Aronnax Colossus Squadrons (Special Order)

Huge mechanical constructions lay immobile at the bottom of the sea. The darkness, only occasionally broken by the bioluminescence of strange creatures never seen by man. Uncategorised organisms began to converge, drawn in by the only source of heat for miles around. Crustacea gently crawled across the surface of the metallic things, testing to see if this was an unusual form of whale fall. With no food to be found, the gathering was small. There was no meaning here, base forms of life acted purely on instinct, akin to windup toys, simply performing the mechanical tasks of survival. The metal knew nothing, it merely was. Deep within giant carapaces a kind of survival was also happening. RJ-1027 pulsed through tubes which heated steam to create pressure in pistons that in turn prevented the ember of readiness from being extinguished in this dark place. A living thing might have been considered to be waiting had it been alive but instead, it was only being, until something else impelled its motion. Time passed.

Without warning, the great steel worms began to move. Gentle at first as they performed diagnostics, checking for damage or inoperative parts. Then the surroundings were suffused with a green glow as they powered up fully, bafflingly complex if/then mechanisms reacting to the commands given by an Enlightened vessel, unseen on the surface. Had someone seen it they might have been fooled into thinking these colossi were alive, they were designed to appear so, after all. Engines urged them forward within hours they would be involved in a violence that would cut the meaning from scores of human lives. Others would never forget the terrifying forms of the Aronnax as they bore down upon their ships, massive jaws tearing through hulls with ease. Stories of sea beasts would chill the hearts of those who heard them but the metal things would have no opinion of any of it. They were simply tools, used as any others by the all too human Covenant of the Enlightened.

Contents:

• 3x Aronnax Vermiform Colossi