Entry 1:

The year is 112,304.

Around 110 thousand years ago, humans used to exist, they were at some point the most advanced species on the planet. But at this point around 110 thousand years ago, humanity fell into anarchy as all of the laws in every country were mysteriously destroyed and the leaders mysteriously disappeared. In this time of disarray, or the age of anarchy as some people called it, an underground society began building exactly 801 robots.

These robots were instructed to fix an old broken factory the size of a large country. This factory had originally been used to automatically create all goods for the entire planet, but the factory was abandoned and no longer functioned after the age of anarchy happened. The underground society wanted to rebuild the factory in order to create war machines, ones that would give said underground society extreme power over the world. That was all in the past.

It has been 110,203 years since this event happened. Every human is assumed dead, and I, alongside the other hundreds of robots in here, are trapped in the factory. I’m making a little journal out of the scraps of paper that used to be manufactured, as I’ve realized I’ve been wasting a lot of time here. All of the other robots have quit fixing the factory long ago and split up into factions hunting the other robots down. I’m the only one continuing to fix the factory after all of these years.

If you find this next to some metal scraps painted in green, that was probably me, my name is Peridot, and I hope my insignificant existence is somewhat remembered by at least somebody.

Nobody gave me a name other than the number 35, based on the order of when I was built. But after getting my hands on books, I found this one book that was about gemstones and found a page about this gemstone called peridot. I liked the word peridot, it’s a cool word. I’m painted in green and a peridot is a green gemstone, so I decided to name myself Peridot.

Books here are very special in the factory. I've come across many civilizations that use books as currency, and I can see why. Books are the only way to know about the past, and this factory did manufacture a lot of books. Because of the age of anarchy, a lot of books were scattered around and a lot were destroyed in the mess of the situation, making books that much more valuable. 

Right now I have 23 books, they’re all different in their topics because I try to only find new topics, rather than getting as many of the same books as possible. I have a few fiction books, some books about mathematics and other educational topics, but my most prized possession is the history book.

I’ve only found one history book, these books are super important, having a history book is like finding… I don’t really know what could compare to the feeling, I imagine that whoever finds this book is probably also a robot trapped in the factory, so you already know the feeling, it’s amazing. The history book is filled to the brim with information about humans’ past.

I will gladly trade any of my other books for some help when I fix up the factory, but that history book is never being traded. Losing a history book in this factory is like… losing a history book because that’s literally what would be happening. 

Anyways, I’m currently going through the northeast corner of the factory. There's a special piece for the 47th conveyor belt that I got by trading a fiction book for it. That piece is just to help make sure that the conveyor belt will operate properly for a long time. Nothing too bad.

I’ve done much more dangerous jobs, one time I was almost dismembered when I accidentally turned on a giant flattening pin, it’s like a rolling pin but made of metal. I almost was crushed by it after screwing in a loose bolt, accidentally pushing the lever when stepping back.

So this mission requires me to insert this piece which is a tiny metal rod into one of the metal bars that rolls the conveyor belt, not doing this wouldn’t make the conveyor belt unusable, it would just be harder to tell when the piece would break and when it would have to be replaced. It’s a real lifesaver at the end of it all.

It’ll take a few more days to get to the northeast corner, I’ve been traveling to there from the opposite side of the factory which meant that it took an entire year to reach where I am now, thanks to the Aerogel tribe, I got to the corner slightly faster with their glider transportation system. It only cost 3 of my non-fiction books which is pretty expensive, but I understand the cost. All they said is that “don’t do any business with the Heptacents, they’ve been attacking our tribe for some time now.” 

I’ve dealt with the Heptacents, some real pieces of work, I'll tell you that. Their name is based on the number seven -hepta- and one hundred -cent- meaning 700. The reason for this is because the numbers of the robots in this civilization are 700 to 801 (the youngest robots in the factory).

Because of how young they are, they think irrationally and see everything as a target to aim at.

I despise them as they’ve wrecked a lot of my work fixing the factory. It really sucks fixing up a square mile of the factory in the span of 20 years and having all of that progress destroyed by the Heptacents.

I wonder why they destroy everything, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, I usually just say “it’s because they’re young,” but I don’t think the age of these robots would actually affect their perception on life, it’s a mystery yet to be solved.

The Aerogels don’t fully understand why I want to fix the factory, but they respect the commitment, I imagine most people think about me that way.

I’ll catch up on what’s going on once I get to the northeast corner.

Entry 2:

I’m back but

It’s all destroyed, all of it. The entire conveyor belt section of the northeast corner is completely wrecked.

The entire place, it’s torn up, nothing was left alone by whoever caused this.

I looked around, and I found the Heptacents’ infamous logo graffitied onto the walls.

Even though that part was only 50% done, it’s just soul crushing to see all of that progress gone in an instant.

I took a week off of doing anything for a bit, just to really think about what my existence has become. I still look at that tiny metal rod. A full two years just to take that piece of metal to a place that’s destroyed.

I’m surprised that the Heptacents haven’t destroyed everything at this point, considering that it’s been 110 thousand years and all.

I think I’m going to go to this one place that makes me feel calm, a place of pure safety and peace.

The statue of the man with a sword in his chest.

It took a few months, but I’m here, the statue of the man with a sword in his chest.

This monument right at the center of the factory is a piece of art created by the mysterious artist “R0b1n.” (Yes, the zero and one replacing the o and i is intentional). R0b1n built this thing around 5 thousand years ago. It’s a giant man made of scraps of metal, in the center of his chest is a large sword, you can see the blade go through the back of the man. He looks like he’s in pain, trying desperately to get the sword out of his body. The part where the sword meets the skin has metal pieces that resemble blood shooting out like splashes of water. It’s a sight to behold.

R0b1n carved a message into a pedestal constructed from furniture next to the man, it states:

“The man with a sword in his chest is one of my favorite pieces, taking thousands of years to prepare, its symbol is one to remember. When the man was stricken with the sword, he cried in pain, he attempted to pull the blade out of his chest not realizing that it just opens up the wound and lets the blood flow out easier. The sword resembles anarchy, striking the heart of society. 

The man is society itself, attempting to fix himself by removing the sword whilst not realizing that he didn’t know how to fix the wound after.

Humanity itself was stricken with a sword, and died of blood loss.

Sometimes I see some of our own kind to have that same sword in our chest.”

This is poetic, and I completely agree with what R0b1n is saying. We’re repeating our creators’ history, ironically making the history we learn about our creators useless. This art piece is so moving, that not even the Heptacents had enough courage to destroy it.

I don’t fully know why I still try to fix the factory after all of these years, but I think it has to do with the fact that I don’t like making problems for myself or others. Fixing the factory doesn’t create any problems, none that I know of, but creating civilizations does.

One thing I don’t agree with R0b1n about is the idea that humans -specifically our creators- were trying to fix the problem. I actually have a different interpretation that suits reality better.

“The man is a society, trying to remove the sword and use it to

 make himself stronger, not realizing that the wound is still there.”

Sometimes I tend to wonder; why do I act like a human? Like really, why do the other robots also act like humans? We don’t really have an answer to that question. I mean, we have theories, but we don’t fully know.