Rabbit Hole on Mars - Day 7 (Nov 7) 960 words

Chapter 7

Ten days went by without any contact from Frankie the rabbit.

It would take days for Opportunity to catch up to Frankie. The team at NASA decided to wait patiently for the rabbit's return.

With every passing day, the rover control room became quieter and quieter. They scheduled more and more meetings in the conference room just to make everyone talk to each other. The first day was bearable. Even the second or third. By the fifth day, everyone wanted to panic for no apparent reason. Imaginations were getting out of control. Hypotheses in the conference room bordered on apocalyptic conclusions.

For some reason, Brian learned how to be more friendly to the team. Asking how their personal lives were at home and about interesting vacations they had ever taken. Each person working there did the one thing they never thought they would do, have a voluntary conversation with Brian.

Scott sketched images of Frankie on the surface of Mars. Back in high school, he dreamed of being a comic book artist. His family and friends convinced him that his real passion was mathematics and science. Look where it had gotten him, a remote taxi driver for NASA.

Special Agent Kantpis called home to check on his wife, Carol. She was taking their children out to see a movie. The family dog had died hours before he left to investigate an unknown rover on Mars. His three young children were grief stricken. It was the first time they witnessed death in their lives. Carol wasn't given any time to grieve herself, because she was inundated with existential questions from toddlers. She said told Kantpis she would call later after the Disney or Pixar or Whatever film ended. She didn't.

Just Joe spent most of his time sitting in the center of the control room, observing everyone moving around him. Impressed with the efficiency of the team and their desire to make the best out of a terrible situation. He checked his phone every so often to see how all his warrants were going to Netflix and Minecraft. Both companies wanted to be helpful, but neither wanted to compromise all their customers.

Donna's boyfriend broke up with her. He didn't understand why she had to be at work from sun up to sun down. She wasn't the head of the team, just an assistant to a guy who was too much of a pussy to come to work. Donna tried to explain that she was a key component in figuring out who this rabbit was and what they would have to do about it. He told her he was tired of being the odd man out with his friends and that she had become emotionally unavailable.

On the eleventh day, Opportunity opened it's eyes.

There stood Frankie the rabbit, staring back. Twisting his head at Opportunity, clearly waiting.

“Whoa!” Scott yelled out loud and all alone. Everyone was late getting to the control room that morning.

In the sand once again, Frankie drew the two triangles side by side and waited.

“Holy Shit!” Scott said to himself.

Donna walked into the room, “I'm here Scott. What do you need from me?”

“Morning,” Scott said hesitantly, “I'm really nervous right now.”

“Knock it off, cause you're making me nervous too.”

“Where's everyone else?”

“Coffee stand out in the lobby...hang on!”

Running out into the lobby, Donna knew she couldn't just blurt out the rabbit had reappeared. She had to think of something only those in the control room would know that meant the rabbit was back.

“Come and get your Goddamn Bluetooth!”

Kantpis walked away without paying for his coffee. Brian got out of line and the rest of the team members gave up on getting any coffee at all.

As the room filled up with all necessary team members, Scott turned Opportunity's Bluetooth on. Then he hit the scan button.

“How's this work?” Brian asked.

“We're looking for someone else in Bluetooth range. That would be Frankie. We should see his Bluetooth name and he will see ours. We'll agree to connect to each other and from their we might be able to communicate.”

A name popped up to connect with. Not as much of a name as an acronym.

KMFDM

Just Joe was seated in his favorite chair, “Let's run a scan of all possible words KMFDM could stand for.” One of his team started typing into a computer.

Donna smirked, “I know what it is.”

“Shoot.”

“Kill Mutherfucking Depeche Mode.”

“How do you know that?”

“I used to listen to them in high school.”

Scott hit the connect button. The screen said both parties are now connected.

A small window popped up on Scott's screen that read, “You have a gift from KMFDM. Do you accept. Yes No”

“It looks like it's a sound file,” Scott said, “Brian, can I download it?”
Brian nodded his head, “Let's get this ball rolling. Download it.”

The file entered Opportunity which shot it over to the NASA facility.

“Press play and let's meet our new friend,” Brian said with a smile.

The sound clip began to play. While they all hoped it was going to be some voice that said hello and that we all could work things out, instead it was the start of a song by the band KMFDM.

“Donna, what's this song called,” Just Joe asked shaking his head.

“Um...well, surprisingly it's called 'Anarchy.'”

Everyone in the room felt the same sinking feeling in their chest.

Just Joe handed his phone over to one of his assistants, “Call over to the NSA,...get me everyone.”