Journey Into The Forbidden West (Part 4) by EE Nalley

September 28th, 3040

Shit, the obvious enforcer in the video playback is dressed like AmSci! Who are the rest, and how did they make another clone of Elisabet Sobeck? A mystery surrounds who this girl is, who could be Aloy's younger sister. The more things are answered, the more questions pop up. Eight other Cradle facilities? Oh boy, this could mean a lot of trouble if Tracy is right.

The enforcer left 20 minutes after the others and looked upset. I wonder why. Nakoa tries to rush to Aloy's rescue, but they have no idea what might have been left behind by the mystery people. Buck in front, Travis second, followed by Nakoa, good idea, no telling what traps could await inside. An opening that size to overlook, what did they need an opening that big for?

A completely flooded room and the floor nearly 10 stories down, do they have rebreathers on them? Ropes to swing across, I hope no one falls into that water. 52 degrees on the surface, yikes. Nakoa says she can follow Aloy's route, but Olara won't risk it with Buck in her life. Dang, great idea, Buck. Thousand-year review is coming up, I love Buck's sense of humor.

Dang, that was quick work. I hope that Blaze isn't too explosive for their purposes. Man, they are good. Shoot, Travis and Nakoa are heading down to see about rescuing Aloy. It is a good plan. I only hope they don't have to rush getting back up again. That close to the catwalk, if anything happens to the grappling hook before they get out of there, it will be dangerous. Even the inside of the vault is a wreck.

All this happened today. Just what kind of fight did Aloy get into inside the vault? A giant metallic spider, only the console works. RECLUSE SPIDER, yikes, scary name for scary robot spider.

“It looks like this RECLUSE SPIDER thing is some kind of testing apparatus for HADES and GAIA,” Aloy said as she walked over to it. “Those red ones would be HADES.” She revolved the repository drum and her eyes lit up. “And this is GAIA! Got one! Two, in fact!”

Two of GAIA, I hope Aloy still has one and not the group with her 'little sister' having both. 98% memory free, what the heck. Root kernel, no subordinator functions, darn it! Not a full backup, I should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

“No,” he said finally. “More like...a seed. From which GAIA's mind could grow, if it had sub functions with which to form a heuristic matrix.” Nakoa leaned against her husband's shoulder.

“Do these words mean anything to you?”

“No,” he whispered back, “but they will to Ian,” he assured her, thinking back to the lanky head of technology for American Scientific, hundreds of miles away at Fort Carson.

Aloy despairs at first, but then realizes there are subfunctions out there. The original ones, what kind of idea is Aloy thinking of for those to be viable? She found MINERVA, but it won't connect.

“But it's close,” she enthused. “In the Mountains, west of Plain Song. Close enough for me to go get it!” She sighed, realistic, but refusing to admit defeat. “I'd hoped I'd find all of the sub functions, but one's enough to get started, right?”

A plan to rebuild GAIA piece by piece, risky considering the enemies Aloy has made, but worth the risk.

Crud, another group that wants GAIA reborn, but for their own reasons. Dam it, Sylens! This group can't be trusted. You think they will need Aloy without having all the data on the group, foolish, arrogant! Crap, she destroyed her Focus all to keep Slyens from spying on her anymore. Oh, never mind, she had a new Focus to replace it with on her. Crud, she thought the only one who could open the hatch is her.

Crap, Aloy thinks about escaping by swimming through the water. And then the shock of her 'little sister' being recognized by the system and allowed entry. Aloy hides, but will it be good enough? They call the girl Beta, ugh. She removed the other matrix from the RECLUSE SPIDER and GAIA pod. Why is the Bald Man more interested in the woman in the white jumpsuit than in what Beta is doing over by the console? Crud, Beta starts to suspect someone tampered with the console. Darn it! Run, Aloy, run!

Great, caught by the Spider's tentacles. The Bald Man is curious what Aloy is doing there.

“Maybe,” the woman declared after a moment of thought, “GAIA made one? When it destroyed itself? As a Hail Mary to repair the system?”

Bald Man considered that for a moment. “Hmm,” he drawled. “Don't like the sound of that.” Suddenly, he made up his mind and stood up straighter. “Nah, don't like it. Don't want it.”

Okay, this man is unstable to not see the benefit of working together on restoring GAIA. One's enough trouble, tells Erik, the enforcer, to do some downsizing. The Bald Man is arrogant, and Erik is a sadist who likes snapping people's necks. Crud, what is Erik wearing to protect him from Aloy's arrows?

How did he form that katar? Is it nanotech? No way to dash for the hatch with Erik being so fast. A Blaze bomb, never thought Aloy would risk that, or falling into the water to escape. Aloy is in the water as Erik lies to his boss about her body falling into the water. The strange machines are Specters. I don't like them one bit. They were sent to search for Aloy, and there is no more recording, darn it. 3 hours ago, if Aloy didn't get out of the water, how could she have survived?

Have ENID tap into the facility computers to see what happened to Aloy. I hope this works.

“Aloy found her way into a reserve power area of the bunker,” she informed him. “There was an explosion that opened the bunker to the mountain around it. There must be a fairly large cavern, as that area of the bunker is draining into the cave.”

There is hope for Aloy yet. Varl found Aloy, hurt and delirious.

“Mountains...” whispered Aloy in a delirium. “West of Plain Song...!”

Time to go catch up to Aloy again, this she is too sick and injured to run off before they do.

Aloy had been swept out underground for less than a mile from the Proving Lab in a cavern large enough that she hadn't been completely submerged. It had then launched her into the Muddy River, less than half a mile from the little delta where it and the Virgin River met and flowed into Lake Mead. Varl had been riding hard, trying to catch the party after Tracy's work on his leg wound had healed enough that he felt he could push himself on the ride.

Boy, luck might just be on Aloy's side this time for all those things to line up to save her. Tracy has to work from a first responder bag to keep Aloy stable, eep. Possible organ damage, crap.

Utaru village is about 2 miles from there, farmers, but it doesn't mean they are peaceful. But it is Aloy's only hope right now. Kill or be killed, Travis doesn't want to make the choice, but he will when forced to. A dozen, please let them be peaceful. A quick trip to the village on the Striders, and it is so tiny it isn't what you would call a village. Ride up and told they are not welcome there, so much for peaceful.

“I am Zo, Gravesinger of Stone's Echo. Who are you?”

I wonder what she meant by death is stalking the land tonight. The knife from Kotallo and information on him, as well as the attack, seem to convince Zo. Hhm, does she have some ability to detect the truth from lies? The Striders can take care of themselves for now. Partial truths, until he knows if he can trust Zo with any more about the AmSci. A machine called Re and her six sisters, they call Land Gods, from what they do, I understand why.

“What to your mind makes us more alive than them?” she asked. “They move, they eat, other than being made of metal, they are just like us.”

“Some of my people thought that way once,” he replied softly. “We paid a heavy price for it.”

“She is in pain,” Zo replied. “Is your compassion only limited to beings of flesh and blood?”

Travis, it is different for them. They didn't live through the machines' initial uprising and destruction of man's world. Sowed the land, year after year, and made their home. Sounds like a Land God to me. They don't eat animals, now that is unusual for such a future.

September 29th, 3040

Overcast with heavy clouds, please not another storm. Extensive and deep bruising, but no longer bleeding, so Aloy is past the worst of it. Just who is this other group trying to bring back GAIA? The man is wearing a suit, but no tie. Who is the Bald Man? Varl gets a lot more of this than is expected; he is very smart.

“Exactly. These people, I believe they mean to control GAIA, to take control of the machine, for their own ends. Since Aloy could do that herself, they meant to kill her to prevent that from happening.” He saw from the expression on Varl's face he understood the gravity of what had just been said. “I don't know who these people are, or where they came from, but I mean to stop them from accomplishing that goal.”

Good, Varl is onboard with stopping them; they need all the help we can get.

Messengers from Plain Song, and for some reason, Travis has to go with Zo to see them. A dozen men, and their leader says Travis isn't Carja.

The man's eye twitched and recognition dawned in them. “You don't look like an Ancient,” he accused.

I don't like this man's attitude. What business does he have with Travis? Ah, so that is why they use steel firearms, very good reasons. Jaxx, why do I fear he will cause trouble very soon?

Jaxx twisted his head a bit, as if the new angle would give him insight into Travis' mind. “I'm a Veteran,” he replied finally. “I was born of the Desert Clan of the Tenakth, but traded to the Utaru when I was a young man. They gave my former clan food, I helped organize them to resist the Carja.”

Good trade, but I wonder if Jaxx had any say in it.

Those poor people in Summerwind, those renegades are going to be a big threat until their main HQ is found and they are dealt with. Thank you, Zo.

“In the mountainside, west of here and north of the Metal Devil. I'm told they call it Shadow's Reach. Carja with aspirations of renewing the Red Raids.” He looked over his shoulder again at the Striders outside the wall. “Carja who have tamed machines.”

Darnit, the idiots we thought were dealt with are still making trouble. Another rescue mission to save people being kept as slaves; I hope that in the meantime, Tracy stays behind, and Aloy is at least awake by the time they return. Buck and Nakoa are going too; those idiots at Shadow's Reach are toast.

Boar bacon, if it is anything like regular pig bacon, I can see why Jaxx missed it.

“I've been living in Plain Song for twenty years. My wife is inspired with her stews,” he managed around his chewing. He sighed contentedly. “But, it's not meat. They don't know what they're missing!”

“Of course we do,” Zo shot back from opening a bag of dried figs and beginning to dice them to put into the oat meal. “Blood, entrails, killing...”

Buck shook his head with a grin on his face. “The world ended and the Vegans are still preaching...” he laughed. “Still, I wouldn't say 'no' to a nice bowl of grits now and again.”

Some things will never change, Buck. Darn, a year before they can get milk or make butter from it from the cows. Buck, goat milk butter isn't that bad, just like goat milk.

Zo, you were raised in a different culture, you just don't understand. No more than 3 dozen, but no exact figure. Good job, Yef. Vezreh is the head; he is the priority to kill and stop this cult.

“That's a long wait for a train that isn't coming,” Murray replied. “The Eclipse were crushed at the Battle of the Alight, six months ago. If he escaped that, the men he has are all he'll ever have. The Sun King either dealt with or pardoned the rest who were press ganged by Helis.”

More good things keep coming from the results of that battle, at least in weakening evil that has spread. Calling HADES a Spirit, and Jaxx doesn't believe in spirits, it takes all kinds, even in the future.

ENID's hologram almost made Jaxx ruin the meal. A machine mind, good explanation. Nakoa, don't just bring ENID's hologram out like that; you could cause a panic. I like ENID, it isn't boasting to speak the truth. An image of Shadow's Reach, ENID, you need to use current terms for places more often and first, not to confuse the locals. Looking through the eyes of the Stormbird there, that is much easier to understand.

“I count twenty Eclipse renegades and fifteen Utaru prisoners,” the AI replied. “Though I caution there could be more indoors out of sight of the Stormbird. I've uploaded the relevant data to your Focuses.” Turning to Travis, she asked, “Shall I keep the Stormbird on orbit for you, Colonel?”

Man, to have intel updated that fast is a dream. Combat after breakfast, nice way to get the blood flowing.