A fear of death no longer clutched her throat or ached her heart. This time, she kept her eyes open. The blur got closer and closer, she could see the thick stitches of the balloons moving back and forth across her vision like a pulse line.

Then the line disappeared, replaced by black space. Connelly's focus adjusted to the emptiness. She could see stars in her periphery…including a bright moon. The majority of the sky was black, blotted out by Jupiter's mass.

"Are we dead yet or can I pick up my head?" It was Willard.

"Surveyor missed us," Connelly said.

With a suddenness that surprised all of them, the ice shook.  Surveyor was crashing.

Connelly yanked her body around and watched in horror as the Surveyor made contact with the ice, several hundred yards beyond their location. Shards of ice exploded into orbit as the weight of the Surveyor pummeled every vertical clump in its path. Surveyor lurched slowly to the starboard side as it slide across Europa's frozen surface on a sheet of balloons, which held the Surveyor aloft on a cushion of air. Surveyor slid to a stop nearly a mile away, leaving a smooth trail of ice its wake.

Connelly sat up and leaned back on her hands, trying not to remember the closeness of the balloons, the haunting silence. She pushed the disturbing thoughts from her mind and took charge again. "What's our situation?"

If they had seen how close to death they had all come, Connelly felt sure not one of the crew would act so effectively as they all did in the next few minutes.

Robert leaned over Peterson's body and gave him a few gentle smacks. "Peterson's out again," he said, "but he's still alive."

Willard took the defensive route. "Not a Europhid in sight, creep or otherwise. I think we made a clean getaway."

"What about the Surveyor? Could she have survived a crash like that?"

Choi didn't answer. Connelly looked at her. She was standing on her feet, scanning the horizon. Connelly stood next to her. "Choi?"

"We have concerns other than the functionality of Surveyor," Choi said.

"What is it?"

Choi stopped searching the horizon and looked Connelly in the eyes. "How's your stomach feel?"

The question struck Connelly as oddly out of place, but with all the confusion and excitement of the past minute, she had completely ignored her physical pain. She focused on her body. She was struck by a sharp pain in her broken ribs, a sore back and a headache worse than any hangover she experienced during her college days. But there was something else, and it was getting worse. A nausea began twisting in her stomach, slowly gaining momentum.

The sickening sensation grew doubly worse when Connelly realized what was causing it. "Radiation."

Choi nodded.

"But TES has an electromagnetic shield."

"As does the ATV I was driving…but both were destroyed by Surveyor."