"Yes," Arachna clicked.

There was no response. The image of the bot stared back at her from the datapad's screen.

"Yes," Arachna clicked. "Yes, yes, yes." Click, click, click.

"I'm sorry," the female voice continued in a flat tone. "I am unable to understand. Would you like to establish a command console for M-91 sentry bot? Yes or No. Alternatively, please swipe up for yes and down for no."

Right, Arachna thought. She didn't exactly have the vocal cords to speak like a Yumen. She swiped up on the screen.

"Command console established," the voice from the datapad said. An icon of two sides of a belt snapping displayed on the screen. "Would you like to take a tutorial?"

Arachna spent the better part of the day learning how to control the tiny robot. She was amazed at how simple it was. The command console program within the datapad allowed her to stack layers of commands on top of one another like a colorful jigsaw puzzle.

She'd even learned about the various parts of the bot, and managed to fix what she'd previously broken off. The reattached head was nothing more than a single camera. The laser easily snapped back on. With the command console, she had full control.

Horde, this thing was fun. She moved it around the trash compactor via remote control, shining its powerful laser beam at its lowest setting on the walls and ceiling.

Beaky chased the laser pointer, seemingly unable to take his eyes off it. "Stop," he clicked. "Want shiny light."

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

The dactyl leaped from wall to wall and from trash heap to trash heap trying to catch the light. Arachna had explained to him that it was just a remote-controlled laser and yet he didn't seem to understand. Beaky wanted to bite into the light and eat it.

She'd been able to provide a basic program to the bot so that it operated semi-autonomously. The console had been so simple that she was convinced even a Yumen child would have been able to fill it out. The stacked color-coded instructions made it into a kind of game.

Suddenly, her curiosity was piqued. If she'd been able to learn how to operate a simple robot, aided by her subconscious memories of Engineer Carlsen, what else would she be able to do? Could she control parts of the ship? How complex would it be?

With her Yumen-like hands, she could interact with other such machines on board the Eschaton. Would that provide her with a way to survive or even take over this ship before it arrived on Mars?

Click, click.

What was this Mars anyway? She'd recalled what she'd heard about it. It was the Yumens' home planet but not? Typing in the letters M-A-R-S into the datapad, an image of a red planet popped up on the screen.

It was a desert world with very little atmosphere and full of craters. The Yumens lived in large semi-spherical domes that provided them protection against the void. Horde, this place didn't look like any sort of natural habitat. Maybe it had been a beautiful place once and had its atmosphere destroyed. That would make sense.

No, she'd heard Commander Rip talk about a place called Old Earth. What was that?

She keyed in the letters E-A-R-T-H into the datapad's search bar.

In an instant, an image of a blue and white orb appeared on the screen.

By the Xither, it was beautiful. It looked like a world that was partially aquatic and partially land-based. Lush green vegetation coated the planet in organic matter. How much life must have thrived in a place like Old Earth! The planet had all the right characteristics for life to flourish.

Click, click.

How Arachna would have loved to visit a place like Old Earth. There most likely would be plenty to eat, even for the Krath.

But where did it go?

The words "Old Earth" were highlighted below the picture. With her right forefinger, she pressed down.