The transition from boating in the tropics to the starkness of a stone cavern cast in blue light took Robert's mind several moments to process. He realized he was back in the cave system beneath Europa's ocean a second before Willard toppled down next to him. Robert slid over and inspected him.

He was breathing.

He was alive.

Sitting up came as a challenge. His stomach muscles felt oddly numb, as though he'd done a marathon of sit ups. He propped himself up, leaning back on his wobbly arms and found himself, once again, confused. A wall rose before him, as massively tall as it was wide, coated in blue Europhids that blanketed the smooth stone cavern in a soft, comforting glow.

Willard stirred. Robert looked down at his companion and then back to the wall. Had they both been inside the horizontal field of giant blue Europhids? He shook his head, determined not to focus on the eerie details. The events of the past few hours were almost beyond comprehension. He really only had two questions that needed answers.

Where is Kathy? And how do I get her back?

He needed help. "Ethan, you awake in there?" Robert gave Willard a shake.

Willard grunted and rolled from his side onto his back. He shrugged away from Robert's touch like a grumpy teenager taking refuge in a cozy morning bed. "Ugh, just trying to get my thoughts to make sense."

Willard pushed himself up into a sitting position. That's when he saw the wall. "Whoa." He looked at Robert. "Were…were we in there?"

Robert shrugged. "Best I can figure, everything we just experienced was up here." Robert tapped his head with his index finger. "And I can't remember how we got here."

"Something grabbed us back in the caves," Willard said. "I think it was the creatures I told you about. They came from above."

"That cavern was hundreds of feet tall," Robert said. "They couldn't have just jumped down from above."

Connelly landed between them, a motionless heap. After jumping back in fear, Robert realized it was Connelly and dove to her side. He rolled her onto her back and looked at her face. Her color looked good and there were no signs of injury. "Thank God."

Robert jumped a second time when Connelly's eyes snapped open and she sucked in a lung full of air. Her breath came in gulps as she blinked several times to clear her vision. "We…we have to get out of here," she said.

"We will," Robert said, holding Connelly by the shoulders. "But you need to catch your breath."

"There's no time," Connelly said, her voice barley a squeak.

"Boss," Willard said, "we don't even know how to get out of here."

"There's only one way out," Connelly said.

Robert felt an explosion of fear burst in his stomach. "The way we came."