The Curse of Europa (16 page)

She waited a few moments to no response. Then her com-link went back down.

Chapter 20:
Dr. Evans, is That You?

“H
ello! Doctor Evans, is that you?” Hicks responds in an amazed voice. “Erick, can you boost our signal any further?”

“Still working to clear it up, but I’ve got the power full. The problem is that boosting
our
power doesn’t help much with the reception of
her
signal, which is weak. She can probably hear us fine. The best I can do is get our antenna precisely aimed to where her signal is originating from,” Glover responds, while frantically gesturing commands into his console and looking back and forth between two display screens.

Then suddenly, he must have found the ‘sweet spot’ for the antenna as they hear, “{ssssssst} {squaaaaaak} me {ssssssst}ear me comman{ssssssst}? {ssssssst} I hea{ssssssst} {ssssssst}ou {ssssssst} and clear. My {ssssssst} is dam{ssssssst} {ssssssst} re{ssssssst} can hea{ssssssst} {ssssssst}e”

“That’s about all I can do commander,” Glover says, while throwing his hands up in the air; a trickle of sweat running down his cheek.

They hear more garbled words and everyone strains to make out what she is saying. They are definitely picking up her transmission, but unfortunately, it is too garbled to understand.

Coming in on a separate channel, they hear Tucker in the Command Module: “Eagle-2, this is White-Bull-2, Lieutenant Tucker here, do you copy?”

“Go ahead Tucker,” Hicks says quickly, not wanting to miss hearing anything that may be comprehensible from Evans.

“We are picking up Evans’ signal also and have aligned our antenna and boosted our power as well. I think we are picking her up a little better. Commander… let’s cluster mirror our two radios into one unit! The computer can then process both of our signals, combining only the best parts together, and can rebroadcast the cleaned up stream on delta channel.”

“Will that work Erick?” Hicks asks, bewildered as to what Tucker was even talking about.

“Yes, I think it will! These newer radios are designed to do that, we did it in training class.” An excited Glover responds with a smile, wondering why he didn’t think of that himself.

“Well hell,” Hicks responds, and then pounds his fist on his console like a gavel. “DO IT!”

It takes about 60 seconds to cluster mirror the radios. During this time, it breaks the com-link with Evans, until the cluster procedure is finished. Glover adjusts the radio to monitor delta channel.

After a few more seconds they hear, “{ssst} This i{ssst} {sst}octor Evans, do you copy? {sst}”

“Yes, we copy, this is Hicks, do you read me Doctor Evans?”

“{sst}es, I copy you {sst} Loud and {sst}lear,” Evans responds. She is very glad that the com-link was reestablished after a minute of nothing and wondering if the antenna had completely given out.

“Doctor Evans, what is your situation,” Hicks asks, not really expecting a rosy report. Actually, deep down hoping that she is not back on solid ground, looking for Eagle-2 that just left her behind with no possible way of going back to pick her up. The heat shielding may not hold for a second landing, plus they exhausted all of their fuel on their rapid escape from the surface.

“{ssst} Well jeez… {ssst} I’m okay, for now {ssst} guess. I’m in the Great Schmidt L{sst}ke, swimming! It was pitch blac{sst} until I retrieved the fl{sst}shlight that someone dropped down, {sst}hanks for that!” Hicks gets a surprised look on his face and goose bumps instantly sprout up on his skin. He was only dropping down his flashlight to try to gauge how far down the hole went. He had no idea that Evans would actually retrieve it and be able to use it.

“Even afte{sst} I got the flashlight every{sst}ing was still very black, {sst} until I finally saw white fleck{st} floating upward, so I {sst}wam towards them. {sssst}” Evans continues. “I’m almost certain that they are sodium sulfide fla{ssst} and I think I’m directly above a hydr{st}ermal vent. {sst} Now get this… I found {st} small piece of deep sea coral floatin{st} upwards as well! It’s dead, but it was certainly alive, not too {st}ong ago! Did you copy all {st}that?”

“Yes, we copy, holy crap. Can you see the vent?” Hicks asks, momentarily forgetting about the dire straits that Evans is in.

“No, not yet, my {st}ntenna is damaged and right now I have my backp{st}ck off; holding the antenna in place. {st}The locking clamp is broke so if I let go {st} will fall out.”

“Oh understood,” Hicks responds, not really knowing what to say next; afraid to tell her that they already blasted off of the surface.

“Listen, {st} I doubt there is any rescue for me; I’ve accepted {st}hat. So I do want to use my time left {st} investigate.”

“I’m afraid you’re correct Juliana,” Hicks chokes a little trying to hold back a tear, “We actually had to launch. Water was flooding the surface and tremors were causing avalanches all around us. We… we… barely made it off the surface in one piece. I’m so sorry. I’m –”

“Com{st}ander, don’t apologize, I understand. Even if you didn’t leave there would be n{st} way to save me. Let’s not dwell on that. I want to use my final minutes to {st}alvage this mission. I don’t want to die in vain{st}{st}.”

“Understood,” Hicks responds slowly. He knows she is right and she is being very brave, but it isn’t helping the pit forming in his stomach, making him want to vomit.

“Where is Patric{sssst}? Is he okay {sst}” Evans finally asks, worried about the answer because he hasn’t been on the com and no one has mentioned anything.

Hicks responds, “He’s here, on Eagle-2, however he is unconscious right now. His glove came off as you probably know; he suffered hyperthermia in his hand and forearm. We have him sedated because of the pain, but we are trying to revive him.”

“Jeez, No {sssst} don’t do that, let him res{sssst},” Evans requests, but is hoping they don’t honor it.

“Since I’m obviously not coming home {sssst} you guys, I’d like to record a few messages while we still have {st} good com-link. I’d like to record a message for my boy Sean {ssst} and daughter Mary; {ssst} and also my parents!”

“Absolutely Doctor Evans, anytime you’re ready; all of this is being recorded,” Hicks responds with a clearing of his throat.

“Hey Sean… honey, I love you so muc{ssst}. Remember our talk when I wa{sssst} leaving? I told you this was a {ssst}reat opportunity for me, but it
could
be{sssst} dangerous. Well baby,” Evans voice pitches up an octave and she sniffles; a hot tear burns down her cheek. “I’m afraid there was an accide{ssssst} and I… I... {sssst} I’m afraid mommy won’t be coming hom{sssst}! I love you so… so very much! {sssst} NEVER forget that. You hear me! Jeez… you are a great kid, so {ssst}mart. You be brave for mommy, I love you! {ssst ssst}” Her final few words tapering off into a sob.

Everyone on Eagle-2 and White-Bull-2 are whimpering and wiping tears from their eyes while listening to Evans say her painful goodbyes. She next leaves a heart wrenching message for her 13 year old daughter, then to her parents and some close friends. Then lastly to Tom, her ex-husband, apologizing for some things and pleading that he takes good care of their two children.

Turk has made his way to the somber command deck, a little woozy but getting more alert from whatever Fedoseev shot him with. A local anesthetic was applied to his arm and hand, so he feels no pain and it just hangs in a sling as dead weight. At first he thought he was dreaming when Fedoseev told him that they were talking with Juliana. “What? What are you talking about? She’s dead! I dropped her!!” he had snapped back at Fedoseev when he was first waking up.

He gets strapped into his chair with the help of Hicks. Turk leans over the console and says, “Juliana, can you hear me?” in a shaky voice, his heart pounding out of his chest; trying to blink away tears that are trying to form in his weary eyes.

“{sssst}atrick? Is that you? {ssst}” Juliana blurts out quickly.

“Yes!” he cries then stammers “oh – God… Juliana I’m so sorry! I dropped you, I let you fall!”

“Patrick! You lis{sst}n to me! This is not your fault {sssst}, Jeez, I’m the stupid one that slipped down the hole! You {ssst}ried to save me! You almost died yourself trying to save me{sssst}”

“Oh Juliana -” Turk can’t speak; he bits his hand, trying not to sob like a baby.

“Oh Jeez! Oh – my - God!” Evans blurts out slowly as her teary eyes widen. She increases the oxygen flow for a few quick seconds to help defrost her visor. “I think I sa{sst} something move down there! It wasn’t just floating, it was moving, {sst} swimming!” She was frantically waving around the beam of light, trying to locate it, but it was gone.

“I don’t see it now,” she says then starts speaking quickly as she knows her time is running short, “Listen – Patrick, I love {sst}, I loved our time together. It may have been short but {sst} was wonderful… perfect really. {sst} I wasn’t looking for love again, and I don’t think you were either, but we{sst} found it; and it was great! Don’t blame yourself for this; it IS NOT your fau{sst}. Our time was short – jeez, we didn’t even have time for any fights, who knows {sst}, we may have been great together, but… {sst} we may not have been. Don’t dwell on this… please! I want you {sst} always remember me, but please don’t mourn. Please just cherish our time. Cherish our memories together. Plea{sst}, always be happy when thinking about our time together and don’t let {sst} make you sad. Jeez, you’ve made me very happy these last few mon{sst}, you are a wonderful man. I love you! We’ll always have Europa!” She lets out a pitiful chuckle and sniffles a little bit, but stays strong to help Turk stay strong.

“I love you too Juliana! And I will! I will always cherish our memories… forever. You… you… you snuck up on me. Yes, our time was short, but I don’t think I’ve ever loved anyone like I’ve loved you – like I LOVE you! And…” he squeaks out a painful chuckle, “Yes, We’ll always have Europa!”

“Yes, we will!” She responds. She has said her goodbyes, she has cried her tears. She looks down at the white flakes still billowing upward and knows her time is running short. She sniffles one last time and it is as if a calm has washed over her. Enough with the doom and gloom, yes she knows this is the end, she has accepted it; but she was not going to cry away her last 75 minutes. She is aching to find out what’s down there now. If she finds an underwater dinosaur, like Turk once joked, so be it – what’s it going to matter if she gets eaten? Either way she is going to die.

In a firm and assertive tone she continues, “My time is running short, my oxygen indicator esti{sst}tes about 75 minutes. What’s done is done for me and my fate is sealed, {sst}{sst} I’m not going to cry about it anymore. What I want to do is find out what the hell {sst} down there. As I investigate, my helmet camera can record everything {sssst} store it locally. When I have about five minutes of air left, I will reconnect my ant{sst}{sst}. Will you guys then be able {sst} upload all of the data?”

Turk wipes his eyes and tries to perk up. Hearing Juliana being so strong helps and he doesn’t want her to hear him be weak. “That may be possible, I’m not sure since your transmissions are still breaking up some.”

Glover chimes in, “I think that is possible but we should minimize the amount of data we’ll need to upload. Instead of recording in the default Super-HD panoramic-3D format, I can change it to just record in basic old HD…. Hold on… There… There you go; I just made that change for you. But you better reconnect with 10 minutes left, just to make sure we have enough time.”

“Okay, {sst} that only leaves me about an hour then so I’m going to get going. Pat{sst} – I love you! Everyone… I love you all. If all goes well we will talk {sst} about 65 minutes and I’ll hopefully have a wonderful story to t{sst}{sst}!”