Second and third (last) part of the current chapter... expect a writeup of the POD too. 
##########
Two sleepy looking men and a catgirl entered the room where Zenigata were again sitting in front of the holo-controls, the head of the dozing Mizuki on his lap.
“Ahh, good that you are here” he said excited and activate the holo emitters. “You really have to see what I found!”
Arthur Nkomo and Jürgen Schmidt looked to each and then at the sleeping catgirl.
“Maybe you want to sent her away first?” Jürgen suggested, but Ichikawa Zenigata shook his head.
“I owe her a little bit, just let her sleep.” he said with a grin, then he pointed to the projector.
Cathy just grinned about his comment.
“Mizuki also gave me the hint I needed to spot an important piece of our puzzle.”
The projection of the weapon system rotated and a number of metal loops were highlighted.
“As you know the reconstruction of the central weapon is pretty good, but we have some uncertainty in the support structure below it. Our last guess was that we were missing a few parts, but we were wrong!”
The highlighted loops suddenly moved, most of them distributing themselves in a new regular pattern and one of them moving away from the weapon.
“Thats because this” Zenigata said and hold up a small plastic box, “this loop is not from the weapon system, its from the vehicle that transported the weapon system!”
Suddenly the two other inspectors were not looking sleepy anymore.
“Do you already have a preliminary analysis of it?” Arthur asked.
“Yes, I have. Its most likely steel that has been created here in space from asteroid ore. Its quality is much lower than the materials of the weapon system. It has been waved to be vacuum resistant with a common strain of handwavium. And...”
“And what?” Jürgen Schmidt asked, rolling his eyes about Zenigata’s show.
“And it has been contaminated during the waving. With some tiny amounts of red dust, dust from a planetary surface not far from here!”
“Mars... you want to tell us the transporter has been waved on Mars!” Arthur finally said. “This is really an interesting piece of evidence, the first one that might be useful for us.”
Zenigata nodded again.
“Yes. The catgirls from the lab told me a few minutes ago that they don’t think the steel has been used for a larger purpose built spaceship, but it could be from a waved vehicle.”
“Must be a pretty large waved vehicle, even most trucks are smaller than the weapon system.” Jürgen noted. “A truck or maybe a boat. Or a large plane.”
“Thats what I am hoping too,” Zenigata replied, “maybe someone who sells vehicles like this will recognize this part!”
“Sounds like looking for a needle in the haystack again” Jürgen joked, “don’t you think we should first uncover more evidence now that we got a hint what we are looking for?”
“No, we should move to Mars NOW... before the trail goes cold” Zenigata opposed Jürgens plan, “we cannot wait here.”
“We have to restock our Camping Car before we can think about flying back” Arthur said flatly. “And we would not be able to start anyways until we all got a good night of sleep. You know, nearly 17 hours of flying is more than a short trip.”
“I would like to help you” Cathy interrupted them for the first time, “we could easily borrow you one of our cars with a catgirl driving it... but even for a car its more than 11 hours to reach Mars. Thats a lot of travel time.”
Mizuki suddenly lounged and grinned.
“He could use the pinball,” she suggested, “it can cover the distance in seven hours.”
“You cannot seriously suggesting using that thing” Cathy said and rolled with her eyes. “Its tiny!”
“Excuse me,” Zenigata interrupted the two catgirls, “but what is the Pinball?”
Mizuki sat up and smiled.
“The Pinball of Doom is a prototype vehicle I have built with a few friends last year” she explained. “Its large enough for two persons and its incredible fast!”
“That sounds just perfect” Zenigata agreed, but Cathy was still skeptic.
“Wait until you have seen the beast” she suggested and stood up.
---
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I proudly present the PINBALL OF DOOM!”
Both catgirls and the three inspectors were standing around an unremarkable sphere of two and a half meter diameter. Smooth metal everywhere, no windows and not even small bumps.
“This is the spaceship you were talking about?” Arthur asked. “You are kidding us, right? This thing might be a nice toy or a drone, but an interplanetary spaceship?”
Mizuki hissed angrily at Arthur and stroke the surface of the metal sphere.
“You should not say something like this, vehicles have feelings too!” she spat out.
“Mizuki, I know you don’t build AI-equipped ships.” Arthur said and sighed.
“This is a personal built prototype! How do you know it has no AI?”
“Does it have an AI?”
Mizuki mumbled.
“No, it has not... but they still got feelings. And its the fastest craft on the whole station!”
She knocked on the surface of the sphere and half of it slowly clapped back to reveal the interior with the two seats. There wasn’t much more free space in the sphere except for the seats and their controls.
“Okay, I can see that this is a tight solution” Zenigata said with a grin. “At least the hatch is transparent from the inside. Why didn’t you built it a bit larger?”
“We cannot do so without an AI” Cathy quickly answered. “This is even a bit larger than we normally can do, it still has a few quirks we got rid of later. But Mizuki is right, its a damned fast vehicle. And in theory it could bring you to Mars.”
“In theory?” Zenigata asked carefully.
“Look at it” Arthur said, “its not even a car, its a tin can. Do you think anyone would want to sit inside this for eight hours?”
“Hey, the prewave space capsules of US and and Russia were smaller” Mizuki complained. She looked at Zenigata. “And you are not that large, it should work out fine.”
Cathy looked at Mizuki.
“If you are that excited about the craft, YOU will pilot it for our guest until you are back on the station.”
Mizuki blinked a few times.
“But... but... but we had to take out the coffee machine to get space for the fuel tanks!”
“It's your idea, you are responsible for it,” Cathy said and shook her head. “I am sure you will be able to find a thermos jug before you leave.”
##########
Two sleepy looking men and a catgirl entered the room where Zenigata were again sitting in front of the holo-controls, the head of the dozing Mizuki on his lap.
“Ahh, good that you are here” he said excited and activate the holo emitters. “You really have to see what I found!”
Arthur Nkomo and Jürgen Schmidt looked to each and then at the sleeping catgirl.
“Maybe you want to sent her away first?” Jürgen suggested, but Ichikawa Zenigata shook his head.
“I owe her a little bit, just let her sleep.” he said with a grin, then he pointed to the projector.
Cathy just grinned about his comment.
“Mizuki also gave me the hint I needed to spot an important piece of our puzzle.”
The projection of the weapon system rotated and a number of metal loops were highlighted.
“As you know the reconstruction of the central weapon is pretty good, but we have some uncertainty in the support structure below it. Our last guess was that we were missing a few parts, but we were wrong!”
The highlighted loops suddenly moved, most of them distributing themselves in a new regular pattern and one of them moving away from the weapon.
“Thats because this” Zenigata said and hold up a small plastic box, “this loop is not from the weapon system, its from the vehicle that transported the weapon system!”
Suddenly the two other inspectors were not looking sleepy anymore.
“Do you already have a preliminary analysis of it?” Arthur asked.
“Yes, I have. Its most likely steel that has been created here in space from asteroid ore. Its quality is much lower than the materials of the weapon system. It has been waved to be vacuum resistant with a common strain of handwavium. And...”
“And what?” Jürgen Schmidt asked, rolling his eyes about Zenigata’s show.
“And it has been contaminated during the waving. With some tiny amounts of red dust, dust from a planetary surface not far from here!”
“Mars... you want to tell us the transporter has been waved on Mars!” Arthur finally said. “This is really an interesting piece of evidence, the first one that might be useful for us.”
Zenigata nodded again.
“Yes. The catgirls from the lab told me a few minutes ago that they don’t think the steel has been used for a larger purpose built spaceship, but it could be from a waved vehicle.”
“Must be a pretty large waved vehicle, even most trucks are smaller than the weapon system.” Jürgen noted. “A truck or maybe a boat. Or a large plane.”
“Thats what I am hoping too,” Zenigata replied, “maybe someone who sells vehicles like this will recognize this part!”
“Sounds like looking for a needle in the haystack again” Jürgen joked, “don’t you think we should first uncover more evidence now that we got a hint what we are looking for?”
“No, we should move to Mars NOW... before the trail goes cold” Zenigata opposed Jürgens plan, “we cannot wait here.”
“We have to restock our Camping Car before we can think about flying back” Arthur said flatly. “And we would not be able to start anyways until we all got a good night of sleep. You know, nearly 17 hours of flying is more than a short trip.”
“I would like to help you” Cathy interrupted them for the first time, “we could easily borrow you one of our cars with a catgirl driving it... but even for a car its more than 11 hours to reach Mars. Thats a lot of travel time.”
Mizuki suddenly lounged and grinned.
“He could use the pinball,” she suggested, “it can cover the distance in seven hours.”
“You cannot seriously suggesting using that thing” Cathy said and rolled with her eyes. “Its tiny!”
“Excuse me,” Zenigata interrupted the two catgirls, “but what is the Pinball?”
Mizuki sat up and smiled.
“The Pinball of Doom is a prototype vehicle I have built with a few friends last year” she explained. “Its large enough for two persons and its incredible fast!”
“That sounds just perfect” Zenigata agreed, but Cathy was still skeptic.
“Wait until you have seen the beast” she suggested and stood up.
---
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I proudly present the PINBALL OF DOOM!”
Both catgirls and the three inspectors were standing around an unremarkable sphere of two and a half meter diameter. Smooth metal everywhere, no windows and not even small bumps.
“This is the spaceship you were talking about?” Arthur asked. “You are kidding us, right? This thing might be a nice toy or a drone, but an interplanetary spaceship?”
Mizuki hissed angrily at Arthur and stroke the surface of the metal sphere.
“You should not say something like this, vehicles have feelings too!” she spat out.
“Mizuki, I know you don’t build AI-equipped ships.” Arthur said and sighed.
“This is a personal built prototype! How do you know it has no AI?”
“Does it have an AI?”
Mizuki mumbled.
“No, it has not... but they still got feelings. And its the fastest craft on the whole station!”
She knocked on the surface of the sphere and half of it slowly clapped back to reveal the interior with the two seats. There wasn’t much more free space in the sphere except for the seats and their controls.
“Okay, I can see that this is a tight solution” Zenigata said with a grin. “At least the hatch is transparent from the inside. Why didn’t you built it a bit larger?”
“We cannot do so without an AI” Cathy quickly answered. “This is even a bit larger than we normally can do, it still has a few quirks we got rid of later. But Mizuki is right, its a damned fast vehicle. And in theory it could bring you to Mars.”
“In theory?” Zenigata asked carefully.
“Look at it” Arthur said, “its not even a car, its a tin can. Do you think anyone would want to sit inside this for eight hours?”
“Hey, the prewave space capsules of US and and Russia were smaller” Mizuki complained. She looked at Zenigata. “And you are not that large, it should work out fine.”
Cathy looked at Mizuki.
“If you are that excited about the craft, YOU will pilot it for our guest until you are back on the station.”
Mizuki blinked a few times.
“But... but... but we had to take out the coffee machine to get space for the fuel tanks!”
“It's your idea, you are responsible for it,” Cathy said and shook her head. “I am sure you will be able to find a thermos jug before you leave.”