On the officer's platform, a group of people gathered in front of the holographic projection, staring at each other in bewilderment. The holographic projection showed the scene of the engineering probes being attacked, but it was a very strange scene. A 'strange thing' that looked like it was pieced together from a few autonomous robots was the attacker. It was waving its arms around, trying to drive our probes away. That was all it was doing. Even the mainframe that had sounded the alarm seemed a little awkward, and it shut its mouth and did not say a word.
Shallow Shallow rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling at a forty-five-degree angle. I had no idea what she was thinking, but as usual, she was the first to react when everyone was stunned. "Ah Jun, can you bring that thing back?"
… This lady's logic was like a black box. No one would ever know how she operated, but the results came out quickly.
"Is there a way to bring that … that monster back?" I asked the person in charge of the surveillance team. The person in charge of the surveillance team immediately gave me an affirmative answer. Although the attacker looked strange, its "combat power" was indeed worrying. It seemed that its most powerful weapons were those two squeaky, sparkling light blades. In fact, there was no need to mobilize soldiers. Just the few engineering probes at the scene would be enough to deal with this comical attacker. After receiving the command from the monitoring team, the engineering probes that had been in passive defense mode immediately turned to offense, using their mechanical arms to control the 'enemy's' movements. Two engineering probes were specifically in front of them, using their tractor beams to forcefully drag the strange attacker towards the mothership. The scene looked really strange, like a bunch of toy soldiers fighting — although the combat power of these toy soldiers would be impressive if they were on Earth.
Basically, as expected, the strange thing fought back fiercely. When it realized that it was about to be dragged away, it exploded with strength that was even stronger than when it attacked the engineering probes. Those crooked mechanical arms waved in the air like the thousand-armed Guanyin, and I could almost imagine a series of 'waaaaagh's in my head. Shallow Shallow dragged out her' oh's for a long time before she tugged my arm. "Ah Jun, is it protecting the suppression towers?"
"Looks like it." I was also thinking about the origin of this strange thing. It looked like it was originally an engineering autonomous robot, but some crappy engineer had modified it to look like this. There was a high possibility that it was one of the autonomous robots that had been working here tens of thousands of years ago, before this universe had been abandoned. Perhaps, when our probes went to dismantle the suppression towers, this autonomous robot thought that it was destroying public property, and so it rushed out to protect its treasure? There was probably no other explanation.
No matter how fiercely the monster resisted, it was eventually dragged over by the brand-new probes, which outnumbered it and were many times more powerful. A large group of autonomous robots pushed and shoved each other into the docking port of the mothership. Even when our engineers arrived, they were still fighting fiercely. They were hitting each other with their working arms, and their attacks were so intense that they couldn't even activate their shields. However, the commotion was quite loud, as if they had entered a blacksmith's shop.
The engineers spent a lot of effort to separate the little guys (including a big guy). In the end, they had to use an energy shock device to paralyze both sides. It was said that after the working arm was paralyzed, the strange thing was still hissing at its enemies. Unfortunately, its enemies were a group of mindless autonomous robots. After completing their mission, they returned to the hangar for maintenance.
We sent a new batch of probes to recover the suppression tower's parts, and the strange thing was sent to the research ship's laboratory. When we arrived, the scientists were already busy doing a full body scan.
"It is a complete autonomous robot as the foundation, and a large number of miscellaneous parts were pieced together to form this," the technician in charge of examining the strange thing reported his findings. "These parts are very messy. Not only are there the standard parts for autonomous robots, but there are also spare energy slots for soldiers, processing modules for production lines, and even a shield generator component for single-soldier fighter aircrafts on its' back. 'This shield generator is almost one-third of its size. I really don't know how this kind of modification was done. "
I turned to look at the 'captive.' It was now restrained by several energy suppression devices, lying on the platform listlessly. We finally had a chance to see what this thing looked like. A normal autonomous robot was only the size of a child's torso, but its main body was almost equivalent to the height of an adult. With those messy working arms, this strange thing almost took up the space of a small car. Its' torso 'was pieced together with a lot of messy things. I didn't know how to tell which was its' original 'core. Perhaps only the scientists present knew how to tell. There were many damaged areas on its outer shell. There were potholes, the coating was peeling, and there were even signs of melting in some places. At the same time, there were also a lot of repair marks on the outer shell. This was an autonomous robot that had seriously exceeded its service life and working condition, but it still persisted in working until today. The person who modified it might have been a technical lousy engineer, but it might also have been a unique creative genius. There was one question that we didn't understand: how did it survive in this kind of environment?
"The environment here is extremely dangerous. There are energy storms above, and the Gate of the Abyss below. Although the degree of pollution here is relatively low due to the dynamic balance, it is still an absolutely polluted area." I was puzzled. "How could such a 'small' robot survive in this place for tens of thousands of years with its defensive capabilities?"
"Maybe it hides in the suppression towers when it is on standby," Technician Schilling guessed. "The suppression towers are specially designed to continuously operate next to the Gate of the Abyss. They work for a long time in the abyss environment, and there is a certain amount of space inside for temporary observation equipment or personnel. This autonomous robot probably found a suitable shelter for itself. Its energy problem was probably solved there. There are too many additional components on its body, and its energy core can't support so many devices. So, it probably has a 'charging' place. "
"Then, go and find it." I connected to the command hall and ordered them to send more scouts to search all the suppression towers to see if they could find the 'nest' of this strange thing. "Well, this is really surprising. I can't believe we actually met such a … guard. Now, I am completely interested in it. "
The strange thing that surprised everyone was lying on the platform. Occasionally, it gathered all of its strength and twitched. It seemed to be resisting the nearby scientists who were scanning it. I ordered them not to hastily disassemble it for the time being, and not to do any damage to it because it was likely to be hiding an incredible secret. And looking at it from another angle … I felt that it was a responsible guard. Even though it was a little strange to use such an adjective to describe an autonomous robot, I still felt that it was more appropriate.
At that moment, Shallow Shallow took advantage of no one's attention and went to the scanning platform. She touched the shell of the 'strange thing' and after a while, she suddenly shouted, "Ah Jun, Ah Jun! Look at this! Look at this! This is a new one! "
Everyone went forward to take a look. It turned out that Shallow Shallow was pointing at a protective plate that was obviously not original. It was located in the center of the magically modified autonomous robot. From what I could see, this protective plate was no different from the other parts and patches around it. But when Shallow Shallow pressed her hand on it lightly, she said with certainty in her cold voice, "It was modified two years ago."
"This is …" God Father looked at me in confusion.
"She switched off her talent so that she could observe the flow of time." I waited for Shallow Shallow to return to her usual self before I knocked her head. My gaze fell on the scanning platform again. "In other words, this robot has been modified recently! I always thought that it was an engineer who modified it before the scientists stationed in this universe left. Now, it seems that … "
This patchwork engineering robot actually had traces of recent modification and repair on it! There were only two possibilities. Either the person who had modified it to look like this was still alive, or … it had modified itself to look like this!
Everyone looked at each other. Anyone could have thought of such a simple deduction. But other than God Father and Icetis, who weren't experts, they didn't understand how strange it was. Everyone knew that autonomous robots didn't have such an ability.
Obviously, there were many mysteries about this magically modified autonomous robot in front of us. But what was more obvious was that it couldn't be communicated with. As soon as the energy supply was restored, it would immediately struggle and want to return to its original position. Hence, we decided to use another method to explore the secrets of this strange thing. We directly connected its core to the data reading device.
The technicians adjusted the output of the restraining device and the energy suppression device to the maximum to prevent the target from suddenly resisting and causing unnecessary damage. Then, they carefully cut the protective plate. The reason why they used such a primitive method to dismantle the robot was because the technicians realized that the protective plates of this messy modified robot were fused together using a crude method. The locks that were originally used to dismantle and repair the robot were no longer usable. Layer after layer of worn-out protective plates and strange parts that came from God knows where were removed. The magically modified autonomous robot (Speaking of which, was this the name of this strange thing?) gradually revealed the shimmering core in front of us. The assistant technician immediately connected the data interface to the processing module near the core and tried to synchronize the access rights of both parties. The arm of the strange autonomous robot trembled a few times as if it was putting up a final resistance.
The weird autonomous robot's working arm shook a few times as a final resistance. But as its core was shielded in an isolated operating environment, it finally quieted down. The slight sound of the parts running completely disappeared, and the flickering lights on the surface of its body gradually extinguished as if it was dead. But it was only its torso that "died". Its core had been placed by external equipment in an operating environment that was far more efficient than its original processing substrate, and it began to operate rapidly. Looking at the scene before her, Shallow Shallow scratched her head. "Ah Jun, why do I feel like we're dissecting an alien?"
Me: "… …" Forget it, whatever this girl thinks is the truth. Asking her to study logic is the same as asking Dingdang to study for a master's degree. From a worldview perspective, it's filled with insanity and illogic …
At that moment, the mainframe in the lab had successfully established a connection with the autonomous robot, and it began to rapidly crack the other party's not-so-advanced firewall. The synthesized voice began to announce its work progress. "Synchronizing access rules … 10%, 30%, 70% … 100%. Target processing core has been cracked. Beginning data reading … Identification of data environment completed. XL-Z-12J Engineering Modified Autonomous Processing Core. Unable to determine system version, integrity of basic database, integrity of logic system — — All authentication errors ignored. Conclusion report: The processing program has mutated. There are traces of recompilation and signs of self-evolution. "
I thought for a moment and patted the shoulder of the technician closest to me. Then, I pointed at the mainframe in the lab and said, "Hey, can you get this person to say something that I can understand?"
"It means that the operating system it is using is not the original," Visca said. "If it's recompiling, it should have been modified by the outside world at first, and then it started to self-evolve."
If he had said that earlier, I would have understood.
At that moment, the external reading device seemed to have read new data from the autonomous robot's core. It made a strange squeaking sound. The operator in front of the terminal looked at the data displayed in front of him and said strangely, "The core is still operating on its own? That's strange. It has switched to a pure read-write state. Logically speaking, it has lost its logical output … "
"Is it trying to talk?" I suddenly thought, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt that it was possible. "No matter what the core is output, translate it according to the logical language."
The laboratory mainframe translated the mutated basic language very quickly. Soon, a line of words appeared on the MDT. "… Patrol, maintenance, repair … Protect the suppression tower … Return to work, suppress the door …"
This sentence repeated from beginning to end. I thought for a moment and said, "Is this its only thought?"
"It seems so." The senior technician nodded. "Its master set up these work orders, and it has been carrying out the task until today. As for these messy modifications, it should be to complete the task and extend its working life."
"This heavy responsibility is given to an autonomous robot?" I felt incredulous. "Don't they have other more advanced equipment?"
"If the original request was only to provide time for the local garrison to evacuate, it is still possible …" Before the high-level technician could finish his sentence, he was suddenly interrupted by the communication from the command hall. It turned out that the scouts that were sent to search for the 'nest' of this autonomous robot had found a small workshop in a psionic suppression tower that was about to be extinguished. There were a lot of scattered parts in the workshop, as well as a charge slot that was clumsily modified. According to the recording equipment found in the small workshop, that place was the 'nest' that we were looking for.
Soon, the workshop and even the entire psionic suppression tower were packed and dragged to the research ship's garage. The various parts and workbenches in the workshop were transported to the laboratory. Then, the technicians at the scene found the wreckage of several autonomous robots that had been disassembled into pieces, as well as the memory core of these wreckage.
After piecing all the pieces together, we finally found the original order left behind by the Old Empire's garrison when they evacuated the area.
Because the stability of the Gate of the Abyss had dropped to a critical value, this world has lost its deep-diving environment. According to the orders from the higher-ups, twelve autonomous robots and an unmanned mothership were left to continue to control the Gate of the Abyss until the second phase of the experiment began.
This was the original, simplified version of the order. It was stored in an autonomous robot that only had a memory core left.
"So that's how it is. The people who evacuated this place left a total of twelve autonomous robots and an unmanned mothership," I said to myself. "It seems that there was a second phase of the experiment. This universe wasn't completely abandoned, it was just temporarily suspended. The autonomous robots that were left here were responsible for continuing to control the Gate of the Abyss, waiting for the people from the second phase of the experiment to come and take over. But in the end, the people from the second phase of the experiment didn't come."
"Why?" Shallow Shallow asked blankly.
"Looking at the time, the Empire probably met with an accident at that time." I sighed. "After that, this place was forgotten."
I could roughly guess what happened after that. There was no one to take over, so the autonomous robots and the mothership that were left here naturally continued to carry out the original order until they were all scrapped. This way, the mystery of the sudden explosion of the Gate of the Abyss in the past tens of thousands of years and the immediate suppression of the Gate of the Abyss could be explained. It must have been the efforts of these autonomous guards.
"It seems that it was the only one left in the end." Icetis looked at the "strange thing" lying on the test bench. "I roughly know where the parts on its body came from. Most likely, after its companions were scrapped one by one, it dismantled them and installed them on its body. It seems that it was doing its routine patrol just now and thought that we were attacking the suppression tower. This thing must have lost its ability to recognize us. "
At that moment, I felt a little emotional. I didn't expect an autonomous robot to be able to do this. Yes, it was just an autonomous robot, a robot that couldn't even be considered a war puppet. It didn't have a personality, nor did it have any intelligence. Perhaps even though it had reached this stage, it still hadn't realized the existence of its "self." Everything it did was to complete its mission. Coupled with some unknown changes, it had persisted until today. No matter what, its mission was considered completed. The Gate of the Abyss was still under control, and it had finally received its reinforcements, which were 70,000 years late.
It was time to evacuate. There was nothing left to do here.
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