[center][h1] Rockverse [/h1]
[h2] Diplomatic Headworld, Sector Gamma [/h2] [/center]

[i]Council of Masters, we have detected a hereto unknown type of spacial manipulation emanating from Forward World Epsilon, localized to Exploratory Force 1's Barracks. A follow up has confirmed the loss of their Aerial Data Collection unit, to a bluish light. What is the council's decision?[/i] Though one spoke, the voice was yet many. A song of a thousand Scientist Troopers, singing out from a dozen worlds, echoing around the council chamber, where twelve androids sat, each one seated upon a throne, a thirteenth throne, seated further back, towered above all the rest, empty, but designed for something multiple stories high. The smaller thrones were enough for the three story tall Masters to rest comfortably. Though their forms were shrouded in shadow, their response was likewise a hum of voices, a song in response. [i]"Trans-verse Research Teams One through Twelve. We have consulted, and have decreed that contact be reestablished with the lost unit, they will be frightened at being separated from the Whole. From the Goddess's Own. This may be a sign of the Mother, a call for us to make a holy journey to her, seeking answers. We will relay this information to the other branches, and to the Mother World. Continue studying the occurrence, but do not proceed too far should the projected risks outweigh our objectives. The loss of one unit is ultimately acceptable. So says the Council of Masters."[/i]

[i]So as the Council of Masters hath decreed, so shall it be. We will continue our investigations into the occurrence, and attempt to determine its point of origin. May the Goddess of the Universe smile upon our work, and grant us her blessings.[/i] The song ended, and the chamber fell into silence, the council sitting upon their thrones, silent, conversing amid each other through imagery and text in data transmission. A sudden shadow was cast across the space, as a massive unit materialized into existence, seated atop the highest throne, their form even darker, each council member's attention drawn naturally. The Grandmaster had made her presence known, the immense machine gazing across the chamber, before her voice boomed, echoing throughout the space. [b][i]"Council of Masters, the High Council is most pleased with this news. We expect regular updates in turn. Have a fleet on standby should the need arise. We are joyous, let this be a journey to new lands and worlds, to seek the face of our Goddess. To honor her tenets, and earn her favor. Rejoice, Children of the Rock, for she shall watch over us, and grant us passage into the promised after realm, to sit at her hall, to be recorded in the Chamber of Warriors. So says the High Council."[/i][/b]

Each Master lowered their head, accepting the words of faith from on high, soon each one's voice swelled, in praises and cries, before finally, they ceased. The Grandmaster lifted a single hand, and then vanished into a flash of blue light, dematerializing, returning to their own chambers. One by one, each Master vanished as well, warping away to their assigned worlds. In the heart of the Headworld, the Grandmaster reformed, gazing down upon the control station, the power arrays traversing energy across the entire artificial world, located in the middle of their holdings. The light was beautiful, the statue of their Goddess that was the containment for the power station radiating the energy outward. But her face was hidden, out of respect for their missing deity. The Grandmaster stared ahead, and now alone, where none but her own voice could be heard, sighed softly. [b][i]"Mother, you forsook us, abandoning us, why so? For five thousand years we have honored your tenets, but still you are silent. Still the Motherworld lies silent. Why? Please, hear my prayer...come home to us, your children, who you formed from the sweat and blood of your own efforts. And made in your image. Please, guide us, as you did so long ago. Unify us again."[/i][/b] Her voice echoed in the space, but would go no further, containing the call of a machine who had lived for so many centuries, but had not had a single prayer answered. Sinking back into the throne she sat upon, the Grandmaster let out a soft sigh...And they wondered if the infant was alright.

[center] [h3] Baby Teeth [/h3] [/center]

Being a fresh factory model meant a lot of things. It meant having a barely prepared personality template. It meant skipping infanthood in the normal sense. She was not a Baby Trooper, born of the Nurseries, not raised to choose their own type. Her model had been decided for her before she was even produced. And now, it seemed her choice had been torn from her, as the young, nameless Aerial Trooper found herself flat on her back(assuming she wasn't placed upright in the process of arrival), having been asleep in her assigned quarters. It wouldn't be another week until she was to depart on the trans-verse project. But now, laying motionless, she realized something. She couldn't hear anyone. Tears, or the Rock Android version of them, welled up in her eyes, in fear. She couldn't hear her siblings, her people. No call to meals, no orders to perform maneuvers, not even the babbling of Baby Troopers as they were led around on tours. It scared her, which, the rest of the people would see as the black suited android sat up, hugging her knees to her chest, clearly on the verge of breaking down. It wasn't until she was addressed, or rather that the group was, that she paused, looking up towards the source of the voice. All other life was ignored, as she stared at the...angelic seeming being. Was this a Grandmaster model she'd never seen? Was this of the Mother World? Was this the Goddess incarnate, having decided to return now? But no...as she listened, fresh tears welled up again, as she realized that no, this wasn't the Divine Queen, the Divine Goddess. This was another world's...goddess, perhaps? Yes, that would make sense. Or at least, a machine specialized for bringing people together. She collected herself, and the nameless Rock Android slowly, weakly, raised a hand, her voice choked up with slight fear.

"E-Excuse me, but you said something disrupted existence? How l-long ago was this?" Could that event be why their Goddess had vanished? Was that why the Goddess had left them? Had she been taken from them? Questions shot through her mind. "Why can't I hear my people? Does this place...block out their minds? Please...its too quiet in my head..." Fear darted through the infant machine, as she stayed seated on the floor, clearly still nervous, frightened. A machine whose voice she couldn't hear, was speaking to her. There were possibly other lifeforms around. If only the Scientist and Engineer Troopers assigned to the project had finished upgrading her, she still lacked the defensive matrix they had been planning, the built in FtL drive for emergencies, even the more advanced scanning device. Still, she'd have to make do. But it was still scary. To have spent your entire life, all eighteenth months of it, with a countless array of voices in her head, from across the Diplomatic Branch, only to now be empty of any voices but her own? It was understandable why she was frightened. Unless there was just a lag in hooking up...they probably didn't have a relay node in this universe yet...Poor thing, she was shaking like a leaf, like a little kid, whose parents had just up and vanished, or worse, died in front of her.