“How do we open it—if it’s a panel, that is?” asked Joe. He pushed the corners, tried sliding the panel in every direction, bounced the square with his fingers, all with no result.
“Let me try,” said Mark. He laid his hand gently on top. In a few seconds there was a click and the square lifted up an inch, supported by a small, spring-loaded shaft in the center. Mark lifted the panel off and revealed a recess filled with finely detailed circuit boards. Over and around them were a few dark wires that obviously did not belong to the original design.
Joe snorted. “How did you do that?”
“Well, I thought that it had to be some sort of radiation that would open it. There were no obvious signs of physical fasteners like screws. So I figured it had to be magnetism, or light, or maybe heat. I thought body heat would be the easiest to try, so I laid my hand on it, concentrated, and made it warm, and it opened!”
“Good work, Mark, but let’s not waste time! We’re in a hurry now,” urged Zip. “What do you see in there Joe?” By now George and several of his men had come over and were watching over the shoulders of the Starmen.
“Yeah, really simple circuit. I can disconnect it in a minute even without tools and we can be out the door.” Joe reached in.
“Wait!” Zip grabbed Joe’s wrist. “Is there any evidence that the circuit is tied into a larger system, like a master computer, that would tip anyone off that the door has been opened?”
Joe peered into the aperture and carefully traced the wiring.
“Sorry, Zip. Sorry, everybody,” he said, chagrined. “You’re right. There is. But I can fix that too.” He reached in and twisted two wires together. “Okay, that should bypass the door circuit and tell the master computer that the door is still closed. I can open the door now. Are you ready?”
Zip stood up. “There are fourteen of us. We don’t know where to go once we’re free, so I’d like George to lead us. He’s been through the asteroid. Take us somewhere, George, where we won’t be found easily.”