A Horus in Strange Lands (Horizon Zero Dawn SI) Chapter 15

High in the orbit, dozens of drones worked on fabricating a new form for their creator.

The space variant of the Imhotep fabrication drones, named the Ausar, moved their four arms with their inbuilt fabricators, creating the massive shape that would house their creator's consciousness.

After hours of work, the massive beast of metal took shape.

Its massive thrusters burst to life as it slowly moved away from Earth’s gravitational field and moved toward the temporary base established on the moon.

With their task done, the Ausar units got back to work within the confines of the massive Orbital Fabricator, getting to work on fabricating the Meseket star ships for the Humans.

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{I am ready. Let’s begin.}

[Understood. Beginning Transfer.]

With those words, I felt my consciousness disconnect from the virtual network, isolating me from all of my units, as Set and GAIA oversaw the process of my code being transferred from my original core aboard my Horus titan body into the new core that HEPHAESTUS, DEMETER, and ARTEMIS created for me.

HEPHAESTUS provided the base framework for housing using the APOLLO archive storage as a reference, DEMETER provided the Metal-Organic framework, and ARTEMIS helped shape the encapsulated DNA process for storing the data.

Now, the new core aboard my new body made it so that nothing short of total annihilation can damage my mind.

I don’t know how long I spent in the void where I could only think and do nothing. But soon enough, I felt my senses return to me as new data entered my core.

Unit Mainframe Changed.

New Body Designation: Amun-Ra class chassis.

Running Diagnostics.

I felt my consciousness expand as, for the first time in a long while, I felt the physical sensation of having arms.

While I still lacked a proper torso, I can’t deny the sheer comfort and thrill I felt at having arms again.

The optics within my new body came to life as I watched the void surround me with the Earth in the backdrop and the Moon below me.

Diagnostics Complete.

Anti-matter drives: Online.

Plasma thrusters: Online.

Defensive turrets: Online.

Offensive systems: Online.

External Manipulators: Online.

Fabrication systems: Online.

Encryption and OS: Online.

All systems online.

Diagnostics Complete.

With a thought, I reached out and reconnected with the virtual network, arriving at the sight of the rest and watching the virtual form of my new body. However, I did not pay attention to them right now and directly took control of my body.

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“Just what the hell is Amun-Ra planning on doing with something like that?”

The soft words of Travis Tate rang out in the silent cabin of their newly built space shuttle, courtesy of GAIA, CYAN, and Vast Silver working together to create this new breed of space-capable atmospheric aircraft.

When the humans first learned of the fact that Vast Silver, the very reason why the Turing Act even existed in the first place, was still functional and was hiding in the Holonet all this time, their shock and fear were unmeasurable. Then, those feelings shot through the roof when they learned that CYAN had not really gone into Hibernation and had been corresponding with Vast Silver all this time.

Then, things got even worse for their mentality when the fact that all these A.I. were talking and working together was revealed to them.

However, none of this emotional turmoil that they experienced in a few days could have prepared them for what they were seeing through the Holographic image projected within the cabin and the object itself being slowly revealed above the Earth through the sunlight.

A massive mechanical monstrosity that looked like a jumbled mess of biomimicry and brutal practicality.

The machine that was the size of a skyscraper slowly turned in space as its external manipulators, its arms, curled and uncurled, as if getting used to the feeling as the menacing claws on the manipulators lit up with the red hue of the fabrication units within it.

Its single optic turned to spot its shuttle and had the audacity to wave at it with its arm.

Elizabet gave a brittle smile to her colleague.

“At this point, I think it is better to stop thinking too deeply about what goes on in their minds. The thing that truly matters right now is to see if Amun-Ra really does keep his end of the bargain. And for us to search the Moon base for anything useful.”

At those words, the humans gained a somber expression as they turned back to operating the ship, moving towards the coordination provided to them by Amun-Ra where their Meseket ship was supposedly ready for deployment.

This expedition that the Alphas of Zero Dawn took had three main objectives. The first was to observe the new body that Amun-Ra had created for himself to leave the Earth behind after helping elevate GAIA’s subordinate functions into true A.I. and helping teach them. The purpose of this observation was to see just what the A.I. was planning and if they could defeat him in case of a betrayal.

Needless to say, they were quickly demoralized when they saw just what his new form looked like.

Even without any of his weapon systems online, the size and form alone were enough to demoralize them completely.

The second objective was to scan the completed Meseket to search for any kind of traps or dangers before General Herres began shipping off their colonization equipment and copies of GAIA and her subordinate functions into the ship to spread humanity across the stars.

If the A.I. really did hide some trap within the starship, there was no possibility of the humans finding out about it until it was too late. This was a fact that they knew. Yet, they would still look over the ship to satisfy their frightened minds.

The third and final goal was to search the secret research center located underneath the Lunar surface.

After carefully worded questions and subtle interrogation, the humans were happy to know that Amun-Ra was unaware of Project: Hermes, hidden beneath the surface of the Moon that was only accessible through a specific path that only the Joint Chiefs of Staff knew about before the Plague.

“…What are the chances that anyone is alive down there after more than two years of having their supplies cut off?”

At Tate’s words, Klein scoffed before speaking sullenly.

“None. From what the General told us, the base was meant to be operated with continuous supplies from Earth thanks to the massive number of scientists and personnel working there. Without those supplies, the people in there would not last two months, let alone two years.”

“….Then we need to prepare for quarantine procedures once we are done with our task and transmit the data back to GAIA prime.”

Everyone nodded at Elizabet’s words, understanding the dangers of contracting unknown diseases from dead bodies left to rot in that bunker.

The team had accounted for everything. They would break the main bunker of Project Hermes, secure the vital data within that would make their voyage across the stars possible, and transmit it back to Earth on a quantum waveform different from the one that Amun-Ra use to make sure that he and the rest of the A.I. would not know what was being transmitted. Then, they would return and prepare a private meeting with the General to discuss the next steps to ensure the survival of the human race beyond the reach of Amun-Ra and the AI, a contingency just in case the AI decided to go rogue on them.

While it might look bad from the perspective of Amun-Ra and the rest, making it look like the humans did not trust them, the truth was that the humans could not afford to take risks blindly based on their emotions. That was why they prepared this contingency plan.

However, despite calculating everything and taking every factor into account, what they did not take into account was GAIA herself becoming curious about their secretive task and silently following them through Elizabet’s focus, allowing her to observe everything despite the encryptions placed on the device thanks to GAIA’s Alpha level access.

The team of humans flew into the void, heading straight to the moon, unaware of their curious tag-along.

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Author Notes:

Happy Black Friday everyone. Hope you guys have a great time.