Chapter Fifteen: Victor Andrews

Lorries hesitantly accepted my suggestion for a leather eyepatch. It was a delicate task to remove the damaged eye, which was far beyond repair. Lorries had looked unfriendly before, now he looked terrifyingly hardened, a wild combination of the creature's claw marks, mixed with his eyepatch and military appearance. I felt I only saved myself from the wrath of Lorries by telling him that I had successfully created a second printer by printing components with the first, as well as letting him know he was only hours away from a weapon with a lot more punch than a handgun.

The formula of Nitric acid, combined with cellulose materials found in the wood of the trees provided us with no small amount of gunpowder. Lorries was so distracted with the good news that he nearly forgot he was missing an eye.

I suggested to Lorries a form of body armor composed of Titanium plates fixed to the leather of the worms, which we now called Basilisks. I was currently working on a lure to get them above ground so we could hunt them, as edible meat and tough leather would be of use to our company.

With two working printers, we could print nearly anything we needed, given we had the resources. I turned and exited the lab, I grabbed the filepad off the top of the second printer and began scrolling through the blueprints and formulas listed inside until I found the file I was looking for. If I could print the components for it and build a carbon furnace, we could create plastics, rubbers and turn iron ore into steel, all valuable materials. I turned and left the lab to take a break, I had been working in there for over six hours, stopping only to treat Lorries wounds from the creature attack. I was considering making a third printer, the more we had, the faster we could make tools and other helpful items. I grabbed a bottle of water and took a sip. I set it down and made my way to the mouth of the remains of the Discovery. I climbed inside, finding my way to the cryo chamber and opening the hidden hatch in the ceiling. Sure enough, the bookcase sized computer sat inside, humming quietly. I turned on the backup power and disconnected it from the ship. I tugged on it, sliding it to the opening, only to have it fall out and land on top of me, knocking the wind out of me and pinning me to the ground. I wheezed before pushing it off of me. I set it on a sheet of metal, sending it down the sloped floor of the wreckage with a kick. It slid down to the mouth, somehow managing not to get harmed on contact with the ground. I grabbed a power supply cable and began reeling it out, the four hundred foot cable easily reaching the lab, where I connected the computer to the power supply, then to the Analysis pad I carried with me. An interface came up, and I typed a message: I didn't forget you.

I waited for a response, which came nearly instantly: One, WHAT HAPPENED, and two, Thanks (Vic I assume)

I grinned as I responded: The ship crashed, compatible planet, and yes, Vic

Xero didn't respond, so I waited a moment before setting the pad down. I was glad to know the shipboard AI was still functional, as the data he could process would prove useful in the future. Additionally, Xero had a sense of humor unrivaled amongst the crew, his wisecrack jokes were always reason for a smile. Xero had originally been Vincent Andrews, my older brother and the main engineer of the Artificial Intelligence project for the Discovery Project, before an accident nearly killed him. Using his studies, we downloaded the electrical signals from his brain to a large computer. The result was Xero, a computer with the memories and attitude of my brother. Finding Xero online was a good thing, because it meant we had an eighth mind helping us solve problems, as well as the fact he had seventy years of experience while the rest of us were frozen. I would eventually make a camera, speaker and microphone for Xero, but first, night had fallen, and I was exhausted.