Mechanica's Factorial City; Beyond Borders

The sound of machinery moving filled the atmosphere for miles around. Countless mechanical beings swept through the clean, chic streets of what was known as 'Mechanica's Factorial City', which was an interdimensional production factory that doubled as a business for the Veritas, among many other things. The Veritas was reaching out to other dimensions recently and happened to stumble upon this one, wherein which it sought to do business with the beings of this realm.

Machines of all kinds were working endlessly throughout the streets of the city: Keeping it clean, transporting cargo, assisting others, and much more, preparing for the completed transition from the Veritas to this alternate dimension.

A Dimension Gate -- which was a portal that the people of the Veritas used as a means of travel -- opened up above a barren wasteland in this dimension, and what looked like an enormous mechanized city transitioned from it in a fashion that was like a transforming robot. Parts were disconnecting and reconnecting in different areas as they dropped through the hole, planting the base of the city deep in the ground of the new barren land. Buildings shifted from their heights down below to the base in a mechanical fashion, conjoining with the metals and sinking into their respective places on the base panel. Many tiny hovering machines could be seen orbiting the enormous mobile transforming city, and when it finally rooted itself to the ground, there came a release of steam like that of a relieving sigh.

Mechanica's Factorial City made contact with the new world.

Now, the machines of Mechanica's Factorial City were all of a hive-mind -- they worked together under Mechanica, herself, who was and ruled the city. They toiled to get their productions ready so that they could begin their business in this dimension, as well as the transportation of the other parts of Mechanica's Factorial City. As it was, even as a gigantic city of machinery, it was incomplete; it still had extra parts to it. One could only wonder how large this mysterious city actually was... And if it was limited to being just a city.

There was only one way to find out.

As Marigold scanned the city, she would find that it was completely and fully mechanical. Everything was robotic, even though it looked like a normal, modern city. There were made hovering droids flying around up near the top, but none that noticed her near the bottom. The entrance to the city was left bare, but the sound of hustling machines stirred within the center of the city, some of which could be visibly seen in the distance. Hundreds of machines moving in a synchronized, coordinated fashion through the city streets and doing their assigned tasks, keeping the city clean, and patrolling for anything unusual.

Before long, a floating machine called a 'Serviceman' -- a mechanical man that looked like a human police officer, but bearing a long jacket and captain's hat -- stood before her, insisting that she stop where she was. "Halt," the Serviceman said, "You must have clearance to continue into the city." He scanned Marigold to see what she was, as the initial understanding was that she was a foreign creature from unknown parts in the wastelands that might have wandered too far off from the natural location it lived in. Like a lost human from a city or a wild animal from the wilderness.

"You are..." the Serviceman started to say, eyes gleaming, "You are a Mechanica, like us." They referred to all machines as 'Mechanica', as that was the name of machines in their dimension. "You are a Mechanica, like us," the Serviceman repeated, stepping aside, "You may enter the city. However, do not disturb the natural order of the other Mechanica. If you need assistance, a Serviceman -- another Mechanica that looks like me -- will assist you." He nodded his head. "That is what we are for."

With that, he allowed Marigold into the streets of Mechanica's Factorial City.

As Marigold walked through the city, she would see how all of the Mechanica worked with each other in harmony to get their individual tasks done. The other Servicemen -- who did not float, like the first one, but stood firmly on the ground -- were at every street corner, seeming to be keeping direction and peace as the Drones rolled past on their little tracks, picking at specks of dust with one of their four utility arms: The Picker, the Grabber, the Piercer, and the Digger. The Drones were small machines that looked like miniature tanks, about the size of a human child, with humanoid faces, but lower torsos that were tracks. Rolling along, the Servicemen guided the Drones, the Drones did menial tasks, and the other 'Standard' Mechanica did their jobs, as well. There was a Mechanica which was a bicycle with a monitor hooked up to its steering wheel and resting as the seat, occasionally stopping to gather materials and contain them inside of its boxy monitor frame. A 'Cycling Recycler'. There were so very many different types of Mechanica busy about the Factorial City that one could only wonder 'Who produced all of these machines?'

Suddenly, a floating eye hovered toward Marigold, inspecting her thoroughly before projecting from its top a secret head with another set of smaller, beady, gleaming eyes. An 'Eyeborg'. The job of the Eyeborgs was was to serve as extra eyes for the Mechanica, observing things that were normally overlooked, and providing a certain omniscience to the hive-mind. When it inspected Marigold and sensed that she was no threat, it hovered on, withdrawing its head back into the rotund body of the gigantic robotic eye.

There were even mechanical animals roaming about -- called 'Mechanimals' -- acting as if they were real animals, yet still remaining true to their robotic nature. Mechanica's Factorial City was simply filled to the brim with interesting machines.

However, one of the Sensor Mechanica picked up on the frequency from the nearby base, intercepting it with its wide reception range and tuning in on the frequency. That's when the Factorial City stopped for a moment, and each and every Mechanica in the city had a red gleam in its eyes. Moments later, they shifted completely, doing the same things but in a different order, the Servicemen orchestrating the streets and giving signals to the Loader Mechanica that were hauling equipment. The Mechanica in the city seemed to lessen after a while, until there were only Servicemen on the streets, each of them suddenly having a red gleam in their eyes for a brief moment.

The only machine in the city that was not part of the hive-mind network of Mechanica was Marigold, and so she shouldn't have known what was going on nor where to go, like the rest of the Mechanica. The Servicemen -- who were all linked up in the network, and therefore knew what each other one knew -- would attend to Marigold, one saying to her, "Come with me," and nothing more. The Servicemen marched off into a certain formation, but did not retreat into the recesses of the city like the other Mechanica did. Instead, they exited the city limits and stood as security at the border... All except the one attending to Marigold. Several screens flew out of the tops of buildings and projected images outward beyond the city limits, and the city, itself... Well... After a certain amount of mechanical whirring was heard, stood up on several mechanical legs, which were like that of an animal or insect. They began to move the city to a distance that was out of range of the base's communication, staying just shy of the border and dropping the city back down on the ground.

Something was going on with Mechanica's Factorial City, and only the Mechanica could tell what it was.

"As Expected," a voice blared from the intercoms that were littered throughout the city, a robotic woman's face appearing on all of the floating screens before each of the floating screens combined into one enormous screen which was able to be seen across the entire land, pointed at the mountains. "You Are Seeking War With Us." The gigantic screen bore down on the army that was rushing down the mountain, the sleek, metallic gray face of the woman dressed in Gothic Lolita glaring with an emotionless expression, but with red eyes that could cut through the earth. "We Are Out Of Range Of YOUR Communication, But You Are Not Out Of Range Of Mine," the mechanical woman said. "I Will Warn You Now Not To Make War With Us, For You Are Dealing With Powers Far Beyond Your Understanding. We Are Here To Do Business; To Establish Trade And Commerce."

Suddenly, on the other side of the mountain, a Dimension Gate opened up again, this time releasing what looked to be a castle's steeple -- tall, long, and pointed. It stood just about as tall as the mountains, themselves, and standing at the top in the midst of the steeple was the woman in Gothic Lolita, sitting on a throne of cables, wires, and machinery. "I Am Mechanica," the mechanical woman said from the screen on the opposite end of the mountain, where the Factorial City was, "And This Is My Factorial City That I Use To Initiate And Engage With Exchange And Delivery." As she spoke, she had an authoritative, yet emotionless tone to her voice, saying to those in the base, "Stand Down And Seek Peace With Us, That We Might Exchange Our Wares And Information." They were machines, so they should have understood the value of good information.

Meanwhile, as Mechanica spoke to the other machines herself, the Serviceman that was guiding Marigold would escort her back into the city, but all of the other ones remained outside of it, as if ready for an attack. They were well equipped, whether they looked it or not. Mechanica's Factorial City was a production factory that could make infinitely many other Mechanica as long as Mechanica, herself, was hooked up to the Master Control Unit, which she kept as her throne in the tower on the other side of the mountain. "It is dangerous here now," the Serviceman said to Marigold, "You must quickly hide yourself." Though, every Mechanica had a place in the Factorial City, so Marigold's being an outsider of the city meant that she had nowhere to go to, like the others. The Serviceman came to this conclusion rather swiftly, saying then to her, "I will take you to a place that you can hide." The Serviceman began to walk in the direction of one of the buildings, but this building was not like all of the other buildings... It looked more like a factory, and was the largest building out of all the buildings in the Factorial City, including the skyscrapers. "Here, inside the heart of the Factorial City, the Servicemaids will look after you." There was an enormous gear on the ginormous door, which spun and creaked slowly as the doors to the innards of the Factorial City opened up for Marigold. "We all are a hive-mind," the Serviceman said as he saluted Marigold, "We know what is going on."

The Servicemen all outside of the city -- the countless number of black-coated officer-looking humanoid Mechanica -- each got into formation to protect the city from the invaders. They may have stopped what they were doing presently, but at a whim, they could start back up again, and the Servicemen had to be ready to take on whatever other machines would face them. If things got really hectic, then the next wave of Mechanica would be sent out... Wave after wave, new Mechanica would show up that were better than the last and tasked with a different duty to deal with hostile threats. Each of the Servicemen saluted and then stood their ground, watching with eyes that gleamed red.

"Are You Hostile?" Mechanica asked on her screen, "Do You Need A Demonstration Of Our Power? Or Would You Like To Do Business With Mechanica's Factorial City?"