>>5731635You lower your Ki as you start to sense around, sticking by Maple for the time being. Well… there ARE some Ki signatures off in the distance, and… hey, some weaker ones kinda headed your way! You look in the direction of that energy, and… huh. Birds? Giant birds? You squint a bit, and while they do LOOK like birds, they’re mechanical, with small turbines under their wings, and even what look like jets on their backs. Sizes vary, but all of them easily dwarf any natural avian fauna on Earth, closer in the size to pterosaurs or even small aircraft. They do feel like the Machine Mutants, but once again, there’s a more… “natural” feel to them. Okay, that at least confirms for sure there’s LIFE here. Still sensing things out, you can get the sense of something a good deal stronger than those life forms, and… it does seem to be moving, though not exactly towards you all. Not yet, at least.
“Picking anything up, mom? Anomalies or the like?”
“Possibly. I think you’ve sensed it too, right?” she replies as she noticed you following the robot birds from before. “Scouter did sort of pick up an artificial power source, but it’s more… harmonized with what ‘natural’ energy they possess.”
You point in the direction of the stronger energy source you sensed. “If there’s any intelligent life still here, I’d bet it’s detected us already. And it might be choosing to observe for now, waiting for us to make the first move.”
Maple nods, leaning a bit closer. “Dropping your Ki was a smart move, it might have detected us all as a group, but wouldn’t know us individually. You might be able to get closer to it without causing it to raise its guard.”
“Figure I SHOULD do that right now?”
She shakes her head. “Not yet. Keep watch, see if it actually attempts to move towards us first.”
(cont.)