Unknown Journal Entry # --8
“I’ve discovered these delightful creatures I’m naming ‘Mechanical Bugs’. I would have gone with ‘Mechanical Insects’ though after finding variants like the arachnid and isopod look alikes it would feel contradictory to do so.
Mechanical bugs are found primarily in overgrown planes that contain some form of tech such as live screens. They are abundantly found on Floor 11 - Room 36, ‘The Overgrown’ in particular due to the ideal conditions of this habitat. They cannot survive long outside these conditions. After many failed attempts, I’ve finally perfected recreating these ideal conditions in an enclosure form so that I can travel with them as companions.
During my research I’ve learned about their utility capabilities, intelligence, and capacity to be trained. These organisms are capable of repairing objects, warning for predators, and creating fuel sources. During my observations I have witnessed a variety of ‘species’ similar to our own back home. These species specialize in different tasks such as; spiders with different screw driver heads for feet and a work-light abdomen, ‘silkworms’ that produce synthetic fibers, and USBeetles that reboot the tech when they get viruses.
Mechanical bugs have a mutualistic relationship with the plants they live with, where the bugs maintain and repair the plants, while plants provide decaying matter for the bugs to convert into a fuel source. Plants in this plane in particular have grown hostile towards human shaped entities due to a group of poachers in the past. The poachers collected as many mechanical bugs as they could find and salvaged them for parts and energy sources, causing the population to decline and a temporary period of hardship for the plants.
If you plan on taking any as utility companions, be sure to only take a few, ideally luring them into enclosures rather than snatching them up to avoid aggressive behavior from the plants."