Day 6 - Worky time cancelled!: 8/8
It takes 93 a moment to grow a secondary reflective membrane to shield her eyes from the sunlight, after having spent such a long time in a dark room, as she’s strolling along the pier, followed by the group of drones that’s missing only Smiley.
“Whoah, that took a lot more time than I expected,” she shakes her head and, as if she’d completely forgotten the drones until now, turns around to face them, “65536, you’re still here?”
The guard drone shrugs.
“I had a lot of fun, I told Miss Gem and Mister Blueblood where to find me if they needed anything, and they clearly didn’t, so why not? Any ideas on what to do next?”
“First things first, I think you all deserve a point for improving our relations with the Crystal Empire-”
[10013:1, 20100:5, 36658:4, 99111:3, 99380:6, 99526:3, Smiley: 6,
65536:2]
“-and as for what to do next…” 93 pauses, checking the hive mind, “The resort schedule offers several activities,” suddenly, she smirks in an unsettlingly sadistic fashion which gives all veteran drones flashbacks to the old days, “and I think I’ve figured out exactly which one to go for. We’ve spent all this time indoors, so it’s time for a change of scenery. Let’s go for a sea diving expedition!”
“Is that, umm, like swimming?” 10013 gulps.
“Ohhhhh yes,” 93 grins.
***
A small section of railing of the resort boat is beset by drones nervously staring down into the blue, gradually darkening depths. 93 is attempting to figure out how to put a diving suit on 10013 doing its best to avoid shaking. Gem is there, the tight bodysuit earning her eager stares from other attendees, working with the only willing and even excited drone which is expectedly 65536.
“-and once we jump down I’m gonna catch all the shinies!”
“Those are just reflections, 65536,” explains Gem calmly.
“I know, but they still wiggle and dance around on the water, and it’s so good that they’re not fake bitey shinies like back in the hive- or are they?” 65536 finally stops staring into the water and looks up at Gem.
“No anglerfish or anything similar,” the zebra shakes her head and raises her voice a little so that even the hive drones hear, “Besides, we’ll be protected both by this,” she tugs on her bodysuit, “as well as magic. Plus, as far as I heard, the large-scale protection spells of the resort reach even here and all the way to the sea floor. We’re not too far and we won’t be swimming too deep,” she nods towards the shoreline within comfortable swimming distance, “There will be other harmless fish, though.”
“Okay!” 65536 nods and Gem trots off towards the griffon tour guide giving out pairs of flippers to fit over hind legs.
It takes another fifteen minutes to get the hive drones suited up, and the twenty present guests are queued up with the guide standing by the gap in the railings.
“The magical goggles will cast a self-refreshing air bubble around your head as soon as you go underwater. For our pony guests, it’ll take some adjusting to only have flippers on your hind legs, but I don’t doubt you’ll want to touch the ancient temple, because I know how rare an opportunity like that is when most museums keep you as far away as possible.”
“No digging!” 93 mentally warns all drones, receiving a nervous chorus of agreements.
“I think we’re ready, the water is warm, and the sun is still high up. Let’s go in, one by one,” she pats the first guest on the back, and they jump into the water in response. A moment later, their head is bobbing on the water, floating a bit further away to avoid blocking the way for anyone else.
65536 pushes itself ahead of 10013 who is the first drone but is still visibly fighting anxiety, and boops its nose with its own.
“Watch me,” 65536 jumps, “Wheeeeee-blblbl!”
*Splat!*
65536 surfaces immediately, spitting water with a smile.
“Come on! The water really is warm and- there’s a shiny! And another! IMMA CATCH YA!” it starts flapping forward towards the nearest bright reflection.
10013 takes a deep breath, and jumps.
A moment of panic takes over as water is suddenly everywhere, but when it breathes in it realizes that it can breathe in, and confusion wins over fear. Breathing but sinking like a rock, 10013 waves its hind legs and quickly surfaces.
“It’s fine! Just breathe!” it calls out and waves at the others.
99380 is last, with only 93 behind it. When it hesitates, the infiltrator unceremoniously shoves it and jumps in a different direction so as not to land on it. The drone’s head peeks out shortly after, nose scrunched in an exceedingly grumpy manner. 93 only boops it and turns away towards the tour guide.
The griffoness waves at the group and dives down.
Once they descend a short distance through near-crystal clear water, a small backpack the guide is wearing lights up like a beacon. Several smaller lights coming out of horns or personal devices light the slowly darkening water, the most noticeable being the green glow of 93’s horn due to the color, and a small, directional lantern around Gem’s neck casting a brighter beam than the guide’s beacon.
Itchy itchy itchy!
65536 who is, unlike other grouped up drones still testing their flippers, quickly swimming around and enjoying its newfound ability to move in any direction it wants with barely any resistance, rubs its mildly stinging legs. When it doesn’t help, it bends its body to examine what could be the cause.
Ohhhhh…! The carapace changes Mister Shiny designed make us much less waterproof. Eeeee, I wish I could scratch all of myself from the inside.
“Hey, guys, is anyone itchy too?” it mentally asks the others, which is followed by a chorus of agreement, “I think Mister Shiny’s armor design has a tiny flaw.”
“Yup, a bit.”
“Nothing major.”
“It’s fine,” 10013 shrugs, “We can move so much better now, and we don’t have this weird itchy water at home. We gotta test them out with normal water, though, when we get back to the resort.”
“We could try the heat tubes,” says 99380, “I saw those on the list, and when I tried them on the ship, they were super nice. Maybe 1313 and the stripey ladies will be there again.”
“Not a bad idea.”
The descent continues, and the drones huddle up as darkness falls over them and even their eyes used to the darkness of the tunnels can only see within the sphere of light of the guide’s beacon.
And the sphere is starting to get… lively.
“Feel free to swim around,” the guide’s magically transmitted voice rings within bubbles of air from the group’s enchanted goggles, “We still have some distance to swim before we reach the ruins, and it would be a shame to miss the chance to look at all the fish and jellyfish up close,” as an example, she swims up to a leisurely floating school of silvery fish which blast off as soon as she pokes one.
“Eeee, harmless floaties!” 65536 immediately swims off towards a different group of bright blue fish swimming past and attempts to follow them when they flee before quickly realizing they’re so much faster than it is.
Several moments later, the lit up area is filled with swimming guests and gradually more and more freaked out fish.
Gathering courage, and potentially inspiration for a new Scufflestick Gribbler unit, 10013 swims over to a little less active creature looking like a glowing white cloud with tentacles. After an experimental poke, the creature only wiggles its tentacles towards the drone. Encouraged, 10013 circles around it and begins pushing it towards the others.
“10013, what are you doing?” asks 93, the magic transmitting her words to the nearby goggle wearers.
“I found a friend! It’s all jiggly and wiggly. Look!” it swims under the probably quite confused jellyfish and sticks its foreleg out, which gets immediately engulfed by its tendrils harmlessly sliding along 10013’s carapace.
“Are you sure it’s not trying to eat you? It looks like it’s trying to eat you,” 99380 asks skeptically while inching closer.
“Nu uh,” 10013 shakes its head, pulling its foreleg out to show 99380, “Leg’s all fine.”
“Can I borrow it?” 99380 pokes the jiggly mass.
“Sure, just be nice to it!” 10013 lets the jellyfish go, “I’ll go grab another,” it floats off.
***
“And there it is-” the guide calls out once she turns around and immediately gasps when she sees a bunch of floating balls attached to a drone each, “What are you doing with the jellyfish?”
“They’re great at hugging!” calls out 10013.
“Let them go, please,” she says, “We’re approaching the temple and they might get hurt if you swim past a sharp edge or something else.”
”Okay!” 10013 nods, “Guys, you heard the nice lady,” it untangles the jellyfish’s tentacles from its midsection and gently squeezes its bloated ‘head’ with its forelegs, “No one can ever say a drone doesn’t return its hugs.”
The jellyfish, of course, doesn’t answer, and begins slowly floating upwards like all the others.
“I wish we could take one home to show the guys,” 20100 turns towards 93 who is relaxing in the water nearby.
“They dry out and die outside the ocean,” comes an answer from Gem passing by.
“Idon’twishtotakeonehomeanymore!” 20100 gasps, “We must never harm other huggers!”
“You guys are bound to love the octopuses that live on the ocean floor,” Gem chuckles, “Try to find one. They’re usually hidden by the sand.”
Within a few tempos, she joins the guide who resumes swimming down before stopping one final time, taking her beacon backpack off, and fiddling with it.
“Uhh, don’t we need that?” 10013 asks 65536, the both of which have been leading the drone group during the descent with the occasional exception of stopping to mess around with the wildlife. 65536 shrugs.
The guide explains what she’s doing shortly after:
“I’m just marking a set spot that the boat will be able to find. Aaaand, go-” a thin, bright blue beam shoots upward from the beacon, reaching far further than anyone can see, “This way we’ll just swim up and when we surface they’ll be there to pick us right up. Now,” she grabs a large and powerful flashlight, “follow me and witness the mystery of an ancient civilization we still know nothing about.”
The massive structure the guide leads them to is a dome easily the radius of the apartment complex hosting the delegation retinues, and partially built into the side of a cliff. The visible bottom is a semi-circle made of a solid, silvery-white material which, like everything else, is now covered in green, squishy stuff the drones can’t identify. This circular wall is roughly ten pony lengths high, and above that there’s a shattered dome of thick glass, which likely used to be clear before unknown years of disrepair left it in its now dim, barely see-through shape.
“Historically, there is very little to say about this place because, as I said, we don’t know much,” the guide leads the group through the collapsed dome, “We assume, however, the civilization that built this predates the Redtalon bloodline and the first unification of the Griffon Empire. Despite that, this reinforced glass dome has clearly been made to withstand the water pressure, and the building process of the supporting wall hasn’t been replicated yet, and neither has been the material. The main difficulty lies in our inability to set up a scientific station here,” she laughs, “In short, we, with our current scientific knowledge, can’t build a temporary base here, while the unknown civilization built this. Feel free to swim around and explore if you want. The communication magic of the goggles will let you hear me anywhere within the dome.”
Several guests swim off, but the drones stay with the guide showing the group the more interesting spots, with the exception of 99111 who remains floating by the remarkably undamaged, smooth wall.
Its drone instinct is confused, because just a single touch reveals that the wall material is something it’s never felt before.
“10013, can you come over here, please?” it calls out, and the drone leader splits from the main group.
“What’s up?” asks 10013 quietly.
“Can you tell what this wall is made from?”
10013 pokes it, rubs its hoof against it, and finally, with extreme care, digs, shaving off the thinnest layer of the material it can.
“Whoah!” it looks at its hoof, “It’s not as tough as black-hard, but it’s definitely the second hardest thing I’ve ever dug.”
“Thanks, I was just curious.”
“No problem,” 10013 swims off to rejoin the group.
A small flash of light from its peripheral vision makes 99111 even more curious, and it floats along the wall covered in periodically repeating, thin markings looking like a series of symbols in the center of a large rectangle.
As it turns out, 99111 isn’t the only one interested in the wall. Despite there being the unidentified green layer over everything, Gem has managed to uncover a section blending with the cliffside which looks like a slightly deeper indentation. Next to it, about halfway up, sits a smaller square which the zebra is examining.
She does something with the lantern around her neck, a bright but localized flash of white light comes out of it…
…and nothing else happens.
“Shoot…” hears 99111 through the magical goggles before Gem looks around and spots it, “Oh, hello, 99111.”
The drone wastes no time pondering how she can see it, much less identify it in this underwater darkness when they haven’t even really met, and waves at her.
“Hello, Miss Gem. This is a pretty weird wall, isn’t it?”
“I’m not sure it is just a wall,” she muses, pulling a strange, metallic tube out of her saddlebag, “Perhaps I just need more? Let’s see,” she mutters, pushing the end of the tube which makes some kind of a paste come out of the narrowed front. She quickly smears it over the narrow crack in the wall, “Shield your eyes, 99111,” as the drone does so, a bright white flash visible through its eyelids comes and goes, after which Gem says, “Damn,” 99111 looks just in time to see her rub her foreleg where the paste was moments ago, “Not even warm.”
“Can I… help you? Shoot, the Queen said to not ask anypony today,” the drone clamps its forelegs over its mouth.
“I’m not sure how,” Gem sighs, “I’m not even sure what I’m looking at. I just think this is kind of a panel, not the wall itself, and there’s something behind it.”
“I could dig through it, but I’m not allowed to. 93 said so,” 99111 frowns, “Plus, the griffon lady did just say this is-”
“A national heritage protected by the Griffon-Pony contact treaty, addendum 33-B,” Gem interrupts it, referring to the non-stop stream of trivia and chatter coming from the guide through her goggles, “Yeah, I know. But you’re saying you could get through this?” she taps the potential panel.
“For sure, any drone could. Digging is what we’re for!” 99111 nods vigorously, “But the Queen and 387 said they’d do a lot of mean things to us and others back home if we break stuff.”
“Don’t worry,” Gem smiles, puts her things into her saddlebag, and pats 99111’s head, the mere touch revitalizing it, “Let’s head back to the others.”
***
*Yaaaawn!*
The first squeaky drone yawn comes from 99380 and elicits many more following ones. 93, leading the group along the promenade that’s full of creatures at this time of evening, checks their love levels and finds no particular deficiencies.
“Are you okay? Hungry or anything?” she asks.
“Nu uh,” 99380, blinking blearily, shakes its head, “Jus… tir’d.”
“99380 has been doing a lot of hive mind manipulation todaaaaa-” explains 10013, breaking into a yawn as well, “Nevermind. I guess it’s just been a very busy day full of new things. Can’t out-love everything,” it chuckles, “Who wants to go back to our room?”
Following nods and grunting make 93 smile and say:
“Alright. I’ve been wanting to check out the promenade in peak hours, so if you need anything I should be within reach.”
“Thank you, 93,” 10013 smiles back, and the drone group splits off, heading up the central road.
Roughly halfway there, 10013 whispers something into 20100’s ear.
“Do we gotta?” quietly replies the other drone, “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great idea, but do we gotta?”
“I mean, we don’t, but you know how late they open.”
“I guess,” 20100 nods before raising its voice, “Guys, 10013 and I will be back later. We have a surprise for you for tomorrow.”
“...”
“The good kind, not the old high rank kind,” 10013 adds.
“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay-yawn!”
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Won't lie, I was expecting the drones to trigger a ancient changeling cryo facility or city.. good chapter though
another portion of cuteness, but something has not been seen for a long time 387 and Smiley. Do we need to start worrying about them?
The material isnt affected by Thermite, can barely be Dug through, and yet has a big hole punchd through it?
If they carefully scraped off all the deposits and coverings from after the dome was broken, would they find all sorts of intresting, shadows, on the floor, or would the Drones have to discover Dark field, Polarisation, Phase Contrast and other such invisible viewing methods to discern remains?
That is true, it's possible it's just the salt water causing this effect. Maybe the modifications are letting the salt get at the normally covered squishy stuff inside? That'd be my first thought, at least.
It has been a little bit since we last saw 1313 and crew, so they would seem due to make another appearance...
The big underwater dome thing is interesting.
11404832
Hopefully, 36658 isn't just bottling it up.
11405212
Soon(TM)
11405244
TREMBLE IN TERROR!
11405315
I think I gave enough clues already.
11405840
- Egg sackly.
- I don't doubt Zamira is dragging 1313 all over the place to try out everything.
11405893
The original name was Scufflestick Big Number, or BN for short.
11406095
- Yep.
- Can just be a nickname.
- Eh, my idea was the Imperium in general, but the Imperial Guard would be closer.
- I don't think there's an equivalent in the 40k universe to 36658's faction. It would be as if the Sisters were against the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition, but for the Emperor. TTS Emperor would be the closest.
- Chaos undivided in general, yea. Although I doubt that Guiding would ever play them considering her ideology. I'd say she would roll some version of Grey Knights.
- Nope, it's choas.
- The final round would be in jello, much to the enjoyment of both Shining and the drones, albeit for entirely different reasons.
- 10013's is Tyranids, yes.
- As someone who works in a corporate setting, at this point I entirely understand Peter Turbo and therefore ideologically roll Iron Warriors as the good guys. Let me quote Bricky: "They don't worship Chaos because they like it. They worship it because fuck you."