Quoted By:
You feel inclined to know what became of the Zealots.
“What happened to the people here? Why are most of them gone?”
“They are a peaceful people in this region. Their most important priority is their faith. In times of desperation, they can only pray,” she said as the arms of the drone precisely tweaked your back. Giselle’s projection disappeared, replaced with one more resembling a storybook. “With the district producing mostly weapons and supplies dwindling, they slowly began to starve without enough food to go around. Even though they watched each other whither away, they never wavered and kept participating in worship. Over time, they became more isolated with those who did not believe fleeing the district altogether. With those who passed away, each generation began forgetting the details of the previous one. Now it is the only thing they know. It binds them together stronger than a welded joint could hold steel.”
“Why worship a Terminal, though? They don’t have altars?”
Giselle’s projection switched back to her regular appearance before replying. “It was the only shining light that lasted longer than the war. It is only natural that they would gather to it.” The drone finished working on your back and floated back into your field of view. “I adjusted the vents and coolant routing of the core. It is not ideal, but it should be fine until you find better parts. Technology has improved significantly since your model debuted.”
You pull up the temperature on the HUD.
REACTOR TEMPERATURE: NORMAL
“Then let’s get moving.” There’s nowhere else to go but towards the Terminal. “How much farther?”
“Six point three seven nine kilometers to go, Administrator,” her projection gestures the direction.
You proceed to the destination at a walking pace. Running higher temperatures will only compromise the reactor’s integrity.
Proceeding to the terminal, you feel a change in atmosphere. While no one is present in the alleys or streets, the alleys between the large blocks widen, with tall narrow towers of dwellings appearing more frequently, some of the windows are lit up with soft lights. Getting even closer as the space opens more, it appears these are columns supporting the level far above. The illumination to see upwards is provided by floating luminous strips in the empty space. Some columns are destroyed, the evidence being a wide gap between adjacent columns and mountains of rubble. The space between the columns is also occupied by improvised huts constructed with sheet metal of mixed quality.
