The robot studied
The Stalagtite hanging low
Leaving little room
For anyone to pass beneath it
Which is not a problem
For the robot no
Given how it's built
And what it's used to do
Which is to study things like this
In places too dangerous
For human scientists
Besides
This is not the kind of mission
Where robot R98
Is expected to go
Past the point it's been
As it's supposed to be
A simple scanning
That shouldn't take anymore time
Than a few short minutes
Robot R98
Quickly achieved its objective
And the goodly scanning
Of the stalagtite was done
And he slowly retracted
His robot head
To sit atop his chassis
So he's ready for travel
Which in this particular case
Is a short 3 klicks
Back to the base
That he will reach
In half an hour
Running at normal speed
So he's not that far at all
From the safety of home
With freeform charging
Which allows him to freely roam The base at will
Which makes him
All the more useful
And even popular
With the humans there
As he never has to rest
Because he's always fully charged
And able to keep the lonely ones
From feeling too lonely
As they're far from home
As they belong on Earth
And not on this asteroid
On which the base was built upon
But suddenly
The stalagtite pulsed brightly
And an energy surge
Passed on through
The goodly little research bot
And his retracting head
stalled in its retraction
As R98
Lost all its power
And sat but still
Without no will
To move the slightest bit
Because it was overloaded
And rendered useless
Like a human but knocked
Into an unconscious state