“I don’t know …” Lana said hesitantly. “I didn’t sign up to go into space.”

“It’s still within Earth’s atmosphere,” Nori said. “And you can stay in the shuttle if you’d like.”

“Nathan, what do you think?” Lana looked at her friend.

The young man looked away shyly and nodded.

Lana sighed and closed her eyes. “Alright, I’m in.”

“Alright, here we go.” Nori’s fingers ran across the console.

As before, there was no sense of sudden inertia. Instead, the monitors zoomed out, showing more and more of the Earth’s curvature. In less than a minute, they passed through the clouds and kept on climbing.

Their eyes remained glued to the screens as the Earth shrunk beneath them.

“I see something!” Lana pointed at one of the screens with a trembling finger. Her other hand manipulated the console and the picture zoomed, revealing a long shape with a rounded blob at one end.

Bulco chuckled. “It looks like a bong. Ha! It’s a space bong.”

They continued flying, and the shape became bigger and bigger.

“My god, it’s huge,” Lana said. “It must be hundreds of meters long.”

“Its two hundred meters long,” Nori said, checking her interface. “The bulb at the end is about the size of a city block.”

Lana poured over her console. “Err … our sensor detects no propulsion systems other than basic stabilizers. This thing can’t fly on its own … err, I think.”

“Are you telling me it's a space station?” Bulco asked incredulously. “Here? Orbiting Earth? How the hell did it get here?”

Lana shrugged. “No idea. I can only tell you what the shuttle's sensor picks up. And I’m still struggling to make sense of what I see. This thing gives off a huge power signature, which stands to reason based on its size.”

“They better be able to answer our questions,” Nori said. “The course leads straight to the tube part. Looks like we can dock inside.”

Lana tensed up. “Are we sure we want to do this, guys? Meeting actual aliens, I mean. What if it's a trap?”

“That would be some trap,” Bulco grunted. “To put this huge chunk of metal here, on the off-chance we natives steal an alien ship and come to them. I say let’s give it a try. Worst case, I’ll use The Puncher and we can run back to the shuttle.”

Nori nodded. “Then it’s settled, I’m taking us in.”

Lana still looked unconvinced but didn’t try to protest again.

The shuttle adjusted course, aiming for the side of the station’s main tube. They passed dozens of extended airlocks, reaching out into space, but instead of docking, Nori flew the shuttle closer to the tube’s base. A hangar-like door opened and the shuttle flew through.