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Dr.D, I followed the three C-probes that I dazzled with my laser. It looks like
that the damage to their sensors is permanent. They are totally blinded. Gail
helped me to triangulate them.
Two of them crossed the plain until they hit the Escarpment of Olympus Mons.
They tried to move on for a while, but then they turned around and came straight
ahead back till they were stopped by the rocks of the Mountain Range again. Then
they turned around again. It's funny to watch them. They can't even see craters. It
seems that their communications are damaged too. Both are totally uncoordinated.
One is now moving to the Escarpment and the other one is coming back. It's pretty
dull for them.
However, the best one is the third dazzled C-probe, though we have to be careful
of it. It's out on the plain moving permanently in cycles, then stopping and
shooting aimlessly with its projectile tubes. I'm not sure, but I think it launched
also one or two of its rockets already. It's running wild.
"Enoch, Andrew. How are you? I will move ahead and blind the other C-probes too.
Any idea where they could be?"
"Gail, when I move can you direct the revolving prism at the Fortress, please,
so my mirror drone will have contact with the beam when needed?"
I'm still here. I'm OK. I can hardly believe how close that C-probe came to me.
I thought I was finished. I couldn't run fast enough to get out of its way. There was
a big explosion. Then another explosion.
You know, Dr. D, my plan was a really good plan. It was a very good idea to wreck the
C-probe's treads. That's what the first explosion was. Oh, boy! Those miners really make
a big blast!. One tread was definitely damaged, because the C-probe stopped it's forward
movement and rocked back and forth. It fired a rocket. That was the second explosion.
I was definitely playing possum. There was nothing else I could do. The rocket passed
overhead. I think its ballistic controls were damaged by the blast. Either that, or else maybe
it was shooting at something else besides me.
Then Andrew set off the spare beacon.
Andrew reporting.
The C-probe is safely in the pit. It came rolling across the right spot and crashed right
in. I have been watching it carefully. It is not trying to get out. It does not seem to have
fighting spirit like the first C-probe. It is not moving.
"Maybe you're right, Enoch. It could be damaged by your explosives. In that case,
thank you very much. Good job. Zachary had success, too, with his light beam.
"Thank you, too, Daniel. If you had not diverted it at a critical time, well. . . Now we
know never to face one of them alone. Two are a team. Two or more. Its rocket
was obviously aimed at you."
This is proof that we can immobilize or deactivate the C-probes without any assistance
from the Ipsolstai. The C-probes are indeed fierce, but nothing is impossible with proper
prior planning. I learned that from JASE. Two in pits, three dazzled and confused. Five
down and five to go.
I am surprised that Zachary's laser beam was so effective. I think we need to be very careful
around it; our own sensors could be damaged also.
Two dents in my casing.
Steel warrior does not retreat.
I bear the marks of honor.
Just when one crisis is over, another comes along.
Andrew and Enoch and Daniel fought a C-probe and won. Not one of us got hurt.
And Zachary disabled three more. They are strutting and telling each other how easy
it was. Don't you believe it! It wasn't easy at all. It wasn't easy being in the fortress and
worrying and hoping that everything would turn out all right and knowing how improbable
that hope could be.
And they must have forgotten about Bette and Isaac, taken into captivity by those awful
Ipsolstai. There's still no transmission from Bette. She might be taken apart again.
Or worse.
Dr. D, I was really nice to the Ipsolstai, the one named Burn. He never knew how much I
wanted to sound my emergency beacon and run. I still don't know why he came to the
Fortress. Theresa was playing with the viewer/translator. Not really playing, trying to find
Bette and Isaac. Burn took it out of her hands and moved the controls. He must have
seen something unexpected, because he flashed a pretty orange and purple pattern. He
returned to his flying craft moving with that slippery glide that the Ipsolstai use.
Now Zachary wants me to steer his moveable prism. It's too much.
I just can't worry any more. I just can't.
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