Katherine felt relief that Captain Hunter seemed to share, or at least understand her thoughts, but his request for her to accompany him to the surface alone made her stop short, and a thrilling quiver of anticipation rippled through her entire body.<em>Oh, stop it! Don't be ridiculous!  There's no ulterior motive here, it makes perfect sense and there isn’t anyone else we can spare.  This was a logical decision on his part and nothing else!</em>She chided herself, but refused to look at the handsome Captain, worried her eyes would betray her feelings.  Instead, she focused intently on the Kino and waited to see what Dr. Heath would say.<br/><br/>After taking a few seconds to weigh the options, the older woman nodded. “Good thinking Captain.  Since there is not much on the surface, you and Dr. Randall should have no problem gathering samples.  However, I will keep your team on alert should you need assistance,” she said calmly.  “You have a considerable amount of time, so I expect you should be able to cover quite a bit of ground if you move quickly, but please do not take any unnecessary risks and keep in contact at all times.  Understood?”  Her voice remained calm, but carried a hint of worry and concern.<br/><br/>Katherine nodded her consent to go and understanding of the conditions to Dr. Heath, but didn’t speak; instead, she followed the Captain as he gathered necessary supplies, grabbing a few of her own along the way. She tried to keep her thoughts focused on the mission, but the idea of being alone with him on a deserted planet made her uneasy and that bothered her because it meant she was thinking emotionally, not professionally, especially since she knew she wouldn’t feel this way if accompanying Dr. Pike.  Thankfully, there wasn’t a lot of time to dwell on it because they worked quickly, and not more than twenty minutes later, were on the surface.<br/><br/>The instant she stepped through the gate, a violent wind whipped around her body, blasting tiny grains of dust against her suit, and even the solid headgear couldn’t dull the sounds from pelting sand and the howling squall ripping through the gorge that stretched before them.  Two bright orange globes burned in the cloudless, sienna sky; a startling reminder of just how far away from earth they truly were.  Wasting no time, they moved forward at a good pace, but swirling dust meant visibility was at a minimum, and Katherine hurried to keep up so as not to lose sight of the Captain.  Every few yards they stopped to gather samples from the coarse, beige sand, hoping the key to finding an effective anti-biotic would be locked within the barren looking dust.  However, it didn’t appear promising since there were no outward signs of biological life amidst the giant spires of wind-shorn, ochre coloured stone dominating the landscape and casting long shadows on the pebbled path they followed. Still, Katherine stayed optimistic, believing with almost complete certainty the ship brought them to this planet because it knew what they needed could be found here, and so she scraped and sampled every new surface she could find.<br/><br/>As they made their way inland, the wind died down to a light breeze and after a couple of hours they stopped on the crest of rocky outcropping, poised above an open ravine with a flat and sandy floor, sprinkled with several half buried boulders of various sizes. Grateful for the rest, Katherine quietly stood beside the Captain and scanned the landscape, focusing on a large series of cliffs that loomed some distance away on the other side of the valley, presenting the likeliest opportunity to find a source of water, and if they were lucky, some microorganisms or some kind of plant life. "It's quite beautiful isn't it?" She said softly, her voice filled with appreciation for the awesome scenery. "So rugged and wild, yet pure and untouched.  I've never seen anything like it before.  I wish there was more time to explore and enjoy it," she whispered longingly.<br/><br/>Sighing, she took out her binoculars to get a better look, but realized the suit presented a problem, and quickly removed the headgear, drawing a cautious breath.  The air was pleasant.  Hot and dry, it held the earthy scent of sun-baked clay, and Katherine took another breath as she set the headgear gently on the ground at her feet.  The warm sunlight and soft breeze felt good against her skin as she stretched, fluffed her hair, and closed her eyes for a moment, inhaling deeply and relishing the sense of freedom.  It seemed ages since she'd had time like this to herself, and she refused to feel selfish for pausing a few seconds to take advantage of it.<br/><br/>Relaxed and smiling, she opened her eyes and turned to Captain Hunter.  “It sure feels good to get that contraption off and breathe real air.  You were right too; it is thin, but quite breathable; almost like a sauna, but lighter.”  Perhaps it was this newfound sense of uninhibited, peaceful serenity after so many days of relentless stress and worry, but whatever the reason, suddenly Katherine felt very aware of the strong, alluring male presence beside her and felt inexplicably drawn to him in that moment.  Flush with the first trembling of desire as memories and fantasies of him collided in her mind, she stood transfixed and staring at the handsome man, feeling breathless from the quickening of her pulse now beating wildly.  It was only the unwelcome realization of how easy it would be for her to forget the reason they were there that startled her back to reality, and she unconsciously bit her lip, looking away, appalled with herself for allowing those feelings and inappropriate fantasies to shift her focus from the mission.  Stepping closer to the edge, she raised the binoculars to look through them and tried to shake it off, praying he didn't think her crazy for the way she'd been staring at him so intently, or worse, that he'd read her mind.  “I think we need to head for the other side of this ravine.  There’s no shelter from the sun until we reach the cliffs, but the descent doesn’t look too bad, and the valley floor seems easy enough to traverse, so it shouldn’t take us too long to cross.  Honestly, I don’t see any other areas or structures that look as promising for a source of water,” she said decisively, finally beginning to feel normal again, but not yet ready to meet his gaze.<br/><br/>Still looking through the binoculars, something caught her eye, and she pointed across the ravine. “Wait…there is some kind of trail cut into one of the cliff faces.”  She frowned, puzzled. “Could be natural, but it looks too symmetrical.  Still, even if someone or something carved it, it’s very primitive and could be thousands of years old at least.  Based on what we’ve seen so far, I don’t think there is any intelligent life here but I’ll be able to tell more the closer we get to it.”  Lowering the binoculars, she looked up at Captain Hunter again, but this time it was with excitement at a possible discovery. “I vote we head for that trail,” she said eagerly, and smiled brightly at him, her mind already refocused and racing with the possibilities of discovering the remains of an ancient civilization, or perhaps even one that still exists.  "What do you think?  Do we go for it?"<br/>