They were down to two sleds now. Lena was back on the bridge while Xavier slept since Emily was back in the lab, beginning her examination of the three bodies that had been brought back on the previous trip. Because nobody else was qualified to pilot, though Brody insisted he could, they just rode on two sleds. Pepper made sure that they took off as soon as Vanessa was behind her, to make sure that Brody went with Miles and Anton though. She didn't want his hands on Nessa.

               "Can we try something today?" Pepper asked through the earpiece.

               "I like the sound of that you naughty girl! One of Lena's toys?" Vanessa asked in a husky whisper.

               "No! I mean on the spaceship!" Pepper laughed. "But now that you mention it, we may need to look through that box some day."

               "Okay, first, let's not discuss the box while we're working or we'll never get anything done," Vanessa stated. "But second, what is your idea?"

               Pepper slowed the sled as they approached the huge hole that had ruined the larger ship, pulling forward so they could look along its length. "So, every one of the ships we've found, from the small ones to this one, have had a single hole through it. Now, the smaller ones went right through the cockpits, so the enemy obviously knew where the pilots were sitting. Using that logic, shouldn't this hole have gone through the bridge of this ship too?"

               Vanessa considered that theory and couldn't find any fault in it. Once again, she was impressed with the intellect of her lover, and pulled her closer to her, wishing there weren't space suits in the way. "I think that is a great deduction Honey! It also makes sense with what you said about them having an enemy. I bet this wasn't the first time they had a battle. The enemy knew how to knock out their ships."

               "Right. And they had the weapons to do it." Pepper agreed.

               "So, you think if we follow the hole all the way to the top, we'll find the bridge?"

               "I do. There might not be much left there, but it is worth a look."

               Vanessa switched her suit's comms back on and sent out a quick message. "Guys, Pepper and I are going to go check something out. We'll let you know if we find anything."

               "Keep in touch, we'll continue where we were yesterday," came her father's reply.

               "Hang on tight Nessa!" Pepper whispered, then angled the sled upwards into the hole and made sure the search light was on before heading into the ship.

               As before, the ride up through the hole was spooky, the empty rooms and corridors they passed extending lifelessly off the main tunnel. Pepper piloted the sled slowly, not wanting to run into anything, should debris have drifted in from the other chambers. There were a lot of interesting things to see, and corridors to go explore. Just seeing the amount of space left to cover in their exploration made the pair realize that the six-month plan for exploration could easily be used on this ship alone.

               "So, if your theory is correct, that larger piece of a ship was from the enemy," Vanessa asked.

               "Yeah, I just didn't want to say that near your father and Brody, they'd want to go see that immediately hoping to find the weapon that made this hole," Pepper muttered. "

               "And they were most likely the aggressors?"

               "I would think so. When you're travelling with kids, I don't think you go looking to pick a fight," Pepper reasoned. "I mean, it might not be accurate, but it makes sense."

               "No, I agree with that. It is a logical assumption."

               The cockpits of the smaller ships had been rotating spheres, where the pilots spun up into the hull of the ship to pilot it. Obviously, a larger ship would mean a larger crew, so it was unlikely that they could all spin in a sphere. Perhaps they could have a series of smaller spheres, but that seemed unlikely as well. But the position of the bridge should still be somewhere on the path that had been carved by the mystery weapon. As they got closer to the end of the tunnel near the top of the ship, Pepper slowed the sled even more. The bridge could be anywhere in that area, so they took their time scanning the rooms in that area.

               When they reached the top of the ship, they found an enormous chamber with a domed ceiling that protruded up out of the hull. The hole neatly cut through the middle of the dome, so most likely it had been the target of the weapon. Pepper steered the sled around the room, taking in the sights. The room was exposed directly to space, and had been for a long time, so there was nothing loose floating in there.

               "So, what were you hoping to see here?" Vanessa asked, curiously.

               "Well, remember those weapons that we found? Even after all this time, they still worked," Pepper pointed out. "Miles even mentioned just how rugged they were. But I would imagine that any ship's controls, would be just as rugged. The bridge most likely has some sort of a backup power supply, but if it had been the target, there was nobody around to trigger it."

               "Do you really think we might be able to get power to the bridge?" Nessa asked, wonder in her voice.

               "I hope so. Most of the equipment is around the edges of the room. Even if there was some in the middle that was destroyed by the attack, some of it might work if there was a giant battery or some other power supply we haven't invented yet."

               "So, we just try buttons and see what happens?" Vanessa seemed unsure of the safety in that idea.

               Pepper parked the sled on the edge of the room, and then turned around on it to face Nessa. "Okay, so there is no power here right now, right? So, we can take a switch and press it, then turn it right back off if nothing happens. Now, we might just be wasting our time doing this, nothing might happen the entire time we're here. But maybe we'll get lucky and get some power up here."

               "You don't want to tell anyone this idea, do you?" Nessa confirmed, knowing the answer.

               "No, I don't. I want to experiment a little on our own if you're okay with that."

               "I like the sound of that!" Vanessa said with a playful smirk.

               "You know what I mean! Save that talk till later, then I'll experiment on you all you like!" Pepper promised in a throaty whisper.

               "We really need to stop talking like that, we're in space exploring!" Nessa laughed.

               "Then keep your mind out of the space gutter!"

               "So, you want to go one way, and I go the other flipping switches?

               Pepper thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. "No, let's stay together. If something happens, I don't want us to be figuring out what switch did what."

               "Then where do we start?"

               "Well, any of these panels would be a good starting point," Pepper decided. "Then we can go clockwise from here till hopefully something happens." Disembarking from the sled, the pair moved over towards the closest panel. It was low to the ground, almost like a child's play set, and covered with dials, buttons, and screens. There were labels for them all in the strange language of the aliens, but they were still impossible to read. Pepper was excited to see some of the dials had symbols around it like numbers. That could help with translating!

               "Do you have a preference on which we press first?" Nessa asked.

               "I would think a power switch would be a button of some sort, so ignore the dials for now. The screens are probably displays for information or cameras, so we can ignore them too. Pick any of the buttons and see what happens."

               Reaching out a gloved hand, Vanessa picked one of the buttons near the top of the panel to their right. "Ready?"

               "Go for it!"

               The button moved inward with a satisfying click, and then their eyes widened in shock.