Holding the small air tank in both tanks against her torso, Choi prepared to open the valve. Just before opening the valve, she pointed the tank to her right and let out the faintest of bursts. She didn't feel any change in motion at all, but within a few seconds she saw the result of her modified plan.

The vomit on her face mask oozed onto her face. The warm wretch and acidic stinging smell made her want to puke again, but she managed to hold it in, concentrating on seeing what was outside her facemask. As the mask cleared, Choi saw a jet black nothingness in the sky above. She was facing up.

Twisting open the valve, Choi let the compressed air fly. She immediately began descending towards the moon's surface. Using the compressed air as a guidance system, she rotated herself around so that she was facing the Europhid field again. She was shocked to see that the Europhids were still dying off. It was like a wave of death spreading out in a perfect circle. The field was vibrant with red one second, ash black the next.

She descended toward the field, hoping the soft Europhids would cushion her impact. If the Europhids in her landing zone had died before she arrived, she would smash into solid ice.

It seemed like an eternity had passed and that she should already be dead. The pain pounding throughout her body supported the idea. But she'd only been exposed to the radiation for two minutes now. She still had four to find safe shelter.

Her thoughts returned to the Europhids. She watched as the black death consuming the field spread out towards her. As she fell it appeared that the dying Europhids were racing ahead to meet her.

Forty feet from the ice, Choi witnessed an unbelievable act of sacrifice that saved her life and the lives of millions of Europhids all across the surface of the moon. A ring of Europhids, perhaps five feet across and twenty feet from the spreading infection, suddenly swelled to the breaking point and burst, sending plumes of red guts arcing high in the low gravity. Choi splashed through a geyser of entrails and continued toward the surface. As she passed by the barrier of exploded Europhids, Choi noticed that the infection had stopped at the edge. The violent gambit had worked. The Europhids stopped the infection by quarantining the area. Choi realized that if faced with the same circumstances, she would have made the same choice. The Europhids were smart.

The force of returning to the surface knocked the wind from Choi's lungs, but as she had hoped, the still living field of Europhids cushioned the impact. She stopped moving after sliding thirty feet. She sat up and looked at the thirty foot swath of crushed Europhids that had taken the brunt of the impact from her fall. Beyond she saw a black expanse of dead Europhids, perhaps a mile around.