6 [Drones]

Haley strolled around the city asking around if anyone had any need of some manual help or part-timers but despite spending an hour asking around he didn't find any leads – the only thing he found was an address for an old job advertisement in the rural development part of the city which he was walking to now.

Base X-21, the official name of the city dome that he lived in but more affectionately known as Rosen City by its locals because it was once home to General Rosen who was now a military hero. The city was divided into four main zones: The Urban Zone, Industrial Zone, Rural Zone and Entertainment Zone.

The Rural Zone was responsible for the food supply of the city, City Domes were created to be completely self-sufficient when totally disconnected from the grid – a common occurrence during the annual meteor storm where Lunuva's open surface was unsafe to travel through, it was because of this that the planet was unsuitable to be fully terraformed.

'Hopefully someone needs help here or else this would be a complete waste of my name, time that I don't have…' He sighed as he walked along a dirt road, he could see in the distance a few farmhouses reminiscent of a style that was popular on Earth.

'Ah Earth, I wonder what it looks like in person. They say that's it's the purest haven of humanity in the universe – completely defended by two hundred mechanised fleets and a force of two million fifth-level Lunas, every resident of the planet are high-ranking government officials, generals, scientists and heroes.' Haley used to daydream about being given residence there, it was a status of nobility to be able to reside on the beautiful blue rock that the human race was born on.

'Now… now I'm just lucky to live.' He thought with a sigh as he approached the dirt-road leading in to the farmhouse residence that was on the leaflet he found pinned under hundreds of others on a local message board, 'Well not everyone can afford holo-tech, pins and paper work just as well for small communities.'

He didn't know how long he'd been walking for anymore, apart from the farm houses there was just miles upon miles of cultivation fields with drones occasionally flying overhead; Rural Zones were one of the most high-tech zones in the entire City because 90% of the field work was automated by drones controlled from a central control point that the farmers managed.

"What'ya doing on this land boy? Not many young lads come around these parts for pleasure, if you're looking for a secluded place to bring a girl, I'd recommend a hotel; Cameras all ov'a this land if you get my meaning." Haley was stunned by the voice for a second only to realise it was coming from above him, there was a drone hovering directly over his head with the camera facing him.

The drone slowly came down to hover in front of him, a screen on the drone booted up and displayed the image of an old man sitting at a desk. "I heard you were looking for some help." Haley said, he could've sworn that the old mans face lit up for a moment but maybe it was just his imagination.

"That advert was posted what is it now… Twenty years ago? First boy in twenty years to come find me! What makes you think I still need help?" He questioned Haley seriously, his question caused Haley to fall deep into thought, 'That's true, if it really has been twenty years since he tried to recruit some help then what's to say he still needs it? There has to be a reason he didn't send me off immediately though…'

Out of the corner of his eye Haley spied one of the blades keeping the drone afloat not spinning as fast as the others causing the drone to be slightly tilted upwards. 'So that's it!' He thought as a grin formed on his face.

With confidence he looked the old man in the eyes as he spoke, "You don't know how to repair the drones." This simple sentence caused quite the dramatic reaction from the old man however, "You doubting me boy? I'll come out there and teach you a damned lesson! If I didn't know how to repair the drones why would they have given me the damn job!"

His reaction seemed quite genuine but for some reason Haley felt as if he was hiding something in his words, 'Why would they have given him the job if he couldn't… Hahaha this old man isn't easy to deal with after all!'

"That's exactly why, you lied when they recruited you!"

"Dammit boy! What are you saying!" He shouted but, on the camera the old man was motioning him to come towards him or more specifically to where he was, Haley could only assume that someone was listening to their conversation.

As soon as he walked past the drone, he heard the old man shout, "That's right! You better not come back here, stupid kid…" He heard him mumble as the drone flew back out to one of the fields, no doubt to continue one of its automated tasks.

A few minutes later Haley arrived in front of the farmhouse, the old man was sitting in an ancient rocking chair on the front porch eyeing him up as he walked the last few meters.

"I don't tolerate slackers' boy; you think you're up for the task?" He asked, Haley could see the sly smile on his face as he spoke at this distance. "Depends on the job but I can probably guess based on your reaction."

The old man just gave a soft chuckle before motioning him to follow, he stood up and walked into the house – Haley followed and soon the both of them were in the basement of the home, Haley was cautious but he didn't think the old man could pose a threat to him considering it took him several minutes for him to walk down a few steps; His offer to help was met with a wave of the hand.

In the basement his guess was confirmed, there was a pile of drones just sitting there. Some had pieces broken off, blades missing or entire chunks of their body missing, some looked as if they had nothing wrong them, 'I'm willing to bet they have something wrong with their internal code if they're down here…'

"Now here's the deal kid, I'll pay you 5,000 Luna a month and provide you a room – all you gotta do is fix the drones when they break down and we both benefit, can you do it?" The old man asked, Haley could see the impatience in his eyes but fortunately enough he'd been tinkering with mechanics since he was a boy and if any had any damages to the code automating them he was confident he could repair them easily.

'I don't think I'll be returning to class anytime soon, as long as I continue making payments then there won't be a problem with debtors coming to the door…' Haley considered his options and felt that it was a pretty decent opportunity, the only problem was…

"Do you think I could get two months pay in advance?" He asked curiously, 'If I'm gonna deal with that pig I'm gonna need the money.'

The old man just snorted and looked at the broken pile of drones, "Fix ten of them now and I'll give you the Luna."