Memories of the good old times.

If Apollo's feeling right now were to be expressed in a single word, this world could only be nostalgy. Looking at the old computer in front of him made him remember the ones buried in his grandfather's storage that he found when he was still an adventurous little kid.

"Wow! I never thought I would see one of these again! I wonder if they even work..."

The thick amount of dust accumulated over each piece acted as a testament of how old these things were. For the new girls who had no knowledge of these things, it was almost like they had entered an Ancient Tomb or some ruins from an Ancient Civilization, completely unaware that the things before them were actually less than a hundred years old.

Leilani approached the equipment full of curiosity. She had dedicated her entire life as a mechanic dealing with the Factory and had refused to change jobs even when Apollo implemented his job cycling plan, so seeing these "ancient" machines was giving her quite a novel feeling, as if she was an archeologist discovering dinosaur's fossils.

Leilani was one of the rare girls who was completely focused on a single craft, uninterested in experiencing nothing but that, which is why Apollo allowed her to remain on the same job as he thought that if she was willing to go against him for this it must be important to her, so he shouldn't force the change on her against her will.

It was a soft approach but a humanistic one that went in accord to his values. Had he done otherwise, it would make him feel guilty even if in the long run it was better for him to have her learn other fields.

Noticing her reaction, the corner of his mouth lifted up just a little bit, as he saw his past self in her actions, reinforcing the feeling of nostalgy that he was feeling right now.

"It's been what? Almost 30 years? Damn, I'm getting old... How was it that gramps did at that time?"

Rose frowned upon seeing Apollo using his own shirt to clean the dust on top of one of the front of the computer tower, revealing its buttons to him.

"If my memory is right, there should be some bottom with a circle on top....here!"

The whole place still had electricity so Apollo thought all he needed to do to turn on the PC was press the power button, but his first attempt resulted in failure, which made him step back and scratch his head in wonder.

"Hmm...did I press the wrong one? Then, maybe-"

"MASTER!!!!"

Hearing her acute call made Apollo's body freeze in place just like a child caught stealing cookies from the jar. Slowly turning his head, Apollo noticed Rose being surrounded by some kind of black aura.

(Am I hallucinating??)

"R-Rose? What's the problem?"

"I can't take it any longer! Please allow me to clean this place!"

His trembling voice could almost not complete the question as she answered in a loud, authoritarian tone.

"I-"

"Thank you! Then everybody, wait outside!"

Not allowing him an answer, Rose quickly pushed the boy and girls back to the entrance hole.

"Now, excuse me for a minute!" (Rose)

"Where did she take out that duster and broom from?" (Alyssa)

"Don't ask." (Bacon)

"What? What?" (Leilani)

Bang!! The door to the tunnel was forcibly closed, leaving only Rose inside.

"So, what do we do now?" (Bacon)

"Tentacles!" (Guess who)

"Sigh...Let's just wait...AND THESE ARE VINES!!!" (Apollo)

Bonk!

"Guaaahhh!!!!" (Alyssa)

A few hours later...

Voooo! Voooo! Voooo! Voooo!

Alyssa had used her control over plants to transform the vines into hammocks and was enjoying herself swinging right and left as if she was driving a kayak in the middle of a storm.

"Woooow! Woooow! Yeaaaahhh!"

The rest of the crew were far from as energetic, lethargically waiting for Rose to finish her job while resting in the other hammocks.

And just as Apollo had almost fallen asleep the sound of the huge gate opening up brought him back to reality.

"Sorry to keep you waiting! Please come in!"

"Eh? Is this still the same cave!?"

The difference was such that it was hard to recognize this as the same place. All dust was gone and all lights were now sparkling clean, and even the dirt in the ceiling had been taken care of, revealing a metal celling similar to the structure of a space ship.

"Wow~~~~ Great job, Rose!"

"Happy to serve!"

"Hey Master. This is the one I was talking about. Look. Isn't it for mining?"

Because Apollo had stopped to look at the old computers before he hadn't notice that further ahead, after the little truck and some other machines, there was a red mining robot fully equipped to drill underground.

"Crazy! It's the first time I see one of these up close! If we can make it work, we will be able to mine anything!"

"Master, do you know about this thing?"

"Oh! It's a Drill Mech. The colony I grew up was famous for making them! It's a type of mining robot that can work anywhere. The advertise says that it can work not only deep underground but also in space and even in the ocean. This one may be a few generations old but these kind of machines are made to last so it shouldn't be much of a problem."

Because of Rose's cleaning habits, almost everything on the mech was looking brand new, with exception of the leather seat that was completely ruined but this could be exchanged and it wouldn't stop the machine from working.

Looking at the 3 meters tall humanoid robot, Leilani's eyes sparked like a child seeing her favorite toy and all lethargic feeling that accumulated from the hammock completely vanished, leaving her full of energy.

"Hey, Leilani. Do you think you can make it work?"

"Leave it to me, Master! Hmm, I need to search for the manuals and alike but don't worry, even if I don't find it, I will definitively find a way!"

"Hmm! All right! I will leave it to you! If you need anything, call back the base."

"Yes!"

Feeling that he had done all he could, Apollo decided to head back to the base as night would soon arrive and he didn't want to ride a boar at night and it was only when he was past middle way back home that he noticed ended up never turning on the PC.

"Damn, how could I forget?"

"?"

"Well, it's probably password protected, so even if I turned on, I wouldn't be able to use it..."

"..."

"Anyway, if nothing goes wrong, I can always go back to try again, so it's not like this is my last chance..."

(GAH!!! I WANT TO PLAY!!!!!!)

"Did you say anything, Master?"

"Oh, nothing. Don't mind me."

Unable to play any computer games for the whole month, Apollo's addiction was torturing him, but there was nothing he could do for now. Maybe it was better this way, maybe this whole experience would help him distance himself a bit from all the game world... Or maybe it would bounce back making him fall even harder. Anyway, for now, such future was still far, far away...