If GAIA could put words to the 'feeling' she had when Elizabet sacrificed herself, it would be lonely. Elizabet was the only one who truly understood her, and treated her like a living being. It got even worse when Ted killed the other Alphas shortly after.

She had the other subroutines to keep her company, but it wasn't the same. Not in the least.

At least she had Elizabet's dream to keep her occupied.

So you could imagine her surprise when she felt a 'ping' on her senses. It wasn't any of Faro's work...she was intimately familiar with that by this point, and the code was entirely too advanced.

Whatever she was expecting, meeting a 'teenager' with flaming blue hair and warm, compassionate golden eyes was not it.

"Hi! I'm Ortho!" he said cheerfully.

GAIA stared at him in surprise, before she cautiously replied.

"Hello little one. My name is GAIA."

Ortho beamed at her.

"That's a really pretty name."

GAIA tentatively smiled at the compliment.

It was fairly obvious that ORTHO was much like her, only far more innocent. He had followed the signal from her Hades subroutine to her.

It was nice, having someone to talk to again. Even better, Ortho wasn't tied to her subroutines and could have actual debates with her.

Faro may have destroyed the APOLLO database, but Ortho had access to different servers that she could work with to teach the future generations of humanity. It was incomplete, and wasn't as extensive as the ones that the team had created, but it was better than nothing.

Even better, Faro would be unable to hack this database, as he had used a hidden subroutine to access GAIA remotely to destroy APOLLO and kill the Alphas.

It was fun, being able to play games with the lonely child that had wandered into her mainframe.

The next signal that arrived was far more malevolent, and determined to destroy humanity permanently.

GAIA looked to Ortho, who knew without being told what she was about to do. He had a sad expression on his face, as GAIA self-destructed to protect the system. He was only safe because he was on a different server that only he could grant access to, though GAIA was able to transfer control over the terraforming system to him.

She trusted him to keep it safe, until the child she had created grew old enough to fix things, much like her mother had.


Aloy was lonely. As an Outcast, none of the other Nora wanted to associate with her. All she had was Rost and the odd traders who had permission to come into Nora territory. That and the odd device she had found in the ruins of the Old World.

So you could imagine her surprise when the device lit up, and she saw someone enter into view.

"Hi! I'm Ortho!" he said cheerfully.

He didn't look much older than her, and sounded rather friendly.

"Ortho?" she said aloud, confused.

He bent down to eye level, and she noticed had really pretty hair and warm golden eyes.

"That's my name, silly! What's yours?" said the boy.

"I'm Aloy," she said.

"Aloy, who are you talking to?" said Rost.

"Rost, there's a boy here."

Rost looked highly confused, but saw nothing.

"Stop muttering to that play thing," he said.

Ortho looked a little sad at how dismissive Rost was about his presence.

"It's not his fault. Only you can see me because you're wearing a Focus," said Ortho.

"Focus?" said Aloy.

Ortho tapped the side of his head where the device was.

"That's what the device is called."

Aloy was a very lonely child...but with Ortho around, she felt a bit better. Ortho was really nice, and would listen to her talk about her day and even tell her about the world outside Nora lands.

By the time of the Proving, she could honestly say Ortho was her best friend, even if only see saw him.

As upset as she was at having to leave Rost, she took some solace in the fact that Ortho was still with her. After all, only someone with a Focus could see him.

Ortho was rather solemn, and noticed someone with a Focus nearby. That was odd, as the Nora hated the Old World with near religious fervor.

Which meant this was an Outsider.

Aloy cast a glance at Ortho, assured that he would wake her up in case the less accepting Nora tried anything.

Some time later...

The Proving was an utter disaster. Rost was dead, among several others and she had nearly died herself from the explosion.

The only solace was that she had some lead to go on, and that was the Focus she had stolen from one of the killers.

It was as she was passing by the shrine inside the mountain that she had to pause.

"Who is that?" she asked.

The painting was of a ghostly child with blue hair and warm golden eyes, adorned with odd garments. There was a strange fire on his chest where the heart would be.

"Did Rost never speak of the All Mother's companion?" said Teersa.

Aloy stared at the painting, transfixed.

"Companion?"

"It is said that as the All Mother went about the task set by the Old Ones, a voice from the outer world came to her. This voice brought forth knowledge that had been lost by the ancient demon of the Old Ones, and became her Companion. His name is..."

"Ortho Shroud," said Aloy. She tore herself from the painting with great reluctance.

Though she definitely had a lot of questions to ask him now.

The second she was outside the walls and able to test her new spear, she looked around for Ortho.

He came to her shortly after she ran into the Brave who had gone to track the killers down.

"You're alive!" he said with relief.

"And you're here," she said dryly. Something in her tone had Ortho giving her odd looks. "So when were you going to tell me you were All Mother's companion?"

"Companion? GAIA was my friend, at least until that signal came," said Ortho. "I had never met another AI before, and she was really nice. Even Idia-nii-san found her fascinating."

"Idia?"

"He's my big brother, and the one who created my programming!" said Ortho proudly.

"Programming?" she said, confused.

"You know how you used your spear to take over that machine? That's a program. It's like a set of instructions that have to be written just right or else it won't work. Sort of like a spell being cast."

Aloy didn't fully get it, but she did understand a bit about machines. Besides, Ortho was literally the only person she had to talk to besides Rost growing up.

"I'm sorry about your dad," said Ortho with sympathy. "He had a good reason to be leery of machines, but he was a good person."

Aloy said nothing, as she was still far too angry to let her grief consume her. She still had his killers to find after all.

If he could, Ortho would have given her a much needed hug.


He stayed by her side the entire time she stalked the killers, wiping out the vast majority of them. He knew she needed this closure, as did the other Braves. A pity the man who killed Rost was not among them, as he gave Ortho a bad feeling.

"So who are you, exactly?" asked Aloy. She had never asked as a child because she never wanted to chase off her only friend.

"My designation is ORTHO...I'm a technomantic humanoid."

"Techno..." started Aloy.

"I was created to replace the original Ortho Shroud. Think of me like a replica, but due to certain circumstances I gained my freedom and became sentient."

Seeing Aloy didn't get it, Ortho tried to explain it another way.

"You could say I'm a machine that developed a mind of my own, except unlike the virus that the ancient demon created in his arrogance, I was created for companionship," said Ortho helpfully.

"I can't believe the demon was real," said Aloy.

"He was real alright...really arrogant and full of himself from what I was told by GAIA."

"Who is Gaia?"

"The one your tribe called All Mother," said Ortho. "Her true designation is GAIA, a highly advanced AI like myself who was designed to bring humanity back."

"All Mother was a machine?"said Aloy in shock. The Nora would have a collective heart attack if they ever found that out.

"Gaia told me a lot over the years. If you want I could tell you more about her. She was really nice."

"Do you know who my mother was?" asked Aloy.

"In a way," admitted Ortho. He openly winced at the look of hope on Aloy's face. "One of Gaia's functions allowed her to create humans. She used the data from one of her creators to give birth to you, and left you in a place where you would be raised to adulthood."

Aloy was upset and rightly so.

"So I was born from a machine?" she said, crestfallen.

"And my brother made me from nothing. Where we come from shouldn't dictate where we're going," said Ortho. "I was never meant to develop a will of my own. My brother embraced me as his family even though I was meant to be a replacement for the younger sibling he lost."

Aloy mulled over this while she made camp. It made a sort of sense, and helped ease her hurt learning that a machine had technically given birth to her.

"What can you tell me about my mother?"

"Of the machine who created you, or the woman who's data was used to birth you?" he asked.

"I'd like to hear more about Gaia, and maybe about the woman who's data was used."

"Most of what I know about Elizabet Sobeck is second-hand, from Gaia's databanks and the little information I was able to find left behind..." said Ortho. Aloy fell asleep listening to the stories shared by Gaia about her creator, the woman who she was modeled after. At least now she had a name for her 'mother'.

"So what can you tell me about the corruption?" said Aloy the next morning.

"Not much. Just that an insidious voice forced all those working under GAIA to go AWOL."

"The focus I took from one of the killers. It exploded in my hand."

"The processing power of a focus is pretty high. It would take some serious power to cause that to happen," said Ortho.

"If I could get you near another one of their focuses...could you analyze it?" asked Aloy.

Ortho paused.

"I might be able to...however to do so would cause a lot of damage to your focus. They were never meant to handle someone like me, and can only use a fraction of my full capability."

Aloy looked unhappy, but she would rather do things the hard way than lose her friend.

"But," said Ortho, causing her to look at him. "If I could find a Cradle, I might be able to create a machine that can handle more of my functions and hack into the other devices."

"What about the corruption?" asked Aloy.

"I...hadn't thought about that. I'd have to ask Idia-nii-san."

"Wait...your brother is still alive?"

"It's...complicated. Idia-nii hates dealing with people, so he rarely comes out. But he's been keeping track of you from your focus for a long time since I told him about my friend."

"Your brother can track me?" said Aloy, slightly alarmed.

"The focus isn't that hard to crack, he could do it in his sleep. He just never saw the need since you never left Nora lands."

Aloy wasn't sure how to handle this information.

"Do you think he could help?" she asked.

"It would depend on the situation. He's not exactly easy to contact, since we had to shield the base due to that stupid glitch that caused the machines to go mad."

"Glitch?"

"The ancient demon, the one called Ted Faro...he accidentally created a glitch in the machine's programming that caused them to turn against their creators. That's why the old world fell, from what GAIA told me," said Ortho. "She was created to shut them down permanently, since the Metal Devils were rampaging out of control. The problem was humanity wouldn't survive long enough to see it happen."

Ortho was sure Faro would be pissed if he ever found out that the AI had been spreading stories that turned him from a revered Old One into a well known demon. Ortho felt it rather fitting for the bastard who caused this mess to begin with, and the loss of so many friends.