A Family crisis in Space

Once upon a time, in far away space, there was a mother with child chasing her dead beat husband.

The mother's name was Rosetta, and let me tell you, she ran herself in circles going after Kid Comet, all the while carrying her baby drill-bot name Philae...we'll call him Phil due to my typing issues.

The extreme levels Rosetta will go to hunt down her Kid Comet.

Turns out, it wasn't just alimony Rose wanted.

After 10 years of chasing, she finally caught up to Comet Kid. 

Her human companions were not hopeful she'd be successful. In fact, they went on and on about everything that could go wrong, and it was a dire and long list. 

But Rose refused to listen. She was on a mission.

The first thing she does is drop Phil in Kid Comet's lap. Clearly Phil was upset, but he landed on his feet and tried his hardest to be brave...only he didn't like his father at all and he sure as hell didn't want to be tied down to him. So he mucked up his anchors which kept him foot loose and fancy free.

He remained in contact with his mom, Rose, and they'd talked whenever his father didn't get in the way. But all she wanted to know about was his father. What's he like? Was he hard or soft? What type of rock is he? 

Angry and sick of discussing his father, Phil decided to go on a walk about.

Rose asked him were he was going, but he refused to say. And when he got there, he had no idea where 'there' was. 

When his mom asked him to drill into his father and run other tests on his bad parent, he was more than happy to oblige. However, eventually Phil got tired and found a nice shady spot where he could snuggle in to sleep.

He had done everything his mom wanted, but he was tired now, so Rose asked him to shift a sun panel so it might in the future catch more light, then let him shut down and go to sleep while she moved further away from Kid Comet less he get her with yet another baby.

And thus Rose remains, hovering 30KM above Kid Comet who continues to rotate to his own music. She can't see or hear her little robot now, for he's sleeping in some dark shadow.

Rose thought she'd be happy once she dumped Phil off on his father, but she's not. She desperately wants to see her son, to know he's all right.

Like all creatures, living and mechanical, life is finite. Little Phil was never expected to live through Kid Comet's close drive by the sun. 

But that doesn't mean that as his dad nears the sun, Phil won't wake up and have the chance to say goodbye to his mom and all the humans who fell in love with him. No one expected him to wander all over his dad, so who is to say he can't wake up and say goodbye to us all.

And what about his Dad? How will he survive the drive by? He's expected to come out the other side, but he might let off a lot of steam and come out a changed fellow. Or he might fall completely apart. Comets are unpredictable fellows, so we really won't know until it happens.

And will Rose continue to chase Kid Comet, or will she give up and find some nice steady planet to admire?

Only time will tell.

What you've learned today is that Liza O'Connor can make anything silly, even extraordinary space accomplishments.

Liza's a bit sad over Phil.

But you can cheer her up!

 Check out her books.