Willard walked into the center of the room. Behind him, Connelly could see the walls blurring in swirls of motion. "Is there something on the wall I'm not seeing?" Willard asked.

"Not on the walls," Robert said.

Connelly waved her hand slowly across her field of vision. Swirls of a light mist curled through the air. "Between them."

Willard paused and repeated the motion Connelly made. "Holy…there's an atmosphere in here?"

Connelly headed for the sphere, nodding. "Oh yeah." She jumped into the sphere, opened a small hatch and pulled out a hand held device that contained a small full color screen, but only one button. Connelly climbed back out of the sphere and headed towards the center of the cavern, where she was joined by Willard and Robert. She held the device in front of her face and pushed the lone button.

A loud beep chirped out as the device began working. A bright blue status bar slide across the screen, displaying the progress made. In ten seconds it reached one hundred percent. Connelly viewed the results, which were displayed as a bar graph. She began to laugh.

Robert caught Connelly's excitement immediately. "What? What are the results?"

"The atmosphere is just about equal in density to Earth's," Connelly said.

Willard crossed his arms. "Don't tell me it's breathable?"

Connelly smiled. "Only if you can breathe methane."

Robert scratched his helmet as though he could reach his hair inside. "A methane atmosphere…"

Connelly nodded. "Methane tops the list at sixty percent. Nitrogen at thirty. Oxygen at five and several other gases make up the rest."

"My neighbors had a cow farm when I was growing up. During the summer, we'd be doused in hot methane," Willard said, "I've never smelled anything so bad in my life."

"What's your point?" Connelly asked.

"Nothing," Willard said. "Just glad I can't smell it."

"Oh…"Robert's voice was barely audible in Connelly's headset, but she could tell he'd just thought of something…something important…something that scared him.

Connelly and Willard turned to Robert, who was staring at the tunnel. His eyes were fixed on it with an intensity rarely seen by anyone other than the souls present. Without taking his eyes off the cave, he spoke. "Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Where are all the cows?" Willard laughed at his joke, but Robert did not.

He turned his head toward Willard, his face set with a rock solid expression of sobriety. "Precisely."

*   *   *   *   *

A smile spread across Choi's face as the massaging hands burrowed into her back, smoothing out muscles and easing tension. The amazing sensation covered the contours of her entire backside, from head to feet. A slight moan escaped her lips and she was suddenly embarrassed. Her muscles tightened like high tensile wires. Her deep bliss was shattered.

But then a calm and soothing voice, deep and masculine, set her at ease. "Relax," said the voice. "Let go your mind…you're free…floating on a cloud."