Connelly looked up and saw Willard's body flip over as they moved forward, but Willard never let go. As Willard moved out of view, Connelly felt her speed increase. She was being whipped away from the hole! Suddenly, Willard's grip on her hands released. She reached out for him, but found nothing to hold on to. Her view rotated as she flipped, head over heels through the low gravity.

As she came around, the TES hole came into view again. She had cleared it! But something horrific caught her eye—a pair of booted feet disappearing over the edge! "Ethan!"

Connelly hit the ice and grunted. The impact wasn't hard enough to cause injury, but with the distraction of Willard falling into the pit, it was unexpected. After rolling for a few feet, Connelly leapt to her feet and surged toward the hole, nearly flinging herself back in. "Willard!"

"It's okay, boss," Willard's voice said through her headset. "As long as the big man doesn't lose his grip, I'll be fine."

As Connelly moved to the hole, she could see that Robert had a grip on a thin wire that was stretched out over the edge of the hole. She reached the precipice and looked over. Willard was dangling ten feet down, bouncing against the side.

"Robert," Willard said, "how you doing?"

"Well, you're much lighter in the low gravity, but I wouldn't try anything funny."

"Right. You guys want to pull me out now?" Connelly rushed around the border of the hole, careful not to repeat her folly. After reaching Robert she took hold of the cord and together, they yanked Willard up and onto the TES platform. Willard was exasperated, but smiling. "Extreme…" he said between deep breaths.

Connelly was out of breath too. "Willard…that was…crazy…. We both could…have fallen…in."

Willard laughed. "You did fall in."

Connelly smiled.

"Forgive me for not paying more attention to your near death experience, Kathy," Robert said, "But I believe there is a more pressing matter that demands our instant attention."

The information came rocketing back into Connelly's mind. Peterson had discovered life.

On the surface.

CHAPTER 12 -- EUROPHIDS

"Where did you say these came from?" Connelly said as she bent over one of the several glass containers, each of which held a single sample of the red, gelatinous cucumbers. But the cucumbers were no longer standing tall. All but one lay on their sides, limp and by comparison, lifeless. At the base of each sample was a patch of ruddy soil and a mass of snapped roots where they had been pulled apart from the rest. The largest of the bunch was still erect, balanced on a larger segment of soil.

"From the red streak," Peterson said, looking extremely pleased. "The entire area was covered in them."