The Copper Animal

The crew saw an animal-shaped machine moving through a field of broken pylons. It had no visible joints and no consistent gait. When the Chimera scout changed posture, the machine copied the change without approaching.

The Swarmhost review divided over whether the behaviour was imitation, warning or a search for a body pattern it could not complete. The consensus rejected capture.

The machine disappeared into a drainage culvert before the team could establish whether it was made, grown or simply wearing the remains of something else. The only recovered data is a sequence of movements that resembles neither a known animal nor a known tool.