The Blue Planet

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The round door to the office in the underground city irised open. “Teltor! Teltor!”

The director of the space-sciences hive swung her eyestalks to look wearily at Dostan, her excitable assistant. “What is it?”

“Another space probe has been detected coming from the third planet.”

“Again?” said Teltor, agitated. She spread her four exoskeletal arms. “But it’s only been a hundred days or so since their last probe.”

“Exactly. Which means this one must have been launched before we dealt with that one.”

Teltor’s eyestalks drooped as she relaxed. The presence of this new probe didn’t mean the people on the blue planet had ignored the message. Still ...

“Is this one a lander, or just another orbiter?”

“It has a streamlined component,” said Dostan. “Presumably it plans to pass through the atmosphere and come to the surface.”

“Where?”

“The south pole, it looks like.”

“And you’re sure there’s no life on board?”

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