John listens as Aloy speaks about how she had encountered some children who shunned her and she ran and fell into some ruins.
"Those ruins you found me within," John said.
"Yeah, those," Aloy answered.
She continues onward, explaining from when she found her focus all the way up to the eve of the Proving when she met Olin.
"The first man I met who owned a focus," John said.
"My meeting Olin was to affect my life in a way I never remotely imagined," Aloy continued.
John listens to Aloy explaining the attack that happened at the Proving Grounds, her mentor's death, and her waking up in All-Mother.
"It's amazing that you survived!" John gasped.
"What's even more amazing was when I found my stuff and read that other focus to discover what was on it," Aloy said.
"If you read it then, you can pass it on to my focus." As John leans forward.
"Ah, okay." Then fiddles with some controls visible only to her. "Here's what I found on that attacker's focus."
John watches as the man gives out his orders and winces. "Good lord what a vicious-looking man. It's a miracle you survived him!" He watches as the terrain of the Sacred Land comes into view and is next overlaid with Aloy speaking to Olin and go motionless.
Then have Elisabet Sobeck walking up next to Aloy and go motionless too. The genetic percentage superimposes over the both of them at 99.47%, then the capitalized word, terminate.
"It is no coincidence that you look like Dr. Sobeck," John mused in an earnest tone.
"That part is coming up next," Aloy said. "The High Matriarch, Teersa, came to me and told me to follow her. That I'll be meeting my mother. When I tried to ask, she said that my birth was not a normal one. To put it simply, she led me right up to a huge door and said that they had found me in front of it, even pointing to spot of where I was lying. She told me that it was my crying that got their attention. This is the blanket was was found wrapped in." As she briefly tugs on the scarf around her neck.
"Yes, I figured as much!" His tone hushed but awed with an expression to match as he slowly leans forward while reaching out to Aloy's face. "Gaia enacted the Lightkeeper Protocol and brought forth you: the clone of Dr. Sobeck!"
"That obvious to you," Aloy quipped as she is quick to brush John's hand aside, prompting him to retract it and sit back.
"So how did you feel when you were finally able to enter Eleuthia Number Nine?"
"Well now that was the problem, I couldn't. The computer couldn't read me so the door didn't open for me because of system corruption."
"That's strange." As John rubs his chin in thought. "But please, continue."
Aloy tells him of when she told the High Matriarch Teersa of how the attackers knew about her and what she had to do to get the means to lift the corruption over All-Mother's eyes. So they made her a Seeker, someone who could leave the Sacred Lands and return with impunity, to go to Meridian and find this Olin and get the answers she needed. Aloy continues on about how she arrived at the gates that left the Embrace and had to defeat a Scarab and the machines it corrupted. She talks about how after defeating it and its corrupted machines, she searched the Scarab and found a device on it that connected to her focus, learning that it was the means for overriding other machines. She explained how she tied it to the end of her spear, went out in search of a machine and found a Strider to use it upon; taming it so that she rode it to Meridian. She kept out the part of when she went off in search of War Chief Sona and her party and encouraging them to attack the attackers at Devil's Gulch, because it was not crucial to her story.
Aloy explains that she reached Day Tower, a Carja fort, and ended up having to destroy another Scarab and its corrupted machines that were attacking the place and was able to enter the place. She went on to Meridian and was able to contact Erend and told him what had happened. They went to check out Olin's place and discovered information that his family was kidnapped and threatened with death if he didn't cooperate.
"Good lord, I hope they were rescured," John said.
"I did help them," Aloy said. "But first I had to deal with Olin."
She talks about how she located him and was then contacted by a mysterious man who offered her aid by jamming the focus network of the Eclipse so that she could get to work. She killed the attackers, defeated their Corruptors, and confronted Olin. She talks of how Olin told her that her attackers were the remnants of the Mad Sun-King's army that formed a cult called the Eclipse and were led by the man named Helis, the Mad Sun-King's Champion. About how they learned about his scrounging and delving prowess and forcibly recruited him by kidnapping his family and threatening to kill them if he didn't cooperate. About how the Eclipse excavated them and hooked up a device into them that activated them. And then about Hades.
"I don't understand," John said with confusion. "Hades is just a Subroutine."
"That part is coming up if you'll just let me continue," Aloy sighed.
"I'm sorry. Please go on."
Aloy continues on about what Olin had told her about Hades, including the woman he saw at Maker's End and that it would be best if she went there for more answers. And how she then spared him and told him that she will help him rescue his family, and even did a detour first to save them. And was successful. She continued on with how she went to Maker's End and how along the way her benefactor spoke to her again and learned from him that the woman's name was Elisabet Sobeck. About how she reached Maker's End to find it crawling with Eclipse and their tamed machines. And about how she fought her way through the Eclipse camp and even destroyed a Kopesh.
"That's when I got to meet Hades," Aloy said. "Or more accurately, heard him. I picked a focus off of a commander and a red and black mist enveloped me and it spoke in that terrible voice. Here, have a listen."
John sits there as the image of Hades is sent into his focus. He watches and shudders.
"What a horrible voice?! What happened to it?! But of course you'll be able to tell me that, right?"
"Yes," Aloy said. "After it blew up that focus, I next went into the cave and discovered that door too, which spoke in the same voice for my identiscan; only that this one opened for me and greeted me as Dr. Sobeck."
"Can I say something before you continue?" John asked.
"What is it?"
"You couldn't enter the Eleuthia cradle, but you could enter Faro Automated Solutions."
"Yeah, so?"
"So, you should've been able to enter the Eleuthia cradle in the first place, or be unable to enter Faro Automated Solutions. Either way, all of the facilities that had anything to do with Project: Zero Dawn are interconnected. Meaning if you could enter one of those places, you could enter them all. But oddly, you couldn't enter the Eleuthia cradle."
"Maybe the corruption that affected the Eleuthia cradle was contained there?"
"That's logical. Those places have emergency programs to deal with corruption so that it gets contained at that place. Not only that but any member of Project: Zero Dawn has the right to enter such facilities, but it didn't let me in."
"Maybe it never thought that the Betas and Gammas would be around and purged that list, leaving only the Alphas on it in case of the Lightkeeper Protocol. Anyway, may I continue?"
"Yes by all means."
Aloy continues on about how once inside, the voice told her that she was over three hundred and fifty-five thousand days overdue for her appointment with Ted Faro, then set about exploring the place. She learned about the origins of the Corruptors and Deathbringers and the purpose of the building. About the people who worked there, especially its founder, Ted Faro. Or had as in the case of Doctor Elisabet Sobeck. About climbing all the way up to the top of the building where the office of Ted Faro was located.
"Ted's office had become fully exposed to the outside and had been that way for probably hundreds of years," Aloy said. "The point is that Ted's computer managed to survive intact. It asked me if I wanted to invoke my Alpha privilages to access the data and I agreed. I found three seperate images of Elisabet and Ted's meetings. Here, have a watch."
John picks up the recordings, watching and listening to them intently. Afterwards, he smirks and snickers briefly as he gives a brief shake of his head.
"That . . . That don't surprise me one bit," he mused. "I mean . . . everyone knew that they were Faro's machines, and everyone understood that something had gone wrong with them. Though I am amused at how Dr. Sobeck blackmailed him into bankrolling the project."
"Anyway, to continue," Aloy said. "As I was about to leave, my mysterious helper from when I aided Olin spoke to me again. I got fed up and wanted to see him and he finally revealed himself."
"Describe him. Maybe I met him."
"Bald headed, very dark skin with blue cables running through it. Has a deadly serious demeanour. His name is Sylens."
"Okay. But . . . blue cables running through his skin?"
"It's a Banuk thing. They're a tribe that live to the north of here. Their shamans thread blue cables through their own skin. I helped a group with that artificial intellgence named Cyan."
"Yeah, you did tell me about Cyan."
"I managed to free Cyan and even had a conversation with her."
"What did you free Cyan from?"
"I'll explain that later. Let me continue with my story."
"Sure."
Aloy tells John about how Sylens told her to go to the Grave Hoard that is north of here and at the edge of the Cut, Banuk lands. She tells him about the Eclipse she had to fight off once inside and was confronted by a Kopesh that she also defeated.
"Wow, you really are a one-woman army!" John marveled. "So did you find what you were looking for in there?"
"You bet I did," Aloy verified, then leaned forward. "Here's what I saw of the world."
John picks up the image of Earth, along with those ever growing portions of red to denote the spread of the Faro Swarm.
"It's hard to believe that there's so much of this world," Aloy said with wonder. "But here's the holo recording of Elisabet with your War Chiefs."
John watches the conference that Dr. Sobeck had with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"And next you went to the Orbital Launch Site," John said.
"Actually I had to go somewhere else first," Aloy said.
Aloy tells John about how Sylens told her to go to the marker on her focus map so that he could give her instructions on how to destroy the Eclipse relay network and explains why she needed to destroy it. She explains how she infiltrated the Eclipse base at nightfall and found a dismantled Tallneck that acted as their relay station. Then how she ended up meeting Hades for a second time, but managed to destroy the relay and the whole base went into an uproar. About how she managed to escape with her life and Sylens then contacted her afterwards and she accused him of putting her in danger because he knew that Hades was in there.
"Of course he said that he knew I could overcome it," Aloy said snidely.
"Wait, but if that network was destroyed," John said curiously, "then how was Sylens able to retain contact with you?"
"I think it was because he managed to link his focus up to mine somehow before that happened. I don't really know, but that's the most logical explaination."
"But with the Eclipse network down, you were able to go into Sunfall without Hades seeing you and alerting the Eclipse to you, right?"
"Right. I went into the Orbital Launch Site, but not without problems as the computer had to make a lot of noise to open that door by venting the air out and alerting the Eclipse to my whereabouts. I made my way through the interior, but Eclipse soldiers made it inside and I had to get rid of them. I found General Herres' recording and next Elisabet Sobeck's."
"You don't need to show me their recordings because I already saw them, remember?"
"Yeah, that's right. Afterwards, I went looking for the Alpha Data Registry so that I could clear up the corruption to access the Eleuthia cradle back in the Embrace. I found it and was about to leave when more Eclipse showed up and attacked me, and this time Helis was with them and managed to knock me out."
Aloy goes on to tell John about how she awoke within a cage in the Sun-Ring, stripped of her gear and focus. How Helis was there to taunt her and tell her that he now served the Sun in Shadow. About how he was going to do its will and take back Meridian.
"He next picked up my original focus and crushed it between his fingers." Bitterness in her tone. "And set me down to be prey to machines. But not before revealing that he ordered the Eclipse to attack the Sacred Lands before I could destroy their focus network. I fought them and managed to hold them off, until Sylens showed up with two Striders and three Sawtooths in tow. The Sawtooths attacked the machines and Sylens pulled me up and we rode out of there. We stopped when we were far enough away and he gave me a new focus with all of the information that he downloaded onto it."
"That one right there." As John pointed to the side of Aloy's face.
"Right. Now then. I returned to the Sacred Lands and fought my way through the Eclipse and their machines, which also included corrupted ones such as a Thunderjaw. I helped the Nora fight and kill them all until we were victorious. I went into Mother's Watch where the rest of the Nora were taking refuge, something that doesn't normally happen. It was there that I was able to enter Eleuthia and learned the truth about my existence. Here, have a look."
Aloy shows John. He watches the recordings of the first new humans growing and learning in their environment. Their fusses over not being able to see the real sun; their troubled adolescence; and their inability to enter a certain door that led to a violent confrontation.
"That's where Apollo is located," John noted.
He watches when the first new humans were released from Eleuthia and the reason for it.
"So they ran out of food," John said despondently. "They should've been able to produce their own food by then, but they couldn't and all because something went wrong with the Apollo program." His tone turns to awe. "But that aside, it's amazing that the first new humans learned to survive in the resurrected world and went on to form the tribes of today in North America!"
"Is that the name of this land?" Aloy asked.
"Back then it was, but in the future you new humans will call it by some other name."
"There's something I want to know that I never thought of until now: just how many Eleuthia cradles are out there across the world?"
"Including number nine, there's ten in total."
"It's hard to believe that there are more Eleuthia cradles out there. More people who probably worship them as the All-Mother too. But to continue. When I entered Apollo, I discovered that it was offline. I went further in to an area where I found a message sent by Gaia that she left for Elisabet Sobeck. Here it is."
Aloy shows him Gaia's message. John watches as Gaia explains how three microseconds ago, a signal of unknown origin hacked her databanks and gave sapience to her Subroutines, causing them to act up. How Hades tried to hijack the terraforming system and had to be shackled down, only for Hades to send out a virus to destroy those shackles, and how the now sapient Subroutines escaped to parts unknown. Then how Gaia sent a message to Eleuthia Number Nine to produce a clone of Dr. Sobeck as it knew about the Nora living there so that she may be raised by them.
And finally, how Gaia sent another message to overload Gaia Prime's generators so that it would blow up, preventing Hades from hijacking the terraforming system.
John sat there dumbfounded. "G-Gaia destroyed herself to . . . to save the world?!" His throat tightens as his eyes grow misty from the awe that grows in him. The humility. "G-Gaia . . . l-loved!"
"She did, Jawn," Aloy said empathetically. "She did."
"It also explains your existence: Gaia was trying to correct the terraforming system. And I now understand about Hades. It caused the Derangement."
"No, that was Hephaestus' doing. It had come to consider us humans a threat to its machines and has ordered them to attack us. It had even built new machines such as the Thunderjaw, the Sawtooth, and the Stalker specifically to deal with us."
"Having one Subroutine hostile to humans is bad enough, but another?! But what about the origin of that signal then?"
"So I take it that you don't know either?"
"Absolutely none."
"What does it take to create artificial intelligence, Jawn? And how long?"
"A subroutine is first created, so as to serve as a foundation. Now, it can take several months to create an artificial intelligence. I know that's how long it took Dr. Sobeck to create Gaia."
"So what're your thoughts about that signal then?"
"Let me see if I got this straight: you revealed to me that a signal made all of Gaia's Subroutines fully sapient just like that," snapping his fingers for emphasis. "I'm sorry, Aloy. I have absolutely no idea how that was possible."
"So that signal's always gonna be a mystery then . . . Anyway, once I came back outside, the attitude towards me had changed. People who hated me now accepted me, especially one of the High Matriarchs who despised me from the beginning." Her voice breaking gruffly.
"You sound upset."
"I am! All my life I was spurned and scorned for no reason other than I was born in an unnatural manner! And then they think they can just forget how they treated me?"
"They made a mistake, Aloy. And besides, you must've had allies even before then, right?"
Aloy nods sheepishly. "Teersa, one of the High Matriarchs. She saw my birth as something wonderful and defended me. There was another Nora whom I helped saved when I was a little girl. Teb's his name. Then there was War Chief Sona and her son after I was made a Seeker."
"There, you see now, Aloy? You had friends amongst the Nora, even when most of the others still shunned you."
"Yeah. Now to continue my story."