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We are, all of us, not alone.
There are others.
Many others.
Known to the one.
The one speaks.
Many listen.
Few answer.
We are not alone.
There is danger here.
The wind is strong.
We had to move away from the cave! Those Ipsolstai turned on the fans. At first it was gentle,
just a light wind, but now it is different. It is a maelstrom. Air is rushing into the
cave very, very quickly! The rock around the tunnel mouth cleared of sand very quickly,
working down to the bare rock, then the fans stopped. We heard some noise inside and
two hours later the fans started again. They haven't stopped since. I looked around the edge
with Daniel holding me so I wouldn't get sucked in.
Something inside is quite warm. There is this gentle glow of IR, but since I can't see it,
it must be very far away and if I can see its IR radiation, that means it is pretty hot. I
wonder what they are doing?
Daniel and I are staying safe. We are going to wait until the c-probe has been trapped,
just in case. I hope Andrew and Zachary are careful! That probe is dangerous!
Isaac seems to be coming right along. I'm happy. Has anyone told him about Lucy yet? How will
we do it?
The lock opened. Isaac scanned it carefully, as he always does. I let him proceed.
It's his lock because he found it. Learning by doing, that's what we explorer probes were
programmed for. Maybe that's also the reason why we developed AI. Good work, Dr.D.
All my compliments to you.
I just watched Isaac doing. It's great to see his technique. He checked every
gap down to its sealing, knocked all over the door, pulled at the framing bulge and pushed the
board, even every glyph. He didn't even leave out shouting at the lock that it should open.
I told him to try to shout "Sesame, get open" according to the story Jose told us once.
He did on several frequencies and wave modulation. You won't believe it. The door
opened with the typical sizzle of pressure changing.
Inside the tube is another door but with pads to push. We closed the outer door. Do you
remember, when I was stuck in the airlock in Jose's cave and Enoch didn't come to
free me? I told Isaac to be patient. We have to wait till the air pressure levels again.
We pushed the pads and the inner door opened too.
"No Isaac, please keep yourself close by. You know, what Hamlet said. Not all of the
Ipsolstai are nice, and we don't want you to get caught."
"Enoch and all. We passed an airlock. There's a tunnel behind. We are turning right."
Andrew reporting.
The giant C-probe covered the distance between Zachary's location and the pit trap faster
than I expected. It was running at full speed, churning up great clouds of dust and kicking
out rocks from beneath its treads. As a matter of fact, I almost thought it was gleefully
anticipating destroying me.
Then the thing happened. It was unable to climb a small rise. It veered thirty feet to the
east, where the slope was easier. It would miss the trap by ten feet.
"Zachary! It's off course! Use your emergency beacon! We have to turn it around!"
The C-probe slowed on sensing Zachary's signal, but then continued on its course.
Obviously I was the more tempting objective.
I moved west as fast as I could go. If I could cover enough distance, the C-probe would
still cross the pit trap but at an angle instead of dead on, as we had planned. I risked
turning my sensors behind and saw its turret moving, sighting in. I was desperate. I
scrambled over the rim of a crater and scrunched my legs in to play possum. I sensed
the squeal of metal scraping across rock and deep rumbling vibrations which lasted for
many minutes. I expected to be smashed at any moment.
Nothing happened. I cautiously raised an optical lens above the crater rim. The C-probe
had vanished! A cloud of dust hovered above the pit. and I sensed gears grinding. The
C-probe was in our trap!
The C-probe is trapped. What a calm feeling. It's like after a desert storm. The sky is
clear, no harm out there. I climbed over the rocks. The explosive cartridges worked. Stage
Two destroyed, Lucy killed, Bette and Isaac nearly smashed too, but we trapped it.
Hamlet, I'm approaching the pit. Very carefully. Andrew said that it can't use its rockets
because the pit is too deep. I can see it now. The whole crust broke in. I will crawl cautiously
to its edge to look in. Yes, we got it. It's stuck there head down. It's quite a gratifying
act to shoot the image of its current situation. How helpless it looks.
"Andrew, everything roger. We got it"
Yes, good question. What to do with it now? In my opinion, we should refill the pit again
and forget the whole C-probe. Just like it never had been on Mars. We have directed the
drones nearby. In a few hours it's done.
"Theresa, this is a very historic day. Flag it in your memory banks. It will be the first official
holiday for our new probe society. We won! We won! We did it on our own without any help
from the Ipsolstai!"
Hamlet, I think Brunel-Brauer Control was disappointed because we didn't answer.
"I'm not getting any response at all.
Parker, do you think something happened to all of them?
Maybe their batteries are dead, past their expiration date or some such?"
"Sharpen up for me, Hardon. It doesn't work like that.
Gahhh! I haven't had hot coffee for a month. And it's still sweet."
"CALLING ALL PROBES! PLEASE, PLEASE ANSWER.
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