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Almost as soon as the winged reptilian woman left her communicator started working again and she had called for a pickup; she was far too tired to want to try flying back on her own. That and she was sure she was lost, but that left her some time to think about things while she waited. She had learned a fair deal today, the serpent’s tight lipped refusal to answer her hadn’t prevented that.\n\nFor starters she learned that there were more angels about, or ‘watchers’ as Nyx preferred as that made this whole thing seem a bit less religious. If there had been only the one, then that could have been that, a simple one off anomaly, but the existence of a second almost guaranteed the existence of more, potentially many many more.\n\nWhat did they have in common? And how did they differ? Those were questions she’d have to ponder and discuss. Obviously of the two examples they had, both were of unknown races, both had wings and could fly, both were invisible on the normal spectrum, both had some level of mental command of technology, and both could control some sort of specialized metamaterial. In Kate’s case said material was her living liquid gold that could shift into anything from clothing to tools and weapons at will. \n\nThis new one however had some sort of purple black sharp edged shards that seemed glassy to the eye. The material reminded her of obsidian, volcano glass, though she couldn’t say for sure it if was. That coupled with the woman’s general aesthetic made Nyx think of the Aztecs penchant for fancy feathered outfits and macahuitl clubs edged with shards of obsidian. Nyx was glad the shard and its nasty looking edge hadn’t been used against her with more anger.\nGetting back to her analysis, what could she conclude. The apparent race of, and tools used by, these creatures couldn’t be assumed to match up between individuals. There were likely many of them, and…..\n\nNyx frowned. She was going to need to talk to Kate more when she got back. Nyx was very against direct experimentation on intelligent creatures, anomalous or no, and not just due to self-preservation reasons. That said knowing more about what Kate could or couldn’t do would likely be informative on this other one, even if there were still clear differences.\n\n‘Like how I could see this one’ Nyx shook her head as the thought came through. She had tried NOT to go there just yet, but it was inevitable in the end. The last time Nyx had been in Atasi’s house and in the presence of her district’s local watcher, she had seen nothing. This woman had been plainly obvious. If she had been alone then she could have chocked it up to a difference on the serpent’s side, but the other soldiers had seen nothing, so the variable was Nyx herself.\n\nHer ’condition’ was progressing.\n\nNyx’s thoughts were mercifully quelled when the distant buffering noise of chopper blades broke the silence of the mountain, her ride would be here soon. She stood up, stretched, pulled her damaged shirt closed for modesty reasons, and then froze as she saw something fluttering in the rotor wash of the approaching chopper.\n\nSomething small and light. Something that shimmered in the light like a rainbow as the evening sun glinted off of it. Nyx’s eyes widened and she grabbed it up before it could be blown off. It was small, bent and more down than anything but she had a feather. Her last thought before the noise of the chopper deafened her was, “Lauren is going to love this”\n\nAnd she definitely most assuredly did.\n\nThe little feather had even been enough to drag the good doctor away from the strategic debrief about the attack on her outpost. When Nyx had left her to change her clothes the doctor was stroking the subtle thing tenderly and staring, her eyes straining to see something that she was clearly feeling, but simply not able to see. When Nyx came back freshly dressed she found the doctor staring into an electron microscope.\n\n“That thing works to ‘see’ them I take it?” Nyx asked.\n\n“Hmm nmmm” Came the reply.\n\n“Learning anything yet?”\n\n“Nnnn unnn”\n\nNyx took that as a no, “I definitely think its another ‘watcher’ like the one I have. I wonder if that’s why whoever made those zombies attacked.\n\nLauren looked up from her scope, “A barely armed small band of cyborgs on foot is hardly going to ‘attack’ an airborne adversary, Nyx.”\n\n“They did have guns.”\n\n“Some did, not all, most were in very bad shape even before getting cybered up, evidence of extensive drug use. At least according to preliminary results.”\n“So, the mastermind was recruiting from crack houses? I suppose that’s one way to avoid people being missed.”\n\n“Quite” Lauren said going back to looking in her scope. Despite the fun new artifact to examine she was somewhat more dour than normal. Not that that was too surprising considering not all of her science team made it, “Current best guess is they were there for the same reason we were. That temple. The slapdash nature of the ‘attack’ if you can call it that, likely means they weren’t expecting resistance, either from us or this ‘rainbow serpent’ of yours.”\n\n“Hey, it’s what she looked like.”\n\n“Two winged cryptids. You think this one is any more likely to match something in the records? Wings aside of course.”\n\n“Doubt it” Nyx said. Kate’s physiology hadn’t matched any known race, even once you ignored the wings, and this one likely wouldn’t either, “Hair, scales, feathers, and not just on her wings. Her tail had some too. Not to mention more than foot long horns.”\n\n“Sounds draconic.”\n\n“Dragons aren’t real”\n\n“One attacked your city not too long ago.”\n\n“That was artificial! And not relevant.” Nyx sighed, “Besides, no, the horns may imply ‘dragon’ but the face was ‘snake’ and she also had mammal traits too in the, er, torso area.”\n\nLauren raised an eyebrow and grinned a bit, her mood evidently eased slightly by Nyx’s apparent discomfort, “You enjoy the view?”\n\n“Shut it.”\n\n“That does beg the question though” Laruen said changing the subject, “I don’t recall you bringing one of those fancy headsets your scientist use to see folks like your own ‘watcher’? Those things aren’t that portable.”\n\n“They aren’t and…” Nyx sighed and took a breath, no point beating around the bush with Luran any more than with herself, “You didn’t see one because I didn’t bring one.”\n\nLauren’s grin widened, “Well isn’t that interesting?”\n\n[url=http://www.postybirb.com]Posted using PostyBirb[/url]", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Art by Sandy Schreiber

Folder For Story: https://www.furaffinity.net/gallery/morpheuskibbe/folder/820616/Gods-for-the-Machines

Chapter 13: Ruminations

Nyx sat on the edge of the stone cliff she had been left on.  Almost as soon as the winged reptilian woman left her communicator started working again and she had called for a pickup; she was far too tired to want to try flying back on her own.  That and she was sure she was lost, but that left her some time to think about things while she waited.  She had learned a fair deal today, the serpent’s tight lipped refusal to answer her hadn’t prevented that.

For starters she learned that there were more angels about, or ‘watchers’ as Nyx preferred as that made this whole thing seem a bit less religious.  If there had been only the one, then that could have been that, a simple one off anomaly, but the existence of a second almost guaranteed the existence of more, potentially many many more.

What did they have in common?  And how did they differ?  Those were questions she’d have to ponder and discuss.  Obviously of the two examples they had, both were of unknown races, both had wings and could fly, both were invisible on the normal spectrum, both had some level of mental command of technology, and both could control some sort of specialized metamaterial.  In Kate’s case said material was her living liquid gold that could shift into anything from clothing to tools and weapons at will.

This new one however had some sort of purple black sharp edged shards that seemed glassy to the eye.  The material reminded her of obsidian, volcano glass, though she couldn’t say for sure it if was.  That coupled with the woman’s general aesthetic made Nyx think of the Aztecs penchant for fancy feathered outfits and macahuitl clubs edged with shards of obsidian.  Nyx was glad the shard and its nasty looking edge hadn’t been used against her with more anger.
Getting back to her analysis, what could she conclude.  The apparent race of, and tools used by, these creatures couldn’t be assumed to match up between individuals.  There were likely many of them, and…..

Nyx frowned.  She was going to need to talk to Kate more when she got back.  Nyx was very against direct experimentation on intelligent creatures, anomalous or no, and not just due to self-preservation reasons.  That said knowing more about what Kate could or couldn’t do would likely be informative on this other one, even if there were still clear differences.

‘Like how I could see this one’ Nyx shook her head as the thought came through.  She had tried NOT to go there just yet, but it was inevitable in the end.  The last time Nyx had been in Atasi’s house and in the presence of her district’s local watcher, she had seen nothing.  This woman had been plainly obvious.  If she had been alone then she could have chocked it up to a difference on the serpent’s side, but the other soldiers had seen nothing, so the variable was Nyx herself.

Her ’condition’ was progressing.

Nyx’s thoughts were mercifully quelled when the distant buffering noise of chopper blades broke the silence of the mountain, her ride would be here soon.  She stood up, stretched, pulled her damaged shirt closed for modesty reasons, and then froze as she saw something fluttering in the rotor wash of the approaching chopper.

Something small and light.   Something that shimmered in the light like a rainbow as the evening sun glinted off of it.  Nyx’s eyes widened and she grabbed it up before it could be blown off.  It was small, bent and more down than anything but she had a feather.  Her last thought before the noise of the chopper deafened her was, “Lauren is going to love this”

And she definitely most assuredly did.

The little feather had even been enough to drag the good doctor away from the strategic debrief about the attack on her outpost.  When Nyx had left her to change her clothes the doctor was stroking the subtle thing tenderly and staring, her eyes straining to see something that she was clearly feeling, but simply not able to see.  When Nyx came back freshly dressed she found the doctor staring into an electron microscope.

“That thing works to ‘see’ them I take it?” Nyx asked.

“Hmm nmmm” Came the reply.

“Learning anything yet?”

“Nnnn unnn”

Nyx took that as a no, “I definitely think its another ‘watcher’ like the one I have.  I wonder if that’s why whoever made those zombies attacked.

Lauren looked up from her scope, “A barely armed small band of cyborgs on foot is hardly going to ‘attack’ an airborne adversary, Nyx.”

“They did have guns.”

“Some did, not all, most were in very bad shape even before getting cybered up, evidence of extensive drug use.  At least according to preliminary results.”
“So, the mastermind was recruiting from crack houses?  I suppose that’s one way to avoid people being missed.”

“Quite” Lauren said going back to looking in her scope.  Despite the fun new artifact to examine she was somewhat more dour than normal.  Not that that was too surprising considering not all of her science team made it, “Current best guess is they were there for the same reason we were.  That temple. The slapdash nature of the ‘attack’ if you can call it that, likely means they weren’t expecting resistance, either from us or this ‘rainbow serpent’ of yours.”

“Hey, it’s what she looked like.”

“Two winged cryptids.  You think this one is any more likely to match something in the records?  Wings aside of course.”

“Doubt it” Nyx said.  Kate’s physiology hadn’t matched any known race, even once you ignored the wings, and this one likely wouldn’t either,  “Hair, scales, feathers, and not just on her wings.  Her tail had some too.  Not to mention more than foot long horns.”

“Sounds draconic.”

“Dragons aren’t real”

“One attacked your city not too long ago.”

“That was artificial! And not relevant.” Nyx sighed, “Besides, no, the horns may imply ‘dragon’ but the face was ‘snake’ and she also had mammal traits too in the, er, torso area.”

Lauren raised an eyebrow and grinned a bit, her mood evidently eased slightly by Nyx’s apparent discomfort, “You enjoy the view?”

“Shut it.”

“That does beg the question though” Laruen said changing the subject, “I don’t recall you bringing one of those fancy headsets your scientist use to see folks like your own ‘watcher’?  Those things aren’t that portable.”

“They aren’t and…” Nyx sighed and took a breath, no point beating around the bush with Luran any more than with herself, “You didn’t see one because I didn’t bring one.”

Lauren’s grin widened, “Well isn’t that interesting?”

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