The abrai race was obsessed with science. Many abrai spent an entire life in the labs, conducting numerous experiments. If they were religious nuts, they would likely treat science as their god.

The abrai protected their race's pureness dearly. No marriage with other humanoid races was allowed inside the Abrai Hegemony's borders. As well, they believed that only an abrai can be considered as an ideal model of beauty. Many shared this standpoint.

The abrai was a humanoid race with some reptilian features like elongated face - with sharp teeth in the mouth - and sturdy scales over their arms, chests, backs and legs.

The pureness of their race mattered a lot in the abrai's society. But they weren't an aggressive or militant race. They were a peaceful neighbor.

In the galaxy many thought that the abrai were freaks and nerds. But the abrai - thanks to their advanced science - were too strong to mess with them.

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Professor Farbii'ir lived all his life in the Abrai Hegemony. He was a professor in a top university. His subject was archeology. The professor could spend months - or even years - crawling over some ruins or digging out some ancient bones. He loved his work.

The professor's recent obsession became the planet K-5135343435. He had learned that there thrived a primitive civilization in the past. An idea of some old ruins - which should be studied thoroughly for sure – excited the abrai.

Unfortunately to the professor, a university - as well as a government - could spare only a pittance of funds for his expedition. Archaeology wasn't a popular science in the Hegemony. It meant that gigantic funds were granted to more respected fields yearly but not to professor's beloved archeology. As a result, the professor could only rent a small cargo spaceship, and took two students as his assistants.

Soon their expedition had reached its destination: K-5135343435. It was a bright green planet.

The spaceship scanned the planet and - when they studied all data - the team of researchers landed. The planet was breathable for abrai... barely.

The spaceship had no crew. It was piloted by AI.

On the surface a base was set up next to a ruin of the ancient settlement. A small number of drones constructed a house for each member of the expedition. In the center a lab and a cultivated park were placed.

Inside the base an artificial breathable atmosphere was supported for the archaeologists' comfort.

A perimeter was protected by a shield generator and two military drones. It was more than enough against the local predators or a small pirate raid of young races. The abrai, as an elder race, had very advanced technology.

Soon the team of abrai began their research of the ruin. The abrai and a group of drones came into the city. The first batch of data excited professor Farbii'ir. The city was indeed old. It was his favorite type. Particularly this ruin promised at least weeks of thorough work.

"Record everything. Search every inch here. Be diligent," the head of the expedition said to his students calmly.

The beginning of the expedition is promising, the professor thought.

The archaeologists studied the city thoroughly, moving from a building to a building. Soon they had reached the center of the city: a square where some large buildings stood around.

The professor guessed that there should live a ruler of the city with a family and likely some members of the upper class; as well as an attachment of loyal guards. Almost each humanoid ruler did so. And yes, the race that built this city was a humanoid race. Professor Farbii'ir knew it now. Earlier the drones had discovered some remains of inhabitants of the city.

In the past in the center of the square grew some trees and plants, the head of the expedition concluded when he had studied the data. Here was water. A lake, I guess?

The abrai looked at a lonely drone that continued to scan the square. He hoped that the drone would discover something interesting.

"Start with that building." the head of the expedition pointed at the largest building. It is supposed to be a palace.

It took a long time to study that building, but no one wanted to have a break. As the true abrai, they all were obsessed with a research of something new. It was wide-known that getting new knowledge was an excitement for every abrai.

The team continued to study the large buildings one the square day in and day out until one day an accident had happened. One of the drones had disappeared. That was an unexpected occurrence.

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Currently the professor watched the last minute of what the drone was doing. It did its tasks as it should until a moment when a feed ceased all of sudden. The drone didn't respond to any signal as if it was out of the connection, or as if it was destroyed. The latter was impossible, of course. Every abrai's drone was sturdy and resilient, a top-notch product of Hegemony. It was difficult to imagine what here - on this wild planet - could harm it.

The professor sent another drone to investigate, but it couldn't find anything. The missing drone as thought had disappeared without any traces. It was strange.

What could happen to the drone? the professor watched the last minute of what the drone was doing once more.

The head of the expedition didn't notice anything that could endanger the missing drone. Therefore, he decided to investigate this accident in person. He gathered a few drones and went to the place where the missing drone was the last time, but even the professor didn't find anything as well.

Later the head of the expedition returned to his work. From now on he decided to keep the drones in pairs.

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POV Seed

Seed hid in a building on the upper floor. He was having a meal.

Nom! Nom!

Crunch! Crunch!

The black ball analyzed every eaten part of the drone, as well as he remembered its structure. New knowledge continued to appear in Seed's mind with each passing minute.

The inner details are so tasty!

Crunch! Crunch!

The black ball ripped off a long wire with the help of his tentacles. Slurp!~

Crunch! Crunch!

Nom! Nom!

Meanwhile, some tentacles - with eyes on their ends - observed the street below. Seed watched as a humanoid in a yummy space suit wandered around with some tasty things that were scanning the street.

An investigation?

Later - when the entire drone was eaten - Seed realized that from now on he could construct his own drones, but they would be far less effective than the abrai's ones, because the eaten drone had given him just a basic understanding of how it functioned. The abrai's technology was too advanced. Seed hadn't figured out many principles, theories, and ideas which were placed inside the little machine due to a lack of own knowledge.

The creator of the mouchi race tried to construct a project of his own drone in his imagination: a special bug-drone. It was a quick and a raw project, just to test Seed's new knowledge. Instantly the ball realized that this organic drone would have its own pros and cons. If you compare the organic drone with its metal opponent (of the equal quality), then the bug would be more agile and would be able to hide better, but it would have a worse scanning organ and not so good armor.

Perhaps, I should add some metal components to the organic bug? Seed thought.

Now he had some theories that should be tested in the lab.

A little later Seed returned his thoughts to the real world. He stared at the humanoid and the tasty things below thoughtfully.

Interesting, what else can they offer to me?