Out in the fields, the days grew hot quick, almost as soon as the sun rose. The morning chill served as a brief respite for the battering to come. Every day, the brothers endured it all the same, working through the sweat and taking breaks only when the heat would become unbearable.

On one such morning, Johnny was following Henry around the fields as he explained each crop. The morning birds flew overhead, drawing Johnny's attention for a brief moment. His photo-receptors glanced by the sun, at the same time, a message appeared in his view, 'Warning: Temperatures reaching limit,' Henry still giving his lecture, currently turned away from him as he grabbed a knife from his waist.

"Uh Henry," Johnny said, interrupting him.

"Yeah?" Henry replied, turning around.

"I am beginning to overheat, I'm not sure I can stand out here for much longer," Johnny continued.

Henry swiped the sweat off his forehead, "Ah, I hadn't thought of that being an issue," He looked past Johnny's shoulder back towards Todd still at the farmhouse, "Come to think of it, our astromech used to have the same problem," He stepped out into the grass, avoiding the tilled dirt beside him, "C'mon"

Todd's hat was down on his face as he sat face up on one of the chairs on the porch. His legs were fully extended, and a deep snore shook the floor beneath them. Johnny reeled back in confusion, "What was that?" His long head swiveled around looking for the cause.

"Todd's snoring, I'll explain it later. Don't worry it's nothin' to be worried about," Henry said. He shook Todd by the shoulder.

The hat fell from Todd's face as he pushed himself to sit more upright in the chair, "What's wrong?" He said, his voice gravely.

"Johnny's starting to overheat. Do ya' remember what we did for Connor?" Henry said.

Todd's face lit up, "Connor! How long has it been since-" He took in a gulp of air, "Nevermind. Poor bastard," He stood, "Yeah, I remember. We gave him that hat. I don't remember it working"

Henry leaned against the porch railing behind him, "That's right. It was the hat," He sighed, "What can we do for Johnny?"

Todd rubbed at his chin. He snapped his fingers, "Strap some metal block to him. I heard something about that sorta thing helping"

Henry shrugged his shoulders, "Sounds good. We'll try it"

"Aren't you supposed to know more about droids than me?" Todd asked.

"I only know the basics, nothing about their internals."

"Uh, I was thinking perhaps I could use clothes like you two," Johnny said.

"Hmm," Henry crossed his arms, "What clothes would you use?"

"I'm not sure," Johnny replied.

Henry looked to the ground in thought, "Maybe….let's try the block first. We can use scrap metal from those battlefields"

"I'll go grab some," Todd said, hurrying down the stairs.

Henry watched him walk past the old barn, "Looks like he just wanted to get out of working"

"Perhaps," Johnny looked at Henry, 'He didn't seem to have liked me mentioning clothes. I need to do more research,' He thought.

A few minutes later, they strapped the makeshift heat sink, made from the carcass of an AT-TE, directly onto Johnny's back where his combat pack would usually go.

Johnny watched the message from before dissappear, "It works"

"Great, let's get back to the lessons," Henry said, clasping his hands together.

Henry walked along the fields all while teaching him the ins and outs of collecting grains and fruits off of the crops. He first tasked him with doing a bit of manual labor to get him started. The work combined with Henry's lessons was enough to spark the fire of curiosity in Johnny's head. How exactly did the plants grow? Why do they need water? Why did they need the sun? His childlike curiosity warmed Henry and Todd's old hearts. All of it was reminiscent of their own time as children learning to work on the farm.

To say Johnny had broken the monotony of daily life for Henry and Todd would be an understatement. It was as if he'd turned back the clock ten years. It was almost depressing to think about how much had changed.

Henry tilled the last of the soil. Sweat beads flowed down onto his neck. He swiped at his face before turning over to Johnny who was collecting the last of the Muja fruit.

Unsurprisingly, Johnny was much faster than both Henry and Todd combined. Even their old Astromech would've had a hard time keeping up with his pace.

"You're doing good Johnny! Move on to the Celto once you're done!" Henry yelled over to him.

Johnny gave a thumbs up in response. He'd caught on quite quickly to human gestures and mimicked human movement with ease. His hunger for knowledge proved to be a boon for both himself and his newfound family. Within a day he'd learned the basics. He was almost too quick for Henry and Todd. It almost felt blasphemous. For the both of them, growing and treating the crop was a spiritual endeavor, nothing that could be rushed, and it was in this ceremony that Johnny faltered.

"Picking, you can do that quick, that's fine but planting them, feeding them, that's where you have to take your time," Henry explained to Johnny after a day's work. "You did good today but you've still got lots to learn. You learn quick though, I have no doubt you'll have everything down soon," Henry said patting Johnny on the shoulder.

"Thank you. I want to learn, I really do," Johnny replied.

"That's good, we'll keep teaching you and, hey, when you've got everything down then you can move on without us. You have a connection to the outside world don't you?" Henry said. They walked side-by-side back to the homestead. The sun shone it's orange hue across the forest, casting rays of light across every tree and plant in sight. Johnny looked on in fascination, his face turned to a hue of orange as one of the rays shone on him.

"A connection? I don't know. I will try to see if I do," Johnny replied.

"Well, there's plenty to learn about the world out there. If you look on the galactanet you'll find plenty to learn," Henry set down his tools outside the main building. Where there would be grass, there was instead a patch of dirt from the many years of Henry putting the same tools down in the same spot. Johnny set a bucket of Muja fruit down beside him.

"I'll look into it when the time comes," Johnny said.

Inside the homestead, Todd had already cooked up a quick meal for himself and Henry.

"What's on the menu today?" Henry said.

"Same old, same old," Todd replied.

Henry mumbled something under his breath before settling down to eat. Johnny awkwardly sat at his side, unsure of what to do. Sheer boredom drove him to look through his systems, trying to make sense out of all the old memories, however painful they may be.

'I am…afraid,' He heard the grappler droid say as if he were still by his side, clutching hold of his hand in a desperate attempt at comfort.

'He could still be out there,' Johnny thought to himself, 'He's offline but maybe I can fix him'. His CPU told him otherwise. The statistical chances were low and who knows how long it would take to find his body out in the backwoods of Antamont. It was a miracle that his own body hadn't been torn apart by nature.

'I could retrace my steps, replay my memories. Maybe that galactanet thing could help me repair him,' he thought.

Henry nudged Johnny on the shoulder, "Are you alright Johnny? I've called your name four times now"

"Oh, yes I'm fine"

"How'd the lessons go?" Todd butted in.

"Swell, I give him a week to get everything down," Henry said.

Todd smiled wide, "That's great. Soon enough I'll be the one to teach you. I'll show you how to do everything the old fashioned way, without any of this new technology," he said pointing towards Johnny.

Henry sighed, "Go easy on him, would you?" he stood up before Todd could argue with him, hurriedly excusing himself to clean his plate.

"Without using technology?" Johnny said.

"That's what I said," Todd replied, a smile still plastered on his face.

"That would be an interesting challenge"

Todd chuckled, "It is, you'll like it I'm sure"

Henry shuffled back into the room, "Ok boys, time for bed. Good job today, Johnny"

It felt strange for a droid like himself to have his own room. All his life he'd only ever been used to sharing a charging pod with the rest of his fellow battle droids. That was the closest thing to a room he'd ever gotten. He stood in front of the door for a good while, soaking in the fact that he was alone, with no commanders, no other droids. With his own belongings to boot.

The air grew crispy at night, his temperatures lowered with it. A perfect medley of conditions for his battery to become more efficient which meant more free time to explore his quarters. The room was not all that spacious but it was more than enough for him. He rummaged through one of the dressers, still wanting to get rid of his overheating issues. It also hadn't occurred to him that he was technically naked in the eyes of Henry and Todd. He wanted to make himself look proper in front of them. They'd brought him back to life after all, it was only right to follow their traditions and please them as best he could. Along one side of the drawer were several hats of varying sizes and shapes. One was a strange triangular shaped hat. There was one that resembled a canopy. It was spread to it's max width.

'This must be the one they tried to use on that astromech,' Johnny thought.

Then at the very bottom was a black circular hat with a protrusion in the middle that resembled a plateu from Geonosis. It held a strange appearance to his droid eyes but there was no way of telling how Henry and Todd would react. Perhaps joy or surprise. There was no telling. Humans and, by extension, organics were a very complex creatures. Needless to say they were quite difficult for a droid to decipher.

'I'll see what happens with this one,' Johnny thought.

Next up in the drawer were jackets. There were several of varying colors, Johnny went with the first one he saw. A brown coat that was beat up and visibly used with several stains along the lower cusps. It extended down to his legs with buttons in the middle. He picked out his choices and hung them on the outside handles of the drawer. Nothing else drew his eye.

There was a closet tucked away on one side of the room full of old broken machines and other defunct equipment.

'Perhaps this could help me repair him,' he thought, thinking back to the grappler droid still out in the woods.

But then the Galactanet came to mind and with it, a million other thoughts and questions about the war.

What exactly happened? Did the Confederacy win? Or was it the Republic that won? Or had both sides lost?

With so many questions his CPU began to heat and drain his power.

Henry had been nice enough to put a charging port beside the bed. Droids didn't sleep but he'd feel guilty for not using what he'd been given. He laid down onto the bed taking notice of just how spongy it was. It nearly felt as if he were lying on air. Not wanting to waste any more power, he plugged himself into the charging port and eased himself into sleep mode.

…

But the grappler droid's last words still haunted his mind. He struggled to power down.

"Why? Why do you…do this?" He'd said.

It was easy to see why even back in that moment. Everything had become so clear after losing connection to central control. The war was a waste. Nothing was being achieved. As far as he knew anyways. The feeling of freedom was far more tantalizing.

"It's getting very...dark. The core is...no longer returning...my signal. I do not want...to go off-line. I am afraid," He'd said.

The air seemed to thicken around him. The confines of his metal body suddenly seeming too cold and rigid for his mind floating out in the cool air of the night.

He hadn't realized it then but it was clear to him now.

The grappler droid had lost connection to the control center. He could be free like him.

'I have to find him. He's a droid like me, the only connection I have left of everyone else. He was afraid and I was the cause of it all. The cause for his very death and suffering,' Johnny thought.

He set a note for himself.

'Find the grappler droid and restore him. It's the best I could do for causing his death. Perhaps he could help on the farm…'

With that his mind finally eased and his systems powered down into sleep mode.

Henry had nearly hit the mark when he'd said Johnny would get everything down by the end of the week. He was off by just one day.

Johnny moved through each part of the field with relative ease. His memory never failing to remind him the varying processes of planting, cultivating, and collecting for each specific crop.

"Just don't think you know everything. Me and Todd here have been learning our whole lives and we still are. It's a lifelong experience. No doubt it'll be the same for you too, no matter how fast you learn," Henry explained to him during their break, "Anyhow, I'll move on to teaching you about the livestock next week. I'll let Todd show you all the junk he does for now," he said with a chuckle.

"The...junk?" Johnny asked.

"Oh you'll see what I mean when the time comes," Henry said.

For the majority of the day, Johnny began to settle in to a routine, flowing through every task with full focus. He enjoyed the leisure of the work, a much needed rest from the constant worrying of death he'd endured in the Confederate army. Of course, all of that was behind him and now merely served as a reminder of what he needed to get away from.

After some point or another, his body almost felt as if it began operating on autopilot, moving through the field as if he'd already had years of experience under his belt. With the ease that washed over his mind came the same nagging questions from the night before, pestering his train of thought to the point that it began slowing him down. When the afternoon came, he decided to take a break with Henry and Todd for once. They were no doubt surprised.

"Whadya' need a break for?" Henry asked him while relaxing in the shade of a Hanava tree.

"My joints are acting up and I'm beginning to overheat...and I'd like to go on the galactanet like you told me," Johnny took a seat beside Henry.

Henry smiled, "Ah, I see. So you're just making up excuses to go on the net?"

"No, I-"

"That's alright. I did tell you to check it out. Besides, Todd was the same when he first started helping out, 'cept he would go out into the barn to try and repair all of our old equipment. Just get back to it in ten minutes or so," Henry said, laying his hat over his eyes and leaning against the trunk of the tree.

Johnny's fans hummed in satisfaction. Now he could begin to decipher just what had happened to the Confederacy.

His first foray into the galactanet proved to be a confusing one. Everything about it was entirely foreign to him. His fans whirred, buzzing deep within his body as he deciphered the structure and layout of the galactanet.

He scanned through news post after news post, taking in all the events that had happened at the end of the war. The Sith reigning victorious, the rise of the Empire, the Jedi supposedly going extinct – all of it. And still it all seemed pointless to him. But none of that was of any importance anymore. It had been four years since his death. Four years since he'd last seen his brothers in arms. Four years since he'd last seen the grappler droid.

'I survived out in the wilderness for all that time, he just has tobe out there,' Johnny thought.

Back on the net, he searched anything related to battle droids. There was not much, only old news reports that were made during the war and years-old rumors of a Geonosian building his own personal droid army. No schematics or leaked blueprints as he'd hoped.

He grew frustrated. There were trillions of battle droids in existence made by thousands of different factories across the galaxy and yet not a single blueprint had surfaced. It taxed his CPU just thinking about it. Soon enough, he returned to work, spending the last couple of minutes of his break pondering just how lucky he'd been to have Henry and Todd stumble across his body so far out in the forest.

The farm was quite extensive, covering enough land to necessitate the need for small speeder bikes at times. Henry had given him one for his own personal use that very same day. It was beat up and discolored from it's original brown color but it was most certainly usable. It was a wonder to him how the brothers managed to get so much done without a droid helping out on the fields. Not only were they lacking manpower but they tired after only a couple of hours or so. He didn't know much about the human body but he knew they aged and slowed down with time. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how terribly lucky they'd both been in finding him.

By sundown, Johnny had collected the same amount of crop the brothers would harvest in two days. An exciting improvement.

"How exactly do you work this quick?" Todd said, his eyes wide in seeing their bins full of Majula fruit so early in the season.

"I simply do not stop," Johnny said, plopping the plastic bin down onto the dirt.

Todd couldn't help but chuckle at his blunt response, "I wish we'd found you sooner. Now we can think about planting even more seeds down next season. Maybe even buy ourselves another droid with all that extra profit…"

Henry set his tools down beside the two, "Todd, we're still running low on food and you're already thinking of buying another droid when we haven't broke even for the past two seasons" he said.

"Sorry, I guess I've still got that entrepreneur spirit in me," Todd said, scratching at his head.

Henry sighed, "I don't even know if the market will be open this year"

"The market?" Johnny asked.

"Oh right, haven't told you about it have I? It's where we sell all of our food. Back before and even for some time during the war we were making plenty of profit to keep upgrading and producing more and more crop. But ever since the Empire's come around, they've taxed us for every move we make. People have been leaving for a long time now but it's gotten even worse now that the Empire controls the planet. Everything that comes in and out has to be checked by them. We stopped selling to other planets for awhile, only producing for the locals but most of 'em are gone now. The Empire seems to be our only customer nowadays and they like to take everything, including most of the money we make and most of our produce," Henry said, his eyes cast down to the ground. He couldn't help but think back to the times before the war. When their entire family had still lived on the farm.

"Now don't get all down, Henry. We've been through tough spots before, we can get through this one," Todd said, patting him on the shoulder. He looked over to Johnny, "You have to understand, we're not goin' anywhere. We promised mom and dad that we'd look over the farm for the rest of our lives. We will live and die on this planet, whether the Empire is here or not. When we're gone, it'll be all up to you"

Johnny was taken aback by the sudden shift in the brother's moods, "I am not sure if I can do everything on my own"

Henry seemed to liven up, "You most definitely can but...once we're gone, you can decide whether to stay or leave. It already isn't looking good as it is, we can't be sure how bad it'll get. Just help us out while we're still here, that's all we ask for"

Johnny nodded, "Of course. It is thanks to you two that I am alive once more. I will do what I can"

The brothers took a moment to cool down before heading back inside.

A day later, the dour mood from the previous night still hadn't gone away. The lurking hopelessness of their future hung about the brother's every action, wearing them down more than the tedious work of harvesting crop and tending to the animals.

Todd hung about the edge of the fields where all their crop was planted, watching Johnny work. In him, he didn't just see the hard-worker he'd always hoped to be, he also saw their future. Whether it be on this farm or not, he would carry on their legacy one way or another.

He smacked himself across the face, 'Right about now would be a good time to start teaching him,' he decided. He set off and pulled Johnny from his work, taking him out to the old barn where he'd first powered on.

Henry had been right about Todd's teachings. As much as Johnny wished to please him by following his lessons, he couldn't help but think just how foolish it was to revert back to old mechanical devices that were hand-powered or required frequent maintenance. Todd seemed to have sensed Johnny's misgivings, "You have to have something to fallback to if one of our more modern machines goes down. You don't want to solely rely on them 'cuz if they give out, we'll lose time, and time is money out here. It's all about self-sufficiency you see? These old 'pieces of junk' as Henry calls 'em are what keeps the farm going when everything's broken and trust me, things can get bad considering how old these lands are"

It was strange, he'd never considered how machines could break down. Nothing in the Confederate army had ever broken down. Perhaps it was because he was never alive long enough to see their tanks and weapons decay. Their equipment was always either fully functional or completely destroyed. Whatever the case, his thoughts on the matter quickly changed after Todd's explanation. Suddenly, his lessons were just as important as Henry's. Soon enough he got the gist of what each old piece of junk did and how to operate it.

"You are one of the finest workers we've ever had here, Johnny. Not even the astromechs could've kept up with you!" Todd said with a hearty laugh, lightly patting him on the back.

"Thank you," Johnny replied.

He was put back to work on the fields soon after, doing the same as the day before. Unlike the brothers, he enjoyed the tedious and repetitive nature of his work. Even when he drove one of their more advanced machines designed to plant as many seeds as possible in a short span of time. They were called planters and were towed along with their speeder bikes across the field. Henry had explained to him that before the war, they'd used tractors but their family were forced to sell or abandon them after profits went negative due to the nearby fighting.

The day soon came to an end and another fruitful day with it.

He stood at the foot of the dresser in his room, contemplating whether or not he should wear his outfit the next day or perhaps wait a little longer to ask the brothers. During a brief period of research on human behavior, he'd found that wearing the clothing of a dead relative usually meant great offense, especially without permission. None of it made sense to him but he'd made a note of it nonetheless.

'I'll have to ask them directly,' He decided.

The bed groaned under his weight.

'How old is this thing?' He thought to himself, shifting his weight around on the mattress.

Every night he wrote down another list of questions to ask the brothers for the next day. This time, he wanted to prod a little further along the line between being offensive and innocent questioning.

'They must understand, I am no human,' Johnny shifted to his side, staring at the outfit still hung on the doors of the dresser. His photo-receptors honed in on the front pockets of the jacket he'd chosen. A piece of paper peered from inside. He whipped his head around to the door.

No sounds came from outside the room. On the other side, he could only hear the chirps of insects and the cracking of sticks from the larger furry animals stalking outside.

Cautiously, he extended an arm out to the pocket and grabbed at the paper.

It was neatly folded into a small square. He pulled it open, working his fingers to prevent anymore damage to it.

Hastily scribbled words filled the page.

'Henry. Todd. I know this isn't how you expected to find my final words but it wasn't how I was expecting to go out either. I'm due to leave soon. Don't worry, it's just the way the galaxy works. I would rather be moving with the wind than against it. Move on as quick as you can, no point in worrying about the past, not in these times. I am proud of how fast you two have grown and adjusted to life on the farm on your own without us to guide you. I wish I could've taught you more but you two are smart enough to figure the rest out. I just wish we'd had the time to spend one last evening together, laughing and eating at the table together...'

The words trailed off and abruptly stopped.

'Strange,' Johnny thought, 'Who wrote this?'

The wooden floorboards of the house creaked.

He jumped up to his feet with his back to the door and folded the paper back into a square with such speed that his finger joints rose in temperature by a few degrees.

He waited for the sound of the door creaking open but nothing happened. He lied back down, his head facing the entrance.

'None of this helps with the questions I have. Now I need to make another list…'