Chapter 11: The Drone- Cooper

After they had taken down the two connectors, they worked on getting the electric wires hooked up. It was a very nice day out, topping at about 68 Fahrenheit in the shade and 73 in the "sun". Cooper had talked to Brand about what to call the light coming off of Gargantua. They had both agreed that Gargantua was too long to say, so they settled on just keeping sun, but not capitalizing it. They would come up with a better name later.

"CASE, can you get me the flat head and the needle-nose pliers?"

Cooper was halfway inside of a panel, butt sticking out. He held his hand out as CASE came over to drop the tools he had requested.

Brand had started to put stuff back into the unit. As Cooper laid on his back, he stared up at the sky, and its reddish hue. There were bound to be extra parts, and Cooper wanted to do something with them. He just had to find out exactly what he wanted to do with them. Cooper slid back under the control panel and grabbed the pliers. His mind played back to Earth as he messed around with the wires.


"...Okay Murph, give me 2nd."

Sitting on the console between him and Tom was Murphy, manning the stick. Cooper took a sip of his coffee, black and no sugar. Not that there was any reason to be wasting sugar on coffee. The corn zipped by outside, green and yellow streaks mixing together. Dust kicked up by the dually rose up and fell onto the dirt road.

"…Now third…"

Murphy shifted the gear when it got caught.

She struggled, wrestling the stick.

"Find the gear, dumbass."

"SHUT. UP!"

BANG-

They felt the truck lurch, and the vehicle sank to the left.

Tire must have blown out… Cooper thought.

"What'd you do, Murph?"

Murphy looked like she was about to punch Tom into the dirt.

"She didn't do anything. We lost a tire is all."

"Murphy's Law."

Tom made an ouch face as Murphy punched him in the arm.

"Shut up, Tom."

Cooper got out to check the left side. The back left tire was flat.

"Grab the spare."

Tom stopped.

"That is the spare."

"Then grab the patch kit."

Cooper checked the second tire. It was just the outside tire that blew.

"How'm I supposed to patch it out here?"

Cooper stood up, dusting off his jeans.

"Figure it out. I'm not always going to be here to help you."

Cooper moved to the other side of the car, where Murphy was. Tom just stood there, mouth gaping.

Murphy looked down at the ground, pouting.

"Why'd you and Mom name me after something bad?"

"We didn't"

"Murphy's Law?"

Cooper took a deep breath and rubbed his chin.

"Murphy's Law doesn't mean that bad stuff will happen, it just means that 'what can happen; will happen'. And that sounded just fine to us."

He sees Murphy frown, then perk up. She looked up past Coopers left shoulder.

"What?"

Then he heard it too. A low rumble. Cooper knew that sound well.

Cooper sprung into action, grabbing Murphy and pushing her down as a drone soars over head.

"Come on!"

Cooper jumps into the truck, firing the ignition, the truck roaring to life. Cooper pulls out his laptop and an antenna. He shoves them to Murphy and yells at Tom.

"Get in!"

Tom stands there, hand pointed at the tire.

"What. About. The. Flat. Tire."

Cooper shot Tom a I-will-leave-you-here look, and Tom got the message.


Cooper sped through the dirt road, and as the drone turned above the cornfields, Cooper turned into the corn, surprising the kids.

As they barreled through the cornfields, Murphy fired up the laptop. Cooper scans the sky to find the drone-

"There!"

To the right of the car, the drone was flying low. It was a dark drone, the ones with the long, thin wings. Looked like a U-2, but without a cockpit. Cooper jerks the wheel.

"I-Indian air force surveillance drone. Solar cells could power an entire farm!"

He shouts to Tom, who was very confused.

"Take the wheel-"

Tom climbs into the drivers seat, like a reverse Chinese fire drill, only you do it while the car is driving. And inside.

Cooper takes his laptop and gives Murphy the antenna.

"Keep it pointed right at it-"

Cooper works on his laptop, seemingly smashing keys. Hindi fills the screen. Cooper has a smirk on his face.

"Faster Tom. I'm losin it!"

Tom weaves in between the corn. As they round a corner, they almost ran right into a harvester. Luckily, they only lost a wing mirror.

Eh, didn't need it that bad.

The drone soars overhead, banking and pulling away.

The dually smashes out of the cornfields, crashing into a chicken wire fence.

Cooper was too engrossed in his work to notice.

"Dad?"

"Almost got it. Don't stop."

He smashed away diligently at the keys, sweating beads.

"DAD."

Cooper sensed the urgency in Tom's voice and looked up-

Just in time to smash on the breaks.

The truck stopped just shy of the cliff, overlooking the reservoir.

Cooper shoots Tom a look, and Tom just shrugs.

"What? You told me to keep going."

Cooper sighed.

"Well that answers the 'if I told you to drive off a cliff' scenario."

Murphy was still holding the antenna.

"… We lost it."

Her face would have broken his heart had he not had a trick up his sleeve.

"No-o we didn't."

He got out of the truck, messing with the track pad of his laptop.

He waited for Murphy to get out as he moved his finger up and to the left.

Her face lit up like the Fourth of July.

The drone soared by, moving with Cooper's finger. He knelt down next to Murphy, looking at the drone.

"Wanna give it a whirl?"

Her eyes lit up as he took her finger and guided it along the track pad. As she moved her hand, the drone moved. . It was like a waltz.

"Let's set her down next to the river."

Murphy had already figured out how the trackpad controlled the drone. She banked the drone starboard, and lowered it down onto the bank. It landed with a little bump.

"Nice!"


Cooper parked the truck, jumping out and grabbing the saw from the back.

He walked over the left wind of the drone, stooping down by the control panel. He ran a hand over the smooth carbon flank of the aircraft.

Tom walked with his hands in his pockets.

"How long do you think it's been up there?"

Cooper thought as he started to open the panel.

"Well, Delhi mission control went down same as ours, ten years ago."

"It's been up there for ten years? Why'd it come down so low?"

He sighed and thought about the possible reasons of why the drone did come so low.

"Either the Sun finally cooked its brain, or it came down looking for something."

Murphy sounded interested.

"Like what?"

"Some kind of signal. Who knows?"

As he said that, he popped off the panel and reached in, grabbing the black-box.

Murphy looked over his shoulder. He could sense some unease.

"What are you going to do with it?"

Cooper laughed.

"Give it something socially responsible to do, like drive a combine."

Murphy looked awkwardly at the drone.

"Couldn't we just, let it go? It's not hurting anyone…"

Cooper looked at his daughter. Good kid…

"This thing has to adapt, just like the rest of us."

Murphy looked a little dejected. Cooper started the saw up, getting ready to take off the wings.

Even though it was just a machine, Murphy looked away, like Cooper was about to saw off the wings of a bird, helpless and yearning to be back in the sky.

He shook off the feeling and lowered his safety glasses.

Safety first….


Cooper felt a cold object on his forehead, stroking it. What is that? He tried to see his surroundings, but it was dark.

"Murph? Is that you?"

The cold object stopped. He put together the pieces and concluded that it was a hand. He felt hazy, then felt something warm running down his cheeks. Wait, was he laying down-

Cooper jolted up, opening his eyes. What he saw was not what he had wanted to see.

Instead of the farm, the cornfields, he was met with a rugged landscape; a red terrain.

Instead of his kids, he was met with the familiar rectangular shapes standing above him.

Instead of his wife, he was met with the worried face of a woman, who he knew was all-alone on a planet by her self.

The haze cleared up.

He remembered where he was.

And he wasn't too sure he wanted to.

And he cried.


Feels trip. Anyone feel bad for Cooper yet? No? Well, boy do I have news for you.