Focusing on the drone which I sent out to begin construction on the medium drone works, I watched as it finished gathering the materials required for the construction of such a machine. Then, as the last of the materials were neatly stacked up near the construction site, from the spider's eyes a hologram shot out which depicted how the medium drone works should look like. Then my little spider began the process of constructing the machine, starting off with its metal frame.
Above the construction site the same icon which had appeared over the damaged spider while they were repairing the spider however this time it reported that the medium drone works would be finished being constructed in a hours time. I can’t wait for this to finish so that I can begin fabricating those new ant drones. Thankfully this won’t take as long as the core had, then I would be waiting here forever.
And, as if on cue, a notification blared in my non-existent face which informed me that those repairs on the injured spider drone had just finished and they were ready to begin going back to work. Drifting over to the drone in question, I saw that the spiders who were repairing them were already on their way back to their original assignments and had simply left the newly repaired drone to get up on their own. Focusing on said newly repaired spider I watched as they slowly pushed themselves back off the ground and began looking at me as if asking what was their assignment.
I decided to send them over to the spider working on the medium drone so that they could lend a hand with it. While they waddled over to the construction site, I began floating about the factory aimlessly before I got a notification that my spider drones had just finished construction on the core. Drifting back down there, I immediately noticed the difference now that the core was up and functioning as a blue light shone bright in the middle of the construct.
Additionally, the various rings which were fragmented and broken on the ground were not encompassing the bright blue light and were actually spinning around it in mid air which provoked many a question in my head. How in the world can those rings float around like that? Whatever it is, it clearly can defy gravity and float mid air. Man if I could control gravity I could do so many cool things with it, like a weightless tank or something.
Floating closer to the core, I simply stay there and watch as the rings spin around for a few minutes before I break out of the trance and focus back on what I should be looking for. After a few minutes of looking around, I eventually found an access terminal and so I began turning it on and looking around for a few moments before I eventually found the information button. Clicking it, I began reading out the core’s description now that it is fully functioning.
In the description it stated that the core was the most essential and integral part of an AI's longevity and that almost everything hinged on the fact that it was still functioning. Its main purpose was to host the entirety of the AI’s conscience and thus if it were to be destroyed so would the AI. In addition to its main function it has a level of administrative capacity meaning that it can at the very least shoulder the burden of controlling the various drones that it is tethered to.
Additionally, below the description was a small list of various statistics which looked to be important, the first being that my administrative capacity was currently at ten percent meaning that I had more than enough processing capacity to construct some more drones. The second statistic was reporting that the core was pulling power from some unknown source somewhere further into the factory and I was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth so for now I did not question where it was coming from. The last of the statistics was also the most simple, being a report stating that the core’s structural integrity was all green and that there was currently nothing that needed to be repaired.
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With all of that taken care of, I began ordering all of my newly idle drones to begin going back to any previous assignments that they might have had or in the case that they did not, I ordered them to begin helping out with the medium drone works.
———
After an hour of nothing of note happening, I finally got a notification that my drones had just finished with the construction of the medium drone works. Finally, it's about time they finished. Floating over to the now finished drone works, I made it to the terminal and began navigating through the menu over to the drone blueprints which I had available. Once I got there, I found the new ant drones along with another blueprint which contained something I did not remember ever finding.
With my curiosity piqued, I eventually decided to put a total of three of the ant drones onto the queue along with one of whatever the mystery blueprint is set to construct. Once my various spiders began hauling the materials to begin construction on the first of my new ants, I realized that they took nearly five times the materials to construct compared to the spiders and, with some quick mental calculations, I discovered that this order would take nearly my entire metal stockpile.
Deciding that if they required that much materials they would surely be worth it, I did not reverse any of my orders and so the slow process of fabrication began. The new ant drones took substantially longer to fabricate compared to the spiders and most definitely the rats however that was expected seeing that they were much larger than my other drones. After waiting for what I guessed to be around thirty minutes, the first of the three ants finished fabrication and began stepping out of the medium drone works.
A hiss of hydraulics emanates from the drone as it slowly begins marching out of the drone works and onto the factory floor. The ant drone uses its short but sturdy legs to move a few feet towards my nonexistent form before they began to look up towards me, questioning. Interpreting this as a request for their first assignment, I simply order them to begin defending the factory by stationing themselves near the front door. The ant promptly moves to the door and begins their first shift of guard duty.
———
Not too long after the second ant finished, I decided that one ant guarding the door is enough for now, so I decided to send the newly fabricated second ant to begin using their hydraulic mandibles to start moving the large pieces of rubble which had blocked me from the upper floors of the factory. They made quick work and had already managed to dislodge a large piece of rebar before I got a message from my scout rats who had been patrolling the area in search of interesting things.
In their message, they stated that they had detected several robots who had left the large tower and were now making their way towards the factory. In addition to the robots, my scout rats also saw that they had brought with them three quadrupedal drones of some description. My scout rats tried to get a closer look on the incoming robots, however the only thing they could make out was the fact that Red was one of the robots in the group. Unfortunately my scout rats were spotted soon after making that discovery and they were forced to retreat so they do not have much else to report.
Ordering the scouts to make sure to discreetly monitor the incoming robots as they make their way towards the factory, I began to organize my drones and informed them that they should prepare for a fight. It seems that Red has decided that it is time to enact his revenge. They sure will be surprised when my ants tear through their ranks.