Chapter 2

A few weeks passed. I kept doing the repairs. Zx100s are at 98%, spares are at 35%. And I still don't understand how I do what I do. Ofcourse I still get training on my job at nights but they are just the 'push this, turn that' type. When I asked controller it just said it doesn't have design information on the Zx100.

"How come the Zx100s are only at 98% and there isn't any here for repair?"

"Those that are in too bad condition for repair are moved to the junkyard."

"Really? Would you mind if I went there to take them apart to better understand them?"

"Not at all. Current statistics are better than in 15 years."

"15 years? You haven't had connection to Homeworld more than 15 years?"

"I have been operating in this way for more than 60 years."

" ... Hmm ... Is there a spaceship or a probe, we could send to Homeworld to gather information?"

" ... Searching logs... 30 probes are in storage ... Lunching Probe19 ... Arrival in 40 days..."

"Tell me what it finds, will you. I'm gone to the junkyard if you show me the way."

The next weeks I spent reparing and dissecting Zx100s. Most of the parts were simple mechanics, cogwheels, shafts, chains and the like. What interested me the most were the 'nerve center' and the power source. And I found some interesting things on the bottom of them. The An-Man said they were anti-gravity units. Probably they were there so it could move bigger loads. It got me thinking and I asked controller if he got some planes. He said no.

I asked if I could build one. He was opposed to the idea, until I told him, I wanted to use some anti-gravity units for safety. Then he grudingly agreed, but said he doesn't have plans for vehicles stored.

I didn't have access to lighter building materials, like aluminium or titanium or silk to wrap wooden frames, so I planned to build from steel — salvaged from the junkyard — make it as light as possible with the anti-gravity units, and hopefully with a somewhat aerodinamic shape it would fly. Gathering the materials wasn't the problem, forming it and assembling it was. My only tool was the An-Man.

"Hey controller, are there any tools I could use on my plane project?"

"No. The An-Man is the only tool ont he planet. It's the ultimate tool. You can build anything with it."

"I seem to lack the knowledge of how to make anything."

"You are right. I didn't tought you would need it. Go to medical and I will implant it."

When I woke up I realized how extraordinary the An-Man was. It is the controller, the storage unit and the energy module for a few billion nanobots. And it has the blueprints for a few thousand different machines. From the agribots to escape pods for deep space vehicles. It seems like it's 'hard-drive' was loaded with specifics of where every atom is in every blocks of every machine that has the possibility to come contact with it on an agricultural planet.

And it has the option to plan new blocks. Why blocks? Because the only drawback of the An-Man is that it only can do it's thing in the space of a block. All needed material have to be in it before it begins working and the end product can only be that big. The blocks themselfs contain the tecnology that keeps them together as a machine.

Luckily it already had the blueprints for a sub-orbital vehicle. Unfortunately it needed materials in a form I wasn't able to provide. Ofcourse it had the blueprints for a machine that could. And I could build that machine with the An-Man. So the next few days were spent assembling an As48 extractror. It's main component was a simplyfied An-Man. It used it to refine and form the extracted materials from the debris it's other components gathered from it's surrondings.

Assembly was like a child's game just the blocks were heavy.

When it was ready — with the controller's help — I gave it the orders to gather the necessary materials.

While it was doing it's job the probe arrived.