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Elisabet Sobeck: Ok, GAIA. Sorry about that. Where was I?
GAIA: You were telling a story.
Elisabet Sobeck: It was a children's electronics kit, but I'd hacked the wiring to an auto battery and solar PV, so the grass caught fire. And so did a tall pine that'd stood there, I don't know, maybe a hundred years... My mother was home, thank god, so she called the fire department and after, she took me out on the lawn and showed me the dead baby birds. Because there were nests in the pine tree.
GAIA: Query. What did you feel?
Sobeck: I'm not sure. I remember yelling that I didn't care. And that's when my mother took my face in her hands and spoke.
GAIA: Query. What did she say?
Sobeck: She said I had to care. She said, "Elisabet, being smart will count for nothing if you don't make the world better. You have to use your smarts to count for something, to serve life, not death."
GAIA: You often tell stories of your mother. But you are childless.
Sobeck: I never had time. I guess it was for the best.
GAIA: If you had had a child, Elisabet, what would you have wished for him or her?
Sobeck: I guess... I would have wanted her to be... curious. And willful — unstoppable, even... but with enough compassion to... heal the world... just a little bit.
Elisabet Sobeck: Anyway, that's all I've got for now, GAIA. Time to tuck in.
GAIA: I wish you a pleasant sleep, Elisabet.
Elisabet Sobeck: Thank you. I'll catch you tomorrow.
~~
Aloy gazed down at the suit that held her mother’s body as the recording winded to a close. The red head felt a profound sadness, with thoughts flooding to what could have been. What could the world have been, if the Faro Plague never happened? What would the mountains and various landscapes of the world she knew look like? Based on the ruins of the old ones and the vantage points that Aloy had located, she longed to witness the tall buildings and large open metal spaces in their prime, before the land had been wasted away to nothing and then regrown. How would life be? The world hadn’t always been full of nature, and hunting wild animals would have not been in the daily life for Aloy if she had existed in the old world. The old world had felt so full of words, not actions like she was used to, at least not until the very end. They made robots to do things for them, never taking things into their own hands until their lives had depended on it.
Aloy was certain that she would not have belonged. She was not destined to walk amongst the world of metal.
But what could have been was a question that still irked Aloy. If it were not for Ted Faro, then perhaps Aloy would have met her mother in the flesh, rather than holograms. The thought felt… forbidden, in a way, and Aloy shook her head. It was not time to dwell on the past, and what could have been. It was time to stay in the present and look towards the future, in hopes that the world could be at peace again. After Hades and Hephaestus, Aloy knew that there was more out there, both human and machine in the forbidden west that needed her help. For now, Meridian, the Sacred Lands and the Cut were all safe from corrupt sub-functions of GAIA. But there were more out there. Aloy knew that she needed to restore GAIA. By doing this she would keep the world safe, and out of the hands of the Faro Plague robots that nestled underneath the land, waiting to be activated and ruin the world for the second time.
As Aloy looks closer at her mother’s suit, she notices that her mother’s right hand is clenched. Aloy reaches out, loosening the grip that her mother has and sees a small object in Elisabet’s hand. Aloy grabs it carefully, not wanting the object to break, and peers at it closely. It’s a sphere of blue and green, and Aloy is familiar with the shapes on the ball, having seen it on a hologram. This is the world, but so small. Aloy feels a surge of protectiveness over this new object. The world is in the palm of her hands, and she has yet to discover it. But she will, in due time, for the other sub-functions are still out there, waiting to be restored. Aloy looks to the west, past her mother’s childhood home, and to the desert with no end in sight. She then looks back, to her broadhead, its blue lights shining, and Aloy holds the sphere a little tighter in her hand.
She was created by GAIA to heal the world from corruption, and she will do it, no matter what it takes. Aloy will do everything she can to heal the world.
Even if it’s just a little bit.