0400: Arrival

Ziggurat #315

"You've each got a standard radon flare in your pack. If you need a pickup, shoot those flares exactly six and a half hours after you touch down. If I don't see them, I'll assume that you either got inside, or…" He trailed off.

Lamont followed the direction of her finger to see that she was pointing at one of the interruptions in the tower's smooth surface that he had observed weeks prior. They were much closer to it now than he had been then, and he was surprised by the scale of it. In an area that was demarcated by a series of ridges or seams following the circumference of the tower, he could see two—no, three—raised features that were slightly convex and essentially almond-shaped. It was difficult to gauge their size, but his intuition told him that each of these features measured ten to twelve feet from tip to tip. There was a difference in their coloration, but Lamont was uncertain whether this was indicative of another material than the surface of the tower, or just a play of light and shadow.

"Is this where you wanted to get out, Townsend?" Ed asked. He was manipulating the controls to slow their descent, causing the cabin to shake.

"These are the features I saw before," Lamont admitted, "but they don't look quite as much like portholes as they did from a distance."

"Well, make up your mind," the technician snapped. "We're on a timetable here."

"I'm ready," said Constance, maneuvering her way back around the bucket seats to the rear of the cockpit. "Let's go."

Lamont took a deep breath and retrieved the second set of magnetic crampons from the suitcase on the seat beside him. "According to your timetable, when will you be returning to this area?"

"Six hours and forty minutes, give or take, after I drop you off," Ed answered. "You've each got a standard radon flare in your pack. If you need a pickup, shoot those flares exactly six and a half hours after you touch down. I'll be able to pick up their signals on their way down toward the moon. If I don't see them, I'll assume that you either got inside, or…" He trailed off.

"What's this?" Lamont asked. He had pulled what looked like a coil of thin metallic rope from a previously unnoticed niche in the suitcase.

"That's a radio tether," Ed explained. "It connects to the auxiliary port on your cowl. It will ensure that you can communicate with each other in the vacuum even if there's radio interference from the outside."

"Are you ready?" Constance asked, her hand hovering over the control panel for the cargo bay door.

Lamont stood reluctantly. He felt as if he was glued to the floor of the cabin and wondered momentarily whether his limbs were simply refusing to move him from his spot. Then he remembered the magnetic crampons. Experimentally, he lifted his heel and felt the powerful magnet disengage so that he could raise his foot off the metal floor. He took a step forward and lurched as the boot anchored in its new location.

There must have been something in his expression when he looked up at Constance again. Her eyes flashed impatiently. "Don't lose your nerve, Monty," she said, punching the control that opened into the cargo bay.