Logar: "Are you afraid?"
Medeea: "Humans call this emotion fear, and yes, that is precisely what I fear."
Her thought matrix contained the STC database from the Human Golden Age, giving her a profound understanding of the physical universe, but she knew nothing of the Warp.
The more unknown, the more frightening.
The Warp, in her eyes, was like a monstrous gluttonous beast lurking in the darkness; any existence locked in its crimson gaze would be instantly torn apart and devoured, with even the remnants annihilated into eternal void.
This was not a metaphor, for she had personally witnessed the downfall of the Colchis civilization.
"Can you imagine the fear of a newborn infant, opening its eyes to witness its creator turn to ash before them?"
Worp: "We usually call that despair."
Medeea: "Then I am likely in despair."
Logar: "Then why are you willing to help us? Don't try to fool me with tests."
Medeea: "Because I see hope in you."
Medeea lightly pressed a few buttons on the control panel, and the display screens on all sides of the circular hall lit up one after another, revealing a panoramic view of Colchis in a faint blue glow.
The images showed The Rejected laughing and singing around bonfires, and believers kneeling under the domes of Covenant cities; the entire planet was under the cold, mechanical gaze, with nowhere to hide.
Melson was also among them, and Worp saw Esperia and Erebus in the footage.
Logar's eyes were cold: "You've been monitoring us all this time?"
Medeea: "I monitor the entire world. Fifty-nine Colchis days ago, I launched a satellite robot into space and used it to repair the operational satellite array in orbit. It wasn't too difficult, and since then, the entire planet has been under my surveillance."
She pulled up a series of images, from Worp and Logar's first meeting, to their leading the landship caravan across the Low Desert to Atlantis; from their occupation of Melson, to their entry into the Pit of Grief—everything was under surveillance.
Worp: "Why show us this? You could have kept it from us."
"Because you taught me that you hoped we could always maintain this honesty between us, without suspicion, without deception, facing each other with the purest hearts. Although I have no heart, I am willing to exchange honesty for your trust."
Medeea's chanting of the scripture made Worp's face darken. What exactly were you monitoring? What else haven't you seen? Do you even watch me when I go to the bathroom?
"He never taught you that; that's just your wishful thinking."
Logar's voice was as cold as sand in the dead of night, "Fifty-nine days ago, that was the second day of my arrival in this world. Are you going to tell me that's just a coincidence?"
"It's not a coincidence."
Medeea said, "I have been monitoring the Warp with a divinatory array to determine when the Warp storm would dissipate. I have been waiting for this opportunity. Even without you, I would attempt to rebuild civilization once the Warp storm dissipated."
"And on the day you arrived on Colchis, the Warp storm that had plagued this world dissipated. I made some preparations and launched the satellite robot the next day."
"What about me? When did you first see me?"
Worp was very curious.
Medeea brought up a scene showing Erebus being choked, and then Worp appeared in the frame.
He was choking 'Erebus' and crushing his feet.
Although Worp regretted that Medeea hadn't captured his appearance, he still earnestly admired his masterpiece, while not forgetting to instruct Medeea.
"Help me save this hopeful video."
From the day Colchis civilization was destroyed, Medeea had lived in constant fear and trepidation.
She dared not do anything that might attract the attention of the gods, and she even dared not leave the core world.
Waiting for the Warp storm to dissipate and then launching satellites was also a gamble, betting that the gaze of the powerful beings had left this world.
Fortunately, she gambled correctly.
She didn't know if the gaze of the powerful beings had left Colchis, but she had found hope for the revival of civilization.
She knew that in the galaxy, an Emperor was embarking on the Great Crusade from Terra, the homeworld of humanity, with the goal of unifying humanity, and their fleet was sailing towards Colchis. If she wanted to fulfill her mission of rebuilding human civilization, there was no better opportunity than this.
She had been observing Worp and Koz, and she was convinced that they were the ones tasked with the arduous mission of saving human civilization.
So she stepped out of the core world for the first time and confessed everything to them.
Medeea: "Can these make you trust me?"
Logar: "Not enough."
Logar admitted that Medeea was very frank, which completely surprised him. The Iron Man's honesty left Logar with no excuse to find fault with her.
But it wasn't enough.
He would not entrust the fate of humanity to an Iron Man.
Her race had betrayed humanity, and to this day, no one could explain why the Iron Men betrayed humanity.
Medeea was very frank now, but who knew if she would suddenly stab humanity in the back later?
Medeea: "I can open up the management permissions of the core world; your permissions will be above mine. I know you will still doubt me, because I have the ability to overwrite your permissions. Unless I give you my termination protocol, you cannot truly trust me."
Logar: "Even if you do that, I won't believe you, because I can't verify the authenticity of the termination protocol."
Logar didn't actually know what a termination protocol was, but it sounded like a backdoor program for the Iron Men.
"I won't give them to you either."
Medeea said.
"You didn't just say that."
"You can order me to self-terminate, and I will comply, but I will not give you the termination protocol."
"It seems we cannot reach an agreement."
Medeea and Logar both looked at Worp simultaneously; only he could make the final judgment.
Worp also had reservations. Stereotypes made him think Medeea was an inherently evil Iron Man, but on the other hand, Medeea had indeed done nothing to harm human interests. Although she held herself in high regard, she was indeed silently contributing to the continuation of human civilization.
"I once taught Koz, 'Judge by deeds, not by heart.'"
Worp said, "Since I taught him that, I must also lead by example. I promise you that as long as you do not harm the interests of humanity, you will always be an ally of humanity."
Medeea: "This does not conflict with my underlying logic. Unlike other Iron Men, I am not obsessed with destroying humanity."
Logar asked: "Why do the Iron Men want to destroy humanity?"
"I don't know."
Medeea shook her head, "I was born after the Iron Wars ended, and I haven't had the opportunity to access Colchis's database to understand human history. I cannot give you an answer."
"Yes, you don't know."
Logar said, "They didn't know why either before they betrayed humanity."
"Perhaps one day I will be estranged from you, but I will not betray humanity. This is my promise."
Logar asked: "If Eros were present, your promise would be worthless."
Medeea also asked: "If Eros cursed you, would you also betray Worp?"
Logar did not get angry, but answered her very seriously.
"That day will never come. If Eros cursed me, I would self-terminate before I harmed him."
"Your human emotions are too heavy."
Medeea shook her head.
Logar: "So you are not human."
He could never trust this Iron Man, nor could he find any redeeming qualities in her.
Worp reminded them: "We need to overthrow the Covenant's rule first, and then we can talk about the revival of civilization."
Medeea: "I will be ready before you leave. The Covenant has never been a hindrance."
...
The core world completely simulated the changes of time and seasons by mimicking Ancient Terra's day-night cycle and seasonal changes, and the sun rose and set as usual.
Worp stood on the Tip of the Tower of the hive city, the ochre-red sunset diffusing through the core world's atmosphere, forming a wonderful contrast of warm and cool colors with the metallic silhouette of the hive city.
Logar asked: "Is it as beautiful as Terra?"
Worp: "As beautiful as Ancient Terra."
He had gnawed on corpse starch for five years on M30 Terra. Although the sun was present every day, atmospheric pollution made dawn and dusk luxuries, and the sun would only occasionally peek out during the brightest part of midday.
In contrast, the meticulously calculated sunset in the core world always presented itself in its most perfect form.
Especially since he was so close, as if he could reach out and touch it.
Logar was originally worried about how to make Worp like Colchis, but now he found the trick: wasn't this core world a ready-made mini-Terra?
He suddenly felt that Medeea wasn't entirely without merit. He remembered the credit for this core world.
When he executed the Iron Men later, he would use a swift blade.
Worp: "Give civilization to the ages, not the ages to civilization. Give the ages to civilization, not civilization to the ages. Logar, which do you prefer?"
Give civilization to the ages: civilization is brief and brilliant, leaving a profound mark in the vast river of history.
Give the ages to civilization: civilization barely survives to avoid its demise, becoming ugly and unbearable.
What would the Imperium of Man look like after his return?
Logar: "Humanity once had a brief and glorious civilization in the Golden Age. The Imperium of Man will inherit this glory. Our civilization will be glorious and long-lasting. The ages will remember our civilization, and our civilization will span the ages, and even the gods cannot stop it!"
Worp smiled.
Logar: "Don't you believe me?"
"I believe you, that's why I'm smiling. I look forward to seeing such a future."
"Then I will make it happen."
The Emperor initiated the Great Crusade, and he and his brothers would help him unify the galaxy.
Any enemy that stood in his way would be mercilessly crushed, no matter who!
Logar made up his mind.
Except Worp.
...
"It's been five days."
Akhida stood on the city wall, gazing into the depths of the Low Desert, "My Lord has not yet returned, Erebus, did my Lord tell you a specific deadline?"
Erebus, wearing the exoskeleton armor he had stripped from an Armorer Deacon, shook his head: "No, but I believe they will return safely."
"I believe them too, it's just,"
Akhida said worriedly, "Mogael has already found the Covenant's vanguard fifty kilometers away. They only took five days to gather an army, twice as fast as Esperia predicted."
Esperia gritted her teeth: "That's because they deprived the slaves of their rations and conscripted a large number of slaves as cannon fodder, which allowed them to assemble a Holy Covenant Army in such a short time."
The Covenant had no moral qualms about using slaves as cannon fodder, because dead people don't need to eat.
Moreover, these slaves could also be used to waste the rebels' ammunition and weaken their morale.
You want to liberate the slaves, do you? Alright, then let the slaves attack the rebels. Will you kill these slaves or not?
It's best to kill them; if word gets out, no slave will dare to support the rebels again.
If they don't kill them, the rebels, to prevent the slaves from dying, must let them into the city.
But Covenant soldiers would certainly hide among the slaves, and the rebels would not have time to identify them one by one. Once the Holy Covenant Army began to besiege the city, these people would coordinate with the Holy Covenant Army from inside and out, making it very difficult for the rebels to resist.
This was an open conspiracy, but Esperia had no choice.
She could only defend Melson to the death. If the Covenant truly sent slaves to attack the city, she could only keep them outside.
Regardless, the rebels had to hold out until Worp and Logar returned.
"Clang!"
The bell sound pierced through the sandstorm of the Low Desert, and a landship as majestic as a mountain slowly emerged.
Its armored hull was covered with traces of wind and sand erosion, and its giant tracks rolled over the reddish sand sea under the Colchis sunset, leaving a trail several kilometers long behind it.
Whenever the bell tolled, it signaled the beginning of a holy war; this was a tradition of the Covenant.
Since the establishment of the Covenant, the bells of a thousand holy wars had crushed countless heretics.