Characteristic
Cost
END
Cost
3
3
3
5
Cost
3
3
0
4
3
3
3
2
3
20
20
25
15
10
15
5
15
20
A mixture of pride, hope, and dread ran through the minds of the ten Taklit scientists and technicians who
were left behind at Last Hope Orbital Launch Station. Jolul Kl'kaal, the last hope of the Taklit people
was now beginning its near millenial journey to the distant world. But to oversee that, four of the
project's scientists and six technicians needed to remain behind. They were proud of their
accomplishments and the names of the Ten, as they would be called, would forever be honored by some of the
ancestors of the Taklit that left. Indeed, those ancestors, the Lemurians, would worship the Ten as gods
and goddesses. The Taklit people had hope that their species would not be made extinct by their
increasingly hotter sun that was evaporating the home waters. The salinity had been steadily increasing
over the past centuries. Soon, those waters would be boiling.
They had awaited the long promised space-warping engines or the long promised hyperspatial transit
engines, either of which would allow thorough evaluation of potential new homeworlds followed by the
wholesale migration of both the population and their machines. But, neither of these technologies came
through. So, at the last minute, the Last Hope project was finally started. People died before it was
finished and only a small fraction of the population could be sent to a distant new home. But at least the
race would survive.
For those that remained behind on the Launch Station as well as on Ixtli, there was only dread. The
massive undertaking had drained the world of its
resources, the only thing that would exist for eternity for the Taklit on the homeworld was the cycle of slow progress and quick destruction. This next cycle
would be the worst; the strongest and the smartest of the young Taklit had left in the Jolul Kl'kaal.
One of the Ten, Oruz Venil, Chief Engineer, determined that with the remaining parts on the Launch
Station, another craft - a much smaller one - could be built. He drew up plans the next day and
determined that only four amongst the Ten could go. Debate ensued on who should go and because they had
to choose, the Ten all sunk into depression. Finally on the start of the fourth day after the launch,
Klisst Niqket, the Senior Robotics Technician, suggested that none of the Ten should go. Instead, a pair
of Taklit protectors should be created. After all, the planet to which Jolul Kl'kaal was
going to was a rich world. So, it was not beyond speculation that an unknown hostile alien species might also want to
colonize it. The Taklit there, which soon would be the last remaining home of the Taklit, might have need
of protection.
Once again, the Ten opted for self-sacrifice and chose to spend the remainder of their time to build the
protectors for the Taklit aboard Jolul Kl'kaal. There was about five years before supplies would run out,
but a little less than two years for an optimal launch window. The moons of Taklit as well as the
system's gas giant planet would be in good alignment, and it might be possible for a spacecraft launched
in this window to rendezvous with Jolul Kl'kaal. After nearly two years of hard work, the Rendezvous
Craft and the two Draxitma Zokit, the Star Watchers, were both complete. Three of the Ten Remaining
had died, either through overexertion or from injuries sustained in accidents. The other seven once again
watched with pride as the Rendezvous Craft sped up using the gravities of the homeworld's moons, but they
would not live to see it leave the system. Supplies, already limited, were almost all thrown into the
craft and the robot. The life support system of the Station failed critically.
The Rendezvous Craft encountered Jolul Kl'kaal eleven year later and attached itself to the hull. But, as
the colony ship entered the Solar System and passed through the asteroid belt, the rendezvous craft was
dislodged from the colony ship and damaged. Except for the hardened central chamber pod, pieces were
scattered in the asteroid belt. The pod's computer fired its weak remaining thruster and it began to
drift towards the Earth.
Nearly
five-and-a-half millennia after Julul Kl'kaal splashed into the Indian Ocean, the central chamber
pod splashed into the Atlantic Ocean. As chance would have it, the core of the pod sunk to the bottom of
the ocean near to the Republic of Atlantis. The two pieces of the robots within, each autonomous to some
degree, awakened with a hard bootup of their processors. They set about repairing the other parts, but
found it necessary to canabalize some of the more damaged parts to bring those less damaged to full
functioning. After a day, all that could be repaird were. But, these were only about half the original
parts. After interpart discussion, the parts merged together to form a single robot, rather than two.
The robot, calling itself The Whole of Parts, disengaged some of its Parts and studied the Taklit culture
from afar. It had devolved to some degree
and had reformed. While the technology was still some degrees lower than that of Taklit, its social structure was quite similar with the exception of the language,
which only marginally resembled Taklit General.
It was at this time that the Atlanteans, as they called themselves, were attacked by other Taklit that
called themselves the Lemurians. While the Lemurians seemed to have some of the Taklit technology, their
social structure had completely devolved into a religious autocracy. It was clear whom the Whole of Parts
needed to help, and he did so by disrupting the Lemurian's communications and maneuver. He has since taken unto himself the
role of protector of Atlantis, carrying out his originally programmed mission.
Each Part has a mini-laser, which in itself is useful as a tool, but has limited function in combat. Combined fire of the mini-lasers from multiple Parts or from Whole have greater destructive power. Similarly, while each Part communicates and senses by laser and by sonar, the combination of multiple Parts or as Whole has increased precision and resolution. While the Parts are mostly similar in construction, each has a memory chip that holds different information to carry out more specific functions. Each part also has tools for specialized functions whether a skill job or a support job. Included among the jobs for different Parts are repair, power, coordination, data hub, mechanical, electronic, vehicle control, reconnaissance, etc.
Whole is obviously a machine. The polished chrome appearance is marked primarily by the multitude of interfaces between the Parts and the multiple minilaser and minisensor ports. The main reason that Whole assembles into a vaguely humanoid shape is that Taklit (as well as humans) seem to be most comfortable with him that way. Parts are chrome colored wedge-shaped mini-robots with small metal legs that double as hands.