Robert nodded again. He trusted Willard enough to feel the first twinges of nervousness enter his stomach. Willard's covert warning meant two things. One, they really were in danger. Willard had never misdiagnosed a dangerous situation. Second, if he was keeping the reason for leaving from Kathy, he had discovered something, something exciting—and dangerous.

Moving slowly, Robert adjusted his com settings so that Connelly could no longer hear his voice. "What did you find?"

Willard glanced down at the nearest path, leading between two patches of Europhids. It was five feet wide and coated in a thin red dust. "On the path, look closely."

Robert gazed at the path and rows of indentations began to materialize out of the cavern floor. Swallowing so hard it hurt, Robert did his best to not physically react to what he was seeing.

Footprints.

The indentations had been made by tiny feet.

Lots of them.

From Robert's vantage point it looked as though the prints were created by creatures with three small toes. Possibly multiple legs. These were mobile, land dwelling creatures. What caused Robert to catch his breath was the small indentations at the tip of each toe, indicating that the creatures that created these markings were clawed…further implying that they were predatory.

"What do you want me to do?" Robert asked.

"Exactly what you said you would do."

Robert looked Willard in the eyes.

"Run," Willard said.

In that instant, Robert realized that he should have turned tail and sprinted back to the sphere already. But the cavern held an almost magical hold on him. That hold had disappeared the moment Willard pointed out the clawed footprints. Robert's muscles were already tightening in preparation for the retreat back to the sphere, but before he could actually move, Willard stopped him.

"Shit!" Willard said, looking past Robert and into the cavern. While they were speaking, Connelly had moved silently past them, hustling forward to inspect some new discovery. Willard readjusted his com and said, "Connelly, what are you doing?"

"Something on the cave floor…" Connelly said. "Some kind of animal…I think its dead."

"Robert and I think it's probably a good idea to head out now," Willard said.

Connelly continued forward, ignoring Willard. Willard and Robert locked eyes.

"Got a game plan?" Robert asked. He didn't look forward to confronting Connelly about leaving, especially now that their newly discovered feelings for each other were out in the open. But if they were in danger, and Robert believed they were, he would risk her anger to save her life.

"If all else fails, I'll take her arms, you take her legs. We'll drag her out kicking and screaming if we have to. Either way, I want us out of the caves and back in the sphere within the next ten minutes."

"You know," Connelly's voice came over the headset. "I can hear you."