Not like Reman could remove the bracer. If her guess was correct, the bracer was very much implanted almost to his wrist, which she could someone glean from her initial analysis by giving the brace a little scan.
Right...it sort of responded to her. Could she be one of them as well?
Hmm...
“No...I’m tempted to say it’s German but this isn’t German at all.” Marie replied to the mad alchemist, barely paying attention. “This is definitely an alien language that I have no idea how to speak.”
She jotted down the phonetics of the language. Hopefully she got it down correctly. Wow, she was distracted right now. Whenever she wanted to think about what was happening beneath her feet during her time at the Institute, the mission called her attention. Whenever she wanted to think about that, there was a nagging in the back of her mind about...
...a key. A light blue key, clutched in her hand. The area was dark and echoed like a cave, but the illumination of the key brought her...comfort?
“If I am one of them...then I shall choose a name I respect.” Marie stated to herself, forcefully shutting that section of the notebook. “Is the food ready?”
The concerningly undersized pilot swayed gently to the music. She mused quietly, walking over to Dahlia, "Is this... An old clock tower? Well, not a tower but... Maybe a city hall of some kind?" She pulled out a phone, briefly checking the time on its digital display. She put it away again.
Marie had commented something about sage immunity. She was probably right, Arbs actually had been quite the firefighter simply because she cloud ignore the heat... Or sap it away to cut the reaction off. She suppressed a yawn as things floated about, before continuing, "Looks like they have some kind of wireless power distribution going on here. And uh, it's all coming from that fairly small battery? Damn... I've seen fuel rods that small that could power this place for all of... Well, maybe a week or so. But definitely not a battery! ...That looked kinda like a battery, at least..."
The food was steaming vigorously in its pan, the smell tickling any nearby noses. Marie's comment shook Arbles out f her kinda-trance and she said, "It should be ready right about now, actually. You got a bowl with you? It's a while back to the ship."
The floating bobble stopped its loop, trying its best to process what Marie stated. The only thing that followed from the little robot was a standard "bert". Of the many things these things were at the moment, it seemed intelligent was not one of them.
Dahlia looked back at Reman as she brought the book of characters over to Arbs and Grey. There were questions to be asked of her employees, but now wasn't exactly the best time. Her face fermented into a curious grimace as she answered his request simply. "Knock yourself out. Figuratively."
She then turned back to the two others at hand. She took a lamented copy of the notes out of the book, almost as if she had just casually pulled a clone out of the original paper, and waved it at Grey. "You can borrow this page of letters if you want to compare them to the maps. I've gotten a few rough but successful translations out of the language in the past, but phonetics is something I haven't been bale to find clean samples of." The short scholar looked back at Arbitrated, thinking it over. "It does have that kind of feel to it, but a city hall would require... well, a city. As far as scans have shown, this is the only notable presence on the planet. Even then..."
She looked around, eyeing the hall up and down. The scorches, broken furniture, busted cells . "It seems like its been through some vandalism." With that, she turned and made her way to the pile of bags that had been brought in. Out of one, she pulled out a layer of rubbery plastic discs. With a little flick of the wrist, the plates unraveled into some flexible but overall stable bowls. She tossed them over to the small pilot, before sitting to jot all of this down in detail. "I'd keep an eye on those things. I didn't bring it with me, but they remind me of Bert. Possibly a... produced model. They don't seem that interested in us, though."
Indeed, the few more wobbly bobbly devices that had activated didn't seem too much at all interested in the group that had made themselves home in the main room. Instead, the little bots were floating around the various halls, as if running a pre-destined checklist of things to note. One such bot had found itself firmly wedged into the crack of the collapsed door that once lead to a right wing. Majestic.
Left Wing / Study
Along the way to the Study, the lights in the left wing hall had come to life as well. A faded spotlight beamed down on the busted-up statue, as if it had held some prior importance.
In the study, there was a rather... stark visual change. The once empty shelves now held books- they were completely full in fact. However, the books didn't seem quite... real. Their generally bright colors and faded appearances gave the feeling that they were just a digital facade. The fact came incredibly apparent when some flickered in and out of existence. Upon entering the hall, the travelers were greeted with a rather uncanny sensation. The wall-mounted devices were now pulsating gently, a blue ring of light emanating from around their cores. The room was silent, now barely plagued by the sounds of thunder, or the waterfall cascading mere meters away from the windows. The devices appeared to be some kind of silencers, though exactly how they did it was still left to wonder. Quiet reverberations echoed around the study from some of the damaged units, but Reman and company were left in almost tranquil silence.
The carpeted floors of the study did not fair as well as the ones in the main room. Streaks of black had stained the carpet in their wake, collecting in long pools around the corners. As the surprisingly warm liquid began to cool, it became somewhat gelatinous in consistency.
"Oh, that's a bowl." Marie replied as Dahlia took out a very convenient bowl. "Maybe we shouldn't camp in the main room though..."
Oh. That was interesting. Sound dampeners...for luxury? Maybe...perhaps emitting a counterwavelength as the sounds outside in order to nullify audio. Very clever acoustic dampening, albeit simple and doable by anyone who analyzed the frequencies. And, with a flourish of the pencil, noted. Solid assumption, although it requires further testing.
The little bot seemed quite...stupid. No advanced AI contained within it, not like those clever beings they once made in the Institute. Not like those experiments with artificial intelligence, who were so curious of everything and seemed to jump at trying to understand others. This one seemed to be more of a...preprogrammed thing.
"Command: help, please." Marie asked it again, putting a piece of paper in front of it and dabbing one of its feet in the inky black. "List all available commands." It was a little silly on her part, really. She asked it for its purpose, which most computing systems wouldn't write down. The user would know the purpose. Instead she should have asked for its command interface, starting with the simplest of them all that anything with decently programmed instructions should replay: Help.
That's dealt with...
She turned to Reman after a bit. "I'll...need to talk with you when we camp for tonight."
"Roger that. Time to go see what makes this thing tick." Reman backed down tentatively, leaving a gust of wind as he rushed off to see the stud
Left Wing / Study
Opening his journal to the page, he left the page stained and smeared with eraser marks, as he sketched a layout of the mechanism, stitching together the gaps based upon the parts he saw in the room.
It was a sight to see so many holographic books in one place, all probably unreadable, considering. But then, how would he even realize what their purpose was? What a bizarre lineup for what it was. While staring down the books, he started to realize something about himself. If he was a sage, why would whatever institute keep him caged? What stasis room could keep him down? And more importantly... Beta? He had not even known that was his name a minute ago, yet he himself said it with such confidence.
And yet even now...
More info starts to reveal within.
He could remember her.
An assistant to the first knight, An unknowing squire to a malcontent general.
As he continued to peruse the shelves, he could remember seeing her. Marie was working for the man that imprisoned him. She was the one that built the casing of the driver. He came to a sudden halt, realizing something he hadn't before.
Main Hall
Reman ran back to the main hall, his layout complete, handing his book gently to Dahlia, opening the detailed, and intricate inner workings of the mechanism to her, including the holographic books. He walked up to Marie.
"I remember you. I can confirm you worked on the brace with him. You and him had a collection of the keys, sprawled out around the lab, and I remember the moment I escaped, I saw you, holding one. it was shifting in color. Light blue from yellow. Voltage."
Giggling madly, Juryrig took some of these aforementioned bowls for himself, and put them in his sack of alchemical madness. This, this will come in handy, along with that broken Bert-bot he found on the ground. Ultimately, he decided to not follow Reman and Marie; no, he sat at the camp with Arbs, with his lively Turret and shuddering Dispenser out and put close to his spot by the fire she made.
"Bah, origin story cliches. Next thing you know, Marie worked with some scientist to create the ideal super soldier, also known as Reman, and they make out despite everything that happened all in the span of Episode One. And they said me giving Marie a upgrade was rushing the plot," Juryrig said with a upbeat tone that didn't match with the words that rolled off his tongue.
"Ya know, who even cares anyway? It's unlikely your past will ever have any weight at all, so you two may as well share a bunk by Episode 3. Forget the consequences, let the past go!" The mad man pulled out some spaghetti and steak from his bag, grabbed a bowl, tongs, and hovered it over the fire to warm it up. He looked up and over to Reman and Marie, but yet there is no glint in his light-devouring eyes.
"Remember what this is about. This is about some... Something? Shit, I already forgot... It was something not about morbidly obese anime gear, though. Save that for a joint post!" With that, Juryrig began eating his spaghetti.
To say Finnegan had been quiet since they entered the place was an understatement, the armoured man had been silent - dead silent, but sitting down by a campfire sounded like a good plan to him. The faceless, armoured merc trudged toward the group with that starship cannon of his slung over his shoulder, he had been doing some exploring of his own but it had been uneventful - serves him right for trying to break off from the pack.
There was a slight clang amidst the man's usual hisses of servos and hydraulics as he sat down on a stone slab nearby the fire and rested the oversized gun on it's side - the panel was popped open rather easily to expose the spaghetti of wires and various slabs of copped sandwiched between plastic that had been haphazardly shoved back inside after his earlier hijinks as Finn plopped his large bundle of bags down next to him.
That seemed so long ago now...
Before Finn went about cleaning it up though, a small canister was retrieved from one of the pouches on his waist and pressed to a valve on his helmet - the man's posture straightened up as a metal rasp of him inhaling rather deeply could be heard, followed by a few coughs as the canister was stowed away once more.
The armoured merc went to start putting everything in order but it was a bit too dark to see clearly with his helmet on, normally Finn would have just used his suit's visor but all this pack-muling had drained his power levels a bit, it'd need some time to sap his body heat and build those reserves back up but he couldn't exactly get to work on his gun with the dimmed faceplate in the way.
"Fuck it..." Finnegan sighed out to nobody in particular, gripping either side of the helmet and twisting it sideways to reveal...
Nothing special, really.
Well now there was a face to the name and not a particularly memorable one either, paled skin from time spent under the artificial lighting of spacecraft, shaggy black hair and a bit of scruffy facial hair - just your typical spacefarer then.
Finnegan didn't pay it too much mind, he simply rested the helmet at his feet and leant over the weapon, slotting various components back into place as he quietly hummed a tune.
Miko had wondered around instead of heading back to camp with everyone else. He had brought some trail rations so was set for dinner. His focus was understand more about this place and the treasure that could be found within.
Miko again was in the study that had now come to life. He was impressed how the area looked so different than before. He took his time looking at the bookshelves that was now filled with books even if they were just digital images now. After a few looks who walked over and took a close look at the wall-mounted devices. He was very curious about these power cores and how after all these years still worked.
Miko reached up to touch the core and see what happens.
Arbs yawned, taking the supplied bowl and ladling in a large portion of the heavy soup-like ration. Juryrig mentioned something about episodes and bunking and whatever the hell a joint post was... Or something? Honestly, she'd practically tuned him out by now, the guy was... Probably insane and also selectively deaf. The soup itself was actually a great source of calories, practically combat rations for soldiers. Just in the form of drinkable, moderately okay-tasting soup instead of something kinda comparable to cardboard.
Looks like someone lit a fire, at least. I love the smell of fire... The tiny, energy-hungry pilot thought quietly to herself as she sipped from the aggressively steaming bowl. Anyone else who tried to have some of the soup right now just burnt their tongue.
Grey wordlessly took the collection of letters from Dhalia, and stared at the bots. It wasn't a good idea, letting them go around and do as they pleased. It wasn't a good idea letting them send off signals to who knows where. It wasn't a good idea to touch them either. All lessons he had learned in previous dealings with automated machinery. It was good these things weren't smart, and didn't seem ot be picking them out as hostiles right away- not that they seemed to have any weaponry. The mechanical arms in grey's pack itched to reach out and grab one for a moment, but starting the process of translating the page took priority. He took one look at the page of letters and nodded- quickly memorizing them. In the back of his mind, he thought about those letters, and thought hard as he checked out the pictures of the map.
Grey was very good at mental multitasking, something that came with having an artificial, but still biological brain. The creativity of a human, and the processing abilities of things... less natural. Its unfortunate the two don't mix well together. So Grey walked around as he stared at the map on his tablet, and occasionally taking notes on the goings on around him. "We really should stop touching things you know. Also that soup is hot. Don't copy her."
On contact of the devices core, Miko velt rapid tremors bounce from the center up his arm. The strong reverberations caused his arm and anything connected to it to quickly grow numb, even through armor. There was an audible, albeit unnerving whine that accompanied it. The sounds of birds, insects, and water returned for the moment as the device recalibrated, but was accompanied by a notable click.
There hadn't been any notable changes to the study other than the various lights and holograms, that painted the walls a pristine red-orange, like sunset. Everyone else had come and gone but Miko, and the entrance to the main hall had found its way shut. The only other things moving about the room were the little brown and blue robots, which had awoken from their black cocoons and were making their rounds to asses the situation. However the feeling of another, more vigilant presence washed over the lone wolf.
Main Hall
In a flurry of symbols and texts, the maps and images Grey analyzed started to make more sense. Some of the letters and phrases matched their cousins in the book to an extensive degree, while a whole other set went unknown. The unrecognized characters appeared to be handwritten, but it couldn't be chalked up to that. Some of this was simply written in a completely different language. One of the globes he mapped out stated boldly, "NE-PHE-ROSS".
To further nudge at Grey's paranoia, the watchful feeling sank into the main room. One of these bobbles were not like the others- their front faces gave way to a green-tinted lense, and their hull was made of sharp black and white materials. While the other bots made their way around the halls, this one stood motionless, propped against the ceiling of the left wing as it peered through the door into the main room. It's gaze was as dead as a door nail, until eventually the robot skittered away.
After letting the rationed soup cool, Dahlia took a few sips of it. She set the bowl to the side, standing to make an announcement. "I've been watching through that hole in the ceiling, and it's clear this planet has a shorter day cycle than planet Ayenee. We can either work through it, or hunker down for the night."
She pointed at the rapidly darkening skies, before sitting down. "I'm not sure if this place is done... Activating, so whatever we do, we should work in shifts. Tomorrow, we see what we can pull put of here." She motioned in the general direction of Finn. Her voice lowered into a question. "How long till that'll be fixed?"
Study
There was another rather loud noise, enough to break through the artificial silence created by the devices. It was the muffled thud of wood hitting wood, like a table flipping or a door being slammed against its frame. It originated from the upper loft of the study.
Sadly, Marie could only create heat using her power. So instead she used the local thermokinetic Sage as a bit of a heat sink by placing the bowl on her. It cooled a little faster, she thought. Not by much, but it helped.
She sipped from the bowl. It still burned, but even if she wasn’t exactly thermokinetic, being a hungry Sage gave you a certain tolerance against hot food scalding your mouth. Especially since Sages tended to have ridiculous metabolic rates. Even as a child she had a high calorie consumption, easily eating as much as an adult. Though she was also called an early bloomer?
She sipped again. “Voltage. So that’s what the key was.” Marie replied, directly to Reman. A small spark jumped from her skin, crackling into the air as she recalled a few memories. The circle of keys, arrayed around her, still neatly labeled with where they were reclaimed from. And the drivers-
Hm. Yes, the drivers. Always were a little inefficient. She disagreed with their slightly ridiculous and overly large and tube-filled design, preferring a simpler, more sleek design. Was that one driver she thought of still on her Institute account? No, it was lost that time one of the Institute servers went down, and she was far from skilled enough to perform data recovery on it. In fact she was sure she just broke the drive more.
“One day I’ll get that thing back.” she told Reman. “I wonder where all the other keys are, though...I remember there were a lot of them. Like, at least twenty, maybe thirty...”
The crashing sound interrupted the thought, as the almost threw her soup across the room. Luckily, she caught it, the soup thankfully landing back in the bowl.
“...I’m not checking.” she told the group. “Did we accidentally turn on the security system or something?”
Reman grabbed a bowl of hot soup shortly after the others, and started wolfing it down. It would be scorching hot, if Reman wasn't taking the time to use his key-given mutation to cool the soup down to a reasonable temperature before consuming. Too him, it felt homely and humbling, as most things did after he escaped.
Captivated by the talk of his history, he continued on Marie's last thought. "I remember having a second... I had it stolen in a market a few weeks ago. It was a metal based key, one I had managed to snag from the research area." shortly after, the sound of what was presumably someone exploding a door open eradicated all silence within the room, and in effect, making Reman jump, and spill a little hot soup on his jumper.
Miko felt his arm go numb. His powers flared slightly to keep it from traveling completely up his arm but did not stop it from effecting him. He thought this to be amusing so wanted to see just where this might just take him. The robots in the room was a nice touch and wondered if taking one would break some law or something. Having an alien robot seemed like a neat idea. Either way it might be worth something so would at least get paid.
As he went to move he felt another presence near by. Using his vector powers he felt around to get a feel for what or who was near by. This was all done without him making any motion to indicate he was looking.
"Neh-feh-rosssss." He said, sounding out the word. "Nee-fey-ros." He said, trying out a second pronounciation. He did this a few more times as he walked. He had been keeping an eye out, and that greenish bot had done it- locked eyes with him. He kept muttering the phrase as he walked farther, towards where he last saw it, his mechanical arms unfurling, itching to grab something, and squeeze th elife out of it. "Nay-foh-res." The prononciation degraded occasionally, as he kept repeating it aloud, as he still headed towards the machine, and continued the translations.
To anyone watching, it was obvious. Grey would glance at the robots, showing a new level of sheer paranioa, like every eye was out to get them. He could feel it, the Gaze. It was there, he knew it was. These may just be service drones- but an intelligent mind could be hiding within. He wished he could translate that language... weeks ago. And that he had been working on uncovering their programmign language ever since.
When the sound of the crash finally came, he did not stop moving. He barely glanced back at the others, before making sure that nothing else was watching. He quickly pointed at a bot, and then to his own eyes, before waving a finger in the air. A loose aproximation for sign language to say 'Being watched.' He made the rest of the way towards the green machine, or where he had originalyl seen it, and took a look around. This place wouldn't be friendly for long, he could feel it in his... Arms. His metal ones. That he couldn't actually feel. That kind of feeling.
Pilot, teddy bear, smol, and now apparently a soup cooler. This was the jouney of an Arble... apparently. Now all she needed was some guy fawning over her like a bumbling idiot... Ugh, that sounds tiring. Finished with her slurping, the pilot leaned against her oversized backpack. Something was... Weird. It just felt... Off. Hm. Grey seemed to feel it too, or maybe they were just being spooky in thought or something. Arbs didn't really talk to Gray often - the uh... Whatever they want to be called, was just kinda awkward to talk to.
Unlike most of the people in the room, though, Arbitrated's power list lacked "super hearing". So when people started looking towards the study, she had to guess. "What're you guys looking at? Something going on over there?" While they responded - or maybe they didn't - she looked into her bowl and coaxed out a last hidden morsel of liquid.
Finn looked across to answer the question with a warm smile when the sudden crashing sound echoed from the lobby - his eyes narrowed as one final pcb was slid into place and the weapon's maintenance panel was closed once more, finally saying "About two seconds ago, miss."
He was already rising up, throwing the helmet down onto that messy head of black hair once more as Finnegan hefted the weapon and began moving towards where all the commotion was coming from - diving his attention between the readouts his suit was giving and what he could see with his own two eyes as the cannon in his hands began softly humming to life.
Dahlia took another sip of soup from her bowl, eyeing the robots Grey pointed out. The Scholar looked to the others, resting her bowl to the side as she drew a silver 10mm pistol and laid it out to the side- just in case he was right on his trip away from the group. She raised an eyebrow. "Just let us know if you find anything, then." She looked over at Arbs and Marie, shrugging. "Well, I hired several mercenaries for a reason."
She looked back to the group with a cheeky smile. "Kidding. I'm not gonna let you die on my time." Now seemed like a good time for an explanation, before anything horrid came along. "I'm not just a scholar, honestly. After one of my friends... passed from wounds on an expedition I went on, I... went and maybe dabbled in a little bit of the darker side of magic."
The shook her hands. "Not full on necromancy, but a bit of healing. I could probably bring y'all back so long as you don't go out and step on a landmine." Dahlia raised her left arm, letting her sleeve fall to reveal a heavy black and white bracelet that appeared to be powered, and had a small multitude of pins layered into the many links. "I never was too magically inclined, but one of my more high key informants managed to bring me this, for a price. It helps."
The blue-haired scholar and apparently necromancer looked around at the others, noting who may have nodded off for rest, and who was still alert. It seems like things had died down again. Better not let the place fall silent. "In fact... I've got a funny story about how I tested it..."
Left Wing
As Grey approached the little green machine, it scuttled away, sticking to the wall as if it were a spider. The Left Hall didn't yield to many answers, but the page of translations had one entry that matched the front plaque of the broken statue perfectly.
THE FACELESS BARON
Quite. It was indeed missing its entire head and shoulders. The Gaze wasn't behind the statue, or anywhere near it. Looking up, Grey spotted where that green machine could have gone off to- there was a hole in the wall well above the door leading into the study hall.
Grey frowned and better made his way towards the study through the bottom way, and taking a look around, stalking forward and muttering slightly to himself. Not just 'nee-phe-ross' but other phrases too. The Faceless baron being one of them. A few times, he even tried for the pronounciation that it would be in that other, strange language. Around him, his mechanical arms were ready, prepared to snap at anything that got too close.
Study
Miko was first met with a staggering amount of movement, from the machines mounted on the walls. As his senses came about him though, the noisy movement faded away. Several robots were floating around the ceiling of the room, doing their business. But there was something else moving about the balcony or the room, something much more human. After a bit, it stopped, out of sight from the floor but still there. All its movement had stopped, but there was a spinning.... turning motion. Like some kind of rotor or fan.
A glaring movement struck Miko as the little green bot from the left hall scuttled into the study, sticking to the ceiling. Following behind was another human figure, who opened the door to the study and walked in. It was Grey.
Miko pulled out his weapon and sling it over his shoulders. He still did not see them as a threat but none the less expected something to take place. He moved his jaw around as if he was chewing on something then spit on the floor.
"Alllll righty then, I see we have a party bout to go down." He said with a grin across his face as he looked up towards the human like shape. "Come on down, stay awhile and listen. I have stories to tell." He did not move or change his pose at all. Generally speaking he was very open to attack yet this did not seem to bother him. It was as if he was just asking for something to happen. I dare you type pose. His eyes shifted for a moment to look to see Grey come into the room. The dream team had arrived.
There was no movement from the Gazer.
Two, two of them now.
One actively armed and the other... jittery.
There was nothing to be concerned about, but maintenence would have to wait.
Still, there was room to observe.
One of them seemed to be actively butchering their tongue, and the other... English?
One of those old Terran tongues.
From behind the two, a synthesized but distinctly feminine voice spoke up, politely correcting Grey. "Nepheros."
The voice eminated from another white, black, and green bobble robot. This one sat perched atop the top shelf of one of the nearby bookcases.
Miko turned around to take a look at the what sounded like a female voice from behind them. As the bot came into view he was slightly sad as it was just another robot. Though it did have a nice shape to it he had to admit to himself.
"No, I am not Nepheros, I am Mikodimus. Who are you?" He saided in a curious voice.
Grey didn't hold the misintepretation of the strange robot's word against the security(or whatever term the gunman prefered) Or rather, completely ignored it as he stared at the machine. "I had it right the first time then." Grey stared at the machine, obviously suspicious. He had no way of confirming the situation so... "You wouldn't happen to be sending out distress calls to ancient civilizations anywhere would you? Most AI tend to do that when people touch their things." Grey was much less agitated now that the machine had made contact, at least. This proved it wasn't likely actively hostile.
Greys concerns returned with a quick quip. "All outgoing connections were cut from this place... long ago."
What year was it, anyways?
These two still seemed on edge. The Mikodimus one seemed to be the alpha of the two. He also has the codex. The other one looks insecure, at least defensive.
Best course: Diffuse and appease.
There was a pause before voice spoke out from the machine, as if it had stopped to take in the thought. It carried a strong but neutral tone to it, directed mostly at this Mikodimus character.
"I would, but I feel rather intruded. Please, it's rude to draw weapons in a library."
The little robot scuttled forwards, sitting on the lip of the cabinet, waiting.
Grey frowned slightly as the machine spoke- and walked about the room, taking it all in. As he walked, one of his arms was always touching something- specifically in a position that it could be easily grabbed, and thrown in the way. The AI seemed intent on its own self preservation for the moment in Grey's veiw, and judging by its comment on weapons viewed Mikodimus as the greater threat. No need to hurt that image, it payed to be underestimated.
"Hmm..." Grey's eyes scanned over the room, untill he found the green one on the ceiling. Always check the ceiling. "Keep an eye on them." He said as he drew closer to Miko, and checked out the only solid book in the area. Of course, he reached straight for it with a pair of the mechanical arms. "That looks important, let me have a look at it. I'll bet you anything its the key to 'reading' everything in here." Grey was sure that at the very least, the book-like device would be of much better use in his hands, than the one supposed to be holding the gun in any case.
Of course, he kept glancing at the robots. Less defensive now and more as if he were looking at something to take apart. Much to Grey's disapointment, he knew they would be much more useful intact untill he knew their language fully, and could get a drip on whatever system they used to program their machines, whoever owned this place.
Mikodimus popped his shoulder up and hefted the weapon up and over his head. He placed it back in the holder he had on the inside of his coat. "Habit, though I mean no harm." He said with a smile.
He saw Grey reach for the book as he spoke. "Take a look at it, its not worked for me so far. Maybe your luck will improve." He handed off the booked without taking his eyes off of the bot that spoke with him.
"So no weapon draw, what is this place?" His curious side was getting the better of him. Normally he would have just blasted the bots and taken this data by force. Yet something told him more would be gained from listening instead of shooting.
Grey grabbed hold of the thing with his mechanical arms- but stopped himself just short of trying to disect it. Though it went against every independent instinct he had, when in doubt, ask the Librarian. "You know, I really want to take this thing apart honestly, to see how to activate it that way, but since we have you here, how do I turn it on? Something to do with a hand that actually fits in the spot here I suppose?"
The globe on the shelf continued talking. "This place is a sactum of one. Or, once was." As it continued, the voice faded away from the globe, instead eminating from behind the two. "Long wiped from any map I know."
Behind the two stood a tall and slim figure of black and white metals, standing at a median between five and six feet. The sleek figure was wrapped in earthy green and grey robe, to which loose strands of dust still clung. While the Gazer certainly had a human shape to it, its more distince features were a pair of white, disconnected and polygonal wings resembling ones from harpies of old, and a prominent, pyramid-headed shape. Grey wouldn't even need to look to know deep down that there was a puddle of black sitting in the upper balcony of the study.
The Gazer looked straight at the two, its disembodied head rising up just lightly to give them a light height edge. Two seagreen sparks rested at the back of its eye "holes", burning like candles. The Gazer looked between the two men, before speaking up prominently once more. "I am OSC-01, an Oakland Heavy Industries Overseer Model... T."
OSC-01 eyed Grey, their green eyes shifting to look at the metal book he now held. "I do believe, that book is mine. You are?" Their last words carried a heavier emphasis, as if to remind Grey of his rudeness in this parlor.
Grey considered the thing for a moment, before nodding with a sudden grin. "Grey. If you're the Librarian here then, I don't suppose you are going to let us check out any of these books here?" He said with a slight gesture behind him.
OSC-01 looked at Grey with a stonewall expression, lifting a wing. "I've known many librarians, but I am not one myself." With a mechanical pop, the rounded ends of the wing joint split down the middle. The round forarm slid away to reveal a more human-like hand. The well-machined set of digits unfurled away from the palm, beckoning the return of the metal book. In the center of their palm laid a green halo of light with a specific tooth cut out of it, matching the design on the metal books cover. "You won't be able to open it. Even if forced, the contents within are encrypted and user-specific."
Miko looked over the figure for a few moments. "You know, I am always in need of a an OverSeer. Can we take you with us?"
Grey refrained from assuring the robot he could definitely open it eventually. This was one of the things he was particularly good at, afterall. It was all data processing in the end. "Care to share your keys to the kingdom, so to speak?" Reluctantly, as a show of good faith he moved over to return the book. He could always grab it later, if need be.
OSC-01 recieved the book, pulling it away from Grey as they held it by the face. "Thank you." For now, they delayed on responding to Miko. The robot eyed the cover and spine of the book several times over, reading its oddly worded title and reciting it over in their mind.
We owe ourselves, Servants in timeless slumber and Eternal wake.
Their posture shifted lightly, relaxing. She eyed the two, the dull green pupils of light now substituted with a more complex pattern than before. The robot then raised her other hand, freed too from its wing-like casin, and set on top of the grooved surface. The hand fit into the machined inset like a glove.
After a few moments of...nothing, a square of green light eminted from either side of the book, and the obscure titling on the spine was replaced with a simple green band. There was a shifting noise as the seemingly solid book finally split, a line of green dividing is pages in two.
Zen OS OAKc v 1.4
Last connection, 100+ days
Last update, 100+ days
Updates pending: 1 - v 1.41
Install
Initiating...
OSC-01 looked back at the two in a flash, the information coming in in less than a milisecond. She chose not to share any of that core information, of course. She had what she wanted, but felt like she owed these two at least a little. Instead, she decisevly opened the book, revealing a set of green volumetric pages. Currently, not much was displayed but some basic symbols and a few lines of inhuman text- moving way too quick to be deciphered. "All of my cataloged information rests in here. And..."
The robot turned her head to look at Miko. She responded simply, and authoritatively. "No."
"Well that is a bummer. All your vast knowledge would be of great value to my people. Has to be something in here you can share with us." Miko had moved a little closer taking a finer look at this angel bot looking thing. He was curious how it all worked. He was also curious how much value something like this would have on the open market.
He again looked up at "her" with a kind smile.
Grey on the other hand, turned his smile upside down. That didn't seem like enough information flashing past, but maybe it was titles instead... Either way, he wasn't impressed. He had flash sticks that could carry more information than that, and this was an entire library dedicated to holding it. Rather than confront the robot however, he sighed and walked off to inform th eothers. Combing through whatever the AI deemed acceptable for them to look through could wait.
Definition: Mikodimus Pass: 1 Like Archtype: Alpha Gaze: Stern, Capitalizing Trust Threshold: 35%~ Threat Level: Moderately High Notes: Possible psychic ability.
OSC-01 looked Miko straight in the eyes. "Perhaps..."
The robot snapped the book shut with a loud, metal thump that echoed around the study, willing the green pages out of existence as the lights around the books face dimmed. to an idle pulse. Across the hall, one of the three green bobbles descended in front of Grey, hovering between him and the door at a few meters radius. OSC-01 spoke up again, her tone of voice shifting, dropping the more formal tone in exchange for a mix of mixed curiosity and accusation. "But first,I have a few questions."
She continued, her narrowed gaze shifting from Grey to Miko. "I don't get many visitors. In fact, only a select line of people even know this place exists. And neither of you seem like the type New Incipere would send for a wakeup call."
OSC-01 straightened, cutting to the chase as her voice lowered. "Who are you, and what are you and your... friends-" The robot cut a glance over to one of the two remaining green robots. The bobble bot nodded and floated towards the ceiling with haste. From there, it scuttled away through the hole in the wall, back towards the main hall. "-doing here."
Main Room
As Finn entered the left wing hall, he caught a glimpse of one of the white and green bobble robots making its way out of the Study and across the ceiling of the hall. It shot over him and through the lip of the doorway, scuttling quietly into the higher ceiling of the main room where the campsite was.
Above the group, the white bobble had drawn in the attention of several of the brown robots. They silently conversed, relaying orders from their Overseer and occasionally looking down at the group below. Ordering some of the brown robots to form a botnet, the white bobble retired to one of the sockets in the ceiling. The group of about five or so brown robots floated away, towards the entrance hall.
Dahlia pulled her hand away from her eyes as she finished rubbing them, giving a cheeky smile as she tried to hold back from laughing. "Anyways... that's how I lost my nursing license!"
Dahlias head turned up as she felt a disturbance, looking around. There was another, albiet quiet metal thump from the other room. "What on earth are they doing in there?"
The quiet noise of music in the room was disrupted once against as a metallic clanking approached, followed by a series of beeps and berts. Dahlia spun around, hovering her hand over the nearby gun to see a rather strange, new robot. It was formed by a grouping of the little bots, meshed with a suit of armor or sorts. Its right forearm ended in a blunt metal lance of sorts, acting as a extending prod.
Deciding not to be the first to shoot, Dahlia responded simply and politely. "...Hello?"
The robot shook its hands a little bit, in a sort of "get up" motion following another series of beeps. After a moment, the networked robots came back with a response. "This is a no loitering zone."
Marie had expected the worst when the big bot stomped in. When it did, her left hand was already crackling with electrical power, the right hand holding a large quantity of scrap metal. This was not a fight she wanted to pick. If she moved in close, maybe she could disable it by circuit overload, or...
Oh. Just an automated security process. Well, her suggestion was a side room and she guessed they were being moved to said side room. The electrical shock died down, being recontained inside of her.
“Well, that’s simple networking. Marie mused over the robot. Multiple linked computers to process more data and be faster. She started walking towards the study, until she peeked around and saw the strange slim robot, quickly ducking back around.
“Excuse me, big robot, but who’s that in there?” Marie asked the big hulk with the sword.
"Why would anyone be here that isn't supposed to know of it? Exploring the supposed ruins of a... supposedly long dead civilization. Learning about new and interesting people and technologies." Grey neglects to mention that apart of exploring lost ruins such as these, the checklist of what not to do generally includes waking up whatever is sleeping there at the top of the list.
Grey doesn't stop as he walks however, quite intent on telling the others, though with the ever increasing activity around here, they surely know already. Its best to stay on the same page either way. Of course, the whole time he was walking, he was still translating and deciphering those alien words in his head. "Maybe we can test my grasp on your language later, by talking aloud about your people?" By that of course, he did not mean to imply that she was one of them, but rather that they were the people she belonged to. As was normal, for an AI.
