#transcendent technomorphs

Dear Upshot Unknown,

You have kinds of technology that are restricted on Earth, too, do you not? Radioactive devices, be they weapon or other, for example. I suppose that serves as a useful point of comparison for Unicronian technology, which presents a similarly insidious danger.

To all rational senses, there is nothing to distinguish a device fabricated by Unicron from its worldly counterpart. Even at his most industrious, Unicron is a plagiarist, forging imitations of mortal design from raw material that is stolen but ultimately mundane. It's difficult to determine the exact nature of the phenomenon at play, because of conflating factors—Unicronian devices are most commonly found in the possession of Unicronian agents, and confirmation bias arises when studying cases outside this category. I do not believe it to be a question of fate, or prediction, or destiny, as these are forces of order, and I have a sense of these things. Perhaps it is just an emergent phenomenon, or perhaps it is some ineffable cosmic force. Regardless of the cause, the conclusion is inescapable: on a long enough timeframe, Unicron's machines are invariably lethal.

Take a single atom of tritium and observe it. At some moment, without the slightest warning, it will decay into an atom of helium-3 and an ionising beta particle. Take a radioactive mass, and over its half-lives the danger will lessen—for Unicronian artefacts, the opposite is true. In the wrong hands, at the wrong moment, anything can be a weapon. The innate potential in all of us for violence, for chaos, can be catalysed, given the means to affect reality. And if you happen to come into possession of such a device, it is not enough to be rid of the damned thing—it may have inspired something in you, compromised your very thoughts. Not through force, or suggestion, but as a simple logical consequence of its presence.

Having suffered one disaster too many, the TransTechs have developed "Diabolus Ex Machina" protocols which they believe can limit the effect of papiliohazardous artefacts. When found, they are quarantined and dumped into dead universes at the earliest possible opportunity. At higher clearances, OZSA officers have access to antimemetic programs, thought to reset an individual's corrupted processes by rolling back their memory to a point before the object came into their possession. I struggle to see this as being much more than a superstitious ritual to ward against evil. Perhaps it gives them peace of mind, but one wonders... the loss of memory incurred, the bestowal of such power onto a security administration with oft-limited oversight. Are those not a form of consequence themselves? How much suffering has occurred, has yet to occur, as a result of these countermeasures?