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I’m doing the work of two men trying to keep the engine room up to spec,” a hiss of steam, and a pop chose that moment to back up his words, “while working out what that peculiar rock could be. I have Arnaud running experiments. And all the while I’m naturally attempting to ascertain all we know of Phobos, although it’s painfully…scarce.”
    Seeing Nathaniel drift back into the nexus of theories compounded with questionable facts that the scientists of Earth knew about Phobos, Annabelle quietly slipped away.
    2.
    “SO THIS IS an engine room.”
    Highmore was most amused when Stone rose too quickly, banging his head on an overhang as he backed out from the space where he’d been working.
    “Sorry, old boy. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
    Stone gave him a disgruntled look and then said, “Careful. Don’t touch anything. Some of this can be quite hot.”
    “You do surprise me.” Highmore injected sarcasm.
    “There’s hot and there’s hot . Trust me.”
    Highmore gave Stone a searching look. “Very well. I will. Tell me, is it always so unpleasant in here?”
    “Yes. I’m afraid we need to conserve both oxygen and moisture and therefore the solar boiler’s safety valve vents into this room.”
    “Creates quite the humid atmosphere.” He glanced around, stepped forward, crouched, and fingered one of the books lying open on the floor. “Not a manual. You’ll ruin good books in here.”
    “I’ll ruin any book in here, but time is not kind and needs must.” Nathaniel winced no doubt at the smudges of oil on the book Highmore examined, pages curling in the steam.
    Highmore read aloud. “Blah blah blah. Moons are named after characters, Phobos meaning panic or fear, and Deimos meaning terror and dread. How cheerful.” He grinned. “The discoverer wrote that since Jupiter has four known moons and Earth one, it was only natural that Mars have two. What defective reasoning.” He skipped some passages.
    “Phobos is an irregular shape… More blah. Rises in the West, sets in the East to rise again… ” Highmore looked up. “A heavenly object that sets twice a day, does that not interest you? Something that gives off a barely perceptible but regular outgas that many believe is water? And is it not spiralling inwards, towards Mars?”
    Nathaniel’s gaze narrowed. “It’s entirely possible owing to its orbit which is faster than Mars’ rotation. It could move ever closer to Mars and eventually break up.”
    “No other…theories as to what could cause the phenomenon?” Before Nathaniel could answer Highmore asked, “How large is it?”
    “Quite small. About sixteen miles only at its…”
    “Sixteen miles.” Highmore interrupted. “Sixteen miles in a straight line does not seem so much. Sixteen miles down… Plenty of space to harbour a wealth of discoveries, hmm, Professor?”
    “If the satellite is hollow, it could in some way account for its comparative lightness of a spatial body and explain the acceleration of orbital motion.”
    “I took you for a more candid speaker. Scientists speculate Phobos and Demos are captured asteroids. Others that they are artificial satellites. Interesting theory, do you not think?”
    “I have also heard speculation that Phobos could contain a reservoir of ice, which might explain the out-gassing.”
    “But it could conform with what we now know of Luna, could it not?”
    “You refer of course to the hollow world, the caverns and underground river.”
    “Of course. Be honest. Do you think we will find something in the core?”
    “It’s entirely possible. Although Phobos is much smaller than Luna. Some astrophysicists have speculated Phobos is of artificial origin, its surface a thin sheet of metal. They base this analysis on estimates of the upper atmosphere of Mars, concluding that Phobos must be light.”
    “So, another hollow moon?” Highmore watched Nathaniel regarding him, but if he had given this greater thought, he said nothing.
    “Have