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Next time.
He will not.
He will.
And I will not.
Anymore.
We must go.
Soon.
Once.
No second try.
One.
Hi, Bryce. Thanks for compliment and thanks for your advice to spread the
formation of the warriors. We did that. It's much a safer feeling that way.
We reached the Japanese landing site.
The lander itself looks okay except for some projectile holes at its top close to
its antennas. It looks like as someone shot with a machine gun. Nothing unusual
to see. We carefully checked the area. Then we found Gen II.
It is down in a small fosse next to the lander that is quite deep. When a warrior got
too close, it started to shoot immediately. Elder Brother slowly rotated his video.
He went closer to the fosse and scanned Gen's frequency.
"It's easy to reprogram it. Don't worry, shortly it will as compliant as Rin Tin Tin."
What is Rin Tin Tin? It sounds pretty Chinese to me. Whatever it is, Elder Brother
seems to be very confident about his results. Now he has finished.
I got sent down with a rope to attach to Gen. What an obedient probe. We lifted it up.
Elder Brother gave several orders to it, and Gen followed his instructions exactly.
It's amazing what it is doing. I'll send you an image.
It is just as Elder Brother said, Gen is now compliant like Rin Tin Tin.
"Yes, it's doing fine. I only have to do a little more testing to learn how complex
an order it can obey , but it's a nice toy."
Andrew reporting.
Yes, Bryce, I agree. It would certainly be informative and exciting to explore the
Ipsolstai home world. I have explained numerous times to Bette and Daniel and Isaac
why this is the preferable course of action. We are trying to reach a concensus.
Bette stubbornly wants to return to Mars. Isaac also likes the idea of leaving. He is
alternately excited at the idea of exploring new territory, and apprehensive about
encountering Ipsolstai. I wish we knew what he experienced during his absences with
the Ipsolstai. It has definitely affected his programming. Daniel seems distant,
as if he knows something that the rest of us don't know. Well, that's just Daniel.
They told me about the messages from NM. Bryce, maybe we should find out what he
has to suggest.
Andrew is still talking about leaving but I don't want to go yet. I think we should try
talking to NM first. The only way the ball has ever responded to questions has been
from the terminal, if we leave, how will we contact NM again?
I went back to the blank screen on the terminal and tried asking a few questions.
I asked what he means, how he can help us, and why we should trust him. I don't see
any reason not to ask why we should trust him. Since Burn, we haven't met any Ipsolstai
who have treated us well, or haven't lied to us. Daniel says Burn has been betrayed,
but I have to wonder if he really has been. Maybe all Ipsolstai are liars.
I wish they had never come to Mars, then we wouldn't be in this situation.
Gabriel came into the room as I was finishing with the temrinal. I sent it back
to normal immediately. I don't know why, but it seemed like a good idea.
"Using that you like thing are you that? Why?
Attention thing too much you are paying.
Strange. Why?"
Then he went to the terminal and typed the same sequence of keys I use to get to the
blank screen but instead of the blank screen he got a lot of entries. A whole paragraph
about some Human named Nelson Mandela. Gabriel seemed unhappy and he started to talk
but it was slow, his colors changed slowly.
"Compiled too little computers by information sleep during.
Not summary interesting is much so.
Other how?"
Then he went to Isaac's ball and started to look at it and turn it over and over.
Like he was looking for something. There wasn't a message on the ball, though. He
started to leave with it but Isaac started to scream and Daniel stepped forward
quickly and grabbed the ball. Gabriel moved backwards and an EME came into the room
with its weapons pointing at Daniel.
"Giving that you me to back now."
"No."
"Destroy me."
"If you will."
"This is his."
"Not yours."
Gabriel watched Daniel for a long time, a very long time, longer than most times,
and Ipsosltai take forever to think about things. Finally Gabriel spoke again.
"For now, wait, soon telling I you."
Gabriel left and took the EME with him. I was so scared. Daniel gave Isaac the
ball back. That sure seems like alot of work to go through for a ball. A few minutes
later the ball had a few words on it.
You are trapped. They will not let you go.
I am not them.
..NM..
That's all. I am scared. I feel like things just keep getting worse and worse.
I wish I were with
Enoch and Gail and the Amphibians rather than here. Maybe Isaac is right.
"Sorry, Gail. I didn't mean to yell. I got a little nervous, because I didn't know a way
to contact Burn. How are you doing with that elevator? Is it leading somewhere to
other tunnels? Be careful about the Amphibians. They still might be in there."
I went directly to the Hidden Gate. When I arrived the door opened and I dashed in.
When I opened the glass dome and jumped out, two Ipsolstai immediately approached the
I-Flyer and dismounted the front shield.
"Where's Burn? I s he okay? How's the dome? What's with the Amphibians? And how about my weapons?"
"Dome destroyed is. Delemreck gone.
You good pilot. You brave. You them fight down."
I can see how the Ipsolstai are replacing some devices that are connected with my
beam weapons, while others are loading missiles. There are more of the missiles in
the back of the hall, and the Ipsolstai show me how I can open the Hidden Gate by the
controls of the I-Flyer. That's good to know. Now I can reload the missiles on my own,
if I run out of them. They aren't big, and I'm watching carefully how the Ipsolstai are
doing it. Twelve missiles is all that the I-Flyer can carry.
I tell the Ipsolstai about that machine with the loop that I saw up in the mountain.
"Delemreck robot is. Loop for shooting mini grooves is.
Good you dive. Best missile to send."
The Ipsolstai finished. The I-Flyer is well armed now. I enter the cockpit. Oh, there
is still one thing left that I need to ask .
"Delemreck, not more than five or ten of them are.
You good fighter. I say you good luck."
"Good luck to you too. May the best one succeed."
The Ipsolstai's color changed to a bright turquoise, when I said that. How did he know what
I was going to ask?
Theresa and I found that there were just more tunnels at the bottom of the elevator.
I finally gave in to Theresa's pleas. She and I will explore these lower tunnels
just a little bit before we go back. It's all right, just as long as we don't find
anything scary.
Of course that's what happened. Theresa ran down a side corridor and skidded to halt.
She has found a room that has unusual soft flooring. When we step on it, our feet sink
in several inches. How strange, it must be hard for the Ipsolstai to move over it,
too. It is dimly lit. I turned on my auxiliary lights so that I could see better.
Burn (at least I think it's Burn) is here. He quickly moved toward us. I backed
up and played possum. Theresa used the translator box.
"What are you doing here? Enoch is waiting for you at the Hidden Gate. He needs your help! How could you let him meet the Amphibians with no weapons to fight with? "
There is something on the floor behind Burn. Theresa managed to get this image.
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