"It was a quantum processor unit," John said.
"What's that?" Aloy asked.
"It was a part of Gaia's brain. In fact, that's what Gaia was mainly composed of. Though it's odd that a Subroutine would be exclusively in one. Those were meant to hold artifical intelligence."
"I found another one too. It was north of here and it looked to have been blown there. But please continue on, Jawn."
"Very well . . ."
"That was the leader of the Eclipse machines. Supposedly that was the Shadow Carja's new god," a woman said, startling John into looking.
The woman walked up to stand alongside him while staring down at the quantum processor unit. She was Black with extremely dark skin and a lean muscular physique. She wore a purple dress with a large loose fitting hood and a thin purple veil drawn across the lower half of her face, though still sheer enough to see through.
"Some god," she continued in a dismissive tone. "It was dragged up here by a Deathbringer, which the little huntress and her tribe had busted to pieces, along with another Deathbringer and more of the usual machines that had been corrupted by the Corruptors. Finally, she was able to jam her spear into that god and killed it. But not before she passed out from the effort in doing so."
"That's pretty amazing," John said.
"You bet it was, outlander. Although there were witnesses right here after the battle who watched as a red ball of light shot up out of it and disappeared up into the sky."
"I heard that too while I was in the city."
"And no doubt you heard that she was last seen riding a tamed Broadhead into the Forbidden West."
"Yeah, I did."
She next turned to face John. "That little huntress is one amazing woman. I mean, she not only aided Meridian but she also aided me in saving a man who deserved to be saved, and a Kestral at that. She helped me get Sun-King Avad's half-brother and his mother out of the city of Sunfall. I also heard about the other adventures she had in helping other people and they all managed to come to Meridian to defend it; including her own people, who supposedly never leave their Sacred Land. Then she was at the front lines of the Battle for Meridian, helping to take down machines bigger than herself. She slew Helis, the Terror of the Sun, the Stacker of Corpses. Then slew this machine to stop all the others. And despite all that," as her tone reached a pitch of amazement while holding her hands aloft, "she didn't even make a big deal out of any of it . . . ! I've known plenty others who've bragged over less!"
"But isn't that what it means to be a true hero? Being modest about your accomplishments?"
"I . . . suppose. I can't see myself being modest about the whole thing. I spent two years planning on how to get the Mad Sun-King's youngest son and his mother, the Dowager Queen, out of Sunfall and I felt envious of that little huntress managing to get the thanks. Perhaps it is time we did have a real hero. The Sun knows we haven't had any of late. Sun-King Avad is certainly a help too, even more so than the little huntress."
"I've heard the Nora live to the east of here."
"Yes, the Savage East."
"The Savage East?"
"Supposely because it's untamed, uncivilized, and if the legends are to be believed, the place where people first came from."
"That was when I realized it is where Eleuthia Number Nine lies," John said. "What you now call the Sacred Lands was once known as Colorado, one of the states of the United States of America. The Sundom was once known as the state of Utah."
"That's interesting," Aloy mused. "But as for that woman? The fact that she referred to me as little huntress means that she was Vanasha."
"Just how many people did you help out?"
"A lot."
"I see. Anyway, to continue . . ."
"So that intrigues you then?" Vanasha said. "Unfortunately, the Nora don't just let anyone in."
"So I was told," John said dryly.
"Although a Sun Priest along with an army of Oseram were allowed in some time ago to read Sun-King Avad's proclamation of peace. But I don't think they'll permit a mere stranger like you in."
"No I guess not." As disappointment tinged his tone, then stared at the quantum processor unit. "Well . . . I've seen enough here. I guess I'll be going."
"Before you go, could you tell me what tribe you're from?"
"I came from the northwest. The territory is part of the Harguess tribe."
"Did the Eclipse machines go up that far?"
"They popped up out of the grounds in the Harguess territories as well."
"I did hear that those Eclipse machines had popped up far and wide!" As she exclaimed in that drawling manner of hers. "But I never thought it was that far and wide! It makes you wonder just how many of those machines are out there in the rest of the whole wide world."
"More than you know. See you."
John made his way back downhill and into Meridian. While sitting in a shaded area of the city, he tried to think of all that he had learned while on his way here. Those Shadow Carja were a part of a cult called the Eclipse that worshipped these machines, or more accurately the leader of them. A leader that turned out to be one of Gaia's Subroutines inside of a quantum processor unit back at the relay tower. It still puzzled him as to how the Eclipse got ahold of it. Or even what one of the nine Subroutines of Gaia was doing in it to begin with. Which Subroutine was the question.
There was also the ultimate question of the Subroutine Apollo failing to educate the new humans.
So many questions and no answer for any of them. John understood that the only way to get the proper answer was to investigate Gaia Prime; unfortunately, if Maker's End was of any indication, he will not be able to enter Gaia Prime since all of the Project: Zero Dawn installations are interconnected.
So it all came down to that girl, Aloy, as he could not shake the feeling that there was something special about her. He wondered if the answer lay with her. After all, she did stop these Faro machines by destroying the Subroutine housed within that quantum processor unit that cult had treated as a god. And she even had a focus of her own, meaning that she understood the technology of his world.
John sighed with frustration while leaning forward and briefly rubbing his face as he wondered just where she was. He kept that pose with his face in his hands. In the "Forbidden West" they said. Where in the west exactly?
He lowered his hands and his eyes had the look of recognition as he remembered something. Elisabet Sobeck was born and raised in Carson City, Nevada. Could it be that this Aloy girl was looking for Dr. Sobeck's former home? John wondered why she would do that. Then . . . could it be that this Aloy had somehow learned about Project: Zero Dawn?
John wondered if it was possible to find her. Pinpoint her location that is. If she was wearing a focus then he might be able to tap into it. Back in his day, a relay of satellites made talking to someone else via focus easy. There were no longer any satellites in orbit, making such a feat extremely difficult. He also thought about those Eclipse. They must have been the ones who each possessed their own focus that that Oseram man he met up in the Claim with his own focus had talked of. That meant they had to have been able to casually communicate to each other, leading to having some sort of high technology in order to be able to send their signals far and wide. If he could just figure out what they had used then he might be able to use it to find this Aloy.
John got up and planned his next course of action. He just needed something to point him in the right direction. He entered a market where there were machine parts on display. At one of them was a large black sleek feline machine stretched out on a frame like an animal that had been skinned.
That was when John had an epiphany.
"Ah, excuse me," John said to an Oseram man next to that feline robot. "Did you hunt this machine?"
"Why yes I did," the Oseram answered. "It's called a Stalker. One of the New Machines. The Jewel is full of them. It's southwest of here."
"So you have experience hunting them?"
"Yes I do, why do you ask?"
"So you must understand that these machines have to know the lay of the land before they simply go wandering all over it."
"Well of course they do." The Oseram man's tone was sarcastic, as if it was only common sense to know this stuff. "That's why they have those Tallnecks looking out for them."
"Right, Tallnecks. I seem to forget about them. I guess it's because they don't attack anyone and just walk around in circles. Something not dangerous is easy to overlook."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Thanks anyway."
John understood the purpose of the Tallnecks and a plan to hack into one of them began forming in his mind. It will take parts though, and the right kind.
"So you were going to hack into the Tallnecks and get a map of surrounding terrain?" Aloy asked.
"Yes," John verified.
"That explains how you managed to get here."
"It took me two days to gather the resources necessary to make a device that would enable me to hack into a Tallneck." He next roots around in his backpack and pulls out to show Aloy what looks like a radar gun stuck onto a large box. "But I did manage to gather them . . ."
John left Meridian with his invention in hand to search for that Tallneck he had seen. He found that Tallneck casually walking its circular path that it had beaten into the dirt like the first Tallneck he had once seen. The journey to find it was not as long as the journey on his way past it on to Meridian.
As John searched for a vantage point to get at it, he saw various machines stalking about the place. His machine blinder did its job in keeping him invisible to those machines. He found that vantage point and perched himself there. Though he had to wait for a time as the Tallneck was far from it due to it needing to be close. John used that time to set up his hacker properly.
That was when he understood that the machine blinder might interfere with his hacker and may need to turn it off. That was a dangerous situation as there were machines within sight that may see him and charge at him.
He decided to check if keeping his machine blinder on will intefere with the hacker. The Tallneck continued making its way toward John's vantage point. He pointed the hacker at its head and flipped a switch to begin hacking and scanned his hacker with his focus so that he could pick it up. With each second it took to get through, the Tallneck got ever closer and will soon pass him. The Tallneck passed him as John kept his hacker pointing up at it.
"So you stayed on the ground and pointed that thing at the Tallneck's head to hack into it?" Aloy asked as she gestured at the hacker.
"Yes, of course," John verified.
"Me, I simply jump onto a Tallneck from a high enough vantage point and climb my way up to its head where I stick the end of my spear into it and hack it."
"You do?! Isn't that dangerous?"
"Very. Especially when I jump off and throw my grappling hook onto a part of the Tallneck and lower myself down."
John blinks in silence at Aloy.
"You would've made an incredible acrobat back in my day," he finally said. "Now then as I was saying . . ."
The Tallneck passed John by, but nothing got uploaded and it was proven that having that machine blinder on will interfere with his hacking the Tallneck. He knew that he will need to turn his machine blinder off the next time that Tallneck came around.
The Tallneck eventually made its return trip and John readied himself. It finally got close enough to him and he turned off the machine blinder, thus leaving himself visible to the other machines. He pointed the hacker up at the Tallneck's head, keeping it ever steady and this time he was receiving information from it. He glanced over his shoulder, only to do a double take with a look of concern as one of those machines that reminded him of a tiger came stalking toward him from a little ways off as it made that creepy metallic piston pumping sound with each step it took.
The information continued downloading into the hacker as the Tallneck continued getting closer along with that other machine. John kept glancing more quickly over his shoulder as his heart began racing. Cold sweat trickled down the side of his face.
"Come on! Come on!" John hissed as he continued glancing between that Tallneck, his hacker, and that machine getting closer by the second. Soon, it will be close enough to attack him. Already he saw that its mouth was made up of circular saws that look capable of effortlessly grinding bone let alone flesh.
John felt overwhelming relief as the information was finally download and was quick to switch his machine blinder back on. The attacking machine stopped and looked around, apparently wondering where he went. John quietly got up and snuck away.
Once far enough away, John scanned the information in his focus and got an image of the lay of the land. The area outside it was blackened out. He could see the various machines that roam the land and what kind, showing that his hypothesis about the machines was right. They need information beforehand before they could go wandering all over the land.
John instantly tensed upon taking notice of a focus signal to the east. It was there as it had been ever so brief. Since it was from a focus, he wondered if it was from that Aloy of the Nora.