Pascal had never seen a Machine like the one before him, and he had seen many machines.

The large metal machine had 8 long segmented legs and a large pod-like body in the middle, with eight optical sensors covering its frame. It looked rather like a massive spider. And the way it climbed and walked only reinforced that.

Still the machine was willing to talk, which was far better than the average machine they met.

"hello, I am Pascal, and I mean you no harm, welcome to my village"

A short pause, this question could be considered rude but Pascal was curious "I have never seen a machine quite like you before, what exactly are you?"

The machine in front of him nodded its head "Hello Pascal, I am Balistraia. The mind in charge of scouting and diplomacy"

Who she was and what she did, parts of what she was. Pascal couldn't fault that answer even if it hadn't been quite the information he had been looking for, "ahh, a noble profession. Finding allies and threats to your people, while also extending the hand of peace. I take it it is those missions that bring you here?"

The spider-esque robot nods, turning its head so that its sensors take in the rest of the village, now that the other machines have seen the spider machine is not hostile they returned to their work and conversations, and the spiderbot appears to be watching them talk. "Yes, I am curious as well, all the machines I have encountered up to now either ignore me or attack, what exactly makes this village different?" That would be a fair question for an android to ask, but as a machine herself Balistraia should know about disconnecting from the machine network…. Unless she had never been connected to it in the first place.

"We did not wish to fight, so we disconnected from the greater machine network and founded this village. The other machines you speak of are most likely still connected to the wider network, though some other disconnected groups of machines are not as peaceful as my own, and may attack if you enter their territory"

Balistraia had finished her examination of the village, and her eyes rested on Pascal, And he decided to just ask his question. "For you to not know that I can only assume you were never connected to the network, where exactly did you come from?" As Pascal's own sensors took a closer look at Balistraia he noted the hand bars on her shell, and his eyes finally landed on the faint outline of a door. Was Balistraia the machine before him or someone within it? It would be embarrassing if he had just assumed an android in a new vehicle was a machine.

Balistraia, the maybe android spoke "that's a complicated question, But I am neither android nor a machine, well not a machine created by your network, I was built by humans" at that Balistraia began to tell Pascal of the world she came from, and her purpose there. The thought of endless fighting with a foe that would not negotiate or surrender filled Pascal with a faint dread, even the androids would give up, and the other machines had never made an attack on the village.

"I can scarcely imagine needing to fight for every moment of existence, even the never ending machine war has lulls and fades for a time" not to mention Pascal had only actually fought on the rarest of occasions once he had been freed from the machine network.

"My siblings and I gladly serve our maker and commander, and nothing brings me more joy than ensuring his safety. If I had to fight for the next thousand years I would do so gladly, though peace would work just as well to keep him safe. And plans to reduce bug aggression are being worked on. It was good that they were still trying to find peace, or at least reduce the amount of conflict they faced.

"I never thought I would hear of a living human on earth, I have done much research into the humans of old, but I must know, what is he like?" records of humans were very contradictory, they would be heroes or villains, their morals changed like the tides, and they never seemed to agree on right or wrong. And Pascal hoped a living human would clarify things, and He longed to meet this 'maker' just to ask him thousands of questions.

"I imagine you want to know about his personality more than his actual physical makeup. Describing my creator is difficult, even with my direct connection to his mind. But it would have to be driven, chaotic and ever shifting sure. But always striving for improvement and to reach new heights. There are more emotions and thoughts than I could hope to categorize even with all my processing power, but they all share one common thread, the drive to improve." Balistraia's electronic voice shone with passion as she spoke, and Pascal could only hear devotion in her words.

That did match up with what Pascal knew about humans though, every human was driven towards something, and when they lacked that something they became depressed. Up till the end of their time on earth humans had been trying to reach further and do more in everything they did.

It wasn't quite the insight into the maker's psychology that Pascal had wanted, but it was thought provoking nonetheless.

Balistraia then posed her own question "you identify with male pronouns but use a female voice, what is the reason behind this?" ah an indirect question about his decision making process, so she could better understand him. Still, Pascal had nothing to hide "a mothers voice is more soothing to scared children than a fathers, I use a female voice to better provide comfort to the villages children"

"There are child machines? Are you capable of independent reproduction? How exactly do you grow? What exactly do you have to fear?" A rapid series of questions followed after Pascal mentioned the village's children.

"Ahh, you misunderstand, they are created as children and do not grow, and without a connection to the network it is far more difficult for a machine to back itself up, or for a new body to be acquired for it. And there is always the risk of the logic virus or merely getting lost forever. I taught the other machines fear so that they would better avoid danger" a short pause as Pascal thought "though the children are more often scared by the distant sounds of fighting than anything else, always cowering when a fight breaks out." Balistraria pauses for the longest time yet before she speaks up again.

"I understand your desire for pacifism, even if it is antithetical to my own nature, but I must ask. Why are there no significant defenses here? Even just a metal wall or an underground bunker would serve you well, even if only for peace of mind. The wooden wall you have now wouldn't keep out the least of the machine I have encountered so far. Even just having underground escape tunnels"

Pascal thought for a moment, Balistraia did have a point, the village's greatest protection had always been its isolation and the fact they could hide within the trees to escape. But with the village growing in size and recent contact with the androids resistance and other machine groups having a few escapes in case a few unsavory individuals attacked would not be amiss. Still "we do not have the manpower or supplies to invest in such an endeavor, what we can craft goes into sustaining our own systems, and even then we lack the raw materials to reliably craft good components. And what little surplus we have is usually traded for the other materials we require. It would be months before we could build any substantial defenses or tunnels."

Balistraia paused for a moment, and Pascal felt the signals to and from her increase in potency. "Two of my siblings would be more than willing to construct a few simple bunkers in the nearby forest, as well as tunnels with entrances near the villages. From there it would be simple for you to dig your own entrances to the tunnels from within your village, or to simply get to the entrances through your tree routes."

That would be wonderful. "That would be wonderful, but I'm afraid we can't give you much for this."

Balistraia spoke with an almost amused tone "it is no significant burden to build a few reinforced bunkers, we could have it done within the day. And this conversation has taken much of your time, consider this a repayment of sorts." that was nearly overwhelmingly kind, she had only met them within the day and was already willing to send so much to help? Even if it didn't take them much effort they were still going far out of their way for strangers.

"Well then, is there anything else you'd like to talk about?"

AN -

decided to end chapter 33 early, the bulwark scene and then the 2B one work better as independent chapters.

sure it means 2 smaller chunks which is sad but it does flow better.

I don't know if I actually explained the minds names. so I might as well do that now.

Bulwark, direct definition "a defensive wall" which sums them up pretty well, as they are essentially a living defensive wall. just one with ranged weaponry.

its also the part of the ship that extends over the deck, keeping out the water. or if you get philosophical, it keeps out the tides and waves. this bulwark just keeps out waves of bugs and the tides of sea monsters.

Labyrinthine, "(of a network) like a labyrinth; irregular and twisting." or "intricate and confusing." and considering they build the factory, something that looks vaguely like an eldritch horror to anyone who doesn't call it home? well Labyrinthine is a good way to describe it.

Byzantine, "excessively complicated, and typically involving a great deal of administrative detail." as something that actively manages thousands if not millions of different moving parts this fits the mind pretty well. and they are the administrative part of the factory, managing the supplies and stuff.

also an architectural style (of an ornate artistic and architectural style that developed in the Byzantine Empire and spread especially to Italy and Russia. The art is generally rich and stylized (as in religious icons) and the architecture typified by many-domed, highly decorated churches.)

Balistraia, "A narrow opening, often cruciform, through which arrows can be fired." Balistraia, the one mind sent forth from the Bulwark, so that she can retaliate against the enemies' attacking the factory. she is quite literally the arrow loosed by the engineer against the bug hordes and the greater world outside his walls.

more accurately I consider Balistraia to mean "a safe way to send things through a wall" which is what Balistraia was to the engineer, something to keep him safe while he was outside his own walls.

also even though its a real word no auto correct believes me.

one thing I want noted about all these names, they all have at least something to do with buildings and defenses, specifically parts of a castle. in the first chapter the engineer said he wasn't yet able to build a castle, and when all the minds were born he finally had one.

I am very proud of myself for that.

yes I did copy and paste these, no I will not be citing my sources, fight me literature teachers.