05/07/2025 Snippet, THE CALL OF THE MOON-BEASTS.

Getting on with it!

Tobias found it worryingly easy to get down the hole. The gravity did not increase beyond Lunar standard, which was a relief to Tobias — but less of one than he liked, since none of the others knew that this could even be a possibility. There were also handholds to help slow descent. Those would have been fine, except that they looked old. As in, a century old. The shaft wall around them all was smooth, almost slick, like water had been involved in the process.

It was a sign of how odd things were these days that such a wrongness was accepted by the party without surprise, or even comment. Inexplicably water-worn walls might have challenged everything mankind knew about the moon, but they weren’t trying to actively eat people’s faces, either. Tobias for one was ready to count his blessings accordingly.

Abbie went first, and Tobias took up the rear: Wilcox contented himself with second, getting increasingly fidgety as they descended. By the time the descent ended in a moderately-sized room with a hatch on the floor, he was practically vibrating. “How did Grabinski build all of this?” he asked… somebody. “He’s a mathematician, not an engineer.”

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