by Florian Nagy
Chapter 17
The micro-components facility was truly vast. The Skyrrnian expedition had at first split into smaller and smaller groups to explore as much area as possible, but when the groups had dwindled to only two or three men, they stuck together. They did not want to be left alone in the immense alien metal carcass. The android led Khrrn, with a larger group of five men, to the heart of the facility. Khrrn had told the others to break off so that they would not miss any intact technological works to complement the data banks that the android would recover.
The android’s moving platform rolled agilely over small debris and broken material. His body was not fused beautifully to the platform, but he moved decisively and accurately. The men walked through a seemingly endless maze of walls and doors. They had to clear several obstructions that denied them access through some parts of their route. The men’s small scales were dark in the poor light, but their contours stood out clearly, painting each of them in a net of dark lines.
They moved as quickly as they could. They were wearing informal clothing, with their arms and most of their legs exposed. The thick, organic air of the planet had weighed heavily on them; their homeworld had evolved them to support a drier and colder climate. Yet even so, they were formed to be resilient, and they withstood the climate difference.
The android announced to them— through a communication signal they had set up— that they were nearing their destination: the de facto heart of the factory. The building was so tall that the roof damage did not affect them at the lower floors. They had no sunlight throughout their entire journey. In some locations, emergency lighting that activated only when living forms were detected lit a dim, red-tinted white. The light’s hue was most likely tailored to mimic the natural red light that existed on the planet.
It was almost a miracle that some of the lights were still operational even after an eon. The undoubtedly expertly crafted wiring must have simply fell prey to microscopic degradation over such a long period of time.
One of the men in the group had his weapon drawn. There was little cause for danger in the area, but they were prepared. The rest used wrist-bound lights to illuminate the path ahead. They passed by several large rooms crammed with large machines. The android said that individual pieces were produced in immense quantities and arranged by the construction machines. There was robotic equipment of every shape and size, from large rectangular boxes to multi-limbed drones that would have worked with minute precision on objects beneath it.
The android said that the inhabitants of the planet had built the androids roughly in humanoid image so that they would stand out. The androids were the supervisors. They worked endlessly to repair the machines and make the production process run quickly. They were ready to deal with a wide array of situations and were capable of making decisions to further the goals of production. They were multipurpose, and were fully suited to do a wide array of tasks.
They worked ceaselessly to ensure the factories did not die. The robotic army was always working as one, all their appendages twirling and mass producing the industrial goods of the planet. This army worked in facilities so large that they encompassed Earth cities and had production outputs so high they could put out a fleet in weeks.
The group was now at the door to the large central hub of the factory. The android could not interface with the door, it had long since died. Luckily for them, it was so deep inside the facility that it had no special defenses and could simply be opened with weapons fire. It wasn’t a command room, because there was no need for a physical command location, but a large exporting bay, which was open to the air for pickup. A tunnel leading to the side allowed for ground vehicles to carry away the productions. Although the specific facility had dealt with minute components, they had often also assembled and incorporated their systems into larger productions, and so they did export large volumes of matter.
The group walked slowly around the half stocked room. It was clearly well under its full capacity, but it was not swept clean. Electronic components of every nature lay around them. The majority seemed to require only finishing touches. The roof of the building was closed with interlocking gates that had held strong. The android led them to the main console and fed it power through the battery they had brought. He isolated it from the rest of the facility’s system so that the power would not be spread out to the entire structure and be used up in an instant.
The system turned on with a delay, because many of its components had broken down after such a long wait. The android reported that he was not able to access many of its components, and only little of what it held was accessible. Through the android’s rendition, the Skyrrnians browsed through the ancient fruits of Kher’Somaaw research and production.