Cool Find

Cool Find

Astronaut John Adams made his way across the barren landscape. His mission was to collect soil samples on Mars. Red dirt to take back to earth. Multiple samples to collect in just a few hours. But time was running out.

He bent over for what he hoped was the last time. Then in his headphones, he heard, “Get out of my way!”

Looking up he saw a small machine heading straight for him. Astride the machine was Astronaut George Smith. Smith rode the machine like a horse, or more like a bucking bronco, as it bounced over the rocky landscape.

“George! What in the blue blazes are you doing?”

“Yippee kay yi yay! Hey John! I found the rover! It works!”

This rover had gone out of commission several years ago during a dust storm. Something about the solar panels.

George stopped in front of me, hopped off. “So, it works. I just dusted off the panels, let them charge up a bit. Voila!”

“You were supposed to be coordinating our return trip, getting all ready for our takeoff.”

“Oh, that. Well, I thought, we still had a few hours. So I went exploring. Cool find, eh?”

“Tell me that cool find can get us back to the ship in time to leave.” A glance at my control panel told me we had about twenty minutes. It would take me fifteen to get back with all the samples.

“Perhaps. Depends.”

“Then get out of my way.” I hopped on the rover and sped away.

George stood and yelled, “Depends on if I completed the checklist or not,” at the cloud of dust receding.

W/C 273