Strogg & Peeker

“Outgoing_Message(11294.1, Infiltrator1815) Dear Peeker, Sorry I sent you out beyond the drone distance parameter. Overcautious since the incident. Now you’re nonfunctional and waiting for a replacement neurocyte. Strange being droneless—lonely, even with perpetual Strogg communication. Why did Makron assign us gekk-clearing duty again, anyway? It knows what happened last time. It has been showing signs of irrationality lately. Don’t tell it I said so. In better news, I have been assigned databrain courier duty for the second Earth harvesting wave! I am to protect it until it reaches its destination.”

“Outgoing_Message(11294.2, Infiltrator1815) Dear Databrain, My drone is still offline. As long as you’re inert it’s more rational to record to you anyway. Peeker’s memory is very limited. My deployment was cancelled. What is an infiltrator without its drone? Cerberon seems empty. Almost all Strogg were sent to harvest the humans. Those of us left on Stroggos have reduced stroyent rations. Most conserve energy. It is… quiet. Makron did not instruct me to transfer you to a fully effective Strogg before the second wave deployment, nor to return you to the research facility. So I will protect you until given further orders.”

“Outgoing_Message(11294.3, Infiltrator1815) Dear Databrain, Today it rained food. For the Strogg! The humans reverse-engineered our Slipdrive. A fleet of them arrived to attack us. What folly! Our EMP generator disabled hundreds of their assault pods in one burst. Their meat-filled metal shells pelted the surface of Stroggos. Some hang in low orbit, abandoned. My new directive: Search for intact humans and bring them to Receiving. Bring all other human components to Processing. I am grateful for the work, even if it is tedious. I have identified no survivors. They are made weak by dependence on bodies made mostly of wet tissue.”

“Outgoing_Message(11294.4, Infiltrator1815) Dear Databrain, Peeker has been fully restored! I am still getting used to its newly polished fins. Distracting. But at last I feel useful again. A guard reported a lone human survivor advancing toward the Outer Base. Makron has ordered all units to kill it on sight—except me. As the sole infiltrator left in Cerberon, my duty is to surveil the human and record its death. Makron gave me specific instructions not to engage the human in combat under any circumstance. Only me! Irrational, but I cannot question it, even if Makron seems… deranged.”

“Outgoing_Message(11294.5, Infiltrator1815) Dear Databrain, Peeker and I have tracked the human to the supply station. It is a good drone. I exalt Makron for my new mission! Cerberon has been so dull since the second wave deployment. Most remaining here are former Greiss, and transforming them to Strogg requires removal of most of the neocortex. So they do not communicate much. They mostly stand around in odd places waiting for an enemy target. Sometimes any target. The human is the only entertainment. It has somehow fought its way through the primary munitions depot! Many guards and enforcers have been reprocessed.”

“Outgoing_Message(11294.6, Infiltrator1815) Dear Databrain, I would not believe it had my drone and I not seen it ourselves! The human single-handedly assaulted the incarceration complex and disabled the security grid! This should not be possible. We are tailing it through the steedium mines now. It moves very quickly. I must follow at a distance shorter than protocol, because Peeker is reluctant to use its full drone distance parameter. It can’t be learned behavior from its former damage. It must be the gekk cortical casing they used for its new neurocyte. Gekks are pack creatures. They are averse to being alone.”

“Outgoing_Message(11294.7, Infiltrator1815) Dear Databrain, The situation is dire. The human is sabotaging the primary reactor. I think its objective is to disable the EMP generator. Cerberon would be vulnerable! Will the human succeed? It seems unstoppable. It has disposed of hundreds of Strogg. A thick nanite fog hangs in the air from their reprocessing. I could stop the human. It has likely never encountered an infiltrator. It would not detect me. I would approach from behind and sever its brain stem. But I cannot question Makron. Makron sees what I am seeing. I cannot. I must.”

“Outgoing_Message(11294.8, Infiltrator1815) Makron, human has disabled EMP generator ::: Makron, human is nearing inner hangar ::: Makron, request immediate permission to process human ::: ::: Makron, human has disabled hangar doors : Advise ::: Makron, I do not understand “runes” or “magic” : Clarify ::: Makron, human has entered launch command : Advise ::: Makron, request immediate permission to process human: Advise ::: ::: MAKRON, HUMAN IS NEARING SINGULARITY GENERATOR ::: MAKRON, I HAVE SENT DRONE TO STRIKE HUMAN TARGET ::: MAKRON, CONDONE MY SELF-WILL OR ADVISE IMMEDIATELY ::: MAKRON, I WILL STOP THE HUMAN NOW ::: FOR THE STRO—! :::”

“Outgoing_Message(11294.9, Infiltrator1815) Dear Databrain, I failed. The human destroyed the singularity generator. There was a blast. I regained function after… a duration. The first thing I heard was Peeker circling me. I have sustained unidentified damage. Is it my neurocyte? I have lost communication with the Strogg. I concluded that my optoceptors were damaged, because I was seeing a landscape that was not Stroggos. But remote drone vision shows the same place. The shockwave from the destroyed generator must have caused a spatial folding. I kept you safe, Databrain. And at least Peeker is here with me. We must find stroyent.”