You step off the silver train and onto the bare concrete platform of national salvation network...
The Lion Against the Sun: A Giant Robot Quest
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- Pronouns
- She/Her
You step off the silver train and onto the bare concrete platform of national salvation network node 108 and walk up to the security checkpoint to present your ID. Maybe now you'll get to find out exactly what this is all about. The platform looks much line any other, clean, light coloured concrete, functional and without decoration with 108 stencilled in white on one wall, and a security exit at the other end. You approach that, steeling yourself to go through.
"Academician Oshiro Chiyo."
"Yes."
The guard takes your ID, pulls it through a reader, checks his screen, checks again. More annoying delay. He must have been told to expect you. Just how many platinum blond eighteen year old Academicians does he encounter? Hirokuni has only recently come to understand the ancient facilities that allowed it to improve upon human biology.
The station exit is full security theatre. Beyond the three guards is a bank of detection equipment crewed by another pair behind bullet proof glass. Visible through the security door's clear synthetic are more guards, khaki body armour and rifles in their hands. You went through a similar check to get into the station at the other end, and then again to onto the platform. Then you had a card check and authentication code to actually get the train to move.
Security checks like this one are a fact of life for employees at the highest levels of Hirokuni's government science institute, but this seems like it's going too far. What exactly is the threat here?
Since the defeat of Eastern Imperial Republic and its allies in space, Hirokuni is the Rinkyuu's last remaining superpower, with control of the entire Eastern supercontinent. Indeed, with the occupation of the orbital cradles, can claim to be the most significant power left in the whole Orihime system. Only the Outsiders, highly technology, and of unknown politics could be a possible threat, and you do not think they could pass for locals.
The countries of the Western hemisphere, poor and friendly and consumed by their own politics look to Hirokuni for trade, for integration into the S3 network and their own cybernetic socialist revolution. The idea of conflict with them is laughable.
"Please remove your shoes and step into the scanner, place your hand on the palm plate. Oh, and your jacket too."
It was cold today, so you wore your black and white aviation jacket. You probably would have worn it anyway.
You step through the scanner, reclaim your property, and are buzzed in through the security door, awkwardly kicking on your shoes as you go through. The guard team step to the sides of the corridor and let you through the middle, down a short hallway to another door.
Beyond is a massive chamber, lit by panels of spotlight. The place is a vast crater, rows of tunnel entrances, each surrounded by unusual ruins of white and black stone. Cherry pickers, elevators and earth moving equipment is arranged up and down the sides.
It is not these which draw the eye however, that lies at the bottom of the hole. For a moment you think your eyes are playing some trick on you, that the pit cannot be so deep, and that it is simply an unusually shaped suit of ancient armour, spiked wings extending from behind it. Then the scale becomes clear.
At the bottom of the pit lies a humanoid figure, a full twenty meters tall. Lights play across it, reflecting across the gleaming brightness of perfect silver, or sucked into areas of equally perfect black.
"Preposterous."
Up Close, the humanoid, (you don't want to jump to "giant robot", even if it is one) is almost human in its proportioned, built like an armoured man. One arm is partly disassembled, panels open along its length to reveal thick strands of gleaming blue, and other, stranger components. Its head is black, but with a curious symbol, which reminds you of the rising sun of Hirokuni, but blue, embossed there. Great nozzles open at various points on its anatomy, gaping black into unknown depths.
White coated academicians in hard hats move around the thing, electronic slates in hand, and various scanning equipment trundles across the armour on the gantries beneath your feet. You're standing over it now, on one of the catwalks, looking down at its chest. With you is General Himura, the commander of this, who seems very happy about all this.
To be wholly honest, you are equally happy.
"I agree, yet all the techniques we have say it's the truth. A site that was old when the transitors left earth. Seemingly evidence of some ancient human, or at least humanoid civilization."
"How did you even find this place?"
"An extension of the national salvation network, workers broke through into this vault. We're still checking the rest of the workings, but this seems to be the most advanced item.
"So what do we know so far?"
"Not a great deal. We have a lot of surface scans, which don't show very much. There's a door to some kind of internal space in the back, you can get at it through a trench. It seems that it was deliberately lain down in this position. Otherwise, we don't know much. That's why you're here Academician. To lead the efforts to find out."
"Budget and support?"
"Unlimited."
"Well then. I'd better make a start."
What should you start by investigating?
[ ] The head
[ ] The cockpit door at the back
[ ] The damaged arm
[ ] The ports across its body
"Academician Oshiro Chiyo."
"Yes."
The guard takes your ID, pulls it through a reader, checks his screen, checks again. More annoying delay. He must have been told to expect you. Just how many platinum blond eighteen year old Academicians does he encounter? Hirokuni has only recently come to understand the ancient facilities that allowed it to improve upon human biology.
The station exit is full security theatre. Beyond the three guards is a bank of detection equipment crewed by another pair behind bullet proof glass. Visible through the security door's clear synthetic are more guards, khaki body armour and rifles in their hands. You went through a similar check to get into the station at the other end, and then again to onto the platform. Then you had a card check and authentication code to actually get the train to move.
Security checks like this one are a fact of life for employees at the highest levels of Hirokuni's government science institute, but this seems like it's going too far. What exactly is the threat here?
Since the defeat of Eastern Imperial Republic and its allies in space, Hirokuni is the Rinkyuu's last remaining superpower, with control of the entire Eastern supercontinent. Indeed, with the occupation of the orbital cradles, can claim to be the most significant power left in the whole Orihime system. Only the Outsiders, highly technology, and of unknown politics could be a possible threat, and you do not think they could pass for locals.
The countries of the Western hemisphere, poor and friendly and consumed by their own politics look to Hirokuni for trade, for integration into the S3 network and their own cybernetic socialist revolution. The idea of conflict with them is laughable.
"Please remove your shoes and step into the scanner, place your hand on the palm plate. Oh, and your jacket too."
It was cold today, so you wore your black and white aviation jacket. You probably would have worn it anyway.
You step through the scanner, reclaim your property, and are buzzed in through the security door, awkwardly kicking on your shoes as you go through. The guard team step to the sides of the corridor and let you through the middle, down a short hallway to another door.
Beyond is a massive chamber, lit by panels of spotlight. The place is a vast crater, rows of tunnel entrances, each surrounded by unusual ruins of white and black stone. Cherry pickers, elevators and earth moving equipment is arranged up and down the sides.
It is not these which draw the eye however, that lies at the bottom of the hole. For a moment you think your eyes are playing some trick on you, that the pit cannot be so deep, and that it is simply an unusually shaped suit of ancient armour, spiked wings extending from behind it. Then the scale becomes clear.
At the bottom of the pit lies a humanoid figure, a full twenty meters tall. Lights play across it, reflecting across the gleaming brightness of perfect silver, or sucked into areas of equally perfect black.
*******
"According to raidocarbon dating of material found in the ruins,they predate landfall by at least ten thousand years.""Preposterous."
Up Close, the humanoid, (you don't want to jump to "giant robot", even if it is one) is almost human in its proportioned, built like an armoured man. One arm is partly disassembled, panels open along its length to reveal thick strands of gleaming blue, and other, stranger components. Its head is black, but with a curious symbol, which reminds you of the rising sun of Hirokuni, but blue, embossed there. Great nozzles open at various points on its anatomy, gaping black into unknown depths.
White coated academicians in hard hats move around the thing, electronic slates in hand, and various scanning equipment trundles across the armour on the gantries beneath your feet. You're standing over it now, on one of the catwalks, looking down at its chest. With you is General Himura, the commander of this, who seems very happy about all this.
To be wholly honest, you are equally happy.
"I agree, yet all the techniques we have say it's the truth. A site that was old when the transitors left earth. Seemingly evidence of some ancient human, or at least humanoid civilization."
"How did you even find this place?"
"An extension of the national salvation network, workers broke through into this vault. We're still checking the rest of the workings, but this seems to be the most advanced item.
"So what do we know so far?"
"Not a great deal. We have a lot of surface scans, which don't show very much. There's a door to some kind of internal space in the back, you can get at it through a trench. It seems that it was deliberately lain down in this position. Otherwise, we don't know much. That's why you're here Academician. To lead the efforts to find out."
"Budget and support?"
"Unlimited."
"Well then. I'd better make a start."
What should you start by investigating?
[ ] The head
[ ] The cockpit door at the back
[ ] The damaged arm
[ ] The ports across its body
ChildishChimera
A umbran summon
- Location
- New York
[X] The damaged arm
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
[X] The cockpit door at the back
Naturally, we'd try the door first.
Naturally, we'd try the door first.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] The cockpit door at the back
LinkOnScepter
The One who Strangles Concepts to death
- Location
- Interwebs
[X] The cockpit door at the back
Dromeosaur
Feathery Raptor of snowy planes and frozen sea
- Location
- The land of Trees and Squirrels
[X] The cockpit door at the back
- Location
- va
[X] The damaged arm
Nervos Belli
Don't think this means you've won!
- Location
- Murica
[x] The ports across its body
- Location
- The Hague
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] The cockpit the cockpit the cockpit
I mean what do you think this IS
I mean what do you think this IS
Awakening
- Pronouns
- She/Her
(The forces of history maybe slowed by the victory of the counter revolution, but they are not stopped!)
[X] The cockpit door at the back
You put on a hard hat and clip a pair of work gloves to your belt and walk down under the robot. "Have you tried the usual scanning methods?"
"Of course, though most of them don't work. Ultrasound, X-rays, none of them can penetrate the armour."
"What about the damaged arms?"
"We have partial imagery of that. However even most of the internal components block things."
"I see." You look up at the dark mass of robot above, and the intricate fractals of its back. They draw the eye, spinning across it. You blink a couple of times, then look again, this time setting an internal process in your head to alert you in a couple of seconds. Your eyes are drawn around from one spiral to the next. You can feel your brain growing more active as they go. Your eyes don't stop and you almost lose yourself for a moment before your "Hmm."
"What is it? Acadamician?"
"The fractal skin, I believe it would be best if you ration how much people are allowed to look at it. It seems to have some effect on the human brain." You pat the robot. "It seems whoever built this was human, or knew about them. That's also implied by its shape."
"I… I see." Himura tips back his cap and looks up. "It seems like science fiction."
"More so than a giant-prehuman robot?"
"It's not like humanoid weapons are exactly unknown in the beyond. Our own military is testing prototypes. I suppose I thought that perhaps the carbon dating might be explained by something else. Medusa fractals though, that sounds like something out of a science fiction serial."
"Well, it doesn't seem that effective, at least in this light conditions. It maybe I am just being distracted as a side effect of my enhancements." You stop in front of the cockpit hatch. "Now, let's see about getting this open."
The General stands well back as you look over the hatch. The hatch cover looks like a pretty standard armoured hatch, its join almost but not quite invisible, and carefully marked up with tape. There's a complicated mechanism like a human hand print in one side. You pull yourself up and inspect it. "It could be a handprint scanner. Has anyone messed with it?"
"No. We wanted to know if it was safe."
"Well, there's no holes for needles. I guess it could shock you. Have you X-rayed it? Ultrasound?"
"We can't see inside."
"Well then." You put your hand up against it. The mechanism hums and lights up. You feel a pressure against your hand for a moment, and then the cockpit hatch swings back, revealing a large control cavern.
"That was dangerous Academician!" The General protests. "Please think of your safety."
"If we can't analyse it with our instruments, there's not much point
"You are not expendable, you know that?"
"Oh, just grow another few of me at Shinkyo. I'd suggest you step back General, but do lend me your radio."
"Of course." He hands it up and retreats. You key it and speak.
"Testing, can you here me? This is Academician Oshiro. I am in the humanoid's cockpit."
"Academician? This is base station, you've gained access to the cockpit?"
"Yes. I'm activating my radio's camera now."
You clip the radio to your shirt and pull yourself up into the cockpit and look around. It seems well preserved, without dust, human remains, or a sleeping space prince. What a shame. There's no evidence of windows or screens, but there is a framework of what looks like motion capture gear, though you're not quite sure how the driver is supposed to suspend themselves in the framework, and a row of switches. The top one is largest, and marked with a red lightning bolt. Below it is a blue switch marked with a star pattern, and a green switch marked with a single line. Another switch beside the hatch is marked with a door symbol. You leave that alone.
"Base, can you still here me?"
"Yes."
"Any advice?"
"We're examining local symbology, we believe the red symbol is for power up, and probably safe to press."
"Should I press it?"
"Please do so."
You reach up and press the switch. Instantly, the cockpit lights up with a view of the surrounding cavern. A wireframe of the robot, its left arm shown in purple, the rest in cool blow light's up next to it. "Are you still seeing this base?"
"Copy, we are recieving…" The signal suddenly cuts to static. Up above, far above, there's a distant bright explosion. Something tears through the top of the dome. A humanoid fighting machine, tall and blue drops free and lands across the cavern, raising and oversized rifle. Beside it, a second, armed with a weapon that looks more like an SMG follows. The radio howls static. Jamming.
Beyonder warmachines. But what are they doing here?
A rocket hurtles out from one of the guard posts, and bursts against one of the robots. It swings around and blasts the area with its rifle, blowing it apart in a spray of debris.
It strikes you that you have the one effective means of resistance right here. What should you do?
[ ] Play dead, wait for them to get close
[ ] Rise and confront them before they can attack the staff
[ ] Throw one of the forklifts at them
[ ] Press the blue switch
[ ] Press the green switch
[X] The cockpit door at the back
You put on a hard hat and clip a pair of work gloves to your belt and walk down under the robot. "Have you tried the usual scanning methods?"
"Of course, though most of them don't work. Ultrasound, X-rays, none of them can penetrate the armour."
"What about the damaged arms?"
"We have partial imagery of that. However even most of the internal components block things."
"I see." You look up at the dark mass of robot above, and the intricate fractals of its back. They draw the eye, spinning across it. You blink a couple of times, then look again, this time setting an internal process in your head to alert you in a couple of seconds. Your eyes are drawn around from one spiral to the next. You can feel your brain growing more active as they go. Your eyes don't stop and you almost lose yourself for a moment before your "Hmm."
"What is it? Acadamician?"
"The fractal skin, I believe it would be best if you ration how much people are allowed to look at it. It seems to have some effect on the human brain." You pat the robot. "It seems whoever built this was human, or knew about them. That's also implied by its shape."
"I… I see." Himura tips back his cap and looks up. "It seems like science fiction."
"More so than a giant-prehuman robot?"
"It's not like humanoid weapons are exactly unknown in the beyond. Our own military is testing prototypes. I suppose I thought that perhaps the carbon dating might be explained by something else. Medusa fractals though, that sounds like something out of a science fiction serial."
"Well, it doesn't seem that effective, at least in this light conditions. It maybe I am just being distracted as a side effect of my enhancements." You stop in front of the cockpit hatch. "Now, let's see about getting this open."
The General stands well back as you look over the hatch. The hatch cover looks like a pretty standard armoured hatch, its join almost but not quite invisible, and carefully marked up with tape. There's a complicated mechanism like a human hand print in one side. You pull yourself up and inspect it. "It could be a handprint scanner. Has anyone messed with it?"
"No. We wanted to know if it was safe."
"Well, there's no holes for needles. I guess it could shock you. Have you X-rayed it? Ultrasound?"
"We can't see inside."
"Well then." You put your hand up against it. The mechanism hums and lights up. You feel a pressure against your hand for a moment, and then the cockpit hatch swings back, revealing a large control cavern.
"That was dangerous Academician!" The General protests. "Please think of your safety."
"If we can't analyse it with our instruments, there's not much point
"You are not expendable, you know that?"
"Oh, just grow another few of me at Shinkyo. I'd suggest you step back General, but do lend me your radio."
"Of course." He hands it up and retreats. You key it and speak.
"Testing, can you here me? This is Academician Oshiro. I am in the humanoid's cockpit."
"Academician? This is base station, you've gained access to the cockpit?"
"Yes. I'm activating my radio's camera now."
You clip the radio to your shirt and pull yourself up into the cockpit and look around. It seems well preserved, without dust, human remains, or a sleeping space prince. What a shame. There's no evidence of windows or screens, but there is a framework of what looks like motion capture gear, though you're not quite sure how the driver is supposed to suspend themselves in the framework, and a row of switches. The top one is largest, and marked with a red lightning bolt. Below it is a blue switch marked with a star pattern, and a green switch marked with a single line. Another switch beside the hatch is marked with a door symbol. You leave that alone.
"Base, can you still here me?"
"Yes."
"Any advice?"
"We're examining local symbology, we believe the red symbol is for power up, and probably safe to press."
"Should I press it?"
"Please do so."
You reach up and press the switch. Instantly, the cockpit lights up with a view of the surrounding cavern. A wireframe of the robot, its left arm shown in purple, the rest in cool blow light's up next to it. "Are you still seeing this base?"
"Copy, we are recieving…" The signal suddenly cuts to static. Up above, far above, there's a distant bright explosion. Something tears through the top of the dome. A humanoid fighting machine, tall and blue drops free and lands across the cavern, raising and oversized rifle. Beside it, a second, armed with a weapon that looks more like an SMG follows. The radio howls static. Jamming.
Beyonder warmachines. But what are they doing here?
A rocket hurtles out from one of the guard posts, and bursts against one of the robots. It swings around and blasts the area with its rifle, blowing it apart in a spray of debris.
It strikes you that you have the one effective means of resistance right here. What should you do?
[ ] Play dead, wait for them to get close
[ ] Rise and confront them before they can attack the staff
[ ] Throw one of the forklifts at them
[ ] Press the blue switch
[ ] Press the green switch
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
I'm going to bet that these are weaponry. Star and Line probably correlate to ranged and melee.
[X] Press the blue switch
... Did you mean button? Or are these tiny levers? Does one press a light switch?
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I've always heard it referred too as press a light switch.
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
Oh. I've always been told to flip them.
Maybe everybody in my county is expected to become an Igor sooner or later, and they want to give us a head start on the mad scientist terminology.
- Location
- va
[X] Play dead, wait for them to get close
- Location
- The Hague
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hmm, I think if we're powered up playing dead might be a bit of a stretch. Throwing a forklift might not be terribly effective either, but it's cool and should distract.
[X] Throw one of the forklifts at them.
[X] Throw one of the forklifts at them.