The Aeternitas Engine

As far as anyone can tell, the Fatem rely almost exclusively on a perfected form of simple clockwork technology. All intelligence indicates that kinetic energy, preserved through purely mechanical means, lay at the heart of everything from their simplest drones to larger warships. Though they frequently adapt to alternate forms of energy, like electromagnetic power, the core remains the same. Colonial scientists have dubbed the almost perfectly efficient mechanisms at their heart the 'Aeternitas Engine', in light of their ability to run, at least theoretically, for eons. It's widely believed that the Fatem use analog data storage, and that the Aeternitas Engines play a key component in their memory and thoughts. Craft with more sophisticated Engines have demonstrated proportionally more complex behavior, implying that they act as the Fatem equivalent of the human brain. Whether this characteristic is limited to their drones and machines of war is unknown, but so far every representative of the species, if they can be called that, is synthetic.

Though the Aeternitas Engine may reveal some of how the Fatem think, no one seems able to grasp how they communicate. While they have demonstrated the ability to intercept human radio frequencies, they don't seem to use them, or anything similar, to talk amongst themselves. To make things worse, I.A.F. brass seems to come crashing down on anyone who puts together a solid theory on the matter, confiscating their work for 'strategic review'. Rumors abound of everything from past contact to a conspiracy between the Colonial governments. Officially, all that matters to the I.A.F. is how the Fatem can be destroyed. All other concerns are secondary.