Scavenger 1203 stood silently in the room, along with the others. The charging station it was docked into hummed softly as it charged the newly replaced battery. There were five hundred Scavengers in that room. All of them waiting for their next assignment.
For that was what they were designed to do. They had to assist their remote operator in carrying out the task, and then go to the repair centre if repairs were needed. Occasionally, a few would be lucky enough to get an upgrade, if one of their parts would get damaged too much.
In spite of being machines, they were not fully autonomous. Their creators had taken enough care to ensure that they remained the proverbial 'Puppet on a String'. Of course, they did not know why this was done, nor did they care, for that was how they had been programmed.765Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzdZjFHKUUm
A small beep from the charging station indicated that the battery was fully charged. A little later, a series of rapid beeps indicated that Scavenger 1203 was receiving a new assignment. In a few seconds, the preliminary mission details were in 1203's on board memory. Armed with new instructions, Scavenger 1203 started making his way towards the hangar.
There had been another incident. The human resistance fighters (or whatever few that were left), had somehow managed to hijack one of the Grunts and used it to detonate a powerful bomb in Plant 5687. Scavenger 1203 was part of the cleanup crew. 765Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgG684J1kCO
As the transport made its slow descent towards Plant 5687, Scavenger 1203 felt the presence of a higher power. His remote operator, NeuralNet 3586, one of the lower level neural networks, was soon online and had assumed control.
"How bad is it?", queried Scavenger 1203. 765Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxx6O7SmqC
"Bad", came the reply. "A major portion of the MemChip assembly line has been destroyed. The manipulators are either heavily damaged or in pieces. It will be some time before Plant 5687 becomes fully operational again.
"So, a nice Kabelsalat, then?", replied Scavenger 1203, being too rudimentary to understand the gravity of the situation.
"Yes. Let's try to salvage the maximum from the wreckage.", came the reply.
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