Some of the spiders were equipped with additional bits of equipment, among them a powerful oxyacetylene torch and several winches that spooled out super-strong cable. While he talked with Cesar over the comms, Ty unwound the cable from one of the spiders and fixed the carabiner lock attached to it around the dead alien’s neck like a noose. Nancy did the same with another, and after a few minutes’ work they’d secured the body to three separate cables.

‘We’re going to have to set them all to maximum burn,’ Nancy muttered, surveying their work. ‘But at that rate they’ve only got fuel for thirty seconds.’

‘Is that going to be enough?’

She thought for a moment. ‘Maybe. I think we should set them up for two separate burns, of fifteen seconds each.’

‘Why?’

‘In case we don’t get it moving the first time, or if something goes wrong, we’ll still have a second chance. And if this works the first time, that leaves us with extra fuel.’ She gave him a steady look. ‘But that only gets it out into the shaft, not up to the surface, or into the launcher.’

‘Cesar’s moved the launcher over the shaft mouth. He’s also taken a winch off one of the other spiders, and by the time we’ve got our friend here out into the shaft itself, he’ll have lowered that cable from the launcher, and we can just winch the damn thing up to the surface.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ she admitted, but her tone gave away her doubt. ‘But we might be cutting this far too close, Nathan.’

‘We can do this,’ he insisted.

‘Yeah, well, I just hope you’re right.’

The spiders were soon in place, all facing towards the shaft entrance almost a hundred metres away, their cables now knotted tightly around the alien’s body. As Ty got into position behind the body along with Nancy, he glanced at her and saw her lips set in a thin, hard line behind her visor, her gaze fixed on the far end of the passageway.

‘Fifteen seconds, with an initial three-second delay,’ he reminded her. ‘Ready?’

‘Ready as I’ll ever be,’ she muttered.

Ty braced himself, knees bent, the soles of his boots pressed hard against the scuffed stone floor, and then he initiated the first burn.

Moments later, the thrusters of all three spiders flared in unison, and Ty’s visor quickly darkened in response. Seeing the winch-lines draw taut, he put his shoulder against the Atn’s inert form and pushed with all his strength. His feet almost slipped out from under him and he quickly sought fresh purchase, wondering if he’d been a fool to think something like this might actually work.