The Captain hit the brakes and twisted the wheel simultaneously. "Don't you dare!" She yelled when the rover tilted up dangerously on one side, two wheels spinning in the air. They instinctively leaned the opposite direction, and the wheels thumped back to the ground hard enough to snap their heads forward and rattle their jaws. With a spray of dirt, the wheels got purchase, and the rover shot forward, back towards the ship.

Teo pressed his comms button and yelled, "JuJu! Polly! What's happening?"

The Captain hit her comms and yelled, "Mechanic Julia Korhonen, I order you to cease and desist all activity at once!"

Silence answered them. Teo and the Captain looked at each other, wide-eyed.

Teo pressed his comms button again. "Mo! Karan! Jamal! Do you copy?"

Teo exchanged a terrified look with the Captain. "What the hell is going on?" he yelled.

The Captain slapped the steering wheel and leaned forward as if that would make the rover go faster. "What were you saying about the dirt, Teo? JuJu's ear... What if-"

Teo sighed with relief when the Captain didn't go on. He didn't want to hear it out loud. He wiped at his face mask and looked at the film of dirt on his glove.

"I never saw anything in the readings, Captain. You know how good the microscopes are on the drones. I couldn't have gotten better samples if I'd taken them myself, which I did at the end of the ramp. The soil was dead. Nothing moving. What I think I saw... I can't be sure, Captain. One second I swear I saw something, then I blinked, and it was gone."

Unease churned in his stomach. What if he'd missed something? What if it was a new life-form the equipment couldn't detect because it operated on a different frequency, or was beyond the nano-detection of the microscopes?

He scrubbed his nails over his scalp. His scalp that was gritty with dirt. He held his hands out in front of him and looked at the specks on his gloves. They'd all gotten it on their suits and in their hair. Everyone's ears had been open to the dirt getting in.

Icy dread crept up his spine. Except JuJu had buried herself in the dirt completely. She'd taken off her gloves and had it directly on her hands where she might have had a small nick or cut. It was definitely in her ears.

"Teo." Horror infused the Captain's voice.

He looked towards the ship where JuJu was carrying Jamal's limp body over her shoulder. JuJu was naturally strong, and she added muscle on in her mechanic's work, but Jamal outweighed her by at least fifty pounds. Yet as they watched, she tossed him down at the end of the row of their crew as if he weighed no more than a pillow.

JuJu knelt beside Jamal and began heaping handfuls of dirt onto him.

"What is she doing?" Teo asked, dread filling his voice. He met the Captain's wide, terrified eyes, seeing his own terror reflected in her face mask, along with disgust at himself for the fascination the scientist side of him had about what might be going on. His shipmates may be dead, one certainly appeared crazy, yet his hands itched to get some more soil and JuJu's blood under a microscope to find what he'd obviously missed.

"When we get there-" the Captain began.

Teo cut her off. "I'll deal with JuJu. You need to protect the baby." The Captain pursed her lips, but nodded grudgingly. "Get into the ship. Close the hatch. Go into orbit and send a message that this planet is dangerous and needs investigation. Come back and hover until you know it's safe."

"What are you going to do?" Concern colored the Captain's voice. Teo and JuJu were evenly matched physically when she wasn't under the influence of some life-form that gave her super-strength.

Only four hundred meters separated them from the ship, where JuJu had moved on to piling dirt on Polly.

Since he'd packed the equipment it wasn't necessary to look, but he glanced over his shoulder to the back seat anyway for the reassurance of seeing with his own eyes the two small hardcases with microscopes, emergency med kit, food ration and water pack. Standard fare for a short foray. Except the back seat was empty. "Damn! The cases must have fallen out the windows when we tipped up back there." He twisted right around but couldn't see anything in the distance.

He turned back to the front shaking his head. "The only real weapon will be the air tanks in the back compartment, but you have to stop here to get them out. JuJu might be on us as soon as we stop." His heart sank at the thought of having to take down JuJu. They'd crewed together for over a decade.

"You'll only be able to bludgeon her, but better than nothing." The Captain hit the brakes, and they skidded a few feet, spraying dirt ahead of them. JuJu didn't look up, just continued whatever she was doing to Polly.

Teo leapt out and raced to the back. Flipping open the compartment door he glanced over the contents: a spare hydrogen cell, spare suit, tire repair kit, and two air tanks. If he could access the ship, he'd be able to blow up anything. The only thing at hand though for that was the nitrogen cell, and he wasn't going near that unless they were all going to be blown sky high. He unhooked the tanks, got a secure grip and hauled them out.

Racing back to his seat, he cradled them between his legs and ran a hand over the valves at the top. He'd heard long ago technology wasn't very good, and tanks would explode when exposed to fire. Even if it was still possible, he didn't have any time to do that.

He reached over and squeezed the Captain's hand where it tightly gripped the steering wheel. "Remember, straight into the ship. Immediate takeoff. If it doesn't go well, leave us behind. I love you, Connie. You need to keep our baby safe."

Separating her fingers so his fell between, she squeezed him back. She nodded and tipped her head down slightly, a muscle ticking in her clenched jaw a mile-a-minute. Then she put the rover in gear and hit the accelerator, flattening them back into their seats.

With a twist of the wheel, the Captain brought the rover around to stop with Teo's side closest to where JuJu knelt beside the grisly line of their crewmates laid out in the dirt.