In a shock announcement, NASA said that the space probe recently landed on Eros transmitted a photograph showing living beings of humanoid appearance walking on the surface of the asteroid.
On initial landing, the camera which was at the base of the space probe had been pointed at the surface and was buried in dust. However, a few days ago, a particularly strong gust of solar wind moved the probe onto its side, freeing the camera and blowing the dust particles from the lens, there upon the surprise photo was taken.
There is speculation that the aliens were gathering to examine the space probe and confident that their presence would not be revealed because of the camera being inoperative. Now that their existence is known, NASA believes that they may well be responsive to attempts to communicate. Messages have been transmitted towards Eros in all known frequencies and in both binary and hexadecimal code.
NASA scientists believe that the fact that these creatures are highly intelligent is proved by their avoidance so far of all contact with Earthlings. When asked to comment, Bokglob Gröseblurter, well known real estate agent and astral traveller said that he had recently leased the asteroid for a few weeks and that the inhabitants had proved to be shrewd and tough negotiators. He said that they are the descendants of Toltecs who had been engaged to carve the asteroid into a statue of the 14th Emperor of Ganymede. Work had stopped after the Emperor’s untimely death in 1054 AD during a close inspection of a star in Taurus which unfortunately became what we know as the Crab Nebula, while the Emperor was in the near vicinity.
The Toltecs, the mystery race of the Americas had left monuments, statues and great temples in profusion and then vanished without trace about 2,200 years ago. Mr Gröseblurter explained that their skill as stonemasons had led to them being the greatest example of Alien abductions, the whole race having been transported to apartment complexes tunnelled into the interior of Eros. However, on the Emperor’s death, the throne passed to his semi-daughter, Empress Erotican, an extremely liberated female who abolished the slavery of marriage, the burden of childbirth etc...
The result was a dynamic explosion of art, music and literature, with Ganymede becoming the cultural capital of the Carinae Arm of the Galaxy for the next Ganymedian century. However, lack of procreation meant that the last, very elderly Ganymedian died some 174 Ganymede years after the accession of the Empress, leaving the workforce on Eros unpaid and with no means to return home to Earth and reclaim cities squatted in by the Aztecs, Mayans and the Incas etc...
US Lawyers are already preparing land rights claims in anticipation of a major absentee court case. The descendants of the last Emperor of the Aztecs, Montezuma, said that they would make a statement to the press after their legal advisors had considered the matter.