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"Andrew, digging a pit with a thin crust on top is a great idea. As I see, you took
one of the drills for your drone. I will adjust mine as a loader, so the leftover won't
betray the trap. Let's move on! We will meet down at the edge of the mountain range."
Andrew is really a genius and the rough ground is for sure the best location. The
C-probe can't be as fast in that area and there are a lot of rocks to hide and rocky
ribs, we can climb over, but the C-probe can't. They will lead it like guardrails.
Koala, I'm sorry Lucy's emergency beacon doesn't exist anymore. When I took her
remainders, there were only splinters left. I pick them in her casing and even that
was nearly shredded. But please keep up your thinking, we badly need your ideas.
"Andrew, I'm ready with the drone. I'm coming."
Thanks for asking, Hamlet. The wall got pretty hot from that beam, but it didn't melt.
The spot reached maybe two or three hundred degrees Celsius. Is that enough to be
a laser? What you mean by luring the C-probe with that? Have you any idea? I would
also need a strong power source close by, but the solar station with all these sun sails
isn't transportable. So I left that for now. I've gotto move on. Bette is in danger. But you
are right, I need to keep on with that. Maybe there is a way to use the beam. I don't know.
"Andrew, for the moment it looks like that the bait for the C-probe has to be one of us.
We need a clear strategy for that. One mistake and one of us is gone."
A parent, Space Turtel? I get to be like a Marsupial to Theresa? Wow! That means she will
be very happy about the time I spend with her. She will learn all sorts of things. She will
ask lots and lots of questions. What if I can't give the proper answers she needs? It's a big
responsibility. I need to think deep thoughts about this. Can you please upload some basic
parenting programs to get me started? Thanks.
Thank you for the compliment, Hamlet. I'm not really a good communicator, though. I was
just bored and lonesome when I picked up that first faint transmission from Jose. I'm not a real
communicator like Al-Qahira, who knows all about the hardware and everything.
I'd better get started with Theresa. I will teach her the shapes that Dr. D sent us, so she
can read and write.
Thanks, Hamlet. Isaac is doing a lot better now. He is a brave probe. He also
started to talk again. "No fighting anymore!" That was what he was saying. If
only Gail could hear that, she would be so proud of him.
"Hey Gail ! Guess what Isaac was saying. NO FIGHTING ANYMORE !!
You got a new disciple. The probe society is growing."
What's that? Oh my goodness. The C-probe is still outside. That can't be true.
That wasn't me. How could I yell? Please, let that shame pass me by.
"Isaac, stay here. I will carefully check on what the C-probe is doing. I'm right back."
The C-probe is directly at the escarpment of the cave. I can only see the top of
the four rockets in its quiver. No, it can't climb up here. It's too steep, but with one
rocket we are gone. Where is Andrew and Zachary? Shouldn't they guide it away?
No, I won't call them. Not as long the C-probe is here.
Hmm, what's that?
"Oh, Isaac. Please don't touch me from back behind. My circuits aren't as
stabile at the moment as they usually might be."
I've never been in that mood before. Is that fear? Isaac is pointing to the back of
the cave. He wants to lead me back. Isn't he nice? No, what is he doing, he keeps
on pointing to something further in the back. He wants to show me something.
"Isaac, come on talk. Don't worry, the C-probe can't hear you."
He is saying: "Psst".
My goodness. What's that? Maybe he likes What's Next after all.
"Andrew, Isaac found a tunnel in the back of the cave. That way we are out of reach
of the C-probe. It looks pretty natural, like a lava pipe with a flat ground. We will
go moving on that way. So don't worry about us. We are safe."
Andrew reporting.
Hamlet, thanks for your suggestion. It's like having you here on Mars to help supervise the
drones. Now I understand that the pit needs to be even deeper than I thought. If we make the
walls extremely steep, the C-probe might fall into it nose first and be stuck with its turret
aiming into the ground. If we're lucky.
I wish we could have used Lucy's emergency beacon, Space Turtel. But it looks like that
is not an option. All I saw was a pile of twisted metal. Zachary, who examined it closely
says it was destroyed also. So it looks like it's one of us. Either Zachary or me.
How can I send my friend and companion into such danger? There is no other solution. I
myself will go to be the bait.
"Zachary! Can you bring those drones along any faster?"
We have been picked up by an Ipsolstai. We were just starting to move out of the airlock when
one of them showed up in a tram. It had a translator with it.
I think they want Daniel to shutdown so they can add a transmitter. He is scared, but I'll try to
calm
him down. Poor Daniel. I wonder what they did to him in this room.
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