Teamwork and Guardian Protocol
Aiko lay beneath the surface of the marsh. Silt kicked up about her. Teeth gnawed against her. Hungry. A voracious appetite for her mind. The creatures remained foiled against her metal skin. Her stomach began a long, slow, grow as the milliseconds slowly passed. Something the crew of both the
Cotopaxi and the
Troubadour was incorrect about her. That she and the machine were separate entities. This was, ultimately, a falsehood. The nanites were quantum bound to her will and hers alone. Separation was impossible. How much conscious access Aiko had to the system was another matter entirely. How much she even
could access, was another matter entirely.
What wasn't another was the current situation. Aiko didn't have the answers to her questions. The slowing of the motors threatened to overwhelm her. So, she took the alternative and bypassed it. Generating new electrical pathways for her machine thoughts to travel. Isolating the gunking, plaguing thoughts into their own feedback loops to be analyzed and processed later. Rerouted, Aiko found clarity. She wasn't blind to everything happening around her. She just had been unable to meaningfully focus on it. Outside, some of the beasts had shot beyond her with one latching onto Percy. This…wasn't a problem. The solution was obvious. Reginald, Vlare, Blaster, and Ana were collecting upon a local bank. They were assembling some device too…how quaint. This, too, wasn't a problem. Aiko registered the rapid approach of five bipedal lifeforms. A collection of similar races, being that all were biologically compatible. The thought amused Aiko for some reason. One that she couldn't pin down. Turning aside from the matter, she ran through the basic checklist.
System rebooting…
Antimatter Core: Stable.
CPU: Online. Biological portions rerouted. Reason not quantified. Entry "Homosapien" is incomplete.
Antimatter Production: Ready.
Matter Intake System: Online.
Nanite Proliferation Systems: On Standby
Situation Analysis calls for Guardian Protocol.
Nanite Status for the following systems:
- Manipulation: Green
- Wings: Red
- Limbs: Green
- Psi-Ops: Unstable. Irrelevant
- Defenses: Full Guardian Suite
- Sensors: Green
- Weapons: Authorized. Non-lethal preferred outside of energy needs.
- Production: Limited to Fledging rank.
Systems reboot complete.
Guardian Template: Homosapien
Form: Dread
Source: Myself
Checklist Complete
Operation "Magnetic Attraction" is a go.
Aiko felt a smile begin to tease the corners of her mouth. The beasts were hungry. On that point, she could agree. It was time to eat.
Reginald cursed silently as Perseus went under. But could do nothing as the team was driven back with Blaster, seeing the sudden sinking of the metallic titan, opened up with his own array of weapons. Unfortunately, with how murky the water was, it was impossible to tell how effective they were being. He didn't dare risk anything larger without knowing where the other two shipmates were.
Reginald left him to it. Relying on the weapons fox to hold the beasts at bay for the crucial period of time.
"We can't just…" Ana began.
"We won't," Reginald overrode, "Ana, will you be able to jury rig what's needed."
"I don't…I'm not an engineer so I don't…" she stuttered.
Reginald looked at her, "I need you to do it. What device do you have that has wires rated for underwater work."
"My long-range comms. In the event that the case cracked it would still run fine."
"Good, crack open its power source and rig it so its activity is easily detected," he said as he rummaged a defibrillator out of his medical kit, "Vlare, broadly describe the frequencies and strength of the fields those things are making."
"They're rapid and strong enough to deflect basic energy weapons."
Rapid and strong, Reginald's mind raced. If these creatures somehow operated off of magnetic fields and the planet was chocked full of them, it stood to reason that other lifeforms would produce such fields.
If a predator was fast and strong, perhaps…
"Ana," Reginald said as he overrode the safeties on the defib device, "wire this into the comms power and rig it to produce a strong field with a low frequency. Make sure not a single jolt of electricity gets outside of it."
"I…yes. I can do that. Yes." Utilizing her tools, she hooked in the additional power before spraying any exposed wires with protective coating, "It's ready."
"What's the plan doctor?" Vlare worried.
"Hopefully, this will fool whatever those are into thinking this is a large, tasty target. Or distract them somehow."
"But you don't even know if they would go for that!"
"No," Reginald agreed as Blaster sprayed the water with fire, "but we've got to try something."
Suddenly, rushing up, came Alpha team. Reginald had almost forgotten about them. Perseus erupted from the water and, despite having no idea as to the plan, shouted to do it. Gabi yelled in dismay. The good doctor didn't even glance between the two. Without hesitation, activated then hurled the device. It didn't even hit the water. A silver tendril caught it. Ava shrieked. Vlare's eyes bulged. Blaster didn't know whether to shoot it or not. Reginald didn't even move yet his memory flashed back to the moment Aiko exploded from her absolute zero prison as the water erupted. Twisting out of the water was an eldritch shape. Sending the creatures around it flying. It arched into an alien shape, forming what could only be described as a fanged maw.
Numerous tendrils rose, batting some creatures away as dust-mites before a fan. A few, squealing in absolute fear, were stuck in the silver. One, in desperation, fear, or some primordial urge, lunged again at Perseus. It never reached him as the maw lashed out and caught the beast. It let out a single squeal before it was suddenly engulfed.
Crunch!
The silver beast took the impromptu device and made only one modification to it: frequency amplification. Following along some sort of primordial instinct, it twisted the generated magnetic field to be one of some great beast of dread. A predator that the swarm had unwisely wandered into and was paying the price. It let out a demonic roar that blasted upon the party's ears and seemed to rake across their minds. The hunters turned prey scattered. Terrified. Swishing and splashing away as fast as they could go.
The machine began to implode as Aiko activated one of its most quietly potent abilities. Cannibalizing numerous nanites for energy while endless others took the mass and energy and began printing. Before their very eyes, black metal plates formed. Smooth golden skulls adorned it. Forming into the image Reginald had seen half of when he had first met and studied the entity known as Aiko Takeda. Nine feet tall. Born from the imaginings of a demented miner turned warrior. Power armor to daunt and intimidate the sentient races of the Empire. The form that had nearly crushed the good doctor with a single hand. He suppressed a shiver.
A sound like a person slurping a straw echoed out from the machine before it giggled, "aaah. That was delicious! And yet I'm still not satisfied."
"Delicious? What do you mean? What happened to that animal?" Vlare questioned. Reginald knew exactly what happened and anticipated Aiko's reply.
"What else, I ate it."
It whipped to face them. The helmet's visor was a silvery sheen that betrayed nothing as to what lay behind. A childish giggle came from the armor. "What's wrong?" she said as she, despite the bulky form, smoothly moved over to Perseus and forked over the impromptu device the team had made, "he's fine and Blaster found something. Isn't this what you wanted? Let's go."
Reginald pulled himself together. "She's right. We need to keep moving. Good work everyone. Thank you for the support, captain. We should be fine going forward."
He hoped he was right.
Far away, but still on the planet, Aiko's psionic roar washed across the decrepit ruins of a tower. Decay had seen it covered in layers upon layers of growth, but what looked like bulbous bubbles of black oil could still be seen. The roost began to glow. Its owner had returned.