He nods, then inspects the bucket. Identifying other Yeerks from a host form takes long familiarity and practice, but it's only a minute before he lifts out one, sniffs it to be sure, and takes it over to the spare drone. He leans down to murmur in the ear as it stirs, aiming to fill Five in before it has to talk.
Dallesh watches her, waiting for the others to be done. Three's briefing at its core consists of an update and a reiteration of Starscream's speech - with additional comments along the lines of 'this is really strange, but...'
Shortly he falls silent and Aftran Five-Zero-Eight turns to stare at Starscream with narrowed eyes. "What are you?"
"Many things." She leans a hip against Dallesh's table an turns to regard five calmly, with just the slightest hint of what looks like an arrogant smirk. "And many more things, in the past."
"As inorganic beings my race, strictly speaking, has no species," she replies, seeming to enjoy Five's annoyance. "But we call ourselves Transformers. And...."
She shrugs and examines her sky blue nails. "I have time."
"Transformers?" Five glances at her comrades, who return the blank look.
"You're some kind of energy being?" Dallesh wonders, drawing an odd look from Three (who's rather surprised the technician would think of it).
Sorry, Starscream, but hyper-evolved energy creatures are more common in Yeerk experience than sentient robots, who they've never met at all. Barring the Chee, of course, but that's a secret.
"Autonomous 'AI', actually. Millenia ago we were sentient robots, but we've passed that primitive stage of existence." She regards them for a moment, then blurs and shifts into her favorite alt, a sleek little needle of a silver jet with blue and red trim.
And yes, those are guns she's wearing; those little pointy things on her wings.
There's a subtle widening of eyes as they process that, Five momentarily caught up in the possibilities it presents.
"But that's imp- incredible," Dallesh murmurs, watching Starscream as a technician who's just learned how their homeworld forebears felt on sight of the first spaceship.
For some reason, that prompts Three to glance back at the bucket, though he, like the other Aftran, is paying more attention to the fact their new friend is armed. Much better than they are.
Pride shows in Starscream's expression as she shifts back, feeling quite pleased with the effect of her actions. But she quickly resumes the harder expression. "Nothing is impossible with enough intelligence and time. But that's enough about me. This offer has nothing to do with altruism. I'm just bored."
Five stiffens. "That's not necessary," she says, in the arch tone of 'I'm not going to show that that frightens me'. "We just like to know our... allies'... motives. That's all."
"But why us?" Dallesh wonders aloud. "Why not go to- someone else?" There's a fractional hesitation: it's not sure quite how much she knows, and specifying their rank mightn't be smart. It's not Dallesh's place to give things away.
The only one of them who really looks at the Natasha shell is Three, who starts and frowns at it.
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Then she frowns as something beeps on the monitor over Dallesh's table and walks over to gently tinker around the edge of the control pit.
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Shortly he falls silent and Aftran Five-Zero-Eight turns to stare at Starscream with narrowed eyes. "What are you?"
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She shrugs and examines her sky blue nails. "I have time."
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"You're some kind of energy being?" Dallesh wonders, drawing an odd look from Three (who's rather surprised the technician would think of it).
Sorry, Starscream, but hyper-evolved energy creatures are more common in Yeerk experience than sentient robots, who they've never met at all. Barring the Chee, of course, but that's a secret.
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And yes, those are guns she's wearing; those little pointy things on her wings.
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"But that's imp- incredible," Dallesh murmurs, watching Starscream as a technician who's just learned how their homeworld forebears felt on sight of the first spaceship.
For some reason, that prompts Three to glance back at the bucket, though he, like the other Aftran, is paying more attention to the fact their new friend is armed. Much better than they are.
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Instead she smirks. "I could always offer the andalites a weapon for ridding themselves of yeerks instead. But that could get... messy."
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"But why us?" Dallesh wonders aloud. "Why not go to- someone else?" There's a fractional hesitation: it's not sure quite how much she knows, and specifying their rank mightn't be smart. It's not Dallesh's place to give things away.
The only one of them who really looks at the Natasha shell is Three, who starts and frowns at it.
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