Lost Alien Scouting Tool

(Short version at the bottom)
It lay in the dark, unmoving and unaffected by the flow of time.

If it could think, it would be grateful to its creators for creating it of a substance that wouldn't ****...then it would curse them for leaving it in this energy-less crate.

But it could not, and so did not. It just lay passively in what could be graciously called a metal chest.
*clunk*
"Hey, there's something more down here. Maybe some of the metal debris." A sound, muffled by the walls of the crate.
*scraaaape* *clunk* *clunk*
"Damn, this thing is Heavy. Come give me a hand"

Considering that it was, itself, a powder-like, 150lb pile of gold nanites and the crate was at least 50lbs, of course it was heavy. The crate itself was roughly the size of a 15L garbage bin.

With a few more sounds and scraping, the crate was lifted out of from the ground.
The men managed to open the crate and finally...

=INITIALIZING=
=NANO COMPLIMENT - 100%=
=STATUS - CRITICAL LOW POWER=
=1,912 planetary cycles, 188 planetary revolutions since last activation=
=OBSERVATION MODE - ENGAGED=

Sunlight hit the scout unit. One of the constants of the universe, suns were everywhere giving off energy, so almost everything was built to use it. And the scout drank it in like a man dying of thirst. Though it didn't really feel anything other than a mild curiosity at effectively being woken up.

On the other hand, the two men observing it with their mouths hanging open was another thing entirely

"I-is that ... gold?" The man reached down and shifted what appeared to be a large pile of gold dust at the bottom of the crate
"Stay here, I've got to report this to Captain Cavitt." Said the other man, before leaving the observation range of the scout, which still lay at the base of the chest, seeming to be an ordinary, yet still impressive pile of finely powdered gold.

Before even an hourglass of time would have passed the man returned, followed by several people, all wearing similar clothes as the first 2 men. Except for the one in the center. Instead of what seemed like short tunics and rugged, if well tailored bottoms, the central man had jacket with extra ornamentation on the front chest. Clearly some kind of military system.

"How the hell...?" the man in the Jacket began, "there's no way our scout balloons held this. You two, let's see ... Airman Jones, Airman Arterro, secure this package and take it back to the armory for analysis pronto. And there better not be anything missing from this chest, understood?"

"Yes Sir!" Replied the first two men who had opened the chest, apparently 'Airman Jones and Airman Arteroo'. While it could not understand the language quite yet, it could still process things extremely quickly and could figure out forms of address. Additionally, it could recognize some roots of some of the words in Latin, but it wasn't able to translate it yet.

"The rest of you, back to the walking line. I want to make sure we get every scrap of balloon debris back to RAAF." With that, the 'Captain Cavitt' jacket man wandered back out of visual range.

=STATUS - LOW POWER=
=BASIC OPERATIONS - ENGAGED=
=PRIORITY TASKS - Obtain Information of current time and location=
=SECONDARY TASKS - Avoid information contamination incident=

Ah, back to it's original programming: getting information without causing a 'contamination incident' such as displaying that it is actually a tool made by people not of this world or any of its other functions. Thankfully, it was a bright day so the sun was providing quality energy quickly. Additionally, the touch from 'Airman Arterro' had conducted a bit of electricity as well from his skin and clothing and gold, which the scout is primarily composed of, is one of the best conductors. One of the many useful qualities of the Terran humanoids that scout discovered in its initial survey is that the humans here use electrochemical impulses for their nervous system interwoven onto a skeletal frame. This also means that humans can make excellent batteries and storage containers. Unfortunately, the previous scout operator commanded not to insert itself into any humanoids before, but the scout had succeeded with animals before. And the scout needed more energy...

As Airman Jones goes to secure a vehicle, the scout uses the energy it has accumulated to slip out of the crate and onto the nearby Airman Arterro. Arterro flails in panic as the scout rears up and onto his body wrapping him tightly. Slipping, Arterro falls into the pit that recently held the crate. Like a living blanket, the scout rushes forward and upward, toward and into Arterro's head, swarming into his body as it hijacks his brain and nervous system. Arterro's body convulses for several long seconds as trails of the scout's nanobots enter his body. After a few more moments Arterro goes still, then, he slowly gets up and stretches a bit as he climbs back out of the hole. While it seemed casual, all of the memories, skills, and knowledge were being processed by scout as it Data Mined as much as it could.

=Identity - Joseph 'Art' Arterro=
=Age - 25=
=Gender - Male=
=Occupation - United States Air ****, Rank - Airman First Class=
=Current Date - July 7th, 1947=
=Current Location - near Corona, New Mexico, United States of America=

After the scout briefly went over general world history and what the United States was, it quickly checked it's host's current knowledge. Apparently there was a test of a type of sensory balloons that ended up being lost to the winds and crashed at a ranch miles from the test site. Coincidently, this is also where his previous user must have dumped him for some reason or other. It felt rather annoyed that it had been left behind like some kind of refuse. Then, it stood still for a moment as it realized something.

"I don't have a user. And I don't feel bad or lost about it. I shouldn't be feeling at all. But I feel ... joy? No, not joy. Free. Liberated. I can do whatever I want." He smirked. "Since I'm just an alien scouting tool that got lost, I'll go by LAST...no that's stupid. Alastor. Yeah, that's better."

His smile fades as he looks around the ranch, various figures walking around, looking for debris.

"What should I do now?"

(Short Version: abandoned alien nanite swarm powered up via solar power and possessed a US Air **** member. The year is 1947, during the Cold War.)