Even in the faint new moon’s light we could see the huge machine shine. It must be some ninety feet high. How could no one have heard it arrive? Indeed it resembled an old-fashioned, cone shaped espresso machine of the type used on a gas furnace. On its top we saw what must be its cockpit windows and under those we saw two large capital letters: MM. That must be its logo or name. A smaller text was written under them, but it was too small for us to read. We looked at each other, not knowing what to do next. The vehicle stood on a construction of four round balls, just about big enough to give us some room to walk underneath it. In the middle of its bottom we saw a large round entrance door. It was closed.
‘Now what… should we stay here, wait till anybody arrives?’ Mohy said. ‘We should first look around on the ground, maybe we find something’, said Onnio. We checked the lawn everywhere, saw no footprints, nothing at all, which is strange. But ten minutes later Jenny picked up something shiny. It was a plain silver ring with an inscription inside: ‘Lisa’ Would it belong to our neighbor Tom? In all of the party bustle we hadn’t really paid attention to it. Yet it is only natural, that if Tom and Lisa have something serious going now and Lisa wears a ring, Tom would wear a ring too. ‘I can’t believe he lost it. Also a guy wouldn’t just loose his engagement ring’, said Jenny. Without a reply, Onnio continued looking around the vehicle again, his fingers holding his chin, as he normally does when contemplating a case. Then he halted and pulled down a steel construction from one of the large balls. ‘This must be the ladder towards the door. Just strange they would leave it unattended… anybody lend me a hand guys!’ Then the four of us were stumbling with the ladder for a while and we managed to lift it towards the door. It’s amazing how quick the mind works when tested, even collectively, because we almost automatically noticed two round holes for the ladder’s top to fit in. We felt it click in precisely.
Now that the ladder was safe, or so it seemed, we took the gamble to go up. Mohy being his impulsive self grabbed the doorknob and the door opened at once, without any sound at all. It must be quite heavy, as it took him some effort to move it. ‘Well-oiled door’ Onnio remarked, ‘Why, again, would someone leave the door open to his precious space ship?’ ‘If it is a space ship’ replied Jenny. ‘Of course it’s a space ship… have you ever seen anything like it?’ said I. ‘Maybe we should keep our voices down’ said Jenny, again. ‘I bet the answer to Tom’s disappearance lies here. I think we have no choice and we should have a look inside’, said I, with my voice low. Mohy didn’t wait anybody’s answer and moved up inside, into what seemed to be a dark entrance hall. All of us, wisdom or folly and no words needed, automatically followed, driven by the wish to help our neighbors and our own adventurous curiosity. One after one climbed the ladder, then entered the entrance hall.