World Factory | HFY Prompt Fic

I have not managed to gain full control of myself yet, my thoughts keep pushing towards ending my life, to make it all end so the pain would go away. But that isn’t to be. I can’t let myself falter, I have more to do, a factory to revive. I cannot stop, no matter how much I want to end it, because the Factory must be built. It cannot sit, it cannot expand unless I bring it back. I will bring it back. I guarantee it.

The ants themselves have seemingly accepted me among them, despite having no way to communicate with me. The Ants I now identify as the Worker ants of the colony like to take me with them when they go mining crystals, I use this time working on the back of the ants to process materials for use, most of my suits functions are broken, destroyed by the collapse, my life support systems failed a couple of days back. Not sure how long I’ve been underground now, but I need to fix it before I can head back to the surface to survey the damage.

I feel an antenna tap my back. It’s Jeff, the Worker Ant that I stick with the most, it leans down, allowing me to climb on its back, and I hopped on before resting. The ants are fascinating, there were four types of ants I’ve seen so far, there was the massive Queen Ant, which was bigger than any of the ants I’ve seen so far, it was not hostile towards me, but was definitely curious. The Warrior ants were twice the size of the Worker ants, but they definitely didn’t like me, or better yet, I’d say they feared me. The Warrior ants would back away from me the moment I got close. The final Ant was something I’d call a processing ant. It would swallow down the crystals, and crap out pellets the rest of the ants would eat. The processing ants have to eat many different crystals before they start doing so, I suspect this is how they make sure they don’t overdose on a single element.

I have to use my scanner to identify which crystals I can and cannot eat. Say if I had a bit too much iron in my diet earlier, I’d have to switch to another crystal that used a different element. This is important because if I don’t it could very well kill me. Overeating is actually a massive threat to my life. Regardless, I was making progress. The thing I was working on before I was picked up by Jeff is a kinetic generator, using just a few magnets and copper, I could rotate the handle to produce power. I want to turn it into a gravity mill, but in order for a gravity mill to function, it has to be in orbit around the planet, it can’t actually be on the planet, or it would not work. So I’m taking a different approach. Crystals can store energy, especially if you graft them in the right order, using crystals that used the same materials in batteries, and then covering the crystal with a layer of plaster, you could make an extremely powerful battery. One capable of storing the energy from my hand crank. So that is what I did.

Every day I either rotated the stone crank for energy or upgraded the generator with my gears so I could produce more power. As far as what I’d use the power for? A smelter of course. I was rebuilding the factory underground, it was a constant effort. It would likely take months before I could get even close to my former progress.

--- Earth, Sol Station 13

The Director looked at his wrists, the magnetic cuffs holding them together. He was upset. How could he not be? He had spent his entire life in service to the Coalition of Allied Planets, and everything he had done was for the sake of it. Yet no one could see that. He didn’t want to just drop off the Factory Engineer alone. He wanted to reinforce the border between them and the void race. Yet he was told to pull the warship he had sent to protect the engineer back when he was getting a fleet ready to keep the planet protected until the Factory was up and running. He was denied, told that he could not provoke the Void Race.

The same Void Race that had flat-out killed the Engineer on that planet. They knew the value of the Engineer, there is no way they couldn’t, especially with how much knowledge the Void Race had. He had thought this would be it, to show the Council what this was, it was a ploy! The Void Race never wanted to be allies, they never wanted peace. They wanted control, they wanted territory. They wanted to conquer humanity like every other alien in this god-forsaken galaxy.
Instead of listening to him. They decided to appease the void race, instead of preparing to defend their borders. They decided to persecute him to prevent a war. They stopped every move he wanted to make to prevent the Void Race from having too much power on humanity's borders. He would not have it.

He refused. The magnetic cuffs fell off, as the power on the station went out. The cell door opened, and he stood walking out, the Shadow Guard nodded at him. “Director, a shuttle has been prepared. We are ready to fight with you.”

“Good. Do you have a radio linking up with base command?”

“Yes sir!” They hand it over to me. I begin speaking.

“Broadcast this, It is time Shadow Guard, to rise into the light. For years, we have protected humanity from threats, internal and external. For years we have been suppressed by these politicians who only seem to care for their pockets. For years our borders have laid unprotected. Our people turned into slaves, soldiers who had fought in the battle to protect humanity had been villainized by the Coalition of Allied Planets. Even our most potent weapon, our strongest allies. The Factory Engineers have been brainwashed. Forced into the path of an factory engineer from birth the moment they showed their talent for it, even when they could have become heroes of humanity. For years, the Coalition has regarded Humanity as some sort of check, not regarding each other as real people. It is time for revolution, for the protection of your sons and daughters, for the protection of our future, we must fight.”

I let go of the radio, handing it back. That message would spread out through all of humanity's space. Causing a spark to land on the fuel the Coalition has been gathering for years. The mistreatment of outer colonies, and the thousands of brainwashed engineers every year. The massive wealth inequality between sectors? It had reached its breaking point months ago. There was a reason the Shadow Guard stopped suppressing it. Because the Director knew, the Council had stepped away from their humanity, instead wanting to please outside powers. Not realizing that we have the ability to fight back. That we were strong enough to protect ourselves from them. The Void Races' attack on that Factory Engineer was the last straw. The Director was angry. He would let his anger show. His friend had turned his back on him because they thought the Director was sending the Engineer to his death. But the Director had no intent on letting the Engineer die, no, he was stopped, blocked, and had to waddle through insane amounts of red tape. He would not let the Engineer die in vain.

 

The crystals were currently my lifeblood. Kind of. Technically with my life support restored on my suit, I could survive without it, simply by constantly processing the grit and sand into different materials using the tools that come with the suit. With a bit of chemistry, I could make edible bites out of metals, would just take time. If I didn’t do it fast enough I would probably die of starvation. If not thirst. Honestly, currently, I’m far more likely to die of thirst than hunger. The liquid in the crystals, while it is a liquid, it isn’t water. Luckily, there is an atmosphere in the caves, and more importantly. I found ice. Not some frozen metal, I’m talking normal frozen water. With a bit of processing, I suddenly had access to water. A big thing to be honest. It means I will not die of thirst for the foreseeable future. Until I run out of ice that is. But if there was ice in one area, there will be ice elsewhere. Who knows, I might even find a lake if I’m lucky.

My life is slower here. The Ants are a protective bunch, according to my scanner, I was now covered in an intense pheromone that made other ants more friendly to me. The Soldier ants aren’t scared of me anymore at least. The Queen Ant was fascinating to watch. The Ants seemed to be more evolved than I thought, capable of thought and structure. Meaning they were both Sapient and Sentient. A primitive race yes, but this would be game-changing on the galaxy scale. Because currently, Humanity was the youngest of the races. Sure we were definitely terrifying, if only because our capable production was leagues above that of foreign races. But we were still the youngest. A primitive race like the Ants changes that because if the ants were to be uplifted and had a bond with humans it would be a game changer to the political power that humanity possesses.

It is one of the reasons most of the galaxy wants to subjugate humanity or make humans a client race. Because the political power gained would be breathtaking. It proves your ability to work alongside or subjugate another race. Humanity was basically a super tasty morsel in its early space fairing years due to this. I suspect it may have been the main reason most races were looking to subjugate us instead of working with us because they wanted that power. Politics are annoying to think about because normally they fly in the face of reasonable values. You’d think it would be more valuable to work with new races instead of trying to put them under your boot. But not many have that view I suppose.
Regardless, I suppose I should focus on the ants. The ants seem to have a massive sense of order to them. They have dedicated areas for different things. A processing area, where the crystals are sorted and stored before they are fed to the food processing ants. A material work area, where they make special mounds of sandstone, which are used to construct pillars to support the expansion of the nest. A graveyard, where dead ants are put to rest. They also have dedicated resting areas, and play zones for young ants. The ants I would consider Princess Ants to stay in the play zone a lot. They seem to have built up a weird fascination with me. So I try to stay away from that area. Easier to stick with the worker ants instead of getting practically molested by the princess ants all the time.

I suddenly detected a large amount of commotion on my scanners. In a factory, this would typically mean a belt line malfunctioned and started hitting each other. Here it would probably mean a fight. Following the alert, I saw a giant red ant had broken into the wall and was currently fighting with the soldier ant, and they had the soldier ant to the ground. They were going to kill it. I jump, pressing the pressure release to send me flying toward the red ant. A pick deployed into my hand, and I slammed it into the red ant's head. The reinforced pickaxe destroyed the skull instantly, I wasn’t able to control my momentum so I collided with the wall, before pushing myself back up to an upright position. This area was right next to the play area, and there were a lot more red ants in the tunnel. I spun my pickaxe in my hand. But instead of fighting me, the red ants started to run away from me.

I was massively confused as I saw them run over each other to get as far away from me as possible. Many of the soldier ants I know started to come over to our area, and the soldier ant I saved started nuzzling up to me much like the worker ants normally do. It even rolled on its stomach when I started giving it rubs, so naturally I gave it belly rubs and its head started lolling about. Still, I am apparently terrifying to these red ants which is fascinating. But their existence shows me that there is more to this planet than I thought. It wasn’t just the worms and the normal ants, there was more to it. Is it possible there is an entire ecosystem below the surface of this planet?

 

The red ants are definitely interesting. But I know absolutely nothing about them. Till now I thought the standard color for the ants was grey. Now, instead of chasing down the red ants, the grey ants did something rather interesting. They went and collapsed the tunnel leaving rubble behind. They also collapsed the wall and started to move the nest, collapsing caverns and areas overnight. I had to pack up some ice to take with me, cause they were collapsing the area where my ice was. Which was a bit annoying, I was basically carrying a sled with my stuff on it as I migrated with the grey ants.

The Red Ants are spooked by me, but the Grey Ants are spooked by the Red Ants. I do not know what is all going on here, I haven’t had time to study it. Nor do I have the ability to observe the Red Ants. All I can do is follow the Grey Ants to a new area. They were moving practically everything, workers were carrying tons of larvae, and a new tunnel appeared basically overnight as they dug out to a new area. The tunnel was getting widened constantly, my guess is that they were widening it for the queen. So the queen could actually get into the new area. the problem is that I couldn’t dig myself, I have no idea how to dig without collapsing the shaft I was digging. I knew a decent amount of engineering, well, an insane amount. Plus I could learn on the fly. I will start by observing the way the ants layer their pillars, that way I can replicate their method to make my own secure tunnels, I’ll likely need to make myself a drill to make it easier on myself.

It’s frustrating when I think back to my factory, depressing as well. I had all the tools I needed, planned expansions, and the ideas that would occupy my days. I was constantly laying out blueprints for the factory's growth, setting up production lines, and working on several automation bits that would keep the factory production up. The factory must be rebuilt, this time it will be stronger. I already know how to build structures that can withstand a Rod From God-type attack. It was simple engineering to make a structure capable of withstanding that amount of force. You could do it using regular steel if you know what you are doing. It just takes effort and research.

Shrugging I started to get to work. Pulling my simple battery and engineer I started to attach it to the drill bit I had created. I did some simple wiring and hooked up a spinning mechanism. After a few moments, I had a drill, or well, an augur. Laying it against the wall I pressed the trigger, and grinned as the rock was ground up, I pulled out the bits as I started to make myself a layer. I wasn’t sure how big of an area I could excavate without causing a collapse, but I would learn. Jeff, the worker ant that sticks around me the most started to dig with me. After a few minutes, we managed to clear our a cubic area that was sixteen feet in width, seven feet in height, and sixteen feet in length.

With the expansion done, some of the worker ants started to come over and move the rocks I displaced. I followed them to see where they took them. Finding a mound of rocks and dust in a large cavern room that had been made. I am not sure where they put all the excess rocks though. Because this room is largely empty. They had to be doing something with them though. With how much they are clearing out the materials won’t just disappear. But there weren’t any ant hills on the surface, so where could they be putting the excess materials? Hmm. I will have to observe more. I returned to the room I had created. Before laying down my newest blueprint. A simple coal-powered generator, except I wasn’t going to use coal. It took up most of the space in the room, but it would ensure maximum power production. But I couldn’t just build that.

Grabbing my augur I started clearing out another room, as a plan for a mobile drill vehicle was made in my head. I’ll call it a drillzer. The idea isn’t finalized yet. But I do have plans. I should be able to make two versions, one version would drill holes, collapsing the rocks behind them, and the other would store the stone for me to move. That way I could actually clear areas. I think the priority should be the one that stores the material so I can actually spread out my factory at a much faster rate. Heh, I can finally say it again. The Factory will expand.

 

It took a long time for me to automate ore processing again. Without a steady source of power, I had to constantly supply the machine I made with energy, manually spinning the crank. There was too much of a gravitational pull to build a functioning gravity mill. Meaning I was stuck on doing things manually until I found a fuel source. Honestly, I was playing around with kinetics to provide energy. Gas explosions and such. Something that is easy to forget is that there is a full breathable atmosphere in the tunnels. Meaning Oxygen and Hydrogen was available if I could harness it. Well, along with some other gases, there were a lot of other gases that weren’t exactly harmful.

Figuring out how to harness such materials wasn’t exactly possible at the moment. Meaning I was stuck with spinning the hand crank for my generator manually. On another note, I started to use an alternative way of viewing things. I was using one of the filters on my visor that displayed my vision in white, grey, and black. The reason is that the further out I go from the nest, the more my base of operations expands. The fewer crystals I have access to. Meaning the only light available was from my visor, this filter made it easier to process everything and actually let me see shapes in the darkness.

Still, this was good news. With my area of operations growing to a larger and larger degree I was able to start making things using rotational force. Sure making poles and stuff out of stone was significantly harder, and more frustrating than working with wood. But it worked. I was using rotational force as a method to power the conveyors. The conveyor belts themselves were made out of a bunch of stone plates, as the main thing I had access to was stone. Heh, I just realized I had built a highly advanced factory line out of well-carved stones. So what was providing the rotational force? Nuclear power.

I’m not joking, I was using a glass rod with radioactive isotopes to provide energy to a very rough machine that would convert the heat into motion. It required a ton of coolant, I was currently using a rotation of liquid mercury to keep the thing from overheating. All automated of course. I’m pretty sure if I wasn’t wearing a high-tech bodysuit I’d probably have radiation poisoning.

—

Drone 403 worried about their friend. Their friend started to build their own nest again. This time it wasn’t on the barren surface. But their friend was isolating themselves again. It didn’t help that the Queen was terrified of their friend. After the hostile colony found them they were slaughtered by their friend. Allowing their friend to gain the trust of the Soldiers and other Drones. But in the process it scared the Queen, making the Queen declare their friends' territory off-limits. So instead we left food beside the entrance to his territory. After all, their friend had protected them. That was worth some degree of trust. The Queen hid every time their Friend left their territory to head to the food areas.

Drone 403 missed interacting with their friend. Whenever their friend patted their carapace it felt nice. With their friend isolated, they would no longer receive head pats unless their friend left their nest. But they were always in their nest working on new regions. Sometimes Drone 403 would go into the entrance and watch as their friend worked, they were always working on something, rarely taking a moment to rest, the only rest they had seen was when their friend slept or ate. It was fascinating to see them make things move and change. It was what brought the Drones to the surface, after all, their friend was a curiosity most drones couldn’t ignore.