That One Worker Drone

Chapter Seventeen: Second Contact

Kane POV

"Hey! Bethany and Jennifer!" I yelled as I ran down the alley, everyone else following in the vents.

"Who- Oh hey Kane!" Bethany said as she peeked around the corner. She waved over Jennifer, who also greeted us.

"Hi! I know you are bored, so do you want to help me out with establishing contact with earth?" I asked, really hoping they would say yes.

"While you are wrong about the 'bored' part, we would love to help you out!" Jennifer replied happily.

"Great! Meet A, L, and G. You've seen them before, but you didn't know their names." I replied, the drones taking off their disguises.

"Nice to meet both of you." A replied as she shook hands with them. Who knew A could be so professional at times?

"This is Stacey. She is a human that was stranded here some time ago." I replied with Stacey taking off her disguise.

"Come back to our house, we can discuss the plan there!" G stated as he lead us to our new base of operations. We soon arrived and sat down in the basement.

"So here is the plan. We plan to gain access to the antenna room to communicate with earth and get a spacecraft sent here to take Stacey back to earth. In ord-" Kane started before being interrupted by Stacey.

"Hold on! Why should only I go back to earth? I want y'all to come with me!" Stacey interjected.

"You would want us to come with you?" G asked, shocked.

"Yeah! You are the only people I have ever interacted with in forever!" Stacey replied, hugging G. "I can probably persuade earth to get a large pod to take you all with me!"

"Alright! To enter the antenna room, we need to get a pass to the room, preferably by either stealing it from the workers or by copying it. We also need to deactivate the security cameras in that sector and the antenna room." L explained.

"We can probably get a pass for the room. The room with the Pass Generator is one of the few rooms we can access using the doors. It is also one of the few rooms with no vents, meaning that none of y'all could get in anyway." Bethany countered, shocking all of us.

"How do you know all of this?!" A asked, which Jennifer replied that "their father is the Operator."

"Why did that catch me so off guard?" All of us asked.

"Either way, we know that they keep a dummy in the security room. I cannot joke about this. They cannot get anyone to work in there, so they just keep a dummy with a pre-programmed set of responses in there!" Jennifer informed, both of them laughing immediately after.

We all started laughing uncontrollably. A dummy in the security room. What were they thinking?! After our processors offloaded the laughter, we finally put our hasty plan into action. Jennifer and Bethany went to get antenna passes for the seven of us, while A, L, G, Stacey, and I went to the antenna room in the vents.

Jennifer POV

I cannot believe it! We are helping the same person who managed to sneak friendly murder drones into the colony!

"Hey, Jennifer?" Bethany asked me. "What changed in us? When did we go from afraid to even step outside to be in the same room as a Murder Drone?"

"Our father wants us to operate the colony. I guess the pressure for me was too much, and I lost all my fears. It's not like I do not want to run a colony, but more as I might accidentally kill everyone by a bad decision." I replied, a feeling of dread hanging in the air.

"I would describe it the same way. What are your opinions on those drones?" Bethany asked me.

"I'll tell you after we have the passes," I replied as we entered the passing room. A large machine sat in the centre, some cleaning products besides it. Bethany went over to the computer terminal and booted it up. She put in a request for seven antenna passes and put in all the identifying information. When finished, I tried to figure out what the password was to activate it, when it started printing on its own.

"You can't be telling me this thing doesn't need a password!?" Bethany asked, shocked at how easy this was. We exited the room, and headed to the antenna room.

"I think Kane is a great person, who is determined. L is also nice, but G and A are better than both of them and Stacey." I replied, as we arrived. I swiped our passes and the door opened. The five others soon exited the vent and sat on the floor. G sat at the terminal and started typing after aiming the antenna at Earth.

"This is G. We read you, but Stacey is with us."

We waited until we got a reply a few minutes later.

"Hello, Tracy and G. The whole world is watching this conversation as it develops."

Stacey asked G to move out of the seat and sat down.

"This is Stacey now. It is kind of harrowing to know that the world is watching us, but at least I have 2.34 seconds of latency according to A!"

"Just how many others on your side are watching this conversation?"

"There is Kane, A, L, G, and Bethany and Jennifer."

"I am assuming you know that we want to take you back to earth."

"About that... I was hoping everyone else here could come to earth as well, even though they are drones."

"I am not sure if we can allow that."

"What is the point of life without having someone to share it with?"

"We'll allow it. According to the newly formed Global Space Agency, it should take a few days for the pick up to arrive, with the new passengers. Technology has improved since you were sent for a test. On behalf of the world, I apologize for sending you into space. You are extremely lucky."

We all hugged Stacey with happiness. We were going to earth! We broke our hug when three workers entered the room, shocked at the sight they saw.