The Inbound for June 12, 1998


Transmission from ANDREW


Andrew ...(static)...

...(static)...unbelievable. It is a local disturbance of unknown origin. They say
that radio transmission is affected for a distance of 3.6 x 106 kilometers. I am
greatly concerned. We have received no word from Mars for ...(static)...and I wonder
if this is connected...(static)...

...(static)...

Al Qahira, are you still on duty?



Transmission from BETTE


...(static)...

...(static)...was even looking forward to meeting the Endless Emperor, and I
am so confused. I thought that we were being rescued. After the damaged
Ipsolstai were transferred to ...(static)... Nelson knows, but he was removed
along with the others.

Now the ship is empty except for us. It even sounds different. Our footsteps
echo, and ...(static)...

...(static)... Andrew has taken charge and is working to correct ...(static)...<
Meanwhile, Isaac wants to explore the ship. He and Daniel are both inexplicably
cheerful. Daniel is transmitting old songs that Jose used to ...(static)...

"Stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going ...(static)..."







Transmission from DANIEL


...(static)...

"...Space thing blues diamond studded sugar coated..."

...(static)...

"...all over turn me on yeah..."

...(static)...

"...super demon seed running wild and below and head trip news turn a trick
to the flow and Sugarland Express what you..."

...(static)...




Transmission from ENOCH


I touched one of the eggs. Nothing happened. I don't know why I was worried at
all. They are empty, and there is no sign that they are linked to any trap either.
There is no reaction when I touch them. It's absolutely quiet in here.

"No, Elder Brother. It's definitely not a computer screen, though it's mainly made of
glass. That was question number eight, wasn't it?"

Elder Brother and I are still playing that Twenty Question game. It still makes fun,
and I really wonder if EB will find out that this glass is just Dr. D's glasses.
Dr.D, maybe you are right, that's really a tough question.

Zachary came back. He brought Sojourner. Do you know what we found hooked to
the rear anchor of the vehicle? A piece of that cloth. It seems that Zachary
snapped it off when he shook one of the cloth things. We will give a sample
to Sojourner to analyze, so we can learn more about it.

"Come on, Zachary. Let's go back to the eggs."




Transmission from GAIL


JASE, I am genuinely shocked. We have to do something right away about Hamlet.
We can't let him be hurt or killed, no matter what.

I have thought long and hard about this. I can only think of one thing that
I can possibly do to help. If my plan works, I don't know if I will ever be
able to talk to you again.

I am going to talk to Miss Chang and arrange a trade. If she will let Hamlet
go free and unharmed, then I will give her my control codes.



Transmission from ZACHARY


When I went up the shaft, the vehicle had to detour twice before we got through.
I couldn't see much, because of the bubbles, but I guess that the shaft is not
regularly shaped. Koala, I'm close to believing that this shaft has a natural
origin. What's your opinion?

Afterwards, Enoch and I went over to these black eggs. They have very strong shells.
I took one to the vehicle and tried to cut it open with the laser. It hardly made a
mark. Also, we found out that the eggs differ in size, so we put them in order.

Doing so, we learned that only few of them are broken. Most of them show no sign
of damage. Their openings have regular edges, so we abandoned our theory
that they are really eggs.

Then we started to experiment with their size. Enoch scanned them, so we easily
could put them into a new order without having to move them physically. We
rearranged their order over and over again. Then knew what they are. It hit us
like a lightning bolt. I will send
you the image.


Any suggestion what we should do next?