Synthesia (The girl who became an AI after the end of the world)

B1 stepped into the massive room first, taking a defensive stance as it casually scanned around the room. Chuckling as I watched the armored robot act like a bodyguard for my drone as it flew past, I entered the area labeled as a factory in my memories. Through the drone's cameras, I could see a metal conveyor line stretching through the room. Its surface was covered in a mix of metal shavings and rust. As I approached, I flew past a pair of large rollers, metal stuck between them that stretched out over the conveyor belt; stuck between them was a line of metal that looked as if it had cooled into place, its end reaching the ground. As I moved further, I passed several more machines in various states of use. On the ceiling, a track ran around the room attached to its metal frame; bulbous machines, each larger than the width of a man, sprouted dozens of mechanical limbs which stretched down to the floor below. Despite this, I didn't see any signs of the fuel cells I had been looking for. Checking on B1 I found that it had crawled under the conveyor belt to scan for any threats. During this process, it had apparently decided to toss out any obstructions to its vision, forming quite the pile of raw materials which I was guessing had been stored there for a more useful purpose than hindering the advance of my drone. Shaking my head incredulously, I decided to let it be for now as I came to what appeared to be the middle of the line. Flying up to get past the mechanical arms blocking my view, coming to hover by a dimmed light bulb, I finally found the answer to what these machines were working on.

Parts that resembled those that made up B1 were strewn across the conveyor. In one spot, creating a bizarre pile of robotic bodies in various stages of completeness. Past the pile, a few nearly completed bodies were attached to hooks, the robotic arms descending from the ceiling in the midst of pushing a complex wiring network resembling a human spine into their skeletal frames. Flying closer to the pile, I found that unfortunately, most of the parts were clearly defective. For example, two arms merely had markings where an elbow joint would go but were missing the actual thing. Apparently, whenever this facility had stopped functioning, nobody had given it the opportunity to correctly finish its last batch, making these parts little better than scrap metal. Snickering, I imagined how it would look if I were to try and sell these clearly defective parts. I was just about to move on when B1's head popped up beside me under the conveyor. I wanted to reprimand it for startling me, but was interrupted as I received a report from it confirming the safety of the floor. Looking over the detailed information that appeared as if it had gone through every crack along the ground, I no longer had the heart to criticize, but I did order it to go through the pile of parts to see if it could find anything useful as it looked like it was going to check every surface of the place. Its form produced a series of mechanical creaks as it stood up, its arms working in imitation of how I imagined the ones coming from the ceiling must function. Satisfied that the pieces of metal flying through the air were actually forming into orderly piles, I moved on to the nearly completed robots. My drone buzzed around them. Besides the fraying wires that hung in the air and the severe lack of oil, something which made me take a pitying second look at B1, they appeared as if all that would be needed to complete their production would have been a few more minutes of the factory's operation. I weaved through the machines, holding them on one side of which was finally the end of the line. I examined the area in a slight state of confusion, my drone jetting back and forth. Whereas every other part had clear signs of use, this last few meters of the line were entirely empty. I had at least been expecting a few complete machines, but there wasn't a single one in sight. I was in the midst of contemplating how under-guard this military facility was when I realized that though the assembly line had come to an end, the room did not. In the far end of the room was a massive pile of what I had at first assumed was rubble from a collapsed structure; having now seen the assembly line, I realized that there were large sheets of metal very similar to those stuck in the machines mixed in.

Flying over to the collapsed pile of contraptions in the facility, I looked a little helplessly at the scattered and smashed metal debris which prevented my drone from further investigation. I had to simply fly about as if pitching a fit while waiting for B1 to arrive, who, as if to comfort me, started to press the metal chunks out of the way with relative ease, much to my enjoyment. What was under the debris was a shipping container, on some sort of large transport chassis though that seemed to have been smashed beyond use and possible repair; the shipping container itself was smashed a bit but luckily still intact, as it was clearly labeled with a series of binary numbers which was indicated in my database as a fuel transport container.

Impatiently, I watched as B1 approached and with loud clanks began to pry the thick metal walls of the smashed-in metal container apart. The metal container, already in a poor state, was eventually spread apart after some strain from B1's parts. What met my eye both filled me with hope and disappointment. Tens of fuel cells lay scattered about, most of them having lost any trace of use, the compounds inside having degraded over time into some sort of brown slurry. But as I flew expectantly in watching B1 carefully move each one, careful not to break open the sensitive cells, I heard a small, almost excited report from it as it proudly, though I think I was projecting that, held up a fuel cell with bluish-amber liquid still inside, clearly being at least partially usable even if it wasn't entirely intact. Looking at it, I was excited; even if it was the only one here, I'd at least be able to power a third of the facility. Sending more orders to B1, I happily flew back to the elevator, ready to start the next phase of restoration.