A Robotic Overmind for a Dungeon

Well, this will certainly be useful. Looking back over to the team of spiders hovering around the damaged hornet, all welding on metal plates to patch the poor drone up. With another 20 minutes left on repairs even with 4 of the spiders working I decide to leave the rest of the hornets and bring the hound squad and one spider with a bit of repair materials to do some exploring in a few nearby buildings.

Using a long pole that I found on the ground as a walking stick, I found a warehouse a few blocks away from the rest of my drones. Opening the doors, I am greeted to a barren room with dozens of crates, some of which were busted open or toppled over. Looking more closely, I see that many of the crates lids were forcefully opened, and subsequently, the crates were empty.

"Clink."

I spin around to find that there were 3 robots all pointing makeshift spears at me. My hounds begin to growl, but I hold them back in case it was a trap. "Mind telling me why you have your weapons raised at me?"

"What are you doing in our territory?" The middle male looking robot counters back.

"I'm just traveling by, now be polite and answer my question." I responded.

"Not many drones are so friendly around here. Forgive the greenhorn, would you." A new voice answered, which startled me for a moment.

Quickly shifting to get a good look at where the voice came from, I see a stout, male, reddish robot with a walking stick not unsimular to my own.

"I may, but first, who would you be?" I greet the newcomer while trying to mask my surprise with politeness.

"I am R5-7G, but let's be civilized here. You three stand down," the likely senior robot said with a stern voice.

2 of the 3 robots lowered their weapons hesitantly, but the one in the middle exclaims, "But sir! They are outsiders they cannot be truste-"

R5-7G cuts them off, sternly saying, "And not all outsiders are evil. Some can be extremely helpful, especially in times like these." The middle robot reluctantly lowers their spear, staring at me.

I order my hounds to stand down as well, and I lean my pole on the side of one of the crates. "Well, now that things have calmed down, I believe it is time for formal introductions. Since you've given up your name already, mine is James. Nice to meet you." I hold out my hand.

R5-7G grabs my hand and gives it a firm shake. "Well, for the record, I am instructor R5-7G of the Nomadic Pitting Tribe. But enough with introductions, I've never been a fan of those. What are you really doing here? Nobody wanders around these parts."

"It's a long story, but first, do you have any feelings for an AI who controls an excavation site for about half a day in that direction by any chance?" I responded.

R5-7G's body clenches for a second after hearing the description of the other AI's location before shifting back to a more neutral position. "Yeah, we have a little history, so what are you getting at?"

"Well, I activated a signal tower a few days ago, and it seems like they noticed and did not like it, so they sent an airborne attack squadron." I responded.

R5-7G mutters under his breath. "So that's why it's been so quiet." Then he looks back to me "Well as much as I dislike that AI for what it did to my tribe, we are unfortunately in no shape fit to help you in any capacity."

"Oh really? is there anything I can do to help?" I inquire.

"Recently, many of our number have taken some amount of damage after a fight with an IME. Currently, we are searching for some repair kits for them." R5-7G responds with a hint of shame in his voice.

"Here, take it as a sign of goodwill." I handed over a few of my repair supply boxes.

"My many thanks." R5-7G replies with a sincerely grateful tone.

"My pleasure," the repair team notifies me that they are finished and are prepared to move. "Welp, I best get moving. I hope we meet again." I say to R5-7G as I scoop up my pole.

"Yes we," he gestures to the other bots, "Should also be going now. Best of luck on your ventures, James."

———

Back on the road with the rest of the group, we continue to move forward to the AI encampment. We were making good times and would arrive around noon of the next day, but then the forward scouts alerted me of an enemy structure ahead. Hopping into the scout groups view, I am greeted by what looked like a cobbled together relay tower. Around said tower was a small detachment of a half dozen hornets, another half dozen scorpion looking drones, and 2 pairs of miner crabs who were doing their namesake and descending into stone mine shafts and depositing the extracted ore onto a small army of those moose drones.

Around the excavation site were piles upon piles of rubble from collapsed buildings, with some of the larger pieces of debris being the size of a truck.

And with that, an idea hatched in my head. Drifting back into my metallic body, I begin moving once again, but this time towards a new target.