The most likely thing they'd have handy is the equivalent of an MRE wrapper, realistically speaking.Darkrah wrote: I sort of think that a chip bag might be funnier than a paper lunch bag but I haven't gotten past the stage where humans first notice the aliens yet.
And if they have regenerative life support (ie, they grow some kind of edible algae in giant tanks and feed them with whatever their waste treatment module outputs), things get more interesting still. Will they have food bags of any kind?
However, certain things are quite simply going to be found on a mission of this type (facing unknown circumstances to rescue compatriats), and many of these things will be able to play much the same role as a paper bag.
Any clothing or linens equivalent would do. Socks, underwear, pants, shirts, towels, blankets, etc. This opens up the possibility of a scene where the probe runs into an alien doing his/her/its laundry, and ending up with a sock over its camera. Or stumbling in on "the beast with two fronts," if you catch my meaning. In that case, a manned mission could be necessary to issue an apology.
Depending on the probe, a cup or a bucket might also work.
And of course, there's always the ever-dependable tape. Duct tape, electric tape, masking tape... if the aliens can use it to affix something to something else, they can use it to affix something opaque to the camera.
