The automated factories took what they needed: Each factory is limited to its own operational area…but the network itself is unbounded. It can go on scooping up our resources forever. The Institute decided it gets top priority; we mere people come second. The pellet was a smashed container of machinery, tiny metallic elements too minute to be analyzed without a microscope... The cylinder had split. At first he couldn't tell if it had been the impact or deliberate internal mechanisms at work. From the rent, an ooze of metal bits was sliding. Squatting down, O'Neill examined them. The bits were in motion. Microscopic machinery, smaller than ants, smaller than pins, working energetically, purposefully - constructing something that looked like a tiny rectangle of steel. "They're building," O'Neill said, awed. He got up and prowled on. Off to the side, at the far edge of the gully, he came across a downed pellet far advanced on its construction. Apparently it had been released some time ago. This one had made great enough progress to be identified. Minute as it was, the structure was familiar. The machinery was building a miniature replica of the demolished factory. From Autofac, by Philip K. Dick. Artwork was created in Artbreeder & upscaled in Topaz Gigapixel Ai 1024x1024 pix. mp4