Between a hard place and a rock

Lorentz climbed out of the hole with the agility of an ape on steroids. Getting back to the surface, King lent him a hand past the edge of the hole.

"Look at this stuff," he said as he showed them a piece of rock he had brought up with him. The surface of the rock was covered in a grey slime that smelled strangely musky.

"We'll analyse it back on the ship. Ava, you have a containment kit, don't you?"

"I do."

Ji-ho wasn't going to be of any help during battle so she was carrying all sorts of items on her. Un-flipping the lid of a small glass jar, the rock was dropped inside it and put away securely. Now was the part none of them wanted to acknowledge.

"We have to leave the Commander behind," Archer told them. It was a painful decision to make but the chief officer knew his duties and the prerogative he had to give to the mission. It was what Ilya would have wanted him to do.