Five minutes later, a hatchway opened in the rock surface and five figures emerged. First the Hermit, then Mancomb, then Guybrush and Elaine, and bringing up the rear was Wally, burdened down under a stack of scientific equipment.
The space suits they wore were blotched and tinted dark grey to blend in with the ground. Though sundown was still several hours away it was very difficult to see the others, even from a few feet away. Guybrush looked around for Elaine, and saw her on his right. He reached out and took hold of her hand, thick and puffy in the suit. Elaine turned and looked at him.
The Hermit hadn't said anything to them about his plans. Presumably he intended to hitch a ride with them, which was fine with Guybrush as they could learn more about the portal stones right from the source.
They were headed in a different direction from that which Guybrush and Wally had first come from. Guybrush wondered about the women who'd flown them down, and the small ship not far behind them. Would they have noticed anything as Boss Hog landed?
Suddenly the Hermit stopped in front of them. He seemed to have pulled up at nothing. Then Guybrush noticed the huge patch of black right in front of them, a black in which no stars shone.
Outlined in nothingness, he saw the outline of Boss Hog.
Guybrush squeezed Elaine's hand. He imagined he could almost feel her warm skin through the padding.
He stepped forward and felt around on Boss Hog for the opening. He found it and soon they were all climbing inside.
Wally staggered off to the storage room, groaning under the weight. Mancomb seemed to have regained some of his good humour. He oohed over the stains and battle scars of their ship. "You have been through a lot, haven't you?" he said, looking at the twisted molten metal the asteroid laser had torn from the upper ceiling.
"Yeah. Too much," said Guybrush. "I don't know how she hangs together. Say, where's the Hermit?"
"Went down to the cockpit," said Elaine. "He's a strange guy. Wouldn't stop talking all the way here, just went through story after fantastic story like he was making them up as he went. But he hasn't said anything since we caught up with you."
They walked down in that direction. The Hermit stood hunched over the controls, his face shining with reflected light. He straightened and turned to them as they entered. "Powered up the engine for you," he said.
"Why?" said Guybrush.
"I think we're going to need to make a quick exit," said the Hermit.
It was getting quite crowded with four people standing. To relieve the pressure, and as a way of asserting his authority in the cockpit, Guybrush slid into the pilot's seat.
Blinking lights caught his attention. "Hello, what's this?" he said. Motion on the radarscope. "There's movement."
Mancomb and Elaine rushed forward. Saw the slowly moving blips on the radarscope. "Darr!" said Mancomb. He turned on Elaine. "This is all your fault! I knew we couldn't trust you-"
"Hey, don't look at me, I'm not the one who brought them here!"
Guybrush had kept his eyes on the instruments. "There's two groups," he announced. "They're-
A shaft of laser light more than five metres in diameter slammed into the Ganymede surface not far in front of them. Rock exploded outward in a molten shower, around a shaft of blinding intensity.
It vanished.
"What the hell..." said Mancomb.
"Who fired that?" said Elaine. "The Government wouldn't dare attack like-"
Another laser bolt blasted the surface, this one off to the left. They shielded their eyes. As the light faded Guybrush slowly lowered his arm from his face. Behind him Mancomb had turned from the viewscreen and was hastily barking orders over an intercom link.
Guybrush looked out the viewscreen, leant forward and looked up. He saw movement, streaks of blaster fire, explosions.
"It's Upchuck," he said.