"I'm afraid no one knows that," Harris said, "but you're not going to believe this." Harris turned to his console's screen. "I had the computer analyze the speed and inclination of those particles, so we could know where they came from. There's no doubt about this, folks, they came from Europa's surface."

"No…"

Peterson didn't know who said it. He was too astonished to identify the voice.

He saw Choi's lips move and knew she was speaking.

"Perhaps this same phenomenon disabled the Orbiter in 2010?" Choi said.

Peterson shook his head and cleared his mind. When he finished, he noticed Connelly was staring out the clear ceiling, a smile forming at the side of her mouth. He followed her eyes and noticed a single bright orb, floating past. The sphere's light faded, flickered and disappeared.

When it was gone, he turned to Connelly. Their eyes met and a full fledged smile broke onto her face. "We have to get down there."

But Peterson wasn't so sure he wanted to any more.

*   *   *   *   *

With every footfall, Connelly's steps echoed a dull thud through the maze of hallways. She'd been told by her mother on several occasions that she walked on her heels, which created loud thumps when she walked. As a result, she was never good at sneaking up on anyone. The long, empty hallways of the Surveyor accentuated the noise created by her footsteps, so much so that she became annoyed by them.

She adjusted her stride so the sole of her foot struck first. The noise disappeared.

Mom was right.

Connelly looked down at the digital map of the Surveyor's inner workings, which was displayed on a four inch touch-screen. Below the screen were numbers one through eleven, each representing a deck of the Surveyor. The user could move around the map and zoom in and out by dragging a finger, or two, across its surface.

Sighing, Connelly stopped at an intersection and looked in every direction. She looked back at the map, huffed in frustration and took a right. Being an intelligent and self sufficient woman, Connelly was unaccustomed to being lost, but the ship was so new, and so vast, that she had become hopelessly lost after only five minutes.

Connelly picked up her pace in an effort to speed through the maze, knowing she would eventually find something she recognized.

Without looking up from the map, Connelly took a right, using her peripheral vision to guide her forward. Had she been using all her vision, she would have seen Peterson approaching, looking down at his own map.

"Oof!" Connelly collided with Peterson and fell backward.

Connelly let out a slight yelp as she toppled over, but felt a force beneath the small of her back push up and equalize her fall. In seconds she was back on her feet and looking into Peterson's smiling face.

"Is it just me," Peterson said, "or do you swoon every time we're together?"