 |
|
Andrew reporting.
Hamlet, I see only one set of tracks going off in the direction of Olympus. I saw many tracks
around the Stage 2 lander site where we started building the station. It almost looks like
someone was investigating. Maybe snooping is a better word. Bette sent me a good picture from the site. I will retransmit it for you.
You can see the deep trenches that we dug to outsmart any enemies. These tracks cross
them as easily as if they were scratched in the sand with a stick. It's hard to imagine anything
so big.
I have Isaac close by. We kept ourselves mostly at the edge of the mountain range
and crossed to the rough ground using that crack over there to take cover. Isaac knows
another game now. It's hide and seek. He is so funny. He is climbing up the walls
of the crack, puts his sensors over the edge and shouts:" You won't get me."
Hamlet, the tracks are over here too. They are also running through the passage
between the crack and the rough ground. As I see, they are coming straight from
north. Nothing unusual to see over there, just an empty plain that leads up to some
hills at the northern horizon.
We are going to check the hidden place, where we've carried the platform over.
So Isaac will learn about it too. - Al-Q, everything's fine over here. No tracks
around and the platform is still sealed off. Do you know, what Isaac said, when
we reached there? He said: "I got you !!" He went on top of the rockslide, faced
the platform and shouted: "I got you !!" He is a good probe. Educating him is
fun.
"Isaac, come on. We are crossing the plain to the northwest escarpment now.
We must very careful, while we do that. Isaac, I'm going to show you a new game.
It's called 360 degrees observation. Do you like that? Okay, keep yourself very
close in front of me when moving, so I have you always in sight. Direction is
exactly south east."
He is heading on and his sensors are very carefully turning around. Don't worry
Andrew, nothing unusual over here, everything is roger.
I guess I can wait long enough to do diagnostics for my new legs, xciever-dpuk. It's probably
a good idea. I was excited to be going again. But I don't have any neuro-feedback
subsystems. I don't have any neurons at all. They don't wear very well. Just ask Dr. D.,
he knows about probe design. But I need to know something: What does half cocked
mean? I'm a whole probe now.
You think you found an extra satellite, Al-Qahira? Besides Phobos and Deimos? With an
orbital period of 11:09:08 hrs? I'll look for it at the western horizon tonight after 1:15:50. How
big is it? Phobos will be past the zenith by then. I hope it isn't too hazy to see anything.
Daniel has picked up the viewer/translator that Burn left. He's just fooling around with the
buttons.
"Hey, Daniel, give me that thing and quit playing with it. Gail needs to use it for some serious business. She wants to contact the Ipsolstai."
I have the device that Burn left. IT has a lot of colored panels on it, but the panels don't stay the
same color. They change and warp. It is very hard to watch. It is like when Burn talks. We hear
him, but his skin changes through all sorts of funny colors. I tried touching the panels and they
changed colors, but not like before. It was different. It was strange. I tried it a few more times
and then the picture of the Ipsos disappeared and turned into a picture of one of them. It is
smaller than Burn, maybe a little larger than Caleb. Then it spoke:
"I want a new transmitter for Daniel. Can you help us? Don't you have one? Pretty please with sugar on top?"
I'm still waiting.
I'm still trying to reassemble the solar station. It's like a puzzle. I've checked the
files of the drones. Maybe they know something about the solar station. They
have some files about it. Mainly how to unpack and how to carry it. Oh, there is
something. This file shows how to install the solar station. It isn't much, but it
helps a little. Hmm, these three parts are the contacts to the sun sails.
This one must be the power switch on the left side and the controls have to be
placed over there. Okay, so I can put these parts aside. Let's look deeper inside.
Yes, the pattern of the threads will show how I have to place the modules. Fine,
let's see which part belongs to which module. Oh, there is Enoch coming.
"Enoch, I know that it's late at night, but I'm still working on that solar station.
What's that image on Burn's device? An orbiter? Where is it? Right above us?
Yes, now I can see it too. It's moving. But quite slowly. So it must be far out. -
What, it's moving against the rotation? Wow. And that satellite is relaying that
ping to Earth?"
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |