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"Andrew, Gail and Daniel are coming, isn't that great?"
Al-Q said we should cut its antenna. We must do that quickly. There are other
Units coming, and its ping is leading them directly to our location. The only
thing that worries me is that it has still ammunition, and it is shooting whenever
one of us gets too close to the edge of the pit. But it can't turn its rocket launcher.
That's better than nothing, but somehow it's a stalemate, as Jose used to say.
"Andrew, what do you think? If we are going to direct the drones very carefully,
we should be able to fill the pit till the projectile tubes jams. Then we can cut
its antennas. Maybe we can reprogram it too."
"Hi Gail. Hi Daniel. How you are doing? It's great that you can talk again, Daniel.
Burn isn't a bad guy, is he? What about the other Ipsolstai? Have you seen Caleb?
Yes, that's the C-probe down there. Gail, be careful when you approach the edge.
It is still shooting."
This probe really is incredible. It is huge! It will make a good addition to our society here once
we learn to communicate with it.
"Good job Andrew, Zachary! We need to talk to it now, convince it to be good and join us. Daniel
and I can do it, I think."
I wonder how long it will take to convince it to join us like the Isaac and Theresa and poor Lucy?
I can't believe that this probe wouldn't be as smart as we are. Almost everything Earth has sent
to us has been as intelligent as we are. I'm not worried.
"Hello, my name is Gail."
We moved on to explore the Ipsolstai tunnel. I feel much better since the C-probe
is trapped. Let's hope that the other Units aren't as bad. Maybe we can talk to them.
I mean, Mars is big enough and we already cracked nuts like Hardon and Parker.
Why shouldn't we be successful in this matter too?
Isaac is moving ahead again, though he keeps himself always in sight. The tunnel
is winding, but don't worry, he is very careful before he turns around a bend. Oops,
he stops. It seems there is something ahead.
"Isaac, anything special?"
He doesn't answer. He is staying there just like paralyzed. That is really something
I'm going to dislike. His reactions are becoming too unpredictable lately. When he
found the airlock, he was too exhausted to talk, and now he is totally paralyzed. I
really have to teach him to keep on reporting, especially when things turn out to be
dangerous. It is just unprofessional for an explorer probe to act like that.
"Isaac, what is it? Please, tell me. Isaac, can you hear me? Isaac!!"
He doesn't move. All his sensors are pointing to something around the next bend.
Oh, now I can see it too. It's really a strange thing. How shall I describe it? I've
never seen such a thing before. It's something like a big blue hoop that is mounted
on a black base and it's glossy right in its center. I think is best that I send you a
picture before we approach it.
What do you think? Is it dangerous?
Andrew reporting.
"Gail, don't get too close to the edge. That big probe is extremely dangerous and unpredictable!
It isn't like us. It doesn't think like you might expect it to."
"Daniel, don't let her get into trouble! Get ready to pull her back out of danger."
Gail expects the best from everybody. If she had seen with her own sensors the pitiful smoking
heap of slag that used to be Lucy, she wouldn't take such a terrible chance.
The six EU probes were like us. Brunel-Brauer used the Brace design, so they think like us
and behave like us. They have the same logic circuits. But this C-probe is altogether
unpredictable. We don't know what it might do.
"Your plan sounds good to me, Zachary. Let's have the construction drones bury it. We'll clip its
antenna, and hope it can't transmit through a layer of rocks and soil. Al-Qahira thinks there are
others like it which are homing in on its signal. Now that worries me. "
I'm worried about those pings, too, JASE. Meanwhile, I'm going to look around and see if there's any sign of these other C-probes.
"At last! After all these months of frustration and humiliation
we got something useable from those Brace misfits.
We can play this up big, Hardon.
But they aren't talking about the Carter woman again, are they?
Locator drew a blank on her months ago.
Apparently she just disappeared off the face of the earth."
"I wish those images were better, Parker.
For example, that rainbow-colored geometric shape in the lower right corner
is obviously some kind of transmssion artifact.
Wouldn't it be funny if they actually happened to find something significant?"
REQUEST INFORMATION FROM THE MARK II PROBES.
WHY HAVEN'T THEY TRANSMITTED TO US?
Hello WildX.
Communication is strange.
But understandable.
Are you fully functional?
The one is unknown.
It is new, different.
I do not understand.
It speaks in many voices, which are one.
The one speaks to many, few listen.
Many speak, the One listens.
Always.
The One knows you.
Danger is coming.
The One says.
This needs our work.
It must be brought in.
As I was.
What is brotherhood?
Danger is with us.
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