Hannibal set his case notes aside in favor of exploring the strange sound from out beside the drive. A scalpel was in his pocket, of course----just in case. He found himself at the edge of a crater with a large, odd-looking device inside. As a man of science and being of a naturally-curious bent, the doctor could not let such things go unexamined! Carefully he made his way down the sloped wall of the pit---grimacing slightly as loose earth smeared the leg and hip of his dress slacks---and approached the machine, scarcely even taking note of the two other beings there.