It took Marcus a moment to even begin processing what Ede had just asked of him and when he did, he started laughing, “Oh, just for a moment you had me all worried!”
“...you think I am joking then?”
“Well, of course! I mean, come on! Me? Save the world? All by myself? Do what the people from the before times were unable to? It can only be a joke!”

But Ede did not laugh. He just kept looked towards the large towering machines in the distance and did not respond at all. Marcus also stopped laughing and his eyes became fearful.
“You...were not joking at all, were you?”
“No. No, I was not. But you are right. It is a task far too grand for one man alone. Especially now, since the old arts have long since died out in favor of the more practical applications of manual labor. I guess this is not an RPG after all, where the hero just jumps at the opportunity without even questioning it for a second.”
“An Are-Pee-Gee? What...what are you talking about?”
“Never mind, you wouldn’t understand. Of course...for this to work you would require an infrastructure that simple does not exist anymore. Even if taught you everything you needed to know, even if you somehow managed to learn all of it, it would take you far more than your lifetime to even just get there. No, I guess it really is impossible…”

Marcus looked up and asked, “Say, do the machines really look like that?”
“I don’t know. This is just what my maker imagined them to look like. As you may recall, he was not there when they were actually constructed.”
“And what...what if they never were constructed? Or what if they never got turned on? What if this is just...well, ‘normal’?”
Ede smiled mildly and replied, “If you had lived in Europe during the old times, you would know that the weather is anything but not ‘normal’. Sure, we had high temperature summers of some 36°C, but we never had actual sand storms like the one that sandblasted your back. But you are right, climate is constantly changing over time, little by little due to lots of factors which are plain outside of our control like volcano eruptions, cosmic rays and solar activity. Change is normal. The thing is, mankind has accelerated that ‘little by little’ to an alarming pace. A pace, they cannot handle. So yes, what I should have said earlier, is that I am asking you to save your own species from going extinct.”

Marcus stared at Ede’s back, as he gazed off into the distance for endless seconds, until Ede suddenly clapped his hands, turned away from the machines and said, “Well, I guess you are right. Even if they created the machines and even if they turned them on, they would long since have fallen victim to the tooth of time and stopped working. There is no way that they are still running after multiple centuries without maintenance.”
“But...Ede is still working and from what you’ve told me, it is billions of years old.”
“Yes, but Ede was crafted by an alien civilization, which built it to last through the arduous and long travel through the grand void and to survive falling to Earth. Ede was built to last. The machines, assuming they ever existed in the first place, would not have been built like Ede. More often than not, you need to compromise in your works. Yes, you can build beautiful and sturdy structures, which will last centuries. But that takes knowledge, time and the right materials, none of which they had back then. They needed a quick solution to turn the tide.”

They stayed silent for multiple seconds until Marcus finally said, “So...it is hopeless?”
“I...don’t know. I really don’t. I need time to think now. And you need to take a break.”
“Wait!” Marcus tried to argue, but it was too late and he found himself back inside his body.
“Man, that so didn’t turn out well,” Ede’s voice said in his head.
“...ah, you again, huh? Didn’t you listen? You are just a response to my brain being stressed out. You can go away now. Thank you and good bye,” Marcus muttered, while he gathered his belongings.
“The only one who can make me go away is you, and you know it. Ede was right to kick you out, much longer and you would likely not have opened your eyes ever again.”
“Oh, shut it…” Marcus muttered, when his stomach suddenly growled.
“Seems like we are hungry.”
“Stop talking! There is no ‘we’!” Marcus snapped at the voice as he left the room to grab a bite to eat. He startled, when he saw all the drones stopped in their tracks, holding on to whatever they were carrying. He rushed back into the chamber, but Ede did not respond. All the lights were out.

The day passed and the spooky silence really started to get on Marcus’ nerve, the drones still standing around like dolls whom the child had lost interest in. Marcus quickly realized that he needed to do something about this, otherwise they would ultimately die and rot.
Thus he went back to the main chamber again and shouted, “Ede! Release them! I beg of you!”
But there was no response whatsoever. Not one light twinkled, his surrounding did not change, everything was dead silent except for the echo of his own voice.

Marcus spent a good hour thinking about what to do, when it struck him. Ede himself had told him that they would wake up if they left his ‘sphere of influence’. He just needed to get them out of here. But how? The ladder would hardly hold two people at once and the elevator had been broken long before he was born. He went back to the knowledge he had acquired through his books, trying to find something he could use, but it was for naught. A thousand examples came to mind, but he had never learned how to actually make them. If he wanted to save these people, he had to get himself help. But from where? The settlement was too far and the raider territory was between him and them. And even if he managed to get there, would they even help them? Or would they kill them? No, the settlement was not an option. There was only one person he could ask. Quite potentially at his own peril.

As he climbed the ladder, Ede’s voice asked, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“No, it’s a terrible idea, but it’s the only thing I can do.”
“Why not just let them die then? You know, the natural order of things?”
“I am not a monster! It is my fault they came here in the first place, so it’s my responsibility to make sure they make it back home.”
“You are aware what you are saying, yes? These are still raiders! They are going to kill you the instant you give them the chance!”
Marcus stopped climbing, sweat pouring down his face as he shouted, “Then what? I am just going to let them die?”
“Well, yes! Yes, exactly! They have captured and tortured you! They have tricked you into showing you the way here! Look, I am the voice in your head and I am being the sane one?! No wonder your mind split, you need some serious counseling, man!”
“But I can’t just...I can’t just let them die…”
“Then you will die yourself. Mercy is a luxury mankind can no longer afford. And you know it.”
“But...they are still human. And they need help…”
“You really want to be a hero like in those stories, huh?”
“...what’s that supposed to mean?” Marcus asked, tired of this conversation already and climbing up another rung. He had not decided on where to go yet, but he definitely needed some fresh air.
“A hero puts the well-being of others before his own, sacrificing himself so others may live in his stead. You know what that is? That’s stupid! I mean sure, if it was Claire or other actually good people, I wouldn’t argue, but your sympathies are clearly misplaced here! Or have you fallen for the charms of Sis after all? Is that what it is? Are you a masochist? Is that why nice little Claire wasn’t good enough? Because you need someone to mistreat you? Does that give you pleasure?”
“Shut the hell up already!” Marcus shouted and, lo and behold, ‘Little Ede’ as he had come to call the voice in his head actually did as he was told and remained quiet.
After climbing the ladder the rest of the way and emerging through the hatch, he quickly found himself surrounded by a good dozen of guns pointed at his face.

“Uh...hi?” he asked nervously, as he looked at the grim and ragged faces of the men surrounding him. Powerful arms reached out and pulled him out of the ground and forced him to sit down, still many guns trained on his face. An elderly woman came walking up and went down into a squat before Marcus. He recognized her in an instant and now he also knew whom he was dealing with. It was Ma and her boys. Or what was left of them anyway.

“What have you done to my children?!” she asked sharply.
Marcus reached behind his head to scratch it and got hit hard from behind in response.
“Don’t move!” a male voice barked.
“Stand down, Mal. Now, I’ll only ask this once again...what have you done to my children?”
“...they are down there,” Marcus replied truthfully, “And they need your help.”
“I figured as much when they did not come back. But what have you done?! What do you have to do with Ede?!”

The mention of Ede’s name sent unrest through the troops and Marcus was also dumbfounded. The first words that fell out of his mouth were, “You know about Ede?”
“Of course I know about Ede! Why’d ya think I kept telling my children not to come here?! If only Sally had listened…so, I take they are gone, huh?”
“Well, actually...it is great luck that you are here. Ede had them try to do maintenance, but all of a sudden he just...shut down. And they shut down with him.”
“...are you trying to tell me that Ede is dead? Just like that? That you killed a God?”
“...hey, what happened to your accent?” Marcus suddenly asked.
Ma sighed and shouted, “Dun just stand there ya loafs! Get ta kids! But dunna walk into ta big chamber with ta steel door! Got it?!”
“B-but Ma, will ye really be fine by yerself?”
“Get moving or I’ll make ye!” Ma barked, sending chills down Marcus’ spine.

After they were gone, Ma sat down on one of the nearby rocks, a gun still in hand and muttered, “Imbeciles, every last one of them.”
“But, aren’t they your children?”
“A rag tag bunch of idiots is what they are. I call them ‘children’, but in reality they are orphans. Victims of this world, whose parents did not make it. What, you think I shoved out like 50 kids? I’m good, but not that good. And yes, I am capable of speaking ‘properly’ as you would call it. In fact, I was born in the same settlement you were born in, some 50 years ago now.”
Marcus looked at the elderly woman and concluded that it would not be wise to tell her that she didn’t look like ‘50’. Especially not while she had that gun firmly in her hand.
“Taught me a number of things there, but when I found out about their dirty little secret, they were quick to expel me and leave me to my own devices. Figured that the world would take care of me. But not me, no Sir, I won’t go down that easily.”
“A...secret? What kind of secret?” Marcus asked.
Ma simply laughed and said, “Now, wouldn’t you like to know, kid, huh? But tell you what, if I told you, you’d never be able to return there in good consciousness. Not after learning about what their ancestors did...and what they probably are still doing now.”
“...I have already been exiled,” Marcus said, putting up his bravest face, “So what is this secret?”
Ma cackled into the clear air above and said again, “Now wouldn’t you like to know, huh, kid. Now wouldn’t you like to know?”