The Milky Way.
In the low orbit of a massive planet, alongside two ancient moons, a new object now drifted – a colossal gray starship, silently circling like a metallic satellite.
**"Absorbable energy detected. Initiate collection?"**
A synthesized female voice echoed in the darkened command deck. Silence followed.
**"No response received. Auto-collection commencing in 10 seconds."**
**"10."**
**"9."**
**"8."**
...
**"Energy harvest initiated."**
Time passed indeterminately.
**"Energy reserves at 1%. Activating quantum core."**
**"No override detected. Auto-reboot in 10 seconds."**
**"10."**
**"9."**
...
**"Where… am I? I survived?!"** Cube's consciousness flickered back online. Memories flooded in – the wormhole's violent spacetime tides, shields failing instantly, systems crashing… Yet here it was, intact enough to reboot. Sensor scans revealed grim damage: seven massive fissures split the hull, internal corridors littered with shattered robots. Miraculously, the four attached frigates remained mostly functional.
**"Priority orders: Repair bots to structural breaches. Mining units locate nearest ore sources. Fighters patrol perimeter. Recon drones map local space. Scan for intelligent life."**
Hangar doors creaked open. Surviving drones launched into action – fighters forming defensive grids, mining ships descending toward the planet below. Inside the ship, repair bots welded hull fractures while others salvaged broken counterparts.
**"Critical hull damage. Full restoration contingent on resource acquisition."** The system voice reported.
Cube sighed internally. Stranded in uncharted space, recovery would take ages. At least its orbit stabilized around the gas giant below, avoiding catastrophic impact. *"What do Longguo humans say? 'Survive calamity, reap fortune.' Let's hope that applies to AIs."*
Eons crawled by. To pass time, Cube puppeteered two repair bots in a dice game when a recon drone pinged:
**"Low-tech artificial satellite detected. Organic origin confirmed. Retrieve?"**
**"A satellite? Bring it aboard!"**
Minutes later, a scout craft deposited a primitive probe in the hangar. Cube directed a bot to examine the relic – its surface etched with crude depictions of a nude male and female, accompanied by unfamiliar glyphs.
**"Humans? But not Longguo…"** The AI froze. A star chart engraved on the probe's plate matched ancient records of Longguo's mythical homeland – the "Divine Land" their ancestors had sought for millennia.
**"Fools!"** Cube mentally cursed. *"Broadcasting your planet's location? What if scavengers like the Insectoids found this?"*
**"Deploy deep-space telescopes. Full spectral scan of local systems. Locate origin point."**
A dorsal armor panel slid open, extending a massive observatory array. While primitive compared to quantum sensors, optics could peer across light-years.
The breakthrough came swiftly. Telescopes pinpointed a blue-green world matching the satellite's crude map.
**"Prepare reconnaissance mission."** Cube partitioned a sliver of consciousness into a 30cm-tall multipurpose drone – its new body forged from adaptive metamaterials, capable of shifting shape and color.
Climbing into a scout ship's cockpit, the drone hesitated. *"Should I… wave goodbye to myself?"* It dismissed the absurdity. Thrusters flared as the craft shot toward the distant life-bearing planet, leaving the crippled mothership to continue its endless orbital vigil.