"So, these nanobots, have several different types," Dustin said to no one in particular. He had been studying the robots for several hours now, and had only had to stop once to add more robots to his pile to study. Now that his PED was working, he didn't have any problems changing into different forms to fight them.
"Hungry?" asked Olivia, ignoring his observations, as she held out a skewer of meat she had cooked from some creature over a fire. Jake was sleeping off a food coma, next to the fire.
"Thanks," Dustin said, taking it and biting off a chunk.
The first type of nanobot, was just a standard bot, that seemed to be in the majority. They held the form together and allowed the robots to change their forms at will. The second was am armor bot, that formed the outer layer or crust over the entire robot. They seemed to lock together with each other, to offer a layer of protection.
The next type he had found, were EMP bots. They were what was keeping the robot from freaking out with all of the random energy waves and radiations coming from the solar storm. He had been very interested in them. The fourth type he found were replicating bots. They took parts and pieces from broken bots and remade them into new bots, generally whatever the robot needed the most, usually just the standard bot.
There were collector bots, that went around collecting the broken bots for the replicators, energy bots, that gave all the surrounding bots extra energy for temporary boosts, perhaps during fights, magnetic bots, that allowed a small amount of flight, if done right, but mostly helped the majority from being affected by magnetic fields, storage bots, that kept information like a computer database, tesla bots, that gave the robots a type of electrical attack, if there were enough of them, signal bots, that allowed the robots to communicate with each other, and finally what he called the alpha bot. These last ones were what controlled the whole robot. Each one only had between 1-3 in the entire robot. It was surrounded by the protective bots and storage bots, much like a brain.
When he checked to see which bots, he had used on his PED, he saw that there was an alpha bot trying to take control of the PED, among those he had tried to make a faraday cage with. That was where the interference kept coming from. Once he had identified it, he was able to separate it out, and remove the problem.
(THANK YOU!)
'PED, is there any way you could assimilate this alpha bot, and gain its abilities?'
(IT IS A MACHINE?! IT WOULD BE MY PLEASURE!)
Placing the alpha carefully in the port, he waited.
(ASSIMILATION INITIATED!)
(ASSIMILATION COMPLETE. ALL UNATTACHED NANOBOTS WITHIN FIFTEEN FEET ARE NOW UNDER MY CONTROL.)
Dustin thought about this for a moment. It would have been nice if he could control them, but this would work for now.
(YOU MAY CONTROL THEM, OVER ANYTHING I WISH TO HAVE THEM DO, BECAUSE YOU ARE THE HOST.)
Dustin nodded in understanding and turned back to the robots. If he could remove the alpha bots from each one, the PED would have more bots to control, and he might be able to obtain more information from their storage bots.
"We have company," said Olivia, from near the fire.
Dustin looked up, annoyed, expecting to see more four-armed robots rushing towards them, but instead, there were natives at the top of the cliff, looking down on the debris around them. They appeared to be the same people that had greeted them when they first landed on the planet.
He still hadn't figured out why the robots were attacking them, instead of the locals, but now was a good time to find out.
"We heard the collapse, and came as soon as we could, are you all alright?" asked the leader, as they approached their camp.
The people traveling with the old man were eyeing the robots he had at his feet curiously, almost greedily.
"We're fine. Why are you here?" asked Olivia.
"Now, now, let's not be rude," said Dustin standing up and brushing dirt off his butt. She sat back down, frowning in annoyance.
"Perhaps you could join us around our fire? Night isn't far off, and with such beasts roaming the forest, I don't think it would be very safe for you to return just yet," he motioned to the robots so they knew that he was referring to them as the beasts.
"These metal men don't bother us, only the new comers," said the leader, sitting by the fire.
Dustin made sure to eye all those who got too close to a robot, to make sure they understood they were his. They all seemed to get the hint, because they sat far from them all.
"Could you tell me why? I mean, surely at some point even you and your people must have come from the stars?"
"While true, we did originate from the stars, our people purged those who were different long ago. It was written by the elders in the metal caves. Before they were all buried in the great wars."
"Do you know where those caves are? I would love to see those records." Dustin perked up at the mention of people who were different. Maybe he could figure out more if any of the records had survived.
"No, we left them a long time ago, there was no food there."
"How were the people purged different?" asked Olivia.
"I am not sure. The few stories that are passed down among our elders tell of people, who look like us, and pass for us, that we can even interbreed with, being so different, that the leaders of those days decided it was best to kill them off. As you can see with this orphan brat, some managed to escape into the wilds and survive, but it is only a short time before they all die out. Prophecy foretells of an end to their kind, as long as their king does not rise again."
Dustin chuckled at that. He figured they were trying to say he was a king, but he was far from one. There was nothing kingly about him.
"And if this king does rise again?" asked Olivia again, frowning at them.
"Well, this world will end, I suppose."