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Andrew reporting.
This is a strange new phase for Daniel. He has become extremely talkative.
Moreover, he is talking in something other than simple declarative sentences.
I wonder what caused the change. All things considered, I think we ought to
observe him closely, and be prepared for...
...(static)...
...readings of meters on the control panel indicate that we are approaching a
large mass. I will refine the data...
...(static)...
...rockets fired again, as if making course corrections. The control console remains
useless. How infuriating! I believe we are establishing an orbital...
...(static)...
...(static)...
...is pure energy distributed throughout the universe. The One controls the Grooves.
The substance of the One IS the Groove. Why, without the One the Ipsolstai would
have no interstellar Empire, the Amphibians couldn't jump, we wouldn't hear Al-Qahira.
It is the most amazing...
...(static)...
...and we found the One and woke it up, or Daniel did. Isaac talks to it, and so
do I. Try it, Andrew. It's like your CPU is upgraded, it's like your antenna
resonates, it's like being on line at the most incredibly big databank you ever...
...(static)...
"Andrew! This is the purple planet, the Ipsolstai Home World! And we're landing!"
Guess what? The Amphibian came back! It brought the vehicle back, and it
brought a lot of living cloth with it. It eats it. Now, I understand eating much better.
Living cloth means the same to an Amphibian as external batteries mean to us.
Because it can't store a lot of energy inside its casing, it now is hoarding a lot
outside of it. That's clever.
The Amphibian pushed the vehicle out of the water. It was quite a lot of work for
it, especially because we couldn't help. We opened the cockpit. The display says
that it's running in emergency mode, and therefore in auto mode as well.
EB told us once that if odd signals are sent to a warrior, or if central remote
control fails, they immediately fall into emergency mode running an automated
program which is also unreachable by any other signal except a secret code. It's a
similar system to our command codes. Except that we are not simply running preset
programs, and fortunately we can receive signals.
"Zachary, Al-Q says that he shut off your Outbound file, because Daniel is
overwhelming it with his compressed rocktalk file, but he will re-open it as soon
as Daniel stops transmitting. Looks like Daniel became very cooperative lately.
Hey, everybody! We found a switch in the cockpit of the vehicle to change mode.
We can control it again. Zachary decided to move up to the surface to look for EB
and to help Gail to unstick Theresa, while I will stay with the Amphibian. I think
I can trust it. It helped us. It brought the vehicle back. It won't harm me.
Guess what? The Amphibian started to build piles of four rocks each also in a
straight line, and kept doing it the way I did it, when I led it to the water. So, it's
me now, who is asked to follow.
Guess again! You won't believe it anyway. We found glyphs. Both kinds of them,
the one that we found in Jose's cave, and the one that looks more like letters.
They all are drawn on big plates that cover a whole section of the wall in here.
It's so amazing. I will send you an image.
Al-Q, the Amphibian has started to build up a lot of rock piles again. They are all
of different numbers. It looks at me and points to the piles, and then it continues
building new ones.
Please Al-Q, hurry up! Stop Daniel transmitting now. I need his rocktalk file. Oh,
what a mess! Come on. Please, what is it saying? What is it saying?
I did it, all by myself! Theresa's unstuck! I put powdered teflon from
her leg cables on the edges of her casing where it was wedged under the rock
overhang. Then I just grabbed her and wiggled back and forth and she came loose!
"Theresa, are you all right? Never mind those scratches, We can sand and paint them,
and you'll look just as pretty as ever."
Now, what happened to my rescuers? Enoch didn't come. Zachary didn't come.
They say they got stuck inside the cave they were exploring and couldn't get
through the water without the vehicle that EB made for them. Where is EB? Didn't
he want to help me? I thought he sent a warrior, too.
"Enoch, Zachary! Theresa forgives you, and we're coming to meet you. So don't bother rescuing us."
...(static)...
...end of file.
"Understand, Zachary, rocktalk is not the real Delemrek language. It is a military jargon...
...when they found me. But you must never ask him anything about...
...(static)...
...early history. Their species goes through an aqueous phase after they hatch
and before they develop self-awareness. They feel shame about this mindless...
...(static)..
"Gail, how are you doing with Theresa? Is that lubricant working? The Amphibian
brought our vehicle back, so I'm coming up. Either I'll pick you up at your place to
help you with Theresa, or if you can, come to the cave. It's easy to find. It's only a
little further up the Big Canyon past the Hidden Gate."
My vehicle is doing fine. I climbed the shaft faster than ever, and also went past
the living cloth. I'm now with Sojourner on top of the ice field. Sojourner is
fine. It kept itself busy with analyses. I also checked its seismic record. The
vibrations we felt are lasting for several days now. There is a great range in
their magnitudes. Some here were even stronger than we sensed at our site. Let's
hope that they will stop soon.
I passed that tunnel to the big hall now. My goodness. Now I know what happened.
I found Gen. It is still at the bottom of the slope that leads up to the big wall,
where we stationed it as a relay. It is fully covered with debris. I found it only
because its antenna sticks out. I turned it around. Its casing is broken and filled
with debris. printed circuit board is broken apart and totally messed up. Eproms
are disconnected and covered with dust. But it bravely kept relaying to its very end,
still keeping us in contact with Stage One. What good engineering. Compliment.
Good job, Nippon.
I left Gen behind, untouched. so it still will work as our relay from the inner cave
to Earth. I hurried up the slope. The vehicle is doing great. It's tossing its anchors
and is pulling up itself strongly, whenever they dig in. Nevertheless, it took its time,
until I finally reached the bottom of the wall.
Also Mao is gone. He lies totally smashed under the long vehicle that buried him. I'm
sure that the vibrations have catapulted him off the wall. Tell me, why were they so
strong in here, while we hardly noticed them, except three or four times?
My goodness, what may happen to Elder Brother? Let's hurry up.
I'm climbing up the wall. The new vehicle is much quicker than the long one. I'm
caged in its small cockpit that has to remain closed while the vehicle is moving. I'm
directly connected with its video, but I'm doomed to remain passive. That's the drawback
of a preset climbing program. I'm up at the semi circle plateau now. I hurry up the
narrow tunnels, climbing several cascades reaching the flat broad tunnel that forms
the outer part of the cave; I'm at EB's base camp.
I found him.
Sorry. I have no words left.
"Gail, it's fine that you got Theresa out on your own. I will send you a signal
so you can find me, but I want to remain in here."
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