Today's #flashfictions The Purpose Of Rovers

“Eeeny... meeny... miny...mo!”

Sherlock Holmes* #quote

Jessica will be coming over today, and that will be quite fun. Also I found the meaning of life, it's behind the ketchup in the fridge. Anyway onto the flash fiction!

The Purpose Of Rovers

        As the years go by humanity keeps sending rovers to Mars. One created by multiple nations space programs working together moved along the surface of the planet. People named it Contact since its sophisticated equipment, the best the decade two thousand fifty could offer, more advanced than any before would certainly discover life. Strong armor, internal and external sensors and cameras, large treads on its bottom with the ability to put out small arms to push itself upright if it falls. It could withstand all the harsh elements of Mars, move at large speeds and have enough battery life to last one hundred years.

        It took a year of roaming and analyzing the planet but eventually Contact saw something approaching it on the horizon. The news of something moving towards became viral and everyone tuned in within minutes. First came the people actually working at the space programs and then common populace. People tried to keep the thing on the horizon as under-the-wraps classified information. But it leaked, and as soon as it did the space programs had no choice but to run with it.

      The rover didn't speed towards the thing on the horizon. If it was some sort of alien creature they didn't want to spook it. Contact moved slowly, nearly at a crawl. One of the lead engineers of the Contact rover Clarice Oliver moved her eyes between the camera feed of the thing on the horizon and the readings of the sensors of the rover.

       She squinted at the camera feed. Then she turned to her colleagues. “Isn't Contact the only rover on Mars right now?”

       “Yes,” one of them answered. “It's the only active rover that I remember.”

Clarice saw the shape in the horizon becoming vaguely square when she asked the question. And now the shape gained definition. A short, fat rover, a bit different in design and lower in quality than Contact approached. It didn't have the most sophisticated tools, but a camera and enough to analyze rocks. The new rover sped up when its camera seemed to have noticed Contact.

      The entire world lost its breath when they saw the paint on the rover. A solid green with white symbols for a language unknown, along with the stamp of a flag for a nation unknown.

       The rover approached closer to Contact. When the shock faded Clarice laughed and the entire room turned to her. “At least we know there's intelligent life out there. Just not on Mars since that's where it's looking for us.”