Twenty minutes later Connelly was free of gel. She quickly toweled off and dressed in a blue jumpsuit. Somehow, being so close to Earth made the fabric feel softer and warm. She smiled at the comfort.

A familiar knock at the door drew her attention from the bathroom. "Come on in, Robert."

The door whooshed open and Robert stepped in, dressed in a tan jumpsuit. His hair was neat and his beard newly trimmed. He'd spent some extra time in the bathroom.

Probably trying to impress me, Connelly thought with a smile.

"How'd you know it was me?" Robert asked.

"You knocked on my door just like that before dinner back at Europa."

"I, ahh, I did?" Robert scratched his neat head of hair, messing it up. "I don't even remember dinner…. Must be a side effect of the impact chairs."

Connelly expected Robert to greet her with a hug, or a kiss if he was still feeling bold, but he strolled right past her and admired the view. She followed him to the window, feeling much more secure now that she was fully clothed. "Didn't happen on the way out," she said.

"Maybe they were affected by the solar storms," Robert said. "God, it's beautiful from up here."

"What did you say?"

Robert looked at her. "The Earth…it's beautiful."

"Not that."

"What? The solar storms?  We're lucky they didn't strand us on that lifeless ice ball."

Connelly just stared into Robert's eyes. In that instant she knew that the rewrite of history the Europhids had performed on the collected data and logs had been duplicated in the crew's memories as well. The fact that her memories remained intact must be the gift—or curse—mentioned by the blue Europhids. It was an expression of trust that Connelly would never share the story with humanity.

"You okay?" Robert asked. "You look...stunned."

Connelly shook her head. "Just still shaking off the fog of sleeping for so long." She turned her eyes back to the bright blue orb spinning slowly in front of them. A sudden sadness struck her. Robert remembered nothing of their trip. He had no recollection of what they had survived together and the feelings they had unearthed. In fact, he hadn't commented on her now blue eyes, meaning the Europhids had altered his memory going back years.  Her new, blue eyes were old hat. The emotional dread dissipated slightly when she came to the conclusion that the events they had experienced merely brought their feelings for each other out. It wasn't the impetus of their affection, just the release.

"Robert?" Connelly said, turning towards him.

"Yup?" Robert's voice was relaxed and jovial. He adjusted his glasses and looked into her eyes.

She kissed him hard on the lips.

After being released, Robert physically stammered backward. "What…ahh, what?"

"I've wanted to do that since our time on Orca One." Connelly took his hands.