GNS Interview with Dr. Nin Hao

GNS:  Rita Trevalyan of the Global News Service here with Nin Hao PhD.  How are you doing, Mr. Nin?

NH:  Please to call me Hao.  Mr. Nin is my father.

GNS:  All right, Hao.  What part of China are you from?

NH:  Shanghai in the Technocrats District.  

GNS:  I see that you have a different type of exoskeleton from all your shipmates.

NH:  Yes, they only wear theirs when training, although when we get to the ninth planet, they will wear theirs all the time as I do.  As you can see, it is partially covered by my clothing.  This is because it is incorporated into my bones, muscles, and skin.  My shipmates like to jokingly call me the “bionic man.”  They mean no harm by this.  It is the result of an accident I was in 10 years ago.   

GNS:  It is a testimony to your abilities and persistence that you still qualified for this mission.  

NH:  They were hesitant at first, but I convinced them I can take the increased gravity better than any of the others can without their exoskeletons, and besides, what have I got to lose?

GNS:  What is your area of expertise, Hao?

NH:  I am an exobiologist.  It is my job to collect specimens of any life the planet may have, and to classify it according to the Linnaeus taxonomy system.  It is an ancient system, but it is useful for our purposes, and elastic enough to fit all the species we may find there.

GNS:  Do you seriously believe Proserpina has extant life?

NH:  I do not see why she would not:  After all, under that burnt, scored scarred surface, there is an underground ocean.  Maybe the life will be simple, as our extremophiles tend to be, or it could be complex, but I am confident we will find life there.

GNS:  Please excuse me for being so curious, but I cannot help being fascinated by your Exoskeleton.  How did it come about?  

NH: The man who developed it is unfortunately dead now, Dr. Hin Zhao Tsin.  He analyzed all the work in the field of prosthetics after my accident, then how you say, wiped the board clean.  He started from--do you say scratch?

GNS:  Yes, we do.  Go on.

NH:  In my head are nano positronic motors.  They work with my thoughts to control my muscles.  He actually had been working on his idea for many years, then I came along with my body all torn up.  Even the nerves in my spinal cord have been replaced the nano positronic motors. He had been working in robotics too before I came along .  I am his crowning achievement.  It took me years to learn how to control my body.  His students worked out refinements of his techniques but I am still essentially Dr. Hin’s work.  He received the Nobel Prize posthumously for what he did on me, and two others who came after me.

GNS:And I am sure that wherever he may be, he is very proud of you for having qualified for this mission.  Thank you, Dr. Nin.  Stay tuned for next week’s interview.

Interview with Nayezhka Politovna

GNS:  Here we are, Rita Trevalyan with the Global News Service interviewing another member of the Famous doughty Proserpinan Exploratory Mission team  training to take off next month for that mysterious dark planet.  Nadyezhka Politovna of Russia.  How are you today, Dr. Politovna? NP: I fine, very healthy.  Please to call me Nadyezhka.  Moi mother Dr. Politkovna. GNS:  Your mother must be very proud, and father too, to have two doctors in the family.  Wow! NP: My mother physician for littles I am humble PhD.  Big difference. GNS:  Your mother is a pediatrician? NP:  Da.   GNS:  What is your field of expertise? NP:  I in charge of hydroponics.  You know on ship there will be hydroponic plants.  They scrub air and provide food better than most space food.  Fresh food.  Very healthy. GNS:  That will be very good.  You have a green thumb as they say? NP:  Da, I have green thumb.  Been growing things since I little one.   GNS:  Is the rest of the team easy to get along with? NP:  Oh, da!  All of us have as you say pleasing personalities, especially the Brazilian.  She most pleasing to me.   GNS:  Oho!  Have we picked up the germ of a romance stirring in the team? NP:  I know not.  Too early to tell. GNS:  These plants all look very healthy. NP:  I feed them many nutrients besides water.  Have strawberry.  [hands reporter strawberry] GNS:  [eats strawberry]  Mmm.  Delicious. NP:  I grow many things one would not think could be grown hydroponically.   GNS:  Stay tuned next week, same bat time, same bat channel when we’ll have a chat with yet another member of this intrepid team.

GNS Interview with Member of Proserpina Mission Team

GlobalNewsService: We Interview today Dr. Winifred Harris of the US, who is part of the United Nations Space Agency mission to newly discovered planet Proserpina.  How are you today, Dr. Harris?

WH I'm doing fine, thank you for asking.

GNS:  Now you are doing some heavy weight training for the mission, is that right?

WH:  Yes, we all are.  As you may or may not know, this planet has 5 times the gravity of Earth,  so we have to be able to work in that higher gravity.  

GNS:  It’s because Proserpina has 5 times the mass of Earth, is that right?

WH:  Yes.  We were afraid it was going to be even more, up to 10 times, but apparently, the former inhabitants took enough heavy metals out of the ground that the mass shrank by half.  

GNS:  “Inhabitants”  You mean to say Proserpina was inhabited by an intelligent race before?

WH”  Well, I don’t know how intelligent they are.  They did, after all, deplete their world of heavy metals. (chuckles)

GNS:  (chuckles as well)  We’ll  talk more  about Proserpina in a little bit.  But first we’re anxious to learn a bit about you, personally.  Where did you grow up and get your PhD?

WH: I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and got my degree in Space Science at the University of Minnesota. 

GNS:  What inspired you to go into Space Science?

WH:  Well, you know my uncle Dr. Rolf Harris, went up to join the settlement on the Moon.  I studied hard, and well, here I am!  

GNS:  You’ve had to go in for a lot of testing and training.

WH:  Yes, they had to be sure our hearts could take the extra mass and gravity.  

GNS:  Quite so, quite so.  Will you be sad to leave Earth behind?

WH:  Not really.  I have no one to keep me here.  I’m an only child and my parents were killed in the caldera quake of 2140 when they were vacationing in Yellowstone.

GNS:  What are your plans for after the mission, should you return?

WH:  I plan on writing a best selling book about the mission, of course.

GNS:  We’ll look forward to reading it, I’m sure.  Tune in next week when we’ll interview Nadyezhka Politakovna PhD, another member of the mission team.