"Wow," Rhys said, whistling as he viewed the damage. The shuttle was small. "How many people were in the ship?"
"Just three of us," Jaella said as she gazed down at the wreck. "It was supposed to be a simple mission. But for some reason, our pilot lost control and we crashed here."
Ianto nodded as he gazed down at the wreckage below. He edged to the right and started to make his way down. "I think we can get down here," he said, ignoring Gwen's admonition to be careful. He reached out to the edge of the ship and used it to steady himself as he slid a little on the soft earth. Slowly he descended, Jack a few steps behind him.
Gwen was torn between being safe and curiosity that tempted her to go down with them. She looked at Rhys who shrugged. "Well, I guess we won't learn much from up here. Fancy a trip down?" She asked him. He nodded and they waited for the others to reach the bottom before moving to follow them.
Jaella scrambled down after them. Being smaller and lighter, she didn't have as difficult time with sliding as the larger humans did. When they reached the bottom, they moved to where Ianto and Jack were standing. The ship looked a lot larger from below than it did from above, and Ianto could see that the nose was buried pretty deep in the soft earth. He looked around and waited for the others to come over.
"Do you know what happened to cause the crash," Jack asked once the cube was in range and could translate what he said. Even though he could talk to her in her own language, the cube made it much easier for all of them.
"No," Jaella said. She looked at the ship somberly. "I remember hearing an alarm and the next thing I knew we were plunging down through the air. We were not supposed to land, but to gather moisture into the replicators from the cloud cover. But something went wrong."
"That's one way of putting it," Ianto said as he played the beam of his torch across the twisted metal of the ship.
"Jaella, how do we get in?" Jack asked. Jaella led him around the nose of the ship and over to the other side. The hull was up against the cave wall, so it was a tight fit.
"Careful," Ianto warned as he watched them edge under an overhanging rock ledge. He tried to illuminate the way for them. There wasn't much room for anyone else to see what was going on, and he could see that Gwen was moving impatiently from one foot to another. Rhys was looking at the markings on the side of the ship, fascinated with his first up close experience with an alien ship. He began to understand the fascination his wife had for her job. This was like something out of a science fiction show to him, and he couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next.
"Ianto, can you come in here?" Jack called from under the stub like wing that projected out the side of the ship. The tip was lost from view since it was buried in the cavern wall. Ianto carefully stepped over the dirt that had piled up under the wing and ducked down to avoid hitting his head. Gwen was just a step behind him, eager to see what was going on. Ianto turned the torch so that the light shone behind him so that she could see where she was going. He held out a hand to her and helped her over the last bit of tumbled rocks until they were standing in a small clearing with Jaella and Jack. Rhys stayed on the other side of the wing, but peered underneath it so he could see what was going on.
"The door is here," Jaella said and indicated a hatch halfway up the side wall of the ship. "I was able to climb up to the top when I got out, so I do not know how you would get up there."
"Can you give me a leg up?" Jack asked Ianto. Nodding, Ianto moved over and bent down so that his arms were braced on his legs. He leaned against the metal hull of the ship for added support. Jack grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed up onto his back, causing him to grunt with the added weight. "Sorry," Jack said. "I'm going to have to stand."
Ianto nodded. "Go for it," he said. Jack ruffled his hair in passing before putting the heel of his hand on top of Ianto's head and pushing himself up so that he was standing on Ianto's back. He was almost able to reach the door. "Can you stand up more?"
"Yeah," Ianto grunted. He put his arm out against the ship and slowly pushed more upright. Jack shifted his stance so he was now balanced on Ianto's shoulders. Ianto hid a wince as he felt the heels of Jack's boots dig into the thin skin over his shoulder bones.
"Ah, got it!" Jack said with a whoop. Ianto couldn't see anything, but heard the creaking of metal as Jack wrestled the door open. Jack grasped the edge of the opening and tried to find some sort of purchase so that he could haul himself up. He reached in and felt around, finally grabbing some sort of webbing material. He tugged on it and it seemed to hold, so he figured it would be enough to get him up to where he could pull himself in.
Ianto had to concentrate on balancing Jack as the other man gyrated around and tried to get a purchase so he could climb into the ship. He could see Gwen looking up anxiously. She was shining her light upwards to help Jack see. "Careful!" She said.
