I’m standing at the back of the grotto, facing the sheer, crystalline wall. It’s morning and the hazy light pours in from the cave entrance.

The air smells of campfires and death.

“So, I just … touch it?” I say. “That’s it? Like anywhere on the wall?”

“Yes,” says Xeno. “It’s very easy, even you can do it. Right hand please.”

I roll my eyes and place said hand flat on a smooth part of the crystal. It’s cold to the touch. It takes a moment for anything to start happening, long enough for me to wonder if Xeno is playing some stupid prank on me. Then the area around my hand flickers, not with light, but with something else. I want to call it liquid behind the slightly translucent wall, but that’s not right either. I feel a tingle run through my arm, after which the entirety of the grotto illuminates, then fades.

“Xeno?” I say, my hand still on the wall.

No response.

“Yo. Alien creature in my hand. Can I take my hand off the wall yet?”

Still no response.

“Hey, I’m starting to lose feeling in my—”

I feel the lips moving on my palm and I pull my hand off. I’m caught a little off guard when the lips detach with a slurpy smacking sound.

“Eew,” I say, wiping my hand on my plaid shirt. “Were you sucking on the wall?”

Xeno smacks his lips a few more times then exclaims, “It worked! Honestly, I had no idea if it would actually work, but it did.”

“What worked?”

“I was able to access the vessel’s repository. At least partially. Most of it is completely unresponsive. I’m pulling two of the five components now.”

“What do you mean pulling?”

“Also, I could already sense this before we got here, but I was able to confirm that only three of the five components I need are still inside my vessel. Like I mentioned, I can access two of them now, but the other one we’ll have to go to a different part of the vessel for that. The other two were ejected when your military went buck-wild on my underside. And, hmm, this is strange.”

“What?”

“As we’ve been talking, I’ve been actively pinging the other two. One of them is, well … mobile.”

“Like it’s moving around?”

“Yes, that’s what mobile means, Jack, good job.”

“So someone has it.”

“That would be my assumption as well, yes. But hey, let’s focus on the one still here on the ship. It’s stuck, but I think I know how to retrieve it.

“Okay, so how do we get it?”

“You’re not going to like it, but—wait, hold on. Here they come.”

I look up at the wall. Right at eye level, there's an imprint of my hand, gently thrumming. Something is forming. I squint and step back to get a better look. The object is circular, like a disk, slowly pressing itself into the open air. The wall around it shifts as it passes through, as if the crystal is made of misty water.

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And then the thing plops out and thuds to the rocky ground with a thwang.

“It’s a … manhole cover,” I say, astonished.

“No, you idiot, it’s the platform. For the single rider gate.”

I walk over to it. To me it looks like a perfectly smooth and shined up manhole, but twice as wide. The diameter is about my arm span. The edges are smooth and rounded, like a silver coin minted for a giant.

I squat down. I can see my reflection in it. Mist or steam or something is rising off of it. “Can I touch it?”

“Well one of us has to get it into the truck,” says Xeno. “But careful, it’s—”

“Ouh,” I say, cradling my left hand. “That’s freezing.”

“It’s sub-zero, Jack, so yeah. Maybe give it a minute to equalize. Oh, here comes the next one.”

“What about the software for this?” I say.

“It’s already integrated with the unit, Jack, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

I look up. At the same spot, something else is forming behind the wall. This one is much, much smaller. It’s the size of a marble. In fact, it looks exactly like a marble. Its green surface nearly matches that of the inside of the grotto, but it’s a little darker and there are streaks of yellow along its perfectly spherical surface.

The marble pops out and falls to the ground, bounces off the platform with a ping, and rolls into a rocky crevasse.

“Oh, great,” says Xeno.

“I’ll get it,” I say. “Don’t get your panties in wad.”

I kneel down and toss a large flat rock to the side so I can get my arm into the crack.

“I don’t have panites, Jack, but speaking of panties, you’re beginning to really stink. We need to find a shower for you, because I—”

I shove my right hand arm into the gritty cravase and that shuts Xeno up.

“I didn’t know you could smell,” I say.

His voice is muffled, but I think he says, “Of course I can smell. I can smell better than a dog high on cocaine. Well, technically I’m tapping into your sensory feed and extrapolating the inform—”

“Got it,” I say, “Oh, jeez, that’s cold too.” I can’t see what I’m doing but I feel the marble slip and roll further down into the crevasse.

“Aaarg,” exclaims Xeno. “I swear, I have to do everything around here.” His appendage slips out and snakes its way deeper into the crack. I feel a subtle jolt, then he’s sliding back inside me (that’s a sentence I never thought I’d say).

I pull my hand out of the crevasse, marble in hand.

“I got it,” I say.

“You mean I got it,” says Xeno, his lips maneuvering around the marble to speak.

“Sure, good job, Xeno, you talented little alien.”

“Why does it feel like you’re mocking me?”

“I’m not, it’s a genuine compliment. You’re very talented.”

“Uh, huh.”

I walk over to the platform. “So how does this work, exactly?”

“Well, we need the other three components—all of which look exactly like one one in your hand—for it to work, but let’s not worry about how it works until—”

“Oh, the rest are marbles too?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, that’s doable. I was dreading another one of those,” I say pointing at the platform. “Or worse.”

“Speaking of that,” says Xeno. “It should be warmed up a bit by now. You should be able to lift it.”

“Is it heavy?”

“Well, that’s relative, Jack. How much can you lift?”

“I was never the get-my-kicks-at-the-gym kind of guy, Xeno, so I’m not sure.”

“Yes, I am aware.”

I put the marble in my pocket, squat down, and test the temperature. Yep, it’s okay now. I grab the rounded edge and lift.

“Oh, that is heavy,” I grunt, as I set it back down. “And my shoulder is still killing me. I gently rub the gauze bandage I’d wrapped around the wound, pulled from my first aid kit in the backseat early this morning.

“Oh, come on, Jack,” says Xeno. “Don’t be a pansy. You’ve got—”

“Okay, Okay! I got it, I got it,” I say, squatting down again.

I suck in a deep breath, grab the edge, and lift with all my might. I can feel my face filling with blood. My knees start wobbling. It takes everything I have but I finally get it up so that it’s balancing on its edge.

“Phew!” I say, wiping sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand.

“Great,” says Xeno, “Now let’s get it in the truck.”