Chapter 34 It’s not what they are, its how they are used.

The next morning, Andrew woke up to the sight of Aelita still soundly sleeping in his arms.

-I could get used to this.

He thought.

Just as he contemplated his chances of something similar happening back on Earth, the girl in his embrace moved slightly and opened her eyes.

-Good morning.

He greeted her with a smile.

-Good morning.

She answered, also smiling.

This was their second night together, and she was also more than happy, that he didn't mind sharing his bed with her.

-What do you want to do first today?

Go to the ship or check the crates?

Andrew asked, but he already knew the answer.

-Go to the ship, we can check the crates later, but I want to see if some of the equipment in the ship is worth salvaging.

Aelita said, confirming his suspicion.

-As you wish, but before that we need to check the progress of the resource gathering.

The merchant returns tomorrow and I want to ensure we have enough funds to buy everything we need.

Andrew said.

-Alright, then let's get to it.

She said getting out of bed.

Andrew followed shortly after and in less than an hour they were both ready to enter the ship.

Before that, however, Andrew used a drone to connect a line between the station and the ship.

He went first to see if it was safe enough to do a little exploring and to his relief it was.

There were still some pieces of metal but not many of them so there was not much risk of them puncturing a suit.

-You can come over, it's mostly safe.

He contacted Aelita and a few moments later she also boarded the vessel.

Without losing any time she went over to the generators she saw from the drone's camera to asses their condition, but unfortunately, all of them were full of shrapnel so there was no way for them to function and they were beyond repair as many key components got damaged.

Since that was the case she moved to other parts of the compartment and checked the equipment piece by piece but most of it was damaged.

-These cannons of yours did a great job wrecking everything.

She commented, after inspecting another piece of damaged equipment.

The drone camera was not of the best quality and most of the damage was concealed so until now they had no idea about it.

-That's the whole point of their existence.

Andrew answered.

-Look on the bright side, at least you got some tools out of it all so it's not so bad.

He tried to comfort her.

-There is that, but I wanted to get some working equipment for the station.

She said a bit sad that her idea didn't work like she hoped it would.

-If you want, we can look around a bit more and see if there is something useful in the other compartments.

Andrew suggested.

-We can try, but I do not see us getting anything useful from this wreck, other than the things you already salvaged.

She agreed, but she wasn't as enthusiastic about it as she was before.

They spent another two hours carefully looking around, but most of the ship was still full of floating shrapnel so they could only visit certain areas.

In the end, the only useful thing they found was some ammunition for the cannons, but Andrew refused to use it, afraid that it might cause an explosion in the cannon or a malfunction, so they left it behind.

However what baffled both of them was the lack of any sign of the crew, not only the bodies but even the personal items that should be present were simply not there.

-Either this was an automated ship controlled remotely, or it might have had an AI controlling it.

Whatever the case, it is better to just get rid of it, since we got all its cargo out.

Aelita said when Andrew mentioned the lack of any kind of sign of the crew.

-We can ask the merchant if he wants it, and if not then we can just turn it into materials.

Andrew agreed.

His plan was to repair it when he had everything he needed for that, but seeing the condition of the ship and how weak its hull was, changed his mind.

-Go back first, and I will take all the toolboxes that were left behind yesterday.

He said and started taking out the boxes that were secured in the storage area along with some parts.

It didn't take long to finish it, and by that time Aelita was safely back inside the station.

Once he was done, he tied up the boxes and parts with a rope and pushed them out into space.

He would later retrieve them with a drone.

With his work done he untied the line connecting the ship with a station and used it to go back.

He found Aelita waiting for him at the airlock.

-Shall we go and see the crates now?

He asked, hoping there would be some useful items there that would cheer her up.

-Ok, but first you might want to transport the boxes you just tossed out into space.

She agreed.

Getting the toolboxes took a few minutes since he didn't have to look for a fully charged drone and just took over the one that was closest to them.

Once that was done he pressurized the storage module the salvage was in and they went to see what surprises awaited them in the crates.

The first thing they took a look at was the tools and toolboxes, which made Aelita excited again as most of them were in good shape and could be used, while others required further examination because she either didn't know how they were supposed to work or were slightly damaged.

All in all, they got half a dozen tool sets and some spares, after they sorted through them all.

-I really need a workshop module to store them all.

She said happily when they were done sorting the tools.

-For now, you can store them here, as for the workshop, we will see, but I think that it will require some research and it might come with a set of tools already inside.

Andrew said with a smile, he was happy that her mood got better.

-let's open the crates now, I'm curious about what they stored in them.

He added.

This whole thing was like treasure hunting, you never knew what you could find.

Neither of them recognized the design of the crates, and the writing on them was also alien.

-Maybe we should translate, the writings first.

Aelita suggested, not wanting to risk opening something potentially dangerous.

-I can fly a drone in here to take the pictures of the markings and then we can run them through the translator in the communication module.

Andrew said while thinking of the best way to translate the alien writings.

-You don't need to, My tablet should be able to translate it for us.

The girl said with a grin and tablet already in hand.

-How does that work?

The human asked surprised, as far as he knew there wasn't a translator that small in the game or in the item shop.

-I connected it to the communications module, so it can receive and send messages and use the translation upgrade via wireless connection.

If you want, I can do the same with yours.

She explained, also reminding him that he had a small tablet on his space suit's utility belt, that he had forgotten about.

-That would be great, thank you.

He said, awkwardly, while trying to hide his embarrassment.

She only smiled and nodded before approaching the first crate and scanning the writing on it.

-The writing says that there are some sort of protective suits inside.

She said a moment later when her tables showed her the translation.

-Then let's open it up and see what kind of suit it is.

Andrew said, taking out his bayonet and connecting the blade with its sheath to make a wire cutter.

-I thought that this was a knife.

Aelita said puzzled at what he was doing.

-It's a bayonet for my riffle, and it can become a wire cutter just like that.

He explained and even showed her how to connect both parts.

-That's so clever.

She said, seeing what he had done.

It was an easy solution but she would never think of something like this.

-You want to do the honors?

 He asked presenting the tool to her.

-But that's a weapon.

She said, unsure if it was appropriate to use the item.

-Right now its a wire cutter, and if you are worried about touching a weapon then you will have one hell of a time using the tools we found.

He commented.

-Why would I have a problem with the tools?

She asked a bit surprised.

-Well, if you think about it, most of them can be used as weapons in one way or another.

He explained, leaving her speechless.

It took her a moment to regain her voice.

-How do you use tools as weapons?

She asked.

For her tools were just that, an items required to assemble or disassemble a device, structure, or whatever she was working on, it never even crossed her mind that they could be weaponized.

Andrew was also surprised, since she was a engineer, how could she not know that even unintentionally you could hurt youre self with tools.

He went to the tools they just stashed away and took one out.

-Let's start with the most obvious one.

He said, showing her a strangely looking hammer.

-This is used to change parts shape by applying force or in a few other ways.

But since it can bent metal, immagine what would happen if you hit someone on the head with it or any part of the body for that matter.

Aelita's eyes, went wide when the realization hit her, that this tool could inflict a lot of damage if used on a person.

A hit to the head could be deadly, while a hit to most of the other body parts, would most likely break a bone and inflict a lot of pain.

Seeing her reaction, Andrew knew that she had figured it out.

-Do I need to continue?

He asked, and she quickly shook her head.

There was no need, she could imagine using most of the tools as weapons already, and it was a startling discovery for her.

-How did you think of that?

She asked after a moment of silence.

-It wasen't me, my ancestors used a weapon called a war hammer in the past and all together, my species is great at weponizing things.

He explained.

-You just shown me that most of these tools are weapons, so how am I going to use them?

As a property, I can't touch a weapon for any other reason than to clean or repair it and that also only after the order from my protector.

She explained, and was close to tears at the moment.

-You can use them like always, its not what they are that makes them weapons, but how thay are used.

Just like my bayonet.

 He picked it up again.

-In this configuration its just a wire cutter and nothing more, but attached to my riffle it becomes a weapon.

-It's entirely my choice, how I use it and the same goes for the tools.

He explained to her.

Aelita thought about what he just said and it made sense.

Figuring this out calmed her down a lot.

-So do you want to do the honors?

He asked again giving her the wire cutter bayonet.

This time she took it and proceeded to opening the first crate.