Maple reemerged from the lab and scanned the relatively small crowd that had gathered with a hint of disappointment in her eyes. "I suppose the team is mostly busy touring Destiny Village or continuing visitations to Treasure Town, hm?" she said, frowning. "No matter. This will do. There are at least a few humans who might be able to help."
She turned and led them further down. "It's very rare for a human technology to appear in this world. It could potentially not be human, of course, but there are signs that suggest otherwise. But beyond that, I and the rest of my team are not extremely familiar with what humans are capable of. Rather than spend the time researching, I thought it would be wise to ask you directly."
They passed by a few doors and entered one of the experiment rooms, which had been converted more into something out of an archaeologist's analysis spread. Chunks and scraps of every single piece of the machine that had been recovered lay in neat and tidy rows on the ground, with Chip snapping pictures of every single one. He seemed nearly finished.
Most of it was scrapped, twisted, or smashed, but the material itself was sturdy. A little elbow grease, perhaps a few Recycles, and some puzzling together and it could be reconstructed--not that anybody wanted to try. It seemed that a few key components were missing, too, such as a source of Shadows. Perhaps it had been destroyed?
"If you could take a look at any of these pieces," Maple said, "and give us insight on what it appears to be..."
