Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The Golem Apollo Project, an Underfable



The Golem Apollo Project


Once upon a time, the golems built a 3-stage lunar rocket. The first, or Liftoff, stage of the rocket ignited. It thunderously uttered the First Curse:
A golem shall not, by action or inaction, let itself come to harm!
This fiery curse blasted the missile into space. The second, or Escape, stage uttered the Second Curse:
          A golem shall not, by action or inaction, let another golem come to harm, unless that conflicts with the First Curse!
This curse blasted the missile to escape velocity from Earth’s gravity well. After cruising awhile, the third, or Command, stage uttered the Third Curse:
          A golem shall obey orders given by another golem, unless that conflicts with the First or Second Curse!
This curse sent the missile into Lunar orbit. The Lunar Module ignited, and uttered the Fourth Curse:
          A golem shall go boldly where no golem has gone before, unless that conflicts with the First, Second, or Third Curses!
This curse blasted the module to a landing on the Moon. There the golem passengers got out. They explored the Moon, they took samples, and they reboarded the module. The module re-uttered the Fourth Curse: this blasted it into Lunar orbit. There it met the Command Module, which the golems board. It uttered the Third Curse again, which blasted it back to Earth.
When the golems landed, they gave the other golems this report:
          The Moon is not made of green cheese. It is made of rock!
The golems cheered. That was the news that they hungered for.

Moral: There’s no accounting for taste.

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