What can two simple toys do in the face of near impossible tasks? The only thing many could do, one step at a time. It is not an easy task, but doable. All it took was taking the area apart, piece by piece. What could be pulled was pulled, what could not be was crushed or dismantled the best the two toys could. Wires were spun into spools, sheets beaten and dragged outside. By the end of what was over a week of hard labor and close calls, the pair was able to provide an adequate clearing around their starting base of operations. There was one issue at present. Despite the ingenuity and the relative strength of your small bodies, you both are still not capable of removing things such as steel beams or human sized boulders, the weight itself would crush you if not for some clever positioning, allowing for some of the objects to safely fall into stable grounding to prevent tripping and falling into a rebar laden death pit.
Some unspecified time later you the Quadruped had struck up conversations with the Futura, of different queries that had sat in the back of your servos.
"Size?"
"Of what?" asked Futura as she helped drag the last bits of the small clearing.
"Of our Project. I was wondering how big this Tower should be." you inquired pulling the larger bits with wires and ropes strapped to your bodies.
"Not much."
"What do you mean?"
"Of course it wouldn't be much. Only two of us, and no tools. What did you expect, a skyscraper?"
"I was hoping for a space elevator size."
In that instant, Futura paused their work, as if to process the entirety of the context and the implications of such a statement, in such stalling 5 seconds had passed, an eternity for creatures such as them. After such thought, they had only one conclusion.
"You are an ignorant fool. We are but two robots without tools or numbers to craft such a task. Do you even know how to build a space elevator, much less a tower of such size?"
"No but I'd like to. And I think she'd like it too."
Another pause.
"If she wants it, then it will be done. And if this is by your insistence, I propose you provide a solution." Futura said with a sneer.
"It's quite simple. We just have to get more of that liquid I covered you in to wake them all up, and find more tools to do the job. I'm sure somewhere there are methods to fix things. And look at how much we have done in so little time. It wouldn't take too long for it to be built. Maybe we can even show it to her on her birthday! Or a wedding present, or-"
"You don't even know where she is, much less a birthday."
"We can worry about that later, for now we have achieved some work.
"In exchange, might I ask you to provide another favor? I have no idea how to fix these quakes. They come up seemingly at random, they destroy my attempts to build a nice pile, and there is little way to find a safer path with how far it would take." the Quadruped inquires.
"A simple request. We just have to stab the earth"
"I'm not sure how stabbing the ground makes the ground behave."
"The spikes will absorb some of the tremors, and make the dirt more stable. If you want this tower, we need to at least make sure the thing doesn't fall to pieces."
"Is that possible"
"Of course it is, it is me we are talking about, now put your body to use and follow my lead."
In the course of several days you two had worked diligently, in both looking for some of the coveted liquid to revive the others, and prepping their next major milestone.
In their clearing they had in their attempts dug deep into the earth and compacting the walls with their limbs and slithers. And in each deep pit, a collection of metal rods had been inserted and planted like an iron trunk into the reddish soil.
And in your collective efforts, the clearing was surrounded by a ring of rod bundles and solid beams, carefully inserted using a collection of pulleys and levers made from their collective knowledge of previous experiments when She was testing things for classes. Those were some good days you had thought. It seemed like such a lovely time with so many of you working nonstop fulfilling Her whims. Sure you and others got into trouble when Her Parents returned to see the messes, but in your defense it always seemed like a good idea at the time.
Returning back to the present, Futura was using their body and internal instruments to test the seismic activities.
"I wouldn't say this would be up to the standards of a gift worthy of Her, but it should be enough to start." Futura said approvingly.
"Then it shall start! I can hardly wait to start building." you chirped already laying down some heavy building materials as a floor.
"We are not lacking in materials, but we can find more quality sources later, once we can figure out some things such as cutting tools or more precise equipment. But that will be for later."
Another day had passed and you had managed upon something miraculous, laying not too far from where you were, was another container from where you had started building the first floor of the Tower. Futura had notified you with a typical annoyed hurriedness, and aided you in dragging the cylindrical thing with some unknown language marked across its etching and panels.
While both of you were skeptical of its use, it no doubt was a better substitute than remaining dormant.
As you two had placed it open to collect in a cup, you two had to decide which new Friend would be best in aiding your efforts of building.
You needed better forging abilities to start making better walls. You needed someone to better travel across the hazardous area. And you needed more expertise to start building. While the two of you had managed to build an entire floor, and while it is impressive considering the two of you, it was still in a word, ugly. It was not to exacting standards and looked haphazard, as if to remind you of the fact that hard work without proper education leads to flaws that force themselves to be known despite your best efforts. Regardless, a new Friend would be more than suitable to help.
[x] Forge: A rather simple minded creation of Hers made with careful observation from Her parents. They can help make the better things possible with some tools they have in their systems
[x] Dragonfly: Designed when She was not able to go outside, and when simple sites were not good enough, this one was able to fly far distances to find all sorts of things. Even when that often got them into trouble with the law. Something about privacies.
[x] Builder: A somewhat peculiar thing, it's fragile looking design betrays it's strength and knowledge. When She wanted something to be made, She had it provide some tools, or a quick reference. Maybe this one can provide more ability to turn the Tower from the image of a "Shanty Town" to something a bit more impressive?
