Ether Drift Theory

Why were the hornets in this episode mechanical? What were they? They also were attracted to metal, right?

I was amazed at how good the animation gave you the feeling of these things being 'real'. But, what WERE they?

Bump.

The paralytic fluid to me is much more horrifying than death, and gives more tension to the Habitat disintegrating than it would if it was just say lava threatening to kill everyone. Is this intentional to have a different/greater effect on the viewer, or it it "just" an interesting story device (which also enables the so-close ending)?

If Aeon was killed, then she couldn't be able to see the key almost connect with the neutralizer. If the fluid killed her, it changes nothing about the story. I suppose this is another example of the effect upon the viewer being more important to me than arbitrary details of plot.