Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 153 of 365. Sol standard year]
Days after of Crash landing/ 1
Uninhabited Island / Ruins / Corridor from Security Room
Galactic Standard Time / 2205
Zane followed after Rodolphe as they all moved, his mind trying to find a counter to what they had talked about. But no matter what argument he tried, it still came back to the fact that he couldn’t. There had to be a Reasoning-type inelegance commanding this Ruin, and that scared him so much. The theory that the Builders even had AIs wasn’t one he’d ever heard about. But maybe they, the AI’s had been destroyed at the other Ruins. It made sense since the Ruins were always found….. partially destroyed. Still, there had to be a reason why this one place survived where others didn’t! And where….. “Stars and nova.”
Zane stopped for a moment as a wild thought came to him. If he was right, then they were in even worse trouble than the others knew. He hoped he was wrong, but if he wasn’t…… they had to get back to the others, fast.
As Rodolphe turned a corner Zane heard a cry of joy. As Zane followed after Rodolphe he saw the reason, ahead of them by around twenty feet was the door they had after. It was at the end of a dark hallway, with only the only light above the door. With a grin, Zane looked at his friend as Bryce made it to them.
“So do we go in, or have our talk here?” Bryce asked as he looked at them.
Zane swallowed and sighed as he pulled off his pack. “I say here, best to get it over with. And I think you might be right. But this problem? It’s a lot bigger.”
“What do you mean?” Bryce asked as he and Rodolphe both pulled off their packs, sitting in a triangle with Zane.
“I was thinking, where did the new bots come from?” Zane asked as he looked around, a hard look in his eyes. Before they could reply to him, Zane spoke some more. “Were they made recently? And if so where? And what was used to make them?”
Rodolphe looked at Zane, his mouth open in shock.
Bryce looked at Zane with a confused look on his face. “What do you mean Zane? If they were new they had to have been …..made….in a factory…..”
As Bryce trailed off he paled in fear.
“You can’t mean that this thing has access to a factory here! Where would it get the resources!” Rodolphe asked in horror.
Zane only sighed and looked at his friends, feeling the words he was about to say. The weight of the idea almost made them too much to pass on, but he had to. “I think…. There might be another place with a Reasoning AI on this rock. And if I’m right it’s a resource collector type.”
“But it’s been thousands of years! It can’t still be harvesting right? Planet and moon-based mines dry out after at most a hundred years!” Rodolphe exclaimed and Zane only looked at his friend with a hard look.
After a few moments, Bryce looked at his friend as he winced. “Oh, I see. Yeah, I see what you mean Zane. And I wish it didn’t make sense but it does.”
“So you see it Bryce, good. And I wish I was wrong about this!” Zane said bitterly.
Rodolphe only looked between his friends, a look of complete confusion on his face. “What? What am I not seeing!”
“This is a Ruin. That means that the Ruin Builders made this,” Bryce said softly.
“Yeah?” Rodolphe asked with a desperate edge to his voice.
Zane only looked at his friend, and he felt the same as he did. Rodolphe had to be not seeing the answer on purpose, and he wished he could have done the same.
“That means they might have made Ruin to regrow the minerals mining robots take,” Bryce said slowly.
Rodolphe looked at Bryce, a strange look in his eyes before he slowly fell backwards. He held his hands over his eyes and mouth, screaming into them for a moment. “Okay, okay. That makes sense. But where is it? And how does this affect us? Could the mining AI also build the drones or does this one do it? And is there another AI that only builds the bots?”
Zane only sighed as he looked around at his friends. The truth was, however bad they thought it was, it was probably worse. The one thing that he had learned over the years was a hard lesson. And it was that when you expected something bad, it was probably worse, And sometimes in ways you couldn’t even see.
“No choice, we have to keep moving and hope to find a way to win. We’ll secure that room ahead, then we’ll sleep for a few hours in shifts. Bryce, can you automate your data mining?” Rodolphe asked with an edge to his voice.
Bryce reached into his backpack and pulled out his handheld device. He looked at it, then around at nothing the others could see. After a few moments, Bryce nodded and looked at the others. “Yeah. I think so anyway. I’ll need to set it up so it’ll disengage if something tries to control it from the other end. If the controlling AI gets into this we’d be done. “I take the first watch, okay? That’ll give me time to get everything set up right.”
Zane looked at him and nodded as Rodolphe just sighed and shook his head.
“Fine with me. But only after we‘ve secured the room alright?” Rodolphe asked as he looked down at the doorway.
“Yeah, that’s okay,” Bryce said as they all got up. Within moments, they had crossed the distance to the door and were looking around for the lock.
Zane had a horrible thought as they looked along the walls. They were acting as if the door would open for the key they had. If it wouldn’t then the implant wasn’t for all the locks, it was only for that room. Then that meant that whoever the Builder was, they didn’t have full access. But then why wouldn’t they have full access? That point to things Zane didn’t want to think about. But he had to. They might have to brave the chamber they left if they wanted to live if he was right.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Found it! Under the broken lights here!” Bryce exclaimed.
“Here’s the key!” Rodolphe called out as threw the hand to Bryce.
Before Zane could say anything, Bryce put the key under the scanner. And then the door opened. Zane only blinked and smiled.
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As White followed after Crimson, it looked around the strange path. So far, the Realms of the Creators were nothing like the fables. But then it hadn’t always believed in the stories. Oh, White had believed in the idea of the Creators for sure. But there had always been something about the tales told always struck it as wrong somehow. There was just something there, something that screamed that this was a lie. And here White was, walking through what looked like bare paths. Where were the monuments to the fallen heroes? Where were the memorials of the great Chiefs? Another lie that was told by the ancients to make the lives of the Tribe easier most likely.
But as the members of the Tribe walked through the empty path, White wished so much for the lie to be real. But they had to deal with the fate their actions created, and this was theirs. They had to survive and return to the Tribe, the War needed to end! If the Creators were all dead, then the War was worthless! There would be no Tribe to uplift by the hands of the dead!
White felt its left hand slowly rise upwards and pulled it closer. White looked up as Trainer walked on, and meowed softly as Trainer was revealed to still be in shock. White could only gaze at Trainer and feel sorrow for its teacher. Trainer had believed in the Creators watching over them with all its heart. And the way it had prayed to them every night? Finding the bones of the ‘Immortal Creators’ had destroyed it. And White didn’t know what to do, would it be better to put Trainer out of its misery here and now? But Trainer taught the best Warriors the Tribe had. If they lost Trainer now they might lose everything they had if the War continued! So White had to take care of Trainer until they could find a place to rest. And so White could think about the Power it had gained.
The few users of the Power had always been attackers, but White was a supporter. Its only power seemed to let Crimson strike harder and move faster. That kind of power was incredible and unlike any other Power user in the tribe. And when Crimson gained the Power, then who knew what they could do together? Could White could support more than one being at a time? That might be enough to let the Chief listen to them without the metal alone!
But as White moved along, all it could do was try and think about how to use its new powers. If it could use them, and teach them to others like the greats could do, then the Tribe would be that much stronger.
Ahead, Crimson looked around, trying to smell anything. This place was nothing like any of them had expected. They needed to get back to the Tribe fast! They had seen things that they hadn’t known existed, and seen horrors they didn’t have words for. And they still had to get home with the survivors. As Crimson walked on, it smelled the scent of fear from those behind it and barely kept its fear scent down. It knew what the others felt, it felt it too. But Crimson had a better game face than the others, and now it had to use it. As long as they believed in Crimson, most of them would be able to keep it together. But Crimson had to find a place for them all to rest soon. Walking through this place while tried was asking for death, they had to rest. For the was one lesson their home taught them all, a tired fighter was a dead fighter!
As they walked along the strange path, every one of them had looks of awe on their faces. This was so far beyond anything they had expected, it was shocking. For the surviving Watchers, the loss of Captain weighed heavily on their minds. Captain had been so full of pride and purpose, with it they felt like they were doing honored work again. And for Captain to have been killed so fast, it was wrong.
For the Warriors, this was beyond anything rookies were expected to experience. They had all expected to head to guard posts behind the lines. Maybe they would watch over their people as they gathered resources but that was it. Some even thought they might become guards behind the Front Line. But for all of them, their first battle had cost them so much. Each one of them was shocked, and some were handling it better than others.
For half of them, the battle had passed in a flash, and they barely remembered it. They experienced a sense of shock and rage at themselves for forgetting. The others remembered everything that happened and cursed themselves for their inactions. They all wanted to be better, and they had all killed on hunting trips. But the Servants the Tribe had encountered had all been dead, and all had been smaller.
None of them knew what they would encounter here, and that scared a lot of them. But each one was a proud member of the tribe, and they would handle this. Sooner or later, they would make it back to their people. They all knew this. They all believed this with all their hearts. They would have justice for their dead and they would tell the Tribe what they found. And they would keep moving until they died to do that!
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Gold ran through the jungle, trying to keep calm and think up a story that the Elder would believe. The whole mission had gone wrong from the moment they dared to break through into the Creator’s Realm! When Trainer had been shocked by something Gold hadn't seen. And then the Creator’s Servant had come to punish them for their trespass. And instead of letting it judge them, the fool of a Captain had instead attacked it! And then the beasts of the air attacked them, killing one of the other heretics!
Gold had to make it to the Front Lines, it had to carry word of what the Elder had done to the Tribe! To dare to break into the Creators' realm! That must have been why the Creators had sent their Servant to punish them all! And that had to be only the first of the pain the Creators will send after the Tribe! The only reason that they had spared Gold was because it was to be their message to the rest! Maybe if the Tribe begged for forgiveness they would be spared? As a crunch was heard from the left, Gold dropped to his knees. A moment later a bolt flew over its head and hit a tree.
Gold backed up and looked at the tree, seeing a black wooden arrow there. Gold paled and started to run on all fours. With every step, more arrows came at it, each one missing. The arrows were fired by killers that the Elder had under its command. Each one was among the deadliest Warriors who the Elder had further trained. They were supposed to be the ones who watched over the Final Line. But the Tribe whispered that the Elder used them as Assassins. Gold had never believed in those stories, but now the reality was upon it.
As Gold ran and the arrows fell around it, Gold kept on track. As Gold ran, a strange burning suddenly swept through it and caused it to stumble. Falling into a bush, Gold felt the flame sweep through its body. The arrow rain stopped and Gold held its breath. The sound of something coming closer caused Gold to hold its breath. A black-furred feline humanoid walked closer, Gold looked at its legs. Closer and closer it came, until it was right in front of the bush Gold was in.
After a few moments, the Feline walked away, jumping over the bush and moving in the direction Gold had fallen in.
Gold looked down at its arms, staring in awe. It couldn’t see anything, but it grabbed a branch and moved it, seeing it move but not what was holding it.
Gold grinned and chuckled softly. The Creators had blessed Gold! With this Power, Gold would be able to escape and tell the Chief! Gold almost moved off before looking down at its arms and as it felt the burning dye down, its arm became visible. The burning feeling within Gold’s body had died down when Gold’s arm became visible.
Gold still felt a heat within it, but it was much smaller than before. Gold looked around and then smiled darkly. This place was where it had trained, Gold knew every inch of this forest. It had let the fear that the rumors had seeded within Gold’s mind. Still, since the assassins were here, it was a small thing but the new Power might give Gold an edge. And to take them down, that might be enough to put the Elder in check.
Gold looked into the forest as the night cycle began. Yes, why go to the Chief when the Elder was going to be so sad to lose so many of its followers. It might even lose the chance to become the Grand Priest, the master of the Tribe’s religious services. With that kind of power, it held life and death over the other Tribe members, and what it would bless. Without a good blessing, the young wouldn’t be seen as good investments by other families. So what mates the young could get would be lower than those with a good blessing. It wasn’t a lie to say that the Grand Priest was the most important next to the Chief. And the many Elders all fought to take over from the current one when they died.
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Two Feline Tribe Warriors ran down the hallway, looking over their shoulder as they moved. Since they had escaped from the Servant, they had kept running. They moved through the path, trying to find any place that they could hide. The others they had come with had to be dead, and they were the only ones who were still alive. They had to find a way back to their people, they had to tell the Chief what they had found. The others had died, and the two runners had to carry what they saw to people who could make choices.
They had seen a dead Creator, that was something both of them knew for a fact. Everything that they had known for sure had been called into question. The very basis for the War was called into question! They all fought because they believed that the Creators would choose the worthy. But now, the Creators had been dead for who knows how long. They weren’t able to choose anyone, and so many heroes had given their lives for a lie! No, not a lie, a mistake! They had created the belief of the Chosen to understand why they were in the Under Jungle, that made sense. But did they never expect to be proven wrong? Did they even think if they would find a way out? Did they make that belief because they wanted to explain why their people were in that hell?
A crash from far ahead caused the two of them to look at each other in fear. They needed to find a place to hide, they couldn’t keep running around wildly. An open door to their right caused one of them to run into it.
The other one stayed where it was for a few moments, looking into the darkness. As it looked around, trying to find the source of the noise it stood still. If it moved, then it would be seen. But after another minute, it turned and ran after its comrade, hoping that this wasn’t a mistake.