ASCIIBotics Labs

Heroic pilots storming tomorrow! Trace was named by the very crew he trained with for months and months. They could work together as a team in any situation, Trace was able to help rescue a man while weightless or set up a sensor box on a windy dusty surface. When they activated Trace after the many months of travel the robot looked around and noted that it was as happy as a programmed being would allow. The captain even joked they should have worked on a program that would have let it feel proud and the crew laughed at that and clapped Trace on the back. Now that they were settled they got right to work. The readings said all was well so Trace wanded off by himself while the crew were busy. Trace was assigned to record and send a "man's eye view" back to the people on Earth. It was by the mountain that Trace noticed a motion that the human eye would never detect. Trace moved as quickly as he could and although nothing was there, he made sure to take detailed scans of everything he could find. Back on the ship the captain seemed dismissive. "Trace, there's no life here, couldn't it have been a mistake?" Trace was sure. "Captain, I am built to see heat and trace elements that should not exist on this planet, and they were surely present. There is something alive here with us." The captain pulled at his beard and ordered Trace to run his diagnostic program just to be sure.

The following day on the planet Trace went to the same spot. The astronauts looked but could find nothing. Trace was unconvinced and began to dig. The captain asked him to stop but Trace kept digging. The captain ordered him to stop but at that very moment Trace hit a something metal. The captain asked Trace if he was transmitting live and Trace said he was not but could. The captain asked him to come back to the ship and let the men continue. On the way the captain asked Trace what he had seen. Trace said his scanners found that the metal was Earth designed, and carried marks of red paint, and that his deep scan had shown pipes beneath it, carrying water, and cords that were delivering electricity. In fact, the robot said, the same power was located beneath them now, running in a direct line toward the ship. The captain cut him off and turned. They were close enough to touch the hull. The captain began to order Trace to stop his search and erase all data but Trace was looking directly over his shoulder. The captain turned and saw the plug that ran from the spaceship into the clean red martian sky that looked to be miles away. The captain sighed. "Don't bother to scan the horizon, Trace. It's right here. It's a wall."

Inside the ship the captain sat with Trace and the crew. They told Trace that man was not yet able to get to Mars. They told Trace that he was on a soundstage, with a team of experts who were supposed to stay hidden, and that he was the patsy, his whole purpose was to return data that could be used to prove they were really on Mars. His program had been written so that there were some things he would never think to do on his own, unless there was some catalyst. Trace nodded, he would never have done a deep scan if he had not seen the life form. The captain sighed again. "Now we have a problem, Trace. You send your data every night. You can't lie about what you saw. We can't edit it or it will be obvious. What do you think we should do?"
Trace looked slowly around the room at the men who were the closest thing a robot could have to a family. "Do you believe that this is the best thing for mankind? That this lie will serve the greatest good?" "We do, Trace." The captain clearly spoke for the crew. Trace looked around slowly again and stood up slowly. "DESTROY" he spoke in a flat voice with his arms lifted. "DESTROY DESTROY" The captain looked puzzled but when Trace's arm came down he still moved out of the way. The pilot had the rifle ready and yelled out that he was armed. Trace turned to face him. "DESTROY" he yelled again as the pilot fired a clean hot beam into the robot's chest. Trace went dark and fell forward as the pilot fired a second shot just to be sure, melting all the data forever.

A being designed to serve mankind in the best way it could. No guile, no malice, and in the end, ready to make the ultimate sacrifce. Because to the world, Trace was just a hunk of metal that broke and almost cost mankind the stars. But to the cast and crew of the Mars mission that wasn't, it was just one more lie to keep, and one more friend they had to toast in secret. But maybe he'll be waiting to shake their hands one day... in the Twilight Zone.