章節 18: Chapter 18 the Fabricator.

By the end of the week they had over a hundred repair drones active but that started to seriously cut into their energy reserves.

There was a solution to that but it required them to repair some construction drones,gatherer drones and transport drones.

They found schematics for three devices that they would need but there was no way for them to build any of it on their own.

First was a drone network center which allowed them to control the drones from a distance up to 50 kilometers.

Second was a water gathering device that gathers the moisture from the air.

Third and most important was a generator that worked on water just like their shuttle and its output was many times greater than their chargers.

There was only one problem with their plans.

-We haven't found any kind of construction drones or droids anywhere around.

Mikael said while they were discussing the problem.

-I think we need to go out a bit more to see if we can find something useful.

he continued.

-There is the drop zone that was freshly established around 150 kilometers from here. We should go there and look around, maybe we will get lucky.

Simon suggested.

-We can't find anything around here so why not,even if we can't find any construction droids we might find something else that will be of use.

The next morning they flew their shuttle to the site and found a gigantic pile of junk but someone was already there.

It was some kind of lizard species with red scales protecting its entire body and it was a good 50 centimeters taller than Simon.

-Let me handle it.

Mikael said and started walking in the direction of the alien with his hands opened in front of him.

-Greetings Steuner I come in peace and friendship.

The old man said while bowing slightly.

-Greetings Mikael, a friend is always welcomed.

It was a greeting ritual for the alien species.

-Would you allow us to search this mountain alongside you?

Mikael asked,he knew the alien as they met a few times and this species was highly territorial.

-There is enough for everyone so i won't oppose but I'd like to ask you for a favor.

The lizard said.

-If i can help Then I will.

-You have a shuttle that works so could you help me transport some materials to the platform?

-Of course I will help you as the law of friendship dictates.

Mikael stated.

After some more talking that looked a bit ceremonial,they both came to an agreement.

-Kid,I'm going to help him transport some materials with the shuttle and in the meantime you look around and try to find some drones or droids.

-What was that whole thing about?

-I know this guy,we have met a few times over the years and his species is highly territorial and aggressive so they developed those rituals to avoid bloodshed when they meet.

-I hope you know what you're doing.

Simon said with some doubts.

-Don't worry kid,once you are called a friend by him,then he is honor-bound not to attack you unless you manage to offend him.

-Ok then go help him and I will try to find something useful for us.

They both got to work.

Mikael helped the lizard-man load his materials into the shuttle and Simon started looking around the pile for what they needed.

Simon found a few transport drones and two transport droids but not a single construction drone of any kind.

He was about to give up when he saw a ship a few hundred meters away and he recognised it from the database.

It was a construction vessel used to build mining stations on asteroids.

He first checked if it was claimed by someone but it turned out to be vacant so he decided to investigate.

The interior was mostly demolished but he managed to find some drone parts and charging stations that were in a decent condition. It took him two hours to find his first construction drone and it was badly damaged.

He got an incoming communication from Mikael.

-Kid where are you?

-I'm inside a ship looking for drones.

-Any luck?

-Some parts and charging stations but only one drone so far and it's damaged.

-I'm coming your way to help look.

-Ok.

Simon didn't wait and continued the search.

At the end of the day they managed to find four damaged drones and some parts.

-It's better than nothing.

Mikael said when they were loading their spoils onto the shuttle.

-I just hope that they can be repaired otherwise we will need to figure something out.

-Dont worry we have dozens of repair drones and I bet some of them will be able to repair at least one of them.

Mikael said full of optimism.

-I hope you are right.

When they got back home it turned out that there were insufficient parts to repair even one construction drone,however they managed to get themselves three transport drones and one one transport droid.

Unfortunately without construction drones they were stuck for now.

They searched for the next few days but always returned empty handed.

Simon looked over the database again in hopes of finding a solution to their problem and he found one.

The answer turned out to be a small fabricator.

A device capable of creating anything as long as it had the materials.

It was an outdated technology in the federation which used a matter converter technology,but it was just what they needed and even better,he knew where to find one.

When they were searching for drones he found a fabricator but not knowing then what it was he just moved on.

Now they both went to get it and fortunately it was still there,whatsmore they found a bonus.

Under the fabricator which was the size of a large closet they found a scraper drone which could prove useful if it could be repaired.

They brought the fabricator back and used the repair drones on it and according to their scans,The device could be repaired to 81% of the operational state.

In the end it took 20 drones and four days to do that.

But the next problem arrived in the form of lack of power.

They had to decide either to use the database or the fabricator and even if they channeled all of their available power the machine would work on minimal power settings which meant that the fabrication time would get longer.

After some discussion they decided to use fabricator for now as they needed parts for drones and also it solved the problem of parts for the devices they wanted to build.