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EARTHDATE: April 24, 2011

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STALKED BY A ROBOCLEANER

by Hazed

Here's a cautionary tale if you plan to put any moving mobiles on your planet.

One of the new mobiles I added to Sol when the new code was implemented was a robocleaner which roams the streets of Mars. Its starter location is the road outside Chez Diesel, and from there it has three possible movements - north, south, or northwest into the bar. It tries to move once a minute, but since there are eight possible directions and only three are actual exits, it should only move from this location a bit less than half the time.

But whenever I am in Fed, sitting on my usual bar stool in Chez Diesel, the robocleaner turns up.

I wouldn't mind if it would come into the bar and stay there, but usually it leaves again, and then comes back, and leaves again, and comes back:

A robocleaner has just arrived.
A robocleaner has left.
A robocleaner has just arrived.
A robocleaner has left.
A robocleaner has just arrived.
A robocleaner has left.

Those three visits happened within half an hour of the reset. That cleaner pops in and out of the bar so frequently it is quite creepy.

I know Chez Diesel can get a bit grubby at times, what with the spilled drinks and the dropped food, but the waitdroids usually take care of that. There's no call for the robocleaner to come in here so often.

I can only conclude that it is something personal. It is stalking me. Now, I've been the target of unwarranted attention before, from humans, aliens and even robots - it's the price of being a galactic superstar - but it's the first time I have been stalked by a low-intelligence municipal hygiene machine!

So I have been forced to tamper with the robocleaner, to slow its movements down. I've reduced its speed from 1 minute to 3 minutes. We'll see if that makes it less of an annoyance!

The moral is, if you want to have a moving mobile, think very carefully before you set it to move fast. It can be really irritating.


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