Murder Drones: Disassembly Required

My nickname around here is "Chaos" atleast thats what I have given myself. Im a simple engineer who was tasked to watch over the crew while they where in cryosleep and to check if the ship was alright. Everything went well until we crashed. Thankfully Im alright, just bumped my head a little.

"I guess I should wake up the crew" I said to myself "and check the ship and run a diagnosis" I began talking to myself when I was given this task. When the crew wakes up I hope I learn to stop talking to myself.

I walk over to the cryobay and press a button that'll wake up the crew. Should take half an hour for them to get a healthy wakeup call. While they wake up, I headed to the flight room and ran a diagnosis.

"Coms is down, fuel line is cut, and the engines is busted. Fixing the coms will be easy, but for the rest we'd need extra supplies... Oxygen and water supplies worries me too... Well better stop talking to myself and get to work!"

I got up, put on my thermal suit, and headed out to check our communications relay

The cold depths of cryosleep. An unending dream meant to help sail the endless abyss of space. It did exactly that for the Stormborder. It served its purpose until a catastrophic failure sent the ship crashing into the surface of a strange frozen planet that wasn't marked on any star charts. The ship's Engineer Ray Rights had begun thawing after the science officer started the thawing process. The pod worked overtime and thawed him within 25 minutes.

"STASIS POD DISCONNECTED. PROCEDURES COMPLETED"

A speaker within the pod sounded out as cold air blasted from the vents, the door sliding open. The chief engineer stumbles out slowly, disoriented from the procedure...


"Agh...My head...Something's off here..."

I glance around, taking stock of my environment. The ship is...Dark. all except for auxilary lights. I'm completely alone as any remaining stasis pods are still thawing. I tap a button on my coat, activating a flashlight.

"Guess I've got some work to do then...But first I need to actually figure out where we are. If we had made it this thing wouldn't be running in auxilary mode."

I waste no time heading to the bridge, and immediately consult the onboard AI about the ship and its condition.

"Computer, run a diagnostic on all vital components, triangulate our coordinates based on all accessible star charts, and send an S.O.S. signal to any available channels."

"Unable to complete request, auxilary mode is currently active."

I sigh, nodding.

"Right...Auxilary mode. Uh...Gotta do this manually then...Computer print all accessible frequencies to terminal C."

The computer complied as the only active terminal glowed to life, illuminating the bridge in an eerie green glow. I take a cable from my wrist mounted computer, plugging it into the terminal and downloading the list of available frequencies. With that done I make my way to the airlock, suit up, and begin the departure sequence. The doors to safety slowly shut, isolating me from the interior, and with their closing, the door to the unknown opens, a blizzard blasts the airlock as the door finally finishes opening.

"Atmospheric readings...The air's breathable but this environment is way too hostile for a human..."

Taking a deep breath...I exit the airlock, a single hand gripping the doorway as I peer outside into the blizzard. What meets my eyes is not some uninhabited plain, but the ruins of civilization...Skeletons frozen solid on the streets, buildings falling into disrepair, skyscrapers left abandoned...

"What the hell...It's all frozen over..."

Another deep breath to steel my courage...And then I walk out into the cold dark world before me. The spotlighy built into the excirsion suit illuminating the ruins as I look around. I know what I have to do...Find a radio transmitter and get a signal out for someone to find...Anyone.

Around the same time, another of the cryosleep pods was signaled to awaken the inhabitant within. Standard procedure meant that it would take around about twenty five minutes.

"STASIS POD DISCONNECTED. PROCEDURES COMPLETED."

Cold air is blasted through vents and openings with a hiss, which then quiets down almost as suddenly as it starts. The Captain of the Vessel; Karasu Reiuji, wearily steps out of the pod, and stretches.


I take in my surroundings, and I can hear our Chief Engineer already springing into action to assess what's happened to the ship. I don't need to remind him what to do here. All the drills for this kind of situation has him prepared for this. Instead, I need to focus on what I need to do.




First, I turn to my still opened pod, and pick up a sealed case that was housed inside with me. I then make my way to the Bridge and sit at my chair, accessing my terminal to see the full stock of what's happened.

"Alright... What sent us on this crashlanding?"

I mutter, and look through the logs to find where the first fault occurred. It looks like something hit the ship and knocked it just enough off-course... So, next thing. Where did we land? I check the Star Map, verifying our coordinates and seeing if it's a charted world or not.

To my surprise, I find out that it is indeed a charted world. It's an exoplanet named Copper 9, and it was terraformed by JCJenson...

Hoping to find out more about this planet we're on, I read up on the information available to the public. Though all I can find is that there was apparently some sort of disaster, and JCJenson was deploying a robotic force to remedy some situation gone out of hand. The only other details is that the planet is generally too dangerous for Humans without the proper safeguards.

Apparently it got really cold, really fast... Well, that was going to complicate things. Given the kind of damage to the ship, we were running on Auxiliary. But at least we wouldn't be running out of Oxygen. Power was the more concerning part, as was food. The water would be fine, especially since there was plenty of snow outside -- that could be purified into drinking water as needed.

So... Let's consider the obvious. If JCJenson is sending armed robots to remedy a situation, then there must be more than just an inhospitable environment to deal with. I set the case on my desk and pop it open. Inside is a pistol, which I retrieve.

"Well. Better than nothing."

It fired energy rounds, and the cells recharged. Wasn't the most powerful weapon, but it would get the job done in a pinch. Right now it was our sole means of defense until we could get materials and fashion up better things...

---

Meanwhile, in the frozen world outside the ship... Snow and ice is the only thing that seems to be present on the world, aside from the frozen skeletons, or the ruins of civilization dotting the landscape. But upon closer inspection, Ray would be able to spot something rather unusual in the rubble and the wreckage.

Robots. That was what it appeared to be, in any case. They were torn apart by something -- it didn't seem to be because of the crash, the damage wasn't consistent for that. The display screens on their faces displayed errors, but they otherwise seemed to be rendered entirely non-functional. Something to mess around with later, perhaps.

But it did raise the question of what destroyed them in the first place. In the distance, he would be able to see these towering spires -- not buildings, but not living things either. It was hard to make out from so far...

On the ship itself, as our Scientist makes his way to the communications relay, he would at first only hear the sound of the wind blowing roughly, pelting against his suit and the ship. But he would soon be able to make out the sound of something else. Metallic footsteps of some kind, as if something was investigating the crashed ship.

As I progress towards the communications relay, wind against my helmet, I heard that metallic noise. "What the hell was that!?" I yelled out loud, turning on my headlights and investigating the noise. After seeing nothing, I continue towards the communications relay.

"Must be my imagination." I said to myself. When I was alone on the ship, I would watch a ton of movies about space, ships, and aliens. Eventually I got bored and pretended that there was an alien on the ship. Due to lack of sleep I actually hallucinated an alien on the ship, and spent a good week holed up in some closet. So whatever I just heard mustve been my head or some metal debris.

I finally reached the communication relay and checked whats wrong with it. Satellite dish is damaged and the wires is fried. Our engineer can handle the wires, he was trained to do it and not a scientist. The satellite dish can be repaired using our fabricator and some spare parts, or just find one around the ship. While all the humans on this planet is gone, that doesnt mean they took their satellites with them.

I take the time to check the position of my fellow crew members. Their suits were outfitted with trackers, just in the off chance that search and rescue was necessary, or to coordinate tactics on the fly. Right now our Science Officer seemed to be on top of the ship headed for the Communications Relay -- smart, assessing the damage there and fixing it up could be a way out of this whole mess.

Our Chief Engineer, on the other hand, was investigating the outskirts of our crash landing. He was probably trying to find something that would deal with our current power issue. Right now it wasn't sustainable, though we would have power for a few days...

I press a button activating the short range comms. I wouldn't be able to contact anyone off-world, but this should suffice to check in on the others while they were investigating the outside.

"Testing comms. Do you read?"

I'd wait for a response -- and if I managed to get one, I could then continue with a briefing of the situation.

"We've crashlanded on Copper 9. It looks like something hit the ship hard and sent us off course. We've got auxiliary power and it will last for a few days, but it's not sustainable."

I pause briefly. "This exoplanet was colonized by JCJenson. But a disaster hit and the planet was rendered inhospitable by extremely cold temperatures. Still, because it was them, I was able to get us a lot of information... Updating your GPS Trackers now."

With a few types at the terminal, I'm able to send them detailed maps of the world.

"Bear in mind there will be discrepancies. This map was back before the disaster... One more thing. JCJenson was sending a robotic task force to deal with something here. If you feel you're in danger, come back to the ship."

With my briefing finished, the best thing I can do for now is track their movements and listen on the comms. The quality wasn't great, probably some damage to the relay causing that. But at least we COULD manage to talk to each other.

---

The buildings had some serious wear and tear. Chunks of the walls torn away, or naturally crumbling from the harsh elements. Signs were pretty faded because of that too, or were blanketed with a sheen of ice and snow.

But being able to reference the map, and the general structure of the buildings would give Ray an idea of where he was going now. Plus it'd be easy to get back to the ship.

As for the Science Officer... Whatever sounds he heard seemed to have stopped now, allowing him the opportunity to assess the situation in peace. Though he may get the feeling of being watched, same as the Engineer...

"..." ".....I think this planet is haunted. Haunted by robots. Robot ghosts. With that said, I should head back inside, n...not because Im scared or anything."


Talking to myself, I decided to head back inside. On my way back, I tripped on something.

"Holy shi.... ...oh its just a corpse of a robot"

After getting back up, I stare at it for a hot moment. Thoughts race into my head. We can rebuild these drones and be ours to control! But what if they betray us and become robot zombies? ...nah thats impossible!

I decided to pick up parts of the dead drone, still having that odd feeling of being watched. "I want off this planet..."

I listen to the responses from each of the crew members. Though it seems like Chaos is a little lost in the moment so --

"Keep calm and stay focused. Remember that you've got your radar to alert you to movements. We should be able to fashion something to help us track JCJenson drones too, but that's something to think about later."

Not long after, the Engineer chimes in and lets me know that he's spotted the handiwork of the JCJenson task force.

"Not surprising. JCJenson probably doesn't want this becoming a bigger fiasco than it already is. In any case, the planet is still closed off to the public, and it's not because of the extreme temperatures."

I carefully consider what to do in the event of crossing paths with them...

"If you do run into them, try to avoid confrontation. Not only because we're lacking weapons, but because we haven't done anything wrong here. If they do spot you, identify yourself and briefly explain the situation. That's the best we can do for now."

I look into it a little bit more. I want to find out precisely what that task force was sent to deal with. It certainly couldn't have been any Humans on the world. No one could survive these conditions unless they had some kind of bunker with some crazy defenses.

But, if what these two are saying is true... It looks like the targets are those worker drones. I can mainly only find rumors about why Copper 9 closed. But it looks like they're trying to tie up loose ends, so that would fit.

"Best I can find about why they're here is that they're after those worker drones. I don't know why, or if that is really the case. But it means we should be fine. Just be careful."

There wasn't a lot left to say at this point. They knew what they had to do, and I just had to monitor their positions and try to alert them if possible. So, I set my terminal to read their positions based on the trackers in their suits, with an overlay of the map, and their radar readings.

---

That feeling of being watched persists, even as Chaos makes his way back to the ship's airlock. But looking at the radar, it doesn't seem like there's anything moving either. Doesn't feel like anything is chasing him either. It's just... A bit unsettling. But maybe it was one of those JCJenson drones.

As for Ray, the inside of the building is pretty torn out, and snow has been blown in from the wind. But otherwise it looks like most of it has held up despite the wear and tear. The stairs are in remarkably good condition, considering. So he should have no troubles making his way up.

Another upside, the closer proximity means that the radar should be able to alert him to movements, if anything is indeed close by.

I decided to speak through our radio "Why should we worry? Its quite clear that all the worker drones is dead" I replied to our leader, picking up loose drone parts as I make my way to the airlock. "You should look out here, man. Nothing but drone guts and pieces. Plus I havent seen a single "Murder Drone" since we got here."

While our other crew mates might imagine the murder drones as humanoid killing machines, Chaos was thinking more akin to a robotic mech with gatling guns as hands.

"So Im assuming this place is safe AND there is nothing to worry about. The spooky atmosphere is probably our minds messing with us. Anyways, Im about to go inside and rebuild one of these drones to see what I can get out of it."

I finally reach the airlock, and if nothing bad happens, I can enter it without any harm to myself

Our Science Officer seemed to be of the opinion that there should be no danger here, believing that the robotic task force should have already cleaned up here. I wasn't quite as sure about that, though... Especially since the planet was still closed down. No Humans going into the planet, period. If the all-clear was really up, then JCJenson would probably be here in force...

So, bearing that in mind, I start to reply to him. "We have no reason to believe that things are safe here yet. If they really did clean up, then JCJenson would probably be here in force to reclaim all of their lost assets -- and probably try to fix the planet up if possible."

I pause briefly, but then add; "But either way. Disassembly Drones shouldn't have any reason to bother with us. We're not in their priority list."

Despite the tense atmosphere, nothing happens; so Chaos is able to open the airlock and enter the ship without incident. He also made his plans known, so I decide to add onto that as well. "Right. Allowing your entry now. Just make sure to follow standard procedure here. No telling what will happen when you try to reactivate it. No risks, got it? I'll meet you there."

Just as I finish saying that, the Engineer chimes in, stating that he found a broadcast signal, but it was apparently too weak to do any good... Considering the state of everything, that wasn't surprising. But if anyone could fix it up, it was him.

"Alright. You do that. Keep us informed if anything happens."

With that stated, I then start making my way to the lab -- Chaos would probably be there soon with the newly recovered Drone. If something did happen, then I would need to be there to deal with it since I had the sole weapon on the ship right now.

"Pfhh, core still broken who the hell wants to go to this planet?" I said to myself as I entered the ship.

After some soothing denomination, I entered the lab and place the dead drone on the operating table. I neatly place its parts where it should, and examined it. "Gee, someone really had some fun destroying this thing". Repairing it will take some time, as I'll need to use the fabricator to create new parts that is missing. But beyond that its relatively simple, just reconnect some things where it should and the thing should be working as it was intended. But what catches my eye is its head, Im curious how the disassembly drones attacked it.

Grabbing a cord, I attached one end inside the head and the other into the labs computer. "Just connect this... and that... and there!" with that, Im connected into its "brain". From there, I booted up the drone without activating its body allowing me to see its data. It'll take a while to compile every file, so I decided to repair the drone as I wait.

After a few hours, replacing parts with the help of the fabricator, I managed to get 98% of the drone repaired. All I need to do is put on its head and it can work again.

"Compiling is done... Lets take a look into its head!" I searched every file I could recover from its head. Some memories has become corrupted or is just missing. Only thing I could really recover was its blackbox, which contained only one ten minute video. I decided to play it on the labs computer, and what I saw confused, shocked, and intrigue me. What I witness was these "Disassembly Drones" murdering a group of drones, perhaps a family of drones, and ripping their metal bits apart. Beyond the screaming of these drones, I can only recognise one sentence "Please not infront of my daughter!" before the video ended. I probably sat in my seat for a couple of minutes before saving the video onto my computer. Finally, I disconnected my computer from the drone.

"That was terrifying... lets try to turn this thing on!" I said, as I reattached its head to its body. After another reboot, it should be able to use its body. Shouldnt cause and issue, shouldnt. Once our leader is ready, I flicked on the switch turning the Drone on and see what happens.

Eventually I make my way to the lab and see that our Science Officer has already gotten to work on the mangled Drone. His comment about someone having fun destroying it is something I can't help but mirror. "No kidding. You can expect it to put up a fight, but even taking that into consideration, it's like something or someone was having a field day with it."

It'll take a good few hours of work to get this thing running again. But he seems pretty confident that he can do it. With nothing else to do, I decide to just oversee the operation here while waiting to hear back from our Engineer.

Fortunately, it doesn't take long for a report to come in. He led with having good news and bad news. Given the situation... "Let's get the bad news out of the way.", I reply to him.

I then fall silent while listening to him. So the entire array got destroyed... And probably by an explosion -- which lines up with the information I could find about the planet we're stuck on.

"That matches up with the information I could access about Copper 9.", I reply, and then add; "Continue with the good news."

He mentions having enough materials there to repair a single dish. It would then take some finagling and maybe a bit of luck, but he thinks he could point it out in a certain way to get a message out. With a slow nod, I then speak up.

"Make a note of the parts you need, and salvage anything extra -- even if it's junk. The Fabricators at the ship are still running, so you should be able to make more here and increase our odds there."

Still, he mentions that the work will take a few hours, and he needs a set of tools.

"Sounds like we have a plan. Head on back and pick up what you need, then we'll get a course of action figured out. Our Science Officer is working on one of the disassembled drones now."

With that... It's just a matter of waiting until things are done. Eventually the Drone is pieced back together, and more or less ready for a reactivation attempt. But he decides to check out what has been stored in it's head.

The last saved video file is... Concerning, to say the very least. It certainly seemed like those Disassembly Drones were eager about their job. That explains the cause of the damage. Still, the Science Officer seems undeterred, saving the video file and then proceeding with the reactivation of the Drone.

Just in case, I draw the pistol -- but hold it where it won't be seen for now. Then I wait to see what happens.

As the switch is flicked, the Drone jolts violently, and glances around wildly. As it eyes Chaos, it... Snarls? That's the best way to describe it. Soon after, it scrambles to it's feet, not caring for what it was set on or why. The expression on it's face certainly doesn't seem to be one open to reasoning or conversation.

As it raises a hand towards Chaos, I aim my pistol and fire at it's head, sending the Drone crashing back into a heap.

"... Alright. I think we can prevent that from happening again. You alright?", I then direct my inquiry at Chaos.

"Shit!" I yelled when the Drone looked at me.

After Amord shot at it, I replied back to him. "Im fine, but I'll need another head." for some reason I shrugged it off immediately. "I was planning on collecting more pieces to make more drones for us to use... but if its going to get up and attempt to attack us... ..."

I think for a while

"I guess I'll have to reprogram from scratch instead. Should be... well, not easy."

"...Anyways we should dispose of this thing." with that I just push the dead drone off the operating table and nothing else. "And done. Tell the engineer we are safe and nothing bad happened. Please."

I listen to what the Science Officer has to say about all of this. I take in what he's saying, and then I start to respond;

"As far as the head goes, thanks to the fabricators we should be able to repair it. JCJensen made these Worker Drones available for purchase, so the blueprints won't be hard to get."

With that said, I holstered the pistol that I brought, and continue speaking.

"As for what went wrong, it's documented in rare cases. Cyberpsychosis. Worker Drones can behave in pretty lifelike ways. That includes their responses to fear, stress and pain. If it reaches a critical level, they can snap and become violent."

So that wasn't exactly the best thing to have to deal with, but... "Fortunately, we can fix that too."

With that cleared up, I give a nod and check in on the Engineer. Just in time to hear the roof give way under his feet.

"Hey! You alright?", I called out -- and fortunately I get a response from him. Understandably, he wants to make it back as soon as possible.

"Good idea. Things are all clear here. Now that we know what we're dealing with, we'll be more careful on how we proceed. See you when you get back."

---

As the Engineer makes it outside and continues on his way to the ship... He misses just what it was that was back in that building.

A still-functional Worker Drone. Though this one behaved much like the one that they tried to reactivate on the ship. As it begins to investigate the noise and peek outside, it's cut off by something else swooping onto the scene and tackling it back into the building.

Between the harsh wind and heavy snow, he is unable to hear or see what just happened. Though even if he could, it would just encourage him to get back to the ship faster.

The sound of metal slicing and carving, pained yells and animalistic grunts -- and all the while, a distinctly feminine voice laughing all the while.

When all is said and done, metallic claws are licked clean of oil, and then...

"... Pretty curious about what that other thing was, though."

Hmm. The mood felt a little bit spoiled now. Oh well! Just as suddenly as the mysterious entity had arrived, it left the building once more.

"Cyberphsychosis can be a problem.." I think for a bit "Well, we should atleast find those blueprints eventually. They can help us fix this ship. Anyways, I want to head outside. Im going outside, I need to fix the communications array. Simple wire fix, although the dish needs repairing too. I might be able to make a makeshift repair, but our engineer should know how to make a real repair. Shouldnt take long" After talking to our leader, I head out to the spacesuit storage and put one on. I made sure I have my facial recognition software enabled so each personal will know how each other is feeling without talking. Its weird but our companies CEO was really paranoid if someone is making funny faces. With the suit on, I had to decontamination and headed outside of the spaceship.

I stop outside and noticed how much time has passed. My suit is reading temperatures of negative sixty fahrenheit, so it'd be a bad idea to take my helmet off. While the air is breathable, I dont want to become a human popsicle, there is enough already. There isnt much to note around our ship, just some burnt ground and the one or two destroyed drone. I decided to make a nice little pile of dead worker drones near our ships entrance. Then an idea popped up into my head.

"What if we have signals to track movement? I can use their heads as beacons and wire it all up to our base. They worker drones will see something and give off that red warning we saw earlier."

I grabbed some wire and a head and got to work. Then got bored and made a snowman, then got back to work!

It took a while, but I managed to get a good row of drone heads as warning lights. As someone walks past one, a drone head should light up with that warning display. It should warn us of any Disassembly drone or any other kind of drone.

Now that is done, I started heading towards our satellite array. I still have that weird feeling of being watched, even if nothing is watching me. This atmosphere is freaking me out and the freezing temperatures isnt helping me either. I opened the satellites wire panel and after a few minutes, I managed to fix the satellite. The satellites red light turned green, signaling that it is working. After that, I headed back to the ships entrance.

With our satellite working, without us knowing the appearing dead worker drone the scientist left in the lab sent out a strange signal to certain nearby dead worker drones. Using a corrupted form of absolute solver, certain undead worker drones rises up and attaches body parts from other dead drones. Sparks fly out of these corrupted drones and start to wonder around the world. The undead worker drone in the ships lab stands up and using its pathfinding, tries to find where our Leader is currently located.

It doesnt take long for the signal to reach our engineers location.

I narrowly avoided becoming the first victim of a strange malfunctioning drone, but I never once noticed with the heavy blizzard going on. And yet despite being free of that building, the feeling of being watched only became worse. Because now? it wasn't just the sensation that someone was watching me. Now it was instead the feeling that someone - Or something was FOLLOWING me. My pace quickens faster and faster until I'm eventually sprinting back towards the ship, trying to get back before it's too late. I trip several of the makeshift alarms as I run back in, and I'm quickly pressing every button waiting to be let back in.

"I swear there's something out here! Open up the door as quickly as you can!"

I glance back to see...Things...Shambling around in the foggy blizzard, just lurking in the distance seemingly unaware.

The Science Officer takes the time to fill me in on his next project since the Worker Drone ended up being a little bit of a bust. He wanted to fix up the communications dish, which made sense to me. Right now we had short-range communications running, but there was no telling how far in the world that would reach, and we certainly couldn't reach far off-world either.

"Alright. Be careful. The landing probably alerted anything in the area. If there's any active Worker Drones -- or the Disassembly Drones that JCJensen sent... They'll probably start investigating soon."


As I finish that thought, the Engineering Officer started shouting over the comms to get the door opened.

"I'm on my way! Try not to draw attention to yourself."

I immediately make my way to the airlock. Fortunately I could help the cycling process without needing to put on a suit, and it doesn't take me long to reach the hangar to do just that. I'm tapping away at the terminal to get the first door open, which it does with a hiss.

"Alright, first door is open, step inside."

I'd wait until he steps inside and get the all-clear from him, and then I would begin to cycle the airlock. The initial door would shut behind him and depressurization would take place. Then the second door opens, allowing him into the hangar proper.

Once he's gotten inside, I shut the second door as well.

"What happened out there? You went from sounding concerned to completely panicked."

That brief lull in the conversation is what allows me to hear something else moving around in the ship. I immediately turn around and aim my pistol, and I spot the Worker Drone from earlier -- the damage it had sustained earlier was repaired.

Without questioning the situation, I fired off several more rounds into it. Aimed squarely at it's torso to start with, then I followed up with a shot to the head.

"Dammit. If these things can repair themselves..."

I take a deep breath, keeping the pistol trained on the downed Worker Drone.

"Let's make sure it's disabled this time. And we're not going to leave the ship without arming ourselves now."

After my feet touches the frozen ground, I hear the commotion going on inside from my helmets headpiece

"What the hells going on? Is everything alright in there!?" I questioned, havent seen a zombie drone yet.

I wonder around the ship and I noticed my drone alarm system freaking out. Theyre constantly giving off that fatal error message on their face and twitching wildly.

"Well my alarm system is malfunctioning and the wind is strong here" I said over the radio.

Although there is movement in the distance, I dont notice this and began trying to fix my alarm.

Given the situation, I nod as the Engineering Officer explains that these Drones are what set him so on edge.

"Yeah, I didn't know they could do that. That's going to complicate things... And someone gathered them up and lined them up outside? Why?"

As he gestures for me to stop firing, and explains what he's intending to do, I give a nod. I keep my pistol trained on it, ready to take the shot in order to save his life. But so far, so good.

"Do what you can with it. It's a JCJensen Worker Drone, and the manuals and blueprints should be publicly available. Though it'll take some time to download them."
I let out a small sigh. It looks like things are okay, but I'm remaining at the ready just in case.
"I know these things can experience Cyberpsychosis, but repairing itself from critical damage? That's new."

The Science Officer then chimes in, asking what's going on, and shortly thereafter filling us in with what he was up to out there. Ray is the first one to point out that he should finish up and get back inside, and I decide to affirm that advice.

"The Worker Drone that we disabled earlier got up and started moving on it's own -- and the damage it had was gone -- and that alarm system is pulling others towards our location. Get inside. Anything else can wait, we're not taking any risks right now."

I start formulating a plan of action. This was going to go south pretty fast at this rate.

"We're going to secure this Worker Drone. Then I'll take care of the ones coming from outside. I don't want them tearing up the ship anymore than it already is."

---

Meanwhile, something very much WAS approaching the Science Officer right now. Though it wasn't shambling. No, it was moving rather gracefully despite the snow, and ice, and the fierce winds. It comes to a stop behind him, and it looks him over.

Eventually the silence is broken as he would hear an unfamiliar voice behind him.

"And who exactly are you?"

That was a distinctly feminine voice. And if he turned, he would find something that looked SIMILAR to the Worker Drones. Yet also had more than a few differences. The arms and the legs for starters.


"Copper 9 is closed off to the public! I almost thought you were one of those Worker Drones we were sent here to scrap!"

She's now pointing one of those bladed claws at his face. Though eventually she pulls the claw away and crosses her arms, looking at the crashed ship.

"Hm. Crash landing, huh?"

It looked like she was mostly unaware of anything that might have been shambling towards them. There was also good news in that she didn't seem hostile, so... Upsides, right?