Arthur stroked his muttonchopped jaw grimly. “Ever since we’ve laid eyes on this thing, it’s been beckoning us closer. It could be a trap.”
The medic was correct. Before their eyes, the metal surface of the tower was sliding away, revealing some kind of dark opening underneath. Within moments, where they had once seen a copper-like sheet, they now only saw a shadowy depth. Ed quickly shifted back into his pilot’s seat and began rapidly pressing buttons.
“You need to increase your counter-thrust,” Arthur advised, his voice calm but tight.
“I have been,” Ed hissed between clenched teeth. “The thing is acting like a gigantic electromagnet.” As if to punctuate his point, the lights in the cabin flickered.
Lamont gripped the edges of his seat, fighting a sense of panic.
Then, suddenly, there was a span of distance between the asteroid pod and the side of the tower. The structure still loomed like a metal wall above and beneath them, but the glare of the pod’s spotlights resolved into two distinct reflections on the surface. Where the other two should have been, there was only the black emptiness of a rectangular opening that had appeared where they had been moments ago. Ed exhaled slowly.
“That was close,” Rico remarked.
Ed sat back and shook his head. “It was just unexpected. I don’t know if there was anything aggressive about it.”
Arthur stroked his muttonchopped jaw grimly. “Ever since we’ve laid eyes on this thing, it’s been beckoning us closer. It could be a trap.”
“Or it could be an invitation,” Clifford pointed out quietly. “There’s been no overt indication of hostility.”
Slowly unclenching his hands, Lamont found that despite his fear, he was inclined to agree with the engineer. “Phobos speculated that this could be some kind of monument to a lost civilization. There’s not much point to a monument if nobody sees it.”
“That is a nice theory,” Rico said flatly.
“It sounds like a good enough one based on what we know so far,” Rosemary pointed out. “Can you lads pose an alternate theory that might convince us this thing has hostile intentions?”
“Come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly,” Wellington muttered.
Spratt shook his head. “We’ve come this far,” he said. “I want to know what this structure is, and we’re learning precious little from the outside.”
“I agree,” Said Abigail, poking her head into the cockpit. “That’s what we came out here to do.”
There was a general murmur of assent among the expedition party. Finally, Rico and Arthur exchanged looks. The security chief consented with a nod. “Can you get us back into that opening safely?” He asked.
“I don’t think I have to,” Ed observed, his hands gliding over the controls. “Apparently, if we get close enough, the tower will just guide us in.”