Byzantine processed the information Balistraia had sent them. A machine village that was willing to engage in peaceful contact and trade. The choice the Maker would make about the village was fairly obvious to the mind. So Byzantine started filling up a few courier drones with basic supplies, fuel and metal mostly.
The mind had already begun transporting resources to the android villages, but that was mainly finished goods, armor, weapons, and ammunition. Rather than raw supplies, but unlike the resistance the machines apparently had enough production capacity to create their own supplies with raw materials. And likely needed things the factory did not yet know how to create.
A ping to Balistraia to get examples of in demand replacement parts for the machines set up the solution for that problem. Byzantine doubted it would take the maker long to craft a blueprint that the assemblers could make for each of the parts.
With those plans set in motion Byzantines' part in the new village was largely over unless something new arose, so the mind turned its attention to other matters.
The majority of which were on the other side of the portal, a few other instances of Balistraia and all the Bulwark’s who routinely fought the bugs were experiencing a three percent increase in ammunition usage, as well as a similarly increased rate of drone casualties.
Byzantine added upgrading the drone lines to a higher quality version to its to-do list, the baseline version was simply no longer effective and more durable materials could be sourced with relative ease. Even without adding modules or shields drone durability could be increased in more mundane ways.
An order for a few Labyrinthines to build more drone production outposts, and another order to implement the premade plan for increased ammo production at a few outposts dealt with the issue of the weapon surplus being drained faster than it grew.
Byzantines prediction programs were notifying the mind that increasing drone and weapon production would increase the resource consumption rate over the production rate, but the mind already knew that.
The mantle mining operation was already expanding at as quick of a rate that could be safely managed, but it would not increase resource production over the consumption rate before the consumption rate was predicted to increase again.
Eventually once the technology and practices used were improved that would cease being the case and mantle mining would be the only form of mining the factory would be, but that was not today, nor in the immediate future so Byzantine turned its intelligence to a few resource nodes within the factories borders.
A few seconds to draw up a plan and a few more to reorganize the rest of the train schedules around the new outposts and the trains that would be built to supply them, so that there would be as few delays as possible, and then Byzantine sent the plans to Labyrinthine for review and implementation.
Those new sources of resources would last for a few months before they would be drained, but Byzantine had already had its eye on a few other nearby resource nodes.
That increased ore supply meant that Byzantine needed to increase ore refining, but building that many electric furnaces would bring the factories power into the red, so more reactors and solar panels needed to be built, and production of the furnaces and solar panels needed to be increased, so Byzantine implemented a plan to increase production of both.
Not to mention crafting the new sets of power armor was draining quite a lot of the factory's refined resources, mainly the 4th tier assembler that Byzantine was actively pretending didn’t exist. It kept sprouting new intakes and had even grown a new conveyor belt out of itself to steal iron from a nearby belt. So the mind had to reroute more metals to feed the thing, and increase the flow of resources to the inner factory in general.
It’s work was quite literally never ending, but the mind still found time to make sure its greenhouse was growing.
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Bulwark contemplated its newly assigned task, it was to make a bunker. That in itself was simple, even though the factory had relatively few bunkers, all were the best that the mind could come up with, as they served the task of defending the Maker should the worst come to pass.
But this bunker couldn’t have any lethal or even harmful defenses, by request of the machines it was building the bunker for.
Bulwark had never made a defenseless defense before, no defense was perfect and if one could test it without retaliation they would eventually find a way through it. It was better to make a decent wall and kill anyone before they could figure out a way past it than trying to make a wall that couldn’t be passed.
Well with a distress beacon added to the design the bunker would only need to hold out long enough for Balistraia to arrive.
And this would actually be something to do with the mind's currently ample free time.
While it was already designing a bunker for the machines to use there wasn’t a reason to stop there either, the android resistance could make use of one, and that one could even have inbuilt defenses.
It’d need an air supply too, A way to generate power, spare parts and a repair bay for any damaged machines or androids. Heavy shielding and redundant metal armor. If Bulwark divided it into segments even if part of it was breached not all the androids or machines would die.
Thousands of ideas and blueprints flew through the mind, each evaluated for effectiveness and feasibility.
How far down could they realistically build the bunkers? Could Bulwark get a full underground complex a kilometer down? The main base was like that but that had taken weeks.
Would the androids and machines need recreational facilities to remain sane? Mining platforms so they could sustain themselves indefinitely?
It wasn’t like they were lacking for the simple materials that went into a bunker, so why not make it big. Then sensors and a control room for the bunkers to be monitored from, the android one could have its automated defenses controlled from there.
And if it was so important it needed to be in the center of the bunker, but then what to use for power? Without a supply of water it’d need to be the more expensive version of nuclear power so power usage needed to be limited.
So most of the power would go towards life support and shields, so defenses needed to use minimal power.
It was two hours before Bulwark actually sent any designs to Labyrinthine, an eternity for an artificial intelligence, it was an hour more before Labyrinthine had finished refining and embellishing the design.
At the end there were two bunker designs, both with over twenty thousand square feet. Not large on an outposts scale but they would be capable of housing thousands of androids or machines, even featuring individual rooms and three separate common rooms filled with simple games.
It was large enough that it would take more than a day to build each, but the minds wouldn’t be happy with an inferior product.
With that distraction out of the way the mind turned its attention back to its previous tasks, revamping all the factories fire walls.
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Labyrinthine had been making fairly good progress with its fleet of construction drones, new roads had been paved, the larger plants being left alone even as most of the ground was turned into concrete. The nearby buildings had been coated in that same rapid hardening concrete that the mind used to rapidly repair damaged walls.
The massive gaping holes in the buildings were patched, and the windows were filled with a clear plastic or removed entirely. The insides of the buildings were cleaned out of all rubble and the floors were patched, ceilings were reinforced and stairwells were cleared out.
The mind had even started adding turrets to the roofs of all the nearby buildings, so the fairly significant worry of an aerial attack or bombing run had essentially been negated VIA hundreds of turrets.
Androids had started arriving by the dozens only hours after the android 13B had reported to command, and most of those androids had helped guard its drones as they went about clearing the city of rubbish. Or at least the surrounding dozen blocks, the city was massive and rebuilding the entire thing would be a massive undertaking.
Labyrinthine had then modified the closest building to the outpost into heavily armored and appropriately furnished android housing. The basements were turned into a “recreation room” on Balistraias recommendation, with a few Ping-Pong tables, a holographic table with the offensive minds training simulation on it (one side would play as bitters while another would be Bulwark or Balistraia), couches, dart boards, and a training room where the androids could fight against shielded drones.
Labyrinthine also decided to add a room with painting boards and supplies, and a few androids had already made some drawings, though the majority of the androids stuck to the other activities.
The mind had considered recommending for the maker to go down and socialize, but when the thought passed through its circuits the engineer had given a firm denial, anytime the maker tried to talk to an android they always became excessively formal and it took hours of conversation to get them to talk somewhat normally.
No, the maker had said he was much happier doing other more productive things, though he did talk to the androids he had fitted out with armor, while running them through a training course.
While that had reminded Labyrinthine of their Makers awareness of everything in the factory, the minds especially, it didn’t really change the mind’s resolve to eventually get the engineer into the recreation room.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
That would be a task it needed the other minds help with though. So Labyrinthine sent the suggestion to the other minds and turned its attention back towards its efforts at revitalizing the city.
The skyscrapers and office buildings were simple to rebuild, as they followed a fairly standard design. But the mind was approaching a few more ‘unique’ buildings that the mind would need to direct the drones through fixing.
And the rivers running through everything made the tax significantly more difficult, you can’t really fix a building that is part river, though without the threat of abominations clogging the turbines hydroelectric power became significantly more viable.
The sewers did need to be reworked…. And if the mind fixed those it should solve the water and flooding issue.
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Spidertron Mark 2 # 1 or Spidertron 2-1 had just come online. Its programing noted that its body was not yet finished, two of its legs weren’t attached. Its sensors immediately scanned the room looking for the missing limbs and instead found its maker standing before it, crouched and messing with some of its internals. An internal scan found that its power levels were fluctuating and that the section of armor Its maker had opened contained its power regulators.
It felt something click into place and its power fluctuations ceased, it felt the maker pull his upper half out of its shell before bolting the armor plate back onto the spidertron. The spidertron felt a few pats on its shell before picking up a few broadcasts from the engineer onto the factory's network.
There, that should fix the issue with the shields
Yeah, now we just have to beef up the laser defense and make sure all the weapons systems and failsafes are online and…. Is it online?
Looks like it, the power fluctuations must have kicked its central computer on, we should take a look at that, if a fluctuation can hit the central processor so can an EMP.
With that the engineer walked up to the spidertron, and the machine felt as he levered himself on top of it with the handles, it had the brief worry of its maker falling the maker must be protected but he was wearing his power armor, a fall from it would fail to hurt him and the worry passed.
Once the engineer had secured himself with a few metallic clamps the spidertron felt its outer casing get removed, then its secondary inner layer of armor, by this point the engineer had the majority of his body inside the spidertrons shell, contouring his way around its internal components.
Eventually the machine felt the engineers hands on its final layer of armor, the one guarding its central processor and it watched with its internal sensors as the metal shell around its core flowed out of its maker's way.
Looks intact, maybe the auto repair system fixed the error once it was detected.
Might as well check the system, spidertron run an internal diagnostic.
The spidertron was already running an internal diagnostic but it sent the information anyway, its electronic mind feeding the information directly into the engineer's organic one.
Yeah, the internal systems got it, one of the lasers capacitors had released a jolt and woke the bot. The capacitor was patched.
We should still add a secondary layer of insulation.
A thin black substance poured out of the engineer's armored hand and covered the inner layer of armor around the spidertrons core before he sealed the core shut again and began crawling out.
Okay, check weapon systems, install the last two legs and then it'll be ready for the mission tomorrow.
The spidertron had a mission tomorrow? What were the parameters and objectives?
Oh it's listening, well we might as well multitask.
Its outer armor was resealed and the engineer jumped off its shell, slowly sinking through the air like it was a thick tar rather than a gas.
Fire up your weapons programs if you could, I want to make sure your targeting systems are up to date and fully functional.
Tomorrow will be the field test for you and your sibling, you'll be sent out to investigate and clear out a factory under the control of some hostile forces. Parameters are, aid the androids with their mission and collect combat and strategic data on both androids and machines. The Objective is to complete the mission with minimal damage and casualties to both you and the androids.
The spidertron fired up its weapon systems as it thought, it felt it’s eight missile pods and twenty laser projectors come online, it's underslung autocannon spun to life and it began scanning the room for any hostiles, immediately picking out a host of microscopic dust particles moving throughout the room, they were flagged as potentially hostile for suspicious movement and its cannon started tracking some of the dust. Its discharge defense primed to fire if any of the dust attacked. How was it supposed to help the androids? What were the optimal ways to clear a building and fight machines? How did it prevent damage to the androids?
I did want it to be on guard against nanites, but trying to attack dust seems a little overkill, lets tone that down, if the dust starts draining the shields we change that though.
You can help the androids by prioritizing machines that are about to kill or harm androids and eliminating machines that they can’t and given you have enough durability to somewhat compare to a command tank you can block attacks or provide mobile cover. Or if an android is injured, put them inside your cockpit, there are a few repair systems in there that should fix an android up relatively quickly.
As for fighting the machines, well launch missiles and shoot them with lasers, dodge their attacks as well. If you want anything more than that you'll need to ask the other spidertrons or drones. Balistraia probably has combat data and a few simulations you can run through as well.
With that the spidertron turned the bulk of its attention into the greater network, there was a flurry of information flying past but it wasn’t difficult to find what it was looking for, there connected to itself it felt a mind, something it inherently knew was its superior. It followed that thread to that intelligence and sent a request for information, within a millisecond it received recordings from hundreds of different battles, each one with the correct course of action showcased and the machines weak points highlighted. Where a missile could best penetrate on the larger armored machines and how to fire a laser beam to disable a joint or weapon as quickly as possible.
It saw how to move its own legs to dodge attacks, and how best to angle its armor and frame to minimize the hits it couldn’t block, how to fight with damaged components and what to do if it ran into an enemy it couldn’t beat, call in an artillery strike.
It was watching dozens of these videos at once, learning from failed tactics and the successful while the mind that had fed it the information fed it even more information on how it could best fight using its own weapons and frame. It learned how to prioritize targets and what targets should be prioritized, it watched as the androids it would work with fought, and how the drones fought with them.
Weapon systems seem to be working, now we just need to add the legs and let it run a few testing courses and go on a short patrol.
The parts of its mind that were still focused on the outside world watched as its maker walked towards a bench on the wall, where two massive legs sat. they were longer than the rest of its legs and seemed to have additional parts that could pop out of the ends.
Can't quite give a spidertron opposable thumbs but some laser cutters, manipulator digits, shield generators and plain bulky armor should make a fine enough substitute.
Spidertron 2-1 felt the engineer's mind touch its own, adding a small bit of information to the torrent it was already receiving from Balistraia. It was the schematics for its new arms. They started out as a single arm but at the first joint they branched out into three, still interlocked but they could detach from each other. The first one was a high power laser cutter used for cutting through armored doors or machines, the second had a shield generator at the end that it could use to harden the air into various tools or shapes it could need, and the third thinnest arm was a simple grasping claw, one that could extend twice as far as its normal legs.
When still in one piece it still looked like a relatively normal spidertron leg, but thicker and more armored than a normal one, and it would still use it as a normal leg when none of the other digits were in use.
Once the engineer noticed the spidertron had finished processing the information he grabbed the several hundred pound limb with one hand and pressed it into the empty socket on the spidertrons body, where the spidertrons internal systems immediately activated it and ran a scan. Seconds later the second arm was latched into place, and the same scan ran. Both arms were perfectly functional.
Now you're not cheap, in fact building two of you cost me just over one command tank. I'd say don’t disappoint me but I have a fairly good feeling that you won't.
And even if you did fail it’d be my fault considering I built and programmed you, so I wouldn't really blame you anyway.
The spidertron listened to its maker ramble while the combat recordings played, and it brought one of its new legs level with its main sensors before unfolding it into its three parts, flicking the laser cutter on and off while making shapes in the air with its shield generator, its manipulator claw rotating in fast circles.