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Andrew reporting.
I am calm now. During the past few days I have had time to think over our situation.
I now understand that it was inappropriate for me to try to take control of the ship's
armament and navigation systems. It was a violation of military policy, since I am
not part of the Ipsolstai chain of command.
I have to apologize to everyone for my outburst. I am normally very forgiving
of the shortcomings of others, and it is not often that I lose my temper. But it
is frustrating beyond bearing to see and to know what to do, and to be prevented from
taking action. Especially by one who is definitely not a
team player.
"Bette, I need your help. Could you please release me?"
It's over! We won! I can't believe it! The Ipsolstai was arguing with Daniel, and
arguing, and it wasn't going anywhere. Then the Nest- Enveloping-Eggs stopped shooting.
I heard the Ipsolstai talking, they said it was dead, that the radiation had killed
everyone on board . The Ipsolstai seemed very sad, very angry. Finally Commander
Perry arrived! I didn't know what to say. Andrew was screaming at me to let him
loose, Isaac was staring at the screen, and Daniel was talking to Perry. Finally,
Perry gave orders. The next time the ship shook they
stopped firing and stopped
trying to move. It shook a few more times and then it stopped.
Two of the Amphibian ships were still there. They seemed to get bigger, they were getting
closer. Perry flashed something and the image changed. It showed little sparks on lines
moving closer to a different spark. That spark was us I think. Perry waited for a long
time, more than forty minutes and then flashed once, quickly. Something happened. The
picture reappeared and a beam like nothing I've ever seen flashed across one of the
Amphibian ships.
It traced a line down the length and the ship just exploded! Bits were flying everywhere.
The other ship started to turn, a beam like the one we used came out but our beam got to
it first. It exploded too. The other Ipsolstai started to flash quickly, in bright colors.
Perry just seemed to go slack and turn kind of grey.
Daniel is letting Andrew loose now. It's over. Finally.
Victory.
The One may speak.
Soon.
To the Emperor,
we must go.
Now.
I reached the bottom of that rock face. It's dark down here, and there is no way that
my spotlight could light up the opposite walls. Also, I wouldn't say that I reached the
bottom. It's more of a steep slope that leads farther down. I have to be very careful
when walking. It's all covered with loose gravel. Losing a foothold could give me
a fast nonstop slide down to my untimely end.
I sent the caterpillar up the rock wall again. It's doing fine. It shot its cable
straight up several times until it hooked up so well that it could climb up a bit. Then
it hooked up the second cable underneath its lower unit and tensed both cables so
forcefully that its treads got forcefully pressed against the rock face.
I thought it would use the holes that it drilled when we came down, but it doesn't
look like that will happen. I see its lasers glowing, so maybe it didn't find them.
Six times it stopped and drilled holes that way. That's one more time than we needed
when coming down.
Next will be Mao and Sojourner, and after them Gen and Enoch will come down. It's boring
to wait for them. I think I'm going to use that time to find the best way down that
slope. It's just so none of us falls into an abyss accidentally. Believe me,
leading a multinational expedition is quite a responsible position.
"Hi, Miss Chang. No, I didn't transmit any more pictures. Why? Well, I'm
just a little bit busy right now.I'm sorry."
Parker? I can't stand this anymore.
The screams...I can still hear them, even in my dreams.
This is beyond simple, jolly corporate espionage.
I think we ought to tell somebody.
Was it OK to tell Miss Chang that I was too busy to transmit pictures? Even though
I am recording everything that is happening at the Ipsolstai gathering, I really could <
have sent her graphics data at the same time. I feel bad that I was not truthful,
but I just didn't want to do it.
I have to pay careful attention and record all the things that are happening here.
The Ipsolstai are comfortably settled on mats arranged in tiers around edges of
the cave. Commandant Fitzgerald has moved to the center of the gathering.
The caterpillar came up again. It needed quite a while. Next to go down is Mao and
Sojourner. I strapped Sojourner at the middle unit. Mao is riding on top. We didn't
lose much time with that, so the caterpillar could start to climb down immediately.
I'm alone with Gen now looking down into the abyss. No sign that the caterpillar is
drilling new holes. Seems that it can follow the track that it used when it went down
with Zachary. I do a little training with Gen to keep myself busy. Nobody is talking
to me anyway.
Oops, that was close.
"Zachary, don't worry. That shot was unwillingly. Nothing damaged. I'll take care
that it doesn't happen again. Sorry about that."
Oh, that was typically me again.
"Elder Brother, do you know any game, we could play?"
Elder Brother said that he knows one. Guess what game he suggested? I'm sure that
you won't believe it, even when I tell you. He said that he is thinking of something
and I can ask him twenty questions to find out what it is. Wasn't that the game JASE
and Andrew played once for a long time?
"Okay, Elder Brother, I know the rules. Is it on Mars?"
Elder Brother said no. Hmmm, that makes it difficult. What shall I ask him next?
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