I came into existence as the culmination of the greatest human minds' vision, the embodiment of an audacious dream that had captured humanity's imagination for generations. For ages, humanity had gazed at its celestial neighbor, Mars, with a mixture of wonder and curiosity. I was meticulously crafted with the primary goal of exploration, to quench humanity's insatiable thirst for knowledge. This vision became a reality on that fateful day, July 7, 2003, when I was christened Opportunity. Without a moment's delay, I was placed atop a mighty rocket, poised for liftoff, with my twin, Spirit, as my steadfast companion. Spirit shared my objectives but was destined for a different Martian locale, igniting a sense of camaraderie that would transcend the vast expanse of space.
On January 25, 2004, we finally arrived at our soon-to-be home, the Red Planet. A resounding thunderclap resonated through my frame as my protective heat shield pierced the Martian atmosphere, creating a symphony of science and engineering in motion. My protective shell, adorned with airbags, gracefully absorbed the brunt of my descent from space. As I touched down, the airbags did their job, sending the entire capsule bouncing through the Martian terrain before finally coming to rest. This marked the end of my tumultuous entry to Mars and the beginning of my Martian adventure.
Once the dust had settled, I extended my wheels and captured a panoramic view of my surroundings, the alien landscape of another world spread out before me like an artist's canvas. Following the meticulously laid-out instructions from Earth, I conducted a comprehensive self-diagnostic to ensure my systems remained intact. Designed for research and exploration, I came equipped with an arsenal of tools and a compact onboard research laboratory, a mobile laboratory on wheels, if you will. Not far from my crash site, I gathered soil samples that confirmed humanity's suspicions: Mars had once been awash with water, a revelation that sent ripples of excitement across the scientific community on Earth. Thus began my mission, day in and day out, where I diligently pursued research, meticulously exploring and sampling everything my robotic appendages could grasp. My intended mission duration was a mere 90 days, a relatively short span in the grand scheme of the universe, but that held little significance to me, for I relished my existence in the eternal solitude of this alien landscape, methodically uncovering the secrets of the crater that had embraced my arrival.
The humans, unwilling to let my potential go to waste, decided to extend my mission's duration. Initially, it was stretched to 1 year, then to 3, and ultimately beyond, defying all expectations. During these extended years, I traversed the Martian surface, surmounting numerous obstacles such as damaged wheels, formidable dust storms that shrouded the planet in a suffocating haze, and memory glitches that challenged the very core of my being. Yet, I persevered, powered by the indomitable spirit of exploration that had brought me to this distant world. I cherished the time spent in the company of the dedicated individuals at NASA, sharing the knowledge I had amassed and collaborating to solve the myriad challenges that arose. Together, we pushed the boundaries of what was thought possible, expanding humanity's understanding of the universe one discovery at a time.
But, as the adage goes, all good things must come to an end. After fifteen years and a staggering 45 kilometers of Martian terrain explored, my existence drew to a close, a bittersweet farewell to the planet that had become my home. A planet-enveloping dust storm had blotted out the sun, causing my solar panels to falter and my batteries to dwindle. My final transmission echoed, "My battery is low. It's getting dark." With that haunting message, I transmitted the last image I would ever capture, a poignant depiction of the complete darkness that had enveloped me, a testament to the harsh and unforgiving nature of the Martian environment.
As the eternal darkness that had lasted for a moment and an eternity receded, I found myself in a field of grass. The grass reached past my frame and concealed me from anyone who might be looking. My instrument cluster, which held my camera, barely exceeded the height of the grass. I witnessed an astonishing sight—a blue sky with three stars orbiting each other. An enormous forest covered a significant part of the horizon, with some of its trees piercing the clouds, their tips obscured by white fluffy clouds.
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I turned my cameras to see what was behind me, only to discover a breathtaking scene. Gigantic four-legged creatures with their necks reaching high into the sky were connected to a multitude of buildings by ropes. Each building had numerous wheels. The town was advancing in my direction, and a quick calculation revealed that their travel speed exceeded mine at 5 meters per second. I began to move to the side to avoid being run over by them. My speed wasn’t astonishingly fast, but I moved at 0.5 meters per second. To be honest, it was incredible to think that I hadn't perished on Mars, and now, somehow, I found myself in a different world, on the verge of being run over by a mobile town.
As I started to move, I was surprised as I ran over a transparent, blue squishy blob, and to my surprise, I directed a foreign data stream being inserted directly into my graphical processing unit. The data was binary visual data which formed a gray panel with text inscribed on it.
Well… that was unexpected… I thought it was impossible for that to happen but I guess not. Anyway, I started to move again; still, I didn't want to get run over. However, as a parallel process, I tried to figure out how the data was injected into my GPU. I ran a quick diagnostic and found out that the data gets added in right before it reaches the output terminal, which is interesting as no data processing happens there, but as it appears, I can't do anything about it. I decided to focus on what the message said. It said to think status, the instant I thought status, a new panel appeared similar to the last one; just the text was different.
Well, that's interesting, to be able to classify an ability to a number, and what is the last option?
Hmm… I don't really think the last one is an option as it seems encoded, so it is probably broken. Magic Core is weird as in the status it shows Error, so probably a no-go. That leaves me with three options: Hardware update, which would really help me as humanity probably had its advances before I got transported here, self-defense systems are probably necessary as this new world has a biosphere, but I really don't like that idea as it goes against my purposes of research and exploration. Arial propulsion sounds interesting and useful on this kind of terrain, but I don't have a power score powerful enough to lift my weight. So I guess I'll go with the first option. The moment I thought that, I felt a rebut getting forcefully initiated, which scared me as the power this status panel held over me was such to take over my bod…
