The shuttle was approaching the shipyard and the atmosphere on it was relaxed, even though they could be flying to their last mission.
The six members of the expedition had been together in some way or other since their academy days and all trusted Jenny, the XO, and her instincts; when she had called them back on the Excelsior, they didn’t even hesitate and prepared themselves for the mission.
The group was formed by a couple weapon specialists, a couple engineers and one medical specialist.
The weapon specialists were reviewing their weapons for the nth time while the engineers were discussing where would they locate the information and what defenses could be expected to be found in a shipyard most probably created by a rogue ai. The medical specialist was taking a nap, everything already ordered and prepared in his backpack.
Jenny was piloting the shuttle, on the corner of her eye the Excelsior shape getting further away and smaller by the second, her thoughts focused now in the amount of important data that could be found in the shipyard.
It looked like a mix between a stick insect and a centipede. The torso being a 1 kilometer long tube, about 15 meters in diameter and along it about two hundred extensions, as if they were really thin legs – not even 2 meters in diameter.
“Ok guys we’re getting closer. I’m going to need someone to tell me where to park” - she said turning towards the passenger section of the shuttle.
Simon, one of the engineers, walked to the front of the shuttle and sat on the co-pilot seat.
“We’ve been discussing options, we believe this section” - he pointed to a section on the long tube near a junction of those small legs. - “is our best choice. We don’t expect to have atmosphere inside but we think in that junction there will be lots of circuits that we can jump on to trace and find their core systems”
Jenny nodded and flew the shuttle towards that point. On the passenger section, everyone had finished their preparations and started to get into the spacesuits.
“Oi, Argyle! Wake up and get dressed!” - said Ansley, one of the weapons specialists to the doctor.
He mumbled something as an answer but started moving nonetheless.
Meanwhile Jenny had placed the shuttle with its back close to the specified point and started getting into the suite as well.
Once ready she did a visual check and, after everybody gave the ok, vented atmosphere and opened the back door.
Sunita, the other engineer, took out a small box with a red tape and draw a big square on the wall. The moment she closed the circuit by joining the ends of the tape she jumped back, giving it a couple meters of distance.
After a couple seconds the tape started to burn, making a hole on the passage.
“Woah! How deep can that thing go?” - asked Juan, the other weapon specialist.
“Theoretically? A couple meters. In reality we don’t know, we haven’t got the time to properly test it” - she said with a crazy smile on her face
“And you though it was a good idea to bring this and try it here?” - Juan asked back
“Ei! Jenny said ‘bring anything we might be able to use and this works without oxygen or atmosphere so...” - Sunita replied
“Ehem. First, is not Jenny here, is either chief or XO” - said Jenny - “And second, relax Juan, if she trusts it enough to bring it I trust her to use her brain when to use it. Now get moving.”
Juan deflated and mumbled something but he dropped the issue, then started walking towards the hole, weapon at the ready.
Inside the long tube the walls were basically cables and all kinds of circuitry.
Ansley and Juan stepped inside and situated themselves covering the group while they entered the hole. After them, both engineers walked in, then Argyle and Jenny was the last one.
Once inside, she checked the synchronization to the shuttle from her wrist-pad and closed the door. Simon and Sunita were already pinching cables and checking signals.
“I believe I found a power cable, but this place is dead and frozen. Nothing travels through it but the materials and structure fit with power distribution” - said Simon.
“We can try the light” - said Sunita
“I’m not sure this material will respond to it” - answered Simon.
“Boss, permission to cut a bit of the power cable to test a thing” - Sunita said looking at Jenny.
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“Mmmmh, what are the possible reactions and what is the objective?” - Jenny asked
“Well, if we cut a small piece and it goes wrong it shouldn’t do much, there’s no oxygen to burn or explode” - she explained - “Worst I can thing of is the small bit disintegrates. But if it works it will show a light throughout the whole cable, easing the task of following it”
“Ok, I’ll allow it. But cut the smallest bit necessary to test it”
Sunita took a small knife and cut a piece no bigger than 2cm. Then what looked like a small pencil from her bag and put the cable on its top, pressing a button.
The cable lighted up and she started to count out loud. After reaching twenty she stopped and smiled.
“Looks fine!” - she said happily, while Simon in the background sighed shaking his head, although smiling.
She then put the pencil-like device by the space where she cut the cable and looked at Simon.
“Which side do you think? Port or starboard?” - she asked
Simon look both sides and pointed to their right.
“Center is that way, even considering it was designed by an AI it probably carries some bias from its creators, and sapient beings tend to be self-centered so I’d go that way” - he explained
She pointed the pencil-like device and pressed the button, a small light came out and started to move slowly throughout the cable.
She counted to twenty again while the light was moving further and then took out the device.
“And now, we follow it!” - she said starting to move.
“Not so fast girl, Juan you go first just in case. We move as if hell may appear at any moment because it just might” - interceded Jenny - “Ansley you are at the back”
“Yes chief!” - was said in unison by everyone and they started to move.
After a few minutes, the light died, it went off gradually.
Sunita and Simon looked at each other and then to Jenny.
“Looks like something big is here, it absorbed the low power carrying the light so there must be some circuitry or something that requires power. We are going to try to find it but don’t know if there’ll be some defense system or something that might wake up with our tests.” - explained Simon, then looked at Ansley and Juan – “We don’t think so because everything looks pretty much dead but be ready just in case.”
Then both Simon and Sunita took out their backpacks and sat on the ground. They started to take some devices out and pass things to one another, as if they were assembling something. Then they would check the walls and cables and continue modifying and what seemed to an ignorant viewer as playing around with their toys.
After about half an hour of assembling and handling they started to remove the wall panels, underneath a sea of circuits and cables appeared.
They removed about five meters long of passageway walls and all of it was the same maze of circuitry with the big cables they had cut on top of it.
“This doesn’t make sense.” - said Simon - “Is like the whole place is filled to the rim with this. Nothing I know requires that much circuitry, what is this station anyway?”
“That’s because we’re still thinking like meat bags man” - replied Sunita - “Put your thinking cap and be an AI. One that is tasked to design and assemble other AIs and ships” - and all of a sudden they were both having a philosophical discussion about AI bodies and designs.
“Sorry to jump in but, isn’t the human DNA full of shit nowadays? And that was because we evolved without the ability to removing what we didn’t need. Maybe this whole thing was a step in their evolution and they abandoned it because is a deprecated, obsolete design” - pointed out Jenny
“That’s a possibility, but we still need to find where it stored the data so we can take it with us and study it” - indicated Simon
“Although, taking that into consideration” - jumped in Sunita, and then started to take out circuits from the walls, violently - “Come on Simon, you know you also want to do this. If this has grown trying to imitate natural evolution the core must be deep inside.”
Simon sighed thinking why he always got carried away by her, but after a few seconds he was also pulling circuits from the wall but not in a senseless way.
It took them another long while before they found something. The amount of scrap in the floor was almost reaching the point of being dangerous but due to their methodical work they hadn’t required to need Argyle’s expertise.
What they found was some kind of storage medium, similar to the data crystals used in some parts of the Empire in the past. A quick check showed that there was data so they started collecting them.
There were more than a hundred data crystals hidden underneath the circuits and probably there were even more throughout the rest of the station, all of them of the same size. Unfortunately they were huge, probably about a Yottabyte each, and the equipment they had brought was not powerful enough to read through them and discern how was the data structured and read through whatever information was in there; so they packed them as safely as they could.
“Ok now that’s done, I have another mission for you guys. Since this is a shipyard there must be some place with the components and fuel needed for an engine. I want you to build me something to modify the shuttle so we’re not stuck here waiting for the Excelsior.” - said Jenny with a smile
“That was your plan all along!” - exclaimed Simon - “You were never going to wait for the Excelsior. Next thing you are going to ask us is to build some combat drones”
Jenny couldn’t suppress a smile after that comment.
“One step at a time Simon, first the engine for the shuttle, then we’ll see where we are and what’s the current situation” - she answered back. - “So, where do you guys think they stored all the spare parts?”
Sunita face was full of glee, like a kid with a hundred new toys.
“Well, while we were looking for the data storage we saw these tubes with conveyor belts which I believe are made to carry out stuff.” - Sunita explained - “So, let’s move starboard! Juan, you go first!” - she almost screamed, and they began moving, dodging the amount of scrap they had left on the floor.
“Wait, let’s unload this on the shuttle first” - said Jenny pointing the bags full of data crystals, and controlled the shuttle through her wrist-pad, parking it along with them so they wouldn’t have to walk back. - “Use your magic tape there in the wall please”
Once that was done, they continued walking through the passageway.