted me up, smirking like he always did, "I know, I know, you ain't gonn' believe this was me when you wake up. But Liz and I, we been watchin'. We'll watch forever, and we'll cheer ya on. You and Aloy. Don't be scared of where you go, 'kay sis? You go, you do you. Punch a fucker out, if you gotta, we'll watch, hell, I'll bring popcorn. Just try not to die, 'kay?"
"You're not making sense... You've been dead, what, a thousand years?" I frowned, looking at him incredulously as he ruffles my hair.
"That don't mean we're gone. We just watchin', and we're stuck watching until who knows when. I know you got upset when you found out what HADES done did, but don't you worry. I did my damnedest to make sure he'd do his job, and someone else went and fucked that up, so don't you feel like anyone is gonna blame me." he grins, "When you figure out who done it, though, make sure you give them the Tate family salute, yeah?" he smirks, and I laugh, both of us flipping each other the double bird.
"I guess in the end, you got to see your work work out, huh?" I chuckle, hugging him and just trying to remember what the hugs used to smell like...
Cigarettes and that nasty sour candy he would pop like a hardcore addict when he'd be working...
"Still think they were gross, huh?"
"You are not reading my mind..." I groan.
"Heh, don't worry... You won't remember this, or you'll think you made it all up anyway. Go have fun, sis."

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Question:
Is there a way to do strike-through on text? I only see the option to underline... I wanted the added effect. Oh well.