Johnny guided the last of the Banthas into their enclosure. It was a bit bigger than the others thanks to the grandness of the animals themselves. It extended far into the outskirts of the brother's land, the tail end of it jutting out into the forest enclosing the farmlands.
A bantha child hopped around its mother in excitement for their lunch that would soon be served. The wooden gate creaked close behind them.
"Good work, Johnny. Just like I taught you," Henry said, watching from atop one of the fences near the enclosure.
Johnny straightened out his vibrospear to point at the sky, "I do my best"
"I know you do," Henry hopped off the fence post and sauntered over to Johnny. He placed a hand on his back and guided him towards another enclosure set up in a grid-like formation at the northern tip of the farmlands. Long ago, the trees had been cleared to set up a level grass field for the animals with a barn that was twice the size of the other where Johnny had been repaired, "Next up are the Vyrabs, they're small and like to jump around. You might think that they're easier to herd but they're not, trust me"
"Of course I trust you, do not doubt that," Johnny said, glancing over at Henry for a moment.
Henry chuckled, "Just a figure of speech, that's one thing you're having trouble with but that's alright. You have plenty of time to learn"
Johnny clutched his vibrospear tighter. He looked at Henry through his peripheral vision. His combat protocol lingered in the back of his head like an animal ready to strike from the dark. It would only take a flick of the spear to kill him if need be. One swipe at his neck.
Johnny killed the combat process, sensing it lingering in his CPU.
'I can't do that, he's my...squad-mate,' He reasoned with his combat protocols, 'I can't turn on my own'
The process started again, but it's previous instructions had changed. It turned next to the animals.
Johnny tried his best to ignore it, as he usually did.
His mind wandered off to the grappler droid. Every day since he'd rescued him, he contemplated telling the brothers, 'He'd be useful on the farm, cutting all the crops and collecting the fruits. Maybe he wouldn't be as fast as me but he'd be more efficient, I think'
Johnny stared at the back of Henry's head. His blonde hair moved with the wind in waves like those of the ocean.
'But he didn't like it at all when I brought up the idea of finding another droid like me,' Johnny thought, 'Is he afraid?'
If he was, he had good reason. They were machines of war. Capable of killing as long as their batteries were charged and their programming unchanged.
'But here I am, farming, herding the animals,' The night of the grappler droid's rescue came to mind, 'If it feels like killing to collect fruit and plant seeds then so be it. As long as my CPU is satisfied. As long as I don't go back to war'
They came upon the southern edge of the animal enclosure. Johnny zoomed in on the Vyrabs. They were covered in brown fur with sharp ears and frequently rested upright on their hind-legs. Their legs were the biggest part of their body. The strength of them propelled them forward a few feet at a time.
The group of Vyrabs were dispersed around the exterior of the greater enclosure, a part of the lands were partitioned off for all the animals to graze. Some of the Vyrabs fed on the grass below, others ate seeds out of a wide feed bucket hanging off one of the fences.
Henry brought two fingers to his mouth and whistled from high pitch to low.
The Vyrabs turned to him and hopped about as a group towards his position.
Henry turned to him, his face indicating a contemplative demeanor, "Johnny, can you whistle?" The realization dawning on him. He awaited his response in anticipation.
Johnny vocalizer crackled with white static before a high pitch metallic whine came out at full volume.
Henry covered his ears, "Oh yeah, you can whistle! Just don't do it so loud next time!"
"Affirmative!" Johnny replied.
Henry rubbed at his ears, "That'll scare away the animals if you do it like that. Work on improving"
"I'll start now," Johnny replied, he whistled another time, keeping control of the volume this time.
"Better, now start herding in the ones that get loose," Henry said point towards a few of the Vyrabs that had hopped off to the outer edges of their grazing area.
Johnny walked the perimeter and herded in the last of the Vyrabs, poking at them with the handle of his vibrospear, the blade still facing up towards the sky.
There was a moment where Henry was busy closing the gate of the Vyrab enclosure, mumbling something about getting more feed.
'Perhaps this would be a good time,' Johnny thought, loading a text file within his system.
He hesitantly reached out and tapped Henry on his shoulder.
He turned after dealing with the last of the Vyrabs scratching at his feet, "Yeah?"
Johnny's vocalizor emitted white static for a moment, "I do not mean to offend but," He pulled a folded piece of paper from a cloth bag wrapped around his waist, "If you don't mind me asking who this-"
Henry snatched the paper out of his hands and stuffed it into his pocket, "Where'd you find that?" His face contorted into an expression unrecognizable to Johnny's photo-receptors.
His arms jerked. A very subtle movement that no organic could perceive but he felt it. He felt the need to look for a blaster, to shoot anything that moved. Just as quickly as it came, he terminated the thought. But it kept coming back no matter how many times he killed the process.
Johnny internally sighed, 'And just when I thought I'd gotten control of it'
"It was inside a coat stored in the dresser of my – the room where I recharge," Johnny said, mindful of his words.
Henry looked away, back towards the farmhouse. Todd was driving around his speeder bike plowing through the dirt on his own.
"My father wrote it, that's all you need to know," Henry looked into Johnny's stoic eyes, "Don't go prodding into things that aren't yours"
They stared at each other for a few seconds. Henry finally broke sight and gestured for Johnny to follow.
'I don't understand much about organics but sometimes they are very expressive'
The insects were once again singing their usual tunes. Somewhere nearby a bird chirped relentlessly. The howling wind continued to blow against the walls of the barn.
Johnny shifted in place, pushing himself further against the stack of hay bales behind him. He carefully swept away the straw that he'd placed atop the grappler droid. The rustle of the dried grass sounded awfully loud to his audio-receptors.
Using the lessons learned during the day, he lowered the volume of his vocalizor.
"I will repair you, I promise. How long that will take, I don't know but I'll do it," Johnny whispered, his voice disappearing within the sea of noises outside, "I need you here. You're the only one left out of all those that died out there," He peeked around the corner, checking the rest of the barn and ensuring it's giant doors hadn't been opened. He shifted to be on his knees and took a gander at the grappler's entire body in a futile attempt to make sense of his inner workings.
His metal digits scraped over his abdomen, searching for any loose bolt or panel. He fell back onto his metal bottom and rested a hand on his nose, 'Now I don't know where to start, again'
He perused his memory unit while keeping track of the time. His head jerked at the memory of seeing a set of metal tools in his room while cleaning it.
"I'll be right back," Johnny whispered, clambering out of his spot.
A few moments later, he carried a set of three tools in his hands. He placed each one on the ground individually without making a sound.
He picked up the first, a simple flat-head screwdriver.
'Henry didn't say much about this thing, only that it's ancient but still serves its use,' Johnny thought.
He poked and prodded at every crevice and panel he could find on the grappler's body from front to back.
Eventually, only his head was left for him to check. It was embedded into his torso just as with every other B2.
There was a hint of burn damage towards the top of it with scorch marks around the top edge of his head. His menacing photo-receptors stared straight into his own.
"I've never looked at one of you B2s this close before," Johnny whispered, taking a moment to take in his features, "I can see why the organics are afraid of droids like you," He shuffled around to look at the top of his head. Several wires were exposed along with some parts of his internal circuit boards, "This doesn't look too bad. The wires were the only thing burning up, I think"
He fiddled around with the cables, pulling and examining them with a gentle grip. Though, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't decipher a single thing about what they did and how to fix them.
The temperature of his internal hardware sharply rose, he pushed the grappler away and slammed down onto the floor, his arms resting on his knees as he sat contemplating.
'What do I do?' Johnny thought, 'The galactanet doesn't have anything about…' His head swiveled as he looked up to the ceiling of the barn as if he were looking for visible radio signals in the air, 'They don't have anything about battle droids, but they do have information about other droids'
He scrambled back onto his feet and grabbed handfuls of straw, throwing them atop the grappler droid in a hurry. His footsteps carried him back outside. He tip-toed back up the porch and peeked inside the front entrance. The couches were still vacant, only a single dim light lit up the entire room along with the kitchen on the far side of the building. He hurried in and locked the door behind him. Before he knew it, he was back in his bed, hooked up to the charging station with a cable running directly to his abdomen.
'I don't need to sleep like organics do, I can do research all night long,' Johnny thought. He set up a line to the galactanet, devouring all information he could find on the inner workings of a typical humanoid droid.