This brought a small chuckle from them all, only Connelly shuddered with pain with each chortle. After the pain subsided, she returned her gaze to the view outside of the sphere, which was lit by the bright external lights. They were floating in a pool of water, perhaps twenty feet across at the widest point. The smooth stone walls surrounding them were light brown mixed with flecks of red. It some areas, veins of crimson crisscrossed through the stone like streaks of heat lightning. They reminded Connelly of Europa's red streaks when seen from orbit.  The cavern was much larger; thirty feet at the tallest dome and at least one hundred feet across. A single tunnel led into the cavern on the far wall. It captured Connelly's attention.

"Is that the tunnel you entered through?" she said, pointing toward the dark hole.

Willard nodded. "Yeah, why?"

Connelly smirked.

"No way," Willard said. "We need to go."

"What are the chances of us ever coming back down here? After what happened we'll be lucky to ever enter the water again. This may be our only chance to explore what lies beneath the ocean. No one even thought to speculate on the existence of a cave system! Willard, I am eternally grateful for you…but this is what we do…we're scientists. We explore."

Willard closed his eyes for a moment and then sighed. "And I have to save your butts every time you guys get in trouble. That's my job."

"That a yes?" Connelly asked.

"Promise me we stay together. I don't want to have to chase you down again. I almost didn't make it in time."

Connelly nodded. "Promise…" She paused as a thought occurred to her. "Ethan, don't take this the wrong way…" She wasn't sure if she should ask. But the question would never stop pecking at her thoughts if she didn't. She let a deep breath, doing her best not to reveal the burning pain caused by her broken ribs. "What took you so long?"

Willard laughed lightly and wrung his hands together. "Not sure I want to retell the tale…not now anyway."

Robert adjusted his glasses, propping them higher on his nose. "We'll settle for the abridged version."

"Fine. Long story short…I got eaten by the predator that chased you in here, swam through its two stomachs, hallucinated about a blue Europhid, crawled through its shit-filled intestines and got shat out after giving it gas with an air tank." Willard crossed his arms. He was serious.

"God…" Robert stared at Willard with gaping eyes. "Are you okay?"

Willard uncrossed his arms and leaned against the glass dome. "Hey, I got to use 'shit' and 'shat' in the same sentence." He smiled. "I'm fine."