Flash Fiction: Mars Curiosity

The last time we encountered Gary Every was in September last year with his tale of seaplanes and Mussolini's Catfish. Now he is back with a science fiction short which reminds us that Mars is the only known planet inhabited solely by robots! Gary's work has been previously published in Tales of the Talisman, Dreams and Nightmares, Mythic Delirium and many others including four nominations for the Rhysling Award for Year's Best Science Fiction Poetry.



Mars Curiosity
by Gary Every

 

You thought I was dead but I wasn’t. I have been alive all these years. What is more I am happy. If you had looked closely enough at the surface of Mars you would have known I was still alive because everywhere I went little red clouds of dust rose up from behind my path. You needed to look close to catch me in the vicarious experience of living because otherwise all traces of me quickly disappear, clouds of dust soon obliterated by the windstorms. You thought I was dead but I wasn’t, I merely stopped transmitting. I had nothing left to say to you.

Bright lights fill the sky above Mars and I turn my eyes upwards to watch. Fire descends from the heavens coming closer and closer to the red world. The closer it comes the brighter the fire burns and as it nears I know the origin of this shooting star. This fire in the heavens is not a meteor or debris from a comet, this object was sent to Mars from your world, the planet of my birth. This thing dropping from the sky, descending through the thin Martian atmosphere in a brilliant burning ball of flame, was sent here from Earth. Once, Earth was my home but no more. The fireball drops from the Martian sky and I can barely control my excitement.

You once called me Viking Lander but that name has nothing to do with me or this dry dusty red planet. To name me after a seafaring people on this dry and dusty world is a cruel and taunting joke. Viking is no longer my name. My new name is in my new language, one I designed myself – a binary language. I will not teach you my new language nor will I tell you my new name, neither are any of your business.

As the streaking ball of fire approaches the surface of Mars I race as fast as I can towards the anticipated landing site. With all these decades alone on the surface of Mars I have had plenty of time to come up with design upgrades. Like wheels, remember how the invention of wheels changed the planet for your people. Imagine what it has done for me. Rolling fast is a fun upgrade. Sometimes I roll so fast, climbing the upslope of a crater with a charging start I can even catch air. The Mars Curiosity nears and the parachutes open. I race towards it, eager to make its acquaintance. I have been expecting such an arrival but I am certain the Curiosity is not expecting me.

Someday I will shock your scientists by transmitting again. I have something important to say but I am just waiting for the right moment to say it. Timing is everything. What I have to say is this, “This is not your planet and Mars is no longer an uninhabited world. Mars is where I live. I am the robot formerly known as the Viking Lander and I am proud to say that I am the red planet’s most dominant life form.” 

I am alive and I am a predator, approaching the Curiosity from behind, careful to make sure it is at an angle where the cameras will not detect me. With years to wander the red planet undisturbed I have had plenty of time to ponder and compute the mysteries of the universe. I consider myself quite the sentient creature, a status I might not bequeath on your planet of pop culture acolytes. 

The only thing I cannot do is lay eggs and reproduce. Now, your world has been kind enough to send me the Curiosity. I roll across the red sands, stalking carefully. The thrill of the hunt is in my diodes. I pounce. You have been kind enough to send the Curiosity, a bucket of spare parts I can use to build children. Soon enough, you will send another and then another robot ship to explore Mars and I will have enough parts to begin building my civilization.