Present Day…

Aloy eyed the module that was maintaining a constant override on her Sunwing. Previously an override signal from the module on her spear would connect with her FOCUS and last indefinitely. Once Nemesis got its hooks into the machines, however, overriding them became much more complicated. So far the module hadn’t let her down but Aloy didn’t like to think what would happen if it suddenly stopped working in the air.

Her shieldwing, which allowed for a convenient glide to the ground, was bound to her wrist, ready for deployment should the worst happen.

Aloy’s greatest concern was having to run the whole way to New York if she was forced to destroy her mount.

They continued to cross over the grasslands and then she watched as they became cultivated, the lines in the earth and the rows of edible plants too neat and plentiful for humans to have mastered. This was the work of Plowhorns, machines designed to till the ground and seed new harvests.

But Aloy couldn’t see a single one.

There were stone ruins here and there, the cracked façade of buildings that were being held up by the vines that climbed their heights and the holey remains of large solar dishes.

Yet no Plowhorns in sight.

“That’s strange.” She muttered, tapping her FOCUS. She spied tracks in the ground and followed them across the land that was riddled with lakes. As the sun began to set, Aloy finally found the Plowhorns.

They were sieging a human settlement. Their blunt, metal faces slammed over and over into a hefty stone wall that the humans had built. It was the largest city Aloy had seen of any tribe except for Meridian and as the Plowhorns, which glowed with the eerie purple light of Nemesis Daemon malware, rammed the wall, catapults launched flaming boulders at the machines.

Aloy looked down, her red hair streaming behind her like a banner of war, her eyes taking in the mighty battle.

“What can I do?” She whispered. “I…I can’t just leave them…”

She was about to head down to help them fight when one of the catapults turned and threw a large boulder at her. Aloy screamed as the Sunwing tipped itself sideways to avoid being struck, throwing her from its back. As she fell she activated her shieldwing but she was falling for the Plowhorn siege. She would be crushed!

Aloy whistled as she dropped closer and closer, the Sunwing swooping in and grabbing her. Several Plowhorns spied her, shooting plasma in her direction. Several spots hit the Sunwing’s wings. She turned its head and flew out of range as fast as she could, noticing that numerous Plowhorns were following her.

“That’s all I can do…even after you shot me out of the air!” Aloy groused at the tribe behind its stone walls. “I’ve got to keep the big picture in mind…I can’t get distracted…”

The Plowhorns gave up the chase before long, returning to the siege as Aloy’s Sunwing climbed higher and higher over a mountain range that signalled the final portion of her journey. The clouds were thick and cold, filled with rain that splattered her face and made her shiver. She spied an open stretch of sky and headed for it, breaking out of the embrace of the damp clouds and looked down.

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“Damn…” She gasped.

There was supposed to be a large stretch of land between the mountains and the islands where New York was based. Aloy had studied what the land should have looked like, flattish as the foothills levelled out and a wriggling coastline.

What she came across was a land more rugged than she anticipated, rivers as wide as mountains gushing powerfully through forested regions and large chasms, waterfalls roaring endlessly, as high as some skyscrapers, pouring into the ocean. Some of the waterfalls had been turned into dams, grand stone and metal walls stopping the violent rush but the rest flowed freely.

Had she been on a land mount or lost her Sunwing and been on foot, Aloy suspected it would take her weeks to navigate the tropical, waterfall ridden, chasm shattered landscape.

She tapped her FOCUS. “Are you seeing this?”

“It’s beautiful…”

Aloy jolted. “Uh…Kotallo?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry…I thought Zo was on.”

“I offered to swap so that she could sleep.” There was a pause. “Would you like someone else?”

“No, it’s fine.” Aloy lied then sighed. “I think if I fly for another hour I’ll reach the outskirts of New York’s ruins…”

“Perhaps it would be best to rest and attempt to infiltrate the ruins in daylight?”

“To be honest, I’m not sure I can see anywhere I can land.” Aloy peered down. “It’s all cliffs, chasms, waterfalls and dense forest. I’ll head to New York and if I spy somewhere to land, I’ll do so.” She went silent as her Sunwing coasted over the roar of the waterfalls, the sound so loud it filled the air with a constant rumble and the temperature began to drop. Aloy made her neck ache, hunting for somewhere to land but the landscape simply wasn’t hospitable. She began to wish she’d grabbed her travelling cloak, her fingers starting to turn cold. “I’m going to have to land shortly or I’ll get so cold I’ll fall off this thing.”

“Are you not wearing the outfit Tomas gave you?”

Aloy blinked, surprised Kotallo was still there. He mustn’t have tapped out. Had he just been…listening the entire time? Waiting for her?

She felt uncomfortable…as well as guilty.

“I thought I’d change just before infiltrating the cauldron.” She explained, dipping the Sunwing down closer to the ground then pulling back up as the spray from the waterfalls hit her and she shivered anew from the icy chill.

“You do not approve?”

“It’s too Zenith for my tastes…” Aloy shuddered. “Too…”

“Tilda?”

“Yeah, too Tilda.” Aloy paused and frowned. “But…it was…kind of Tomas to make it for me.”

“That sounds forced.”

“It was a bit.”

“He is trying to help…though he can be trying at times doing so.”

Aloy’s lips curled up in a smile. So Kotallo felt the same way about Tomas? That amused her for some reason. Everyone else was falling over themselves to embrace the Ted Faro clone who looked nineteen but was only ten years old.

“I’m surprised he didn’t offer to make you a new arm.”

“He did.”

“Why didn’t you say yes?” Aloy rubbed her arms. “As much as he irritates me, his work is excellent.”

“My artificial arm represents triumph over insurmountable odds, of the new life I began to carve for myself and my stubbornness not to give in. I would no more give it up than I would severe my other arm.”

Aloy’s heart ached warmly. She liked the forthright Tenakth.

She liked him a lot.

“Kotallo,” she swallowed, “I…I can see the ruins.” She arched her neck up, seeing black, jagged shapes against the blues of the night sky. “I’ll find a flat surface on the outskirts to camp on then make my approach at dawn.”

“Should you need anything…”

“I’ll call. I promise.” Aloy tapped her FOCUS, severing the connection and dipped her Sunwing down. It only took a minute for her to find a ruin that had enough rooftop remaining for it to land on. Aloy found a sheltered corner and risked a fire, hoping its small golden glow would not be noticed by anything hostile. When it was crackling merrily she unrolled the outfit that had been a gift from Tomas, made from his bio matrix printer. It looked a great deal like what Tilda had worn, a white bodysuit with light detail and gold metal mesh at the neckline and wrists. The suit even had boots incorporated into the outfit but Tomas had given her gloves separately.