Lessons from Pluto by Aaron - HTML preview

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Chapter Eighteen

Yolanda sat in her small cubby reviewing the video from their approach near Churon, Pluto's moon when she heard Muobo's distinctive knock.

“Come on in.”

There wasn't quite enough room for him to enter, but he stood in the doorway, filling it with his 180cm frame. “Yolanda, I was wondering if you would like to join me on a survey of the other caverns. I'm hopeful that if there's anything further to be found, it'll be down in one of those.”

She didn't need to be asked twice. Any excuse to explore outside the ship was a welcome one.

“I'd love to Muobo. Let's see what Chan has to say.”

“I already checked. He gave me the usual safety lecture about not being gone for more then 70

minutes unless we take the limo.”

“The limo's useless for delving down into the caverns.”

“Exactly. But we'll have to watch our time carefully with the IEVs. Only half of those holes are close enough for a round trip.”

One thing she liked about working with Muobo was how well their personalities meshed. He was a capable man who echoed her thoughts more often then she cared to admit.

In less then half an hour, they were suited up and heading for the airlock. Each of them took a separate IEV and they took off over the frozen plains.

Dreaming of another momentous discovery, Yolanda followed the heads-up-display towards the next closest hole. Sadly they found nothing but empty rectangular chasms of roughly the same size.

The research was hampered by their need to return to the ship every hour or so. Over and over, in an ever widening circle they dived into caverns only to find the perfectly geometrical holes devoid of clues. It took until the next day, after having explored eight holes before they found the pièce de résistance.