Ultima Ratio

Chapter 2: Return of the Goddess

Izzy's last words sparked a flurry of commotion, and Akira remained on high alert as the blur of locals swarmed them. Eventually, the most aggression came from the elders as they vied for a chance to touch Izzy's afro themselves, and Akira focused on the kids clamoring around her.

The last thing she needed was for them to grab her gun or a grenade, so she diverted their attention to her safest possession: a wide metallic watch band that hugged her left wrist. She felt their eyes on her as she examined it; when she pushed a small button on the inside, the silver rectangular strip that popped out made them jump.

They were entranced as the metal unfolded in her palm, and when the rectangular sheet lit up, they joined Akira in staring at the image: a group of six soldiers in uniform, their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders as they grinned at the camera. Akira paused briefly at the photo before disconnecting her phone from the wristband and offering it to the children.

As most of them fiddled with it in awe, one outlier stared between Akira and something hidden in their hands. After Akira convinced herself that there was no way they were concealing a weapon, she crouched before them with the friendliest smile she could muster.

"What's that you got there?"

Much to her surprise, a robotic voice spoke from within the child's hands, sounding similar to the locals' language.

Suddenly, the adults converged on them, each exclaiming in their native tongue. While Akira didn't understand their words, their heightened volume and sharp enunciations made it clear they weren't pleased, and all of their rage was directed at the panicked child.

"That explains how they discovered the internet," Izzy said.

When the voice spoke from the child's hands again, the locals quieted instantly, their gazes bouncing between the child and Izzy. Izzy grinned, and when he extended a hand to the child, they didn't hesitate to relinquish their secret.

It was a phone almost identical to Akira's, and while it was an older model, it had to be made within the last ten years.

Izzy tapped the lit screen, then held it out in front of him. "Can you understand me?"

They did, judging by their excitement when the phone spoke.

Thanks to the translator, Akira and Izzy quickly learned the locals didn't know where the phone came from, or what it was for. They thought it was a divine relic of one of their gods, and the children were tasked to clean its shrine daily.

Those children had turned it on one day while roughhousing. Fearing punishment from their elders, they kept it a secret, and instead used their cleaning time to fiddle with the device. They were particularly amused by the translator function and how symbols would appear on the display as they spoke. And then, somehow, their narrated tales ended up translated on the internet.

"You spoke about the story of Oelu and Hania," one elder said as she patted Izzy's ruffled hair. "It is the one our children are most familiar with."

"Could you tell me more about it?" Izzy asked, taking a seat right there in the dirt.

The locals were happy to follow suit, and they all sat in a cluster around them. Akira, on the other hand, wasn't entirely comfortable with the unexpected attention, but she begrudgingly let herself be pulled to the ground by the children; the one that had her phone plopped themselves down in her lap.

According to the elders, Oelu and Hania were the gods that created their island, Pali Uli. The first settlers found the island by accident, thrown off-course from their voyage by a vicious storm. They were welcomed by the gods with open arms, and when the relentless weather and waters stranded them there, they started a new life.