“I don’t know, but it certainly looks like it’s been attacking FP1’s landing gear,” Jackie said, agreeing with Brandon as she directed their eyes to look through the opposing porthole and toward FP1. One and all, they crammed together around the porthole, scrutinizing as best they could what Jackie had been seeing. Upon closer examination with the field-glasses, they could see several holes and scratches in a couple of the landing gears, about one meter above the ground.
Carl gazed once again at the slow, but steadily approaching rover. Its rotary drill was, in fact, about one meter above the terrain’s surface and whirling rapidly. The strong vibration of the drill, once recorded by FP1 and transmitted back to JPL, might very well have appeared as minor seismic activity, as reported in a summarily discarded email. “That thing’s gone berserk!” Carl exclaimed, now convinced of the danger to them. “It’s been drilling holes in anything coming into its radar range, and piling up those shiny rocks around the edge of the crater. And now it’s coming our way!”
Something else caught Sally’s eye, “That’s not all it’s been doing. Look at the southern-most side of the lander. It looks like it has been piling up rocks over there to possibly use as a ramp. If it got up high enough, do you think it could have drilled into the methane and oxygen storage tanks?’
Tom looked worried. “I sure as hell hope not. We will have to land the FP2 here as well, if it did.” Then, looking squarely into the video lens, “Houston, if you have any control at all over this maniacal compilation of nuts and bolts, please direct its attention elsewhere. Granted, our pressure hull is nearly two meters above grade, but if that thing finds a way to raise its drill, prolonged boring into the outer surface of the Hab could be hazardous to our health, to put it mildly. I realize the communication lag for round trip is around sixteen minutes, but it’s imperative that you stop this crazy thing, right now. Brandon, what is your best estimate till it reaches our Hab?”