The Fox stood beside Ilya at a steel workbench. A decommissioned drone lay split open before them, its casing peeled back to expose wiring and circuitry dulled by dust. One of its wings had been snapped clean off. Its optic lens was cracked down the middle, frozen in a lifeless stare.
Ilya rested a hand against the table.
[Ilya] "The Swarm originated because of a set of lines of code that appeared in a lot of machines built during the age of war. They weren't written to serve any clear purpose. They just... existed. And from them, the White Swarm was born. No one know who planted the code. It doesn't really matter anymore."
He slid a sleek white pendrive across the table toward her. Its surface was smooth, too clean compared to everything else in the room.
[Ilya] "The Swarm managed to recreate a version of that code. The original can't be used, it would just give birth to another hive-mind intelligence. This version is different. It creates a child process. That child process links back to the parent process, the Swarm, and grants it control over the machine's major functions."
The Fox picked up the pendrive, weighing it in her fingers.
Ilya gently took it back and inserted it into a small port along the drone's exposed inner frame.
A faint whir stirred inside the hollow shell. A small diagnostic light flickered weakly, then died again.
[Ilya] "What that just did was override the drone's base program and integrate the Swarm's code into its operating structure. It takes around five minutes. Once complete, the drone would wake up under the Swarm's control."
He unplugged the pendrive.
[Ilya] "Since this one's out of commission, it won't activate. This is just a tutorial. Out there, it's more... preferred that you take over live machines."
Her eyes remained on the open circuitry.
[Ilya] "That's harder. Which is why you'll be given additional tools. A jammer to disrupt communications and targeting systems. A secondary flash drive loaded with junk data to force a login-crash loop. Things to stall the machine long enough for the injection."
She crossed her arms.
[Fox] "Why can't I just shoot it down? Avoid the main hull. Disable it cleanly."
[Ilya] "Firstly, you'd need detailed knowledge of every bot we encounter to avoid critical systems. That's not realistic."
He nudged the drone's cracked lens with his finger.
[Ilya] "And secondly, the Swarm prefers intact assets. You could destroy them. But you wouldn't gain reputation."
[Fox] "Reputation?"
[Ilya] "There are people out there doing the same job we have. To ensure that everyone gives it their all, the Swarm created the reputation system."
He leaned against the bench.
[Ilya] "For every bot captured, the Swarm assesses the theoretical difficulty of capture, the condition of the bot after capture, and your overall performance. Of course, the Swarm isn't always watching your capture. It doesn't have access to most camera systems, not like M.A.R.S. did. It evaluates based on the damage done to the bot and the system logs after integration."
She tilted her head slightly.
[Fox] "So if I manage to get a Seraphim in mint condition—"
[Ilya] "Then you'll gain a lot of reputation points. But what good is a point system without rewards?"
He walked over to his terminal and tapped the screen. A leaderboard flashed briefly before he turned it off again.
[Ilya] "At the end of every week, a leaderboard is posted. The higher you are, the more perks you receive. Access to better gear. Better living quarters. Priority on supply requests. The Swarm might even let you command a small fleet of drones if you rank high enough."
[Fox] "A fleet,"
[Ilya] "Temporary control privileges. Nothing permanent."
[Fox] "And how many people am I competing against exactly?"
[Ilya] "The number varies. People die. People join. But not more than a hundred at any given time. There would be more if more people had backgrounds dealing with machines."
He shrugged slightly.
[Ilya] "Most people avoid robots. They're dangerous after all. But for those willing to face them, that's us. That's who gets recruited."
She imagined a hundred others like her scattered across the world, hunting for points.
[Ilya] "You can also spend reputation. Trade it for things. Better food. Weapons. Equipment upgrades."
[Fox] "And that lowers your ranking."
[Ilya] "Yup."
[Fox] "So people hoard it."
[Ilya] "Most do. Using points drops you on the leaderboard. And falling means fewer privileges."
The Fox looked back at the dead drone.
[Fox] "And the others?"
Ilya's tone shifted slightly.
[Ilya] "I wouldn't recommend getting friendly with anyone else working under the Swarm."
He continued,
[Ilya] "People do a lot of messed up things to climb higher."
The words hung in the air between them.
Sabotage. Stolen captures. Leaving someone behind during a mission. The system rewarded efficiency, not loyalty.
[Ilya] "The Swarm doesn't interfere in disputes unless assets are damaged. If two operatives target the same machine, whoever successfully injects first gets the credit."
[Fox] "And if one shoots the other?"
[Ilya] "As long as the bot isn't destroyed and no Swarm property is harmed, it becomes a personnel issue."
She exhaled slowly.
[Ilya] "It's merit-based."
She studied him.
[Fox] "How high are you?"
He didn't answer immediately.
[Ilya] "High enough. Not enough to relax."
He slid the pendrive back to her.
[Ilya] "You'll be issued your own. Calibrated to your ID. The Swarm tracks injection success rates. Efficiency. Loss ratios."
A child process.
A fragment of something larger.
Something that spread quietly.
Her mind drifted briefly, to M.A.R.S., to Ecstasy, to the way divinity had twisted into code and code into worship.
Another hive. Another god.
Just... cleaner.
[Ilya] "Get rest. Get familiar with the tools. Calibrate your jammer. Sync your terminal. We have time until we set out on out."
He paused, then added,
[Ilya] "Climbing the leaderboard is easier when you start strong."
The Fox glanced once more at the drone.
Not prey. Not hunter.
Something else now.
She slipped the white pendrive into her pocket.
A child process waiting to be born.