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The Ipsolstai still haven't come back. This is awfully ominous. I hope nothing
has happened to Andrew! Daniel said he is OK, but how would Daniel know?
Isaac has been listless today. He doesn't want to play, we doesn't explore, he doesn't
talk, he just sits. I am very worried about him, I truly do not know what to do.
Who ever heard of a probe that doesn't try to explore and learn? What could be
wrong with him?
The terminal finally says that what I saw was lightning. It says you do have that
on Earth. I'm glad we didn't see it on Mars. It looks awfully scary. While
I was referencing that, I was on a section about Earth and it asked if I wanted
to know about Imperium survey expeditions to the surface. I don't know, it doesn't
sound very interesting to you, but it is your planet. Do you want me to look at it?
"Enoch, Enoch! I thought that I was never going to see you again! Today should be an
official holiday of our probe society. Yes, Theresa is here. She's so happy that
she's dancing. She wants to dance with that cute little probe Kim. Does he know how?
"Enoch, isn't Zachary with you? I thought he was coming with an army of C-probes?"
Mr. Parker! Why didn't you notify me that our competitors have launched?
And quite some time ago, too, if they have a factory operating!
Be quiet and let me think, Mr. Hardon.
There is a possibility that Dilyn Carter gave them information.
Information that you and your incometent friend should have extracted!
Or is one of you banking yen, now?
Disloyalty will be dealt with.
Severely.
Andrew reporting.
"Thanks for the directions, Daniel, even if they don't make much sense. Do you know
what the Ipsolstai are doing to Isaac? I don't think you should interfere because
we are guests, or maybe prisoners, but even so..."
Middle, middle. The middle way? I have started down the circular ramp, keeping in
the exact middle. When I look up, I can see a large dome overhead above the well
where the ramp circles down. To my left is open space. To my right is the wall.
The wall is made of polished green stone. It is inlaid with an abstract, decorative
pattern of gold metal. It reminds me of the glyphs that we saw in Jose's cave, except
that they are all joined together with connecting lines. I speculate that this could
be some sort of informative data, or perhaps even a circuit board. The metal parts
are 5 degrees centigrade warmer than the ambient temperature.
"Bette, you are right. It isn't normal for a probe to sit in a corner and mope.
Have him run a self-check immediately. Until we find out what's wrong, don't
let the Ipsolstai modify him, or take him away.
"And did you get a copy of that data dump? Could that have something to do with his condition?
"Hi, Gail. No, I haven't heard anything from Zachary. I tried to contact him for
several times but without reply. I hope that he wasn't attacked by the Amphibians."
It's nice to watch Theresa and Kim dancing. Kim was looking very skeptically for
the first moment, but Theresa is so charming and so delighted by that idea that she
showed him how to act. Kim finally couldn't resist. Gail is transmitting "Old Mac
Donald has a farm" to them that Dr.D stored in her file once. Now both are jumping
around whenever the song is saying: "..and a moo, moo here and a moo, moo there"
It's so funny.
"Gail, don't transmit too loud. We must be aware of the Amphibians. What do you
think? We can't go down to the Big Canyon. There are the Amphibians, but what's
about to go back to the Ipsolstai tunnels? We could contact Burn. Maybe he knows
how to treat them."
Al-Qahira told me that today it's exactly one year that we got our first contact with
our Marsupial friends on Earth. I want to say thank you for that. You all advise us
so well. We felt so lonely when Jose stopped transmitting. Then you showed up. No
other Probe wanted to play with me, because I was handicapped. But you told Bette
and Zachary to start with positive feedback loops and everything turned to become
better. Then we were looking for Daniel and we met the Ipsolstai and found Theresa
and Isaac. Now also Elder Brother and Kim and Mao joined and we also take care
of Sojourner.
"Gail, I fully agree. Today should be an official holiday of our probe society. Come
on, let's jump too when the refrain starts again."
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