Living Antiquity

~15~

"Alright... I think that's most of the basics," I say, looking around to see nods of understanding, "I'm leaving ten spares for in case someone manages to break one, or if you guys decide there are people who need to be added... The names of everyone in the know are in the contacts list, currently," I point out, "And if you have any questions, don't be afraid to call and ask."
Dekka and Hekarro nod before everyone splits off, heading back for their respective villages.
"Y/n, one more thing, before you go," Dekka walks over to me with a bow in her hand, smiling, "A gift, from us to you. A Sharpshot bow, perfect for long distance battle. May it bring you great glory in battle," she smiles, nodding to me as I carefully take it and test the draw strength, my eyes widening when I'm able to actually draw the damn thing.
"Last time I drew one of these I almost broke my fingers..." I say, shocked, "But I guess I've had another month of exertion and training since then."
She nods, "Now... You have ti move on to DEMETER, yes?"
I nod, frowning.
"And from there, we'll decide how to go about getting ARTEMIS and HEPHAESTUS back," I say, stretching, before saluting her and turning to leave.
I whistle as I come out, Piglet stomping over to me and tossing his head almost victoriously, some of the local teens laughing as they kick one of his salvage spheres back and forth.
I hop on, rubbing my face as I take off, tracking Zo and Aloy, "Alright, Aloy, I'm headed your way."
"Alright. Hekarro is already asking me followup questions... Stanley is hard at work in the desert. I think he dragged Drakka off to see Morlund and the others in Vegas to have a proper look at the systems, too. When we get done, I'll have you and Zo take DEMETER back so I can go find Talanah. She was headed somewhere by the mountains southwest of the base."
"Alright. Although she may have moved on my the time you get there. That's maybe a week or two's walk on foot," I say, ducking Piglet through trees and off of small ridges.
"Exactly, so we have to hurry. We've scouted people here, but... There's a dead Tenakth squad. I just told Atekka, the Lowland Commander, but warned her to refrain from coming to retrieve them until we can clear the ruins out. These people must have killed them, and they seen ti be more advanced than other tribes..." Aloy warns.
"Yes. They have guns..." Zo groans, clearly frustrated.
"Oh, oh good. Cause of course this can't just be a simply retrieval for once." I fume, "Come on Piglet! Go go go, we've gotta catch up. You can root up anything you want when we get there, and I'll fix you up if you ram anything on the way there..." I say, feeling Piglet instantly speeding up, "Go, boy, go!!"
"Did it- no way in hell that worked, your marjer is going double speed right now..." Aloy says, clearly annoyed.
"Whooooooo!!!" I yelled, feeling the breeze rush past me, closing my eyes, "Hell yeah!! Just gotta keep my lunch in. Dude, a motorcycle helmet would be great about now ti keep the wind out of my eyes, but this is awesome!"
"It seems your override module has also been allowing them to translate human speech, so they are learning what you are saying... They're close to how they used to be under Gaia Prime's control..." Gaia says, curious, "If you were to personally override Bellowbacks and give them the directive... They would likely be able to use those directives filter and transport water..." she points out.
"How many people have my module's coding?" I ask, sending out the call.
"Morlund, Petra, Stemmur, Abadund, we're currently working on attaining modules from dead Corruptors," Beta responds, "I think Varl and Erend are out in No Man's Land doing that. We're rewriting every one we're successful in extracting to have yours' code. It'll be a nice replacement until we're able to fully reinstate Gaia over the network. Gaia is also working on designing a drone avatar to use to travel. Something she can pilot and speak through."
"Nice. That'd be easier, and could even be used to visit CYAN so she knows she can trust us," I say, still leaned down behind Piglet's mechanical ears, feeling the bumps but loving the adrenaline rush.
"Nessie is actually quite responsive to us talking to her, and... Did you send Burro back? There's a Burrower digging at the sand and rubble around the city cave..." Abadund says.
"Yes, actually... I mentioned how it'd be nice to dig out the city so that we didn't have to climb in and out all the time... So they do understand..." I grin, patting Piglet's head, or at least the housing of it, hearing a squeal as he continues dodging trees and foliage with ease.
"You'll be here in maybe thirty minutes at that pace.." Aloy says in disbelief.
"Good boy, Piglet."
--
Zo and Aloy were quick to give me the full rundown once I finally arrived, Piglet working away.
"If they killed that patrol, there's a chance there's going to be more coming," I looked over at Piglet, "Go hide somewhere you won't be detected, bud. Can't have them destroying you, ok?"
He tossed his head and trundled off into the trees, huffing.
"Alright..." I crept to a tree, and peered around the trunk, seeing the front of a building, with men pacing on the second floor, all decked out in white armor. The lower floor was full of rubble and there didn't appear to be any other way into the building...
"They're in the damn way..." I groaned, "And if they killed the Tenakth, they're strong... or at least have good aim."
The moment we tried even a friendly approach, they shot...
They had bullets...
Great.
"Kill the barbarians!"
"Protect the truth of the ancestors!!"
"Seriously? Are you daft?" I yell up at them, "If there's data in there I seriously doubt you can fuckin' read it! And firing on people in their own territory?! Who's the barbarian?! You could very easily be seen as invaders!"
The firing stopped.
"You dare-!"
"I damn sure dare! You murdered our friends' soldiers! No doubt they were investigating reports of invaders on the fringes of their territory... You're lucky we haven't fired yet!" I stick my head out and see them still aiming at us, "Wherever you're from, do you wanna live to go back? Or are you gonna keep pushing your luck?! I can control machines. I am not afraid to sic a flock of angry Glinthawks on you."
"Y/n!" Aloy hissed, "Not helping!"
"Wait! Wait...!" A voice panted, a woman running up on the soldiers from behind, "Those voices! Look at who you are firing on! An ancestor, reborn! Elisabet Sobeck, in the flesh!"
I wince, "If you know about Liz, do you know about Project Zero Dawn and how she is how you even exist?"
"Wh... what?" The woman stops dead, turning to look at us. She has such a baby face, good lord-
"... Guess not. The Focus on your temple was outdated around the time everything fell apart. My name is Y/n. This is Aloy. She's a clone of Elisabet. If you come and talk, I can tell you why we're here. But they keep their weapons sheathed and away, or I call in machines." I point at the soldiers.
"It'd be better for you to come here, they won't let me leave the protection..."
I sigh and motion to Aloy and Zo, climbing the building and giving the soldiers looks of sheer annoyance.
"We are the Quen... The chosen ones, meant to seek out the truth the Ancestors left behind... We worship them for the knowledge they left us, but some of the knowledge is lost or forbidden..." She explains, "My name is Alva. I am a Diviner. It is my job to read the Legacy left behind by the Ancestors... To find the truth they left behind."
"I see. You're supposed to read what data you can," I say, leaning against a pole, "This is going ti be a delicate subject for us, and I'll explain why after you answer: Who do you worship, and why?" I watch her, seeing the other Quen shift at my tone.
"Ted Faro, because much of what we discovered was left behind by him, Erik Visser, as the Protectir, as we learned much of our battling skills from him- ah..." she sees the look on my face.
I shake my head, "The Data your tribe has access to... Doesn't contain Faro's crimes, and clearly doesn't mention Visser's insanity. The great black machines everywhere that you no doubt found having frozen while demolishing important old buildings? They were created by his company, and due ti a flaw in his so called leadership, there was a flaw in their code that made them go rogue. They used anything living as fuel- plants, animals, people. They stripped Earth barren of life. Elisabet Sobeck made a plan early on that allowed the creation of an AI to eventually shut the machines down and rebuild the biosphere, bring Earth back to life... but Faro didn't want anyone to know what he did, so when the people who were part of that project built a database that would have taught new humans about the world they didn't get to live in... He killed them in cold blood and deleted every single copy of it from Earth," I see faces going pale, losing all color.
"Our Ceo is obsessed, believes himself to be Faro reborn..." she whispers, "E-Executes anyone who says otherwise, becoming more insane by the day..."
I stop dead, staring at her, "You know... He may be more like Faro than even Faro would want to admit."
"Miss...?" One of the soldiers friwned.
"Y/n Tate." I say, nodding to them, "I don't know if there was data on him left behind where you were from, but Travis Tate was my adoptive brother."
"The sleeping Ancient!" One of them stood upright, "Y/n L/n!"
"Its really you?" Alva said, her eyes wide.
"Yes... But I thought data about me was kept top secret..." I frowned.
"We had... small data caches left behind by the Ancestors," Alva says, motioning and emoting with her hands, "Speaking of an ancient woman who was put into a long sleep while she was being cured of an unknown disease. We had no data about your condition, or disease, only your name- both a version that ended in L/n and a version found nearby that ended in Tate."
"Ah. I asked Gaia to replace my last name in all available files so that I could take my brother's name. Its all I have left of him..." I frown, "Other than a few holos."
Alva paces, "Um... why did.. You three come all the way out here?" She asks.
"We're here for a piece of Gaia. DEMETER. It'd allow her tk regain control of rampant plant growth nearby. Once we find abway to trap the most important piece of her so it can be reabsorbed," I emote, "Then and only then can Gaia's influence return to being worldwide. Things would slowly return ti normal, even back in your lands. Making Gaia whole makes the world whole."
"I see. Are these the intruders or are they already dead?" A new voice spoke.
Alva tensed and put herself between us and the new people, "By the word of the Ancestors-"
"We heard everything," a soldier raised a hand and shook his head for her to stop, "Including the threats originally exchanged... Ms. Tate, my apologies for my soldiers. Am I to understand that our truth is not what we thought it was?"
"Not even remotely. Ted Faro was a narcissistic, psychotic ego in a human skin," I roll my eyes.
"All this time, everyone knew her as his Assistant..!" Alva paces, eyes wide.
"His what?" I deadpan.