Darkness. Everlasting darkness. Well, almost darkness, except for some slightly annoying blinking green light. Blink. Blink. Blinkblink... blinkblinkblink buzzzz. That was new, and the green light became a blue pale phosphorescence. In it, was revealed a glass domed metal pod, with a little chair of sorts and a small set of controls. But what sat in the pod's seat was... A kitten. A strange looking one to boot, an overly large head, shorter bodyframe and finger-like paws on 'hands' and 'feet'. Fast asleep. As all cats love to do. But the buzzing noise stirred the creature and it wriggled a bit to get comfortable in the chair. "Mew..." As the kitten awoke, lights flickered to life in the little pod, blinking panel and some sort of radar guide. A tiny minimap showing a pulsing concentric ring and one obvious green dot several feet in front of it. The kitten's upper paws reached forward, and pressed into seeming places for them in front of the tiny feline. Nothing unusual there, except for the back of one paw had a curious pink Butterfly sigil marked into the fur and the flesh underneath. Then arose a voice from the shadows, calm, quiet, contemplating... and absolutely delighted. "Good morning Butterfly. I hope you slept well." The kitten squinted its eyes forward, as a figure strolled in from the pitch black. Clad in black overalls, the bipedal being looked more like it had been grown from a tree, complete with a funny pinkish set of petals atop its head and adorned with a black blossom in its 'hair', the creature's molten green phosphorescent eyes stood as a testament of its unusual and alien heritage. "Now, carefully, push your lower paws forward to engage its standing position." The machine, as it was revealed the pod to be attached to, rumbled to life and rose slowly to its feet. A bipedal automaton body for the kitten, hands and legs bolstered with armor plates made of copper and brass, gears and servos whining as little legs pressed forward, easy to control for little Butterfly. The upper paws pushed forward, rotating and swiveling under the incredibly precise motor control of the predatory little fuzzball. "Good good, you are a Natural Butterfly. Now... take it slowly, and try to walk towards me." The Floran hybrid smiled, revealing twin sets of spiked chompers clearly designed for rending flesh from bone and to pieces in seconds, and these were obviously bone to show that... it wasn't all plant material within. And looked to be positively delighted with how things were proceeding. The first step, always the hardest. But after that first shuddering momentum forward it trundled quickly to her and stood its ground in front of the floran. There were no weapons on this chassis, but it clearly was a prototype with its almost Steampunk level of technology. A little hiss, a whirr as a jet of boiled water exhaust fizzed out of the back port, before the kitten gave a sort of crude salute with its left upper mobile arm. "Good good, now... time for instruction. On your left, the little square panel, that's your food dispenser. Now this and the one to your right, a drink dispenser, are hard wired in. So if you ever get hungry, think of Noms. Delicious noms." The kitten looked a little perplexed at this. Before of course insisting in its rudimentary primary tongue about what a 'Nom' was. "Nya?" Kistaria Prime only smiled as there was some sort of translation from pod to Kistaria, maybe some implanted neurological device allowing her to understand the feline's more mentally augmented status and emotions. "Food, you know... what you eat." And as the kitten thought of food, the little box whirred and out popped a tiny Cheeseburger. Which got a big old bite and a delighted purr of acceptance of the food in question. "Prrrrrr...." Kistaria only smiled, before she nodded to the other box in the kitten's 'helmet seat'. "And that one is for drink. Water, with a hint of mint so you don't go crazy as if it were catnip." Again, a little bit of thinking and the kitten pondered some water. Mmm, no, milkshake! Nice creamy smooth milkshake. It had tried one of those once, from one of those crazy fast food space restaurants. Up raised a little cup with a straw, and the bobbleheaded kitten leaned forward and sipped at the straw. Only to get delicious strawberry-hinted milk smoothie. "Good, good. The food processor is working. Now, you'll have to place some sort of organic material into it from time to time, to replace your food supply so you can always have tasty cheeseburgers and milkshakes." Kistaria grinned, before she pulled out an old and battered digital display of a sort, before she began to push a few buttons. It turns out the 'glass' of the head display wasn't glass at all, but cleverly inlaid with a super-fine mesh of fiber optic cables. Display for Heat Levels, Damage Levels, a small display showing a green wireframe of the entire contraption from hands and feet to the bubble top that the kitten sat in came to life. While a sort of cross-hair followed the kitten's curious and panning sight. "Now do a full circle around me, I want to make sure your mobility sensors and the like are properly calibrated." The kitten "Miau"d at this of course. But then with a nod walked a full circle around Kista without breaking stride. And even got a pat on the dome for her troubles. This of course stimulated super-fine implants nestled into the back and spine of the kitten, so it got the same pleasure as if it were being petted by someone with delicate fingertips. "Oh, I almost forgot, there is a built in waste incinerator. And fortunately, with the ammonia in your.. ah... material it will aid in powering the device without wasting precious foodstuffs for at least a while." The kitten looked at the plant girl a little quizzically, before a very visible scrunchy face as... the kitten insisted on testing this new device for itself. A rather clever trapdoor and cleansing device were employed, dumping the waste straight into the micro-furnace inside of the chest of the mechanae to fuel it. "...you didn't have to test it now, but good. Gets that out of the way, after all...." The kitten "Mrowr"d at this as Kistaria pushed a few more buttons on her console, and a sudden flurry of green 'friendly' dots came to life on Butterfly's screen. And then a plethora of lights shimmer into life. The little black room is no longer a little black room, but a gargantuan underground warehouse of hundreds, nay, thousands of kittens strapped into bubbles on... all manner of creation. Organic, mechanic, it was all there. Bipedal, quadripedal, avian... the field went on and on and on showing every manner of creation and colouration. Guns, claws, even the occasional barreled tank cannon were mounted on these abominations. These kitten-driven war machines. "We have one more vehicle to train you on... Yours." In the center of the warehouse, with only one spot still shrouded in black behind her, Kistaria Prime reveled in her glory. Before one last click revealed the Greatest War Machine for the new army of hers. A gargantuan castle, bristling with cannons and armanents sat behind her. But it was clear there was one thing missing. A little indentation, where a certain robotic chassis would interlock and interface with. Above this hole was a sign. Adorned with just a simple picture. Black paper, with a white Butterfly on it. Matching the one on the kitten's paw. And Kistaria grinned as she moved to stand out of the way of her new Conquering Warlady. "No more are you just Butterfly. You are now..." "Butterfly, Destroyer of Worlds." "Leader of the Parfelian Nation." "And Emissary of Kistaria Prime."
Clearly we must start research on the ultimate weapon against these creatures. *Starts work on a more efficient laser pointer and a projector that creates warm sunbeams*
And before people accuse me of idea theft, the actual creator of the Parfelians is not me. The actual Parfelian race submission is here: http://community.playstarbound.com/index.php?threads/meet-the-parfelians.12580/ I know that the felines in little bubbles is in the monster generator, exhibit here: So I was just giving them a possible sort of backstory. 'cause I was sugar-high on Pixi Stix.
No, thank you for reading it. I also have Kistaria's intro here in the forums. But this is far superior to it.
I like it, a nice piece of literature that was fun to read and amusing. Though, I hope you don't plan to attack me, You could always hire me as a merc
I have nothing against the Protoss. Even if I'm a Zerg kinda girl. Not so hot on Terrans... too many arrogant unappreciative medics out there to turn into soup and all. Mercenaries are fun though, especially when they're rolling with the Flak Ki-tanks.
That's probably one of the most deadly weapons in existence. Next to someone creating a Starbound version of the Killer Tomatoes.
~Shifty eyes, puts an Exit sign over the Secret Kitten Armory one on the door.~ No, I absolutely do not have an army of kitten marauders in giant machines of annihilation. ~Innocent smile... that exposes carnivore fangs.~
Mmmm... cookies. I think though I should lend you a copy of Soylent Green so you can make People Cookies. Much tastier... both to prepare and to eat.
