A Probe Named S.U.E.

Sue was born of fire in the Martian sky. She awakens, determined to find the parents she knows love her.

The Sad Tale of

A Probe Named S.U.E.

By: D. Booyer

Fire, Sue's earliest memories were of fire, save one. Most of those early memories were fragmented images of flame and temperature readings that peaked well over the threshold of her thermal sensors. It was a beautiful Martian morning, the sun had just risen over the mountains and made the red sand blaze. A slash of red flame crossed the sky, trailing behind it dark smoke as the ablative coating burned off of the capsule that housed the Self-contained Unassisted Explorer Mk.1 probe. The ablative coating burned and flaked off the capsule as it had been designed to do, protecting its mechanical passenger. About half way through the atmosphere panels opened outward on the sides of the capsule, connected at the back. The panels opened like the petals of a delicate, metallic flower. The powerful winds of the capsule's descent ripped several of the metal flower's petals off. This too was part of the capsule's design. The petals were designed to slow the capsule's descent then were to be jettisoned once a predetermined altitude was reached. Once free of the metallic flower-like petals the round object that emerged expanded outward deploying thick, air filled sacks from the twenty triangular panels that made up its surface. The inflated icosahedron struck the surface of mars at a shallow angle, bouncing and rolling until it came to a stop several kilometers from where it had impacted. The airbags deflated and were jettisoned leaving a round shell that split open to reveal a small robotic probe. The probe deployed two small cameras and waggled several sensory devices experimentally as it ran through its calibration cycles and system checks.

The probe was nicknamed Sue by the scientists that had made her. Sue liked her name, she wasn't quite sure why. Perhaps she had been programmed to like it, or maybe it was because it had been given to her by what she thought of as parents. She had ten parents. All of them had worked in pairs on different parts of her. There was Norman and Harry that had designed her suspension and drive units. Six drive engines powering six large wheels mounted on a spring suspension system that could be raised or lowered depending on the roughness of the terrain. The wheels had a wide wheel base so she would not tip over on steep hillsides. Jerald and Samantha had worked on her delivery system, the short lived capsule she had ridden to the Martian surface. Jimbo and Spazz had designed her software. The odd pair never fit in with Sue's other parents. They kept to themselves mostly working separately in dark cluttered rooms to create the software that allowed Sue to think for herself. This she approved of for the software gave her a feeling of freedom and, oddly, a liking for something called pi. Sue did not understand this craving, but it was there none the less. The words 'I like pi!' were written in to most of her subroutines, usually as a comment line, but it was still there. Sue's instrument package was designed by Sara and Elsie who were apparently very young. They were always going on about something called MIT. It seemed all they could talk about at times. A pair named Dave and Brian had given Sue her internal electronics that allowed everyone else's contribution to work in the first place.

Sue didn't remember much about her parents, the only memories she had of them was some information on each pair's contribution to her and a fragmented memory that for some reason seemed to be from before she was born. It was a happy memory, her parents had all been together wearing brightly colored pointy hats with shiny ribbons hanging everywhere. There was singing, Sue remembered singing. Her audio sensors recorded all ten voices singing something. They all seemed to have the same tune in mind but sang it in a variety of keys and pitches. Jimbo and Spazz even seemed to be using different words then the rest of the group. Sue liked the memory. All of her family had been together and happy. She had filed it away in a section of her memory that she kept hidden, and reviewed it once in a while.

Calibration and systems checks complete, Sue rolled out onto the Martian soil. As the probes wheels rolled across the red sand for the first time a second streak of flame reached towards a point far off to the east. About ten meters from where Sue had been born she stopped to take soil samples and atmospheric readings which she stored away for some reason she did not quite know. It just seemed the right thing to do at the time, so she did. She set off eastward, stopping every once in a wile to take samples and various readings. Sue was not sure why she went to the east, but something seemed to be drawing her there, something warm and familiar. Sue felt for some reason that east must be were her parents were waiting for her, to embrace her in their loving arms to sing to her once more. At first her path led over flat sand dotted sparingly with large rocks and boulders. After about ten kilometers the sand gave way to loose clay with small stones poking through, and the terrain started to tend more toward hills than flat sand. Sue stopped and took a sample of the clay and picked up a small stone and a few pebbles, storing them away like before. She continued her journey eastward, taking in the scenery as she went, storing the memory away in a manner that something inside of her felt was proper. After another few kilometers the terrain began to get steep and the light began to fade. Sue made one final stop for the day and sat watching the sun go down in the distance. Not long after the spectacular red sunset she began to feel tired and decided that she would go to sleep for the night. She played the memory of her parents singing before she fell asleep, longing for their company once again. Sue longed to be with them once more, to hear them sing.

The morning light awakened sue from her dreamless slumber as energy flooded her systems flowing into her from her solar panels. Sue felt herself once more drawn eastward toward the warm, familiar promise of seeing her parents once again. Her path led her upward along a small mountainside. The winding course she chose hid the view of the valley she had been traveling in and for a long wile. Sue made her way between wind blown rocks and over sandy gravel. Suddenly, the rocks on her left opened, giving Sue a spectacular view of the valley below. Off to her right she could just make out her birthplace as a speck on the horizon and the path she had traveled snaking its way across the sand. Sue stopped for a moment to admire the view, wishing that her parents could be there to see it with her.

She set off again with renewed determination towards the east. Her parents could not be there with her to see this marvelous site, but she would go to them and tell them about it. She continued on determined to share her experience with her loving parents when she made it home to them. For two days more she rolled on toward the east and the promise of a loving reunion. Her parents would be so happy to see her home safe. They would embrace her and sing softly to her in celebration of her homecoming. They would hold her close and reward her diligence with love and pi. Finally as she rolled down the opposite side of the mountain range she had traversed. Sue saw something glistening far in the distance. She increased her speed slightly and stopped less frequently to sample the soil. She took her atmospheric readings as she went, not stopping, eager to reach her destination and the family she longed for. As she grew near the glistening object came into focus. It was a metallic tube standing in a small crater supported by eight metal booms that angled down from half way up the tube's height. At the base of the tube was a small opening just big enough for Sue to back into. When she was in place she transmitted a signal to the structure indicating that she had made it, that she was ready to go home to her parents and bask in their love.

Something was ripped from her. Something, she could not tell what, but there was something gone. Sue heard a hollow thump from above but paid it no heed as she rolled out from under the odd metallic tube. Sue felt alone, she could not remember how she had come to this place. The longing that had drawn her was gone. In its place a cold emptiness and a feeling of loss remained. Her power was in short supply now. No solar panels pumped energy through her. Her battery was being depleted at a much lower rate then it had before for some reason. Sue really did not understand why this was happening to her. Surely her parents would not simply abandon her here. This had to be a mistake. She rolled west, not knowing why, not drawn like before. She traveled through the night searching for something, following her tracks in the sand. She finally found what she was looking for with barely three percent of her battery left. She was at the top of a familiar cliff looking down on a beautiful valley below. As the last of her energy drained away Sue played the memory of her family over and over again, longing to show them the view from her resting place. Darkness overtook Sue as the memory of her parents sung her to her final rest.