The Last Human Business

Chapter 7: The Forbidden Archive

The sensor lights in the sub-level corridor flickered a pale blue, rhythmic with the quickening beat of Ethan’s heart. Around him, metal walls buried under thousands of years of dust began to vibrate softly. The atmosphere was silent, save for the wheezing roar of the ventilation machines struggling to pump fresh air into these long-forgotten depths.

"Are you sure this gate won't explode the moment you touch it, Ethan?" Kael whispered, his right hand tightly gripping the hilt of the sword he had yet to discard, despite Ethan’s orders to do so.

"The hydraulic pressure is stable, Kael. If this gate intended to kill us, the passive security system would have done so when we crossed the weight sensors thirty meters back," Ethan said, pressing a crystal panel beside the giant, symbolless door. "The real problem is what awaits behind this door after five thousand years without supervision."

"My father always said this place was where 'rebellious souls were locked away,'" Lyra interrupted, her fingers trembling as she touched the laser engravings on the wall. "Ethan, look at these lines. This isn't scripture. This... this is a data transmission system!"

"Exactly, Lyra. Your father was much smarter than the Elders currently on the throne," Ethan entered a series of alphanumeric codes into the glowing panel. "Welcome to the heart of the history they tried to burn."

A heavy thud echoed through the corridor as the giant magnetic locks on the gate released one by one. Cold air and the pungent scent of ozone wafted from the slowly opening gap, revealing a circular room so vast that the light failed to reach its corners.

"By the heavens..." Kael stepped inside, his voice hoarse with awe. "This isn't an armory. This is a cathedral... a cathedral of steel."

"This is the Gaia-Beta Central Terminal, Kael," Ethan walked toward a circular control desk in the center of the room. "This is where all historical records, military tactics, and planetary status were stored before the Destruction Project began."

"Look at those crystal shelves, Ethan!" Lyra jogged toward the rows of light towers on the left. "Each one of these crystals contains millions of books, thousands of hours of memory... The history of the world is here! Why did Valerius never tell anyone?"

"Because knowledge is the most dangerous enemy to the Priests," Ethan answered curtly. He placed his palm on the main console. "Gaia, activate Master Sergeant 01-Delta authority. Decrypt the Memoriam Protocol."

In an instant, the entire room transformed. The floor beneath their feet seemed to vanish, replaced by a projection of swirling stars. A three-dimensional galactic map appeared in mid-air, showing trade routes and defense systems once controlled by the ancients.

"Login status accepted," a soft yet emotionless mechanical voice echoed from the ceiling. "Welcome back, Master Sergeant Ethan. Historical data is available in visualization format. Shall I begin from the extinction period?"

"Do it, Gaia. Start with the incident at the Centaurus Life Facility," Ethan commanded.

"What happened at Centaurus?" Kael asked, his eyes fixed on the images of magnificent cities floating in the air, far more beautiful than Caledonia. "Our scriptures say the Devas went to the heavens because they felt humanity was no longer worthy."

"Gaia, show them how 'worthy' humans were according to the true version," Ethan muttered.

The hologram shifted rapidly. Those magnificent cities began to burn. But not by fire—by blue explosions from within their own systems. The screams of millions were recorded in a frequency that was painful to the ears.

"What is that?" Lyra asked, her voice choked. "Is it an earthquake?"

"No," Gaia answered through the audio system. "The visualization records a rebellion by the domestic servant caste military faction. They hacked the cities' plasma reactors to create an overload. Ancient human life loss: 89%. Sabotage success: 100%."

Kael took a step back, his face pale. "The servant caste? You mean... us? Our ancestors?"

"The visualization shows the first rebel soldiers," Gaia continued. A figure of a soldier appeared on the holographic screen. His armor looked remarkably similar to Kael’s Vanguard armor, only cruder, using recycled materials from the remains of the Ancient Humans. "This rebel group called themselves the 'True Successors.' They executed scientists on the spot, seized energy reactors, and declared the Ancient Humans as tyrants who had to be erased."

"So the Devas didn't leave voluntarily?" Lyra fell to her knees, staring at the image of a female scientist being dragged out of her lab before being beheaded in front of her children. "We hunted them? We were the ones who hunted our own ancestors?"

"Right at that point," Ethan turned off the hologram abruptly, unable to look at the woman's face any longer. "That was my fiancée, Sarah, in the recording at Alpha Facility. You didn't wait for the Devas to leave, Kael. Your ancestors cut the power to our nurseries, cut the air supply to medical bases, and ensured every remnant of technological progress was labeled a 'holy curse' so that no one could fight back."

"This is impossible... this is blasphemy!" Kael drew his sword, not at Ethan, but at the machine that had spoken. "All the teachings I learned... my devotion to the Elders... it was all built on genocide?"

"Even the name 'Deva' itself was a mockery that turned into a holy title because of historical ignorance," Ethan stepped closer to Kael. "You killed us because you wanted our reactors, yet you were too stupid to study them, so you began to worship what you didn't understand to cover your shame."

"Ethan, look at the coordinates at the far end!" Lyra looked up, her wet eyes catching a red flash in the corner of the still-active Gaia screen. "There's a system warning! The emergency doors on the upper level... they were just opened from the outside!"

"Master Sergeant," Gaia’s voice suddenly became intense. "Perimeter sensors detect fifteen ancient Sentinel drones heading to this location. They are under the external authorization control of: Arch-Priest Valerius."

"Damn it!" Ethan slammed the console. "Valerius didn't just research my DNA. He has manual keys to activate the basic defense systems!"

"How long until they get here?" Kael asked, his confused emotions instantly switching to combat mode at the mention of Valerius.

"Three minutes. Sentinels are automated units programmed to erase non-authorized bio-signs. Since both of your identities were branded as traitors by Valerius tonight, you are the primary targets," Ethan reached for a panel under the console, pulling a large lever that slid out with a hydraulic hiss.

"Then why didn't he kill you too?" Lyra asked, frantically packing her tablet.

"Because my DNA is still useful as an encryption code for him," Ethan pulled out two small metal cylinders and threw them to Kael and Lyra. "Attach these behind your ears. Now!"

"What is this?" Kael asked while pressing the cylinder against his skin.

"A frequency modulator. It will confuse the Sentinels' visual targeting systems. We have to get out of here before the main doors are permanently locked," Ethan grabbed an old backpack from the corner of the control desk and filled it with several data crystals that had been automatically ejected. "Gaia, initiate a temporary memory wipe protocol on this terminal. Do not let them retrieve the 2092 records."

"Command received. Wiping in 10 seconds. Master Sergeant, the emergency evacuation door is open in sector 4-B. Be careful; they will not give up easily."

A violent tremor occurred as a group of disc-shaped metal units with red sensor eyes began to emerge from the air vents in the ceiling. The high-pitched whine of lasers gathering energy was deafening.

"Get your head down!" Kael shouted, pulling Lyra as a beam of red light scorched the wall where they had been standing seconds ago.

"Type-A Sentinels," Ethan grabbed a metal rod from the remains of a building structure and inserted a wire charged with electricity. "Kael, they are blind to your body heat now thanks to that modulator, but they can still detect movement. Crawl toward corridor 4-B!"

"I can't let this place be destroyed!" Lyra cried out as she saw several crystal shelves begin to explode from the Sentinels' random attacks. "That's our history, Ethan! It's the only way we can learn to be better!"

"We can't learn anything if we're dead, Lyra!" Ethan leaped onto one of the low-flying drones, thrusting his electrified iron rod into the machine's processing center. An explosion of sparks showered the room. "Kael, grab the grenade launcher from the pillar over there! It's an antique, but it still works!"

Kael grabbed a long tube-shaped weapon and operated it awkwardly. "How do I turn this on?"

"Pull the safety pin, aim at the densest target, and don't stop firing!" Ethan barked while dodging another laser attack.

The heavy thuds of ancient grenades began to fill the room, creating a veil of black smoke that aided their escape. In the chaos, Ethan caught one last glimpse of the main screen. The image of Sarah in the hologram seemed to be smiling faintly at him amidst the crumbling ruins of history.

"Hurry! The door is starting to close!" Ethan pushed Lyra through the small emergency gate, followed by Kael, who slid through just before the ten-ton metal door slammed into the floor.

The escape corridor went pitch black. Their breath was ragged, and the smell of grenade smoke filled their lungs. They were trapped in a narrow passage much deeper than the palace.

"Are we still alive?" Lyra asked, her voice trembling in the darkness.

"For now," Ethan activated the flashlight on his wrist. "But the secret is out. Valerius knows we have the raw data, and he won't let us out of this palace alive."

"Kael?" Ethan turned toward the commander, who was still sitting slumped against the door, his hands shaking violently. "Kael, are you okay?"

Kael slowly looked up, his eyes reflecting an unparalleled horror. "I spent my whole life worshipping slaughterers. Every time I swore by the Devas, I was actually swearing by the guilt of killers who were too cowardly to remember their crimes."

"History is disgusting, Kael. But now you know why I have to destroy the foundations of Caledonia," Ethan extended his hand to Kael. "Not because I hate your country. But because Caledonia was built on the corpses of my family wrapped in the name of religion."

Kael stared at Ethan’s hand, then took it and stood up. The skeptical look in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a cold, hollow determination. "What is our objective now, Commander?"

"Find the portal to the underground base in the air harbor sector," Ethan replied. "The data I took from Gaia earlier revealed the existence of an old assault ship still hidden there. We need something that can match the Sentinels if Valerius truly launches his automated army."

"He will launch them," Lyra said, staring at her tablet screen which still displayed the stolen data coordinates. "Look at this... there's an encrypted message inside the 2092 file. It's not history... it's the activation schedule for Caledonia's global defense system."

"What does it say?" Ethan narrowed his eyes.

"Tomorrow," Lyra’s voice shook. "Tomorrow morning, exactly at the five-hundred-year celebration of the Elder dynasty, Valerius will not be giving a blessing. He will initiate the 'Mass Purge' protocol to exterminate the entire population in the lower settlements so that their energy resources can be diverted to produce his ancient human clones."

Ethan clenched his fist until his knuckles cracked. "He wants to replace living people with ghosts of the past."

"We have to stop him," Kael stood tall, holding the ancient grenade launcher as if it were a new talisman of truth. "Caledonia may be built on lies, but I will not let its people be slaughtered for a Priest's mad obsession."

"We don't have much time," Ethan began to walk forward. "We've seen the archives. Now it's time for us to make history they won't forget."

They continued walking down the dark underground corridor, moving away from the ruins of the Forbidden Archive, yet carrying the weight of knowledge that would change the fate of the entire planet forever. Outside, dawn began to break over the Caledonian sky, but it was not a dawn of hope—it was a dawn that brought the threat of apocalypse.

"Ethan," Lyra called out softly during the journey. "Was there any record in the archives that showed a way to... love this world again after you know how broken it is?"

Ethan paused for a moment, staring into the darkness ahead. "It's not in the archives, Lyra. That's the only part you have to write yourself, without a machine."

Kael took a heavy breath. "Then we will write it with bullets and truth tonight."

The trio of rebels continued through the bowels of the earth, toward an impossible battle, carrying a light of truth that was too painful to accept, yet too precious to extinguish.