94 Passing on (1/2)
For the first time since he had begun his journey, Daneel did not have to skirt the edges of an island to reach his destination.
The entire place was a wasteland, filled with nothing but dunes of sand and rolling mountains that could be scaled easily. As he made his way forward, with the system securely scanning everything so that he didn't need to be worried, he found a few remnants of buildings that had once been present here and there.
Only the foundations could be seen, made of stone and built to weather decades or even centuries, if need be. Whatever had been built atop them had faded away long ago, and unlike one of the islands he had passed, they weren't even any bones left to suggest that humans had once lived here.
He needed to do something to pass the time for four hours, as he wasn't really happy with the idea of just standing by the exit, tempting anyone or anything who might wish him harm to come find him in such an obvious place. The masked man had seen him, and even heard what he had said, and even the bartender had seemed as if he would have loved to make an attempt on Daneel's life.
There were both obvious reasons, and those that he couldn't guess behind their actions. Of course, the one that seemed most probable was that the man had some sort of an understanding with the main power that took the crystals from all of these islands, and so, any news that spoke of a rebellion against them would call on more bratty idiots who would love to kill, first, then ask questions later.
As for an explanation regarding the state of the island around him, he had already ventured a guess, but he asked the system to make sure.
[Host is walking on an island whose energy resources have all been thoroughly depleted. The Will of the island has also perished. The only reason the island is still floating on top of the sea is that an artificial Will has been placed here, which does nothing but keep it afloat.]
It still felt sad to hear the answer, and have his guess confirmed.
There seemed to be a natural evolution of stages in which an island targeted by the Mainland could be in. Graiton was not in a very advanced stage, with mining still going on, whereas this one was at the end of its life-cycle, with no fate left for it but to sink into the sea and be forgotten forever, its name erased from the annals of history and the world.
To think that there had once been a vibrant force of nature present here, too, that had been snuffed out so that those filled with greed could prosper…it rankled within him, but there was nothing he could do about it as he was now.
A melancholy mood settled down upon him as he made his way onward. He only stopped when the system gave him a message that he was within sight of the teleportation matrix, and then, finally, he composed himself and frowned, thinking about what he should do.
A few moments after that, he just shrugged and asked the system to create a hiding spot from where he could observe the matrix, but not be seen. The system assessed his surroundings for a few moments, then led him to the peak of one of the hills nearby.
By the time he had dug a hole and hid himself with a bush, an hour had passed since his departure from the bar. The way he was now reminded him a lot of his plan that had been used by those rebels…and right now, he found himself really hoping that things wouldn't play out in a similar manner.