Connelly felt a surge of panic. It was Peterson's voice, but he was yelling. Was he in pain? Were they in trouble? Connelly spoke louder. "Are you okay? Is anyone hurt?"

"What…No… 're fine."

Connelly relaxed. The message was broken, but clear. "What were you saying before?"

"…found something…t's unbelievable!"

"What? What did you find?"

"ife…"

Connelly felt like ripping PMS suit off, throwing her headset on the ground and smashing it. "Say again? I can barely hear you."

"ife, Connelly. We found life!"

Connelly gasped. Her mind spun. He said life. "But…what…Michael, we just finished melting through the surface. TES hasn't performed any tests yet. We haven't found anything yet."

"No," Peterson said. "On…surface."

Connelly's eyes went wide. They found life on the surface! Without thinking, Connelly took a step back, but instead of feeling the firm surface of the frozen moon beneath her foot, she felt nothing. Connelly yelped as she began to fall backward, into the chasm. Her arms flailed madly, but only added to her momentum.

Craning her head to the side, Connelly could see she was falling into the pit. She saw the water shimmering one hundred feet below and wondered if she would survive the impact in the low gravity. She imagined she would, and that the PMS suit would keep her from freezing and drowning, but TES would have to be retracted to get her out of the hole and that could take an hour. She felt sure she didn't have enough air left.

A voice shouted in Connelly's ear, so loud it hurt. She didn't make out a single word. Then the voice came again, "Raise your arms!"

Willard.

Connelly had learned to trust that voice. She knew the harsh tone that took over Willard's voice in times of crisis. It meant, listen to me and you'll live. She listened to it every time and was alive today because of it. Connelly didn't hesitate. She raised her arms toward space.

Less than a second later, Willard's body sailed into view above her. He was moving fast and had his hands outstretched toward her. Connelly realized that for Willard to already be here, he must have taken action before she had reached a forty five degree angle.

"Take my hands!" Willard shouted.

With outstretched fingers, Connelly reach for Willard's hands as the floated past. Their fingers touched, frantically searching for a grip on the other's hands. Then they connected. In an instant, their hands were locked. Connelly felt a tug on her shoulders as her arms straightened out, pulled by Willard's forward motion. The falling sensation changed instantly to that of weightlessness as she was pulled up away from the pit.