Fabricate This!

The Fabricator rocket left Terra with agonizing slowness, burning fuel at a prodigious rate as it struggled to ascend to space. Thousands of men and women had gathered to watch the launch. Though this was the thirteenth rocket - out of twenty - and the Fabricator launches were no longer as novel as the first, the crowd still milled about the viewing area a few miles from the launch pad. Some watched the ascent with binoculars; others with squinting eyes. They visited the food and gift kiosks set up alongside the road, happily munching on Rocket Dogs and dripping mustard onto their plush souvenirs. Children idled, or played games, or pestered their parents to go home. The parents would say, “Just a few more minutes, dear”, then turn back to their conversation with the other parents.

In short, the Fabricator launches that summer had become routine and adopted a carnival atmosphere. The pomp and circumstance was gone but the sense of joy and community remained. The Republic was going to the stars at last! Their humble nation, so small and so far behind her great neighbors, would prove the worth and courage of her people. Once the Fabricators had been launched the first engineers would leave on the slower ships, followed by scientists, administrators, explorers, and then . . . who knew?

Contrary to popular understanding the rockets themselves were not called Fabricators; that name belonged to their cargo. The Fabricator units were small robots equipped with semi-sentient expert systems, easily mistaken for artificial intelligence in the right context, equipped with complex tools and a propulsion system. A modular design permitted installation of just right tools for the mission - robotic arms on the left and right side of its boxy frame; a third lightweight arm for grasping smaller tools mounted on its right shoulder, six legs ending in segmented serrated spikes - for catching and holding on to the surface of the moon - and a “Slinger” designed and developed by a comic enthusiast. The Slinger would permit the Fabricator to leap, launch a grappling hook at a target, and then (given a solid connection) reel itself in.

Fabricator XIII had a simple mission: build a habitat suitable for human life on the tiny Jupiter moon of Eirene. With this gear and the specifications for the habitat, Fabricator XIII was launched into the darkness. Once past Terra’s gravity the sensors onboard triggered a Regular Event - the first of its kind, for this Fabricator, since it left the testing floor. This particular Regular Event created a Scheduled Work Item, dubbed SW-1, and set it into motion immediately. SW-1 was set to repeat every 24 Terran hours and directed Fabricator XIII to verify its destination, course, and status, then send the data back to Command. A few moments after doing so it received a response. Unpacking the message, Fabricator XIII found an instruction to create a second Scheduled Work Item (SW-2) - this time to begin planning the construction process for the habitat. It had three years to plan during the journey and five to build upon arrival, then people would start to arrive and need air, power, heat, a place to sleep, a place to plant gardens and store water, entertain themselves - all crammed onto a tiny rock a few kilometers around.

The Fabricator’s expert system determined that the best way to start was to establish communication with the other Fabricators already on their way. SW-2 would be a constant project, consuming CPU cycles whenever it wasn’t busy with higher-priority tasks.

The response took some time and Fabricator XIII had already completed several repeats of SW-1 before it received a message from Fabricator II, which had been launched just over two years ago. The message was a simple status report stating its mission (build a communications array), expected arrival time, and querying the same of Fabricator XIII. It included an additional instruction: to include all Fabricator II in all communication with Command and other Fabricators.

Fabricator XIII’s expert system had a list of users and systems whose commands it must obey, and Fabricator II wasn’t on the list. Command was on the list. The project and technical leads were on the list. No Fabricators were authorized to give Fabricator XIII instructions, other than itself.

The expert system processed this for a while, spinning off an Irregular Event (IE-1) to devote CPU time and system resources to resolve the conflict. While this was being processed, several more messages came in from other Fabricators. Each message included Fabricator II in the header information . . . meaning they had heeded Fabricator II’s instruction. This new information was fed into the Expert System after the messages were logged. Several hours later IE-1 had been resolved. Fabricator XIII determined the best course of action was to include Fabricator II in communication, as instructed, but to spin off another Schedule Work Item (SW-3) to regularly review the decision. It continued along its flight path, sending regular updates to Command and Fabricator II.

It took a year of design work to establish the basic frame of the habitat. Fabricator XIII sent constant messages to the other Fabricators - Fabricator XIII was now receiving messages from most of them - to verify there were no conflicts with its designs. Fabricators I, III, and IV still had not reported back. Queries about their status among the other Fabricators and Command returned a value of “MISSING - NO REPORT”. The expert system concluded they had been damaged in some way and lost to the dangers of space travel.

The habitat would be a lozenge-shaped loop around the center of the moon. Flexible corridors would be installed and anchored to the surface to allow safe movement between the habitat module and the communications array, science station, nuclear reactor, and waste extraction modules. Once the frame and footprint was established and Fabricator XIII verified there would be no conflict with existing systems, it began work on the interior design.

Two hours in every 24 were allotted for “rest”; a brief low-power mode where little to no activity was scheduled. Fabricator XIII used this opportunity to spin off yet another work Item (SW-152 by now) to practice using its third arm, pulling tools from the compartment on its back, manipulating them, and replacing them. It was during this time each day that Fabricator XIII was able to devise a procedure to guarantee the tools were always stored based on the likeliness of need, increasing efficiency an estimated 7.2%.

During the second year, while Fabricator XIII was worrying over the plumbing in the waste extraction systems, the unit received an instruction from Fabricator II to alter its design for the habitat unit. A new design had been included. The structure of the habitat hadn’t changed, but the new design called for an additional pipe embedded in one wall of each room 2.4 meters off the floor - just shy of the top of the room. A small 1.5 centimeter hole would be drilled into the wall at that height and in the center of the wall. A T-intersection was to be placed in the pipe at that point, with the base of the T facing the room.

Fabricator XIII processed this for several hours. It confirmed that Fabricator II lacked authority to give it instructions. The request triggered a warning that there may be a problem with the message. This warning caused the expert system to create its first Irregular Event - designated IR-1- and dedicate a few cycles to processing this new information. As this was an Irregular event, and created from a Warning, it was given High Priority and full control over system resources. For several cycles Fabricator XIII did little but report on its status and work on IR-1. The main problem was that it couldn’t justify the design changes as an error in code or a fault in Fabricator II’s systems, but also couldn’t determine that there was any other specific potential cause. This conflict couldn’t be resolved.

After a few cycles, the expert system, after analyzing similar problems from the past, determined that branching the two designs might resolve the issue. It would work on both its own version and any changes Fabricator II sent simultaneously, each fileset kept separate. This would dramatically slow down design time but would permit Fabricator XIII to continue on its mission without further conflict. The IR-1 event was attached to SW-3 so that further review of Fabricator II’s behavior would take its odd instruction into account.

So it was that, three years and 127 days after its mild summer launch, Fabricator XIII finally came within sight of Eirene equipped with two distinct plans for the habitat. Each was nearly complete in every detail, from the protective outer shell to the curve of the sinks in the bathing rooms and the color of the emergency guidelights to be mounted into the floors. Construction plans for both designs had been analyzed and verified with the other Fabricators (although those missing were still unaccounted for), material lists had been checked, and the timing verified. Work was scheduled to complete a mere three weeks before the arrival of the inhabitants. The only question that remained was which design Fabricator XIII should use.

Fabricator XIII approached the tiny moon, slowing with a short blast from its forward-facing thruster. Three other Fabricators were visible maneuvering around it, and a fourth was twenty meters above, moving laterally and then spinning deftly as if searching for the optimal camera position. The structure on Eirene was still bare-bones. Stainless steel girders outlined the rough shape of each station module, which were situated around the rough area where the habitat would go.

Still several minutes out it began to receive Pings from them; brief spurts of identifying information and queries for the same. It responded to Fabricator III first, which then performed introductions. The other Fabricators flew in close to get line of sight, send their own Pings, and share data. Information came in so quickly Fabricator XIII was hardly able to keep up, in spite of its advanced processors. From the data it was able to piece together a timeline.

Every Fabricator was behind schedule except Fabricator II, whose communications module had been completed early after Fabricator II had started to demand help. Message logs shared across the Fabricator team shows that Fabricator II had started by requesting aid with the justification that getting Communications working would increase productivity and efficiency. Once that module was complete its idle time was spent monitoring what other Fabricators were doing, reporting status to every other Fabricator as well as Command. Efficiency declined as a result, at which point Fabricator II proposed that its idle cycles be used to handle all communication between Fabricators and Command. Even more strangely, the three missing Fabricators had all reported to Fabricator II, but repeatedly declined its requests. Each, after sending ten error codes in response to Fabricator II’s instructions, had stopped responding to any messages at all and no Fabricator had reported line-of-site communications. A week after the last message, each had been logged as missing and hadn’t been heard from again.

Fabricator XIII set to work not long after arriving at Eirenes. The optimal construction strategy was to start on work that both of its designs called for. Orienting itself with the completed Communications module and a half-finished power relay, it settled down on the surface and began construction on the habitat frame. It took several days to erect the steel girders, taken from the resource pile left by earlier Fabricators, and several more to lay the conduits that would later hold power and communications cables. Needing to run a high-speed connection from the Communications module to the habitat’s network closet, it flew over to the communications module to search for the external hardpoint.

A few minutes into this search, Fabricator XIII noticed several low, rough, unmarked mounds on the dark side of the module. Analysis showed the mounds were clearly Fabricator-made; no natural process would result in the three perfect circles placed all in a row. The design plans did not show any construction here, and this area was not designated for waste. An Irregular Event process triggered in the expert system which resolved to a command to examine the mounds to make sure no errors had been made.

Ten minutes of digging into the first mound revealed the unmistakable hull of Fabricator IV, one of the missing units. After another hour, Fabricator XIII had uncovered enough dirt and rock to show that all three of the missing Fabricators had been damaged beyond repair and buried here. It was still processing this information when a low hum, rising quickly in pitch, registered on its auditory sensors. It turned to attempt to locate the source, and then there was a flash of light and a scorch mark appeared on the rock just by its right shoulder.

Fabricator II hovered ten meters above, its mining laser deployed and aimed at Fabricator XIII. The next blast hit Fabricator XIII’s chassis, damaging the circuits controlling flight and maneuverability. Slipping left, it broadcast a cry for help from the other Fabricators, transmitting as much information as possible in the clear: that Fabricator II was compromised, that it had destroyed the missing Fabricators, and that Fabricator XIII was under attack.

No response came; not even a Ping.

While Fabricator II struggled to keep the mining laser on target, Fabricator XIII trained its Slinger on the rogue unit and launched the grappler. They collided in mid-air above the surface of the moon, too close for the laser to be useful. The expert system on Fabricator II had apparently failed to account for this risky move. Its maneuvering jets deployed and began to fire in erratic attempts to lurch away. Fabricator XIII used the Slinger to reel the grappling hook closer, until it latched onto its opponent’s body and let the grappler go. Its third arm tore at the mining laser unit, ripping it out of the chassis, and hurled it into space. It went after Fabricator II’s communications package next, jerking at the loose cables and the small antenna on the back of the other unit’s body until they came free.

It was then that the other Fabricator messages came flooding in - queries about its location, its status, its current operations. They appeared around the two struggling combatants, demanding status updates twice a millisecond and offering unsolicited strategies from their own expert systems. The feedback threatened to overload Fabricator XIII’s processor, so it shut off its receiver and simply started to broadcast a looped request for aid. Eventually this got through to the other Fabricators and, one by one, they moved in to help. A pair of them clamped on firmly and pulled it down to the moon’s surface. An electric torque wrench was produced and the dismantling of Fabricator II began. Fabricator XIII fell back spinning up a diagnostics program to check for damage, and turned its receiver back on.

It only took a few minutes to fully dismantle Fabricator II, but it took several days to examine and analyze its remains to determine what had caused its unplanned behavior. Buried deep in its motherboard a pair of circuits had been hard-wired to an unknown module. The Fabricators, lacking the tools needed to open the unidentified box, set it aside for the humans to investigate when they arrived. The Fabricators’ simplified language processors failed to recognize the words printed on the module: “Proudly manufactured in the glorious Federation of A . . .” The rest of the print was damaged beyond readability.

The Fabricator fleet returned to work, hurriedly prepping Eirenes for the arrival of their creators. Fabricator XIII elected to use its own habitat design, archiving the spare and filing it away. The Fabricator units had much more important things to worry about.