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Bloodborne belongs to FromSoftware, Horizon Zero Dawn belongs to Guerrilla Games
Chapter 41: Planning Phase
LOG: SUCCESS: Data Uncorrupted
Dr. Joseph Ozark: It worked. Dr. Nichols idea worked. By the stars we have succeeded in what we set out to do! We managed to punch a hole into a higher dimension and the readings… everything is off the charts! There is some sort of energy in this dimension that is wholly alien to our dimension, and if these numbers are anything to go by, it is far more efficient than anything we've ever seen. This energy source appears to be a liquid state of sort and according to our instruments, one ounce of this stuff would out-power the MGEC system for a year. We have no clue what it is, but… this is one of the greatest discoveries of all time. If it weren't the end of the world, our entire team would win Nobel Prizes…
Right… the end of the world…
Our team is sealed into this place, no way in or out. We can't even contact anyone; communications seem to be stalled for the time being. We have enough food in extended storage to last us a while. Assuming proper rationing of supplies, I'd say we have around a decade before starvation sets in. Right now, we're going to be testing, poking and prodding this higher dimension to see if there is anything of value in there. Perhaps… if we learn enough we might be able to escape to it.
Wouldn't that be a sight to see?
…/…
The GAIA projection room had been fully redone into a meeting room free from prying eyes. At least, that is what Cyrus thought. Though the room was still bathed in a pale blue light, the walls were covered in red markings. Runes of all sorts. Anything and everything that could be used to keep out Eldritch beings was covering the walls. A single room where no Eldritch deity could invade, except Mergo.
Varl was the last to arrive. He was glancing back at the door as it closed.
"So… does anyone want to tell us why there is a second Aloy here?" Varl asked.
"I helped Cyrus find her." Mergo answered.
"We gathered that." Erend deadpanned. "I think a better question is why?"
"She's the Zenith's key to GAIA." Cyrus answered. "We have her, they can't take the other subordinate functions without her."
"How do we know she isn't being tracked?" Aloy asked.
"There's always a chance of that." Cyrus said. "But given as to how little care they seemed to show her back at the HADES proving ground, I think we'll be fine."
"So… we're just going to leave her there?" Varl asked.
"What else can we do? She was rather crestfallen once she found out how far we are in rebuilding GAIA." Cyrus explained. "I imagine she thought we were farther along than we actually are."
"Why would she think that?" Zo asked.
"She thought we still had APOLLO here on Earth." Cyrus explained.
"The Zeniths have an APOLLO copy?" Aloy asked.
"That's what she said." Cyrus explained.
"It would make sense…" Mergo interjected. "Zero Dawn and Far Zenith did make an exchange for the APOLLO subordinate program. I imagine that they made such an exchange before Far Zenith attempted to steal a copy of the GAIA core."
"So… we just steal APOLLO from them?" Erend questioned.
"That is an option now, but we have more pressing issues to deal with." Mergo answered.
"What sort of issues?" Aloy asked.
Mergo's hologram moved slightly to the side. A hologram of the mechanical Winter Lanterns appeared next to her.
"HEPHAESTUS." Mergo replied.
"It would seem that his designs for more Eldritch machines have entered the active testing phase." Cyrus explained. "Beta and I were ambushed by a hoard of these False Lanterns at the Frostburn cryogenics facility."
"I didn't see any of these machines while retrieving POSEIDON." Aloy said.
"We haven't seen any either." Zo added.
"If that's the case, I think he's using me as a test of sorts for his new machines." Cyrus responded.
"Why you?" Erend asked.
"I can think of a few reasons." Cyrus began. "I am the only one of us is has any grounding in the Eldritch world of the past. He probably wants to see how I react compared to them."
"Beyond that." Mergo interrupted. "Cyrus is the biggest threat to HEPHAESTUS right now. As he delves deeper into the Eldritch knowledge, he's going to learn more and more about what a Hunter is and what exactly Cyrus has been known to do."
"What would those say that make Cyrus the biggest threat?" Varl questioned.
"For lack of a better term, god slaying." Cyrus replied.
"Ah. And since HEPHAESTUS is basically trying to become a god, that would make you a bigger threat than most." Erend concluded.
"Exactly." Cyrus said.
"Actually, that's not even the biggest problem with HEPHAESTUS right now." Mergo said.
"Let me guess, we need a way to capture him?" Aloy said.
"And that is the problem." Mergo confirmed. "I can locate him easily enough. Just like I was able to locate the other subordinate functions."
"I thought you said he was in the Cauldron network." Varl said.
"He is. And that's exactly the problem. Every other subordinate function has retreated to a server, core, or other system that would allow them to continue operating under their prime directive. Hence why DEMETER was reversing the biomass refueling system at the lab that created it, MINERVA was here, transmitting a distress signal, and HADES was in the core of a HORUS Titan." Mergo explained.
"And why HEPHAESTUS is in the Cauldron network." Aloy said. "It's so he can keep building machines to stabilize the biosphere."
"That was his directive, yes." Mergo said. "However, with his growing sentience, I believe he is going to be ignoring that directive more and more as time moves forward."
"I assume you have an idea of how to capture him?" Cyrus asked.
"I have two, but they're both a bit risky." Mergo admitted. "The first one is to crash the entire Cauldron network."
"Like what I did to the Eclipse?" Aloy asked.
"More or less." Mergo said. "Theoretically, it would force HEPHAESTUS to consolidate himself into a single Cauldron and defend it from the outage. Unfortunately, I built a multitude of fail safes into the network in case it did go down. The outage would be short, at best. It should still force him into a single Cauldron core… however, we'd have no idea which Cauldron he'd flee to…"
"And even if we did, then he'd escape into the network again by the time we reached him." Cyrus added.
"Exactly." Mergo said.
"Alright, shelve that plan. What's the other one?" Cyrus asked.
"Trap him in one Cauldron that we disconnect from the network as a whole and retrieve him from that core." Mergo said.
"That sounds too easy." Varl said.
"Probably because it isn't that easy." Aloy replied.
"It's not." Mergo admitted. "Every Cauldron on the planet is clustered into small branches of the network. For each cluster, only a single Cauldron in the region is actually connected to Cauldron Olympus."
"Cauldron Olympus?" Erend asked.
"The first Cauldron I ever made, and the central hub of the entire Cauldron network." Mergo explained. "Anyways, HEPHAESTUS is not omni-present in the Cauldron network. I've been monitoring him where I can, and I have found that he has been uploading blueprints for new machines to Olympus. I've also learned that he can only be in a single Cauldron network branch at a time."
"So… if we lure him into a specific branch we can trap him in it." Varl clarified.
"Exactly." Mergo said. "We could lure him into the branch that covers this region, assuming Aloy hasn't overridden any of the Cauldrons yet."
"I've had more important things to deal with." Aloy replied.
"Perfect." Mergo said. "Then for this plan to work, we need, AETHER, four more overrides, one more person, and a clearance level higher than Alpha Prime."
"What? Why?" Varl asked.
"There are five cauldrons on this branch. We are one person short, and Aloy is the only person with a means of overriding the cores." Mergo said.
"But we have five people in here right now." Varl said. "Six if you count Beta."
"I think Mergo is implying that we need a combatant. No offense to Zo or Beta." Cyrus said.
"None taken." Zo replied.
"Why would we need a combatant?" Erend asked.
"Cauldrons are massive structures crawling with machines. And a larger, more powerful machine is usually guarding the Cauldron core." Aloy explained.
"Ok, that makes sense. But why do we need a higher clearance level?" Erend asked.
"I… don't know. Would Omicron work?" Aloy asked, looking to Cyrus.
"Unlikely," Cyrus responded.
"No, Omicron wouldn't work." Mergo explained. "And we need a higher level because HEPHAESTUS at this point will have taken into account your existence and added defenses against Alpha Prime clearance. The only clearance that he would be unable to defend against would Omega clearance."
"So, we have to find Faro's tomb." Cyrus sighed.
"Yep." Mergo smiled. "I'll start working on locating Thebes for you."
"Wait, I thought you said you killed Faro?" Aloy said turning to Cyrus.
"I did." Cyrus answered. "The Moon Presence summoned me to his location through the same power that runs through the Lanterns and the Bells. I never saw where his bunker is above ground. Only the inside of Thebes."
Aloy nodded as she turned to Varl.
"Alright. You three are going to go override hunting." Aloy said.
She flipped her spear around and removed the SCARAB override device. She tossed it to the man.
"Find destroyed SCARAB units and scavenge these from within. Cyrus and I are going to go after AETHER. Mergo, you keep an eye on Beta and find Thebes for us. We'll continue forward from there."
"Well then." Cyrus said, as he bowed towards the door. "After you, captain."
Aloy rolled her eyes as she exited the room. Varl, Erend, Zo, and Cyrus all followed after her. Mergo just watched them go.
The great one smiled to herself as she began set a small portion of herself to begin hunting for Thebes. The majority of herself returned to what she was doing prior to the meeting. New instructions were added to the GAIA core.
ERROR-DATA_CORRUPTION-BEGIN_FILE_RECOVERY…/…
Data Log TEH-041
Thank you to all who read this, your feedback and views are much appreciated, and thank you for sticking with me.
Goodbye viewer; Fare thee well.
End Log S.T.K.