"It was the machine in the forest that was with the giant things that kept attacking your farm," Celestia added. Rahllup had twisted herself -with some difficulty- to look at the white machine behind her. "We told you we saw it."
"It what?!" Rahllup bellowed in disbelief. "It was directin' them?!" She stood up and clenched a fist, raised and ready to fall down upon the machine. "You kept destroying everything and makin' our lives harder than they needed to be! Ah'm going to get some peace of mind now that--!"
Biddy pushed her comrade into a nearby container, denting it and likely damaging the contents inside in her eagerness to talk to the stowaway. "You lived with those things?" She asked excitedly, scaring the much tinier machine. "How do they work? What do they eat? How long do they sleep? Do they have symbiotic relationships with anything? What about their society? Is there a hierarchy and a hive, or is it just a few of them that live together in groups like some mammalian creatures?"
The robot slowly raised a hand to its throat and rubbed it, causing the surface to flake off a bit and dulling the excitement the triangular machine was experiencing. Her arms drooped as she stood up. Both disappointment and pity came to mind when she looked at the stowaway now.
"It's been too damaged," Luna said. "We are going to go to the technician when we return to the blue," she explained. "Hopefully, he will have spare parts for it or will be able to create a workaround for it. I, too, am curious as to how it survived for so long and where it came from" She and the machine both looked at each other before returning to Biddy.
Dissonance dropped their arms and groaned when they threw their head back. "Really? A treasure trove of potential story material, and it can't even speak?!" They kicked some debris on the ground in rage.
"Biddy!" Rahllup shouted angrily. She stomped to her colleague and glared at her using the glass lenses hanging over the flames. "Ah thought we weren't gonna to do that here!" She gestured to the large dent in the container, while Biddy looked away and checked the state of her hands. "They'll chuck us overboard if we damage anythin', 'n we need the spare black to keep going." She jabbed Biddybee in the chest with a finger several times, pushing her back a bit with each impact.
"Fine. I'm sorry!" the triangular machine relented. "I didn't mean it. I was just...very excited." Her guilt changed quickly to a more moderate enthusiasm. "I had a chance to learn about those strange creatures and how they function!" She drooped almost instantly. "But it can't even speak." Biddy rubbed her throat. "Damage to the vocals, apparently situated in the throat."
Biddy turned slightly to get a better look at the charred machine having a poking fight with Galah. "Really? In the throat? Mine's in mah chest, and you have yours a bit everywhere in-case one gets damaged." Her flames shaped the light of her lenses into a 'frown'. "What kinda idiot would design a machine so obvious?"
The four machines from the black all flinched when they were assaulted by a very bright light from above. It was the sun, finally free of the dark clouds from the black. Celestia admired the light, finally bathing in it after so long. It felt like relief at last.
"Is that some kind of creation of the blue?" Dissonance asked whilst trying to shield their feather scarf. "Why is it so bright?"
"That is our sun," Celestia said in a calm and somewhat soothing tone. "It brings light to the world, nourishes most flora, and many creatures need its rays to create vital elements in their bodies."
"Ah don't like it. It's heatin' up my internal systems," Rahllup complained. "Can we turn it down a bit?"
The two sisters stared at her. They would be slack-jawed if they had one.
"No," Celestia said in an annoyed tone. "That makes no sense at all. Could you stop making those gray clouds all over the black?"
Rahllup gestured to the flaming ball as she spoke. "Ah don't know what that is! Ah've never seen it before! How was ah s'posed ta know what can be done with it?"
She flinched when a screech came from above her. It was several flying creatures, vaguely avian and reptilian at the same time. Their bodies were primarily scaley with some feathers poking through them. Their wings followed the same pattern. Their faces looked somewhat distorted, however. Extended mouths ending in sharp beaks, and four eyes to look everywhere: Two above and two below. Rahllup's flames dimmed.
"Ew. That looks disgusting," she wheezed.
Biddy's eyes lit up brightly with passion when she looked at them. "I've never seen such creatures at home before. This is amazing! I want to know all about them!" she shouted enthusiastically.
The charred machine watched her closely and intently, analyzing her body movement and vocal intonations. It wasn't long before Celestia was hugged tightly and lifted up somewhat once the path to her was clear.
"Looks to be a bit touchy," Biddy noted.
Dissonance grunted and crossed their arms. "Well, I can at least make something out this. Seems to be emotional enough, although it acts like a child." The machine simulated a shiver of disgust. "I hated it when the patrons brought in their young. Gross little things."
"Really?" Rahllup said quizzically. "You didn't have any problems with the children at our home."
The flamboyant waved its hands in front of it. "I only have issues with them when they're brought to my stage. They're always fidget machineing and whining and talking during my performances."
"So there's no actually important issue," Rahllup said dismissively.
Dissonance scoffed. "Yes. I'm sure that someone like you who only has the processing ability to bash a rock against the ground can't understand something more complicated, but I don't need your derisive remarks on my art," they said with a hand on their fluffy chest.
The giant shook her head and ignored Dissonance. Most of the trip was done without the four. Luna and Celestia didn't need to refuel, still having quite a lot of power left over, and so they often enjoyed just looking at everything occurring around them. Oddly, the charred robot never seemed to go anywhere to get any energy, even when Luna escorted her to the reserves of black energy that Rahllup and Biddydee had brought with them. It would just sneak away, and shortly thereafter reemerge with a desiccated, still-living creature in its hand that it would chuck back into the ocean. One day, however, came a strange occurrence. Horns on the ship started blaring loudly, causing the caretakers to frantically start bolting about everywhere. They were pulling out long sticks attached to large, almost transparent containers on wheels. Others carried multiple brushing utensils and gallons of cleaning products meant for cleaning the metal hull of their vessel without causing any rust and damage.
"Slime in the sea! Get the cleaning tools out!" the captain shouted on the loudspeaker. "Drop all non-vital activities and prepare for cleaning operations!"
Startled by the sounds, the charred machine ran sway and hid amongst the crates. The two sisters felt differently, however. They floated above everyone as they coordinated their activities. Several of them placed the tubes into the ocean and began to suck up the water, or at least what the two robots thought was supposed to be water. There were crewmen standing behind the loudly churning containers, directing the sea water from the evacuation port into a hole on the side chasing out the cleaned water.
Floating above everyone, the two had a better look at the ocean. It was covered in a thick, slimy red substance replete with tiny patches of gold and black. Several of the crew members put on thick uniforms to protect themselves as they were lowered on platforms into the water to chase away the strange material and wipe it off the ship's hull. This went on for several hours then several more even after they were clear of the bizarre substance. The heavy-set male was leaning over the railing on the small catwalk lining the outside of his tower.
"Did you note the location on the naval charts?" he asked someone standing next to him.
"Yes, captain. I also sent a broadcast to all ships in the vicinity." They checked their electronic notebook and nodded. "A few have already responded. They'll relay the message to other ships."
The captain nodded. "Good. Hopefully they'll reach any docks and ports that will send out dedicated cleaning teams." He spoke sternly and with some fatigue. Pushing himself off the railing, the man grunted and nodded to himself. "Any significant damage to the hull or were we fast enough that it's only aesthetic damage?" Before the person standing next to them could respond, Luna and Celestia floated up to him. "Huh? What is it you two want this time?" the captain asked with vitriol.
"What is that red substance?" Luna asked.
"I didn't have any traces of information regarding it within my local database," Celestia added.
The captain looked at them with surprise. His features softened while he took a step back and presented the maker next to him. "I'll let the vice-captain explain it to you. I need to take stock the reports of the ship sections." Painful cracks came from his body while he stretched and moved around. He forced himself not to yelp in pain, straining his voice in the process. "I haven't worked enough today and am growing both bored and crackly." He looked over his shoulder towards the other caretaker. "Plus, I think this is a much deserved break for you."
The vice-captain bowed his head in thanks and returned to the two machines after his captain reentered the tower. "So you want to know what that substance is? The two nodded in response. "Do you really know nothing about it?" The two shook their heads. "Hm. Well, then I guess I'll have to start from the beginning. This is at least a good opportunity to refresh my memory and make sure everything is still intact up here," he said as he poked his head with a finger. "Well, it's basically a conglomeration of substances from long ago," he started. "I want to say that they're not the same as the energies we use nowadays, but that wouldn't be completely true. Where a drop of blue energy could power a household in the black for about a day and is supposedly 'cleaner'," he said derisively ", the black is basically the same for whatever these things are, and even more." He tapped his head and mumbled to himself several times. "Umm...Right!" he confirmed to himself. "They're leftovers by our ancestors who weren't very clean, if anything. I'm not exactly sure why or even how all of this is still here, floating in the ocean, but it is."
"How many generations of energy is there?" Celestia asked curiously. Luna noticed her eyes were brighter than usual.
"Well," the caretaker started. "I'm not sure. The last time research was conducted on it, they found about thirteen different substances in that slime at least." The group watched a crew member vault over the edge. The arm of her suit was covered in a thick red sludge where visible eddies of smoke were coming from. She was quickly hosed down with a bubbly liquid. Her suit was immediately confiscated, and several others jumped immediately into action by scrubbing the sludge off the deck of the ship and back into the mass below. The female was immediately escorted somewhere within the tower by several caretakers. "It's all extremely corrosive on its own, but together, when they've moved about right, can be extremely hazardous to all materials and life moving about in a region. It's the sworn duty of any vessel passing through such a region to immediately tend to it and keep their vessel in shape, otherwise the hull will be eaten through and everyone will be lost at sea."
Celestia floated a little higher and turned around to look at the ocean before her. "It was several kilometers in diameter," she said. "That is quite a lot of it,"
The caretaker chuckled. "Yeah," they trailed off depressingly. "That was actually the smallest batch we've discovered so far. The worst part is that it deflects light so well that you can only really spot it from up close, otherwise it looks like a swarm of those crustacean things in the water. I forgot their name," he mumbled. "Only really easy to spot when around the lands of the black thanks to the sun always being blocked and filtered out." He paused for a moment. "Usually docks and ports, or just patrols, cone around and clean everything. I'm not sure what they do with what they recover. I think they just put them in barrels?" he shrugged. "We can't use them anymore anyways, and I don't think there's any way to recycle them. Might just put them in barrels somewhere underground."
Luna dug into her memory, thinking back on everything she had seen of the blue and the black, and a thought came up. "Do these remains do anything to living beings or the land when they've reached them? Aside from the corrosive effects."
"You mean long term?" the vice-captain asked. Luna nodded. "I'm...not sure. There might be some documents regarding that, but I've never seen them." He paused briefly and looked through his electronic notebook. "Maybe the captain knows?" the sisters' move towards the bridge entrance was halted by an outstretched arm. "W-We can't ask him now, though. Very busy," the caretaker explained.
There was a long pause as the sisters took in the information and caught a glimpse of the charred machine poking its head out from behind a container on the second level.
"Honestly, I don't know why our ancestors let so much of their waste collect like this." He looked down towards the crew still scrubbing away at the hull. "Then again, I don't think they did. There might've been a leak somewhere, or the older ships that sank leaked and this all accumulated over so long. Eddies and currents and so forth," he mused. "I'm worried that it'll happen with the black and blue one day."
"Perhaps," Celestia said. "There's precedence for such concerns that the blue has recorded." Her systems whirred loudly.
"Although most of the transitions had seen as much of the old energy used up as possible to prevent such catastrophes. There's no records as to why, but I surmise it has to do with such spillages happening with previous energy sources and wanting to prevent it from occurring again. Both the blue and the black -now that I have seen you in action- take to these actions."
The vice-captain bobbed his head side-to-side. "Yes, well, there's the pink energy, but from what I've heard it's very unstable and turns everyone into crystals every time it's used for some reason. I have no idea why they would try and use such a dangerous energy." His eyes widened. "Were the blue and black like that as well?" He turned to face the sisters, his mouth wording silent phrases that the two could not perceive.
"Are we arriving at the blue soon?" Celestia asked.
Her question broke the male from his trance. "O-oh! Yes. In a few more days we should arrive, provided nothing else happens on the way."