Commander White hadn’t believed the reports when she first received them, but protocol dictated her actions, not even YoRHa protocol, basic android protocol dictated that if there was any chance it could be true she had to make every possible effort to confirm it really was a human and then more actions to keep the human safe. It’s why false reports were punished so severely.
But when she got sent live biometric data of a human? Well that warranted action. When said human refused to go to a secure resistance site and 13B refused to explain why the human wouldn’t go to said site commander white was decidedly frustrated.
Finally receiving word from 13B that the human was willing to come up and talk to her in person? Well besides the logistical issues it raised it would finally allow her to talk to the human herself.
Only that conversation didn’t go at all like white had planned, instead of convincing the human to stay in a secure location while she used his DNA to recreate humanity she instead spent most of the meeting negotiating an alliance.
In the end even if she didn’t get what she wanted she got something almost as good. A theoretical end to the millennia long war. She just had to hope the sole human wasn’t over estimating himself.
The first collaborative mission would be a raid on a former weapons factory showing suspicious machine activity, in which the “engineer” as the called himself would be supplying 2 of his “mark 2 spidertrons” as well as artillery and air support.
The first of the supplies she had negotiated for, the power armors and a few crates of handheld weapons, would be arriving within the day, and she had to organize trials and testing.
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Balistraia had been scouting out this new land for a few days, a satellite had finally been launched into orbit with the help of YoRHa so only fine details were needed for the local surroundings, as she now had vague maps of the surrounding area. It was this map data that showed several anomalies.
What looked like a carnival, at least partially in operation, and a village set in the middle of a forest.
It wasn’t the resistance, Contact had already been made with the local resistance cell, and their camp location was known, a few couriers had even taken supplies and weapons to it.
And if it wasn’t the resistance Balistraia was obligated to scout out and investigate the locations, starting with the forest village. A few spidertrons were sent out, more than capable of defending themselves against the grand majority of threats and possessing powerful sensors they were best suited for scout operations behind enemy lines.
Something Balistraia had already noted was the lacking hostility of the grand majority of machines, sure in some areas they would attack, or if you provoked them. But as the three spidertrons walked un-harassed through the city, straight past or even through groups of machines that didn’t even acknowledge them, Balistraia noted that even if they didn’t attack, they were more than suitable as mobile cameras or monitoring systems.
That was why any ‘non-hostile’ machine found within a few blocks of the factory was demolished, but calling this current situation a war felt like an exaggeration, sure there had been coordinated attacks on the outpost by machines, but it was more raids and fast strikes than a continuous assault.
No, there was something more going on. If the machines really wanted to win they would be attacking non-stop, as a part of a self replicating army herself she well understood that, and the fact that the machines weren’t only served to raise her guard higher.
As such when she finally entered an area where the machines did attack she was almost relieved, and she gladly let the spidertrons missiles tear the offending machines apart.
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The shift from city to forest was jarring, even if the city was filled with plants and animals the change was drastic. What was even more jarring were the privative wooden bridges between the trees, and the few floating machines that were watching her with significantly more intelligence than the other non hostile machines.
Still they weren’t attacking, and so Balistraia wouldn’t, she simply sent her spidertrons slowly in the direction of the village while ignoring her flying shadows as best she could, she was still half a mile from the village when one of the machines swooped down in front of one of the spidertrons, waving a white flag and speaking in a monotone. “Do not shoot, we come in peace, do not shoot” that repeated on loop as the white flag was flapped in her spidertrons sensors.
After the third repetition Balistraia finally used the spidertrons speakers, “I have no plans on opening hostilites” that got the machine to stop its chanting, though the flag was still waving back and forth. It seemed to think for a few seconds before speaking again “we have never seen a machine like you before, what is your business in the forest?” Balistraia decided against lying, even if her next words caused the robots to attack she was more than capable of defeating them. “I am investigating the village in this forest, the one that built the wooden bridges above us”
The white flag the machine was holding finally slowed and stopped, “That is our village, we are peaceful and would wish to avoid conflict, we can guide you there if you would like?” that seemed awfully trusting “that's rather trusting of you” the machine bobbed up and down in the air, seemingly a gesture of agreement, “Pascal always says we must be the first to extend the hand of peace” a short pause, “and you were heading straight for the village anyway, better I show you there to avoid any misunderstandings”
That was a fair enough point, if she did turn out to be hostile the machine could lead her spidertrons into a trap, and if she wasn’t the machine probably hoped to smooth over an meetings she could have.
Well she was meant to be a diplomat, might as well get some more practice in “fair enough, lead the way” deciding to take only one spidertron as a gesture of good will she sent the other two back towards the edge of the forest, close enough to reinforce if needed but not close enough to be an immediate danger, at that the machine spoke again “your friends can come too”. She had the spidertron shake its head, “no, all of these spidertrons are under my direct control, they aren’t separate beings” well technically they were, but these ones only had the most basic programing. They wouldn’t mind waiting at the edge of the woods because they couldn’t mind it.
The walk through the woods was quite, and the flying machine could keep up with her spidertron well enough, and it wasn’t long before she came to the village, it was situated on a massive tree, and it looked to be a few ring platforms around its trunk, as well as a simple wooden wall and similarly simple wooden shacks.
Bulwark would have despaired at the lacking defenses, and Balistraia couldn’t help but pick out the myriad of ways she could wipe out the village if the need arose, simply lighting the forest on fire would destroy the grand majority of the machines defenses, and she was more than capable.
But destruction was not on her agenda today, as she could clearly see by the dozens of machines waving white flags on each of the platforms, most of which were of a fairly standard model, only one was unique, and it was the machine standing closest to her approach.
It was the most human like of any machine she had yet seen, with facial features capable of emoting. Figuring that for the leader of these machines she sent the spidertron in its direction, ignoring the various machines chanting about peace and surrender.
When she finally got close to the machine it spoke, “hello, I am Pascal, and I mean you no harm, welcome to my village”
And with that negotiations began.
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Pascal had never seen a Machine like the one before him, and he had seen many machines.
The large metal machine had 8 long segmented legs and a large pod-like body in the middle, with eight optical sensors covering its frame. It looked rather like a massive spider. And the way it climbed and walked only reinforced that.
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Still the machine was willing to talk, which was far better than the average machine they met.
“hello, I am Pascal, and I mean you no harm, welcome to my village”
A short pause, this question could be considered rude but Pascal was curious “I have never seen a machine quite like you before, what exactly are you?”
The machine in front of him nodded its head “Hello Pascal, I am Balistraia. The mind in charge of scouting and diplomacy”
Who she was and what she did, parts of what she was. Pascal couldn’t fault that answer even if it hadn’t been quite the information he had been looking for, “ahh, a noble profession. Finding allies and threats to your people, while also extending the hand of peace. I take it it is those missions that bring you here?”
The spider-esque robot nods, turning its head so that its sensors take in the rest of the village, now that the other machines have seen the spider machine is not hostile they returned to their work and conversations, and the spiderbot appears to be watching them talk. “Yes, I am curious as well, all the machines I have encountered up to now either ignore me or attack, what exactly makes this village different?” That would be a fair question for an android to ask, but as a machine herself Balistraia should know about disconnecting from the machine network…. Unless she had never been connected to it in the first place.
“We did not wish to fight, so we disconnected from the greater machine network and founded this village. The other machines you speak of are most likely still connected to the wider network, though some other disconnected groups of machines are not as peaceful as my own, and may attack if you enter their territory”
Balistraia had finished her examination of the village, and her eyes rested on Pascal, And he decided to just ask his question. “For you to not know that I can only assume you were never connected to the network, where exactly did you come from?” As Pascal's own sensors took a closer look at Balistraia he noted the hand bars on her shell, and his eyes finally landed on the faint outline of a door. Was Balistraia the machine before him or someone within it? It would be embarrassing if he had just assumed an android in a new vehicle was a machine.
Balistraia, the maybe android spoke “that’s a complicated question, But I am neither android nor a machine, well not a machine created by your network, I was built by humans” at that Balistraia began to tell Pascal of the world she came from, and her purpose there. The thought of endless fighting with a foe that would not negotiate or surrender filled Pascal with a faint dread, even the androids would give up, and the other machines had never made an attack on the village.
“I can scarcely imagine needing to fight for every moment of existence, even the never ending machine war has lulls and fades for a time” not to mention Pascal had only actually fought on the rarest of occasions once he had been freed from the machine network.
“My siblings and I gladly serve our maker and commander, and nothing brings me more joy than ensuring his safety. If I had to fight for the next thousand years I would do so gladly, though peace would work just as well to keep him safe. And plans to reduce bug aggression are being worked on. ``It was good that they were still trying to find peace, or at least reduce the amount of conflict they faced.
“I never thought I would hear of a living human on earth, I have done much research into the humans of old, but I must know, what is he like?” records of humans were very contradictory, they would be heroes or villains, their morals changed like the tides, and they never seemed to agree on right or wrong. And Pascal hoped a living human would clarify things, and He longed to meet this ‘maker’ just to ask him thousands of questions.
“I imagine you want to know about his personality more than his actual physical makeup. Describing my creator is difficult, even with my direct connection to his mind. But it would have to be driven, chaotic and ever shifting sure. But always striving for improvement and to reach new heights. There are more emotions and thoughts than I could hope to categorize even with all my processing power, but they all share one common thread, the drive to improve.” Balistraia’s electronic voice shone with passion as she spoke, and Pascal could only hear devotion in her words.
That did match up with what Pascal knew about humans though, every human was driven towards something, and when they lacked that something they became depressed. Up till the end of their time on earth humans had been trying to reach further and do more in everything they did.
It wasn’t quite the insight into the maker's psychology that Pascal had wanted, but it was thought provoking nonetheless.
Balistraia then posed her own question “you identify with male pronouns but use a female voice, what is the reason behind this?” ah an indirect question about his decision making process, so she could better understand him. Still, Pascal had nothing to hide “a mothers voice is more soothing to scared children than a fathers, I use a female voice to better provide comfort to the villages children”
“There are child machines? Are you capable of independent reproduction? How exactly do you grow? What exactly do you have to fear?” A rapid series of questions followed after Pascal mentioned the village's children.
“Ahh, you misunderstand, they are created as children and do not grow, and without a connection to the network it is far more difficult for a machine to back itself up, or for a new body to be acquired for it. And there is always the risk of the logic virus or merely getting lost forever. I taught the other machines fear so that they would better avoid danger” a short pause as Pascal thought “though the children are more often scared by the distant sounds of fighting than anything else, always cowering when a fight breaks out.” Balistraria pauses for the longest time yet before she speaks up again.
“I understand your desire for pacifism, even if it is antithetical to my own nature, but I must ask. Why are there no significant defenses here? Even just a metal wall or an underground bunker would serve you well, even if only for peace of mind. The wooden wall you have now wouldn’t keep out the least of the machine I have encountered so far. Even just having underground escape tunnels”
Pascal thought for a moment, Balistraia did have a point, the village's greatest protection had always been its isolation and the fact they could hide within the trees to escape. But with the village growing in size and recent contact with the androids resistance and other machine groups having a few escapes in case a few unsavory individuals attacked would not be amiss. Still “we do not have the manpower or supplies to invest in such an endeavor, what we can craft goes into sustaining our own systems, and even then we lack the raw materials to reliably craft good components. And what little surplus we have is usually traded for the other materials we require. It would be months before we could build any substantial defenses or tunnels.”
Balistraia paused for a moment, and Pascal felt the signals to and from her increase in potency. “Two of my siblings would be more than willing to construct a few simple bunkers in the nearby forest, as well as tunnels with entrances near the villages. From there it would be simple for you to dig your own entrances to the tunnels from within your village, or to simply get to the entrances through your tree routes.”
That would be wonderful. “That would be wonderful, but I’m afraid we can’t give you much for this.”
Balistraia spoke with an almost amused tone “it is no significant burden to build a few reinforced bunkers, we could have it done within the day. And this conversation has taken much of your time, consider this a repayment of sorts.” that was nearly overwhelmingly kind, she had only met them within the day and was already willing to send so much to help? Even if it didn’t take them much effort they were still going far out of their way for strangers.
“Well then, is there anything else you’d like to talk about?”