The Curse of Europa (8 page)

I
t was now the following morning. They got to sleepin until 8:30am Earth Standard Time, as the estimated time the probes are supposed to hit liquid water, was still around 20 hours away and there wasn’t too much they could do at the drill sites yet. The scheduled plan, is to get back out there in their bio-suits by 11:00am, to personally check the progress; plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast.

Fedoseev didn’t want breakfast and Commander Hicks and Glover ate early. Turk and Juliana, finally get a little alone time, while just the two of them munch on a not very appetizing GSO breakfast bar and a shake.

“So tomorow is the day,” Turk starts off, making conversation. “Do you think we’ll find any swimming dinosaurs?”

“
DINOSAURS
? Hardly!” Evans laughs and rolls her eyes, “Jeez, I’d be happy with a simple macrobiotic organism. That would be huge to me.”

“Well… that doesn’t sound quite as cool, but whatever makes you happy,” Turk says giving her a wink.

“Yeah, well, what’s cool and what’s realistic, are two different things. Even if we find tons of hydrothermal vents down there, I don’t think it would support anything more than very simple life forms,” Evans explains.

“Well, who knows… we could be surprised. Prior to 1977, no scientists on Earth would have guessed that life existed in the deepest depths of the ocean, way beyond where sunlight could reach. Yet that’s exactly what they found!” Turk says, as if Evans didn’t already know this.

“Yes, yes, I know. This is
my
area of expertise after all,” She says as she finishes off her breakfast shake then wipes her mouth. “I’ve been down there on expeditions, at least a dozen of them in Earth’s oceans. I’ve seen all the life thriving around those vent areas – it’s amazing. It really changed the way scientists viewed life. It is the
whole
reason why we are out here. Maybe deep down, I do believe that we will find complex life forms, maybe even intelligent life, but I just don’t want to get my hopes up.”

“I don’t really think that is, ‘getting your hopes up.’ I think that is being afraid of stating that you hope to find intelligent life and then being proven wrong.” Turk states as an observation. He takes the last bite of his breakfast bar and tosses the wrapper into the trash receptacle.

“Well, maybe. I guess I don’t see much difference,” she says back.

“Let me ask you this… do you want to find a simple macrobiotic organism, or intelligent life?” Turk asks.

“Well, jeez, there’s quite a range there. I guess I would love to find intelligent life down there – but honestly, I don’t think we will. Not here anyhow. Maybe someplace else in the cosmos. My Professor Scott and I would talk about that for hours; him quizzing me, pushing me for my opinions, kind of like what you are doing now.” She says with a playfully annoyed look on her face.

“Ah, so, it isn’t just me that finds you are holding back your true feelings sometimes!” Turk says with a look of discovery on his face.

“Ha-ha, well… I guess not,” she responds, giving up on arguing any further. Just then, they feel the ship shake a little bit and hear some loose items rattling. It is very subdued, but they can definitely detect some movement.

“Well then, there’s your shaking ground again, huh?” Turk says, as he sees Juliana’s eyes widen and look around.

“Yes, I guess so. Here…” She slides some wrappers and water cups to the side, and gestures some commands into a display screen, that is built into the table where they have been eating.

“Glover compiled the data, from the seismometer for the past 24 hours, take a look at this,” she says, pointing to some data she pulled up on the display. “There is basically constant seismic activity going on, but at low enough levels, where we usually can’t feel it. However, there are spikes from time-to-time, and some of these correspond to when I felt them. What we just felt, was probably one of these spikes.”

“So… then, is this bad… or normal?” Turk questions slowly, no longer feeling the ship shaking.

“Well, the surface probably rises up and down by a few tens of meters every day due to tides, and that is causing the seismic activity. It is normal and it is actually what’s keeping Europa warm inside, from the friction. I ran some simulations on the computer, to see if there could potentially ever be bigger quakes that may cause cracks. Basically it alleged that it is
possible,
but very unlikely. Actually, Thera Macula has already ruptured, so it is unlikely to happen again here.”

Turk responds, “Well, that’s good news I suppose. Plus, what are the odds of something like that happening at the exact time we are here?”

“Jeez, pretty low I imagine, but hey, don’t discount the
curse!
” Juliana responds, emphasizing the word curse, saying it with a spooky inflection.

“Oh yeah, that’s true!” he responds with a smile. “Just don’t say that too loud, you don’t want to freak out Glover!” They both laugh softly and look around to make sure Lt. Glover isn’t within ear shot.

“Yes, true, I think he is really freaked out about all of that mumbo jumbo,” Evans responds and then pauses. Her facial expression changes to a cute inquisitive smirk and then she moves onto a yet another subject, a subject she has been waiting for a long time to get back onto.

“So… the other night,” she leans closer to Turk and is now talking in a low whisper. “Were you being serious? Because you’ve got
me
a little freaked out right now.”

He squints his eyes, as if thinking for a second, and then he gets a look on his face that says he just realized what she was talking about. He responds, “Oh… Yes, I was serious! Absolutely! That was an
awesome
doughnut! -- Ouch!!”

Juliana kicks his leg, “NOT THAT! Jeeeeez!” she says in a loud whisper. “Come on now, you
know
what I’m talking about!” She locks her eyes to his and gives him an expression that says, ‘if you make another joke I’m going to kick you where it
really
hurts.’

“Oh… that…” he wispers with a big smile. He grabs her ice cold hands in his and squeezes. His hands are warm and they feel good around hers. He leans even closer, gazing deep into her blue eyes and whispers, “I have
never
been more serious in my life!”

“COMMANDER!”

They both jump a bit, as they hear Lieutenant Glover calling for Commander Hicks. “Commander, we’ve lost communication with torpedo probe two. We started receiving some major seismic activity readings from the instruments a few minutes ago, and now then they just stopped sending data. We haven’t received a heartbeat signal for over two minutes now, from any of the instruments, or the torpedo probe.”

“Does that mean it’s stopped drilling?” Hicks asks, not sure he really wants to hear the answer. He makes his way from the commode up to the command deck as quickly as he can.

“Hard to say. Not necessarily. It could just be the radio link, or… the entire probe may have malfunctioned. It just went dark, so we’re not getting any data at all.”

Turk climbs up to the command deck, to join the two of them to look at the readings. Glover swipes his finger on the small display screen that he is sitting at, which instantly moves the data from his small screen, onto a much larger display screen on the wall. Data graphs show a big spike in seismic activity in that area just a few minutes ago. An alarm display is glaring out the words
'
Signal lost > 2 min
'
in bright red letters.

“Shit!” Hicks yells, striking his hand on the console. “Well, let’s hope it is just a communication glitch.”

“Yeah, Juliana and I have 100 credits riding on this,” Turk jokes, trying to lighten the mood.

Hicks just gives him a nasty glare, not thinking it was funny at all, and then booms, “well, you two better get your bio-suits on, you’re going out a little early today! Fedoseev, you and I will suit up right after and head out to ours; I don’t trust some of these damn remote sensors.”

Turk looks down to the deck below, down to where Juliana is still sitting and raises his eyebrows, as if to say
so much for a leisurely breakfast and a private talk.

Chapter 10:
Seismic Activity

T
he rover driven by Turk flies over the lip of the groove where their torpedo probe is located; the low gravity allows it to go airborne for a few seconds. Juliana grabs Turks arm and says, “Jeez, take it easy there cowboy.” Turk just lets out a soft devilish laugh and gives her a childish look.

Juliana rolls her eyes while shaking her head and then asks, “so… do boys ever grow up?”

“Only the boring ones!” Turk retorts.

As the rover approaches the drilling site they can see that something isn't right. They should be able to see the support rig for the torpedo probe, sticking up into the air, but they can't. The area is also very shiny, much more so than it was yesterday.

Turk comments to Juliana, “what the hell… this whole area seems very shiny… and smooth. Was it like this yesterday? Is it just a difference in the angle of the Sun?”

Before Juliana has a chance to answer she simply points and screams: "PATRICK, WATCH OUT!!"

Turk was looking way up ahead, failing to notice a problem directly in front of them. What was a flat approach yesterday now had a large drop-off where apparently the icy surface has cracked and became uneven. Turk hits the brakes hard, locking up all four wheels on what is now a smooth glassy surface, like a skating rink. The rover tops out at only 15Kph, but on this smooth surface, and with the low gravity, the tires are just sliding like skis. Sensing the rover starting to spin clockwise, he releases the brakes to regain control.

“There’s no stopping her now,” Turk yells frantically into the com so Evans is prepared. “We are going over that drop off! Better to go over straight-on than flipping over sideways! Brace yourself!”

He hits the accelerator again to actually pick up some speed, and then they go airborne again. Evans gasps and grabs tightly ahold of a handle. The drop off is nearly two meters down, and even with the lower gravity the rover hits hard. The front end hits first, jolting Turk and Evans violently forward, but their restraints help keep them in place, then the back end hits with a smack. The rover now slides sideways for a few seconds, before it hits a rough patch that stops them almost instantly, nearly tipping the rover onto its side. It tips up on two wheels and hangs for a few seconds, before falling back down onto all four.

“Wow… holy crap, are you okay?” Turk asks Juliana, placing his hand on her leg.

“Yes, I’m fine… YOU?” She responds, a little in shock of what just happened.

“Well… I’m glad these suits have built-in bio-waste compartments, otherwise I’d have pissed my pants,” Turk jokes with a forced laugh and then says, “It was kind of fun actually!”

“FUN! JEEZ! I can’t say I thought
that
was fun, not in the least!” She exclaims back. Turk isn’t sure if she is being jokingly dramatic, or if she is really upset, so he decides to leave it at that and presses the accelerator of the rover to get moving again.

Instantly, Turk can tell the steering mechanism is screwed up. He can only turn the steering wheel slightly each way making the rover turn only ever so slightly in the respective direction.