The glass cleared and Connelly thought she saw the soil at the bottom twitch. She focused on the soil and saw it again. "It's moving," she said, her voice almost a whisper.

"Where?" Peterson asked.

Connelly pointed to the soil without a word. They watched, spellbound, as a small green sprout emerged from the soil and twisted upwards, growing at an incredible rate. After twenty seconds the sprout had reached three feet in height and had began to grow small branches and leaves. After another twenty seconds the four foot plant was pushing against the glass.

With her face almost mashed against the glass, Connelly gazed at the plant as the first signs of small, green tomatoes began to grow at the end of the nearest branch. Choi reached over and turned the machine off.

"We let the fruit begin to grow, but it has to finish at its normal speed or it spoils," Choi said.

"How…" Connelly stood up slowly. "How did you do that?"

"The plant's atoms are sped up, which causes a chain reaction in the plant's chemistry and cells. I'm not entirely familiar with the science behind them, but as you've seen, they basically make vegetation grow at an accelerated rate."

Connelly shook her head in disbelief.

Choi's expression changed as she looked from Connelly to Peterson and then back again. Connelly became suddenly self aware. She glanced at Peterson and noticed he was standing comfortably close to her. Their hands were almost touching.

"What are you two doing here, anyway?" Choi said, her tone suspicious. Choi looked at her watch. "Debrief is in ten minutes."

A look of shock appeared on Peterson's face. "We got lost."

Choi squinted at them, making no effort to hide her disbelief. "Then you can follow me to the conference room." Choi moved past them and strode to the door.

Peterson leaned over to Connelly. "It was fun while it lasted," he whispered.

Connelly crossed her arms. "You promised."

"So I lied," Peterson said. "Look, in my line of work, when you find something worthwhile, you go after it."

Connelly frowned playfully. "You're comparing me to dirt now?"

Peterson chuckled as he headed for the door. He turned to Connelly looking over his shoulder. "Dirt, no. A nice diorite maybe."

"A diorite," Connelly said, keeping pace behind Peterson, "doesn't sound too bad. What is it?"

"A rock."

Connelly laughed, but then sucked in her breath, not wanting Choi to hear her. As she exited the bio-lab, she glanced back and thought about how much the world around her was changing. Space exploration, extraterrestrial phenomenon, plant incubators. It seemed everything in the solar system was evolving around her.

CHAPTER 9 -- DEPLOYMENT

There were two things that Choi couldn't stand.