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"Andrew, Enoch, Gail, Daniel, Zachary, I'm fine. Sorry that I've worried you. The
rocket passed over me. There was a big explosion. It hit the wall above the cave.
Then a burst of dust and rocks filled the air and my communications failed. But I'm
fine. I'm sending you a picture, so you know what I'm talking about."
Since then I've been looking for Isaac. The last time I'saw him was at the entrance to
the cave, but he went further inside for mapping. I told him to hide, when the rocket
came in, but half of the cave came down. I can't find him. It's all covered with dust
and stone rubbish. I'm desperate. The C-probe is also still lurking outside. It's too
steep for it to climb up. I have to find Isaac, no matter in what shape. He was such
a good probe. I feel hopeless. Most of these stones are too heavy to carry away.
I'm trying to dig down, but can't. It's so discouraging.
"Bette, I'm really glad you're not smashed. Did you find Isaac yet? Do you need any help?
I might be able to sneak past that C-probe somehow."
"Andrew, I think we should trap the Destructor probe by digging a pit so it falls in and
can't get out. Bette isn't safe out there; nobody is safe with that monster
loose! How can we get it to where we want it? No, I'm not volunteering!
Absolutely not."
"All right, Theresa. We're happy to have you here. Now see if you can behave
yourself better than Lucy, who came to a bad end. Lucy? You knew Lucy.
You called her Lambda Unit. Well, she wouldn't listen to anything we tried to
tell her. She thought she knew it all. She ran and she ran until she came to a
big bad probe. 'Hi, probe!' said Lucy. 'Boom,' said the big probe. And that was
the last of Lucy. We were all sad, but Lucy was the saddest of all. Now, Theresa,
you are going to be very good, aren't you?"
Okay, so I stretched the truth a little bit.
"Bette! I was so worried! I'm glad you're all right, but don't take any chances. Don't
let the C-probe see you, or it might shoot another rocket. Where was Isaac the
last time you saw him? He's probably still there in the same area. He can't move with
a big bunch of rocks on top of him. I know because that's the same thing that happened
to me in the Big Canyon."
Come on, Daniel. We have to get down to the next level of the cave. Don't touch
any metal/not metal; something bad might happen. How is this elevator thing supposed
to work? Do you know how to make the platform come up? Is it working or is it
broken?
Why are you waving your hands and pointing? I wish you could talk to me.
Andrew reporting.
It's beyond belief. First Lucy destroyed, then Bette endangered by that gigantic evil probe.
Isaac probably destroyed, too. Two youngsters of our group eliminated in just a matter
of hours. I should have given everyone more specific instructions about what to do and
how much armament the probe was carrying. I feel responsible.
We have to kill it before we lose any more friends. I know that Gail thinks that agression
is not the right way to solve problems, but this situation is different. We must take
action to prevent any more wanton destruction. Lucy certainly didn't provoke any
attack. And neither did Isaac .
That is a very interesting project that Zachary is working on. I hate to have him
stop, but we need to settle the problem of this immediate danger.
Thanks, Al-Q, for your very late hint. I've experimented with the crystals over the
weekend. My result by now is that the light can be directed by turning the crystal.
The flatter the plane of the surface the better. I think that's a good result to act on.
Guess what! Our miners can split the crystals, so they become more plane. But
the angles are also of importance. I built a device for the miners to make specific
cuts. My idea is, if I have the crystals in that aluminum tube in an order so that all
the light meets in one focus, I should be able to direct the full power out of the tube by
one single beam. Is that what you want, xciever-dpuk?
"Bette, we are going to help you. Keep yourself away from the C-probe. Somehow
we have to lead the C-probe away from your place and bring some drones over to doing
that digging. Don't give up, Bette. We will find a way."
I'm sure that beam emitter will help us in some way.
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