Aloy spent some time in the sky on her Sunwing, hoping the height would give her perspective on the wrestle in her heart which was becoming overwhelming…as was the burden that she refused to share.
Sooner or later, she would have to tell Seyka the truth.
And watch the light go out in her eyes.
After all, what could a midshipman do against Nemesis? Trapped under the suffocating subjugation of the Quen Imperial Family and forbidden to know anything above her ‘station.
She let go of the Sunwing’s reins and leaned back on it, feeling the cool breeze wash over her. The sky was stormy, grey and unsettled.
“What if she didn’t go back?” Aloy murmured quietly. “What if Seyka returned with me to the base? She could wear a FOCUS and be a part of the team…” A thrill ran through her. “Maybe that’s the answer!” She frowned. “Of course, it would mean leaving her sister behind…but the other Quen fleet have a working gyrocompass. Kina could come with us as well…as long as we find her.” Aloy sat up and nodded. “That’s what I’ll do, what I’ll offer…when I’ve told her about Nemesis. I’ll give her something to hope for.”
With a decision made, she turned the Sunwing’s head towards the location of Londra’s base beneath the formidable tendrils of a HORUS.
Seyka’s body lit up blue as she came close. Aloy slid from the Sunwing and opened her mouth.
“Before you say anything,” Seyka blurted and Aloy’s lips clamped shut, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have bitten your head off before. I was just…worried.” She turned her head, her long black hair sweeping over her shoulder. “That painting…Kina did it.” Aloy didn’t know why a painting would cause Seyka to become so concerned so she waited. Seyka sighed. “Kina…has more than one gift. Her love of the stars…she would paint murals expressing how much she wished she could travel amongst them.” Seyka sat on a rock and her shoulders bowed. “But my family saw no value in her art. It wouldn’t put food on the table or get her noticed by the Imperial Family. They discouraged her whimsical paintings until she couldn’t pick up a brush without trembling.”
“Seyka,” Aloy whispered, “I’m so sorry.”
Seyka licked her lips. “She painted that mural…amidst the horrors of what Walter Londra is going to the Quen…her own enslavement…I can’t understand it.” She turned to Aloy, her eyes conveying such hurt and fear. “What is she going through?”
Aloy sat next to Seyka. “I don’t know,” she said honestly, “but we’re going to find her and the other Quen. I promise,” she swallowed, “and…when we do…I owe you some of my own honestly.”
“Yeah,” Seyka nodded and sniffed, “you do.” She smiled, her tone lacking any heat or hardness. “Well…shall we?”
After circumventing a shield that Londra had in place, the two young women were able to steal into a cave that opened into the back of a building that was mostly buried. There were twisting tunnels that took them into a large cavern with a door, similar to a cauldron door, at the back.
And to Seyka’s delight, there were three Quen sitting around a campfire. Aloy was surprised at their ease. They were talking quietly but not as if they were keeping secrets. She couldn’t understand why they weren’t trying to escape.
Perhaps they had and were stopped at the shield?
Still, for thwarted escapees, they were relaxed and calm…until they saw Aloy and Seyka approaching…then their faces turned wary and they picked up their weapons.
“Stop right there and tell us how you circumvented the barrier!”
Seyka froze on the spot, her jaw dropping open.
One of the Quen put her hand out. “Stop! Don’t you recognise Seyka?”
Her companions were stiff jawed and glaring. “I know her name,” the man on the right muttered, “but Gask told us to defend the door against the unworthy.”
Aloy tasted the word ‘unworthy’ on her lips, her brow furrowing before she lifted her head.
“We are here because of Gask,” she said, putting her hand on Seyka’s arm, silencing her next words, “he sent us.”
“Why would Gask send you to this sacred place?”
Aloy let the insult slide. “Because…we saved his life.”
The Quen snorted in disbelief. “Gask is a soldier, commended by the Imperial Family. What help could he possibly require from a midshipman and a barbarian?”
Aloy glanced at Seyka, feeling a little lost. Seyka nodded and drew out of Aloy’s grasp.
“We came across him battling a swarm of Stingspawn and while he was holding his own, the Bilegut that laid them was lying in wait.” Seyka explained in a reverent voice which was dripping with such drama that Aloy nearly smiled.
One of the Quen glanced at the others. “I don’t believe it.”
“How else could we gain access to this place?” Aloy asked.
“But…a barbarian?”
The only women in the trio frowned, thinking for a moment. “If they passed the barrier under Gask’s authority…then we will honour his choice. After all, it is in the next room that true faith is revealed.”
The male Quen lifted their weapons, the one on the left chuckling darkly. “Yes…let the other Quen see if they have faith.”
Though Aloy was sure Seyka had questions, and she had a number of her own, both remained silent as the Quen opened the door and let them pass by. As it closed behind them, Seyka turned to Aloy.
“Well done.” Aloy praised.
“I was ready to start throwing punches,” Seyka admitted, “Aloy…what’s going on here?”
“I’m not sure,” Aloy admitted, “but it sounds as though many of the Quen are still alive.”
“Yes but,” Seyka leaned close, “did they seem…fine to you?”
Aloy nodded. “Not at all like battered prisoners. Maybe some of the other Quen can shed light on what’s happening.” They walked together, heading down some stairs and along a short corridor. “Who is Gask?”
“A soldier with all the charm of a Bilegut and all the diplomacy of a Bristleback.” Seyka snorted. “He was on the same ship as me and liked to walk through a freshly swabbed deck or kick over a cask of peeled potatoes just to make more work for seamen like myself and others.”
“Sounds exactly like the sort of person a Zenith would use as his bodyguard.”
“It gets worse,” Seyka muttered as they reached the door and paused, “Gask had two friends who were as equally as brutish…and what they lacked in common decency they made up for with strength and weapon skills.”
Aloy sighed, suspecting a confrontation of Gask and his friends would be inevitable. “We’d better get in and out before Gask arrives and blows our rather thin cover.”
They opened the door and were greeted by a sudden influx of light and colour. Aloy winced, murals of holographic light filling the giant room. They walked on red carpet which was made of light, projected from the sides of the steps, passing by stone vases, each one displaying a bouquet of flowers also made from light. Chandeliers, flickering with fake candlelight, hung over the four corners of the room, elevated with lounges arranged in groupings of three. There was even more seating in alcoves with more false flora bursting out of barren planter boxes. And standing, sitting, talking and walking through the space, were over two dozen Quen.
“They’re alive!” Seyka whispered. “Most of them are alive!”
“Easy now,” Aloy urged, “let’s just get a feel for the place. For prisoners, they don’t seem all that afraid.”
Seyka nodded and they strode up to one of the murals. “Who’s that?” She asked, pointing at it.
“I’d say it’s Londra.” Aloy quickly accessed her FOCUS, scrolling through files. “I don’t know for sure. I have no record of his appearance.”
He was a beaming man with a shock of blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was laughing, his body in focus but the group of people behind him blurred so that he was the main attraction. However, Aloy was unsettled by his face.
“Something seems off about it.” She muttered. “The details are…strained, like the image is trying too hard.”
“Maybe Londra changed in a thousand years so he altered the image to look more like him now?” Seyka mused.
“That’s a very good point.”
“That’s Eda,” Seyka moved away, Aloy following as a Quen, who had been passing with a serene look on her face, paused as they approached, “Eda, it’s good to see you.”
“Seyka! How have you come to be here?” Eda asked, her tone strangely musical, as if she was listening to a melody in her head. “Did Londra choose you as he chose us?”
“Ah…yes.” Seyka licked her lips and nodded. “He did.”
Eda looked at Aloy. “Fear not, barbarian. Londra’s love for his people is not confined to the Quen. There are many amongst our number who will not enter his promised land.”
Aloy’s hackles were going up. “I only hope to be worthy,” she said between gritted teeth as she tried to sound as wishy washy as Eda, “if I could just have a glimpse of his promised land…”
“Oh,” Eda put her finger to her lips, “you may…but only when you pass the test to prove your faith is pure.”
“Test?”
She nodded and pointed to the far end of the room where another door was shut tight, guarded by two Quen. “You must speak the words of faith to gain admittance. Then and only then, will you see Londra’s promise, his deliverance to us from Nemesis.”
“What’s…” Seyka began to ask but Aloy cut in over the top of her.
“You’ve seen what’s beyond the door?”
“I have,” Eda’s eyes filled with tears, “I was undone!”
Seyka shook her head. “Eda, where is Kina?”
“She passed through the door,” Eda pointed, “she was the first, Londra’s favoured disciple.”
Seyka trembled and looked away.
“What about the Quen who died during the excavation?” Aloy asked hastily. “Did they do something wrong and were punished?”
“Oh no,” Eda gushed, “they gave their lives so that Walter could bring the rest of us to his promised land.”
“And you didn’t even take the time to bury them?”
“When the soul is gone, the body is just a vessel and requires no attention,” Eda smiled and Aloy was hard pressed not to slap her, “I see you still have a long way to go on your faith journey. I hope you obtain revelation in time.”
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Seyka hissed through her teeth and turned away, finding a quiet corner, her fingers tightening into fists.
“Calm…calm…” Aloy breathed. “She’s just saying what she’s been taught to believe.”
“You don’t understand,” Seyka put her hand against the wall to steady herself, “Eda was…she was straight down the line, I only believe it if I can see it. She never gambled with the rest of us and was never emotional or…that!” Seyka pointed at her from across the room, Eda gazing dreamily up at the mural of Walter Londra holding a globe of the world in his hand. “What’s he done to them?”
“I’m not sure but I know we have to get through that door to find out.” Aloy muttered. “We need these ‘words of faith’ Eda talked about. Sounds like a code…”
“Perhaps we should ask around?”
For the most part, the other Quen were equally as dreamy eyed and incomprehensible as Eda but they struck upon one who was having doubts. If anything, his doubting made him harder to talk to as he was sure there was something wrong with him.
“I cannot help but doubt the validity,” he insisted softly, “the fake flowers, the fake carpet…the murals of Londra, his eyes offset and strange…I am a non believer. I am not worthy…”
“You’re seeing a lie that is being touted as truth,” Aloy insisted, “what Londra is offering you is not the promised land.”
His eyes were wide and wild. “You must not let anyone else hear you. The rest of the Quen…they will stone you to death.”
“We’ll be careful,” Seyka promised, “but you have to help us get through that door.”
He lowered his head. “Isla…she was dear to me…and I just left her in the cave in and followed him.”
Aloy looked at Seyka who glanced at the first door they’d passed through. They both had the same thought. The more time they lost, the more likely Gask would appear and all hell would break loose.
“If we can disprove Londra’s claims, then more Quen won’t die for him.” Aloy vowed.
He nodded and licked his lips. “I overheard one of the other Quen whispering the code, chanting it like it had some kind of power. In Londra do I put my faith. In Londra will I believe. For Londra I will give my life for he has chosen me.”
Aloy looked at Seyka. “You got that?”
“Yes.” She clapped him on the shoulder. “Thank you.”
The guards were unimpressed with Aloy’s presence but given that she was paired with Seyka, they rolled their eyes and listened to them recite the words.
“In Londra do I put my faith. In Londra will I believe. In Londra I will give my life for he has chosen me.” How the words stuck in Aloy’s throat. It felt as though she was swallowing glass.
“Londra’s favour extends to heathens it seems.” The guards opened the door. “Go on and witness his promise.”
They passed over the threshold, the door closing behind them. The corridor was adorned with more holographic flora, like a jungle tunnel. As one who had seen almost every landscape the world had to offer, Aloy found the projections to be gaudy and tasteless.
“Those weren’t Gask’s friends, were they?”
“No, just regular infantry.”
“They didn’t seem to like you anymore than they liked me.”
“The Quen military and the Quen navy are fierce rivals.” Seyka winked. “Come on.”
Aloy jogged to reach her then matched her stride. The corridor was a triangle shape with vines of light hanging from the ceiling. Aloy and Seyka walked through them, not fooled for a moment.
“What’s Nemesis?” Seyka asked softly. “Eda said Londra was going to deliver the Quen from Nemesis.”
Aloy’s heart trembled. “It…to understand Nemesis, you have to understand the Zeniths…and how they will do anything to survive. They are without moral, ethic, compassion or kindness.”
Seyka nodded. “If you had told me that a few days ago, I wouldn’t have believed you,” she looked at Aloy with her almond shaped eyes, “but I am ready to listen.”
Aloy licked her lips. “I…I don’t know where to begin…” She faltered then jolted as Seyka’s hand touched her face.
“Perhaps…it should wait.”
Aloy’s cheeks flamed with colour. She drew back instinctively. “Yeah…we don’t know how long Gask will be away for.”
Seyka smiled and they kept walking.
Aloy’s mind was in turmoil. She had only just ended a deeply passionate affair with Kotallo, her attraction to him growing ever since they’d met and he’d pledged himself to her cause. He was strong, warm and quiet, fierce and abrupt, without pretence.
She should be hurting so much right now but instead she was feeling her freshly bleeding heart rebound with every word, every look…every determination Seyka made.
Aloy was drawn to her…feeling that somehow, she could heal the wounds of her heart. There was certainly something in Seyka’s eyes that made Aloy feel as though there was hidden meaning, something secret and desirable just waiting to be uncovered…
But was Aloy really prepared to know it?
After all, she ended it with Kotallo.
Why would she start something with Seyka?
Aloy frowned.
She hadn’t been sure about Kotallo. No…that was untrue. She hadn’t been sure about her own feelings and Kotallo. He was absolute but in a way, that had made Aloy feel uncomfortable, because part of her was always reserved. She didn’t know how to give herself completely.
Neither had Elisabet. Tilda had talked about the distance Elisabet kept from her.
Perhaps Elisabet sensed Tilda’s underlying self preservation instinct, her hidden cruelty and self serving agenda and distanced herself from it.
Seyka demonstrated none of that.
She was bold, good, kind, determined, skilled and warm…
…and female.
Putting her lack of character aside, the one thing Aloy knew about her was that Tilda had been a woman…in a relationship with Elisabet…Aloy’s genetic source.
Maybe the reason Aloy didn’t feel comfortable in giving herself completely to Kotallo and allowing herself to fall in love had more to do with a lack of attraction or a sense of ‘being home’ with him. Perhaps that was only something a woman could give her.
Was Seyka such a woman?
Not sure of the answer, Aloy remained silent until they reached the end of the corridor and an immense space opened up, slanted sides forming a giant A-frame over top of them, side stairs leading to corridors and locked rooms and in the middle of the space, a balcony edge.
“Look at that!” Seyka gasped and darted forward.
Aloy followed her and they stared at the display. There were clouds filling the ground, billowing with limited spontaneity, the cycle repeating every thirty seconds so that the clouds jolted and returned to their starting position before rolling about again. And set even further back from the clouds was a rocket, bright white and glistening. Above its pointed nose was a projection of the galaxy, stars sparkling against the dark.
“A rocket,” Aloy whispered, “he’s going to use his rocket to reach the Odyssey and escape earth…but it isn’t here.”
“It’s right there.” Seyka pointed.
“No,” Aloy shook her head, “it’s just another projection.”
“But I can’t see through it.”
“I think Londra made it that way to fool the Quen.” Aloy jumped off the balcony and rappelled down the edge, crossing the floor through the false clouds. Seyka followed her until they were at the rocket, their hands swiping through it. “You see? Fake.”
Seyka stepped back. “Why? Why go through this deception? Out of spite? A cruel joke?”
Aloy folded her arms. “I’m not sure…but he wanted something that was here or else he wouldn’t have made the journey…oh…of course.” She tapped her FOCUS and looked up, scanning through the metal and rock, what she was looking for so powerful that she couldn’t miss it…if it was there. “He took the electromagnetic core from the HORUS.”
“A what?”
“A power source,” Aloy turned to Seyka, “he must need it for his rocket.”
“So there is a rocket?”
“One that looks like that,” Aloy gestured to the hologram, “and when he activates it, the engines will spew out toxins that will kill all the Quen at Fleet’s End, at Landfall and onto the mainland. He will kill thousands just to escape.”
“Escape Nemesis?” Seyka asked pointedly and Aloy nodded. “We’ve got to stop him!”
“Seyka!” They both spun around at the approach of a heavily armoured Quen with what appeared to be a Ravager canon strapped to his hip. “I should have known a lowly naval officer would jump in bed with a barbarian just to get in here.”
“Gask!” Seyka cried. “You’ve got to stop this! Londra is lying to you!”
Gask sneered at her as Aloy’s eyes darted around, looking for cover. They were painfully exposed where they were standing. In the projection of clouds they stood out as black targets. The only place she could see to go was one of the side corridors but she doubted she could unlock the doors before Gask gunned them down.
“Londra speaks the truth! Nemesis is coming! It will kill us all!”
“And you’re a coward for jumping ship rather than facing it!” Seyka stepped forward, her fingers flicking subtly at Aloy. She began to side step as subtly as she could for the closest locked door.
Gask snorted. “Your sister is the biggest coward of them all.”
“Where is she?”
“Little Kina…pissing herself over Londra, eyes filled with stars…”
Seyka unleashed an arrow, Gask activating a shield around his body. “Go!” She yelled over her shoulder, releasing arrow after arrow, keeping Gask’s attention on her.
Aloy sprinted for the door and slammed her spear against it. She could hear the weapon’s fire and looked back to see Seyka barely skidding to cover. She dropped her spear and went to fight.
“Keep going!” Seyka cried. “I’ve got this!”
Aloy did as she was told, throwing herself into the room, along the corridor and up the stairs, darting out on the viewing platform where Gask was standing. Her FOCUS told her he wore a shield not dissimilar to the ones Sylens had equipped the Tenakth rebels with. She activated the surge on her spear and ran across the platform, hearing it charge to full capacity just before she slammed it into him and released the energy. The bolt was so strong she was thrown backwards, her spear scattered from her hand, her body buzzing violently.
“What did you do barbarian!” Gask roared, unshielded but unharmed. He turned his weapon towards her, Aloy unable to move.
Abruptly he gurgled, an arrow head pointing out of his chest and he slumped forward, a dead weight within seconds. Aloy forced herself to her feet and ran to the balcony’s edge. Seyka saw her and dropped her arms, sagging in relief.
“Nice shot.” Aloy chuckled then turned to Gask, removing his FOCUS. “Looks like Londra bestowed these on those he deemed worthy.” She scanned it, flicking through the files. “Redacted…redacted…no images of Londra,” she glanced at Seyka as she approached, “does that seem odd for a man who plastered his face across holographic murals?”
“Like I said, maybe a thousand years changed him and he’s trying to hide it?” Seyka squatted next to her. “Does it say where he took my sister?”
Aloy nodded. “Looks like Gask and the other two were Londra’s security detail to the launch site then he was sent back to escort those of the ‘purest faith’.” She opened her mouth to continue when their conversation was interrupted by a shout of rage from the corridor.
“Death to the heathens!” They both stood up, seeing the Quen door guards running towards them, their weapons lowered. Aloy grabbed her bow but Seyka stopped her.
“They’re not the enemy.” She warned. “Wait! Hear us out!”
“We will not listen to your blasphemy!”
“I knew you could not have the faith to work out the words on your own! You stole them from another Quen!”
Aloy groaned. “Can’t you see that this is all a lie?”
“Shut your mouth, barbarian!”
“She’s telling the truth!” Seyka exclaimed as Aloy activated her FOCUS and began to work fast. “Can’t you see that this is all an illusion?”
“Well of course it is!” The guard exclaimed. “But the rocket is real!”
“It’s as fake as the rest of it!”
“Your faith is tainted and weak!”
“It’s got nothing to do with faith!”
“Hang on,” Aloy held up her hand, her FOCUS glowing, connected to the system now that her override had unlocked the door, “I can prove it.”
“I’ll cut out your tongue…”
Aloy tapped the control and the clouds, the stars, everything including the rocket, vanished. She left the normal lights on so that the Quen could see the wide, empty space before them, their promised land nothing more than an illusion.
“No…no this cannot be!”
The guards pushed past Aloy and Seyka to the balcony’s edge and stared at the emptiness. She looked at Seyka whose expression was pained. Despite their foolishness and death threats, Aloy was a little confounded by her compassion.
When it came to the Nora, their treatment of her had caused her to put as much distance between herself and them as possible, even going so far as to called herself ‘Aloy despite the Nora’.
Seyka had experienced much the same thing yet she still cared for them. It rankled with Aloy, wishing she would recognise that she was better off without her tribe…but part of her was envious. Seyka was content despite her tribe’s shortsightedness.
And she grieved with them, now, for the truth so brutally revealed.
“It’s true,” Aloy said gently, “Londra never intended on taking any of you with him…and the rocket he’s going to use will release a deadly toxin.”
One of the guards turned to them, aghast while the other lowered his head. “How will we tell the others?”
“Uh…” Aloy flinched. “I may have inadvertently done so…I think turning off the holograms here also shut down the projectors in the waiting room and since you’re no longer guarding the door…”
As if summoned by her words, the balcony began to flood with questioning, fearful, seeking Quen, Eda stumbling ahead of them all, her eyes wide and her face as pale as paint.
“Where…where…it was here! I saw it, real and plain, beautiful and full of hope…”
Aloy looked at Seyka. “I…”
“I know.” Seyka nodded. “Give me a moment to help them.”
Aloy hurried out of the room, knowing her presence would only cloud the issue. She passed through the empty waiting room with the stained walls, cracked floor and empty vases and planter boxes. She went to the door the three Quen had been guarding. They were not there, probably having follow Gask into the waiting room when he arrived.
She headed up the tunnel to the open air and breathed in deeply. She walked down to where her Sunwing waited and sat. It was over an hour later that Seyka arrived looking tired and sad.
“I explained everything,” she said quietly, her eyes downcast, “I…I’m not sure what’s going to happen to them…I hope they’ll return to Fleet’s End.”
“You don’t want to stay and lead them there?”
Seyka sat on the rock next to her and looked her square in the face. “No. It’s time you told me what Nemesis is and why Londra’s trying to escape it.”
Aloy leaned forward, her hands clasped together. “Okay…the abbreviated version. A thousand years ago robots like that HORUS,” she pointed upwards at the hulking corpse above them, “were devouring the earth. Extinction was inevitable. Some humans, the Zeniths, fled in a ship called the Odyssey for a distant planet. They were the wealthy, the famous and the elitest…and abandoned earth while everyone else fought for their survival…and because of their bravery a new earth was grown from their efforts, upon which we now live.” She licked her lips. “The Zeniths, on their utopia, forged a dangerous entity called Nemesis which was so dangerous, powerful and intelligent that it killed many of them. The rest fled to earth, hoping to grab components they needed to start again before fleeing…but myself and others fought and killed them.”
She glanced at Seyka whose expression was calm, almost numb.
“If you killed the Zeniths,” she said hollowly, “won’t Nemesis leave us alone?”
“No, it won’t.” Aloy swallowed. “It tried to destroy the earth before the Zeniths even arrived with a signal from the stars…and when that failed it launched itself into space and is on its way here.”
Seyka turned and looked at her. “How long?”
Aloy licked her lips. “A matter of months.”
Seyka’s jaw dropped and she stood up. “That’s why Londra’s running away…if a Zenith thinks we have no hope…” Aloy stood and went to speak but Seyka held up her hand. “No…please…just…I need to…”
She started walking away, half stumbling as if she was fleeing.
“I’ll meet you on the beach across from the island Gask went to!” Aloy cried. Seyka said nothing, putting as much distance between herself and Aloy as possible. Aloy put her hands on her head and grunted loudly. “Ugh…this is wrong! All of it is so wrong! I knew this would devastate her!” She pressed her forehead against the Sunwing’s breast and felt the cool touch of metal. “I’ve got to fix this…I…she and I…” She looked at where Seyka had gone. The midshipman was fast on her feet, already out of sight. “I’m going to make this right.”