It took until the next day for them to have all equipment ready for the extraction. This time all of them went to ensure that both Isfaheem on the IEV and Muobo in the Limo had companions. They attached the IEVs to the Limo in order to save fuel and trundled out to the hole.
She was so excited by the discovery, Yolanda sped right towards the edge of the cavern, stopping only when they were within a couple of meters.
“Ms. Delgado, this will be the last time you pilot the Limo. There is absolutely no way that our team would survive that fall and there is no backup for such a disaster.” His rebuke was swift and held almost as much emotion as his original signal to Muobo.
Yolanda hung her head in shame. Making a mistake was one thing. But their entire team was in one vehicle. There was no room for such an egregious error here. “I apologize captain. I let my emotions run away with me.”
She kept herself from crying, but the melancholy held her in it's grip even during such an exciting discovery as this.
Isfaheem and Muobo disconnected the IEVs from the Limo and piloted over the edge. Muobo used the manipulator arm on his craft to retrieve the cable grappler from the front of the limo and string it out and down.
“Wait Muobo!” Isfaheem spoke excitedly. I found the machine. It's farther down the side. You'll have to manuever the Limo about 50 meters over on the left.”
“Mr. Isfaheem. Do you mean your left?” It was difficult to give orientation with little semblance of north east west or south.
Isfaheem then appeared above the edge. “Sir, the device is right below me.”
Yolanda didn't dare argue as Chen took over the controls and slowly maneuvered the Limo to the edge closest to Isfaheem.
Muobo again grabbed the grappler end and slowly pulled it down to the bottom of the hole. After some debate about where they should attach it, Muobo carefully wrapped the end around the arms at the front of the machine. Meanwhile Isfaheem rose to the top and told the captain that he could start hoisting it.
The front rose slowly, but in the meager Plutonian gravity, it's bulk was soon fully airborne and rising towards the top. In no time, the machine which hadn't been graced by the meager rays of the far distant sun for untold millenia, was finally at the surface. Chen slowly backed the limo and dragged the machine over the edge and onto flat ground.
“Well even at Earth's gravity, it couldn't weigh more then half as much as your average streetcar.
The Limo should be able to drag it right back to the ship even if the wheels don't spin.”
“Sir, we have plenty of fuel. Why don't we lift it with the IEVs to reduce possible damage to the underside?”
“Mr. Al-Jezrai, I appreciate your respect for these artifacts. However please note that my first priority is your safety. You have permission to carry out the plan, but I want body temperature readings from you and Muobo every 10 minutes. We're at least 40 minutes from base and that's skirting the edge of your suits' safety margins.
Isfaheem hadn't thought of how far out they were. He wasn't too worried about the suits' as they had multiple fail-safes, but he knew about Chan's experience on Titan and he knew better then to protest.