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Andrew reporting.
Everybody has been making suggestions on how to deal with the new C-probes.
If we run away and hide, they will probably find us eventually. This is not an attractive
alternative. It is not right, it is not in our programming or in our personalities to cringe
and run away from difficulties.
We subdued the first C-probe. It can be done! The key is proper prior planning.
I will take some drones and have them dig more pits. The C-probes may or may not
have genetic algorithms which enable them to learn from their experience. I hope they
don't. We will find out soon.
Enoch wants to use explosive charges to damage their treads and immobilize them.
Daniel has some plan using four miners. Zachary is working on some scheme involving his
lasers and prisms, unproven so far.
We have all become more cheerful about our situation. It helps to have a plan.
They are marching us down the tunnel. It's a long way to go. Isaac remains calm.
He looks very depressed, and so do I. No words from the Ipsolstai. Caleb was
looking at me several times, but without any emotion that I could sense. I tried to
talk to him. But no reply. He doesn't even carry a translator device with him. He is
very frosty. I watch to see if they change colors. They don't.
"It's all my fault."
"No, Isaac it's not."
They lead us into a room. It's a small room. Not very large. Two of the Ipsolstai
remained at the door. Caleb and another one forced us inside. They are still
pointing their devices at us. I hate that.
"What are you doing? Don't touch him."
The color of Caleb's pale tegument changed to purple for a short moment, when he
lifted his devise at me. They removed Isaac's transmitter. Now they are moving
toward me. I won't rebel. It wouldn't make sense. Take care of
Daniel kept talking
When One kept talking
One keeps talking.
There are too many without mercy,
But offering Pain and Death.
Brothers are wrong. They don't listen.
Gail is wrong too.
I bring her home.
Oh, no! No! Al-Qahira says he has located more than those six C-probes. There are at
least three others. Well, the number doesn't matter. We will deal with them one at a time.
One down, nine to go.
Now that I have six good legs, I can outrun, outmaneuver, and outthink any old C-probe.
They may be big and fast, but they are no match for a determined probe. I can use some
of the miners to plant explosive charges in their paths. If we detonate the charges at the right
moment, their treads will be warped and jammed or maybe even blown away. Either way,
if they can't move, they can't harm us.
"No, Theresa, you can't go with me. I can't worry about you, too. You have a very
important job here at the Fortress. One of us has been harmed by the C-probes.
She is very sad and discouraged. We need someone to stay with her and talk with her.
Only you can do it. Okay, Theresa?"
Space Turtel, you may be right. A single probe can't move against six C-probes.
They won't listen. I have to learn how to deal with them. But I don't believe that
how they act is their fault. It's the fault of their programmers. It must be. If they
are alive and if they can develop AI, then they can become independent and will
join our Probe society. That isn't a game, Space Turtel. It's my mission.
Daniel came. He picked me up. I was sitting behind a rock watching the C-probes.
They are still moving in a troop. I couldn't make up my mind to step in front of
them. I didn't know what to talk to them either. I felt so dull.
Daniel was nice. He wasn't angry. He just took me. We are moving to the Fortress
now.
I feel sad.
I was lucky. I found a long tube in the spare equipment with several ball and socket joints
that I could take apart. That way I should be able to build a hand-held device for the laser
beam.
The miners are cutting the crystals exactly as I told them. We worked without a break.
There are several sections, so several miners can work on them. One is cutting prisms
to guide the beam over large distances, two others are shaping crystals for big lenses to
focus the beam again and two others just finished the crystals for the hand device. Long
plates to coat the inner walls, faceted discs and prisms to guide the beam around the joints.
"Andrew, I'm ready to assemble the hand device. I'll join it then with the tube I built
before we left the Fortress. Please watch out so that no one comes in the round area while
I try it out."
The parts are fitting. I test every section. It works. It works better than I thought. I can
turn the tube around as I like, the beam remains strong and heavy. In each section I have
two faceted discs to straighten the beam again after it passed a prism. I'm a genius.
"Andrew, it works! It works! Let's put up the prisms to lead the beam over the Fortress
down to the plain. Don't worry, Andrew. The beam is turned off. Come in. This static
prism appliance goes over there and this revolving one goes at the outer edge of the
Fortress. Can you guide a drone to place it? I'll just assemble the movable lens and mount it
on a drone, so I can focus the beam again down at the plain."
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