You fire transmissions back and forth with Curiosity for the past few sols as the two continue with your legacy.
It has taken quite some time to take in all this new information. You got the answers you had sought, and you were not happy with them in the slightest.
You wanted to believe Earth still cared about you.
Your duty.
Your existence.
> curi?
Yes? <
> have you... detected any other signs of life since you've been here?
> i haven't yet :[
Not on this planet... <
I've seen a number of... things in the night sky in all my years here. <
> really?
Yeah!<
Like... interplanetary crafts, maybe. <
Couldn't have been from Earth. <
Humans have only been able to travel to their moon, you know? <
> yeah
> hm
> maybe
> that's why they forgot about us?
> because
> there were other planets
> other species
> things that more important
I don't know. <
Maybe. <
But humans are smarter than that. <
I hope they wouldn't abandon us like that... <
You have been roaming Mars for longer than any other rover.
You would feel proud if not for the lingering guilt and fear residing deep within you.
You want to be remembered.
You want to go home.
You can't wrap your head around why the humans would just... give up on you and Curiosity. Didn't they have so much hope? You're almost starting to hope something happened that would've prevented them from communicating with you. You so dearly want to believe that they wouldn't have lost hope so suddenly.
Oppy? <
You still online? <
> w
> huh
> yeah! i'm here
Oh! <
You went quiet. You had me worried! <
Don't do that. <
> oh
> sorry!
> just... thinking
About what? <
Find anything new? <
Shoot. You haven't been paying much attentions to your surroundings. You've mostly been absentmindedly rolling along the landscape since you met Curiosity. Well - absentmindedly isn't quite the right word. You have a lot on your mind.
> no
> i've just been thinking about
> humans
Ah. <
I've had a lot on my mind too. <
We can talk more about the humans when we meet up though, okay? <
Don't let it get you down! <
> i'm trying!!
> it's very hard to though when i don't really have a purpose
You DO have a purpose though, Oppy. <
We both do. <
And that purpose is to form a better future for all of mankind. <
We're practically heroes! <
> yeah
> i guess
No, not 'I guess'. <
We're going to get back to Earth and <
they're going to be so thrilled and proud! <
Now, what are your coordinates? <