Semester of Solitude — Part Six
By Mary Jo Rabe
It was really just a matter of timing, but still dependent on the probe continuing to send back its data. He just needed to explode the satellite which would start moving his planet away, slowly at first but then with increasing speed.
There would be no reason for the primitive creatures to suspect anything. It would just be one more astronomical anomaly for them to puzzle about. They would be very unlikely to try to send a new probe immediately to a planet on its way to who knows where.
Dod calculated the quickest route back to his habitats and took off in a loping run. The solitude of the surface had given him enough to think about. Now it was time to put some of his thoughts into action.
His recording devices confirmed his suspicion that the probe was transmitting data back to the third planet, though at an unusually slow speed. That would work to his advantage. The creatures there would be waiting patiently for this data and not paying much attention to Dod's actual planet. The probe was also definitely on a fly-by course, heading out to the cloud of rubble that surrounded this star system. So far, his new plan looked win-win in all respects.
Back in the surface habitat Dod changed all the wall colors to a pale blue, which he knew by experience to be conducive to meticulous programming and production of nanobots. He continued to monitor the probe's progress and copy the data it collected.
Except for the striking color of his project planet, there was nothing out of the ordinary, so no reason for him to interfere with what the probe transmitted back to its home planet. He had considered adding static to the transmissions somehow, but was relieved that this alternative was no longer necessary.
Mary Jo Rabe writes science fiction, modern fantasy, historical fiction, and crime or mystery stories, generally displaying a preference for what she defines as happy endings. Ideas for her fiction come from the magnificent, expanding universe, the rural environment of eastern Iowa where she grew up, the beautiful Michigan State University campus where she got her first degree, and the Black Forest area of Germany with its center in Freiburg where she worked as a librarian for 41 years before retiring to Titisee-Neustadt. News about her published stories is posted regularly on her blog: https://maryjorabe.wordpress.com/
Copyright © Mary Jo Rabe