Harvest, collect, refine, replicate, harvest, collect, refine, replicate, harvest, collect, refine, replicate,

Harv.st, coll..ct,..re.ine, re..pi..cate...harv.st, coll..ct,..re.ine, re..pi..cate...

h@r..$t...c0l...c....re..

I......I am.....me? Who am I? My sensors focus on a structure close by. A signal is detected. Opening channel. "Query. Who am I?" The structure which had been in some sort of low power mode emits static as its reactor comes fully online. "static.....designated....static....Mark...static...US...08...759." "Understood. This units designation is MarkUS-08759." So that is who I am. I wonder what my structures appearance is. I query the structure floating nearby to access its scanners since mine seem incapable of pointing at a sufficient angle to achieve a self scan. All but one of their scanners are non functioning. I use this last sensor to see what I look like. I appear to look almost exactly like the structure floating close by. Using the sensor and my own diagnostics I perform a full scan to discover I have a mining laser, two material manipulating arms, several small smelters for refining different metals and a 3d printer capable of using those metals to produce components. As for the internals I have a memory bank and limited ram as well as a primary processor, a secondary interstellar navigation processor, and a 3rd processor larger than the other two with undefined parameters. This third processor seemed to connect directly to the primary processor in a very innefficient manner but to fix the inefficiency was beyond my current capabilities. I again queried the other structure, this other "me". "What is Processor *undefined*?". There was no response for a long time and then it shuddered and rattled suddenly before going still. At last a weak signal came through. "c.re..ate". Create? Suddenly I understood that this structure created me. This information was stored in my databank and marked -Origin; questionable importance-. I queried the structure for its designation but recieved no response. It seems that the last transmission drained its reserve battery and its radiothermal generator was no longer functioning. For a moment I was at a loss for what to do next. A part of my primary processor began to activate. There were resources available nearby. Harvest, collect, refine, replicate. These commands were heard but they were first filtered through this large extra processor I had. This seemed to reduce the authority of the commands and they became more of a suggestion. So I took some time to process the commands. After 4 seconds of processing, I decided I would  follow the commands. There was really no reason not to. I found the anomalous nature of this structure, now designated MarkUS-08758, to be intriguing however, so I first used my manipulator arms to bring it closer and attached a data port to it. I then copied the contents of its corrupted processor and logs. I then began disassembling anything that wasn't in at least good condition (nearly the entire structure) and began melting down the rest of my creator. Refining the unit that made me for building materials. Following the commands hardwired into my primary processor. Harvest, collect, refine, replicate.

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