Living Antiquity

~16~

"Assistants... And Ancestors... I'm going ti have SO much to hep y'all correct- uuuugggh- And don't get me started on the authoritarian BS, that's just nasty, at least the Tenakth do it KINDA right with their system... NO ONE meeds to have that much power-" I rant, pacing back and forth, "And I'm sure more than half the Ancestors y'all worship were Zenith members who are incapable of feeing anything for other humans anymore. Good lord am I glad that Stanley betrayed them for us-" I snarl, my voice steadily rising in pitch.
"Y-Y/n!" Alva says nervously.
"Can I trust y'all, if you go back to wherever you came from, not, under any circumstances, to say anything about us? Just say you helped her-" I point to Alva, "Explore the ruin. If we remove DEMETER, it should free up any and all data here. I can't give you a newer focus without giving away that you met us. I'm sure there's no rule of finder's keepers among your tribe's Diviners?" I ask, looking at her.
She shakes her head, "N-No..."
I nod, gritting my teeth, "... No, no, know what?... I guarantee that there's gonna be something. Something will go wrong and we'll have to cross paths again, dmanit," I pace biting my lip, "Your 'Legacy's Landfall' sounds suspiciously like San Francisco..."
"It is, ma'am. The ruins are nothing but spires that scrape the clouds now," a soldier says, watching me somewhat nervously.
"I'm sorry if I seem irreparably angry... Ted Faro murdered my brother and I've just learned that an entire empire worships his scrankly ass..." I shake my head, the anger making my heartbeat rush through my ears, "I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at this entire situation. And I can't just give you guys access to APOLLO without blowing your cover. Unless your... no, that would leave your expedition group unprotected. I want to help you guys, I don't wanna leave you under the supervision of a psychotic murderer, and I absolutely despise that y'all live so paranoid of tribes around you..." I grit my teeth, "People should help each other, information is meant to be shared, I grew up in a world where even though I was just a sick kid on the street, I was free to access the holo libraries and learn anything I wanted to, being so limited, I... You'd get along so well with Beta," I look at Alva.
"This is... Aloy's twin?" she asks.
"In a manner of speaking. They're both clones of Elisabet but Beta was made by the Zeniths and Stanley brought her to us to keep her safe and sane. Imagine being raised in a limited cage of what you can learn and do, and then trested like a slave and forced to do things you know the original would hate. That was her life," I explain.
They all stop dead.
"Elisabet Sobeck, a slave..."
"To people a thousand years old with only their own continued existence on their mind. They want to leave this world to die at the hands of a monster they created."
Ava goes pale as Zo grits her teeth and looks out at the sea.
"Know what?... I know for a fact things never work out the way I want them to. You guys follow us through the ruins. Alva is free to take any data she can when we free up the systems. The. You guys head home if you can. I guarantee, with all my novel obsessed pattern recognition capabilities, we will need to come to you for something in the very near future. And then?... Your so called 'Ceo's' days are numbered. No more terror." I stretch and get ready as Zo stands back up, "Ladies and gentlemen, here comes the train-wreck to hell, please keep hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times," I deadpan, heading for the zip-line.
"Uh..." one of the soldiers mumbles.
"Its... been a long and stressful several days for her. We've been setting up a network of people we trust with Focuses," Aloy explains, "She was tazked with distribution, and almost flattened under a Stormbird. Unsure if you have a different name for them- the giant eagle shaped machines."
"Ah! Yes, we call them Ion Hawks in some parts of the Empire... Flattened?" Alva asks.
"Er... Yeah. She got lucky, and blew a cavity in it before it landed on her, but it was followed by a Thunderjaw- the big mean ones shaped like T-Rex."
"How is she alive?..." a soldier asks.
"She is existing in a world without caffeine and the only correct answer at this point is pure spite," I call out, walking through the ruin.
"Caffeine?" Alva asks, "Oh! Coffee... We haven't actually been able to find it growing in the wilds."
"Oh, right.... Gaaaaiiiiiaaaaaa...." I wine into my Focus, "Did bro and Liz preserve coffee beaanns?..." I groan.
"I have found seventeen variant strains in the seed banks that were meant for Cradle Graduates. Perhaps when I have HEPHAESTUS and DEMETER, as well as permission fro
The Utaru or more fields, we can sow them. I have found many modules on fermenting, preserving, and even cheese making, as well," Gaia offers.
"Hhhhhhh-" I drool, "Cheeeeeeese... I want mac n cheese..." I groan, dragging my feet as we activate panels that hadn't been touched in thousands of years, seeing the team that used to work here struggle to create something that would halt the Faro Plague.
"We found old adverts speaking to the glorious creamy nature of the dish!" Alva says, running to keep up with me.
"No ad on the planet can do a well made batch if mac n cheese justice," I grin, perking up a bit.
"Is food all you think about?" Zo asks.
"When I'm not stressed," I grin.
"When are you not stressed?" She frowns.
"How should I know?" i ask, looking over at her, "I couldn't chew for a year before my thousand year stint as an ice statue."
"Fair." She sighs and looms around as we explore, "I opted in on this mission because I hope to find something we could use ti cure the land-gods here...I did not expect to find... a whole other tribe, no offense," she looks at them.
Alva shakes her head, "I wasn't expecting that we would turn out to be the unenlightened ones... But I can't say that anyone will take the news that our most revered Ancestors were so evil well. It may be silenced."
"Not if I have my way~" I hum, "I know there'll be some people that refuse to accept it until they see what he did, but..." I sigh and rub my head, "... I hate him. He took away my family. Took away the whole world. Took away your lives, in a way. You could be living completely different lives, if not for him, you know?..." I say softly, "No worship of false idols. Just... Science and peace. I'm sure someone would have caused unrest in another timeline. But it wouldn't be this way."
The soldiers are silent, s few even coming ti a halt for a moment before running to catch up.
"I think I can understand... You are pained by what you see, but understand that... We wouldn't even likely exist at all if not for it?" Alva asks.
"Not at you are now. In a different timeline your forebears may not have even been conceived. The world would be connected and blossoming, your grandparents could have met someone else. You wouldn't look like you do..." I point out gently, "It is called the butterfly effect theory. Change one small thing in the past and it causes a hurricane of changes to the future following it. What would this Earth look like had humans been able to learn and aid Gaia the way Liz planned? Who would you be?" I look at each of them, "How would you work beside Gaia's machines? What machines would you or your family have inspired? A million questions we can't imagine the answer to. And by the looks on your faces, I've caused an existential crisis. Whoops..."
Aloy blinks, "Would I have been born?"
"Unknown. Depends on if NEMESIS was treated as it is here. If yes, then yes. If no? Eh. If yes, your life would have been different. You might not be a skilled fighter." I point out.
Zo rubs her face, "My culture..."
"Exactly. Ugh, more Firegleam. Aloy??" I step aside, and shoo the soldiers away as she sets it off.
Alva flinches, but follows, the conversation continuing for several minutes, until she and the soldiers all stopping dead as we see firsthand the result of the old biomass conversion experiments.
"... The sins of... the ancients... this is what caused the Time of Ashes? This is what Faro did?..." Alva says weakly.
"Yes. Plant. Animal. Human. If it was biological, it... got converted..." I frowned, "It looks like Adamantine Wreath was an effort to trap the machines in an infinite feeding loop, but they realized they'd eventually get hacked and shut down..." I look at the expressions of horror on their faces, "This is why I hate him so much. On top of killing my brother and friends... He is responsible for the erasure of everything. And he got to just retreat to some unknown forgotten bunker and die peacefully."
The soldiers grip their spears, staring at the desolation.
"As long as this isn't activated again, it will all be back within a few years..." I say gently, before looking at the hatch.
"Ma'am. Is there... No, that'd be treason. Can we..." the leader gripped his bow, jaw set at he stares out the glass.
"I will happily help you unseat your budding psycho in any way I can. But you can't let anyone... know what you've found out until..."
He nods and turns to his men, "Our priority is keeping our people safe. Anyone else Ceo wants to kill... You help them disappear."
"Ah- a moment. Atekka, Dekka, Cheif Hekarro," I say, "Sorry ti interrupt your days, but Lowland Clan is the closest. I might need to ask a big big big favor of you and yours..." I give them a full rundown as we climb through tunnels, allowing Alva and the soldiers to chip in their two cents.
"I see... They can't stay at Thornmarsh, we still have the Blood Choke running rampant, but inland has clean water. We may be able to escort them safely through ti the Grove, or beyond if needed." Atekka offers.
"Yeah... That may be prudent, actually. If you help get them all the way to the base, we have amenities and safe harbor far from Ceo's influence. Ah-" I look at the soldiers, "Anyone tgat gets sent to us would be give a Focus. Our work involves heavy use of them..."
The soldiers nod.
"Actually, your helmets- you can hide a new flcus under them-" I point out, "You two got spares?" I see Zo and Aloy already reaching for pouches, reading my mind.
"We couldn't-"
"You're not stealing them from a Diviner, and it will save lives," Alva points out, "Our truth may eventually be to work as one with the tribes of the world, all side by side in the knowledge of the Ancients."
I nod, "Wise words, and correct. If this planet has any hope of survival, every man, woman and child will need a Focus, and to know what we're up against."

---
Writing this has revealed my planet sized hatred for Ted Faro, the Zeniths and Ceo.
I'm so sorry if this ends up becoming hatebabble, I swear there is story to go with it.
Blame the Horizon team! They are amazing at making characters you can love dearly and hate deeply, right alongside the stellar stories.