Living Antiquity

~35~

A few days later, and Avalanche arrived, sporting her new carapace of snow-white with red and grey highlights, carrying a satchel full of Focuses for Naltuk and Aratak to spread around The Cut, while waiting for the Conclave, which would happen in a few weeks.
"Aaand here," I saw, holding out two newly modified spears to their respective owners, "This will allow you to override machines in order to get a ride. You can set the Override to be permanent, or to time out once you dismount- if you set it to time out you can just override them again. They will go back to Gaia's systems ti be designated a task if you pet them remain free, so don't worry about them becoming hostile," I explain.
Naltuk examines it, curious, "Could there even be enough corruptors left to use their parts the way you have?"
"Yes. There's likely only a couple million humans on Earth at this point in time, if that many at all. There were well over a billion corruptors recorded by Minerva's systems because of the self replication systems functioning nonstop," I point out, then come to a stop, "Gaia, can we possibly scrap all of the Faro Plague and use it? Once all of your systems have been upgraded with Zenith tech?"
"Calculating..." Gaia's orb pulses, her avatar's hand on her chin thoughtfully, "Yes, I likely could. They can be scrapped for parts, and melted down... separated back into their base elements."
"Destruction is the easiest way to erase all programming," I point out.
"Indeed," Gaia chuckles.
"Amazing..." Naltuk says a bit breathlessly, "So then eventually the metal devils will no longer exist at all."
"Nope," I stretch, "How long would it take?" I look at her.
"Absorbing and repurposing Zenith technology in ways that don't interfere with my code should take roughly one month. Deconstruction after that shpuld take several years. I assume to save any and all override modules that I can?" She asks.
"Yep. Can you reprogram them with the new code that we've all been using, too?"
"Yes," Gaia nods, "It is still beneficial for both the user and the machine's systems," she points out.
"So then we can travel to the Conclave site much faster this way..." Naltuk says, relieved.
Drakka nods, "Still won't beat what Y/n did on Old Faithful, but the rebuilding of Old Faithful is in progress," he chuckles.
I sigh and rub my face.
"Oh?" Arstak raises a brow.
"We went from the other side of the mountains all the way to our base in the west in half a day- roughly twelve hours," Drakka grins, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.
Aratak stares at me, "Half a day?"
"Old Faithful was a machine from my past- a hovobike. A machine built for travel, ir in my case, racing," I grin, "Was my best work, but the Zeniths blew him up. He was actually named after the spout in the area- called a geyser. The one that goes off once every hour was called Old Faithful because it was, well, faithful. And old as shit."
"Oh? Curious. I believe it still does..." Naltuk says, pacing, "There is also a building nearby. One of our shamans took up residence there."
"Oh the old museum's still standing? Awesome!!" I grin, standing, "I know Aloy left to explore the Cut some more and visit friends, I'll explore and see stuff for myself, too..."
"You won't need to fear retribution for your travel like with the Tenakth," Aratak nods.
"Hey..." Drakka whines.
Aratak chuckles, watching us leave as Drakka basically drags behind me.
"Y/nnn... Its too fuckin cold...." he groans as we step outside.
I laugh, hugging him and lifting a bit so he feet were out of the snow, "Yes, yes, hon... I know you're not a member of Sky clan, the cold is not your friend," I hug him and set him back down as he stares at me.
"You couldn't-"
"Not in all that heavy ass armor. But since you'r ein furs and lighter armor now?" I laugh, stretching, "Besides, I grew up in the cold. I am a winter ninja."
"I wonder if you can lift me-"
I covered his mouth, rolling my eyes, "Do not say what you were about to say," I warn, before walking, hearing him laughing as he trails behind me.
Exploring the frozen mountains was actually quite fun! We made camp halfway down and ended up having to share the tent so that there was more heat to go around.
He was annoyed with the cold still, but didn't seem to mind as much around the fire. He was gonna be sorely disappointed in the morning once it'd blown out. The weather prediction application Gaia helped me establish said it'd be 78% likely to snow heavily overnight and probably blot out the fire.
By noon the next day, we were crossing the thermal pools near Old Faithful, Drakka warming up enough to take his gloves off and walk beside me as I point out the old boardwalks and walkways, grinning.
"So people thought this thing was-"
"Here, stand right here!" I grinned, positioning him on the boardwalk facing Old Faithful's hole and checking my time.
3... 2.... 1...
Fwwwoooooooooosssshhhhhh-
"Whoa!!" Drakka tenses, staring at the jet of hot water gushed into the air, "Okay, yeah, that's fucking awesome..." he stares as the steam falls, turning to snow.
"So then... how does it work?" He asks, leaning on what was left of the rail.
"Water in the ground is heated up by magma- which is hot, molten rock- below the ground, and the pressure builds up over time until it can't be held in anymore and it finds the easiest path of escape- Old Faithful has been reliably exploding steam and water for thousands of years now," I grin, leaning next to him.
A moment later, we heard a cracking sound, the centuries-old preserved wood disintegrating as we fall forward and I have to scuttle on my hands and knees, hearing Drakka grunt as he lands on his face.
"Pfff- you ok?" I laugh, walking back and helping him up, seeing that the mix of chemicals, water and impact had fucked up his face paint.
"Ow..." he groans, then sees me staring, "My paint came of again didn't it..."
"Yeah... here..." I sigh, using some half melted snow to just wash it the rest of the way off.
"Hey!"
"Better to just have a clean face than put up with your paint being messed up, hon..." I point out, "And you were complaining about your paint being super cold. Your face is still pretty red, so I think your paint was freezing on your face..."
He groans, and runs a hand over his face, "Still feels.... really weird. Shit..."
"Hey..." I said, cupping his face and making him look at me.
"I mean I know the paint makes me handsome, but without it I feel like a newborn..." he groans.
"And what makes you think you're not handsome without it?" I ask, raising a brow, and watching his face start to redden.
He rubs his face, groaning.
"Wow, Drakka's blushing?" I laugh, yelping when he throws me over his shoulder and walks so I couldn't look at his face anymore, "Aw come on, its adorable!"
"Uh-huh..." he groans.
"So, see the building yet?"
"Yeah, think so. Here." He sets me back on my feet after a moment.
I grin, recognizing the ruin from Aloy's records, "Oh, nice!" I grab his hand and tug him along, eager to see the museum, "This was the visitor center for the park way back in the day! Trav snuck me in in the middle of the night and showed me around."
"Really?" Drakka raised a brow, looking around, until we see Aloy and a man convversing, Aloy setting a Focus in his hand.
"This can show you everything about the animals on display here, though, you might be disappointed with their actual nature. Elf and deer weren't actualy carnivorous," Aloy says sheepishly.
"Oh?" The man applies the Focus, curious.
"Hey, Aloy! Thought you'd be further south by now..." I raise a brow, seeing Aloy do a double take as she looks at us and has to try to recognize Drakka without his paints.
"Whoa, what happened?"
"Old Faithful's steam pools washed his paint off."
Drakka groans.
"Really? Even swimming couldn't make it come off, before..." Aloy raises a brow.
"Seems like the pools have an effect..." Drakka pouts.
"Well, this is Enjuk," Aloy chuckles, "He's been trying to learn about ancient animals," she says pointedly, looking at him, then us, "Once he's caught up, can he have access to your documentary hoard?" Aloy looks at me, raising a brow.
"Oh, definitely!" I grin, "And Gaia was mentioning that she was going to be looking for ways to recreate the animals that were lost."
"Oh?!" Enjuk perks up, looking st us, "That sounds amazing..."
"Best sit down, though, the show is gonna start as soon as you interact with the Focus..." I say gently, watching him sit on a log stool and tense as the catch-up show begins.
"Oh...."
Drakka sits and digs in his bag, finding his kit.
"Hon, you'll just freeze your face again..." I look at him as he goes to start painting his face.
"But... yeah, you're right..." he groans, poking at the smooth skin of his face in annoyance, "Its so... strange."
"I know..." I sit next to him as the discomfort radiates off of him, "You'll be okay, I promise..."
We all watch as Enjuk's face shift through various emotions for the next hour or so, seeing him try to process it all as he is dragged down the rabbit hole kicking and screaming.
"... The old world fell in a blaze of destruction..." He whispered, gripping his sleeves, "But was renewed throgh the efforts of this... Eliabet Sobeck... Of whom you are a copy, as well as this girl named Beta?"
"Yes," Aloy confirms.
"And this woman is one of the Old Ones," he looks at me, his face a mixture of curiosity and terror.
I nod, "Frozen for a thousand years while the world... fell, and grew again."
"And you faced invading old souls from beyond the stars and felled them..." he paces, "Can you show me about the creatures of old?"
"Yes. Some of my old holos and vids are even about this area- Yellowstone National Park," I explain, and show him how ti navigate to my collection, which Gaia had been working on incorporating into APOLLO's database.
"O-oh!" He tenses, his ears now blessed with the gentle voice of the commentary for that particular series.
I laugh, letting him sit and watch, seeing how the wildlife used to coexist and hint back then, seeing herds of deer and elk grazing as packs of wolves hunted them.
"So their many-speared horns are for mating displays and self defense...!" He says giddily, excited, "They were the prey, not the hunters..."
Drakka raises a brow, listening ti the audio from across the room as his wraps the scarf up over his face.
"Amazing..." Enjuk keeps whispering, watching in amazement as he's surrounded by the ancient wilds.

---
I'm getting worried that I've hit burnout because its harder to write for this now than last week!
It may be because I finished the game and blew through the main story for Burning Shores in one night, but I promise i'll keep trying to update even once I start the other story I had an idea for.
Thank you to everyone for appreciating my work and encouraging me thus far!