The remains of the quadruped made no signs of further movement, and it's companions had left detection range.

A preliminary examination revealed a mass of new information. The bubbling of the cavity only causing slight disruption.

The quadupeds and likely most forms of life on this world had a complicated internal macrostructure. This is likely the reason for the fluidity of thier movement and apparent flexibility of the outer coating.

The quadruped, while interesting was dwarfed by the new discovery of the structures, Any individual can be estimated by their work and these new elements most likely were no different.

They used pieces of growth directly with a rather primitive processing, simply reshaping the larger support structure. The truly interesting part was the metallic parts that seemed to secure each part In place!

While Beo used, consumed, and molded Metallics, the concept of using them separately from thier own structure was entirely unheard of!

This one touched and merged one of the small pieces to be sure, it was somewhat impure iron. Further investigation would be nessesary, however there was something in the structure making sounds.

Looking inside there were several substructures separate from the main body, likely containers of some sort based on the sound coming from one of the smaller parts.

This one considered leaving the container intact, but the probability of the contents being of greater interest was acceptably high. After consuming the fastenings, this one removed the top section of the container. This resulted in the contents making even more sounds, then silence.

Examination of the contents was... confusing. It appeared to be a piece of the bipedal lifeforms, although only the smallest segment. What was most confusing was the apparent movement. This one thought that local life did not make use of redundant systems, therefor this element should not be animate. During the examination the element once again made a short sound utilizing a cavity. Perhaps further investigation of the other examples would give needed context. This one replaced the top section of the container and approached the inanimate examples of the lifeform. It only took a moment for the segment in the container to begin making more sounds, at a higher amplitude no less. They were duely cataloged, it seems likely that it is a form of signal or communication.

The inanimate elements even after repositioning remained inanimate. Looking at some of the exposed structure proved them most similar to the quadrupeds, the large amount of fibrous growths also suggested closer relation than to the song makers and hardshells.

Returning to the structure, other noises were made apparent in nearby containers.

Opening a second revealed another segment, an upper section. It resembled this one's own manipulator, although with 2 more small digits. Perhaps evidence of intelligent design? Immediately upon removing the top cover it began moving utilizing its joins and manipulator in a seemingly haphazard way. The sounds from the upper segment changed in tone prompting another investigation. Removing the top once more revealed the segment, it was of note this instance that the dual spherical structures were now aligned directly at my upper core.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The sounds became slower, lower, and most obviously more deliberate. Another indication that they held intrinsic meaning to the element. This one cataloged each, decoding was not the passion of an explorer, but would be nessesary in the near future. The spherical structures were fairly mobile in thier movements moving towards the manipulator and back at my core. This one determined it desired something with the manipulator so this one retrieved it and held it above the upper segment. The tone changed again to a lighter somewhat musical pitch, This one approved of the tones. They sounded much more like the song makers and less the quadrupeds. The manipulator pressed against my own several tines before lifting the smallest digit. Likely another form of signal.

The manipulator then used a second digit to... point at the upper segment. It then made a lifting motion which was surprisingly clear.

This element wished for me to lift it's upper segment out of the container as well. Judging by the sporadic yet meaningful movements of the spherical substructures on the element, this one predicted they were sensory in purpose as they followed movement.

This one lifted carefully lifted the segment by the longer fibrous growth causing it to immediately emit louder harsher tones prompting this one to place it back down.

Perhaps the fibrous structure was the incorrect way to lift an upper segment. This one instead gripped the connecting portion and lifted, the manipulator immediately raising the same small digit. This one would consider this positive considering the matching return to the softer tones.

This one turned the sensory portion towards the rest of the containers. This proved fruitful when it once again made more meaningful sounds in a positive tone. Using its manipulator to point at a larger container. This one placed the manipulator on the floor of the structure and consumed the more numerous fastenings. All the same impure iron.

Observing this brought the upper segment to silence once more. This one removed the top of the container revealing the central segment of the element, causing the upper segment to make more positive although different sounds. The manipulator maneuvered towards what appeared to be the separation point central segment itself also twisting under its own initiative. The oddest factor of these movements was the apparent lack of any communication between the segments. This one carefully monitored light thermal and any other predictable method of data transfer... and found none. The movements were far too detailed to be an automatic occurrence. Some form of communication between the segments must exist, closer examination will be nessesary.

In the time this one spent analyzing the manipulator had reattached itself to the central core. It was now motioning towards the upper segment and then leveraging itself up to expose the cutaway. Another oddity, the other similar elements were leaking fluids from anywhere the outer coating was present. This element either lacked the fluids or somehow controlled the leakage. The rather clear instruction to place the upper element on the matching connection was followed. It then moved itself into an upright position and began pointing at similar containers. This one dutifully opened each finding the expected missing segments that busied themselves somewhat awkwardly returning to the core. This one observed the movements carefully the soft sounds coming from the upper segment being carefully cataloged. While an explorer ordinarily did not interfere excessively with native life, this one considered its current scenario worthy of disregarding normal protocol. There was an immediate need for more information and this element appeared both sentient and sapient based on its actions and sounds.

The now singular element took the time to carefully observed this one with the spherical sensors. It was likely perceiving some frequency of light, although which ones are yet unknown. This one predicted the range it could perceive was likely somewhat aligned to the range the local life reflected best. The element after a moment of silence raised both manipulators and curled all but the central digit of both emitting a short series of sound before starting to collect objects from the structure. Perhaps this was some form of thanks? This one was confused by the differing tone.

The combination would be cataloged as neither positive nor negative for the time being.