Flying wasn't as exhilarating as Kendrix had expected it to be. For one thing, the ride was rather bumpy. At first, the jumpship was constantly swerving and shaking as it moved higher and higher into the sky, its engines constantly flaring and shrinking as they struggled to find a happy medium of thrust. Kendrix wondered if the thing was just rusty when it came to flying, or if its injuries were affecting it even in this form. The turbulence steadied out somewhat after the ship punched through some clouds and up into the open sky of dusk, seemingly finding its groove.
That was when the second problem started. The jumpship had a tendency to perform very sharp accelerations, decelerations, and turns, the force of which thrust Kendrix around the cockpit like a ragdoll, his flight harness being the only thing which kept him from being summarily splattered on the cabin walls.
After a particularly steep dive that almost caused Kendrix to black out, he heard his Ghost speak up.
"Hey buddy, you trying to kill us or something?! Fragile cargo, ok?!" The ship calmed down somewhat after her reprimand, and Kendrix nodded a wordless thanks to her.
Why do you think it was flying like that? he asked in his mind, trying not to focus on the bile swirling in his throat.
Best guess? The tin man isn't quite accustomed to flying with organic company. If it's as robotic as it seems, it can probably handle a lot more gs than we're used to.
Kendrix didn't reply, but the hypothesis made sense. Or at least, he thought it did. It was hard to make rational judgements when half your brain had been left behind after the last barrel roll. For a supposedly injured flyer, the jumpship sure was experimenting a lot. For a few moments, the cabin was blissfully silent, save for the faint thrumming of thrusters. However, as the silence stretched on, it became less of a relief and more of a discomfort, as Kendrix's mind was allowed time to go back to processing the fact that he was several thousand feet above the surface of the planet in a pressurised metal box that just so happened to moonlight as a giant robotic soldier in its off time. Somehow, the fact that he had literally come back from the dead, twice, didn't feel as strange as the existence of the entity he was currently riding within. Fortunately, his ever informative Ghost cut it and allowed his mind to stray off the path of growing existential dread.
I've noticed something interesting. said the ever-present voice in his mind.
Hit me. he replied, trying not to sound too desperate for conversation.
I've been scanning our ride here, and… it seems to be made almost entirely of Glimmer. When Kendrix didn't react to the revelation, she explained further. Glimmer is a sort of programmable matter that was used as a power source back during the Golden Age. These days you mostly see it finding purpose as the major currency of The City.
Kendrix only fully understood about half of what she said, but he felt like it was enough to move forward.
Programmable matter… you think that's how it… changes?
Very strong possibility; what metal and other material is actually present is bonded to Glimmer at the molecular level, which is probably how it's able to so easily reconfigure. It's almost cell-like in formatting. Plus, the whole ship's got some sort of liquified Glimmer running through it. I think it serves as a power source, or at the very least a medium for energy exchange.
So this thing has programmable cells and energy blood? Almost sounds more like an organism than a robot. He felt the mental equivalent of a disbelieving shake of the head pass through his mind.
I've never even heard of anything like this, much less seen it, and I've been combing through the Tower's archives for literal decades. If the Vanguard has encountered tech like this before, then they don't want the average Guardian knowing about it.
Can't imagine why. he muttered, recalling how his instincts had begged him to blast the robot to pieces when it first revealed itself.
I've also noticed some subtle regeneration. I think its… cells, or whatever they are, are reformatting to replace lost ones and repair the damage.
So it can heal itself. That makes our job easier. We can just pump the thing full of this Glimmer stuff and let it nurse its wounds, instead of explaining to some mechanic why there's a giant metal fist where the trunk should be.
That's not exactly how it seems to work, but you've got a point. We shouldn't let anyone at the Tower give this thing more than a passing glance before we figure out how it can hide itself from scans. Which is going to make this next part difficult…
Kendrix didn't have a chance to respond before the jumpship suddenly slammed to a stop, nearly smashing his face against the viewport in the process.
"Hey, what the hell is-!" Kendrix started to cry out before the complaint caught in his throat. He was suddenly and completely enthralled with the view out of the front of the jumpship, and the gigantic object that dominated nearly all of it.
"What… is that?" he asked aloud, his voice barely above a whisper.
"That?" his Ghost replied, a not-insignificant note of smugness in her voice. "That's the Traveler."
The word triggered a number of memory-shadows in Kendrix's mind, but he was entirely unable to focus on them. The massive white sphere continued to grow larger and larger as the jumpship began to move again, heading to where the Ghost directed it. Kendrix's eyes desperately followed the object as the ship began to turn, pulling it somewhat out of view.
"It's so massive… and floating… and-"
"We can discuss your new crush later, Captain Obvious. Right now, I need you to focus; we've got a shipwright to deceive."
With a great deal of effort and reluctance, Kendrix tore his gaze from the Traveler's awesome form and looked instead to where the ship was heading. He now noticed a new landmark, standing tall in the Traveler's shadow. The building was huge, as far as he could tell, at least compared to the rest of the hundreds of small buildings he could spot in the waning twilight. Though it was still massively dwarfed by the Traveler's gargantuan frame.
A brisk, robotic voice suddenly emmenated out from Kendrix's comms, as well as the jumpship's onboard system.
"Unknown spacecraft, please identify," it ordered, almost bored-sounding.
"I'll handle this," his Ghost said as she appeared at her shoulder. Kendrix heard a faint series of beeps from the ship's console; their new acquaintance confirming that it'd heard, he presumed. "Tower, this is a Ghost requesting landing clearance for my new Guardian and our new ship." Her white shell rustled slightly, and the console pinged as it detected some sort of code being transferred back. There was a pause, and then the robotic voice responded.
"Codes verified. You are cleared for landing, Ghost. Please proceed to bay B-9."
"Thank you," his Ghost replied before closing the channel. She let out a facsimile of a sigh of relief. "Well, they didn't shoot us down, so that's a start. Now comes the hard part."
The jumpship slowly angled itself down towards a large opening on the Tower's side. It hesitantly entered the hangar before being directed towards an empty bay by a pair of orange-colored robots gesturing at it with glowing rods. Kendrix spotted the designation B-9 painted on the wall above it. He also spotted someone standing next to the landing platform looking up at the ship, and silently swore to himself.
The ship landed with a slight lurch, then powered down its thrusters.
"Wait here, and don't make any moves, Kendrix said to the ship's console. "We're not sure how these people would react to you, so it's best to stay hidden for now. I'll contact you once I've figured more stuff out." The only reply he received was a series of generally confirmatory beeps and whistles.
"Alright," he said hesitantly, before climbing up and out of the ship.
Now that he was at ground level, Kendrix could get a better look at the person waiting for him. She was a woman, blonde haired and green eyed. She wore an unassuming grey jumpsuit, with a red bandana and pair of goggles hanging from her neck.
"Always good to see a fresh face around here," said the woman with a smile. "Name's Amanda Holliday, Head Shipwright." He took the hand she offered and shook it as comfortably as he could.
"Kendrix, uh…" The realization that he hadn't chosen a surname fluttered through his mind. "...to be determined," he finished with about as much confidence as he felt. "Guardian. Or, so I'm told."
Holliday rewarded Kendrix's poor attempts at humor with a slight scoff.
"Well, welcome to the Tower, Kendrix. I'd offer to show you around, but I'm a busy woman, and we've got frames for that anyways. Most of the important stuff is that way," she said while gesturing to a large passageway across the hangar. Kendrix turned to glance at it, then turned back and nodded his understanding. She nodded back. "I'll have my boys give your ship a once-over, fix up any damage it's taken. Which from the looks of it is quite a lot."
"That won't be necessary," Kendrix said hastily.
Holliday crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.
"If you're worried about payment, repair services are complimentary." she said with a hint of confusion.
"It's not that, I'd just… rather not have anyone in there right now."
Smooth. You don't sound suspicious in the slightest. Kendrix resisted the temptation to glare at the voice in his head.
Shut it, I'm trying my best.
He waited for a moment while Holliday continued giving him a strange look. Kendrix was suddenly incredibly grateful that he had left his helmet on when exiting the ship, seeing as he could feel the nervous expression controlling his face. Eventually, Holliday replied.
"Alright, whatever you say."
"Thank you!" he said, trying not to let his relief show in his voice. He then promptly turned and started walking towards the far corridor, waving goodbye as he did.
You're a moron.
Hey, give me a break. I'm like an hour old.
Still a moron.
Well, if you really feel that way, maybe you should go find some other corpse to become best friends with.
Would if I could, pal. Would if I could.
Ouch. Harsh.
Kendrix emerged from the hangar out onto a wide, courtyard-like platform. It was made up of several tiered levels, with stairs and terraces between them. The lowest one, on which he stood, looked out over the City and up to the Traveler. Kendrix couldn't help but stare up at the ivory orb as he walked across the platform.
First things first, we need some Glimmer. Both to spend and to help our friend.
Alright. How do we do that?
Well, managed to nab a little off of Riksis. Should be enough to grab some slightly better gear, if you feel like it, but we can always scrounge up stuff out in the wilds on patrols and such. There's plenty of places to sell stuff, but we don't have much to our name right now so wouldn't recommend it. And there are bounties. Most are put out by the Vanguard, with a few other interested parties sprinkled in. Pay depends on what you're after, how many you take down, and if you make it back alive.
Right. Well, don't see the point in buying new gear when I'm still so new at this. Might as well get used to what I have and see what we can find. No selling, as you said. Guess that leaves bounties.
Guess so.
Kendrix felt his gaze get pulled towards one of the higher levels of the platform, where one of those robots- frames, had Holliday said?- was standing in front of a screen bank. Clad in green and red armor, with a bright orange light glowing where its face should have been, the machine cut an intimidating figure. Though not nearly the most intimidating he'd see from a robot that day.
That's the bounty tracker. It's who we want to talk to.
Kendrix nodded, and strode over towards the frame. As he approached, its head turned, the soulless 'eye' shining on his covered face.
"Guardian not recognized. Please state designation." The voice was robotic in a way much like that of the one that had spoken to them over the comm link at the hangar, though substantially deeper.
"Uh… Kendrix," the Guardian in question said after a moment of confused silence. The machine's eye blinked rapidly for a second or so, then it spoke again.
"Confirmed. Bounty submission or acquisition?" Kendrix hadn't even considered whether or not they'd be able to collect on a bounty. Before he got a chance to inquire, however, his Ghost took charge.
"How much for this one?" she said as she appeared in a flash of light over Kendrix's shoulder. A moment later, there was another flash, and something large, horned, and stinking of death appeared on the ground. Kendrix forced his stomach to remain steady as he looked down at the severed Fallen head.
"Riksis, Devil Archon," the bounty tracker said, its voice remaining as neutral and emotionless as before. "Bounty value: 5000 Glimmer. Transferring funds…" A moment later, Kendrix's Ghost pinged, and he saw a brief notification on his helmet's hud that his vault had received a deposit. "Submission or acquisition?" the robot inquired again.
Kendrix spent maybe five more minutes conversing with the bounty tracker, observing the lists of bounties displayed on the screens behind it, and taking hints from his Ghost about which ones were doable and worth accepting. Once he'd acquired a fair few, he let the frame go back to its business, and wandered back to the lower deck, staring out into the night-cast landscape and at the silent floating presence looming over it.
"So… what is it?" he asked quietly.
"The Traveler? No one knows. Well, plenty of people say they do, but they're all lying, to themselves, others, or both. To some it's a god, to others it's a machine. To some it's both, and to a select few it's neither. All we know for sure is that it showed up one day and kicked off the greatest Golden Age humanity had ever known. Then, a few centuries later, the Darkness showed up. It's been hunting the Traveler since the beginning of time, as far as we can tell, and it brought a whole lot of nasties with it. Only for whatever reason, the Traveler didn't run this time. Instead, it sacrificed a part of itself, and used that power to create us. The Ghosts, I mean. Then we raised the first Guardians. Well, they were just called Risen, then, but same difference. We empowered them with the Traveler's Light, giving them abilities beyond what a normal human could dream of. And it took a while, but eventually we gathered enough pushback against the Darkness, and a fair bit against each other, to carve out this City around the Traveler. The Last City on Earth."
"Wait, so if you've been around since those days, why did you wait this long to raise a Guardian? Wouldn't it have been better for you to raise someone then to help fight back?"
The Ghost shook her head- or body, rather.
"It's not that simple. Every Ghost is unique, just like every human. They have their own thoughts, feelings, personalities, quirks, and so on. It isn't about just picking some random corpse, blasting it with magic, and turning it into a living weapon. It's about finding a partner. Someone you'll be able to fight alongside no matter what, to death or eternity, whichever comes first. And finding a person like that, who resonates with you to such a degree… well, it's not always easy."
Kendrix's mind whirled with the implications of what he was being told.
"But… how can you know? I mean, I don't even know who I am! My memories are all gone. I could be a coward or a murderer or a psychopath… and I wouldn't even know it!"
"Contrary to popular belief, people are more than just walking libraries of memory," his Ghost replied, an edge of snark in her voice. "The human mind is an emergent phenomenon, blooming from the interactions of billions of synapses to become something so much greater than the sum of its parts. But that doesn't mean it's dependent on them. Who you are exists separately from your memories. You're not the stones in the pond, you're the ripples they create. That ripple is your courage, your strength, your curiosity, your compassion, and whatever else defines who you are. That ripple is what I saw, and that ripple is what I decided was worth saving."
For a few moments, Kendrix was speechless.
"You decided I was worth it, over however many thousands of others you saw?"
"Yes. Don't worry, I was only joking about wanting you gone earlier. I've spent centuries, my entire existence, looking for you, and I'm not about to give you up now that I've found you. Even if you are a moron."
Kendrix couldn't help but chuckle at that. Then a thought crossed his mind.
"You know, I just realized something," he said thoughtfully, turning to look at the little white being floating next to him.
"What?" she asked, sounding almost suspicious.
"I never asked your name." She seemed somewhat taken aback by the statement.
"Oh. Well, truth is I don't really have one."
"Well that won't do. That won't do at all."
"Oh? And why's that?"
"If we're really going to be partners until the end of time, there is no way in hell I'm just calling you 'Ghost' or something. I'd go insane!"
"Well, what do you suggest?"
"Hmm… how about… Sparky?"
If looks could kill, the entire Tower would be a smoldering ruin.
"On second thought, maybe I will leave you for dead and start looking for a different Guardian…"
"Hey, I was only kidding! Hmm… well, you said that the power you give me is called Light, right?"
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Well, seeing as you're the Light that's going to be closest to me… how about Proxima?"
She didn't instantly reject this one, which was an immediate plus. Instead, she just hovered in the air for a moment, weighing the name.
"You know, corny as it is, that might be the best idea you've had in your entire life. Which isn't saying very much, but still. It is a good one."
Kendrix smiled under his helmet.
"Alright then. Proxima it is." He paused for a moment, letting the word sink in, then triggered his trap. "...Roxy for short."
"...annnnd you ruined it."
"I'm sure you'll come to love it as much as I do." He paused again, grinning down at her angry blue eye. "Well, I think that's enough sightseeing for one night. Shall we?" he asked, gesturing away from the railing. Proxima just sighed and started floating off in the general direction he'd indicated.
"Bounties can wait til morning. I think we can both use some rest. But we should probably check in with our friend before we find somewhere to sleep."
"Good point," Kendrix said with a nod.
And with that, the partners began moving back towards the hangar.