“That tower absorbed the energy like it was an afternoon snack. But if Westward had been a hundred miles closer, we would still be sitting on the tower, watching pieces of our ship mates drift by."
"It's like I've been trying to tell you and everyone else," Lamont insisted, exasperation adding a distinctly Cockney edge to his accent. "We've been letting the tower show us what it wants us to see. Our obligation as explorers is to find out what it don't want us to see."
"And I've been trying to tell you that turning over rocks to see what's under them is the worst possible thing we can do right now," Spratt growled.
Around the room, a few of the crew members who were working at the tables looked up curiously at the elevated voices.
Ed sighed, setting the solder and vacuum tube down to rub his eyes behind his thick glasses. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before speaking in a measured tone. "Look, we got surprised. We don't know if it was an attack, or an accident, or what. All we know is that something that we weren't expecting came out from behind the planet and blew the hell out of us. That tower absorbed the energy like it was an afternoon snack. But if Westward had been a hundred miles closer, we would still be sitting on the tower, watching pieces of our ship mates drift by."
Lamont swallowed, his shoulders slumping as he considered the technician's point.
Ed continued. "Now, what if something were to happen to the asteroid pod? Something that, by definition, we can't expect or anticipate? Where would that leave our repair efforts? Where would it leave the colonists and crew that are on the tower, waiting for us to clean up this mess?"
"As long as we don't know what the tower is about, we're at its mercy," Lamont offered weakly.
"That's right," Ed nodded. "That's damned right. We know what Westward needs, and we know how to get it from that moon. But the tower is a complete unknown. And as long as we've got anything to do with it, we'd better be grateful as hell for any mercy it sees fit to give us. Until everyone is back on board, we're not explorers, we're refugees."
Setting his jaw, he picked up his instrument again and returned to work.
"You're right," Lamont admitted, his voice subdued now. "Stupid idea. I should have known better."
Ed continued to work in silence. Lamont, unable to find anything else to say, turned to leave. After he had walked several paces, Ed's voice stopped him.
"What was that?" Lamont asked, turning.
"I said, thanks for the reminder." Spratt repeated, his spectacles regarding Lamont inscrutably.
Lamont was confused. "Reminder of what?" He asked, stepping back toward the table.
"Of what we are," Ed clarified. His tone had dropped its typical sardonic edge. "Of what we're out here for. You're doing your job well."
Lamont looked around at the crew members who were busily occupied at their tasks, tinkering with pieces of machinery or quietly discussing schematics. "I don't feel that I have a job in this situation," he confessed. "It's beginning to eat at me."
The chief technician smiled slightly, turning his attention back to the electronic board. "Then come back tomorrow. And you'd better have another stupid idea."
Don't think we ever saw this side of Spratt before