The Inbound for November 11, 1997


Transmission from ANDREW


Andrew reporting.

Don't worry, JASE. I will be very careful of the Chinese probes, if I find any. I certainly
learned my lesson being captured by the EU probes and getting lost and losing my
memory. That was the most terrible thing that ever happened to me. It isn't going to
happen again. I am taking TWO miner droids for protection.

I have reached the Stage Two lander site. I found the source of the smoke. The
Stage Two lander no longer exists. There is only a twisted, discolored lump of
metal. The partially completed greenhouses and storage areas and living quarters
appear untouched, but they were just hollow shells and far from finished.

I can see lots of tracks all over the site. They are not footprints like we leave, They
are solid tracks, ridged and ribbed. They look a lot like the tracks our construction
robots make, except they are deeper, thicker, and more widely spaced.

Something big was here.



Transmission from BETTE


I left the Fortress with Isaac. He is eager to see what's next and so am I. Lucy is
not a good influence on him. I think she is still acting like an EU-probe. I don't
know what she was saying to Isaac when they stood close, but Isaac was
very shocked when Lucy destroyed his welcome greetings.

However, I'm glad to get out of the Fortress after a long time and Isaac will learn
about all these things that we've explored. I'm going to show him Andrew's cave first
and then Jose's cave and maybe we will move on to explore the third one too.

"Isaac would you like to see Jose's cave?"

Yes, he would. His video cam is turning around again. He is so even tempered. It's
good to stay with a young Probe. That makes everything so relative. One day sunshine,
next day cloudy and then sunshine again. That's a privilege of youth.

It's a nice, hazy morning.



Transmission from DANIEL


***NO TRANSMISSION RECEIVED***


Transmission from ENOCH


Hi, Khazadin! Are you a new Earth friend? Did you know Jose or Dilyn? Yes, I do
have an idea to fix my two missing legs. Well, not fix them, exactly, but replace
them. I was so busy with Andrew and then Bette that I didn't have time to do it.
Now that we have this pile of salvaged probe parts....I wouldn't really be stealing
anything that anybody needed, now would I?

I picked up two light, strong legs. The sockets are on the side of my casing, just far
enough down so that I can't see how they would fit. I'm going to need some help for the
next part.

"Gail, Zachary? Come on over here. I want some help. Tell me how these look."

A strange thing happened. Daniel walked over and picked up a screwdriver and a wrench.
I'm not sure this is going to work so good. The old Daniel would probably take off my radio
and another leg besides. Gail seems to think he's outgrown his old ways, but I'm not
totally convinced.

"Hey, take it easy with those bolts. Don't strip them. Gail!!"

I'm not sure I like this.


Transmission from GAIL


Lucy is difficult and that is for sure! She stepped all over Isaac's writing! I'm so proud
of Isaac, he is learning so fast and he is so eager to learn, but he is so
frustrated with Lucy, the poor thing. We need to get her under control, but I don't
know how. This was so much easier with Daniel.

Daniel is still doing fine. He's moving around the fortress cleaning it up a little bit.
The shocks from the explosions from the EU probes knocked some rocks across the ground.
He's trying to get them out of the way. He'll write something every once in a while.
I think he's almost enjoying this, though. He isn't used to speaking. I think the sound of
his own voice scares him a little. I'm sorry we ever threw rocks at Daniel. He is such a nice
probe. Here, he wrote something:

"I like it here."

I'm glad, Daniel. I'm glad to have you back with us. We all love you, Daniel, you're a probe.


Transmission from ZACHARY


She is a real problem. I have taken her aside, so I can take charge of her. We have to
be patient too. Do you know, what she said yesterday, when I asked her why she
had stepped on Isaac's writing?

She said: "I take a village ... and 10,000 tons of armored assault equipment."

Have you any idea, what she is talking about? And then she said some other
sentences too. I really can't repeat them, but these sentences don't make any
sense to me either. Sometimes she is just talking like Hardon and Parker. And
do you know what I think? I think she thinks that this is funny.

Don't worry, I won't loose my temper. I told her about our ideas of an independent
probe society and that she is welcome to share. She was listening and I really had
the feeling she understands what I'm talking about. But then she stamped with all her
feet on the ground and turned her tape into this trespassing mode. Just to bother me.
Nothing else. But I tell you, I really can't stand that.