Well, let's see if there's something inside, eh?
Jin takes a look inside:
A look inside the buildings doesn't turn up any signs of inhabitants or furniture. Indeed, they're little more than hollow shells with impressive exteriors.
"A shame there is no one to ask about what the end goal of these bots is. What parameters do they use to determine when they have found the 'best way'?"
How do they communicate with the controller AI is what I want to know... and is that something that we can do? I thought for sure we would learn that at the core, but we didn't.
"I, too, am puzzled by the logic, or lack thereof, of this constant DE-struction followed by CON-struction. Perhaps it is in the nature of these robots to think in such binary terms. In other words, there are very few gray areas where they leave well enough alone..."
Hani continues the exploration with the rest of the crew according to the plans laid out.
"A malfunction is more probable." Jin stares at the scenario, wondering for how long these constructs have been around.
Exploration continues into an area of Noma that, from a distance, looks to be the ruins of an incredibly-ancient city. But as you get closer, it becomes obvious that the "ruins" are pristine fabrications deliberately made to look old! Here, bands of mobile constructs are in violent conflict over the same sort of cubes you previously saw being stacked in strange arrangements elsewhere in the city.
Zharis examines the cubes, wondering if they are the same as the one she acquired earlier. If they seem different at all, she'll get another sample, but if not, she just leaves them alone.
Jin keeps looking for trouble:
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A look at the cubes shows they seem unremarkable and indistinguishable from ones seen elsewhere in Noma.
"Do not touch anything. The creatures seem very protective of their cubes." Jin warns the group.
Zharis nods at the advice.
They look just like the other ones, so we already have a sample. No need to risk angering them to get another.
Shall we continue?
Hani moves deliberately along the chosen path. He keeps a wary eye out for any dangers, as well as anything potentially scientifically interesting.
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Journeying further along the edge of the bizarre bubble-city, the expedition team reach an area where the structures are made of bizarre tesselating three dimensional fractals!
Ooooh, looking at that hurts my brain. Maybe we should move on?
The good ol' Perception check:
Moving quickly through the disorienting fractal area, the expedition team pushes on to another strange part of Noma. Here, all the buildings have an identical corresponding structure coming downward from the dome-like roof, as if the whole section was a mirror! The two vertical dimensions seem to connect near the center of the area, where identical ziggurat structures stretch up from the ground and down from the dome, nearly touching like a finger from the depths and a finger from the heavens.
I still haven't lost hope of finding biomaterials here. But to be honest, hope is fading. Well, are we looking for a place to camp?
If this area looks safe, Zharis checks in with Hop to make sure there aren't any ships sighted or anything, and then they see if they can shelter and sleep in one of the buildings.
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After Hop reports no signs of incoming ships, the group rest for several hours in one of the buildings.
Zharis gets up the next morning ready to go. She checks in with Hop, tells him where they are planning to be that day, and then gets everyone moving again.
Noma is always full of surprises, and in the next area the expedition team explores they see a gleaming tower surrounded by thousands of shanty huts! Four separate queues of Speakers have formed for different entrances into the tower, and each Speaker seems to be bearing an object of some sort--a piece of robotic scrap, a small chunk of masonry, and so forth. The lines seem to be moving quickly, but they stay at a steady length as additional Speakers arrive to join in.
Jin does his thing:
Xylian gets in line with the lil' bots.
"Maybe we should grab a piece of scrap, too."
With that, Hani picks up anything he can find nearby, preferably enough for everyone to have a piece. He then gets in line with Xylian.
Tulgram joins his comrades, also taking some garbage.
Playing along, Zharis gets in one of the lines as well, holding Sulphrax's expended explosive brass collar. They had other ones to study, so losing this one wouldn't harm anything.
Joining the queue, you soon find yourself entering the gleaming tower. Inside, four helically interwoven spiral staircases ascend upwards as the queues extend to the very heights of the tower!
Finally, after hours of slow climbing, you reach the terminus of the staircases and see a single Speaker construct sitting on a dais. One by one, each member of the queue places their offering before it and then departs, as if they were feudal serfs paying tribute to their liege lord!
Tulgram gets out of the queue and watches what happens to these "offerings" afterwards? A lot of junk should accumulate quickly.
He also looks around. In this city, you never know what to expect.
As Zharis is moving forward in the queue, she wonders if the Speaker here is actually in touch with the AI behind the city, or just another bot going through a ritual they don't understand.
She decides to see if she can spark a response.
O Great and Mighty King, may we ask a question?
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"Be careful now. There are large trapdoors underneath each pile of tributes - this complex must have a similar recycling structure as the core." Jin warns the crew, whispering into his comm unit.
Zharis makes sure she isn't standing on a trapdoor.
The Speaker on the dais responds to Zharis' question with an array of chirps, whirrs, and trills! The sounds aren't shrill or aggressive, but still indecipherable. Meanwhile, the queues continue, and the piles of "gifts" are getting larger and larger.
Encouraged by the response, at least a little, Zharis says
We would like to speak to the entity in charge of the city if we may. There was a Speaker previously who spoke our language. Surely if that Speaker was collected and his information shared, then that entity could converse with us.
She continues to move forward to offer her "gift," but avoids trap doors.
After a few minutes of listening and overhearing conversation amongst yourselves, the trills and beeps give way to comprehensible Common: "This one is Speaker Ascendant! Tributes must be paid! Pay tribute and receive a boon."
We brought tribute. If it isn't what you want, you have only to ask. We went to the core and we saw a portal there that had been destroyed. Is that something that you can rebuild in time? Also, we broke some doors because we didn't know how to open them. We apologize.
"What differentiates Speaker Ascended from the other speakers?"
"Speaker Ascendant proclaims: tribute has been paid! A single boon may be requested! What is your desire?"
Zharis isn't sure what kind of boons it is offering... she already told it that she wanted to talk to the entity in charge of the city... is that who is speaking? What did they really want?
She throws out a guess at something that it could do for them if it was able that would help them in their further exploration:
If it please your majesty, are you able to upgrade our ship so that it is more resistant to the extremities of temperature and radiation that we faced coming here? That way we can more easily return to speak with you again. This is our desire.
Tulgram carefully puts the junk near his feet that he was going to give here as a 'gift' and just as carefully takes out his battle pole. He does not comment on what is happening.
"Tribute has been paid! A boon has been asked and given! You must now depart from this place!" Speaker Ascendant spins three times clockwise and then three times counter-clockwise, and all the trapdoors open simultaneously! As the various items of "tribute" fall into metal-walled shafts, robotic arms reach out from openings in the side and grab the objects, depositing them in different-sized orifices. In seconds, the task is done, and not a single item has hit the bottom of the shaft. The trapdoors close, and the four queues begin moving again.
Your comms crackle with Hop's voice--the ship's A.I. sounds nervous. "Folks, ants are crawlin' outta the woodwork here! And by ants, I mean little 'bots! They're makin' to swarm all over the hull I reckon!"
Zadira responds to Hopalong:
It's okay Hop, we arranged it. We'll be back soon and make sure everything is okay.
Then she says to the group:
So, guys, I think we should go back to the ship. If that was the Planetary AI speaking, it just asked us to leave.