Light cut across the cave tunnel in a wide swath as Willard peeked around a curve in the cave wall. Robert eased up behind Connelly and gently rested his hand on her shoulder. Her anxiety was eased slightly by his reassuring presence. Her breath came in controlled five second intervals as she suppressed the old feelings of uncontrollable emotions. The stale smell of her suit mixed with fresh oxygen further helped repress her rising anxiety.

I will not lose control, Connelly willed herself. I beat this a long time ago.

With a cool voice, Connelly said, "What did you see?"

Willard continued his search ten seconds more before answering. When he finally replied it was with a reticent voice. "Something's been dogging us the whole way…keeping just out of view. In the shadows."

Robert stepped forward and scanned the area with his headlamp. "I don't see anything."

"It's there," Willard said, "Just around the bend."

"What's it doing?" Robert asked.

Willard leveled his eyes plumb with Robert's. "I think it's making sure we follow it."

Robert laughed nervously. "That's, ahh, I think that's probably a bad thing…" He looked at Connelly. "Right?"

For the majority of her career Connelly had been looked at to make the final decision in different situations. The choices she made sometimes put people's lives at risk. This was the first time she wished the responsibility belonged to someone else. "I don't think we can make any judgment about the intentions of anything living down here."

Willard looked slightly annoyed. "Have we forgotten our little learning experience with the surfboard toothed Shamu?"

She took a moment to breath deep. "Ethan…what we have discovered on this moon is a complete ecosystem full of varied creatures included predators and prey. The system works here the same as it does on Earth, we just don't know which creatures are which. We could be following Europa's version of a chipmunk."

"Or an alien Kodiak bear," Willard said.

Connelly caught a sliver of motion in her periphery and jolted her headlamp toward it. She saw a blur of a creature, low to the floor, no bigger than a small dog, scurry quickly away. There was definitely something there, but with their impenetrable suits and the small stature of the creature, Connelly was positive it posed little threat. She looked at Willard. She could see it in his eyes; he'd seen it too. "Still think it's dangerous?"

"Some of the most deadly creatures on Earth are smaller than my hand," Willard said.

"You two…" Robert started. "I swear, you're like brother and sister. I'd like to venture a compromise considering that neither of you are about to agree on anything and standing around doing absolutely nothing is a waste of time and air."

Connelly couldn't help but smile. She loved it when Robert was assertive.

"We continue on—"