"You know before I entered the Embrace," Aloy began as if only just remembering something important, "I did pick up a signal far to the northwest, but it was too brief for me to think much of it. So that was you. Were you trying to contact me?"
"Actually I wasn't, I was just trying to get a lay of the land and I just so happened to pick up your focus signal, as brief as it was." John then smirked. "Funny, neither of us tried to contact the other, especially me . . . I guess I just never really thought about it. All I was thinking of was getting to meet you in person. That and I was also concerned that there might have been those Eclipse guys listening in. Anyway, back to my story . . ."
John arrived before a wall with towers perched upon it and large open doors. He could see men stationed up at the top dressed in Carja armor, showing this to be a Carja fort. He entered to speak to someone in charge.
"What place is this?" John asked a man who looked like the commander, a tall slim man with light brown hair, mustache, and grey eyes.
"This is Dawn's Sentinel," the commander answered. "It's a border fort with the Savage East. It's not as grand as Day Tower, but it suffices."
"Day Tower?"
"It's the main border fort south of here past the mountains."
"Did a red-haired girl happen to pass through here?"
"Yes she did. She was even riding a Broadhead too, which she had to ditch in order to pass through here. It must be that Nora girl who helped save Meridian with the help of her people."
"So I heard."
"If you're looking to do her harm." The commander's tone was menacing tone, causing the other soldiers around him to stiff.
"Oh no no no!" John was quick exclaim while holding his hands up and shaking them. "I just wanna talk to her! I'm not from around here and heard that she helped stop those other machines!"
The commander was silent for a moment. "Very well. She did manage to kill Helios and most of the Eclipse, so I doubt someone like you could attack her. I don't know if you'll be able to find her because you'll be heading into Nora lands since the Nora don't like outsiders in their lands and all."
"I was told that too. But . . . I'll see how far I can get before the Nora tell me to get lost. Could you tell me the directions before I go on my way."
"Just stay on this road and it will take you south into the Sacred Lands. You'll know you're in their lands when you reach their fort up on a hill top called Mother's Crown. It is from there that they'll shoot flaming arrows at you. Don't worry, they'll only aim near your feet. But if you keep persisting, they'll aim directly at you."
"G-Gotcha." Nervousness tinged John's tone. "Anyway, thank you."
John left to walk down a road that meandered through a valley. He encountered more now dormant Scarabs and Kopesh. He would frequently scan his surroundings to get a reading, and just in case the owner of that focus happened to be around.
It was the afternoon as John walked into an open area of mountains and rolling lands with more forests and rivers beyond it. He could see machines in various places and the road leading north. John kept on the road that took him south and toward a hill. Up it he could see a fort that consisted of wooden walls with a gate now closed. He figured that it must be this Mother's Crown that commander had told him about.
John steeled his resolve and walked up that hill to Mother's Crown, all the while expecting to see flaming arrows flying toward him. So far none came flying. He next stopped upon doing a double take off to his left at something in the distance. At first he thought it was a strange land formation off in the distance, but it turned out to be the distant ruins of skyscrapers. He knew that was Colorado Springs because he also knew that Eleuthia Number Nine was to be built within Cheyenne Mountain, which was within sight of Colorado Springs.
John resumed his walk toward Mother's Crown, but there were still no flaming arrows. Not only that but he did not see anyone up at the top. He finally arrived before the gates without incident.
"Hello! Is anybody in there?!" As he pounded upon them.
He got no answer. He tried the gates but they were locked. He looked around while puzzling over this strange absence from that fort and noticed a road down below on the rightside bypassing the fort. He decided to head down to it and was able to walk past Mother's Crown, again without incident as it loomed high up above with the cliff over him.
John eventually arrived before a heavily damaged wall of wooden posts sharpened to points. Most of the posts lay on the ground and the rest were tilting forward with the remains hanging off due to being fastened together with blue and white plastic cable. Its large double gates lay broken on the ground. John walked through with the knowledge that this must be an even more important area. So far no one was there to greet him, or more accurately stop him.
He gasped with fright upon seeing a monsterously huge Horus Titan perched atop a mountain as its near mile long tentacles were curled away from it throughout that landscape. He brushed his head briskly and exhaled through pursed lips. He next scanned it with his focus to read it as a Horus.
He next got a very faint energy signature off to one side. It was distant and too faint to get a clear reading on it, but he hoped that it was the focus of that girl, Aloy. He headed in the general direction of that distant signal, traveling through forest and brush while wondering why the Nora had yet to confront him. Given the presence of all the Chariot Line Models it might be possible that they could have all been devoured. It certainly would explain the lack of any reception.
He got ever closer to the source of the energy signature. Not only closer but lower as it seemed to come from the ground. He hoped that there was a passage into the ground or else it would have all been for nothing. That was when he arrived before a pit. Upon closer inspection it looked to be a cave. John gazed down into it to see water at the bottom. He wondered if he could get down there safely. A rope was in order and a long one at that.
A loud thunk startled John and he gasped to discover that it was a flaming arrow that had landed near him. Another one landed near him. Then another. And another still. John looked up to see a group of men and women hurrying toward him with bow, arrows, or spear in hand as they shouted with grim expressions. They must be the Nora.
John instinctively backed away, only for his footing to slip and he fell into the cavern, yelling on the way down. He landed in the water. It was deep enough to break his fall, yet shallow enough that he could stand up in it so that it was up to his waist. He checked his focus to find it still on his head.
John heard his attacker's voices up above and was quick to get out of the water and run. At first he did not know where to go but noticed two cave openings in the side of the rockface. He could hear his attackers up above.
" . . . The intruder fell into that cave . . . !"
" . . . We can't go down there, it might be a ruin from the Metal World . . . !"
" . . . We also don't have any rope on us . . . !"
" . . . But there's no way he can get back up, so he's trapped down there . . . !"
John was quick to crawl into one of the caves. He ended up having to deal with bats flying over his head. He reached a bend to discover two more cave tunnels and wondered which way to go. He positioned himself in front of the one on his side and turned to get an understanding of where to go and discovered that the cave tunnel he had crawled through was the same as the other one and met up here.
He turned and went into the other tunnel. It was a tight squeeze but he made it and was shocked to discover ruins from his time.
John looked around to see that it was one of the Project: Zero Dawn facilities. It had to be connected to the Eleuthia Subroutine. John walked through the place to see that the technology was still working after all this time as his focus showed him. He walked through the darkened place lit only by the soft glow of the screens and displays, and the various shafts of daylight from up above. A nearby rat scurried away, startling John into hoping that he did not encounter a swarm that could eat him alive.
He reached an area where a shaft of sunlight shone onto a skeleton that lay upon a nest of moss and flowers with its hand now raised and clawlike; as if that person when they were still alive was reaching for something upon their face but died midway and kept that position. John sighed drearily as he understood that this person was either one of the Betas or Gammas who worked here. He also got the feeling he would encounter more of them. He also noticed that it did not have its focus and wondered if perhaps a rat had taken it.
John walked through the underground facility, now ruined by the passage of time. Stalactites hung from the walls while stalagmites pointed up from the floor underneath them. Moss had grown throughout the place and puddles of water soak the floors, courtesy of the various openings in the ceiling that had opened up throughout the centuries. At some point in the future, the whole roof will collapse to expose this interior or at least bury it under more rock.
He entered another room where another skeleton lay on the floor and saw that this one still had its focus. He scanned that focus and to his eyes brought forth the image of a man kneeling on one knee and fiddling with what was no doubt the camera.
"You think I want it this way?" The man grumbled. "It's the best I can do, he's right behind you." Then immediately changes his tone to wave, smile, then point. "Hi! Happy birthday Isaac! Daddy sure does love his little big man." A glitch and he is now wearing a party hat. "Look, Daddy can't be there with you and mom, but," pulling out a blowhorn, "we can still have a party, right? Sure we can." And he blows it.
"That was when I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that place was connected to Eleuthia Number Nine," John sighed. "It was because I knew that man. His name was Michael Jones and he was a Gamma who worked on the Eleuthia Subroutine."
"I remember watching that after I got my focus," Aloy said. "But why did he have to stay there? I thought it was only the Alphas who had to stay behind?"
"It had to do with the bulk of the military being unable to keep out the Swarm long enough and they collapsed sooner rather than later. So they . . . got trapped."
"That's too bad. What about the other dead in that place? Did you know any of them?"
"Not personally, but I did know enough about them. Anyway, my story is coming to the end, so the rest goes like this . . . I checked around the place for more skeletons and ended up finding another, also still wearing its focus. I scanned its focus to discover that this skeleton was once Ellen Evans, the Director of that facility. On her focus was a message about the military having collapsed that I had mentioned. The message further read that if anyone wanted to take their chances outside, then the lock will undo for fifteen minutes on one of the doors and then they could leave."
"That explains why that place was more empty than I had expected it to be."
"I continued searching around and found six more skeletons, all still wearing their focuses. I scanned them all and discovered who they all used to be . . . Conner Chasson, Skylar Rivera, Ella Pontes, Jackson Frye, Mia Sayied, and one who didn't leave his name. But I knew he was also named John Smith, though he had Ignatius and Piper for his middle names. I listened to their final thoughts, their regrets, their fond memories even. One had even recited poetry . . . The other John Smith on the other hand was critical of everyone just lining up to take their meds from Nurse Chandra like cattle being sent to a slaughter house. He believed that one should make a statement in going out, and he did so with a gunshot through the mouth that avoided damaging his focus. I'm surprised he got ahold of a gun because there weren't supposed to be any guns amongst the Betas and Gammas . . . Nevertheless, they all spoke in a manner that made me realize that they knew they were all going to die soon. With each recording that I listened to, my sorrow began building up . . . And you pretty much know how the rest of it turns out."
There is a minute of silence as John experiences a sense of finality from finishing his story and as Aloy mentally digests that story.
"What was it like?" Aloy next asked.
"You mean my world?" John asked.
"Yeah, Cyan did tell me a bit about it. About the billions of people and the problems that happened. About how something like one fifth of the human race died from the problems."
"Yeah, that was the fault of climate change. For centuries we were using fuel and technology that sent smoke high up into the atmosphere that trapped heat, causing the world to heat up. It caused severe storms and extreme temperatures that resulted in flooding out of coastlines and the sinking of various islands. It resulted in a massive movement of people and resulted in wars. When it was over, some two billion people had died. If you're wondering how much a billion is that's one thousand thousand thousand. And there was once ten billion people."
"So many people! But what amazes me was when Cyan told me about the Clawback Era. The time when you Old Ones began to recover from all those disasters."
"My parents grew up during the Troubled Times. They told me all about it. I even saw holos about it as well. They always told me about how scared they were that the world was going to end in disaster. They got married at the beginning of the Clawback Era and I was born two years later."
"What's even more amazing than the Clawback Era was how Ted Faro led it!" As skepticism tinged Aloy's tone.
"That's the biggest irony of it all. I mean, think about it. This was a man who created green technology, technology friendly to the environment. It helped saved the world and he was praised for it . . . Then he eventually created technology that ended it."
"Did you ever hear about Elisabet Sobeck before you were recruited into Project: Zero Dawn?"
"Oh yes I did. I first heard about her back when I was a kid. There was a news report about how she was being taken to court by Faro over intellectual copyright infringement."
"What's intellectual . . . copyright . . . infringement?"
"It's when you work for somebody and you end up stealing their ideas and profiting from them."
"A thief is somebody who takes things that don't belong to them and keeps it, all without the owner's permission. But stealing ideas? How is that even possible?"
"Well . . . A society or corporation is more than just the buildings and products it produces, it's the ideas that produced them. Ideas that will advance them sooner than others. Ideas that could be copied by other people who might find a way to overtake and surpass them. Ideas that were once their own that could be used against their own existence. Your people may not think of such but I bet these Oseram and Carja do because the more advanced a people become, the more ideas are going to matter to them."
"The Metal World sounded so complex."
"It couldn't be helped. It's the fate of civilizations when they keep advancing. But getting back to Dr. Sobeck's trouble with Faro, it was when I first learned about her. She had recently founded Miriam Corporation and Faro accused her of stealing his ideas. She made it clear that was not so because Faro was starting to produce machines for military applications, that being the Chariot Line Model, and she wanted nothing to do with that. She was instead focusing on green technology and she won awards for it. But he still wouldn't stop trying to get her into a court of law. He had over twenty lawsuits against her."
"I guess Ted Faro was just jealous of her success."
Another moment of silence.
"Were you Old Ones really so dependant on machines?" Aloy asked.
"Up until the eve of the Chariot Line Model going rogue, yes," John answered. "We depended upon them for almost everything."
"Was there ever a time when your kind did not depend upon machines?"
"Oh Aloy, you have no idea just how long us original humans were around for. Or this world for that matter. It's beyond ancient. There was a time when us Old Ones wore only animal skins and lived in caves, lean-tos made from tree branches, or tents made from animal skins. We used only sharpened pieces of stone for arrow heads, knives, and axes. And all before we ever discovered metal and farming, let alone machines. There was even a time when we original humans were not even in the form we currently are."
"Just how long were you Old Ones around for?!"
"Approximately . . . four to five million years. One million is one thousand thousand."
"F-Four to five m-million y-years ago!" As Aloy rasped with a look of awe.
"Other animals existed tens of millions of years before the rise of humans. They were called dinosaurs. They were lizards, some of which were massive. They were wiped out by an asteroid. A massive space boulder the size of a mountain that did about almost as much damage as the Faro Swarm. This world is nearly five billion years old. And the universe itself is over fourteen billion years old."
Aloy sat there with mouth wide open and eyes wide with shock. Her mind feels as if it is about to float away.
"If you think that boggles the mind, then you should've seen the size comparisons with what's out there in the universe. Our world. Other worlds that we share our sun with. The solar system being a part of a galaxy. And our galaxy being a part of the universe. Think about that when you look up at a clear night sky sometime, especially when there's no moon. Our knowledge of the universe surpasses the current knowledge of the universe by a thousand foldth. And even up to the eve of the Faro Swarm, we still didn't know all there was to know about the universe."
Aloy sighs as she slumps forward and buries her face into her hands. She then exhales loudly with a rasp and strokes her face and presses her fingers against her mouth. She slowly shakes her head ruefully.
"Now I hate Ted Faro even more," she grumbled.
"What do you mean by that?" John asked.
"I mean that it's time for me to tell you my story, so here goes . . . It all started when I was around six years old . . ."