Chapter Text
Water dripped off the slugcat's fur, the small animal stepping onto a ledge that looked upon the small island of debris where Moon sat. She looked up happily, the splish-splash of water droplets signalling the creature's arrival.
"Oh, little creature, you’re back!"
The slugcat nods, swimming up to the iterator and sitting on the remains of the room’s floor. It begins to cough forcefully, body shaking with the effort.
"Something new you want me to look at, little friend?"
They cough up a small, dark red sphere. Its surface shines slightly in the sunlight.
"Another pearl? The scavengers must be jealous of you, finding all these."
"This one is about the precognitor project, which was proposed soon after the first few iterators were built, including me."
"The aim was to have us program the younger iterators and other entities, so they would be ever freer of struggle, and so the iterators built might be better than their predecessors."
A small strand of neurons drifts about Moon as she talks to them. Eleven in total, more than double the number the slugcat had first known her with. The neuronflies shift colors in tandem, like a swarm of very strange fireflies.
"It was soon canceled after a few too many cases where the entities created had too many flaws to be implemented and/or the lack of participation. Only a few of the programs made were used, in the end."
"I do not remember much from the time. The memory is unaccessible to me."
"I do remember participating, though. I believe I made an improved program for observers. I was given permission to implement it for myself, but nothing much else."
"Perhaps you have even seen one in action."
Moon looks up from the pearl, glancing at the slugcat, "It looks like there's another section, although it's more encrypted than the rest. Give me a second..."
"Oh! It's about one of the major entities that got the project canceled in the end, Sky Piercing Sound. I will read it to you as well."
"...Sky Piercing Sound was implemented as an iterator, but later revealed to have a reduced drive to solve the Great Problem, an imperfection in the taboo, along with Present In The Rain, another qualifying iterator. Because they were already built and integrated into the rain cycles, they were not removed from service.
I theorize that the iterators that created them, Verdant Stairwell and Nine Turtleshells respectively, used a method of randomizing outputs that, by chance, circumvented the taboo. An event that will likely never happen again, as both iterators cannot be contacted and are likely exhaustively incapacitated. But I digress.
Sky Piercing Sound and Present in the Rain have recently revealed plans for a purposed organism to their local group, which I am adjacent to. It is designed to be a highly adaptable organism about the size of a scavenger made for field performance, which could hold some potential. An uncomfortable amount of lizards have crawled into my interior chambers as of recently, and it'd be nice to have a way to kick them out. Another noteworthy topic, the plans sent were named quite oddly. Vicinity, or something along those lines. In my opinion, Eight Steel Beams would be a more fitting title, considering the design.
Authored 1654.114, Series CMXCVI, Pearl 1"
"It ends there, but it seems to be the first of a series. You might like to look for more, they should be in around the same area. I suppose you can give this one to the scavengers, or keep it for later, if you want."
Moon holds out the pearl for the slugcat to take back. It does so, swallowing it down once more and leaving quickly, perhaps to avoid the coming rain.
-×-
From a tunnel leading further into the can, a strange creature comes tumbling down. Failing to land on the nearby ledges, it falls through the Underhang, far from any of the superstructure's legs.
A spider scuttles away, disturbed by the thing's presence.
Eight biomechanical wings flex. They are a bright orange-yellow, tapering off at the ends to a point. Wind whistles past, a constant swooshing.
A lizard watches something fall from the ceiling. It is a burning yellow, and glows softly in the distance. Whatever it is, it does not change its trajectory, still falling downward quickly. The lizard repositions itself to perhaps catch more prey, its hide changing colors to blend in with the wall to its back. The thing continues to descend.
-×-
RUNNING DIAGNOSTICS...
SCANS PENDING...
ORGANICS FUNCTIONAL
MECHANICS FUNCTIONAL
ALL COMPONENTS FUNCTIONAL
SCANS PENDING...
FIRMWARE: LATEST VERSION (1859.053)
CALIBRATION: RECENTLY UPDATED (1859.127)
UPDATE CALIBRATION?
Y/N
>N
PROCEEDING...
AUDIO FUNCTIONAL
OPTICS FUNCTIONAL
DIAGNOSTICS COMPLETE
ALL SYSTEMS FUNCTIONAL
LOADING STATUS UPDATE...
STATUS UPDATE:
CYCLE 1859.130
MACHINE ID: V1
LOCATION: LOCATION UNKNOWN/BELOW THE CAN
CURRENT OBJECTIVE: FIND A WEAPON
RAIN IS COMING
BLOOD IS FUEL
DEATH IS NOT THE END