Living Antiquity

~36~

Eventually, Aloy got interupted by Silens while exploring and catching up with the Banuk of the Cut, and had to look to me, Drakka, and Gaia, to help the Banuk be linked to our main group.
Silens having apparently found something worrying in the records of the Zenith base. One of them split off from the main group and went further south.
"I'm gonna have to hunt him down..." she groans, rubbing her face.
Opening the file Silens shared, I saw the name and cringed, "Ew, Walter Londra?!"
Drakka lets out a snort and looks at me, Enjuk and Naltuk giving a questioning glance as I make a vomiting motion.
"I vote just nuke him-!" I raise a fist to the air, "Oh,wait... The other half of the Quen expedition... Tenakth trackers spotted them out there, didn't they? Figures they would land near Los Angeles instead of San Fransisco. I wonder if any of them have a Focus? If they do you should patch them into our Network when you find them." I look at Aloy.
She nods, packing her gear-pack and looking at Drakka and I, "Make sure you two get the Conclave to join. We need as many people in contact as possible..." she points out.
"I know. We have Gaia to help us, too, so... This will go a lot better than if it were just us," I point out, "Voice of reason, and all that."
Gaia chuckles, and nods, her avatar sitting down gently on a stump chair.
Enjuk frowns, rubbing his chin, "The museum should be alright without me for a month or so, especially with these... re-par..." he looks at the repair drones that were carefully mending holes in the roof, "Repair drones!" He grins, happy with himself for remembering the words.
"Indeed. They'll be keeping a careful eye on it for you," Gaia nods gently, and smiles.
Tiny, tiny forms gathered in swarms. Nano-tech termites that will chew usable trees up nearby and re-print them as logs and planks to fill holes and repair the damage to the museum, making it sturdy enough ti stand, and resist the weather better so that there is a viable shelter for any Banuk that pass by.
"With how efficiently they're working, we should come back ti a fully whole museum, and maybe even working displays," I point out.
"Ok... off to hunt our final Zenith down..." Aloy sighs, shouldering her bag and stepping outside, "I'm going to use one of the Sunwings to get out there. Here's hoping its not too rough on the turbulence..." she groans and rubs her face, before whistling, one of the pterosaur machines swooping and snagging her, tossing her up onto its back and taking off.
"Whoa...!" Naltuk grips his headdress to keep it from flying off, "And your team travels as such.. all the time??" He asks, looking at us.
"Not all the time, but close!" I chuckle, "It depends on the landscape we're traveling. Not all ground machines are capable of traversing ice and snow, and not all flying machines are good to fly as high as say... A Stormbird? A Charger can't traverse deep snow as well as a Bristleback or a Broadhead. We'll have to find machines that are good for traversing snow so that we can reach the Conclave in a decent amount of time," I pace, thinking as Aloy and the Sunwing fade out of sight due to her gaining altitude.
"A query... there is a cauldron not far south from the Grave Hoard, correct? I can create machines that are capable of traversing the snow while keeping the rider warm. Not necessarily a car, as they may not be able to grip the landscape."
"Hmm... How many mountains are between us and Ban-Ur?" I look at Naltuk and Enjuk.
"Not many. Comparing what I know of the landscape to ancient maps, Ban-Ur is in the state Montana and the province Alberta. I'm not entirely certain how... accurate that idea is, but the lay of the land seems to match." Naltuk says, pacing.
I nod, pulling up a map of the area on my Focus, "Know what, yeah..." I sit on a stump, thinking as Aratak comes into view, another flosting orb beside him, though he had a hand carefully rested on the underside of the orb, clesrly afraid it would fall.
Around if, the now familiar glowing patterning if Cyan's avatar, the symbol of Cauldron EPSILON printed in bold on it. A mark that now represented Cyan's broken chains, and the destruction if the cauldron.
With the way things have been going, Gaia went ahead and made an orb for Cyan, allowing her to traverse the landscape like Gaia and humans.
The conversations between the two of them were fascinating and could take place in the barest fraction of a second...
"Grazers that are adapted to use their Blaze instead to keep a rider warm would be useful. Heat circulating through their bodies at all times so that the rider doesn't freeze solid, and a wider, balanced antler array to help burrow or melt snow out of its way." Cyan warbled, bobbing next ti Gaia and spinning to look around, "The world is so open... and much more snow than there ever used to be... i remember being shown pictures of the area."
Aratak smiles and shoulders his spear, visibly relaxing, "A long journey..."
"And we have to go south first so that we can meet up with the rides Gaia and Cyan are designing for us," I smile, seeing Aratak give Naltuk a confused look, "Well since Aloy helped destroy the Cauldron at Thunder's Drum, Gaia feels there's no pertinent reason to rebuild it right this moment. She's having machines for the area made instead at Cauldron Sigma." I hear a screech overhead and look up, seeing Zeus hovering, wings flapping.
"I took the initiative to call him here to provide transport to the Cauldron," Gaia stands, "All of you ought ti fit on his back with little issue, and I thought of a better way to give the necessary transportation."
Aratak stared up at the bird as he hovered, and dropped down next to us, landing in the snow and folding his wings before staring at us with piercing eyes. "... They're quite regal up close and alive." He bowed his head to the bird, "The chiefs of the skies."
Naltuk also gave the bird a bow, and looked to me as I stood, shouldering my pack.
Drakka grins and grabs his pack, "And I won't be dropping off again."
I give him a short glare, "Yeah, you better not."
He puts his hands up defensively, his shit-eating grin spread wide across his face.
Gaia chuckles and actually reaches over to ruffle his hair, though her hand went straight through him due to being a hologram.
Enjuk paced around Zeus, "To see a Stormbird up so close unharmed...! A treat." He grins, and goes bacj into the museum to piece together a travel bag.
"What's your idea, Gaia?" I ask, looking at her.
"We require something fast, but warm enough to keep all of you alive for the period you are in its company..." she lifts a finger thoughtfully, and smiles, "A way to get there within perhaps just a day or so, without losing your life to frostbite."
"We would have to fly, and it would have to be something big enough for all of us, and likely a fire elemental machi-.... Oh, I see." I laugh and rub my face, "You're building mechanical phoenixes."
"Correct." She says in a teasing but kind voice, "I recall that being in one of your files as a possible name for Old Faithful. The Phoenix, due to how many times you stripped and rebuilt it with many of the same parts. Rising from its own ashes repeatedly."
"Phoenix?" Aratak asks.
"A mythological immortal bird," I explain, "It was rumored to explode into flames at the end of its life, and ruse again as a baby from its own ashes, beginning its life cycle anew. It was also in some cultures rumored to have a healing voice or potent healing tears." I explain.
Drakka listens, fascinated, as Enjuk and Naltuk nod, Aratak staring at me.
"I think it originated in Greek mythos, but don't quote me on that. The Apollo database is a better reference than me." I rub my head.
"It originated in Ancient Egypt with inspiration from the Benu. The Benu was a type of African heron- ancient water bird that I'm still searching for zygotes of- that was associated with both Ra and Osiris. The sun god and the god of the Egyptian underworld, respectively... It was also associated with the seasonal flooding of the Nile valley, for obvious reasons of that family of the evolutionary tree," Gaia offered, "The bird has long been associated with the sun in many of its mythos, alongside the circle of life. A fiery twin to the cycle of life of the Utaru belief system. I believe that civilization as you all see it today could also be seen as the phoenix rising from the ashes of long ago."
"Gaia that's poetry, save that." I perk up, "Send it to the others I have an idea. We should call ourselves the Phoenix Earth Alliance."
"That sounds amazing, however... Y/n. The acronym is PEA."
"Well it was that or Phoenix World alliance and PWA is not the best sounding," I grin as Gaia chuckles and shakes her head.
"Phoenixes, huh?" Erend calls over the comms.
"Fascinating. The sun god Ra? I'll be doing more research, it sounds amazing!" Avad perks up, "Later, though. I'm a bit busy with dignitaries from the Shadow. We're acclimating them to Focuses. They're halfway through the... I believe you called it Initiation Presentation."
"Awesome! Let us know when you need us." I said, "We can offer extra information as they need it and enough Focuses to help everyone adjust." I climb onto Zeus's back as the others get ready.
"There is no need for that yet, miss. Concentrate on your Banuk mission," Marad reminded us, "Although we did meet a man named Inatut, wearing Carja armor. A fascinating man, and we sent him off in the direction of the Mountain Base. I believe Erend is meeting him at the chainlift?"
"Yep. Have a couple Chargers and I'm making the walk right now," he grunts, "Shit, there's a rock there... Dunno if he's done with the initiation yet."
"I have detected a Focus between the Sundom and the pass to the Mountains, but he hasn't done his outreach yet." Gaia offers as we all finally pile onto Zeus and take off for Cauldron Sigma.
"Well, keep an eye on him."
"Indeed. I've also already begun construction of the Phoenix. It will be slightly larger than a Stormbird, with a cavity for passengers so that you're not on its back exposed to the elements," Gaia says thoughtfully.
"For a designation, we should call them Blazebirds. But the first one should be named Phoenix," I yawn, feeling Drakka's frozen-ass hands up my sleeve, "Drakka, I love you but if you do not stop that I will slap you."
"By the Ten, its fucking cold." He groans.
"Yeah, of course it is. We should be over warmer territory soon, calm down." I sigh softly.
Aratak chuckles and looks at us, "Was it like that the whole journey to see us?"
"Yes." I groan.
Here we go, and its not even the coldest we'll be in the next few weeks.

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I'm finally back! I'm not liable to update daily, but I'm moving soon and using this as an outlet. 😓
I'm gonna try ti continue bringing the same quality as I used to, though!
I hope everyone continues to enjoy the story!