Crownus looked toward the distant planet. "They were the result of my first attempt at creating a System, which I now believe to be a failed attempt."
Ning turned to him immediately.
"A System?"
"Yes."
Ning glanced back at the enormous, colorful machines pushing against the asteroid and raised an eyebrow. "You tried to make a System and accidentally created a civilization of sentient humanoid robots?"
"Not exactly."
"Then how?"
Crownus gave no visible reaction to the comment, though Ning was certain he was emoting as well as he could.
"Before Bayrus died," Crownus said, "he spoke to us about Systems and what they were, and how soon he would create one that was practically perfect. He was unusually excited about it."
Ning remembered Bayrus well enough to understand the excitement. After all, that thing had indeed managed to capture him. Had Ning not shut down his System completely, he would have learned a lot more.
"What else did he tell you?"
