hiding a spaceship

[kengr]

I've been thinking on yet another variation on the "people stumble across a spaceship and get it working" trope.

I'm trying to figure ways this (not alien, but from the future) spacecraft could be hidden yet findable. I figure it should have been hidden several hundred years ago, after getting sent back to the past via [much handwaving]

I figure that about the only practical way is for it to be in an underground location. Probably one that was excavated, not natural. I'm sorta stuck on how to hide the entrance since most of the ways that come to mind would either require gear they wouldn't have or look suspicious to surveyors ("Looks like somebody blasted down that cliff face, Charlie.")

So I'm asking for ideas.

Technology is pretty much that of the Treveller RPG, but with somewhat better computers.

Comments

[kengr]

It was not deliberate. They made a seemingly normal jump to [somewhere] in the 47th century and arrived in the Sol system in the 17th century (or earlier)

Their records of things that far back are pretty slim in spite of having extensive historical databases (it was an exploration vessel, so they had that sort of thing for references when dealing with "lost colonies" and aliens)

I haven't decided yet if there's evidence that they aren't in their own past, for that matter.

They picked an isolated area away from "civilization" so they wouldn't be noticed coming and going (at least not by anybody who "counts" historically).

They also needed to be able to get in and out with "small" vehicles (your basic "flying car" and "flying large RV) with provisions to get the ship (Type S scout?) out if they *have* to (likely involving blowing open whatever they hid the entrance with)

[siliconshaman]

Ok, so a disused stone quarry sounds about right, miles from anywhere [wales perhaps], secluded and with a number semi-derelict buildings that could be used to house small craft out of sight, with a larger gallery/cavern to put the main ship in.

[kengr]

Oh, the main ship is hidden off planet. Maybe the moon, maybe an asteroid.

But they'vw got a "small" (200 dtons) ship on earth, as well as an air raft and g-carrier. :-)

[siliconshaman]

Ah! right.. best place to hide a space ship is the backside of the moon, with a light covering of lunar regolith. Nice and handy for access, no maps of the far side until 20th century so no chance of anyone noticing a discrepancy, so you could park in in a crater and cover it over and no-one would know it's there, it's just another bolder field in the middle of the lunar scape. You could even hide access hatches as smaller craters with a bit of paint.