One week earlier…

Aloy was in the command centre with Beta, Tomas, Erend, Zo, Kotallo, Alva and Sylens. They represented what Aloy had come to think of as the ‘core command’ group. They had been with her the longest and had the greatest amount of experience and knowledge compared to those who had volunteered but some were still learning how to use a FOCUS, let alone comprehend the nature of Nemesis.

Beta was Elisabet’s clone just as Aloy was however, she had grown up surrounded by technology and knowledge, whatever the Zenith’s deemed worthy or useful for her to know. She had been created with stolen DNA and was meant to be used to further the Zenith’s cause. It had taken her exposure to Aloy and the company of friends for her to find her courage to help them defeat the Zeniths.

Tomas was the clone of Ted Faro, the man who, a thousand years earlier, had funded and created a line of ‘Peacekeeper’ robots that had severed chain of command and devoured the world dry, killing every man, woman, child and living thing. Tomas had also been created by the Zeniths, specifically two who hid his presence to use to their advantage. Tomas was abrupt, rude, condescending and dismissive…but Aloy had seen change in him so while she didn’t like him very much, she was more tolerant than she had been.

Erend was her oldest friend, an Oseram who would normally be leading the Vanguard that protected Sunking Avad. Because of the danger Nemesis posed to the Sunking, let alone the entire earth, he had been given an extended leave of absence from his duties to help Aloy. He was barrel chested, moustache bearing, hammer fisted, loud and loyal. What he lacked in technical expertise, he made up for with a good heart and unwavering spirit.

Zo was of the Utaru tribe that had grown up with a reverence for the Plowhorn machines that tilled the earth and grew crops that fed her people. Though she still respected the machines, she had ceased to called them Landgods. Her skin was dark and her hair was black and tightly curled and, as her pregnancy progressed, she grew ever more rounded. In her belly she carried part of her lover, Varl of the Nora, Aloy’s tribe. Varl had died by Zenith hand but his baby now represented the hope of what they wanted to achieve, a future for the next generation that included life, knowledge and understanding.

Kotallo was a marshal for the Tenakth tribe, warriors whose history was drenched in blood. He had been impressed with Aloy’s tenacity and madness, coupled with her ability to make her madness possible and asked to join her cause. His eyes were serious and he rarely smiled or spoke outside of necessary communication but there was no doubting that, if needed, he would always be there. His left arm had been lost in a fight against a machine. Now it was wrapped with blue fabric but when needed, he had constructed an artificial arm that worked almost as well as the one it replaced and in battle, he was formidable.

Of the Quen tribe, there was only one volunteer. Alva, a former Diviner of her people. She had chosen to stay behind when the ships that had carried her people across the ocean returned home. She wanted to embrace truth and defeat Nemesis. Word had reached them that the Quen had declined to acknowledge anything that contradicted their version of the ‘Legacy’, the Imperial Family denouncing Aloy and her companions and, as such, Alva as well. She had a brilliant mind and a cheerful disposition but it was clear that the severing of herself from her people had wounded her deeply yet she refused to regret her decision.

And finally there was Sylens. Who he really was and where he really came from was a secret he would never tell. It was he who first suspected the truth about their past, about the FARO plague of robots and about the risky endeavour to save life on earth. But getting anything out of him that he did not volunteer was like squeezing blood from a stone…as was trying to find a single spark of kindness or humanity in him. While Tomas had been wholly unpleasant, there was evidence of change. Sylens, however, despised ‘lower’ tribesmen who were still trying to make their FOCUSES work as he talked about quantum mechanics and biological warfare and saw no reason to be anything other than condescending towards them.

The most honest thing to say about him was that he was tolerated for his unpleasantness was matched with his brilliance.

They stood around Gaia who was a projection of a woman with dark skin, golden hair in a loose braid over her right shoulder and draped in sparkles of light. She was ever patient and tolerant yet fiercely protective of the earth and its inhabitants.

Erend folded his arms, leaning against the railing of the circular command centre.

“So Nemesis can’t use those transmission towers to reawaken the plague?”

“If MINERVA had not been used to launch my heuristic matrix, thereby being the first subfunction to return to my being, Nemesis might well have done so.” Gaia explained.

“It’s what HADES tried to do,” Alva remarked, “so it makes sense that it might have been an idea planted in HADES when Nemesis sent the extinction signal.”

“But as MINERVA was the subfunction that controlled the transmission towers, we’re safe from the FARO plague being reawakened.” Aloy insisted.

“And there’s no other worldwide ability that it could use other than HEPHAESTUS?” Zo asked in her warm, measured tone.

“No,” Sylens said in a hard voice but no one paid it any mind, “so can we stop talking about what it can’t use and focus on what it can?”

“Zo just said it, egghead.” Erend mocked him.

“How long ago did Nemesis reach the Odyssey?” Aloy turned to Gaia before a fight could break out.

“Less than twenty four hours.”

Aloy looked at Tomas. “How fast does Nemesis work?”

He snorted, his blue eyes watery and pale. “You can’t comprehend its processing power. Gaia wouldn’t be able to keep up.” Aloy ignored his arrogance as Tomas’ one job when he was created was to work on ways to defeat Nemesis. He still claimed it was impossible. “It destroyed the Zenith’s colony on Sirius within an hour of breaking free of its constraints. By the time they realised the danger, only a handful made it to the Odyssey. The moment the ship left, Nemesis had already calculated the possible destinations and knew exactly how the Zeniths would act…and how to stop them.”

“The extinction signal.”

“That should have been enough on its own but Nemesis wasn’t content to leave it at that…or perhaps it just didn’t want to ‘die’ with the destruction of Sirius so it used abandoned Zenith tech to build itself a host ship to cross light years of space…within the hour that Sirius was self destructing.” Tomas gestured wildly. “Are you starting to comprehend the speed at which this thing moves?”

“Why isn’t it here yet?” Alva asked, putting her hand up. “If it launched straight after the Odyssey…”

“I doubt the ship it built was capable of the same speed of flight.” Tomas shrugged. “The Zeniths didn’t get a good scan of it beyond the astronomical figure of power it was projecting.”

“Why does it need a ship?” Erend shrugged. “Isn’t it a big ball of power and bad vibes?” Sylens rolled his eyes and muttered something foul. “Why bother with a ship?”

“From what I understand of its creation, the Zenith’s needed a vessel to pour their replicated consciousnesses into.” Tomas frowned. “They wanted to look at it…”

“Study themselves in captivity?” Zo shook her head. “These people didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘human’.”

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“Are you saying that the core of Nemesis ship might actually be the vessel the Zenith’s used to trap their consciousness in?” Aloy tapped her teeth together. “That might be something we can use. If we can destroy it…”

“Have you heard nothing I’ve said about this thing?” Tomas exclaimed. “The Zenith’s did it so that their minds could be uploaded into any form they desired. This thing doesn’t ‘need’ the vessel…especially not now that its on the Odyssey and probably infesting machines as we speak.”

“Surely we have time before we see any kind of…”

Their meeting was interrupted by an emergency signal.

“Aloy! Aloy, are you there?”

“Jira?” Aloy stood up, hearing terror in the Lowland Clan volunteer’s voice.

“Aloy, machines are attacking Thornmarsh! Tiderippers! Snapmaws! Dozens of them!”

Aloy felt rather than saw Kotallo’s expression. She was telling him to go even as he darted for the stairs.

“Aloy?” Beta cried.

“Stay here and keep brainstorming ideas!” Aloy yelled as she followed Kotallo with Erend following close behind. “This can’t be a coincidence!”

With overridden mounts tearing through the breadth of Tenakth tribal territory, they were surrounded by the thick mangrove swamp of Lowland Clan borders within three hours. Thornmarsh was the capital of the Lowland Clan, resting where the mangrove swamp met the ocean. It was a large settlement, filled to the brim with Tenakth warriors, led by Atekka whose daughter, Jira, had been the one to raise the alarm.

Despite the haste of their travel, they arrived too late.

The Tenakth settlement had been razed to the ground. There were only smashed beams, torn leaves and broken pillars left. Aloy leapt from her Bristleback, bow in hand, staring at the devastation, horrified at the amount of damage. Machine carcases were strewn about, littered with arrows and spears. However, Aloy counted no less than three Tiderippers, powerful water machines used for filtration and she lost count of the amount of Snapmaws.

And scattered everything, broken, bloodied and lifeless, were dozens of Tenakth marked in red, blue and white.

“No!” Kotallo ran through the water, checking the bodies. “This cannot be!”

“By the forge…” Erend swore. “There’s nothing…left…”

“Check for survivors…” Aloy whispered, her spine going like ice.

“Yeah…of course.”

Aloy waded through the swamp watered that mingled with sea water…stained with blood. She activated her FOCUS and scanned around herself, able to see a Tideripper carcass beneath the destroyed settlement. Trusting Erend and Kotallo to search for human survivors, Aloy was more concerned that machines still lurked. Thankfully the Tideripper was still, not giving out a discernible signal. It had several modifications on it, strange wiring and liquid trickling from its pipes, not the usual blue machine fluid but rather, something almost purple. Aloy swiped her fingers through it, rubbing her thumb across the slick sludge, a metallic smell rising.

“What is this…and why is it familiar?” She scanned it then tapped her FOCUS. “Beta and Tomas, you getting this?”

“As much as can be got through a limited FOCUS scan.” Tomas’ voice was small and tinny. “Be sure to bring some back to us for analysis.”

Aloy rolled her eyes and huffed. She knelt, setting her spear aside and scooped some into a small pouch. No doubt Tomas would complain that her primitive tribal pouch contaminated the sample but she had little else to collect it in. As she made sure it was securely stashed in her tunic, she heard a groaning behind her. All the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she glanced at where her spear rested. As the groaning increased, debris, wood and reeds sliding aside, Aloy’s heart quickened, the water around her ankles drawing back. Her fingertips had just scraped the surface of the spear when she was hit with a spray of water so hard she was thrown twenty feet, narrowly missing several broken tree stumps and getting a mouthful of dirty water.

She pushed herself up to see the Tideripper that had scanned as lifeless, scattering the remains of Thornmarsh from its back, purple lighting flashing across its body, its eyes locked onto Aloy. It drew its head back and Aloy knew it was about to spray water at her again. She went to move then screeched as her ankle collapsed beneath her, a shard of wood sticking into it. Aloy tried to crawl, knowing the Tideripper was about to strike. She could hear Kotallo and Erend crying her name but they were too far away.

Suddenly the roar of the machine was cut through with a Tenakth war cry and the Tideripper gave a metallic screech as Atekka, commander of the Lowland Clan and resident of the destroyed Thornmarsh, leapt beneath the Tideripper’s throat and thrust a spear straight up, cutting the pipes in its neck, severing the flow of water.

“Get her out of here, Kotallo!”

Aloy felt strong hands grab her arms and pull her back as Atekka fought the Tideripper. Erend ran for it, laying into its metallic hide with his hammer, busting panels and denting limbs. It howled in indignation and thrashed madly, one of its flippers striking Erend hard even as Atekka ducked to avoid the blow.

“Erend!”

“Stay here!” Kotallo ordered, running for the Tideripper. “Cover us with your bow!”

As Kotallo and Atekka fought the large machine that was turning the remains of Thornmarsh into splinters and mulch, Aloy sent arrows flying, trying to hit key areas but her FOCUS revealed something damning.

“It’s got no weak spots!” She exclaimed. “It’s been upgraded!”

“Aloy!” Beta’s voice leapt into her mind from her FOCUS. “Your spear! Try to override it!”

“That’s not going to work!”

“Tomas needs the data!”

Aloy swore and scanned the battlefield. She spied her spear and, using a wooden rod that had been snapped in two, hobbled towards it, needing to duck to avoid the Tideripper’s tail as it spun around, its attention on Kotallo and Atekka who were on the beach side. With its back to her Aloy fumbled about in the murky water, her fingers wrapping around her spear. She had to crawl close to the Tideripper, soaked and muddy, narrowly avoiding being crushed by its back flippers.

Aloy didn’t know if Kotallo could see what she was trying to do amidst the chaos of battle but at one point he and Atekka attacked the Tideripper’s flippers, disabling them and it struck the ground. Aloy thrust the spear towards it with the override module on the end. It thrummed with power, the blue of her light starting to wick its way through the purple, removing it and turning the signal red but only for a moment. A shockwave pulsed back through her spear, tossing her onto her back.

The Tideripper spun around, knocking Atekka down with its tail and her body disappeared beneath the flipper that followed it. Aloy scrambled backwards, her ankle wound slowing her retreat as it hissed and advanced on her.

Then she heard an Oseram cursed bellowed at its fullest volume.

“Get down!”

She forced herself beyond the pain in her leg, throwing her body behind the stump of a mangrove just before there was a mighty explosion and an eruption of water as the Tideripper’s tanks were ruptured.

Aloy’s ears echoed from the loudness of the blast. She couldn’t hear anything much for a few seconds, peering around the stump to see the Tideripper in almost two large pieces, its flippers and head twitching but unable to repair itself. A shadow was cast across her and she looked up at Erend who held out his hand to her.

“I thought you were done for.” She admitted, grasping his hefty fingers, pulled upright, balancing precariously in the swamp water on one foot.

“Oseram armour…it can handle anything.” Erend struck his chest then winced. “Maybe not…”

“You should be dead. It did its job.” She slapped her ears as if that would help with the ringing. “What was that?”

“Tomas had some ideas on projectile weapons, kind of like your slingblast…but ones that I can hold in my hand and throw.”

“He’s been holding out on me.” Aloy grunted. “I could have used some of those.”

“He did say they were highly experimental.” Erend shrugged. “Guess he doesn’t mind risking my ass. Look at that…Kotallo’s alive too.”

Aloy watched Kotallo use his artificial arm to pull part of the Tideripper aside then kneel by Atekka’s body, gently scooping it out of the sludge. He carried her from the mire towards them and laid her on the ground.

“Hold still,” Aloy knelt, taking a pouch of medicinal water from her belt, “drink this.”

Atekka shook her head, refusing the liquid. “Don’t waste good medicine on a dead woman…” She gagged and clutched at her abdomen which was bloody.

“What happened, commander?” Kotallo demanded gently.

“Machines…from the water…attacked…” Atekka shuddered. “We had no warning…no way to know…they just…out of the tide…there was no time to stop them…all…we could do…” She coughed and screeched, blood flowing afresh. Aloy had seen enough wounds to know Atekka had mere minutes left. How she had survived so long in the aftermath could only be attributed to her stubborn determination. “I…Jira…I told her to take…the children…but I had…to come back…”

“Atekka, what else can you tell us about the attack?”

“The machines…glowed purple…not red or blue…” Atekka’s teeth chattered. “So cold…”

“Easy commander,” Kotallo urged, “the fight is over…rest now.”

Atekka looked at him with a wry smile, as if she recognised that he was placating her like he would a child but there was no pride in it. Just grateful recognition…before she slumped down, her eyes rolling back in her head. Kotallo brushed his fingers over her face, closing her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Aloy whispered. “She was a respected Tenakth warrior…”

“A wise friend…and a mother…” Kotallo closed his eyes as he stood up, both hands, flesh and artificial, clenched. “Senseless…cowardly…”

Aloy could hear the squeal of metal. “Kotallo…”

“Argh!” He flung a punch at a Snapmaw carcass, denting it deeply. “This was without reason!” He looked at the brokenness of Thornmarsh. “Even the Tenakth at their most violent…”

Aloy and Erend turned and surveyed the site.

“I think Nemesis made its move.” Erend looked at her and she nodded.

“I think you’re right.” Aloy stood up, leaning on her spear. “We need to get back to base.”