<br/>Katherine watched Captain Hunter intently, and when she saw he believed her, she nodded towards the trees and said, “It moves fast, so we’ll have to be alert but it does appear to reflect light.”  Looking up at the sky, she realized the cloud cover was much thicker, significantly reducing the likelihood they would easily see whatever it was if it made another appearance.  When he smiled, she glanced up at him, suddenly aware she was probably standing too close and stepped away. “Of course, you’ll be the first to know,” she said with an amiable smile, then at his signal, moved back beside Albrecht.<br/><br/>They were moving much faster now, reaching the top of the ridge quickly, but she worried about the light mist drizzling down and hoped it wouldn’t turn to rain.  Scanning the area, there was nothing unusual, except for the fact that there was still no sign of animal or insect life.  While the engineer tried to get a fix on the signal, Katherine bent down because she saw the ground was no longer just sand, but coarser, and mixed with tiny metallic pebbles.  Reaching out, she pinched some of the mixture between her fingertips and rolled it around in the palm of her hand, feeling the sharp edges on the rocks that appeared to be some kind of mineral.  Grabbing a glass vial out of her pack, she scooped some of it inside for testing later back on the ship.  She then listened as Albrecht gave the direction and confirmed the message was unchanged.  Frowning, she tried to think of what could possibly account for that kind of distress call here, hoping that if there were people in trouble, they would be able to find them in time.<br/><br/>Then Spence yelled, aiming her rifle at the trees, and Katherine jerked around, scanning the forest, but there was nothing. However, the worried look on Spence’s face was evident to everyone.  Crouching down beside the woman, she put her right hand on the top of the rifle.  “I believe you, but there’s nothing there now,” she said gently.  “Whatever it is doesn’t appear to be hostile,” she pressed harder with her hand to ease the rifle down, “so let’s not give it any reason to think we are, ok?”  Spence nodded once and relaxed her grip on the weapon, her face once again calm and alert.  Katherine smiled reassuringly, belying her growing concern, and stood up as Captain Hunter spoke and Albrecht cast furtive glances all around.  She put her hand on the engineer’s arm and whispered, “Relax ok?  If there were something here that intended to harm us, they would have done so by now.  I’m confident everything will be fine.” She lied.  Gesturing to the Captain she added, “Everything is under control for the moment, so let’s just do what he says and stay focused ok?”  Albrecht nodded and they both fell in behind the others just as the rain started falling a little bit harder.<br/><br/>The group moved at a good pace in complete silence, picking their way carefully through the brush.  Larger droplets of cool rain splashed on her face, and she blinked up at the now ominous clouds swirling in the sky as furiously as the wind around them.  Anxiety coiled in the pit of her stomach.  The eerie silence and knowledge that something out there was watching them, combined with the growing threat of a storm had her and everyone else on edge.  It was evident that McCormack and Walters already respected the Captain though, and when he motioned for the group to stop, they did so instantly, standing at attention, eagerly awaiting instructions.  Albrecht took out his data pad to get a fix on the signal again but grew frustrated. “I can’t seem to get a fix on it anymore.”  He walked to Captain Hunter. “We are exactly where we should be based on my last calculations, but the signal is gone.”  Scratching his head, his eyes then widened in surprise. “Oh wait…it’s back. That’s curious,” he looked at the Captain, “huh…maybe something is interfering with my equipment.  So what do we do now?”<br/><br/>Moments later, a blinding flash of lighting streaked across the sky, and a loud crack of thunder signalled the impending storm.  The wind began gusting faster and as it blew through the brush, it revealed a pathway lined with iridescent stones, which everyone seemed to notice it at the same time with a mixture of concern and curiosity.  Holding up her arm to shield her eyes from the rain and sand the wind was now pelting against her face, she saw Captain Hunter moving to action, calmly issuing commands to the others and she tried to hear what he was saying.  Once he gave orders to his troops, Walters shouted at McCormack to do something but she couldn’t make it out, the wind was just too loud.  Time seemed to stand still until Albrecht started to panic and ran for the pathway.  Shouting for him to stop, she froze when a large silver orb flew out from the trees and stopped in front the engineer as though warning him not to go that way.  He skidded to a halt and stepped back, tripping as he tried to widen the gap between himself and the strange flying object.  Katherine darted out, and helped him up, then they slowly walked back together to stand with the others.  The orb disappeared as suddenly as it arrived and she looked up at Albrecht with irritation until Captain Hunter came up beside her.  Releasing her hold on Albrecht, she looked at the Captain. “I think that was a pretty clear message to stay away from that path don’t you?”  She said loudly enough so he could hear her over the howling wind.  “I know we need to find that signal, but do you think there’s another way through the brush?”<br/>