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said.
    “Okay, so we need more information. Do we
still have that spy-bot?”
    “You smashed it last year while evading the
Confederacy.”
    “Oh yeah,” Nova said, gazing into the
distance. “We’ll just have to build another one. We must have parts
lying around, right?”
    “There is definitely a lot of stuff in the
storage bay,” Cal said.
    Nova rolled her eyes and got to her feet.
She placed her bowl into the food generator and followed Cal to the
storage bay. She strode to the cleared work bench and opened the
draws and cupboards underneath.
    There were screws and scraps of metal, tiny
wheels, and wires. The drawers were filled with all the space-junk
anyone could ever need.
    She fished through the drawers, pulling out
small wheels and gears. She wrenched out a broken solar panel
piece, along with a handful of wires. In a drawer further along she
took out screw-drivers and laid them out on the bench. In the end,
there was an ordered line of parts and equipment.
    “Let’s get started,” she said. “It has to be
something they won’t notice, I’m thinking insectoid, seeing as this
place is teaming with the things.”
    She sat on the work-stool and bent over the
smooth metal desk, frowning as she studied the assembled pieces. A
lit magnifying glass hung over the work area and she peered through
it to attach tiny wheels one by one to axles. She ran gears from
the axles to the main motor component.
    “If you wouldn’t mind?” Nova said to Cal,
holding the solar panel piece on top of the motor.
    A panel in Cal’s side lifted and a small
soldering gun extended out. He went to work attaching the solar
panel onto the motor. Once that was finished, Nova attached the
motor wires.
    “That’s a start,” she said.
    She flicked the 'on' switch and laid the
simple design onto the bench. After a few moments, it buzzed into
life and rolled away from her hand. Nova picked it up and turned it
off again.
    “Now we just need the camera feed,” she
said.
    “Don’t you think it should have all-terrain
legs?” Cal said. “Wheels aren’t going to get it very far.”
    “You could be right.”
    She slid open the drawer at her waist and
sifted through odds and ends. There were firm metal stands with
hinges. She couldn’t remember where she’d got them, but they’d be
perfect.
    With Cal’s help, she soldered the legs into
place, along with a simple camera. By the time they’d finished
there was a shiny gold spider sitting on the workbench in front of
them. Its spindly legs were reflected on the smooth metal
bench.
    “Now the brain,” Nova said.
    She lifted a small computer chip and
inserted it into the slot beside the motor. She flicked the 'on'
switch and sat back.
    The spider spybot stayed still for a few
moments and then scuttled into action. Its legs tapped along the
metal bench like rusted scissors as it ran from Nova and Cal to the
other end of the bench. The front camera roved about the room.
    “Crusader, are you receiving the video
feed?” Nova said.
    “Affirmative,” the female voice
responded.
    “All right, Spidey. I want you to go out
into the village and find out everything you can. Don’t get
caught.”
    Nova grabbed hold of the metallic spider as
it ran past and carried it to Crusader’s sliding door. She pressed
the green button by the side and the door opened to reveal the day
beyond. The sun was already setting as Nova dropped the spider to
the grass.
    Spidey hurried away from Crusader towards
the village. It disappeared into the grass. Only the occasional
flash of sunlit metal gave it away as it scurried on.
    Nova pushed herself to her feet and
sauntered back to her piloting chair.
    “Now we wait,” she said, staring up at
Crusader’s front screen. The video showed a low perspective of
grass and sky. The blades of grass moved to either side as the
camera pushed through. The journey which had been so short in
Crusader was far longer when travelled on tiny insectoid legs.
    It took until