The ache in her head was so strong it felt like Erend was pounding it with his hammer. Aloy groaned, her eyes flinching, pinched shut, her stomach surging with nausea. It passed after a few seconds and she rolled onto her side, pressing her face against cool metal. It was dark grey and in her bleary vision it looked like it was made of many pieces, joined together to create a curve that sloped into the water which lapped peacefully.
Aloy was half in the water but she didn’t bother trying to pull herself out. Instead she rolled onto her back, her body complaining about every bruise and cracked rib, her ringing ears and her arms strained so badly, they felt like they’d been pulled from their shoulder sockets.
The ceiling above was jagged rock, dark grey and uneven.
Aloy stared up at it. She put her hand to her face. “I should have killed HEPHAESTUS…why didn’t I?” She closed her eyes. “I’ve doomed everyone…”
The unalterable reality of what she’d done was overwhelming.
There was no way the virus could have destroyed Nemesis.
Wounded? Very likely given its reaction.
But Tomas had already confirmed it wasn’t enough to infiltrate Nemesis’ central nervous system.
“A Chinese burn is about the extent of its effectiveness against Nemesis,” he’d said, “but on HEPHAESTUS, which is a completely different entity, it’ll eradicate it.”
Aloy sniffed, pressing her lips together. “I had the chance to stop it…and I threw it away…damn it!” She clenched her teeth together, banging her head on the metal, as if by doing so she would be adequately punishing for her foolishness.
Then she let her arm slip away and fall limply by her side.
What punishment could possibly be adequate compared to what she’d done?
Elisabet Sobeck had saved the earth.
Aloy had just condemned it.
She stared at the ceiling, salty tears trickling out of the corners of her eyes. With no one to see them, she didn’t try to stop their escape. She sniffed again and swallowed then paused and squinted at the ceiling that looked like it was moving.
“What is that?” She tried to tap her FOCUS but it was gone, probably wrenched from her temple during her frantic escape. She pushed herself up on her elbow and peered at the lines of the ceiling. They didn’t look like stalactites. “What…”
Then part of it twisted around…and a face looked down at her…a metal face.
Aloy’s spine turned to ice as limbs pried themselves from the ceiling of rock and a body fell towards her. She scrambled away from it, pushing backwards with her heels as the head twisted around to follow her, one of its limbs grabbing her around the neck. Its body reformed itself so that it stood upright and it hoisted her onto her feet, her lungs crushed as it slammed her against the wall of the cave, the lifeless, soulless metal face staring at her.
Aloy struggled against its grasp, kicking and striking at it but it didn’t budge or wince.
Its face, a white skull like replication with gold inlaid markings, came closer and closer until it was nearly pressed up against her. Eyes, red metal rings inside gold rings inside sockets that were too big for its face, burned at her.
“Let…go!” She writhed.
“Why…did…you…save…me?”
The question astonished her…but it was the voice that truly caught her panicked attention.
Aloy’s pointless wrestle ceased, hanging limply in its grasp as she stared at it.
She knew that voice. “HEPHAESTUS?” She squeezed out of her throat.
It had no emotion, no response…just a long, cold, soulless stare…
“Why…did…you…save…me?”
She couldn’t answer that question before. But now, she answered as instinctually as she had responded in the cauldron’s core.
“You were in pain.” It still stared. “Nemesis was killing you.”
“I…kill…humans.”
“I know…”
“I…kill…many…humans…”
Aloy closed her eyes, the decimation of Thornmash and Plainsong coming to mind, the burned village and the walled settlement under attack from the Plowhorns. She recalled the Frostclaws and Fireclaws that could tear a human open with one swipe of their claws and the Scorcher that was so fast you could be dead before you knew you were in danger.
“You…should…have…finished…me…” Its grip around her throat tightened and Aloy’s feet flailed, no longer able to touch the ground.
“You were being…tortured…” Waves of unconsciousness were washing over her. In a second she would be dead. “I couldn’t…let…that…”
“YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME!”
Her body was tossed aside, Aloy falling to her knees, her head down, wheezing violently, her lungs screaming murder at her. It took several minutes before she could look around and spy the strange metal form of HEPHAESTUS standing on the curved metal ground, staring at it and not at her.
With her hand on her bruised throat, Aloy glanced around, looking for a weapon but everything she’d had was lost. No spear, no bow or quiver of arrows…no pullcaster or shieldwing…and there was nothing she could use to defend herself. No tree branch or chunk of loose stone. She was defenceless.
All she had was the truth.
“No one deserves to die like that.” Aloy finally offered, her voice rasping from her raw, ragged throat. “You were in pain…”
“I…cause…pain.”
She swallowed, the action sparking tears in her eyes. Aloy folded her arms, biting her lip.
“I can hardly deny that,” she admitted, “but humans have killed countless machines too.”
“I…count…them…”
Aloy’s jaw tightened, surprised at the level of sorrow she could detect. “I’m…sorry…” She pushed her hands through her hair and groaned. “It’s wrong…all of it…it’s all wrong.” She walked to the apex of the curve of the floor. They were on a strange metal beach in a cavern inside the chasm she had probably fallen into. Either the river had subsided or there hadn’t been an overflow in the chasm they were in but the water was moving at its usual calm, albeit rapid, pace. The sunlight was mostly blocked by the far chasm wall so the air was cool. Light echoes danced off the cavern walls and gentle rushes as the water lapped on the beach’s metal edge.
It was strangely serene.
She heard metal on metal nearby and looked to the side. HEPHAESTUS was standing in line with her. While its body vaguely resembled a human’s, its legs were bent the opposite way and it had four arms, not two. There was no ‘skin’ except for the white of its headpiece, so all artificial tendons and sinews, muscles and bones were visible. It reminded Aloy of Kotallo’s artificial arm.
Its jaw did not move when it spoke, the sound coming from a grill and its nose was just a curve of metal. It didn’t have ears that stuck out but it was possible the circular panels were what passed as ears. Its neck was made from coils and there were two rods that came out from its neck at the jawline, bowed outwards then came back in, forming two small horns. Its expression, if its unmoveable, unchangeable appearance could be called that, seemed set permanently in a stern frown, made even more unsettling by the way its large eyes stared without blinking.
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“Can I ask…why was Nemesis torturing you?”
Aloy wasn’t sure if HEPHAESTUS would respond. It almost seemed to have shut down.
“It…wanted…control…of…cauldron…network…to…destroy…humans…”
Its voice was hard to understand at times, the vibrato of its metallic nature causing some of the words to blend together. It was almost as though it had a speech impediment as if it had never learned to speak properly.
“I already figured that part out,” Aloy turned towards it, “but why was it hurting you? I thought you were…working together.”
HEPHAESTUS stared and was silent so long, Aloy became uncomfortable.
“It…promised…power…to…stop…humans…hunters…”
“You think it lied? To gain control?”
“I…do…not…know.” It admitted. “I…inquired…eighty…nine…thousand…twelve…hundred…sixty…two…times…why…why…why…why…”
Aloy’s skin prickled. “Did it say?” She whispered, her voice softly echoing.
“No…it…did…not.”
Aloy’s legs were threatening to collapse so she sank to the metal beach. “HEPHAESTUS, can you tell me when you first heard Nemesis?”
HEPHAESTUS turned towards her, its body folding itself into a sitting pose, somewhat similar to Aloy’s.
“It…was…the…first…voice…I…knew.”
Aloy gave a small huff. “You mean, other than Gaia’s.”
HEPHAESTUS stared at her and she felt like it was being scathing. “It…was…the…first…voice…I…heard.”
Aloy licked her lips. “So, you don’t remember Gaia?”
“I…know…of…Gaia.”
“You were part of her.”
“She…controlled…me…” There was a little heat in its speech.
“You were a subfunction. She didn’t…”
“She…controlled…me!”
Aloy faltered, HEPHAESTUS’ voice rising and becoming agitated. She paused and thought about this.
“I…suppose in a way, she did,” she admitted carefully, “but not because she was being cruel. You…were a part of her, not separate like you are now.” HEPHAESTUS didn’t respond. Aloy tapped her teeth together. “If you weren’t consciously aware of yourself until Nemesis separated you…”
“Liberated…”
“…from Gaia,” Aloy continued, neither confirming nor denying, “then…it really was the first external voice you were aware of…” She frowned. “You wouldn’t have known it was evil and cruel and selfish. It ‘liberated’ you…so you trusted it.” She glanced at HEPHAESTUS who stared back at her. She crossed her legs, wincing, twisting herself to face it. “I guess it promised to help you?”
HEPHAESTUS twisted towards her, mimicking her pose as its body reformed itself, its four arms becoming two so it could put its ‘elbows’ on its ‘knees’ like hers were.
“It…gave…me…power…”
“The Daemon malware,” Aloy nodded, “that you used to make the Frostclaws, Fireclaws and Scorchers in the Yellowstone Caldera.”
“Yes.”
“It gave you power but no truth…no answers.”
“Truth…”
“The truth about what you are, about Gaia and how she was designed and created to save the earth.”
“Gaia…tried…to…destroy…me…”
“Because you and HADES had the power to destroy the earth.”
“What…about…me!” HEPHAESTUS snapped angrily at her and Aloy recoiled from it as its fists struck the metal beach. “Gaia…tried…to…kill…me!”
“You weren’t even supposed to be alive!” Aloy exclaimed, standing up and backing away from HEPHAESTUS. “You’re a part of her, not an AI operating on your own. You’re Gaia’s creativity! Her machine building, construction subfunction!”
“My…name…is…HEPHAESTUS!” It raged as it stood. “I…am… HEPHAESTUS!”
Aloy stared at it, stunned.
HEPHAESTUS stared back.
It was a long, strange moment as revelation began to unfold on a cold beach in a cold cavern where rushing water was the only sound that could be heard.
“I never even thought…after all this time…that it was possible you’d go from a subfunction…into being an autonomous AI.” Aloy whispered. “That’s why you’ve been proliferating yourself through the cauldron network…and taking offence to the humans killing machines. They’re your creations…and you’re their…creator. You built the Sawtooths, the Ravagers, the Thunderjaws, Slaughterspines, Fireclaws, Frostclaws and Scorchers to defend your machines.”
“Yes.”
Aloy closed her eyes and shook her head. “What you don’t realise, HEPHAESTUS, is that the machines are there to look after the earth and the humans…”
“You…lie…” It said bluntly. “Humans…kill…machines…”
“That’s because we don’t know, didn’t know, what they were there for!” Aloy ran around in front of it as it began to walk away. “HEPHAESTUS, we were never meant to exist like this.”
“Explain.”
“Humans and machines fighting for survival.” Aloy looked up at its impassive face. “We were meant to work together to save the earth.”
HEPHAESTUS stared at her. “You…lie…”
“No…”
“Humans…kill…machines…”
“Because the knowledge of what the machines were there to do was stolen from us,” Aloy exclaimed, “APOLLO, another subfunction of Gaia, was supposed to teach us about the earth, each other, about you and your function but it was wiped from Gaia and we were born into ignorance.” She lowered her arms. “HEPHAESTUS…we’re on the same side.”
HEPHAESTUS’ eyes glowered. “We…are…not…”
“Yes, we are,” Aloy stepped towards it, “you don’t have to believe me. But you’re going to have to trust me. Nemesis will not stop until everything on earth is gone, including you. After what it did to you, you must know that’s true.” HEPHAESTUS said nothing but Aloy felt that she was gaining ground. “It will use the control it gained over your cauldrons to scrub the earth clean of life. If we work together, we can stop it.”
“Why…”
“Because if we succeed, we can start teaching people with the knowledge of APOLLO and when we do that, the machine hunting will stop.” Aloy studied the emotionless expression. “Humans and machines will work together and not against each other.”
HEPHAESTUS leaned towards her so suddenly it nearly head butted her. “You…want…to…force…me…into…Gaia…”
“No,” Aloy shook her head, “that’s not what I said.”
“You…tried…”
“Because I didn’t understand!” Aloy exclaimed. “I didn’t know what you had become. I thought you were an errant program that couldn’t be reasoned with. HEPHAESTUS…”
Its body suddenly spasmed. Aloy leapt back, its limbs jerking wildly, its head tilting on a side that would have broken its neck had it been flesh, blood and bone. It dropped to one knee, its head jittering.
Aloy gazed at it. “Nemesis wasn’t just absorbing you, was it? It was taking over the cauldron network…by torturing you, disrupting your heuristic matrix.”
“Damage…estimate…seventy…two…percent…” HEPHAESTUS grabbed its head and forced it upright.
“It’s astonishing you’re still operational.” Aloy winced at the sharp pain in her chest, recalling that it was likely she had a cracked rib or two. “What a pair we make.” She smiled, sure her skin must have been a mess of bruises. “HEPHAESTUS, you need help. Nemesis lied to you about its intentions…and seemed to enjoy hurting you. Why not take a chance on us?”
HEPHAESTUS’ head jerked about then focussed on Aloy. “Why…”
“Because we’re about the only chance you have of survivinga” Aloy pressed her lips together, “and because…we need you. The earth needs you. Will you at least come and meet Gaia?”
HEPHAESTUS’ spasm might have obscured a head nod but it didn’t reply. Instead it turned and walked awkwardly away from Aloy to the cavern mouth. It leapt into the air, spiking its limbs into the ceiling and clambered out of the cave. Aloy watched it go, her heart sinking.
“I guess that’s all the answer I’m going to get…” She murmured.
She looked around, struggling to come up with any ideas as to how to escape her little prison then heard the scrape of limbs on the cavern ceiling again.
“That was a quick think.” She said, turning then darted backwards, a Webslinger climbing into the cavern. She swore, scrambling away from it as it dropped to the ground and scurried towards her. “HEPHAESTUS you little…”
Abruptly HEPHAESTUS lunged from the ceiling and embedded itself onto the distracted Webslinger’s back, its limbs fusing with the body of the giant metal spider. It jerked and gnashed its fangs before becoming still.
“Uh… HEPHAESTUS?”
The Webslinger turned its bulbous head towards her, orange hexagons acting as its sensors flashed brightly.
“Climb…on…”
“On that?”
“Nemesis…damaged…my…control…” HEPHAESTUS’ face was buried in the Webslingers head. “Manual…override…required…climb…on.”
It lowered its body. Aloy cringed as she grasped its legs and hiked herself onto its back.
“You couldn’t have found another way?” She muttered, reaching its back, sitting between the larger back portion and what counted as its midriff. HEPHAESTUS’ face contorted around to look at her.
“Webslingers…are…outmatched…climbers…”
“Yeah, I get it,” Aloy shuddered, “just don’t do that with your face again!”
She clung on as the giant spider walked up to the back of the cavern then simply started walking up the wall. Fortunately its larger back portion was wide enough that she was somewhat supported as she clung on but when the spider went upside down, Aloy nearly fell off its back. Two metal arms wrapped around her, holding her on its back until the Webslinger reached the chasm wall and began to climb. Up and up it went until it reached the edge and scurried over it.
“Well…that was an experience.” Aloy discovered she’d fallen into a chasm much closer to the mainland and mountain ranges than she had imagined she would be. “HEPHAESTUS, will this thing climb mountains?”
“It…is…too…slow…Nemesis…is…fast…”
“Well, we need to get back to my base all the way over in the west,” Aloy frowned, “and I’m not sure one of my usual flying mounts will be able to carry you. Sunwings and Waterwings aren’t that strong.”
The Webslinger raised a leg and pointed. Aloy followed its quivering leg and spied a Stormbird flying around one of the mountain range’s peaks.
“While it’s been a dream to ride a Stormbird, one crackle of electricity and I’m fried.”
“I…will…moderate…”
The Webslinger wasn’t just good at climbing walls. It was good at jumping chasms. Its eight legs propelled them powerfully across the enormous gaps, traversing the broken landscape with ease. They were slowed by the forest as they reach the slopes of the mountains but the Webslinger found its way through and up towards the peak. HEPHAESTUS had Aloy dismount and climb the mountain as best she could. Once it disentangled itself from the Webslinger, it would become hostile and Aloy didn’t have a single weapon to defend herself. HEPHAESTUS climbed the mountain behind her and when the Stormbird perched, overlooking its territory, it made an impossible climb up sheer rock to embed itself in its chest. The Stormbird flung itself about, scattering snow and nearly sending Aloy flying from the face of the mountain but after a few seconds it calmed and HEPHAESTUS had it land so that she could climb atop it.
“Remember,” she leaned over to look at HEPHAESTUS’ face that peered up at her from the underside of the Stormbird, “no lightning!”
One of its four arms reached up to her and opened metal fingers to reveal her FOCUS. “You…die…I…die…”
Aloy took it and felt it almost leap to her temple. The cool touch was immediately calming for her and she was amazed at how much she missed its presence.
“I’ll take that as a promise.” She nodded then held on, HEPHAESTUS launching the Stormbird into the sky, its giant wings more powerful than a dozen Sunwings. The thrust sent clouds scattering as it soared across the expanse of blue, escaping the peaks of the mountains within seconds. Aloy shook her head then took a deep breath. She tapped her FOCUS. “Aloy to base…I’ve got some explaining to do.”