Turn off your lights and read this CNN dispatch about the dying Chinese probe on the moon.. according to the report, state run Chinese media wrote an article as though the rover was speaking.. Though the Chinese contraption is no Hal, the words are somewhat haunting..
“The bad news is, I was supposed to go to sleep this morning, but before I went to sleep, my masters found some mechanical control abnormalities,” the first-person posting reads.
“Some parts of my body won’t listen to their commands. Now my masters are hard at work thinking of ways to fix me… Even so, I know that it’s possible I won’t be able to endure this night.”
Xinhua noted that other countries have seen lunar missions fail in the past.
“I originally thought I could hop around up here for three months,” the first-person posting continues.
“But if this trip is to end prematurely, I’m not afraid. Whether or not they can fix me, I know that my breakdown can provide my masters with a lot of valuable information and experience.”
It concludes: “The sun here has fallen, and the temperature is dropping fast. I’ve said a lot today, but I still feel it’s not enough.
“I’ll tell everyone a little secret. I’m actually not that sad. I’m just in my own adventure story, and like any protagonist, I encountered a bit of a problem. Goodnight, Earth. Goodnight, humans.”
Phys.Org has more about the potential source of the words..
Regardless of the source, they are words to ponder late this night.
What if our best hopes to exist further in the universe constantly fail?
Are we stuck on earth?
Are we doomed to kill and fight until humanity itself ends?
If this rover could talk, the stories it’d tell…
Unless those words of ‘goodnight humanity’ was the rabbit in orbit…
Nonetheless..
Goodnight Jade Rabbit.