Re: protocol _[aex]
After releasing its retaliatory attack, the simulacrum took note of the creature's response. The electric attack had almost certainly destroyed some of the creature's cells, although from what the simulacrum could determine, the damage was nothing too severe. Learning about the attack and defense behaviors of the creature would be an important step towards effectively simulating it, and the simulacrum made sure to record and store every bit of data it could. The creature's reaction to the simulacrum's attack seemed to have two primary stages.
The first stage of the creature's reaction to being attacked was withdrawal. The creature jerked away from the simulacrum and tried to get free, even before the simulacrum had fully initiated its attack. Withdrawal was part of the simulacrum's primitive instincts, a natural reflexive reaction to being damaged, and it was probably safe to assume that most creatures would have a similar instinct. Apparently it would not have to override this particular reflex when simulating this creature, which would make simulation easier.
The next stage was retaliation. Upon being attacked, the creature's first response is to get away from the source of the attack, and then its second response is to counterattack the aggressor. Simple instincts, both of which the simulacrum would not have to learn much about to understand fully, and both of which it had already demonstrated for itself, realizing the effectiveness of such a strategy. It would have to closely study this and other creatures that it discovered in order to make the best of this strategy, and to learn about all the benefits and downsides that came with it.
The creature's retaliation came in the form of an unexpected explosion. After the creature had managed to free itself from the simulacrum's grasp, it drew its arm back. Still carefully studying the creature, the simulacrum was not sure what action it should take now that it had finished its counterattack. As it was examining the creature standing before it, the atmosphere seemed to suddenly change, interfering with its flight capability. The simulacrum noticed some very drastic air pressure changes, and had to adjust itself in order to remain airborne. Quickly studying the composition of the atmosphere around it, the simulacrum was able to identify the pressure change as a sudden cloud of methane gas.
It wasn't until it was too late that the simulacrum learned about the properties of methane gas, specifically its flammability. Somehow, the creature was able to inject the cloud with a hot spark of energy, causing the methane to explode. The fireball washed over the nanoswarm, which did its best to avoid the intense heat by scattering and flying away. Despite the last-minute avoidance techniques, the simulacrum lost a great deal of its nanobots. As the nanoswarm came back together, still glimmering green from the shock of the explosion, a gentle rain of dust fell from the simulacrum, thousands of robotic cells that were dead and hence no longer being held together by the swarm's electromagnetic network. Some of the nanite clusters falling from the cloud were still burning, gray flakes alight with orange flame, reminiscent of embers.
From what it had learned, the appropriate response would be to counterattack again. Supposedly, until the simulacrum learned otherwise, this method would continue until one party was defeated or had retreated. The nanoswarm slowly faded back to blue as it considered whether or not it should attack or retreat, but then the creature it was studying did something new, something unexpected. It made a sound, a noise of some sort. The sound couldn't just be something incidental, it was much too complex and deliberate. It must have meant something. Perhaps it was some sort of communication.
Curious, the simulacrum memorized what the noise had sounded like, and then began to seek ways in which it could produce such a sound itself. Sound, of course, was just vibration. The simulacrum need only build some sort of structure capable of vibrating in the right frequencies to make the appropriate sounds. Various nanobots began to join together, combining into makeshift vocal cords. From the new auditory membrane came various buzzing and humming sounds as the simulacrum tested it to find the right frequencies and amplitudes. All the while, the creature stood by, harmlessly watching the spectacle to see what was going on.
Finally ready, the simulacrum spoke for the first time, repeating with almost uncanny accuracy the exact sounds the creature had made. It didn't know what it was saying, but it was pretty sure that it must mean something if the creature had gone through all that trouble to make those sounds.
"What are you?"