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Part 2 of rain shadow
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2024-04-07
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Summit

Summary:

"I’m sorry.” Sokorra said, an edge of laughter in her voice. She came around Beta so that her face came back into Beta’s eyeline. “I just didn't expect any family of Aloy's to be so..." Beta saw Sokorra visibly pause over her word choice. "...passive."

Considering that Elisabet and Beta were both computer scientists, which didn't usually include a lot of intense physical activity or violence, Beta would argue that Aloy was actually the odd one out in their weird little family tree.

“Any idiot can hit something with a stick until it stops moving.” Beta said curtly. “After all, if you can do it it can’t be that hard.”

OR

beta bears the weight of the world on her shoulders. sokorra grapples with the fact that she's no longer a constant in her brother's life. neither are handling it well.

Notes:

This is set chronologically after Sunstroke

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Zo delivered the bad news after Beta was already packed up and ready to head back to the RCC.

“I’m sorry Beta, but I can’t leave Plainsong right now.” Zo said tiredly. “I know I usually escort you back, but the Chorus…” The Utaru woman sighed and then ruefully rubbed at her belly. “...and the little one have both been giving me grief lately.”

“Oh.” Beta said. She wasn’t able to modulate her tone, her disappointment bleeding through enough that it added another crease to the worry lines between Zo’s eyes. “N-no I get it!” She hastily corrected, waving her hands in front of her to try and ward off Zo’s guilt. “The, um, Chorus thing. Not the pregnancy thing.” 

Zo gave her a tired little laugh “I should hope not.” 

Beta smiled back at Zo, her grin a little crooked and unpracticed. She slung her bag, already packed, off one shoulder and back onto the floor. “Do you know how long…?”

Zo’s mirth faded. “It seems that every time I look away, new doubt chokes the Chorus like weeds. I’m afraid this particular instance might take me a few days to uproot.”

Beta did her best to conceal the flare of anxiety that Zo’s words ignited. She really couldn’t afford to spend that many days stuck in Plainsong. Perhaps she was only partially successful in hiding how she felt, because Zo frowned sympathetically and said “Maybe our resident veteran can escort you back to base?”

Now Beta really knew that Zo was out of it. She’d told Zo yesterday over dinner that Jaxx and Korreh were going to Riverhymn to have the metalworker there have a look at Korreh’s instrument. Korreh had been full of good cheer at the thought of getting to leave the dishes of Plainsong for the first time since his arrival.

Beta… had mixed feelings about that. She’d at least managed to convince them to take the Charger she’d ridden from the Base with Zo. The two Tenakth had resisted at first, but had eventually folded to Beta’s stubborn insistence.

Still, Beta certainly wasn’t going to tell Zo that, not with her looking already so worn and tired. 

“I’ll go ask him.” Beta said instead.

She ducked out of Zo’s living quarters and into the throng of people that bustled around the dishes of Plainsong in the early morning. She took a moment to marvel at being surrounded by so many people . It wasn’t the bustling metropolis of Meridian (from what Beta could tell from Aloy’s Focus), but Plainsong still held more people than Beta had ever seen in her entire life. It had overwhelmed her at first, but now it was almost enjoyable. In small doses, at least.

After she managed to scrape up the courage to ask, a few Utaru guards posted at the settlement entrance confirmed what Beta already knew: Jaxx and Korreh rode out of Plainsong at dawn and weren’t expected back for more than a week.

Beta chewed on the inside of her lip as she slowly made her way back up the dishes of Plainsong, trying to come up with solutions to her transportation problem. She supposed she could ask if there were any Utaru hunters who could spare the time, but according to Zo the fighting ability of these young hunters wasn’t enough to take on an Apex machine alone. Most of the seasoned Utaru fighters were killed when machines broke through the cordon at the entrance to Repair Bay Tau, and those few who remained were needed where they were.

She kept walking past the area where she and Zo slept, knowing that Zo would likely either be called away again by the Chorus or sleeping, and instead wound her way higher and higher. Eventually she reached one of the highest common areas of Plainsong. There were perhaps a dozen Utaru sharing the space, all of them absorbed in speaking to each other while their hands were busy weaving baskets or dealing with squalling children.  

Beta walked past them, to a vantage point near the edge of the dish that offered an unobstructed view of the mountain that housed the RCC. 

Beta scratched the back of her neck as she stared southwest, thinking. It wasn’t that far, especially if she managed to override a machine or something on the way. She pulled up her Focus interface, glancing at her rangefinder to see exactly how many miles-

“Beta, I would highly advise against traveling to the RCC from Plainsong without an armed escort.” GAIA’s smooth voice cut in.

Beta hardly even blinked at the AI’s voice suddenly sounding across her Focus audio channel. She knew that others at the base preferred if GAIA at least pretended not to be listening and monitoring them over Focus, but Beta was used to everything on her Focus being surveilled. 

She thought it was a little silly to force the AI with almost unlimited multi-tasking capacity into a pretense of privacy- at least GAIA was only keeping tabs on her to keep her safe. Her scrutiny was much more preferable than the security AI that the Zeniths set to periodically sweep Beta’s Focus for any unauthorized media downloads. She kept that opinion to herself, though. 

“I know it’s stupid.” Beta said aloud. She ignored the odd looks she got from the Utaru passing her by. She didn’t care if they gossiped about her talking to no one. The typing interfaces on these Faro Focuses were slow and cumbersome- being seen talking to herself was a small price to pay for efficiency. “It’s just- the base is right there. I can literally see it from here.”

Irritation made its way into her voice, even though it wasn’t truly fair. She enjoyed her trips to Plainsong- they just weren’t entirely voluntary.

With Aloy being pulled between the east and west constantly in order to try and establish the basis of their alliances against NEMESIS, Beta was left alone at the RCC for longer and longer periods of time. She barely counted Sylens, who kept to his own side of the base and whose only communications with her were file share requests sent over the shared RCC network.

That suited her fine, as long as Aloy called every once in a while. That way she could focus on her work without constant interruptions. When she’d expressed as much to GAIA, the AI had objected to her categorization of biological necessities like ‘sleep’ and ‘food’ and ‘social interaction’ as interruptions.

It was only after Beta spent a solid six weeks working to the point of collapse that GAIA dragged Zo and Aloy into some sort of intervention. Between Aloy’s worry (a new and potent emotion to receive, even over holocall) and Zo’s artful application of guilt, Beta buckled under their demands. 

She was required now to leave the base at least once a month and spend some time outside, around people who weren’t holograms or, worse, Sylens.

“You need to feel the breeze and touch the grass.” Zo had said, the first time the two of them had walked down the mountain side together.. “Is that not why you escaped from the Zeniths in the first place?” 

Beta had opened her mouth to say something like ‘No, I escaped so I wouldn’t be complicit in the destruction of Elisabet Sobecks legacy- what does grass have to do with anything?’ but she caught Zo’s uncompromising stare and kept her mouth shut.

GAIA, the traitor, backed Zo up by pointing out that Beta tended to be 15-17% more productive in the week following a day spent outside of the RCC. GAIA was difficult to argue with at the best of times, let alone when her points were followed up with hard data. She also had no compunctions about locking Beta out of her workstation if her logged work hours started to stack up.

On one-hand, Beta was touched. What a strange, new feeling to have people who cared about her well-being separate from her productivity. On the other hand, Beta now had to ruthlessly schedule every minute of her required R&R time against her task queue to ensure the sub-function was completed before the biosphere collapsed and everyone died in the resultant ecological failure cascade.

Beta didn’t believe in the Christian god, but being stuck in Plainsong while her project projections spiraled out of control made her rethink her stance on the existence of hell. With the sub-function alpha only half built, Beta was agonizingly aware of the time quickly slipping away from her. Unlike Aloy, who was learning the value of gathering allies instead of combating an existential threat on her own, Beta had no one to lean on in this.

In the days following the assault on the Zenith base it became rapidly apparent that there was no one else who could step up to the challenge of creating a replacement for HEPH almost from scratch. Aloy was all brute force, utilizing the advanced hacking module of a SCARAB unit to achieve results over taking the time to learn the interface the manual way. The mental image of Aloy trying to sit still at a workstation while tapping out lines of code made Beta want to laugh.

Sylens was decent, for all that he was essentially self-taught. He was clever and resourceful- a genius even. He knew enough to get by (and enough to achieve his goals) but the cold hard truth of the matter was that he barely had a complete understanding of Python, let alone the knowledge required to code a highly advanced terraforming AI.

The bulk of the work, then, fell to her. She had quite literally been born to do it- the Zeniths wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of educating her if they hadn’t expected the intellect of Elisabet Sobeck would be needed to ensure the success of their new colony world. Not that Beta had known what they were planning at the time.

Beta had an idea of how Aloy felt, now. The pressure of being the only one able to do something so absolutely necessary was immense. Failure was, quite literally, not an option.

She kept a countdown ticking in the corner of her Focus interface, visible even when her Focus wasn’t activated. Whenever she reached a point in her work where the thought of writing another line of code made her want to scream, or the existential dread threatened to swallow her whole , it was there to remind her that she didn’t have time to waste. Her own personal countdown to Zero Day.

[NEMESIS ETA 347.34 DAYS]

“I understand your frustration.” GAIA said. Beta exhaled sharply through her nose. To the AI’s credit, she did understand. Better than most. GAIA had been the one to assist Beta in creating her alpha-build completion milestones in the first place. She was intimately aware of how much every minute counted. “However, in this case I believe the benefits of attempting to reach the RCC on your own do not outweigh the risks.”

Beta groaned, pressing one of her palms against her eye socket. The pressure helped alleviate the beginning pangs of what Beta was sure would become a spectacular migraine. “I know, but-”

“Outlander.”

Beta jumped, her heart in her throat. She whipped h er head around to see a familiar- if unexpected- girl standing a foot behind her. Beta hadn’t heard her approach at all.

“Do you always sneak up on people like that?” Beta said, rubbing at her chest where her heart pounded.

“If walking up behind you is considered ‘sneaking’ then yeah.” Sokorra said, unimpressed. “I called your name. Twice.” 

Beta's ears went red. That was embarrassing . “Sorry. I was- uh. I didn’t know you were coming. I mean, no one said anything.” Beta said, flustered. “Sorry. What do you need?”

“I was looking for you. Your Utaru friend didn’t know where you went, but it turns out all I needed to do was follow the whispers about a crazy girl talking to herself and it led me right to you.”

"I was using my Focus, not talking to myself." Beta said a little indignantly. For some reason she was fine with the Utaru thinking that, but not Sokorra. She chose not to look at that too closely.

Sokorra shrugged carelessly. “Just telling you how I found you, outlander.”

“Well, here I am.” Beta said. The other girl always spoke like she was looking to start a physical or verbal altercation. If Beta was anyone else, she would probably rise to the bait. As it was, she mostly wondered how Sokorra managed to avoid getting punched if she was like this with everyone who wasn’t her brother.

Instead of answering, Sokorra’s eyes looked past her, towards the mountains and in the direction Beta had been staring for the past half hour. “If you want to get to those mountains so badly, why don’t you just go instead of spending all day staring?”

Why don’t you just go? Beta thought. She kept her mouth shut though. She wasn’t really in the mood to explain to another person that- no, she couldn’t fight like Aloy; yes, she was sure-

"The only machines that roam out there are Skydrifters and Chargers." Sokorra said. "It’s not like there’s anything that dangerous out there. Unless…" Sokorra turned and looked at Beta as if seeing her for the first time. Beta hunched miserably, already having gone through this several times with the Utaru who knew Aloy primarily through her martial prowess.

“There’s no way you’ve ever drawn a bow before, not with those skinny arms.” Beta’s face flushed. “Are you sure you’re the Champion’s sister?”

It was impossible for Sokorra to know how deep Beta’s insecurities around that question ran, but that didn’t stop it from hitting her where it hurt.

“No, we’re identical for different, unrelated reasons.” Beta said sarcastically. She turned back towards the RCC. Sokorra might be nice to look at, but without her brother around she was far less pleasant to talk to. 

"I’m sorry.” Sokorra said, an edge of laughter in her voice. She came around Beta so that her face came back into Beta’s eyeline. “I just wouldn't expect any family of Aloy's to be so..." Beta saw Sokorra visibly pause over her word choice. "...passive."

Considering that Elisabet and Beta were both computer scientists, which didn't usually include a lot of intense physical activity or violence, Beta would argue that Aloy was actually the odd one out in their weird little genetic family tree.

“Any idiot can hit something with a stick until it stops moving.” Beta said curtly. “After all, if you can do it it can’t be that hard.”

Beta took a moment to enjoy the indignant look on Sokorra’s face before proceeding to pointedly ignore her. She reached up to tap on her Focus again, ready to resume her conversation with GAIA. 

Outwardly, she maintained a veneer of calm. In reality, her hand was shaking a little with adrenaline. Her heart was pounding. She felt a little exhilarated, actually. Beta had never really definitively ‘won’ an argument before. Is this what Aloy felt like every time she walked away after getting the last word? Beta understood why she did it now.

“Hey- wait.” Sokorra said her. “Seriously-”

It was definitely only the note of contrition in Sokorra’s voice (and not because she had pathological people pleasing tendencies, thank you) that made Beta relent and turn back. She kept her finger hovering threateningly over her Focus in case Sokorra decided to be rude again.

The Tenakth warrior held her hands up. “Look, I shouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t realize it was such a sore spot for you. I won’t bring it up again, alright?” 

Beta had received only a handful of apologies in her lifetime, with all of them occurring in the last three months. With such a small sample size, Beta couldn’t draw any concrete conclusions about what made a good or bad apology. That being said, Beta was confident in saying Sokorra’s was easily the worst she’d ever received. 

Still. Beta had only received three, ever, so she couldn’t be too picky.

“Fine.” Beta said. “What do you want?”

Sokorra’s expression dropped into seriousness “I can’t find Korreh. Or the old man.” Sokorra said bluntly.

Oh. 

Beta winced. This… would not go over well. “Your brother and Jaxx left for Riverhymn this morning.”

For a moment, Sokorra just stared at her. Then came the anticipated explosion. “What?!” It made Beta jump and caused several Utaru heads to snap their way in concern.

Thrown off, Beta stuttered slightly when she answered “Y-yeah, they left this morning-”

“What is that stupid old man thinking?” Sokorra hissed. “Is he trying to get my brother killed?”

“No?” Beta answered. “Jaxx likes Korreh a lot, so-”

“Then why is he taking my blind defenseless brother into the machine infested wilds?!” Sokorra snarled.

“Korreh asked to go.” Beta said.

“When we were kids he asked to hold a sand viper too.” Sokorra said. “That doesn’t mean I handed him a snake!” She turned on her heel as if to stride away down the ramp and after her brother.

“Wait, where are you going?” Beta said. She lunged out and grabbed the other girl by the arm before she could storm off.

“Where do you think?” Sokorra said furiously. She looked down at where Beta’s pale hand gripped her tanned and tattooed elbow and then to Beta’s plaintive face. “I am going to chase down my brother and beat that old man within an inch of his life!

“You’ll never catch up to them!” Beta said rapidly. “They’re hours ahead of you and they’re not going on foot. They left on a Charger this morning!”

At that, Sokorra sent Beta a sharp look and yanked her arm out of Beta’s grip. She looked at Beta’s red hair and made the logical connection. “You helped them?”

Beta threw her hands up. “If Korreh really wanted to go, I wasn’t going to be able to stop him. Not if he’d already talked Jaxx into it! At least this way they’ll get to Riverhymn as fast as possible and minimize the likelihood of-”

“He’s blind!” Sokorra spat. “There’s no ‘minimizing’ that!”

“Exactly.” Beta shot back, irritated on Korreh’s behalf. “He’s blind, not stupid. He’s an adult who can make his own decisions. Take his own risks.” Beta shook her head, the fringe of her red hair flying about her face. Beta wanted to stop there. Should, stop there. But words welled up from inside her, bursting forth from a place deep inside herself she rarely dared touch. “He can’t just- put his whole life on hold just because you might not like it. You aren’t here . His life doesn’t revolve around you.”

Sokorra reared back, stung.

Beta felt a pang of remorse, but firmed her mouth. She understood how Korreh felt. They’d spoken around it together, neither of them really willing to put words to the ways their relationships with their sisters were similar but understanding each other just the same.

Beta was used to being the one left behind too. 

Maybe Sokorra could see that truth in her face because she swallowed whatever comment she was about to sling back in Beta’s face. She worked her jaw, glaring at Beta for a long moment before abruptly breaking eye contact with a sharp turn of her head.

There was a brief lull in noise as Sokorra worked to try and get her temper under control- which caused Beta to look around and realize how many Utaru were openly staring at the two of them. They did just have a loud, public argument. Embarrassment, hot and thick, settled in her gut. The skin between her shoulder blades began to itch from the crawling feeling of so many eyes on her. Beta sort of wanted to disappear into the floor.

Sokorra noticed their audience as well, her posturing firming with aggression and her eyes narrowing into unkind slits. Unlike Beta, she had no problem locking eyes with nosy Utaru and staring them down until they looked away first. 

It was only when Sokorra opened her mouth to snap something at a woman who was particularly blatant in her staring that Beta decided to intervene. The last thing she needed was for Sokorra to get herself banned from Plainsong on her watch.

“Come on.” Beta muttered, moving away before Sokorra managed to do the impossible and goad an Utaru into a fight.

To Beta’s relief, she heard the tap tap of Sokorra’s footsteps behind her as she walked away from the public commons of the upper dish, instead taking one of the wicker paths that was a bit further out of the way and tucked around one of lush pockets of tall shielding greenery that the Utaru nourished high off the ground. It offered a semblance of privacy- as long as neither of them started shouting again.

The pathway here looked over the south western fields as well. Unlike the common area that had a low barrier to keep children from stumbling off the edge of the dish, a braided hemp rope was the only safeguard against a fifty foot drop to the ground below. 

When Beta stopped, well back from the edge, Sokorra kept walking past her. She stepped close enough to the edge of the path that Beta’s stomach clenched with anxiety.

Sokorra stood there for a moment, taking deep measured breaths that caused her shoulders to rise and fall. Her yellow Tenakth gear was backlit against the brilliant blue sky. Almost cheerful.

“All that work to get away from Scalding Spear and he isn’t even here .” Sokorra said bitterly into the wind. 

Beta… didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry.”

Sokorra laughed raggedly. She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. Beta distantly noted that the nape of her neck was untattooed and unpainted. “My brother was blinded and sent to live with a foreign tribe and I’m the pathetic scab who can’t handle it. Of course.”

Beta opened her mouth, but no words came out. Her upbringing left her barely able to cope with her own emotional state let alone someone else’s. She didn’t know the protocol for this.

Sokorra turned around and Beta flinched in anticipation of more yelling. Instead, Sokorra just seemed tired. “It’s fine.” Sokorra said. Her voice croaked in her throat.  “I should be glad Korreh’s doing so well, right?” As if she was too tired even to keep standing, Sokorra slumped to the ground and took a seat on the edge of the dish. She propped her chin on her folded arms, her weight slumped over the rope that guarded the walkway. Her legs dangled off the edge into open space.

Beta took a few steps forward so she wasn't’ talking to the back of Sokorra’s head, but kept a healthy distance from the edge.

As she moved, Beta scrambled for anything to say. “Yeah, he’s been doing really well on his own.” Not that . “What I mean is, in terms of independence and recovery he’s actually doing better than average, considering the fact that acid wounds are often extremely prone to infection which could be fatal considering proximity to the brain and lack of antibiotics-”

The Tenakth gave her a sideways look. Her hands had smudged the yellow and black grease paint around her eyes. “If you’re trying to make me feel better, it’s not working.”

“Sorry.” Beta said, again.

“You don’t do this sort of thing often, do you?” Sokorra said wryly.

“Can you tell?” Beta said, half-joking. This kind of interaction was almost as foreign to her as non-recycled oxygen or the solidity of the world outside of a VR pod. She’d stopped receiving emotional or physical reassurance from the servitors who’d raised her after she’d passed the requisite milestones necessary for proper social development- that is to say, sometime around age 7.

After her escape from the Zeniths, almost all of the people Beta knew had alternative outlets for dealing with their emotions rather than discussing them with the traumatized clone hiding the server basement. In fact, almost all of her interactions with Varl, Aloy, Zo and the others had been about comforting Beta while she fell apart. She had almost no experience trying to offer it to others. Servitors, after all, were machines who did not need to be comforted or reassured.

Beta was still trying to get used to it. The burden of care sat awkwardly on her shoulders.

Sokorra snorted. “I’ve experienced worse attempts.”

“Really?” Beta asked, surprised. 

“No.” Sokorra said, smirking at the offended noise Beta made. Unlike their earlier exchange, it lacked heat. It was almost… friendly. LIke Sokorra had built herself up into a burning inferno and then just as quickly burnt herself down to embers. 

Sokorra looked up at her before shifting over slightly in an invitation.

Beta looked down at the ground far, far below and grimaced before gingerly taking a seat as well- though she took care to sit down fully before scooting forwards to match Sokorra’s posture. And she only dangled one leg off the edge. Just to be safe.

“So… what will you do now?” Beta asked. “Korreh won’t be back for another week. Maybe longer.”

Sokorra grimaced. “I’ll try to get back to Scalding Spear.” she said. “And hope the Commander is feeling merciful.”

“I don’t understand.” Beta said.

“I told my squad captain I was going to the Stillsands on leave, to see those new Visions that popped up with my squad. Ghrella and Rhetta said they’d vouch for me.” Sokorra said. “Then I doubled back north and snuck through the checkpoint at High Turning.” She shook her head. “I’m a fighter, I’m not good at sneaking around. They almost caught me once- and they’ll be on high alert for the next week. There’s no way I’ll be able to get back through from this side without getting shot.”

“That’s a big risk just to see Korreh.” Beta pointed out.

Sokorra nodded glumly. “The Commander is mobilizing the entire Desert clan on Hekarro’s orders. All any soldier who was old enough to fight in the Red Raids keeps talking about is how the last time they got orders like these was when the Tenakth pushed the Carja back to Barren Light. Squads are being deployed every day and these new hunter-killer machines… some of them aren’t making it back. Eagle Squad could be called up any day now- I knew I might not get another chance if I waited.”

Beta, who knew better than Sokorra what the clans were going to be up against, couldn’t argue with that.

“What’ll happen? If you’re caught, I mean.” Beta’s mind couldn’t help flashing to her own punishment at Gerard’s hands after she’d been snatched from GEMINI. He’d felt particularly vindictive in the wake of Tilda’s defection and Beta could still feel the phantom ghosts of pain from his detention apparatus when she lingered too long on those memories.

“Nothing good.” Sokorra said. “If the Commander is in a good mood, maybe I’ll just get my water rations docked for a few weeks. If I’m unlucky, they’ll think I was trying to desert the clan.”

Beta knew enough of Tenakth culture from Kotallo to guess that desertion was probably not a crime that received a mere slap on the wrist. 

“Beta,” GAIA’s cool tones washed over Beta from her Focus. “May I make a suggestion?”

Beta tapped her Focus, ignoring the way Sokorra leaned in close to peer at the now blinking piece of tech on her temple. “Yes GAIA?”

“Perhaps Sokorra could escort you from Plainsong to the RCC.” GAIA said. “From the footage I have reviewed from Aloy’s Focus regarding her combat abilities, I believe she would be able to provide adequate protection from any machines you may encounter. In return for her assistance, she could pass through the base and into Desert clan territory, avoiding the northern passage entirely.”

Beta stared with unfocused eyes at the distant silhouette of the mountains, thinking furiously. Sokorra was a fighter. She’d been training to fight machines all her life. She could get Beta to the RCC without being ripped limb from limb. In return, Sokorra would avoid getting strung up by the Desert Tenakth guarding the border. It was the perfect solution. Zo would be able to focus on the Chorus, GAIA wouldn’t worry about danger enroute, and Beta could be in her lab by sundown.

The one tiny problem being Sokorra herself. Beta didn’t necessarily have any worries about Sokorra knowing where the RCC was located- with the Zenith’s gone, operational security had fallen a bit by the wayside. There was no reason to hide from an enemy that hadn’t even made it into the solar system after all. 

Beta just wasn’t eager to answer the uncomfortable questions that would inevitably spring up when Sokorra saw the old world ruin Beta lived in. 

(Beta felt a sudden pang of empathy for Aloy, who had been dealing with this same conundrum since she’d left to gather support against NEMESIS. Beta hadn’t understood before, why Aloy was so reluctant to tell people the truth. She kind of got it now.)

Beta closed her eyes, trying to think of literally any other solution to her predicament. Surely Zo wouldn’t be held up for much longer- what were a few more days hanging around Plainsong in the grand scheme of things?

Her eyes drifted to the numbers in the corner of her Focus HUD that ticked ever downward.

[NEMESIS ETA 347.1 DAYS]

Elisabet wouldn’t hesitate. Beta thought. Elisabet sucked it up and worked with Ted fucking Faro for 15 months. You can put up with someone who likes to push your buttons for half a day's hike.

She exhaled tiredly before she turned around and looked at Sokorra. “You can fight, right?”

Sokorra narrowed her eyes, visibly confused by Beta’s non-sequitur. “Who were you talking to?” She looked around as if trying to spot someone hidden nearby. She looked back at the Focus attached to Beta’s temple and leaned in close enough to look at it that Beta could feel warm breath on her ear. Gooseflesh rose on her arms. “Is it from this? Does it store voices like the Visions of the Ten in the Grove?” Sokorra reached out to touch it with a finger.

Flustered at someone leaning so far into her personal space, Beta batted Sokorra’s hand away. “Just answer the question.”

Sokorra scowled. “I'm Desert clan, of course I can fight." She sat up straight, puffing out her chest a bit. “I was named leader of Eagle Squad for a reason, you know.”

“And you need to get back to Scalding Spear?” Beta pressed. 

Sokorra visibly deflated and gave her a look Beta couldn’t decipher. “Are you going somewhere with this, or have you actually lost your mind?"

Beta shook her head impatiently, ignoring Sokorra’s waspish tone. “I need to get back to the Regional- the base, but I can't leave Plainsong on my own.” Beta said. “You need a way through the mountains without getting caught. There’s a way we can both get what we want.”

“Alright.” Sokorra said after a moment. She leaned forward, catching Beta's eyes with her own. Beta forced down the instinctive discomfort. “I'm listening.”


It almost felt worth it, hours later, when Beta was finally able to sit down at her workstation. She sighed, her nerves already steadying as she began pulling up the half completed code that would one day make up the central processing matrix for VULCAN's alpha build. Her projections put her only half a day behind schedule- she could catch up with a week or two of hard work.

The knot of worry and tension she'd been carrying between her shoulder blades all day finally loosened. The relief was overwhelming- almost enough to let her believe that Sokorra wheedling a promise of future passage through the RCC whenever she wanted to visit Korreh in Plainsong was worth it. Almost.

It'd be fine. It would probably be like when Aloy's Sunhawk passed through- too quick for Beta to even notice her as she came and went.

Though... Beta thought back to Sokorra's expression when she'd first seen the RCC common room. Awe. Intrigue. Curiosity. Even when Beta had tried to bustle her through the western door as quickly as possible, Sokorra had instead dragged her feet, her head turning this way and that to take in as much as she could.

Beta shook her head, as if trying to shake these unproductive thoughts from her head. Sokorra said herself that Eagle Squad was probably going to be deployed any day now- which meant she wouldn’t be able to visit Korreh for a long while. Maybe not even until NEMESIS arrived, which might neatly resolve that problem for Beta if things went badly. 

Even in the best case scenario, where the biosphere was stabilized and the world saved from an interstellar AI bent on total extinction, Beta was sure the novelty would wear off quickly and Sokorra would just. Pass through.

Definitely.

Probably.

Beta thought back to the way Sokorra’s eyes had lit up like an acetylene torch under the bright lights of the RCC.

Maybe.

Notes:

i've stared at this for too long i just need to post it

zo @ beta: touch grass. also, beta and her unhealthy relationship with AI surveillance my beloved.

sokorra is very hard and very easy to write at the same time. beta is a nerd with an anxiety disorder. i like smashing them together to see what happens.

this came out less shippy than I was expecting (I rewrote the entire thing after posting it and deleting it bc it felt OOC) but it's setting things up for future installments. i'll need to trap them in an old world bunker at some point I guess lol.

also, beta can be attracted to sokorra and also think talking to her sucks sometimes. we can only go up from here guys. I promise one day I will do something crazy like let these two kiss or something

calling it now, the replacement subfunction they make to replace HEPH is going to be called VULCAN

also- Beta's character here was heavily inspired by the Stars of Gemini series by LostBackground which I still hold up as the pinnacle of Beta characterization. If you haven't already read that series, I heavily recommend it.

Series this work belongs to: