Alias: DEEP-Six (Down-reaching Emergency Entity Procurer, [Experimental] Model [Attempt] Six)
Race: Klik Tripod
Aspects: Body 4, Mind 1
Sex: Neuter; Ht: 4' 0"; Wt: 580 lbs.

"Step aside, nonmetal beings! I must salvage my fellow cogmen!!!"

Character Description/Notes:--//carrier:node#:337[[DEFUNCT]]\\--//receiver:DEEP-6\\--//initiate:information distribution -- EMERGENCY FREQUENCY\\ -- //mission:ENCRYPTED\\

Existence has been chaos since the disruption of Engine Shaft Gamma-17, the tower segment that helped the Great Machine’s colossal turbines turn. This 5000 meter segment of cylindrical metal, with giant gears along its frame, hurtled through the colored void above a strange land, hammering into its liquid sheath with a fiery intensity. Half of the klik had perished in the impact, the others either crippled or damaged to some degree.

The Klik aboard the two-mile stretch of the warped Shaft above the water fared better than the pressure-crushed, liquid-disabled and electrified ones below the surface. Still, the horror of their sporadic cries—the dull, repetitive pounding of a tripod in an emptied boiler; the staccato Morse code S.O.S of a roller trapped within a cage of fused gears—rose through the varied steel platforms and sectors, and those above the sea of mineral fluid knew what they had to do...

Lying on the flat table, my broken husk became the scaffold for a new design. Only my heartgear and faulty memory whirled, the rest of my circuits disconnected as the rollers and tripods operating on me busily attached novel pieces to my frame. I could see Stamper’s heavy torch being connected to a modified arc-coil array…then, instead of being replaced to him, it was soldered to my arm.

"You’ll need the flame for submersion cutting/welding," the roller replied to my titled head. She moved off before I could say anything.

It was then I realized my head was heavier, my optical input reduced to a large, grated sphere in the center of my faceplate. They were riveting thick, pressed plates over my base frame, locking and overlapping them to be liquid-tight. I noticed they looked similar to the tough hide of my former best mate, Ore-Dipper; he was able to wade through liquid metal without melting himself. I wonder what has happened since the cataclysm. Who all was wiped away by the collapse of our Shaft…

Pressure valves and thick tubes were attached to my internal systems, connecting them to either the steam engine or a series of rotating valves in the back. The roller again answered my lifted head, "These will pump steam into systems, and let you pump liquid out of any breeches in your hull…but be sure to seal those leaks quick, or you’ll lose function like the others." She was gone before I could ask who these others were.

The back vents appeared large in the reflective roof above, which allowed me to see myself for what I was: A new machine, retrofitted to partake in some mysterious mission underneath an unknown substance. My helm had a thick brass collar with large rivets, connecting it to a sleek and heavy torso. I still have the glow of my phlogiston and steam core, but the grate was shielded by hard glass in between its teeth. Brass tubes lined my leg units, what they told me were more jets, like the large ones on my back, to aid movement in the deep sea below. Even my feet had a slight magnetism to keep footing on the long descent, if I needed to stand on the Shaft while working—or defending myself...

We were no longer on the Great Machine or in its world, but on a world that was fluid and dangerous to our kind. Some of us, they told me, were trapped below, and I was a part of the new mission to save them. I was the surface Kliks' new diver, and the submerged Kliks' deliverer. Large, nonmetal entities roamed the violent waters around us, and kept even the surface Kliks' on the defensive throughout the rotating light and darkness of this strange realm.

We would learn what to call this place and how to handle it until the Great Machine sent help. Until then, we would last the coming battles for existence and understanding. On that table I became DEEP-Six, the deep sea diver tripod who would resist the liquid and reclaim its people.

"Steam Vents open. All Ahead Full."

Tactics: Given his rescue mission, DEEP-6 is generally non-combative, but is more than capable if pressed. His enhanced and pressurized torch comes in handy for cutting more than mere metal; his newly pressurized and augmented plating repels far more than just water pressure. Generally, however, DEEP-6 tries to avoid conflict, knowing that his fellow cog-men lie waiting for him to come...