The Bulb And Space Probe Death: A Brief Essay

The Bulb and Space Probe Death: A Brief Essay

Something that I don’t recall being addressed in 17776 is the fact that the space probes are not immortal. The humans are on Earth where the nanobots and their mysterious longevity prevent them from dying, but Nine, Ten and Juice are in space.

The only thing protecting them from system failure and natural wear and tear is presumably that they are capable of self-repair. If they ever experienced a damage too great for them to fix themselves, Juice is the only one close enough to Earth to have any hope of being reached in time.

I think that the reason the death of the Bulb was so deeply sad and disturbing to the probes is it reminded them that like the Bulb, they are ultimately objects that can be damaged and destroyed. Like the football that obliterated the Bulb, Nine, Ten, and Juice could be hit by an asteroid or any other space debris and die (particularly if they were distracted or asleep and didn’t see it coming).

They could flicker out of existence at any moment. It’s a slim possibility, but the possibility of that football hitting the Bulb was also nearly nonexistent.

This also means that Nine and Ten could, in theory, commit suicide by piloting into a star or planetary body intentionally (that is, if they ever got close enough to one) or that a human could do the same by going to space or somewhere else without nanobots (assuming that the nanos don’t cling too or cloud around humans too closely for that to be possible). 

I also find the role reversal in 17776 quite interesting. Once, objects outlived their creators, they were what remained after they were gone and preserved their memory. Objects, naturally, are meant to last longer than people. But in 17776, the opposite is true. Footballs can burn to ash in car accidents, light bulbs can shatter, and, possibly, sentient space probes can die.

This was meant for my 17776 blog (@we-perpetually-hang-out) but is posted here instead due to tag issues.