Four double jointed limbs tipped with serrated edges grew from the creature's sides. They were either very good at climbing or killing…or both. The coloration of the beast's smooth and tightly stretched skin was pale green. Unlike the other creatures they'd observed so far, this had opaque skin, like a frog's, but tougher. She imagined that while standing on all four limbs, the creature's height would hover around a foot tall, while its length, if including the ten inch tail, stretched out two feet. It had no mouth, nose, ears or eyes to speak of.

Two syringe tipped, retractable tentacles extended from the front of the creature's triangle shaped head. While retracted, they might look like fangs, but they were more like flexible straws, most likely for sucking in a liquefied food source. Connelly imagined that the appendages would make efficient weapons when speared forward, like an iguana's tongue tipped with a spider's fang.

Starting at the center of the creature's head and moving down the back in a straight line were four red humps of flesh that appeared to be growing right out of the beast's back. Connelly found it odd that the humps color and texture appeared identical to the Europhids. Perhaps the Europhids are also parasitic? Connelly wondered. She felt suddenly glad to be wearing an impenetrable space suit.

Connelly reached out slowly, taking hold of one of the creature's legs.

"Umm. Kathy…." Robert didn't have to finish his sentence. Connelly knew he was telling her not to touch the creature.

She ignored him.

With a quick flip, Connelly turned the creature over onto its back, revealing bloated stomach.

"All right, that's enough," Willard said. He knelt down next to Connelly and clenched her arms. Looking into his eyes, Connelly could see that he meant business. "You have ten seconds before I drag you out of here."

Connelly nodded and gently took hold of the creature, placing her hands under two of the limbs. She stood and held it up for Robert to see. "I don't think this could be classified as either mammal or a reptile." Her excitement was palpable, but Robert was unaffected.

"Better put it down," Robert said.

"What? Why?" Before Robert answered, Connelly noticed that his eyes were not on her, they were locked on the back wall through which they had entered the cavern. Something was behind them, blocking their exit.

Connelly turned around slowly, hoping that what she was about to see wasn't nearly as bad as the horrified look on Robert's face indicated. As the embankment came into view, Connelly dropped the dead creature, letting its body fall to the hard cavern floor. The spectacle before her was like a nightmare. Unlike the other cave walls, the back wall was completely free of Europhids. The stone was full of holes, thousands of perfectly cut holes, each a few feet in diameter. She immediately saw the wall for what it really was—a nest.