The Iapetus began its ponderous journey back to the sun. The first few days were dark and cold, but soon the light of the sun began to push its way out from under the horizon, and the rosy blush of sunrise filled the sky. It was refreshing.

The expedition was now almost a month old, and the rover was getting to be claustrophobic. The rooms were no bigger than closets, and there was almost not time to spend outside. Even if there were, it wouldn't be very enjoyable, what with the endless desert lying flat on all sides.

"It doesn't bother me," said Amit. "At least there's windows to look out of. You should try a tour on a processor ship. Those things are pretty much flying sardine cans."

"I don't think I will, Mr. Space Captain."

"Oh, you flatter me. I was never a captain, just a lowly scrub working his life away."

"Sure, sure. Some of us wish we could be a lowly scrub on a processor ship."

"You know, it isn't all that hard. They'll take just about anyone. Not many volunteers, after all."

"Huh. Who could turn down a life of adventure and intrigue?"

"I would ask that of you. Stuck in the lab all day, you could have at least gone to Australia or something, seen the sights down on Earth."

"I just never had the time to..."

"And if I asked anyone else why they didn't go, they'd say the same thing. Don't worry, I understand, it takes a special kind of apathy to throw yourself to the black like I did."

"What do you mean."

"I just didn't care what happened to me, and found the most interesting path I could. And so I went and saw the universe."

"And how was it?"

"Mostly empty, to be honest. Did you know that the solar system's population is almost entirely on Earth? There are maybe half a billion people everywhere else."

"That doesn't get boring?"

"There's more to see than just people."

"Fair point," said Liu, staring out at the concave horizon.

Gaea was still dead. The ice samples from the glacier were speckled with exciting organic precursors, complex carbon molecules that were one step away from proteins, from life. The air bubbles trapped in the glacier proved that Gaea's current high oxygen environment was a new development, only about ten thousand years old.

On the thirtieth day of the expedition, the Iapetus stopped at the foot of a large hill. It was black and crumbling, a tall column of solid lava. The volcanic shaft was riddled with caves and crevices, a promising hideaway out of the direct stare of the sun.

The cave opening looked like a hungry maw to Liu as she stood in front of it. A scree of broken stone led up the mouth, looking sharp and threatening.

"Are you sure about this? It looks dangerous," she said.

"Well. If we can't have a little excitement while trekking across an empty planet, what's the point," said Amit, and began hiking his way up to the cave. Liu followed suit.

It smelled like dampness. The walls of the cave shone with water, and a slight trickle poured past their feet.

"This is sure interesting. I hope you still have hope of finding something living."

"I will. There has to be, that oxygen has to be coming from somewhere."

They ventured further into the cave, illuminating the way with flashlights. Heat seemed to be radiating from the center of the hill.

It was a lava pool. Slowly boiling over to expose a new patch of red and yellow. It felt like a bonfire, scalding the side of Liu's face.

"Wow," whispered Amit.

The walls, Liu realized, were covered in a clear slime. She let out a yelp of excitement before collecting some into a sample container.

"Oh God, oh God. This could be it. I found it, and it's here."

"Wow," Amit said again.

The slime was thick, smelled like moisture, and felt sticky to the touch. There was a chance it was just some inorganic secretion from the rocks. But Liu didn't think so. All the ingredients were here. Water, energy, warmth. It was a veritable petri dish.

Amit was still awestruck, mesmerized by the rolling lake of molten rock, when the stalagmite fell from the cave ceiling. It shattered just a meter behind him. Amit collapsed with a surprised shout, and clutched his leg.

Startled, Liu turned and saw him curled in agony, his leg sliced open by a sword of volcanic rock. She almost dropped the sample container. Liu rushed to him and struggled to lift him in the harsh gravity.

He mumbled something. Liu shouted for him to speak louder.

"Get the ATV from the rover."

Liu hurried back to the white bulk of the Iapetus. She rode back to the towering volcanic shaft, grim-faced and sweating from nerves and heat.

Amit was on the verge of consciousness when she found him again. Liu dragged him into the ATV and set off as fast as the machine could take her, kicking up a spray of gravel and dust behind her.

The cut was a grievous one, almost to the bone. It was bleeding steadily by the time Amit was back at the rover, and Liu worked quickly to fix him. She put a compress on the limb and waited for the flow of blood to stop before One thread, one needle, one shuddering patient.

As she approached him with the suturing tools, Amit yelped and shouted, "Anesthetic! You forgot the anesthetic."

Whatever pain the needle would inflict, it couldn't be much more than he was already in. But Liu listened and motioned to give him an intravenous anesthetic.

"No, No! Give me the gas! Please! Not the needle!"

Liu was confused, but quickly fixed an anesthesia mask to his face. Amit relaxed and breathed deep, shaking gulps of air. He closed his eyes and seemed to fall unconscious.

Liu got to work suturing the cut. Her medical training was limited, so the job was sloppier than she would have liked, but it would do. Once the stitches were in and firm, she cleaned the wound and collapsed in her own bunk.

The next morning, with Amit still deep under, Liu took out the small sample of the slime from the cave and looked at it. It was unremarkable, but for its place of origin. Just a pool of clear mucus. She emptied the container and placed a tiny sample on the optical microscope in front of her.

She recognized it immediately, the tiny circles pulsing with cilia as they swam through their own secretions. There were bubbles of what could only be oxygen drifted through the thick fluid, gradually finding their way out into the world.

It was life. Probably chemosynthetic, living off the fumes and heat of Gaea's geologic might. It was simple, analogous to Earth bacteria. And it was not worth the trouble.

Liu saw that now. The six years of travel, the immense gulf between her and the rest of humanity, all the false hope. This tiny bug was not worth all that.

She turned to a nearby computer terminal and sent a simple message to the command block at Eridu. It was her recommendation to use the Facem's biotowers. The massive terraforming machines that would make Gaea truly a second Earth. What was one insignificant microbe compared to all that lost natural beauty?

She put the sample in storage, and decided to go to bed early. She checked up on Amit, and found him still asleep, but healing well. Before heading off to her bunk, Liu went to the driver's bubble and glared at the column of black rock. It seemed to stare back from a dozen dark holes. The sun was partially obscured by a large cloud bank coming in from the north. A grey, brooding storm, flashing with lightning.

Liu slept soundly that night, lulled by the patter of hard rain.