It was another five stressful hours before Muobo was on his feet. She gave him a long embrace when he was finally able to stand up. Then he actually bent down and kissed her. It shocked her even more then their landing outside the ship.
“You're still not my type. But thanks for saving my booty.”
There was little that had ever left her speechless, but now she really did find herself with nothing to say. So she just squeezed him a little tighter.
Isfaheen gave him a long squeeze too.
“Hey careful man. I gotta keep some air in these lungs.”
This time they both socked him in the arm and sat down in the common room to discuss the next steps.
“So is Chen gonna can you?” The anxiety erupted on Isfaheen's face when he was finally able to express what they were all thinking.
“If he does, I'll knock him into low Plutonian orbit.” Muobo smacked one fist into another. “You saved my life out there.”
“Besides, it aint your fault that you got teamed up with a klutz like this.” Isfaheem smiled and pointed his finger.
“Hey! You watch yourself dippo. Only I'm allowed to say that.”
They hadn't noticed Chen walk in until he was standing over Yolanda.
“Has anyone looked at the EIV?”
Everyone became instantly silent. During the whole ordeal, it had been the furthest thing from their minds.
“I scanned it with the external cameras and it looks as if two or three struts are broken, possibly one of the rockets too.” His face looked more unhappy then they'd ever seen him. “I thought it was the Chinese who were supposed to be bad drivers.”
Yolanda whipped her head around to stare at him and caught the barest smile and quick wink.
“What's he talking about?”
“It's an old stereotype. Goes back at least 300 years or so. I'm surprised anyone still remembers it.”
“Well in all seriousness. Not one of us is going back down that hole unless I can be assured, beyond all doubt, that it will function perfectly.”
“Right, cause you're lazy ass left the other one at the bottom.” Isfaheen joked
“Hey! I just got cold feet okay?”
It was a great way for them all to let off some steam and relax after the terrifying ordeal. But the levity was short-lived. Chen pulled Isfaheem aside and they got to work with the their mini-rover.
Chen set the machine in the airlock and Isfaheem directed it to examine the IEV more carefully.
Meanwhile Yolanda and Muobo took the time to carefully collect the feed from the suit's camera.
As soon as it was set up, the other two stopped their project and everyone stared with rapt attention at the film showing stacks of thin plates filling every wall. Soon there was an image of Muobo's suit and the feed became so jerky that they were getting nauseous just looking at it, so Isfaheen set it to play stills every 5 seconds. They looked carefully at the boxes, the carvings and the motionless form of Muobo's suit. Then the camera sped to a spot just out of sight.
“What's that?” Muobo and Isfaheem exclaimed together.
“Oh. I think that could be an actual alien body.”
“Seriously?! You didn't go get a closer...oh...right.”
Yolanda looked back with fake anger at the man. “Yea. You're clumsy ass got in the way.”
He wasn't kidding anymore as he sighed heavily. “Leave it to me to pass out during the greatest discovery since Victor Robles.”
She patted his hand. “Don't worry. We'll make sure to get the IEV repaired and this time I'll let YOU have first dibs.”
It wasn't an easy task. The crash would've been worse on a higher gravity world. But Chen estimated that they must've fallen from 40 meters and even with the retro-rockets, there was severe structural damage. It definitely wouldn't hold a person safely as it was.
They all spent the better part of the day brainstorming a repair, but it was finally up to Chen to suggest taking some apart the storage rack on the Limo and bolting extra struts around the base.
The solution looked like hell, but it was probably stronger then the original. With a replaced fuel line and a few hours of testing, Chen declared that it was safe enough to venture back to the hole.