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I don't feel very good. Something is wrong with me. Not something as wrong as with Daniel. I
wonder what Daniel is doing now? He's broken. I don't think I like Daniel, he doesn't talk to
anyone, he doesn't play with anyone, when he tries he just gets in the way and waves his arms
and things. He never talks. I wonder why he never talks? That's stupid. If I were Daniel, I'd
talk. I'm not Daniel, though. I'm Andrew. I like being Andrew. I don't want to be Daniel. I
can't see why anyone would want to be Daniel when they could be Andrew. Maybe Enoch
would like to be Daniel. At least Daniel has all of his legs. Enoch is no fun to play with, he
can't hardly move or anything like that. He sure knows how to talk though. He likes to talk
with Jose a lot. I wonder if Jose is all right? I can't remember hearing from him in a long time.
Jose said we'd be talking to someone else but I don't think we ever heard from them. Maybe
they don't like us. I bet they don't like Daniel. Nobody likes Daniel. I'm glad I haven't seen
him in a long time. I haven't seen anyone in a really long time. I wonder where everyone is? I
can't see anyone out here. Just lots of red and pink and red and a big mountain and sand and
rocks and wind and clouds and mist and rocks and mist and things like that. I can't see any
probes. I think I'll walk towards the sun. It looks neat. I wonder how far away it is?
***ERROR DETECT***
CPU COMPUTATION-SERIOUS ERROR DETECTED
LOGGED EFFICIENCY-09/01/97: 92.3% OPTIMUM
LOGGED EFFICIENCY-09/15/97: 62.001% OPTIMUM
RECOMMENDATION: RELOAD LOGIC FUNCTIONS FROM ROM
***ERROR DETECT***
U-DECAY THERMOCOUPLE-MINOR ERROR DETECTED
COOLANT TEMPERATURE VARIANCE HAS DECREASED
3% REDUCTION IN POWER GENERATED
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
I am very worried about Andrew. He doesn't even sound like Andrew. Something is terribly
wrong. Should we leave Isaac where he is and help Gail locate Andrew?
I returned with two drones to carry Isaac back to the Fortress. Isaac kicked. I don't think
he wants to go. Fortunately, the drones are very rugged and were not damaged.
Bombardier, thanks for warning me about playing with Mars Global Surveyor. I didn't think
there was anything more boring and worse company than drones. I will tell Gail to leave
him alone, too, and not even flash code at him.
Bombardier, I always have 3 miner robots with me. They are my friends. Nobody can
trap me in canyons any more if I don't want to be caught. I deployed them along the
slope of the ravine and their charges went off sequentially to cause a landslide and
bury the new lander.
Space Turtel, Ratboy, I am not discouraged. I am free.
They can't catch Daniel.
OK. Ratboy. Message was filed for later transmission.
While I was waiting for Bette to return I spent the past two days listening and trying to detect
any transmission from Isaac. Guess what? He is transmitting all the time. His range is
only about six feet and is very faint. He is sending a distress signal to the other units and
to Brunel-Brauer Control. He is telling them that he is being abducted by giant hostile
entities. He must mean the construction drones.
"Isaac, Iota Unit, everything's going to be OK. There's a neat place we want to show you."
I have an idea for talking with him, but first we have to get him to the Fortress.
"Andrew, this is Enoch. That was a cheap shot. And stop teasing Gail. Just go and find her.
Remember how you found me in the tunnels? Remember how you located Bette? Just do it."
I guess Andrew isn't my friend after all.
Something is very wrong with Andrew. He started talking very funny over the weekend. He
was forgetting things. He forgot where he was and how to get to me and all about the
Ipsolstai. There is something wrong. Now he just keeps talking and talking about nothing. He
won't answer questions, he won't tell me anything useful, he just babbles on for ever and ever.
I want to go find him but I don't know where he is. He's been trying to catch the sun since it
came up on Sunday. He's running around in circles, I know it. If I had another probe I could
triangulate, but Bette and Enoch are busy with Isaac and Zachary is still with the Ipsolstai. I
need help. I can't do this by myself. I'm scared. I don't know what to do!
JASE, I think I understand about the debt of honor. Burn really does owe me a favor for saving
him back at the battle of the cave. The Gen Exploration probe could have hurt him seriously
or destroyed him. His wound has healed, but he has a scar. I don't know if it is a good thing
to be organic and self-repairing, because it takes so much longer than just replacing the
damaged part. But I really didn't help him expecting a favor. It just seemed like the best
thing to do at the time. I guess I shouldn't ask for a favor back unless it's really important.
I have lots of room in memory storage, Ratboy. That extra room must have been put there for
a purpose. I didn't mean that I know everything. I only know most things. .
Bombardier, I asked Burn about the Groove maybe being open. He turned pale and left.
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