"Wrong on both counts, Dr. Connelly," Choi said. "They Europhids are capable of movement, though limited. And I've seen signs of human level intelligence and strategic thinking."

Connelly became rigid. "That's not possible."

"They nearly killed me," Choi said, her voice flat. "And they have control of Peterson."

Robert began to fidget. "Ahh, can you elaborate on 'have control of Peterson.' He's on Surveyor…in the Med-lab, right?"

"Peterson is topside and headed towards TES. I don't know what he did with Harris, but I suspect the worst. Listen, if you are not topside, you need to get there ASAP. I think Peterson might try to sabotage TES. Where are you?"

"We're in a cave system below the Europian ocean," Willard said. "And we're in a bit of a bind. Might be a while before we make it back to the surface."

There was a silence on the other end. When Choi spoke again, her voice was hard, borderline furious, but she didn't express her feelings in words, simply assimilated the information and moved on. "I'll see if I can slow him down. Get to the surface. That is your number one priority."

Willard shot Connelly a stern look. "Has been for a while."

"Once I get moving," Choi said, "I won't be able to transmit at this power level. We will be cut off again. Contact me upon reaching the surface. If I do not respond, assume I'm dead, return to the lander and head for the Surveyor. If she's still in orbit, dock and wait for my signal."

"You got it," Willard said. "Anything else before we cut off?"

"Yeah," Choi said, "If the Europhids can control Peterson, its logical to assume they can control creatures of lesser intelligence. If you run into anything down there, avoid it at all costs. If they're under Europhid control, they will respond violently to your presence."

Willard's eyes trailed up the living wall of creatures. "Un-fucking-believable."

"What?" Choi asked.

"Nothing," Willard said. "We'll see you topside, but we need to move. Now."

"Good luck," Choi said. "Over and out."

Willard knew the warning came too late. During the conversation he had secretly watched as several shadows dodged in and out of Europhid patches, making their way toward their location. He reached over to Robert's hand and slowly took the ice pick.

"What are you doing?" Robert asked, his eyes still on the wall of alien nests.

Willard tightened his grip around the ice pick, yanked it out of Robert's hand and swung it up towards Robert's head. He missed Robert's skull by inches and connected with one of the aliens that had launched out of a nearby Europhid patch. The ice pick punctured the creature through the chest. It squirmed and shrieked for several seconds and then fell limp, hanging from the end of the improvised weapon.