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A pair of Ipsolatai came into the chamber today. They were moving very slowly,
and one of them seemed to be almost lopsided. They moved a lot faster and seemed
to get very upset when they saw Commander Perry. They touched him all over with
machines and loaded him onto some sort of a moving cart and rushed him away. Later
they came back for Nelson. We're alone here now. I can hear the Ipsolstai moving
around again. I can also hear a lot of other noises. Bad noises. I don't think
the ship is in very good shape anymore.
The ship is crippled.
The One knows.
We are moving too rapidly.
Outward.
Rendezvous is necessary.
A ship comes.
Sent by the One.
Andrew reporting.
I saw only a brief part of the code that Daniel was watching on the computer screen.
It consisted of 105 groups of five binary integers. I have concluded that the grouping
is arbitrary, but I have not been able to arrange the digits in any meaningful spacing.
I will continue to try different combinations.
...10001 00111 00110 11101 00111 11101 01010 11110...
The code does not seem to be of Ipsolstai origin, because they would express this
information as black/white off/on rather than using binary digits. Also, I speculate
that the Ipsolstai might more logically use base six with pixels of various colors.
Isaac reports that the computer is now in fully operant condition. He too watched the stream of binary data with intense interest.
"Bette, I think we should assume command of the ship. Commander Perry and the
crew are obviously in no condition to continue. We could take action and possibly
save the Ipsolstai and ourselves, too. What do you think?"
"Elder Brother, it's definitely partially metallic. That was your fourth question,
correct? I need that for statistical reasons."
Dr.D, It's not true that I ask EB things that he can't know. If I'd ask him what you
wear on your nose, how many questions do you think that he would have needed to
find that out? I guess less than five.
Koala, I stopped microscopic viewing. That light bulb destroyed all the little nestbrothers,
and I don't like that. I went with Zachary to look for the new vehicle that EB is sending.
It was not easy for me to cross the ice field, because I didn't want to step on that glowing
stuff. That's not okay if you know it's alive.
We returned to the bottom of that steep slope where Gen is relaying. I can see the
lights of that vehicle. It's still far up. Its spotlights are shining vertically, so it's
still climbing down that huge rock face. It's going so slowly that it could take days
to get down here.
Now it has reached the top of the slope. Its spotlights are directly pointing toward us.
"Zachary, watch out!"
The vehicle is coming down at full speed. It's riding on top of a rockslide, in a cascade
of bouncing gravel. We are going to get buried by rocks! No, it's not really dangerous.
They aren't going to come that close. The vehicle threw out its anchor. The anchor is
digging into the gravel. The vehicle stops.
What a thrill. The vehicle stopped only a few meters ahead of us. Zachary and I are
fully covered with gravel up to the base plate of our casing. Never mind. It was a
great stunt anyway.
Both Theresa and I are glad to have a break from the Ipsolstai and all the talk
to reach their concensus. It took a long time, and except for worrying about Caleb
getting away with his lies, it was really quite boring.
Theresa is concerned about the mark on her casing that the projectile left. It is
actually quite small and inconspicuous, but she keeps asking me to pick it off.
"Don't worry about it, Theresa. I think we can use some sand to scour it smooth.
No one will ever notice."
Why can't I have at least minimal adequate assistance?
If the subject escapes again, if you ever permit that to happen again,
you will regret it, Mr. Parker.
For the rest of your life.
It was spectacular the way that vehicle came down the slope.
It looks good. Exactly like one of the caterpillar units. It has treads, winches and
cables at its front and its rear, two spotlights on top that can turn fully around,
and also a video camera fixed outside. But the big innovation is a flat plate on top
of its cockpit that is fixed by six wing nuts.
I removed that top plate. The cockpit is the same as the one in the caterpillar. EB
has cut a groove at the bottom side of that plate that runs around the cockpit.
He filled this groove with flexible cable sheath to keep the water from getting into the
cockpit.
"Yes, Elder Brother. We found a good place to enter the water. Of course, we will
test the vehicle before we use it."
The vehicle slowly enters the water. We build a proper ramp, so it can easily slide
down. Don't worry, the water is shallow at this site. Kola, the hole that we cut into
the ice looks like a channel. I was thinking of you, when we cut it.
The vehicle is now fully covered with water. No bubbles rising. We keep waiting.
Mao is turning its spotlights and its video sensors, moving them forward and back. It looks
good to me.
"Mao, let's get it up again."
The cockpit is dry. Now the question comes up, who is going to use it? The cockpit
has space for only two probes.
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