Living Antiquity

~8~

"You're happier than a Scrapper in a junk heap..." Erend raises an eyebrow as he leads the way.
"Are you kidding?" I grinned, running through the video over and over, "I get to learn how to do this by hand! I dreamed of doing stuff like this back in my time, but by the time I wanted to, I was sick. I couldn't move." I sigh and rub my head, the pain a vague memory now, except...
"What happened to you, by the way? All the old record said was it affected your nerves... What does that mean?" Erend frowned, panting between words as he pulls the cart uphill.
"The human nervous system is the nerves in your body. Connects your brain to the rest of your body and allows you, your brain, to control your body. It allows you to feel physical pain, temperature, pressure... it sends all that information back to your brain to process everything around you."
"Like a Focus?" Erend pants.
"Kinda. But it doesn't store information outside if your brain, and just sends it back to the central system. Like the environmental surveillance drones that Aloy is having to hunt down," I explain.
"Ah, ok. So then something was really wrong with that system in you?" He looks at me.
"Yes. We couldn't figure out where it stemmed from. Genetic, environmental... dietary?... But my nervous system started to self destruct, until I couldn't move, and my senses started shutting down. I was always in pain, even as my ability to sense the world around me gave way... I was able to hear, and that was it. Darkness and flaming pain, with the occasional ability to hear those around me. Trav would talk to me, tell me how Zero Dawn was going. Elisabet would talk to me and bring Gaia Primeto talk to me. It was..." I frowned, "I'm starting to forget how the pain felt. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess. I hope that no one ever has that kind of disease again."
He frowns and nods, "Sounds like hell."
I nod, and get behind the cart, pushing and helping get it up the hill, "It took MINERVA, ELEUTHIA, and Gaia Prime several hundred years to come up with my treatment without the APOLLO database. I can't imagine being stuck coming up with it all over again. I gave Gaia a sample of my blood and DNA to help have the treatment in storage just in case, and Aloy had the medical records on hand because she scanned them back at Gaia Prime, and didn't know what they were for. Everyone was careful not to talk about me around Ted. I think they were right," I frown, helping get the cart back onto flat ground as we head up into Barren Light. Faro would have killed me if he had known I still existed. Or existed at all.
"Sounds like they all really cared about you. But you also seemed to be the reason Tate wanted to accept the offer that came with Zero Dawn. He dragged you with him and never left you behind even though you were sick..." Erend pants, pulling the cart through the gates.
"I'm sure Trav probably gave some exaggerated story about how he found me and took me in," I laughs, panting to catch my breath, "But yeah..." I rub my face, flicking the sweat away, "Should we wait for Aloy, or head on to Chainscrape?" I asked, looking at him.
"We can take a breather then head on." He pants, pulling the cart off to the side and setting the handles down, groaning.
We sat, and he grabbed his aleskin from his hip, leaving me to groan.
"Dude, you pull in a straighter line if you're sober.. And you complain that the holograms hurt your head when you're drunk..." I pointed out.
He groans, but sits, and takes a few gulps, "Can't take the drink out of the Oseram." He deadpans.
I sigh and sit on the ground, tired.
We watch people bustle past for a few hours, Erend drinking ever deeper into the aleskin as the sun crept toward the horizon, until the captain of the guard came by and greeted him.
"Hey, Lawan!" Erend grins, "Just waiting on the Savior. She's supposed to come through here soon."
I sigh and stand, "Yeah, but I think we should head for Chainscrape so that we'll have somewhere to sleep," I point out as Erend laughs and grabs the cart.
"Yeah, yeah... Let's go!" Erend grins, taking off.
"Don't worry, I'll help keep him reigned in..." I look at Lawan apologetically, before taking off after Erend and helping to push the cart toward Chainscrape, following the map on my interface to direct him.
While Oseram can drink just about anyone else under the table, I don't want to learn what happens once they're drunk and lost...
"Ya know what, Y/n, I think that's Olin over there!" Erend perks up and drops the cart just as we got through Chainscrape's gate a couple hours after dark, torchlight flickering and throwing orange light off of faces and buildings alike.
Looking around, I finally recognize Olin from going through Aloy's data of adventures prior to finding Gaia, conversing with his wife, Enasha, their son clinging to his mother's skirt.
"Oi!! Olin!" Erend waves, "Come here!" He grins, walking over and clapping a hand on Olin's back, "How's the delves?" He asks, grinning.
Olin tenses, but relaxes at the friendly gesture, looking at Erend, then raising an eyebrow when he sees me.
"Found yourself a flame, Erend?"
Erend stammers and shakes his head, "Nah, this's Y/n. We both work with Aloy. She's actually supposed to be here sometime soon. Whatcha doing in the Daunt?" Erend asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Looking for work and home," Enasha explains, "Our house got blown up by someone's experimental project... and we lost everything." She sighs, "It's hard to imagine how quickly you can lose so much."
That gives me an idea...
"Hey, we've got plenty of space at the Base- if we pin open the broken doors to the lower levels, we can give them their own room or two, and Olin can learn more about the Old World..." I point out.
"Oh?" Olin raises an eyebrow.
"It's a bunker inside the mountaintops near Plainsong," I explain, "Since you already have a Focus, and you're already versed in written English... You'd be able to learn more about the past and you'd also have a safe place to live," I point out as quiet footsteps approach.
"That... actually would be a good idea," Aloy points out, smiling slightly as she greets Olin and Enasha, "How are you two? I heard something about losing your home?" She frowns.
"Yeah. Some hammerhead decided to try and catch lightning with, get this... A Stormbird heart wrapped in Shellwalker plating," Olin chuckles and shakes his head.
"If they want to store energy, that is not the way to do it," I shook my head, groaning, "Most ancient batteries pre-Old Ones were believes to be copper, with acid and-" I cut myself off before going on a rant and shook my head, "Sorry, I... Ugh, I'll just say it. I am what you would refer to as an 'Old One'. I was frozen and preserved because I was sick and there was no other way for me to be cured. Aloy woke me up a month and a half ago," I explained.
Olin and his wife stared at me like I had two heads. Fitting.
"I've been playing catch-up to learn what has gone wrong with the world, and Aloy is on a mission to fix everything that's going wrong," I explain, "If you choose to come with us, I can also give you access to information that would explain what a lot of different things in the Old World did. Which would help later on when you choose to do delves, too. But even if you don't want in on all the world saving, it is a stable place to live with a steady supply of food-"
"-and booze!" Erend grins, resting an arm on Olin's shoulder, "I'm actually out here to bring a few kegs back to the mountain. You could come out and see if you'd like it, move on if you don't."
Olin watching me, and Aloy as she goes and talks to a hunting merchant, "What is your name?" He asks me, frowning.
"Y/n Tate. Older records would refer to me as L/n." I explain.
"HADES had been searching for you... But I think you had already been hidden too well. They had sent me delving to find you, thought you'd be a key... Its good to see you are alright..." Olin sighs.
"Gaia Prime hid me away, but I don't know if you already knew about her," I say, nodding.
Olin looks at his wife, and son.
"There's room for all of you, we just gotta break a door down," I say gently, "And there's a lot of plants and metal. Our resident Utaru member has been building up a garden in the common area, and the living spaces are metal, stalactites and stalagmites. But personalizable."
Enasha smiles, "I'd be fascinated and delighted. Especially to have a safe place for Olurr." She ruffles her son's hair.
Olurr looks up at me, frowning, "How are you a Old One? You don't look old."
I bust out laughing as she scolds him, and kneel down, "People refer to the people of my time as The Old Ones. Since I'm from that time, from a thousand years ago, that makes me an old one. I was frozen solid for a thousand years, so I'm technically one thousand and twenty five years old," I chuckle, smiling as his eyes get as big as plates.
"Whooaaa! What kinda machines did they have back then?" He asks, tugging my arm.
"Nothing like what there is now. The machines that you and everybody else grew up with are part of a big, big system that was meant to heal the world to a livable state. Something happened that wiped out everyone else from my time," I say sadly, "Someone made a really big mistake and it cost everyone else... Everything else... Everything." I sigh and sit on a brick wall as he stares at me.
"That sounds... very sad." Enasha frowns, but tilts her head, "What brings you to Chainscrape, then?"
"Oh! I'm going to buy cloth to make a surprise for a friend." I perk up and dig out my shard-sack.
"Take my advice and put that away until you can haggle," Enasha smiles, "You may be able to get a cheaper price. Would you like me to help? What kind of cloth are you looking for...?"
"Soft but durable? I'm making a toy for a friend."
"A toy?" She raises an eyebrow.
"Yes. In my era, we had what were called stuffed animals, or plushies, or stuffies, plush toys... Cute reimagining of animals made of cloth and filled with soft stuffing like cotton, or a material we called polyester, which was plastic that had been heated up and spun until it came out in thin, thin fibers that when piled up were soft. Lots of clothes were made with it, too- Sorry, I went off on a tangent..." I rubbed my head, "But yeah, something soft and durable. Huggable."
She chuckles, "Alright then, follow me. Olurr, stay with Papa, okay?" She led me through the town, and stopped by a merchant selling various types of cloth, "What color do you need?" She asks, having me examine everything.
"I'll be dying pieces myself, so white or off-white." I say, looking over everything, until I find a soft, almost velvety cloth that felt durable, "How about this?" i ask.
"Ah! Woolsatin. Nobility usually asks for their ceremonial garments to be made of that. A hundred and fifty shards per Longleg antennae length," the stall owner said.
"Actually, for once that isn't bad for bulk buying. About how much do you need for your project, Y/n?" Enasha perks an eyebrow at me.
"Hmm..." I dig in my shard sack, and set thirty rolls of ten on the wood counter, "Two antennae lengths, please, so I have room for error. Do you happen to also sell raw cotton, or wool?"
"Unspun and unwoven? I have both by the bale. Two fifty a bale," they say, swiping a knofe across the beautiful fabric I had just ordered and folding it down to a cartable size, "A bale weighs about a quarter of a man."
I frown, thinking, "And lugging that all the way to the mountain... Though the extra would come in handy for making quilts and stuff..."
"Make it one fifty," Enasha folds her arms as the stall owner frowns.
"Two hundred," they snap.
"Wool and go one seventy five," I bark, seeing them both tense.
"Yeah, alright," the stall owner chuckles and ducks behind the tent wall, coming back with the the now offending bale of fluff as I set the shards on the counter.
"One eighty cause I'm to lazy to separate them," I sigh, "And its easy to hunt more machines."
"Thank you for the business. Honestly, this more than covers my next shipment of supply, your next order is on the house," they grin as I lift the bale and tuck my new cloth under my arm.
"I didn't expect such skinny arms to be able to lift that..!" Enasha laughs as we trudge back toward the cart, "You can set it on Olin an' ours' cart, since we'll all be going the same way now," she offers as I finally drop my load and let out a groan.
"Thank you..." I huff, rubbing my face, "I'll have to wash the wool quite a few times to shed the smell, but it'll be worth it," I smile.
Olurr was chatting excitedly to Aloy as we follow Erend and Olin to the tavern, one of the nearby smiths having offered to watch all of our stuff while they were on their meal break.
Aloy led us down to the lower level, where a woman with curly hair flying free from under the edge of a bandana stood and greeted her warmly.
"Heya, Flame-Hair! Lets see, I recognize Erend, Enasha, Olin, Olurr, who'se the new friend?" She smiles, walking over and roughly slamming a hand on my back.
This must be Petra, then..! I grunted with the force of the impact, a bit shocked.
"This is Y/n. A bit of a story to tell there... And I'm sure Y/n's already tired of telling it," Aloy sits, and sends off for food from the cook upstairs, Milduf.
"Well, we've got time! Tell away." Petra grins.
Aloy launched into the explanation, Petra's jaw dropping even as our food arrives some time laterz
"One of the Old Ones, huh?" She looks at me, "Wouldn't have pegged you for it! But it must be odd, knowing you survived the whole thing..."
I nod, leaning more into my food, frowning.
"Don't worry. I'm sure someone will come up with an even weirder story sometime. I can tell you're telling the truth," she waves a hand, "How're you liking everything we've got going in our era, I guess?" She asks.
"Its obviously really different from back
then, but its nice to not have everything be a wash of white and steel grey," I smile, "And some of the things I hated most are gone. Bright city lights are a long forgotten myth now. I can see the stars at night," I point out, "The air doesn't stink. We had had environmental efforts to scrub the atmosphere, but Gaia and the terraforming system did far better than any of our efforts. I see wild animals almost everywhere I look, even though there aren't as many anymore. I like it. Its... calmer but more rugged. Everything is a struggle to earn your next day of life, but it's a worthwhile struggle, as opposed to slogging across the house to the fridge to decide what you din't wanna eat that day. It may still be a struggle for mental health, but it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be before. I used to pray Gaia or the others would just cut off my life support and let me die... but I think I was meant to be here. If nothing else, at least to see how cool everything is now."
Petra nods, listening, "Sounds like your world was really different," she leans her head in her hand, "Wish I coulda seen it..."
"There is a way for you to see, actually..." I blink, and pull out my bag of spare Focuses, "Here, and I can even show you how to use it. Could even come in handy when you're forging, too."
Everybody scoots over as I sit by her and show her how to wear the Focus, before proceeding to give her a crash coarse on how to work the focus, alongside how to read the written language, "Best way would be to turn on the subtitles for these shows, and look at them as the words are being spoken. It'll show you how words are spelled, and stuff and such..." I point out the symbols to activate the subtitles.
"This is how you see all the time, Red?" Petra's eyes widen as she works the Focus, "Wow- whoa." She stops, looking around as she sees how it scanned the area and showed her the makeup of the walls and even the food, "So that's what you meant by it helping in the Forge..!"
"And you can save video of the area around you to come back to later so you can watch how you made something instead of reverse engineering it. Here, let me also add you to our network... Varl, Zo, don't be shocked, I'm adding Petra in Chainscrape to our Network. And say hi, Gaia."
"Really? Alright. Sounds fun," Varl chuckled.
"Hello." Gaia's gentle voice wafted across the connection.
"You can talk from that far away? Where are they?" Petra asks.
"Here," I pull up her map and point at the mountain, "West of Plainsong, at the peak."
"Sparks to steel..." she whispers.
"That's what I said!" Erend yells, ringing everybody's ears.
"Here, Olin, lemme put yours on the network too," I walk over and help him navigate, "There. And we can get you data to catch up once we're at the mountain again, too."
"Well, then!" Petra chuckles, "Ah... Doc... you... ment... aeries?"
"Documentaries! Yes. Video learning, and information about old world animals and stuff like that."
"You should hear Concrete Beach Party!" Erend grins.
"A rock band out of an old world dam that got shut down," I explain as Petra scrolls through tons of videos.
"Well, thanks! I guess you're all a button away now..." Petra laughs.
"Yeah, just be ready for weird looks from people," Aloy points out, "Lots of people think I'm crazy when I use the Focus."
"Oh, I remember. I used to, too." Petra laughs.
Two more people... Yeah. Even if she stays here, we can fill her in on the full details as we go.