“What the hell was that?” Lana asked weakly.

Nori shifted gears and carefully guided the Hummer forward. They turned the corner in time to see the huge, spider-like, robot burrow into the ground. Its main body was a thick ring with eight pike-like legs attached to it. It lowered itself into the ground, and the giant head hovered above the ring body. The mouth opened again and a stream of yellow energy erupted out of it, burrowing into the ground while the ring served as a bracer for the hole’s edge.

“What is it doing?” Nori frowned.

Bulco chuckled suddenly. “It’s not a Warped, it’s a mining machine.”

“How can you tell?”

“Easy, it says so on my display: Inthidlon excavator mark four.”

“So these boxes are … what? Shipping containers?”

“Looks like it. I think we just hit the jackpot.”

“Why would the aliens drop an excavator on the moon and then leave?” Lana frowned.

“Maybe they discovered something that was worth the effort?” Nori said.

Bulco studied the machine and shook his head. “We should be careful. That thing must be worth a lot. They’re not going to leave something like that lying around unguarded.”

“So what do we do now?” Lana asked.

Nori narrowed her eyes. “It looks like those four containers will fit snugly inside Unity’s cargo hold, don’t you think?”

Nathan nodded and looked at Lana pointedly.

“Nathan says you’re right,” the dark-haired woman translated. “Everything here is Inthidlon design, just like Unity. It was meant to go together.”

“Alright,” Nori said. “We should figure out exactly what this thing is mining and how much it has collected so far.”

“There’s a console on the side of each of the container,” Lana pointed. “I bet it can tell us what’s inside.”

The Navigator nodded. “Alright. I’ll drive the Hummer out of the way, we don’t want that thing to accidentally step on us.” She put the vehicle in reverse and drove a hundred meters away. “Alright, masks on, everyone, we’re going out.”

The Hummer’s doors lifted upward and the four companions stepped outside.

“Let’s go,” Nori said.

They walked slowly on the moon’s uneven surface, keeping a careful watch on the excavator. The giant machine continued drilling into the moon’s crust, ignoring the intruders. When they reached halfway, the excavator rose again, huge pike-like legs lifting it off the hole and walked toward another box. It lowered its head above it and released another stream of square objects.

The companions continued until they reached the closest container.

“I’ll check the console,” Lana said and approached the opaque screen.

She reached her hand and touched it lightly. A light console switched on. The opaque screen instantly flared to life, displaying rows of data.

A terrible metallic screech erupted, causing everyone to wobble in their place.

“What was that?” Lana asked with a pale face.