Chapter Two

I Don't Die

Notes:

From now on, I will refer to the building where humanity is kept in cryo as "Athena's Complex", since she has kept the place up and running for a very long time before Nathan woke up. For obvious reasons, it will be Nathan's home base, and a central point in the interactions between him and the outside world.

"Better luck next time." = Speech

"Better luck next time." = Thought

Better luck next time = Music

With Persephone

Persephone was absolutely seething with rage, and it was directed entirely at her cohorts. Actually, Persephone didn't know if she had ever felt rage like the anger she was currently feeling. Lying in front of her was what looked to be a massive missed opportunity. The body of the precursor was still, and drenched in purple ink. It seemed that the excessive amounts of ink fired by her subordinates had killed it (Him. Probably a him, not that it mattered).

What a waste.

That being could have held so much knowledge inside of his brain. That being could have told them so much about the culture of his species. Plus, since they knew how to make power without the Zapfish, that being could have helped them solve the power crisis their whole nation was facing. Now it looked like that wasn't going to happen, because that being was dead. Her subordinates had foolishly decided to kill him, even though he had shown no aggression towards any of them.

So of course she was angry. These fools she called her subordinates may have killed off a solution to some of their biggest problems. So she was currently screaming her lungs out at them, for all of the reasons mentioned above.

"...and he didn't even TRY to attack us! He just stood there and, judging by the way he spoke, tried to say hello or something! Do you REALIZE how much we could have learned from him?" She yelled, effortlessly intimidating them. They didn't respond, instead staring ahead blankly, eyes wide.

"WELL?!" Their lack of a response angered her even further.

The first response she did get was for one of the Octarians to point a singular tentacle back behind her. Angrily, Persephone turned around only to have her jaw drop at the sight her eyes showed her.

"Impossible.."

Slowly but surely, the figure rose to his feet. Some of the ink had evaporated to a degree, but his body was still covered in it. He swung his arms around a little, letting some of the ink slip off of them. Then he ran his hands over his face, giving himself a clean viewpoint again before opening his eyes and turning to look at them. It didn't take a genius to tell that he was angry.

He pointed at her with one finger, barking a short order in his language. Persephone duly noted that he spoke with venom, even though she couldn't understand him. Then, he charged at the group, screaming. Persephone barely had time to jump out of the way as her cohorts nervously opened fire again.

This time, their shots barely slowed him down.

—

With Nathan

Well, Nathan was going to try to take a friendly route towards all of them. Deep down, he knew that that would still be the best option. When he shakily rose to his feet, he had noticed the weaker Octarians (thank you, Athena, for the lesson) squirming, while the Octoling (probably the leader) stared at him in shock. He could only assume that they had thought he was dead. That they had killed him.

That thought made him lose his temper a little. These beings had come into his home (albeit one he knew little about) and tried to kill him on sight. The only exception was the Octoling, who had furiously been lecturing her subordinates about shooting at him. So she was going to be spared of his anger.

But since he didn't get a chance to try the friendly route, he was going to take the violent route instead. So, he abandoned his training, pointing at the Octoling and screaming "Move!" Then, he put his legs into motion and sped towards her and her cohorts.

The Octoling took his warning and hopped out of his way, leaving only the ones that had tried to murder him. They began to fire their ink weapons again, but this time he was prepared. He gritted his teeth, covered his eyes and kept advancing until he got close enough to disarm them, swatting their guns away. From there he made quick work of them. Considering that he had already scared them witless (his size probably helped) they pretty much stood by and let him knock them out. Anticlimactic, really.

Seeing as he taken out his anger management problems, he turned to his left, expecting to see the Octoling he had decided not to hurt. However, she wasn't there. Nathan tried looking around the hall for a few minutes, but he found nothing. It was made more difficult by the fact that he was still walking barefoot over slippery ink.

When he was about to call it quits, Athena decided to make herself known. "Uh, you do remember what I told you about their biology... right?" she asked. To Nathan, she almost seemed legitimately confused.

He smiled sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. "Well, they... evolved from octopi, right?"

He swore that he could hear her sigh softly before her response. "Yes, Nathan, they're called Octolings for a reason," she said sarcastically. "But they can also switch back and forth between their humanoid forms and an octopus-based form, so long as they swim in their ink and not water."

"So that means.."

"She's probably below you Nathan. You'll just have to convince her to come out."

Cue a raised eyebrow from the human. "And, pray tell, how would I do that? She scared out of her mind, and I can't speak Octoling.."

"No, but I can. I've tried to memorize their language for years now, since it helped as a distraction to my loneliness. Would you like me to try?"

"Yes, Athena. Thank you. You're a lifesaver."

"No need to thank me, Nathan. This could be quite crucial to ensure a good relationship between humans and Octarians after the stunt you just pulled. It is in my programming to keep you safe, and this may help."

With that, she began speaking a language that was almost entirely foreign to him, containing syllables he could probably learn and gurgling noises he would probably struggle with. It took her a few minutes, but eventually, the Octoling apprehensively popped up out of the ink. Nathan slowly walked up to her, trying to show that he meant no harm, before extending a hand. She stared at it for a few seconds before taking it in hers and saying a few words.

"She says her name is Persephone," Athena translated.

And a human and an Octoling shook hands for the first time.

—

One Hour Later

With Nathan and Persephone

Athena had led them a few floors down to a residential area, convincing them to make to make a few stops along the way. Persephone was absolutely fascinated by the building; her expedition had never made it this far down. When she asked Athena why, the A.I. told her that that had been her doing. She had planned on keeping the doors to lower areas locked until at least one human (specifically Nathan in this case) had been awakened from his slumber.

Actually, the very idea of an artificial intelligence was still something Persephone was still struggling to wrap her head around. The idea that the precursors (which Athena claimed called themselves "humans") could create a machine that sounded alive wasn't one that she had originally expected to think on when she had entered the building for the first time. Nevertheless, here it was. She had known that the humans were smart, but had never thought about its how smart they could be.

While she was holding a conversation with the feminine machine, Nathan chose to walk through the entrance to the room, clad in a new set of clothes and holding a pair of unfamiliar fruits. He tossed one to her and Persephone fumbled it around her hands for a moment before she took a bite. It was surprisingly sweet, and she actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Unfortunately, they didn't have food like it in the Octarian Empire.

As she enjoyed the fruit, Athena decided to give Persephone a status update on the Octarians that Nathan had knocked unconscious earlier. Apparently, Nathan had brought them downstairs and laid them to rest on a few makeshift beds, although he had taken away their weapons first. They were sleeping peacefully, according to her, and they would be free to go later.

That brought her attention to the next issue for the archeologist and the human. How would they explain his existence? He couldn't just leave the building and be like "what up y'all, not all the precursors are dead" and just expect everyone to be like "ok, cool". Somebody was going to target him eventually, and while Nathan had a general immunity to ink, he didn't think that meant he couldn't be killed. He needed to make a decent first impression, and that was made more difficult by the fact that he had beaten the snot out of three trained Octarian soldiers with minimal difficulty.

Persephone, in such a short time, had quickly warmed to the human. Outside of his aggression, which he claimed was a little out of character for him, he seemed to be a down to earth type of person. She had her skills in observation to thank for her good perception of him, otherwise she would still be cowering in fear. However, she had resolved in the time since that shaky first impression that she would try to help him out, both for his benefit and hers.

Athena had claimed that Nathan had a solution that could win over most of the Octarians without much of a problem, and Nathan had placed a few papers on the table that Persephone had been sitting by. The pictures were strange, and the text was written in Nathan's language, but Persephone had a vague idea of what these papers could be. She just needed confirmation.

"Athena, just what are these papers?"

"It's a good question, Persephone," Athena answered, her voice sounding somewhat excited. "You see, these blueprints contain the instructions for creating energy by turning sunlight into electric power. It's a fairly quick process if you have the right materials. Nathan here believes that he can gain a good reputation by helping you with your power problem, but he will need to learn your home before he just hands the solution over."

That was it. That was Nathan's "master plan". To win over the Octarian Empire, he was going to help solve their power crisis, and put some human culture on display for them while he was at it. He was going to show them the best humanity had to offer in terms of music, film, games, books, and so on. In return, he would get to learn as much as he could about the economy and the culture of the nations outside Athena's Complex. Then, when they realized that humans weren't a threat and accepted them, Nathan would be able to wake up the rest of the people trapped in cryo, and they could slowly integrate into the new world.

It was a very basic plan, and one with a lot of variables that could throw a wrench in it. But it was something that could work if they kept their cool and played it safe.

When Persephone and the Octarians that had gone with her left Athena's Complex, Nathan, trying to play the good host, showed them out. He even gave them their weapons back, against his better judgement. As they reunited with the rest of their expedition, Athena gave Nathan a timeframe to prepare.

"Persephone says that she you will have at least three days before you will see the outside world. That is how long the politicians will take to make some sort of decision on you. There will be a very good chance that you meet some sort of figure of authority. In the meantime, you will need to learn as much of the Oceanic language as possible, so you are not unprepared when you leave. After all, I will not be there to translate for you."

Nathan plopped down on a nearby couch, readied his mind and cracked his fingers.

It was time to get to work.

—

This wraps up Chapter Two. How'd I do? Is there anything I need to be more descriptive about? I welcome constructive feedback, since I want this story to turn out well.

In the meantime I would like to make a few notes about my reasons for writing down what I've written. First off, the reason that there was minimal dialogue in that last scene was because I though it would be awkward and repetitive to have to write about Athena translating over and over. Secondly, I know I wasn't too terribly descriptive about the inside of Athena's Complex here. This is because I didn't really need to be. You, the reader, probably were able to figure out what it looked like for yourself. I only needed to focus on the events and the conversation between all the parties involved.

Next Up: Nathan leaves Athena's Complex for the first time, meeting some important figures. A squad of Octolings take kindly to him.