Ring Station Automatons

Story so far

The interior of Ring Station holds many folded metallic-blue constructs resembling enormous insects or construction mechs. Miller says they are whatever the station needs them to be, identifying them less as single-purpose robots than as adaptable tools. Their movements alternate between absolute stillness and violent clockwork speed.

When Martian fire cannot cross the station's speed limit, one construct advances on the marines. A grenade tears off its limbs and burns the living floor. A dozen more awaken, gently lift the grenadier, and rip him apart before turning with equal violence on their injured fellow. Five machines then gather over the scar and spray opaque yellow material made from the destroyed bodies. The moss takes hold of it and regrows until the damage disappears. Their response is not revenge: it is defense, recycling, repair, and learning executed without moral distinction.

Appearance

Each is a massive confusion of metallic-blue limbs and protrusions, often folded like an insectile construction mech. They stand taller than powered marines and move in abrupt, full-speed clockwork jerks.

Role

The automatons are Ring Station's recurring defense-and-repair organisms, able to convert intruders and their own damaged units into restored infrastructure.

Relationships