“It was…” He searched for the right words, but couldn’t find them. “We should discuss it later. When we’re secure.”
She nodded, but disappointment flickered across her face before she said softly, “Be careful out there.”
Her concern for him overrode his confusion. Before he could second guess himself, he bent down and kissed her again. This kiss wasn’t born of desperate relief like the first - it was a deliberate choice. Her lips were soft against his, warm in a way his own skin would never be, and he drank in the feeling, committing every detail to memory.
Then she parted her lips, inviting him in, and heat burst through his body before he forced himself to pull away. Her eyes remained closed for a moment longer, her breath coming in short gasps.
“I’ll be careful,” he promised, his voice rougher than usual.
Her eyes opened, pupils dilated. “You’d better be.”
He lifted her up onto the ledge, his hands lingering for a fraction of a second too long, then turned and strode back down the tunnel. He chose the one from which the creature had emerged, wanting to make sure they would be alerted of its return. He secured the geophone to the floor, calibrated its sensitivity, and confirmed the signal was transmitting back to Cass’s equipment.
The next three geophones were placed without incident, creating a triangular grid that would detect movement across a junction where three tunnels intersected. As he moved towards the fifth location, he caught a trace of an unexpected scent. It wasn’t rocks or sand, but something organic.
He froze, weapon ready. It didn’t belong to the creature, but neither did it belong down here.
His comm unit vibrated.
“I’m getting unusual readings from Roland,” Cass whispered. “He’s detected something organic about forty meters from your position, but it’s very faint and there’s no sign of movement.”
“I’m getting it too,” he said quietly. “I’m going to check it now.”
“Be careful,” she said again and disconnected.
He followed the scent and discovered that the tunnel opened into a much larger cavern. The space appeared completely natural with an uneven floor and craggy rock formations overhead, but it was the contents of the cavern that stunned him. Bioluminescent lichen covered almost every surface, flowing in pale shades of red and gold.
He knew that the colonists were planting special strains of lichen on their homesteads as part of the terraforming process, but he’d never seen anything like this before. He carefully recorded the scene, then transmitted the recording to Cass’s equipment. He also took several samples before continuing to place the geophones.
Not just an unknown species, but possibly a complex ecosystem supporting it. The possibilities were staggering—and concerning. The discovery was too significant to keep contained, yet too dangerous to announce without proper preparation. Cass was right—they needed as much data as possible before letting anyone else know.
Roland appeared from a side tunnel as he placed the last geophone, chittering excitedly as he scurried towards Zach. The armadillo’s sensors were blinking rapidly, indicating he had gathered substantial data.
“Found something interesting?” he asked, kneeling to examine the results.
Roland’s response was a series of clicks and whirs that he took as an affirmative. The armadillo had mapped nearly three hundred meters of tunnels in multiple directions, discovering evidence of more organic matter.
“Good work,” he said, genuinely impressed. “Time to report back.”
As they made their way back towards Cass’s position, he reviewed the data Roland had gathered, including detailed maps of the tunnels and a few thermal scans. There was no sign of the creature, but the armadillo had detected at least four more areas with a high concentration of organic matter.
“It appears the entire cave system is networked,” he told Cass as he lifted her down from the ledge. “We’ll need to do more detailed analysis, but it seems likely the creature’s lair is somewhere near one of the lichen caves.”
She nodded, but she didn’t respond with her usual enthusiasm.
“Is something wrong?”
“I think I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed. The implications. The research…”
“It’s a lot,” he agreed. “But you don’t have to do it alone.”
“I know. You’re part of this too.”
He liked the sound of that a little too much, but he only raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“Then perhaps I should have a say in what those plans are.”
