World Tree MUSH

Emily has been investigating since a couple of weeks after the Simone incident.

She's not actually good at it, of course; she's mostly just been retracing what YoRHa and the Gardeners already knew. (It took her a couple of false starts before she started looking formal-and-official and going into "polite servant of the Masters" mode.) But she wanted to hear eyewitness reports firsthand, so she visited all the various worlds where androids went missing. And then she sent a message to 2B and 9S, arranging a meeting (including mentioning what form she'd be in).

This is a branch world next door to the world of YoRHa; it's a bustling, heavily-populated city, and vines are visible in the sky. Emily is sitting on a bench in a slightly more quiet park, in the form of an auburn-haired woman with glowing purple eyes, dressed in a midnight blue business suit and with a manila envelope propped up against her side.

And there's an edge to her smile; there's no hint of smugness or amusement this time.

    "Wow 2B would you look at all the humans around? It's like the aliens never invaded this world."
    "Probably because they didn't."
    "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. And if offworlders like us are common, then I guess that makes US the aliens here."
    "Not quite. We're just visiting."
    "Pooooiiint."
    The conversation comes from not too far off, once the YoRHa androids find the park designated as the meeting point. Needless to say, 9S is in pure awe. Even 2B is glancing around, in a mix between curious and wary, as though waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Machine Lifeforms to start falling out of the sky. Then again, as a battle android, it's probably in her nature to be wary.
    "Oh! Look, there she is!" 9S points out, and immediately the YoRHas and their pods start drifting over to the bench.
    "Emily." 2B greets in her usual taciturn manner.
    "Heyyyy! Emily! How are you?" 9S is more outgoing of course, making finger guns and already trying to rope Emily into a fistbump.

Emily chuckles and stands up, and returns 9S's finger-guns and fistbump with gusto. "Hey guys," she says. "You seem like you're doing well, 9S. And you, 2B, are doing exactly the same as you always are."

She pauses a moment to gather her thoughts. "So, as I told 9S before, I've doing some investigations into the 'missing androids' incident that led us to Simone," she says. "Before I tell you my findings, I'd like to hear a bit about the overall general capabilities of Machine Lifeforms -- how they operate, what they do besides staring off into space when they aren't trying to attack people, how they organize themselves and all that. I've got a couple of theories and I'd like to know if they're correct." A pause. "I mean, whatever you're allowed to tell me, I'm not asking for you to blurt out uber-classified information in the middle of the park here."

... Well, she's certainly gone formal.

    9S certainly recovered well. At least until Emily brings up Simone. There's a moment, as the two androids fall into a hush, exchanging a wordless look between one another when Emily says she's been looking into things.
    "Well. I'm certainly curious to hear them-- your theories I mean." 9S says honestly. Though 2B purses her lips into a thin, frowning, line.
    "As far as we've seen, the Machine Lifeforms had been always hostile. The docile ones have been a newer developement." She explains slowly, putting as much thought as she can into the matter. "I've fought Goliath class units countless times, already, but our records never had anything like... Simone in them."
    "This is the first time we'd even seen a Machine Lifeform with a name." 9S adds before visibly looking uncomfortable. "They had never even spoken before. Up until now, YoRHa command had always thought they couldn't." He adds.

Emily nods. "Yeah, that sounds about like what I was aware of," she says. "This was a very unusual case." She turns and picks up the manila envelope. "Unusual Machine Lifeforms that can speak, unusual Machine Lifeforms that can think in a roughly human-like manner like you or I, unusual Machine Lifeforms have enough of a self-identity to name themselves ..."

She hands the envelope over to 2B. "... and which have demonstrated an even scarier capability, too." The envelope contains transcripts of interviews Emily had with the owners and associates of the missing androids; words like "missing" and "disappeared" are highlighted, as are things like "on their usual rounds" and "in our home Blossom." Plus, after the first few interviews, she always highlighted an exchange in which Emily asked "And there was no sign of the Machine Lifeforms who captured them?" -- and in every case, she got a negative answer.

"Before YoRHa and the Gardeners tracked them down to the amusement park, all anyone knew for sure was that they were missing, not kidnapped," Emily summarizes. "None of them went out of their way to visit your world at the time of their 'disappearance'." She smiles grimly. "In other words, they were spirited away by Simone or her agents from their own worlds." She waves a finger. "Which means that not only do we have Machine Lifeforms running around the World Tree as they please, they have both the ability and the presence of mind to do so without anyone catching them."

    The envelope is handed over and 2B slowly flips it open. It's hard to tell where her eyes are on the pages thanks to the dark cloth visor wrapped over her eyes like a blindfold, but she's perusing the documents with a frown already, slowly flipping through the pages while her Pod, 9S, and 9S' pod all hover over her shoulder.
    "I was afraid of as much." The battle android utters under her breath, sounding almost irritable. But the documents and Emily's theory seem to fall in line with 2B's as every page she turns she grips on the folder tighter and tighter until she's nearly crumpling it in her grasp.
    "It's not surprising to think a few Machine Lifeforms might have found a vine and wandered off." 9S muses glumly. "But this..."
    "This is bad." 2B and 9S say almost in unison.
    "I hope you don't mind if we report this to YoRHa." 9S does bring up. "It's kind of my job as a Scanner to send them back intel. Though 2B and I haven't found any Machine Lifeforms on other worlds yet, we haven't exactly gone far, either.

Emily smiles at 2B. "Excellent," she says. "I mean ... not excellent obviously, this is definitely worrying. But it's good to know I'm not just talking out my ass or whatever."

She nods to 9S. "Sure," she says. "Getting this to YoRHa was basically my ultimate goal. I'm no military model, and they'd know what to do with it better than I would."

She pauses. "... heh. Normally this is where I'd make some excuse about how I'm only doing this because it amuses me or whatever," she says, "but damn I did not need to see Simone. I'm less inclined to hide it from you guys since you were there, and I really hope we've already passed by the worst your Blossom has to offer."

    "None of us needed to see Simone." 2B says with what might be a surprisingly gentle tone of voice. But it doesn't last as she flips the folder closed and goes back to frowning as she passes it to 9S to read for himself and do whatever it is Scanners do to pass information back to YoRHa command.
    "Unfortunately, our world is at war. And war is full of atrocities on all sides." She points out. "Simone is probably not the worst thing the Machine Lifeforms have to offer, there wil lalways be more Goliaths."
    "B-but!" 9S interjects "That's what YoRHa is for! To wipe them out so the humans can return. So I'm sure Command will come up with something." He says hopefully.
    Only to be met with an almost sour sounding "Glory to Mankind." from 2B.

Emily nods and shrugs in response to nobody needing to see Simone. "Definitely fair," she says. She moves to sit back down at the bench. "Well, I'll probably keep visiting your world regardless," she adds. "I definitely count myself available should something else interesting happen. But yeah."

She snorts at the YoRHa slogan. "'May humankind be everlasting'," she says in response. But then she stops and frowns. "... eh, I shouldn't be snide about it, they're extinct on the halcyon remnant."

She pauses, and looks over at 9S. "Though speaking of humanity," she says, "do you know if there's at least been humans from your world who've come to check out the World Tree? I mean, again, if it's classified you don't need to tell me, I'm just curious." For all she knows, life on the moon is pleasant enough that nobody's gotten stir-crazy, and something something no need to indulge in their own curiosity.

    Emily's response to the YoRHa creed earns a quirk of 2B's brow. Though the android chooses not to comment upon it, especially when it's further revealed that humans are long extinct on Halcyon Remnant. Better to not dwell on such things lest the become a self fulfilling prophecy. That would be silly though. Humans going extinct? It's not possible.
    Right?
    To the next question, 9S raises his hand. "That's what our job is for! YoRHa dispatched as many scanners as they could to explore other worlds and try to find a place better for the humans than the moon. Even if it's just for a little while."
    "If any humans have actually left the moon, though, probably is classified." 2B points out as a simple fact of the matter. "At least, Command hasn't told us anything about it, but we're just a battle unit and a scanner." Which means the two are probably lowest on the chain of 'need to know'.

Emily nods. "All right, I figured it might be something like that," she says. "Probably best to keep it secret in any event, especially now that we know we've got Machine Lifeforms running around the World Tree. We don't wanna give 'em any ideas." Of course, this is probably just really basic strategy ...

She shrugs. "Well, I guess that's all for now," she says. "I'll probably drop by if the Gardeners or whoever come across any interesting incidents in your world." She smiles faintly. "Or if I'm bored or whatever. Thanks for passing the info along to your superiors."

    "Even if we gave the Machine Lifeforms any ideas it wouldn't matter much. It's not like they have emotions or thoughts... ... Right?" 9S ventures.
    At least. Most of them don't. Any of them that aren't Simone.
    Thinking about Simone sends a shudder through the younger looking android as he falls back silent. It's 2B who rallies for the both of them.
    "Simone was probably a fluke. It's like 9S says. But we'll pass this up the chain. ... And... Thanks."

Emily raises her eyebrows at the 'fluke' comment, but she makes no comment. "No problem," she says dryly. She doesn't seem to be shuddering at the memory of Simone anymore. Or maybe she's just been shuddering enough the past few weeks that she's gotten a better handle on keeping it under control. "I'll see you guys later, then."