Well!
I am in a kind of a cup-shaped space maybe ten feet across but not
higher than I am; there is a trap door in the ceiling; the Thing is
lying all around me in a mess of plastic arms, with an extensible
stalk connecting it to the wall. I kick free and it turns over
exposing the label FRAGILE CARGO right across the back.
The next thing I notice is two holdalls, B's and mine, clamped against
the wall, and the next after that is the opening of a trap door in the
ceiling and B's head silhouetted in it remarking Oh there you are Liz.