The delegation took only days to gather, a rather breakneck pace for a government agency to do anything. Most of that time period had been spent on briefing the delegates and making a few ad hoc changes to equipment to harden it against digital intrusion. Beal and Langle being the only two going that had actually met an android.
Actually getting to the planet was as simple as the androids had said it would be, Simply sending a time and location and waiting as a portal opened and an android stepped out, greeting the delegation with a wide smile. "Hello! I'm Sapphire and I'll be your guide for today. Is everyone ready to….. Where are your weapons?" one of the delegates, Axel an engineer and physicist, hesitantly spoke up "Weapons?" The delegation was, mostly, unarmed. Aside from the more combat or espionage leaning, who had light scan proof weaponry hidden, which seemed for the moment to actually be scan proof if the android was so sure they didn't have any weapons.
Sapphire nodded at Axel, a vaguely patronizing smile on her face, "Yes, Weapons. Do you ….not have any?" Langle stepped forward, "ahh, no we were not aware we would need them and didn't think bringing weapons with us would be… appropriate." Sapphire covered her mouth as she tittered at that statement, her ornate gown making it clear what behavior she was likely built to emulate. Her tone was laced with suppressed amusement "Ahh, I suppose a few light arms can be procured there."
A few of the more pacifistic members of the delegation went to speak up, likely about not needing or wanting weapons but were stopped by their more militaristic or technological compatriots. Beal did however have a question of his own "will we be needing weapons?" Which was a fair enough question, though Sapphire's titters didn't imply that. "Well need is a strong word, it's just…. Uncouth to walk around without at least a sidearm. Though we don't have to get you any…" the way she said that implied she'd be at least moderately annoyed if her offer was refused. Langley smiled at that, "no no, it's fine we'll gladly accept the gift" if only so the guns could be studied and replicated.
And then with an excited "excellent" and a clap of her hands the Delegation and android vanished in a flash of light.
When the team arrived they were immediately stunned by their surroundings, each taking in a different aspect of the city around them.
From the Massive buildings crafted out of solid metal or crystal that looked designed to be beautiful, and to the tactical mind filled with cover and spots that would be perfect for weapon emplacements, worryingly the majority of which seemed build to cover their current location. To the wildlife crawling or flying through the air, birds of crystal and bugs of metal tending to plants both mundane and fantastical, robotic beasts roaming the streets or seeking attention from the people. If the things could be considered that, while the androids that had meet the delegation were humanoid and beautiful the same could not be said for all of what they saw now though humanoid figures remained a majority. Androids or machines with glass exteriors revealing their inhuman components to ones crafted from silver or gold or even made from gems outright. The number and placement of limbs varied heavily, as did proportions and size, some-even the majority, seemed to resemble the group they had arrived with; the outfits they wore were well beyond strange. Some simply wore nothing and the delegates could see they had nothing to cover, while others wore so little they may as well have been wearing nothing, and very visibly did have things to cover.
Some wore powered armor, all were armed in some visible way, and more than a few had weapons outright built into their bodies whether it was clawed fingers or a shoulder mounted turret and most had some form of drone hovering behind them.
And all of them seemed to be heading in and out of the Plaza the delegation stood upon, and the astute realized it was probably a teleportation hub. Overlooking the no doubt important zone was a massive humanoid machine, over twenty meters tall and surrounded by a group of smaller versions of itself and a swarm of drones orbiting around its head. The thing had a weight to it, everyone could feel it staring into them even though it wasn't facing them, like they were being judged. Beal became distinctly aware of the weapons and monitoring equipment hidden on him. A few members of the team shuddered and Beal spoke "what… is that?"
Sapphire turned to see what he was looking at, seeing the massive sentinel looming before smiling and waving at the construct and causing its head to turn towards her. "That's a Paragon Sentinel, They are guards. There are a dozen or so in most cities." Axel kept staring at the machine "how does it …work?" Sapphire just shrugged "The Maker makes Paragons in the Inner Factory."
Langley and Beal shared a look at that, both resolving to try and find out more about this 'inner factory' but knowing better than to ask about it outright, alas Axel wasn't on the same page. "Is this.. Factory a part of the tour?" His tone was hopeful, bug drew winces from the other more espionage minded members of the delegation.
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The few glimpses of the inner factory Sapphire had seen flashed through her mind and she shuddered, that tangled mess of machinery without end, ever shifting and without any true path within and she swore it watched her, "I doubt it" she said in as genial a tone she could muster. She'd be instructed to guide the humans around but hadn't really been told what to do beyond that, in a few hours she'd be taking them to a meeting with the council, that still left hours that she probably should have planned for.
Well first they'd need some protection, she could already see only a few of them had armor on under their clothes, and calling it 'light' armor would be generous. Maybe convince a few courier drones to carry their things and perhaps the slower or weaker humans could ride around on them. There was public transportation but that was mostly city to city or conveyor belts, and humans were a bit squishy, if adorably so.
The courier drones were probably a good start, the scrawny one already looked tired holding his briefcase, and both of the girls were wearing heels. She could go find some courier drones, they usually hung out around the younger machines and at parks when off duty and there was one nearby. But that'd make the humans walk, and that felt crass.
Instead she simply pulled out a tablet, Storage tech woven into the dress really was convenient, and tapped a few buttons and requested five courier drones. Usually there'd be a bit of a wait as the request was processed and prioritized but she immediately got confirmation that five drones were arriving. Sapphire had assumed the minds would be watching, it was safe to assume they always were, but that just confirmed it.
She nodded to herself, absentmindedly stowing away the tablet, and deliberately ignoring the 'engineers' fascinated stare. Most android engineers had chained their titles to be more specific, mechanics or gunsmiths or roboticists, leaving behind the generic engineer title but explaining that to the humans, and the reasons for why, was at the bottom of sapphire's list of priorities.
How often did humans need to eat anyway? She could just send a courier for food, or would a restaurant be better? Android chefs were leagues beyond human ones, and she knew several who had spent centuries cooking. A plan for just before the meeting perhaps.
"It seems our rides have arrived" The humans gawked at the courier drones, each of which sported stickers, ribbons or a unique paint job. Most likely thanks to some enterprising machine child. And on average they were the size of a pony, but not the significantly larger combat sized ones. One of the humans, Langley she believed, spoke ".....we're supposed to ride these? Is that… safe?" Sapphire smiled faintly at that, "Safe as can be, you'd have to struggle to fall off. It's less riding and more being carried." The magnetic locks might not work on humans but friction locks and handholds worked almost as well.
The courier drones each approached a human, who universally looked on warily as the massive catlike robots approached. Axel however had no such self preservation instincts and excitedly hurried towards the closest courier, a light blue model with flowers painted on its tail. And started stroking the massive feline, causing its tail to lash from side to side.
That seemed to break the ice as the humans walked closer to the drones, each slowly reaching out to touch them. Beals, his hand on his own green and grey courier turned towards Sapphire. "Are these sentient? And how do we tell if some are or aren't?" That was an excellent question that she didn't have a really answer for, actually it was two questions. The courier drones were smart but were they that smart? Only the Maker knew, and maybe the minds. As for how to tell if a machine was sapient or sentient…. "I would say it's best to air on the side of caution, though most sentient machines can communicate. Courier drones are smart and can learn, but not to any great degree."
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Sapphire noted that Beal didn't exactly look satisfied with that answer, but it was the only real one she could give. Langley, following on Beals topic asked the next question, resolutely ignoring the fact that Axel was already on the back of his courier drone. "Any etiquette we should be aware of?" Sapphire thought for a moment before speaking. "I doubt anything will come up, and I'll be able to smooth over any misunderstandings" Or just call over a sentinel.
Once all the humans were mounted on drones they set off at a fairly slow ten mile an hour pace, Sapphire absently pointing out various locations or objects of note, and answering the occasional question. With the courier drones carrying them it didn't take long to get to a shop, and a short conversation later Sapphire had a pair of shield drones, enough to give the humans some measure of protection without needing them to change their outfits.
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Beal was concerned, very very concerned. He hadn't really known what to expect going into this, sure he'd assumed the race of machines would be more advanced but seeing it was something else entirely. He'd thought they were above ground, there were plants, animals, and even a sky, but what he thought were flocks of birds were actually drones and a group of them took off a section of the 'sky' and disappeared into a bunch of tunnels behind it.
There were thousands of machines, and some were closer to walking tanks than anything humanoid. He'd seen hundreds of those 'sentinels' and a dozen of those 'paragons' and their guide had just walked up to a street vendor and bought a pair of what he could only assume were combat drones without even a background check.
Not even mentioning the … person? He was riding, aside from the fact he'd seen it exhaling a breath of fire the thing was massive, heavy, and moved fast at even a walk. He's seen a pair of them fighting, or play fighting; he really had not a single idea, and the errant swipes had shattered the concrete and bent metal, and they'd shot lasers. It was something out of a children's cartoon.
The city itself was a twisted labyrinthe, without foreknowledge of the city's layout one would run into hundreds of deadends, or walk on roads covered by firing positions. If one wanted to take the city they'd need to clear every building simply to walk the streets without being gunned down. Modern cites weren't designed like that, they had ease of travel in mind, city planners didn't take the city getting invaded into consideration.
Really if he had to take the city he'd need to just level it, but given what he'd seen he wasn't sure a nuke could even scorch the buildings proper, they were either absurdly durable or there was something else going on. Underground cities also meant orbital bombardment wouldn't work, even if it hadn't been classified a war crime.
He idly watched the drone hovering just over his shoulder, it was making some form of buzzing and the small breeze he had been feeling had stopped when they'd gotten the drones, meaning it was either diverting the air or putting up some kind of barrier.
Was this an example of what advanced mass effect applications could do? Or had they managed this without any wonder materials? He'd seen the occasional slime as well, which could be another answer. R&D had been having a field day with those materials when they'd first been discovered. It was one of the definitive advantages they had over the Turians as well.
Still Beal had a job to do, and while sightseeing and idle compilation were in the description he'd be remiss if he didn't put in a bit more than the bare minimum. He turned his gaze to Sapphire, who was explaining the various 'machine forms' to Axel and waited for a moment to ask his own question. "Do you happen to have any maps of the city? I wanted to look it over and see if anywhere piqued my interest."
Sapphire looked at him for a second, shrugged, and pulled her tablet out from somewhere where she clicked a few buttons and then just tossed the thing at him. A few frantic seconds of juggling later and he was looking at a map, and while it was somewhat difficult to peruse on the back of the mechanical cat he managed, soon finding what he had been looking for.
A church marked on the map, close enough to see the spot on the map marked as the Makers factory, and notably on the surface. The church being so close to the factory did bring his mind back to the idea that the Maker might be a sort of god figure for these androids, and at this point he was all but certain that theory was right. Going to the church would let them learn more about the Makers influence, and let them see his base of operations.
Beal turned towards Sapphire and brought up going to the church, a line about wanting to see more of their culture tossed out that he was entirely certain she saw through. Still if she had she didn't seem overly worried, and they changed course from… wherever they had been going.
The road took a subtle uphill slope, with non-robotic animals and more mundane looking plants appearing roaming largely free amongst their counterparts. There was even a fair sized stream heading off into one of the distant walls, filled with fish he swore were mechanical when he caught glimpses of an android catching one.
Did they need to eat metal? Or steal energy or fuel from the fish? It seemed like there'd be better ways to get stuff but what did he know.
Eventually though he started seeing sunlight reflected off the metal in the distance, and the Courier drones rapidly ate up the ground until the group emerged into the natural light of the sun, even if only an increase in warmth was the only real noticeable difference.
The buildings also grew simpler, more stone and concrete than metal and crystal, more like what'd he'd see walking earth's streets. And in the distance a black cloud covered a part of the horizon, with black tendrils stretching out from it. And as he looked closer he could see it shifting, not one solid mass but something more akin to a swarm of locust.
A quick look at the map only showed him what he already expected, that was the Maker's workshop, and that meant those were drones, and if they were the size of the flying variants he'd already seen there were hundreds of thousand of them flying into and out of the building.
He noticed the stunned gazes of his fellows and the nonchalant posture of Sapphire before asking his question, and steeled himself as they once again set off towards the church. One question lingered in his mind however, just what were all those drones doing? If they were ferrying goods he couldn't even fathom how much that'd be and where would they be bringing it all?
Sapphire started talking as they rode on, filling in the heavy silence with her idle chatter. "I'm sort of glad you decided to head up here, it's always fun to watch people when they first see the Maker's workshop. It gets even crazier once you can actually see the walls. And I've heard lots of people talking about the Main Factory being so much grander and larger." She paused for a moment, looking around at the androids near them and then speaking in a pseudo whisper still loud enough for everyone in the group to hear, only really succeeding in making her look like she was trying to keep something secret. "I heard that the church we're going to actually had some of its designs based off the Main Factory's walls!"
He could actually see the walls now, stretching up nearly a hundred meters and then arching inwards to form a doom absolutely bristling with what he suspected were turrets and artillery platforms, or perhaps anti air made more sense? Nothing safe for certain. He started to see what she meant though, now he could vaguely make out what the drones were caring, shipyard sized cargo containers, or tanks three times that size, countless sentinels and other flightless machines were being ferried in.
The ground in front also had gates, into which flowed a river of train's and cargo trucks.
The entire thing was a porous hive looking like it had been kicked by a careless child, and he'd only seen organized chao's like that on warships preparing for battle. Which raised the question, were they? Humans couldn't maintain that constant frantic pace for long, days at most for the well trained, but machines wouldn't have the issue would they?
Another terrifying thought.
Workers and soldiers that never tired or needed to stop, stronger than men and only vulnerable to high grade weapons. If they even were.
He was dragged from his thoughts at a sound like glass screaming, something that clawed its way into his head and forced his gaze towards it. Floating in the air a bright white crack began to form, the noise growing louder before all sound cut off and he briefly thought he was deaf before realizing he could still hear the servos of the beast he was on.
He couldn't take his eyes off the thing, watching as six scythe-like claws burst out of it and a massive pair of mandibles became visible as they wrenched the gap open wider.