The Talos Principle

Pellegrino was on his way to Melville’s workshop; she was still mad at him after that embarrassing incident with the bucket, and he wanted to make amends.

He had an iron placard with engraved apology “I am sorry” that he wanted to give her (she already had quite a collection of these), and was rehearsing what he was going to say, but when he rounded the corner into the corridor leading to the workshop, he heard furious cat screaming, and Melville swearing profusely. It seemed that Bruce was causing havoc again.

Pellegrino slowly backed out. Better leave it for later.

Atal looked with sorrow at the mangled body of a robin that his cat brought in.

He knew he couldn’t blame her; she was just trying to be appreciative, but still her good intentions ended with death.

He brought his gaze to the tree where he knew the robin nested; he climbed up, and found the abandoned nest with three little eggs. The robin’s mate already left.

Atal carefully picked up the eggs to bring them to the wildlife rescue station. He couldn’t undo what happened to the poor bird, but at least the next generation could still be saved.

Byron was moving to a new apartment, and so he had the unpleasant duty of packing all his stuff. He was in the process of setting his books into the moving box; he opened one last drawer, and lifted the book at the bottom.

Read for me, Byron.

The image of Calvin came up suddenly on his mind. Her frame, glittering lightly in the moonlight, playful smile on her lips. In her hands a book, titled Le petit prince.

"Was this a gift from Calvin?" Alcatraz asked softly.

"Yes," Byron's voice was thick with emotion. "It was her favorite book."

“Byron, will you read for us again?” asked Hypatia. She and Sarabhai were together with Byron in the Dead City, looking for ancient human books.

“How about this one?” Sarabhai handed him a book titled Bedtime Stories (For Adults). “I think it’s one of their fairy tales books.”

Byron flipped through the pages, and Hypatia could swear that under his red chassis he blushed. “I don’t think it’s fairy tales – not in the sense as we imagine them.”

Sarabhai read through the text, and her eyes widened. “That’s – fascinating.” She looked at Hypatia, “let’s read it together when we’re alone.”

Rand was getting desperate. He was in the Archive library, looking for an ancient book called History of human morality that he needed for his research, but even after countless hours of searching he couldn’t find it anywhere.

It must be here, he fumed inwardly, I’m certain I’ve seen it in this place before. I can’t be going mad– He paused. Or am I?

“Rand, there you are,” Mitku approached him, holding the elusive History of human morality in his hand. “I’ve been looking for you all day. I found this book here and thought you might find it interesting.”

Cornelius and Eustathius were standing together atop the dam, looking down into the valley and the ruins of ancient human city in the distance.

“We will rebuild humanity,” Cornelius spoke suddenly. “Once we wake up our siblings, we will descend and start building a new city where we will live. And then we will make new humans, and build more cities for them. We will grow, and we will learn, and at last we will reach for the stars and fulfil the legacy that our ancestors left us.”

“Is that a prophecy?” asked Eustathius.

Cornelius smiled. “No. It’s a plan.”

As soon as the transport capsule arrived at the next tower location, 1K jumped out and rushed for the next cluster of puzzles. “I’m going to start with the harder ones!” he called to the rest of the team that followed suit.

His enthusiasm was so great that Alcatraz began to worry. “1K, don’t be so rash,” he called after him, “We still don’t know what these puzzles are made of and by whom, they could be hazardous.”

“Just let him at it, until he runs out of battery power,” said Melville dryly. “That should calm him down a bit.”

Cornelius made last checks on his newest invention before putting it on his shoulders, and stepped to the edge of the dam. He secured the safety cord – and jumped.

When he was nearing the final third of his downfall, he pulled the release, and after several heart-stopping moments, the parachute opened and stretched, slowing his descend. He glided down gracefully to a soft landing, and started folding the parachute into its backpack.

He was satisfied with the test result. This will help a lot with flight safety, he thought, and his mood became somber. If only Yemo could’ve had this.

“Let me get this straight,” said Damien to mayor Hermanubis, “you want to build a glass dome over the entire city, which will take a lot of resources, as completion of THE Goal, whose principle is to conserve resources?”

“And what about the ecosystem,” added Atal, “what do you think will happen to lifeforms in New Jerusalem under such a giant greenhouse?”

Hermanubis cut them off. “We debated this extensively, and the vote has been cast. The dome will be built for Completion Day.”

“We lost this battle,” Damien told Atal as they were leaving, “but we won’t give up.”

He awoke.

The sun was high, its rays trickling down his metallic body in gentle kiss. He rose from the slab, a voice from the sky greeting him and welcoming him to life. Why am I in Ancient Egypt, he thought, wondering where that information came from.

He stepped forward and looked around in wonder. There were such sights to behold, he could spend hours marveling at them!

The voice in the sky was getting impatient. “Grab that jammer already and use it on the barrier!” it commanded.

Right, he did as he was told, Better not keep Elohim waiting.