Insight
Adventurer
June 21
It's been three days since EROS moved. In fact, the vehicle's energy signature has become very faint. My instruments don't have the ability to give me a visual on the site; at this point, all I can do is pinpoint the vehicle's fading signature. I realize that it's entirely possible that the team has entered some subterranean passage and not returned to EROS. Still, an energy signature emitting from EROS tells me that the vehicle's engine is ON, which leads me to ominous thoughts. Was EROS stopped in its tracks the way all of my rovers were? What of the team? Did they somehow lose the ability to communicate off-planet? I know they told me that they would not need to communicate with Deep Red, but I have to believe there's some sort of emergency contingency in place. Not that I could do a whole lot, but at least I have the means to communicate with Luna or Earth.
There it is, on my map. Calaveras Mons. Staring at me. Mocking me. I can only wonder what secrets it holds. What keeps happening down there? It occurred to me that perhaps that southern slope is the site of some sort of electromagnetic interference. After some thought, however, I have to believe that the signals Lloyd and I received likely would not have penetrated such a field. A mystery indeed.
***
Rusty called in. He wanted to know how I was holding up. NASA had analyzed the second Martian transmission and had come up with some interesting theories regarding its purpose. All Rusty could tell me was that NASA now believes that the second transmission is unrelated to the first and that they could even have come from different sources or possibly different civilizations.
This just gets more interesting and confusing by the day. Perhaps NASA will someday see fit to let ME in on some of this information. Before it's too late.
It's been three days since EROS moved. In fact, the vehicle's energy signature has become very faint. My instruments don't have the ability to give me a visual on the site; at this point, all I can do is pinpoint the vehicle's fading signature. I realize that it's entirely possible that the team has entered some subterranean passage and not returned to EROS. Still, an energy signature emitting from EROS tells me that the vehicle's engine is ON, which leads me to ominous thoughts. Was EROS stopped in its tracks the way all of my rovers were? What of the team? Did they somehow lose the ability to communicate off-planet? I know they told me that they would not need to communicate with Deep Red, but I have to believe there's some sort of emergency contingency in place. Not that I could do a whole lot, but at least I have the means to communicate with Luna or Earth.
There it is, on my map. Calaveras Mons. Staring at me. Mocking me. I can only wonder what secrets it holds. What keeps happening down there? It occurred to me that perhaps that southern slope is the site of some sort of electromagnetic interference. After some thought, however, I have to believe that the signals Lloyd and I received likely would not have penetrated such a field. A mystery indeed.
***
Rusty called in. He wanted to know how I was holding up. NASA had analyzed the second Martian transmission and had come up with some interesting theories regarding its purpose. All Rusty could tell me was that NASA now believes that the second transmission is unrelated to the first and that they could even have come from different sources or possibly different civilizations.
This just gets more interesting and confusing by the day. Perhaps NASA will someday see fit to let ME in on some of this information. Before it's too late.
