Chapter 17 Drones.

It took them some time but they managed to connect the power cables and the energy gauge stopped falling.

The database provided them with a wealth of information they never imagined that they would find.

They spent a lot of time learning from it and they barely scratch the surface.

Simon was interested in engineering and weaponry while Mikael was drawn to physics and chemistry.

Both of them found interest in robotics and even recognised some parts that they salvaged before.

Simon even laughed when he found the schematics for a droid that was very similar to R2D2.

- We will have to build some of the drones and droids here to help us with the repairs and use of the ship if we want to get out of here in any reasonable time frame.

Simon said when they were once again reading on robotics.

-We have the parts for it but we will need to build a lot of them.

Mikael agreed.

-That's why I think this one is our best bet.

Simon pointed to a drone schematics.

-A repair drone designed to repair other drones and droids,that's not a bad idea.

-I found some of them in the drop zone,if we manage to repair one or two of them and reprogram them to obey our orders then the drones will start repairing other drones and droids for us.

The young man shared his idea.

-Actually the programming might not be necessary,we both speak enough Federation standard language to just give them orders.

-This might get tricky, we don't know if they will recognise us as their new owners.

-There is only one way to find out.

The next day after gathering the materials for sale,they gathered around 20 drones.

Two of those were connected to something that looked like a charging station.

It took some time but they managed to connect the power and both drones started to recharge,unfortunately one of them caught fire and was destroyed along with the charging station.

The other one turned out to be functional but damaged.

The moment it was charged up it disconnected and tried to fly up but fell on the ground a few seconds later.

Then it started reporting its status as damaged and requesting repair in Federation standard. 

Having the blueprints Simon and Mikael dismantled the damaged drones that didn't even show a sign of recharging when connected to the charging station and used the parts to repair the drone that was somewhat working.

It took them two days but in the end they succeeded.

The drone rebooted and after a few seconds reported:

-Unit operational status 78% 

Owner not found.

Link to the drone operational network disconnected.

Requesting registration of the new owner.

-Simon Black.

Simon said, hoping that it was what the machine wanted.

-New owner registered.

Simon Black.

Standing by for orders.

-Can you repair the other drones?

It flew over to the pile of broken drones and scanned them.

-Lack of parts,do you wish to salvage parts from damaged drones?

It spoke.

-Yes.

-Acknowledged.

Predicted repair time 18 standard units.

Number of units designated for repairs 3

Require parts to repair more units.

Start the repair?

-Yes start the repair.

It went easier than they predicted and the repair time wasn't too long, 1 standard unit was equal to 30 minutes so they would have 4 drones by morning.

They watched as the drone the size of a football went to work,dismantling damaged drones for parts.

-It's really clever to program the drones to cannibalize the parts from other drones in order to repair some less damage.

 Simon said watching the machine efficiently work.

-It certainly a useful function.

But I found a droid that I want repaired and I think it will be useful.

Mikael said.

-What kind of droid?

Simon was curious about his friend's discovery.

It's a gathering droid and according to the database all you need to do is to tell it what to gather,where to gather it and in what quantity.

-That's certainly a good thing to have.

If we manage to get more of them then we won't have to gather materials ourselves. They will do it for us and we can use this time to research the database for more useful information.

-That's the idea,but i think that for now we need to gather some more of the repair drones before we try that.

-That's for tomorrow for now let's get some studying done,I'v barely knew enough to register and give the repair order.

Simon said.

-Then let's study, it's not like we have anything better to do and we need to be able to control the drones

Mikael agreed and they both went to learn more of the Federation standard language.

The next morning they found four drones lying in a line next to the charging station.

The machines flew into the air and the situation from the day before repeated itself.

Simon took another drone and the other two were registered to Mikael.

-Enter standby mode. 

Simon said and both his drones landed in their original positions.

Mikael did the same.

They went to work and got another shipment of drones.

Previously they sold drones for a lot of credits but now they had better use for them.

They decided to first get some materials sold and then return the drones they collected and put into a separate pile.

This time they found over 70 of them and most were seriously damaged by the fall from the dumpster ship as Simon named the ships delivering more junk.

After returning with the new batch of drones they wanted to see how many of them could be repaired.

-Activate.

Simon said to his drones and both of them flew up.

-Repair the drones.

He ordered and Mikael did the same.

After scanning,the total number of drones that could be repaired was 26.

-Well kid a few more days and we will have an army of repair drones.

Mikael joked with a smile.