6
With two Coppélias on board, the shuttlecraft skimmed a few metres above the surface of the planet, following the contours of the terrain. As well as being an excellent engineer, Franz had also been programmed to be an excellent pilot. Coppélia 1 watched the navigation read-outs as they approached their destination, coordinates 98122.33 by 48486.45. Her rescuers had no idea what they would find at their destination but, whatever it was, it was obviously very important to Coppélia 1 that they should see it.
Franz landed the shuttle a hundred or so metres away from the quicksand. After everybody had disembarked, Coppélia decided that she’d better prepare the humans for a shock.
“I found something unusual when I was exploring my environment. Buried within some quicksand is a crashed spac
