Short Story Sunday: Good Rover

Day 13,863 begins and I still haven't been allowed to go home.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring at the same old patch of red Martian surface; the patch where I had gotten stuck in the fine sand on the 1,944th day of my 90-day mission.

I thought I was a good rover, but guess I wasn't good enough.

"I know it's here somewhere..."

Was that... a voice?

When I tried to restart my battery, it was dead. I figured my joints had become too stiff with sand caked into them to move properly anyways.

"I have to find it. I don't care what the others say."

At the voice, I blinked, feeling the faintest slip in my gears as I sat there confused. Is it possible for me to hallucinate? But I'm not seeing anything odd...

Just then, a shadow fell over me and I gave a creaky sigh, closing my eyes and bracing myself for another sandstorm to wreak havoc on my mechanics.

But no wall of sand and grit hit me and no howling wind-sounds filled my microphone.

Huh?

Something touched me, prying the sand out of my neck joints and if I had had enough power left in my battery, I would have jumped in fright, clogged joints or not.

As I sat, waiting to see what happened next, the shadow of some figure entered my view.

Reaching out, the figure tilted my head up for the first time in forever. Now I could see a dark-haired human female, clad in a black-and-turquoise jumpsuit, tan combat boots half-buried in the powdery sand.

"Hey, little guy. Are you okay?" she asked, her tone soft.

Oh, how badly I wanted to answer her! But my systems of movement were dead and she could not hear my thoughts.

She laughed a bit and knelt down beside me, now reaching down to a belt loaded with tools and pulling something off it before crawling a bit closer to me.

The sand was brushed off my battery compartment, then a jolt shook my body as the woman opened it with some difficulty and took hold of my battery.

Careful!

"Sorry, fella," she murmured even as I felt her take hold of the wire connecting my battery to my systems. "You'll understand when I'm done though."

No! You're going to kill—

She pulled the wire and my vision went black.

~*~

"Hey. Wake up, little guy! You're worrying me."

A familiar woman's voice cut into the darkness and stirred my systems. Wait. I'm alive? But how...

Opening my eyes, I raised my head without thinking, then stopped in sheer shock. I raised my head? On my own? And wait... this isn't Mars!

Looking around, I found myself in a white room, sitting on a table with the red-headed woman bending over me, her expression registering as relieved.

"Hey, buddy!" she cried, watching me. "I was starting to think I'd gone too far in replacing your battery before bringing you back here to clean, but I guess I was wrong!

I tilted my head at her and unfolded my mechanical arm, picking up a nearby pen and writing on a pad of paper, "Thank you for rescuing me."

"You're very welcome," she said after reading my note. "I didn't know you were sentient."

"I am." I scribbled quickly. "Who are you?"

"My name is Ryla Metern," she answered, smiling at me. "And you are the Mars rover known as Opportunity, right?"

"I believe that is what I am called, yes. Why was I not brought home when my mission was up?"

Ryla frowned a little at my question and I cocked my head at her, trying to focus on her face and guess what she was thinking.

"Some people didn't think of you as worth the time or money to build a lander just to go to Mars and pick up a rover," she answered after approximately 3.0008 seconds had gone by. "And they outnumbered the people who wanted to fetch you."

My solar panels drooped a little. "Oh."

"Hey, don't let that get you down, okay?" Ryla reached out and rubbed my head like I was a dog. It felt good, too. "I got my government to fetch you, and you can come home with me to Cyon if you like, or I can take you to your home on Earth."

"Your home is not also Earth?" I asked, extending my neck upwards, the closest I could get to raising eyebrows.

Ryla shook her head. "I am not human, though I look like it well enough and can speak a fair amount of English, but a cat-like alien. A Cyonian."

She pronounced the foreign word like. "sigh-on-ee-in" and I felt myself growing warm with excitement. "You mean, I have encountered an alien life form?"

Ryla smiled. "Not from Mars, but yes, you have." She looked around and started to turn away. 'Which reminds me, welcome to the Dartclaw. It's a simple starship, but it does its jobs well."

Setting down the pen, I held out my robotic arm to Ryla. Pausing, she looked at it, then at me. "Do you want to shake hands? Is that it?"

I nodded.

She smiled again and shook my 'hand', her grip gentle and yet firm. "I like you a lot already, Oppy. Would you like a tour of the Dartclaw?"

Letting go of her hand, I picked up the pen again. "Yes, please! And if it is not too much trouble... may I go home with you?"

Ryla smiled and nodded. "Of course you may. I think you will love it..

As I watched her pull out a ramp so I could drive myself off the table, a soft pulse of extra electricity in my circuits made me feel warm and giddy.

It is good to be home.