The recruiter instructed another manager to take Solus and show him his work. The manager accepted it respectfully because the recruiter was his superior and led Solus inside. The interior was at least several thousand meters in length and width. Everything was kept clean and in order with calculated steps. The manager walked ahead of Solus, explaining things gradually.
"This is the upper section where all refined resources are stored and delivered to all locations."
The space was silent, with only the faint sound of motors inside the storage compartments. They passed through the massive red compartments before entering an elevator and descending to the lower floor. When the door opened, they were greeted by a loud environment, as if they were near a waterfall.
"This is where all refined materials are washed and sorted!"
Moving belts were everywhere, stacked one on top of the other in rows. Water rushed out of the pipes next to them quickly, washing the refined materials. Souls detected thousands of drones monitoring everything, as well as a few humans.
The elevator went down and came to a stop on another floor. The door opened to reveal mountain-sized material refining machines. The mixed raw materials were separated and refined. The sound produced by the machines was sealed inside, which was why the space was so quiet.
"If these machines leaked even a fraction of sound, anyone within five kilometers would hear it," the manager explained.
Solus simply listened without questioning because he knew more about them. In fact, he was the one who designed the majority of those machines in his early career.
The elevator door closed, and it started to descend. After a long wait, the doors opened, revealing the largest area in the entire station. The entire space was several kilometers in size, with the roof hundreds of meters above the ground.
"This is where we gather the resources from the planets and transport them to the refinery station."
Rockets and spaceships arrived and left every minute, and cargo drones carried tons of raw materials and dropped them on the ascending buckets that were hundreds of meters wide. There were hundreds of people walking around. Some people jumped out of the spaceships, while others entered.
"Since you lack a degree or experience, you will begin as a resource collector. The job is quite simple; all you have to do is look around and collect minerals like others."
The manager said, looking over his shoulder as he walked ahead of Solus. He led him to a specific landing pad where a spaceship was waiting to depart. A group of eight people stood near it. They were all dressed in brownish-yellow suits and looked at the manager as he approached.
"Oh, manager, it is rare to see you here. Is there anything wrong?" said the tall man with dark skin.
"There is a new worker who will accompany you. Show and teach him how it is done."
The tall man smiled at Solus as he looked over the manager's head. "Of course, we will look after him."
The manager turned to Solus and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Don't die, kiddo."
He quickly disappeared into the crowd. Solus used his cybernetic eye to scan every member of his group. Five men and three women, all around the age of thirty.
Before the tall man could greet him, a woman with short purple hair approached and patted his head.
"You must be incredibly brave. It is unusual to see someone this young working here."
Solus did not react and maintained an expressionless face. Others wanted to greet their junior, but it was almost time to leave.
"Everyone, get into the rocket."
Solus was wearing the same suit that the others had already received. Because of this, he simply walked up the stairs and into the large spaceship.
When they were ready to depart, the spaceship lifted off the landing pad and slowly hovered in a tunnel. The gate at the end fully opened, and the spaceship flew beyond the Segment.
Solus could not see anything outside because there were no windows. But he had no desire to see the outside like a child.
[Caution: Entering Interstellar Mode in 5 Minutes]
A human-sounding man's voice echoed throughout the interior. The spaceship had begun to prepare its engines for the journey to its destination.
"What's your name?" a woman with glasses asked Solus.
"Julius."
"I'm Gaia," she then pointed at another girl with purple hair, "This is Hera,"
"We will do the introduction later." The tall man, who was their leader, said calmly.
"You seem too calm for your first journey. Have you been outside before?" Hera asked.
Solus shook his head softly.
"You must be nervous," the leader commented from his seat. "Don't worry, the planet we are going to is said to be habitable with low danger. If we just collect the resources in the designated area, there will be no problem."
[Caution: Entering Interstellar Mode in 1 Minute. Please Fasten Your Safety Strap If You Have Not]
"We have been to that planet before, so there is no reason to be concerned about danger. We have even got armed drones for protection."
Solus listened to their nonsense with one ear while spitting it out with the other. He did not need the comfort of others or information about the planet because he was already familiar with it. It was one of the millions of planets he knew, and even though they said it was safe, dangers were lurking.
He looked at the tall man's cybernetic legs several times because they were of high quality. There was also a woman with cybernetic eyes. Two men possessed high-grade cybernetic arms.
"They have everything I need to reach Type 1. Enjoy the ride, because I will make you all hand over your parts with your own hands."
Solus maintained a straight face on the outside, but he was scheming on the inside. The human-like man's voice echoed inside once more.
[Entering Interstellar Mode In 5...4...3...2...1...]
There was a brief pause before everyone felt a slight force as the spaceship flew through thousands of light years in seconds. The entire structure trembled for five seconds before returning to normal.
The spaceship arrived at a planet that could be inhabited if its atmosphere contained enough oxygen. The spaceship entered the planet's atmosphere and flew down quickly, ignoring all resistance.
Before the ship could land, armed surveillance drones descended from its back. Sixteen small rods emerged from beneath the ship before gently landing on the yellowish grass.
The surveillance and armed drones returned to the ship after analyzing the area for danger and floated in the air.
When the door opened, the nine people jumped out. The air pressure was slightly higher than usual, but it was appropriate for the refined human skin. All of them wore face masks, but they were invisible, so they appeared to have nothing on their faces.
The sky was pale blue, and the wind swayed the red trees and tall grass all around.
The tall man who led them checked the hologram on his arm to make sure they were in the designated zone.
"Alright, everyone, bring out your stuff and get moving."
The cargo drones loaded themselves with tools and equipment from the ship's storage area.
Drones and robots were used primarily for resource collection, but new planets required humans to plan everything before the robots could take over. A machine was never perfect, and a human was always required for everything in the end.
As everyone began to move, the cargo drones followed. They wandered around, inspecting various items and taking detailed notes on their work.
Solus was left alone to examine any items he discovered because it was his first time. They encouraged him to take his time adapting. They were friendly towards him and were the icons of true caring coworkers, but Solus did not care in the slightest about teamwork.
He had already hacked into a few surveillance drones before they landed, sending them away to examine the surface outside the safe zone. He received a signal from one of the drones in his cybernetic eye. It pointed in that direction and displayed drone footage.
"It appears that we are not the only living beings on this planet."