[Spacebox Event] Investigation of Starport Iota [Open]

[Katpride]

Though they had known about and anticipated the heat, Curiosity wasn't quite prepared for the reality of it. As the temperature of the hallway rapidly rises, so too does the temperature of their external metal, turning orange-hot in the android equivalent of a bad sunburn. They are suddenly very grateful that they don't have external heat sensors, because if they did they would be frying right now. As it is, a little warning blinks in the corner of their vision, and they glance at it briefly as they continue to cut through the wall.

[Warning: Heat levels unsuitable for organic life. Subroutine activated. Cooling chassis interior... Regulating internal temperature... Reinforcing wire insulation...]

Well, that sounds good. Reasonably assured that she won't be melting into a little puddle today, Curiosity blinks out of the text even as it continues to scroll and returns most of her attention to her conversation, pondering Ollie's words. "I see what you mean. After all, that's kind of how androids work, so I guess it could also apply to places. Huh. I never thought about it that way." It would be nice to talk to places, but Curiosity doesn't feel too bitter about it. She would much rather talk to people.

Finally, the doorway is open, the slab of metal falling inward to reveal a room. Curiosity lowers his pistol and looks into the room, taking in the lines of welding and the hot lump of metal in the center. Is that what's been giving off so much heat?

"Tell me those don't look like veins. Hey can I take a piece of this?"

"Yeah, they kind of do." It's a little weird that the welding isn't just... you know, holding two pieces of metal together. Curiosity is pretty sure that this isn't how welding is supposed to act. Again, the organic appearance and behavior intrigues them. Is the lump the core of this place? Is that what's making everything move? They can't quite shake the feeling that, whatever it is, it's going to spontaneously decide that it doesn't want them there. That would be a fun twist, if it jumped up and started hassling them. Is it moving?

Before she goes to get a closer look, though, Curiosity looks up at the closest welding line, the one Ollie pointed to. "I don't see why not. If you do cut it down, could I have some to study?" It doesn't look like the lines are supporting anything, after all. Surely just taking a little couldn't hurt. She's sure Brendan would want some, even if she isn't able to figure it out herself.

"Are we supposed to be waiting for the others before we investigate?" Curiosity thinks to ask, glancing back down the hallway at the door they came through. Then at the lump in the room they've opened. The heat should go back to normal soon enough, but they itch to investigate now.

[illirica]

If Ollie did have some way of communicating with places and wasn't just deluding herself, the time at which she inquired whether or not she could have a little piece of the starport system, she would get a response that was very much a negative. Indeed, the very webworking seemed to clench up a little, inasmuch as such a thing could happen - almost as if whatever it was very much did not want to be eaten.

It didn't much seem to like Curiosity's idea of hacking off a bit to study, either, for that matter. The heat in the room was, indeed, dissipating slowly. It was still hot, but dropping down into mere hundreds of degrees, rather than thousands.

In the center of the room, the lump of metal quivered. Unlike the vague pulsations of the weld-works that one had to question whether or not anything was really happening, this was entirely visible to the eye - or, in the case of the robot and the space-place, whatever optical senses they had in place of those. It quivered again, shaking a little, and one of the connecting welds dropped off, falling down unused while the others continued to pulse.

A few seconds later, there was another contraction, and another release of a couple more welds.

[Rollerblade]

Rolling Cosmos
Blade of Stars

For a moment her eyes widened, she remembered. Not the fugu clouded recollection she usually had but something more solid. It was so long ago, the kind of time one didn't measure in simple lunar cycles. The kind of time small even to the orbit about a sun. There was a people, a race looking to hunt. They couldn't track the beasts though that ran along her skin and continue to live in a cave. They needed a refuge from the environment that was more mobile. And so as many races had done on other worlds before and many would in the future they invented "tents" different names perhaps but basic ideas were there. And the method used was digging and sinking materials into the planet surface.

They didn't just explore her, now they left marks they bit at her and took of her beyond the original parameters set. It was the first memory of pain, and she knew now she had come to know much more of it. Taking from this place was she could feel it closer to the deeper cuts she still could only remember as a haze. What mattered to Ollie though was, she was right.

If she took of the welding, perhaps of the makeshift door or ideally of the metal stone in the center she could feel more whole. She was a broken and incomplete thing, this place didn't want to hurt, but that pain was Ollie's survival. Her next step in restoration to being a world. It may have been greedy but how far would one go to stay alive?

"It doesn't want us to take of this. As we continue I would expect antibodies." Maybe that didn't need saying but it was where the mind of Ollie's went. That the research, that her needs meant they would likely continue regardless. Way the stone rumbled and welding fell though it was going to respond. She didn't know if the station had its own measures, or if it would be some staff who worked here but she expected counter measures of some kind. She felt like Iota was more alive then her, more prepared. Like a healthy prey ready to run or try and fight against a wounded predator.

She wasn't in charge though so for now she scooped up the falling rope like bundles of welding. A food source shaken free rather then ripped away. "Not to rush anyone but if you won't melt now would you mind grabbing what you can and or came for?" She didn't know how long she had been a world and knew her time as this place rather then her rightful place wasn't long. What she did know though was patience, she didn't mind waiting if need be. She also was in a state of survival though and knew the wayward group could maybe use being more alert or on the move.

[Katpride]

"Ooooooo!" Curiosity trills as the lump starts to shake. They take a few steps forward, properly in the room rather than waiting outside, watching with fascination as the lines of welding detach and fall. "This is just like in the movies!"

Curiosity is pretty sure that, in the movies, when wires start detaching from a central shape it's usually a sign that something exciting is about to happen. Or the awakening of an ancient evil. It's a toss up, really! Rather than trying to run away, she just side-steps out of the way of one of the falling lines, still trying to get closer. She isn't sure what antibodies Ollie is referring to - is that what the well-armed members of the party brought all their weapons to defend against? She's pretty sure it'll still be another minute before it's safe to open the door, anyway, and the others will come through then with all that.

"We came to investigate, didn't we? This is prime investigation right here!" The android points out, but he still picks up one of the fallen lines and coils it up in his arms as he circles around, deeper into the room. His metal is cooling slightly slower than the room, retaining some residual heat that makes him glow lightly like a fading cinder. He pulls up the heat filter again, watching everything unfold with wide eyes and an unwavering smile. This'll make a fine addition to his research - if it's sentient, it'd probably be a new species! How exciting!

[illirica]

There didn't seem to be any response to the two intrepid explorers picking up the fallen welding - if there was something mindful here, its attention was certainly on something else. The shivering motions were coming closer together now, more and more tendrils of welding dropping off to lay on the floor. The molten lump in the center of the room shifted, a squelching motion that was completely unlike anything metallic ought to be. It moved again and again, like clay being moulded by an unseen hand.

It was a hand that first came forth from that formless blob. Somehow, those pulses of motion resulted in a tiny appendage, half-sized, which grappled with some of the remaining lines, pulling them more or less free, or trying to. Even as this happened, the rest of the body was forming, vaguely humanoid. It looked...

...A bit like Curiosity. A bit like Ollie. A small thing, half determined, molten metal batting at the lines that constricted it uncertainly. A small swing went too far, and it tumbled off its pedestal and onto the floor where it sat, blinking its still-forming eyes.

[Rollerblade]

Rolling Cosmos
Blade of Stars

Life was beginning to form where a stone had been. That radiant center of the given room was starting to shape into something. Ollie wasn't quite sure how she felt about such a thing. On one hand it was something new being given shape, a birth before them. Which was both magical but superficial to her, as apart of Ollie enjoyed seeing new life especially at its dawn. This wasn't her child though, it wasn't on her world. She also knew to return home and properly be herself she might have to consume much.

There was also a feeling though of anger. That this thing might be like her which may tread on using it to return home. That maybe her sense of belonging in a group would fade because now they had a second oddity like herself. Her home was gone, brothers and sisters gone. She roamed the stars looking for resources to return home because it was almost imposible to feel like she belonged. Now that she had a group she felt threatened. A mix of excitement and anger came to her. Thoughts drifting like asteroid belts, consisting of wanting to bring the new entity close and wanting to bring her blade down upon it.

"Did any of you expect the heat source to be an egg? If it's hatching is it wrong to bite it?" This mission was not her's alone, the discovery not Ollie's alone to make. So she once again tried to see what others thought should be done. If it was just her she might have simply taken action toward personal interest, in a group though she wasn't exclusively greedy.

So her next motion would have two purposes. The first would be to try and help expedite the process, to try and get the others in here. As Ollie pressed against a wall she would seek to consume. To take in the weld webbing, the walls themselves, the heat. An aim to draw more of the threat in to feed herself and hopefully make things safer. The second purpose was to move away from whatever was starting to look at them. As Ollie felt she might do something the others regretted if she hadn't. If this matter could grow into something it absolutely would aid her in returning to something. A survival instinct wanted nothing more, but she was a living planet and apart of living was a want for belonging.

[Katpride]

Curiosity finally reaches the moving metal, now close enough to reach out and touch it. Seeing its struggles, they drop the coil they hold and instead reach out to help pull away the remaining webbing as carefully as they can. They don't have any experience in the creation of new life, as maintaining already existing things is more their area, but they think that, if this is a new creature, it might need some help. It hasn't made any threatening moves towards them, which they count as a good sign.

"Unexpected, but very exciting!" The robot calls over her shoulder to her companion without turning away from her current task. "I would say probably don't eat it until we know what it is. What they are? Oooh, exciting."

It may not be the most coherent thing he's ever said, but he is a little preoccupied. As he continues to hover near the new creature, ready to help out or back off should it suddenly lunge at him, he notices that the room seems much cooler now, probably about normal temperature. Curiosity is still a little warmer than normal, but he thinks it should be safe for the others now.

They reach out with a little mental nudge, and in the other room Laika beeps a few times before reaching out to open the door into the corridor. Curiosity's bag is still with their drone, hanging off of it and making it float a little lower to the ground, but it reaches the handle and pushes the door open without apparent difficulty, zooming off to find its owner much like a pet with separation anxiety might.