Heather laughed loudly. "Ethan…I was your first love. When you think of me, even to this day, you feel a real, physical pain in your chest. You're feeling it right now."

Willard leaned away from Heather. "How?"

"The Europhids," Connelly said, "They're doing this."

Heather nodded and looked at Willard. "I am the consciousness that you rescued from the belly of the oceanic predator. I was on my way to the surface, to attempt direct contact with your crew. The predator, whose mind is too feeble to control, did as nature commanded, ate me as it later did you. But you, in your act of mercy, saved me."

"You're a Europhid?" Willard asked.

Heather nodded again. "That is the name you have given my species, yes."

"Why do you look like Ms. Tamworth?" Willard asked.

"After sensing your feelings for this woman…I wanted to repay your kindness by fulfilling the desires of your heart." Heather leaned towards Willard, took him by the back of the head and laid her lips upon his. Willard's rigid body soon went slack and he enveloped Heather in a tight embrace. When they separated, Willard slouched back on wobbly muscles. His face was gleefully relaxed.

Heather turned to Connelly, who had watched the entire event as though it were a Broadway play. When she met Heather's other-worldly blue eyes, she remembered that this was a real experience.

"I have questions," Connelly said. She crossed her arms as if to accentuate she meant business. It was hard to do considering how wonderful she felt.

Heather sat in the seat opposite Willard and crossed her smoothly tanned legs. She smiled and bounced her foot back and forth. She was waiting for Connelly.

"You're speaking English," Connelly said.

"We're communicating directly mind to mind," Heather said. "Pure thought has no language. You hear my words as English, because it is the language of your thoughts. My species has no language. We do not speak at all." Heather shifted in her seat and leaned forward, elbows on knees. "Let me clarify. I am what you would call a blue Europhid. We have no name for ourselves, so Europhid is appropriate for your understanding. We are conscience. We are logic. We are thinkers. Like you, we seek to understand. We value life. All life."

"We've been attacked continually since arriving on Europa," Robert interjected.

Heather looked at Connelly with an intensity that almost broke through Connelly's misty sense of joy. "We sent a warning."

"My dreams," Connelly said.

Heather nodded. "Unfortunately, you did not understand the origin of the message."

"But why attack us at all?" Robert asked.

"The attacks on you and your crew have been and are being carried out by what you call red Europhids. While we represent the mind of Europa, intelligent as they are, the red Europhids represent instinct. They are the protectors of this sphere and their work has kept our world alive."

"Can't you stop them?" Connelly asked.