The portal eventually fizzled out after more than a day.
Fortunately, it clearly grew less stable in the last few hours of its existence. The Larkinsons had plenty of time to retrieve their bots, drones, probes and other equipment.
They only left a few key devices such as a positioning device and transceiver in the hopes that they could locate the ovoid space if it happened to be located elsewhere on the moon.
The search failed to turn up any results. The Larkinson Clan had deployed thousands of mechs in order to carpet search the entire surface of Iron Crusher.
Each of the mechs kept their sensors and communication equipment tuned for the powerful bursts of signals that the beacons left behind in the giant phase whale cave were transmitting on a non-stop basis.