The Europa Effect

by A. L. Mengel

  “There is no reason to panic,” Copernicus said. Eli’s eyes were wide. He covered his face with his hands and wiped his cheeks. Counselor Abagail tapped her hand on the side of her pod.

  “Eli!”

  He dropped his arms to his side and looked over at her. He had the big, droopy, sad eyes that she always remembered. “I’m going to be lying here right next to you. Just do what they tell you. It’ll be okay.”

  Eli shook his head and eased himself into his pod, as Jeremey and Winston settled into the remaining chambers.

  Several of the medical personnel visited each pod and connected tubes and wires to each of them. As they did, the black screens on the far wall sprung to life. “Please everyone lie flat on your backs, with your arms at your sides, and relax as best you can.”

  Counselor Abagail felt a chill in the bottom of the pod. It was the cool feeling of steel and was getting colder.

  And then she closed her eyes.

  She could hear Eli crying out, begging to be released from the chamber. She could hear Winston and Jeremiah consoling him; she even heard her own voice in an attempt to speak in a reassuring tone. But even for herself, there was the twinge of anxiety.

  Of a knot in the stomach.

  And the feeling of her heart racing in her chest as she felt the first drops of fluid underneath her back. She opened her eyes and tilted her head downwards. The fluid was building up fast, it was nearly an inch deep already.

  She heard Copernicus in the room, speaking to the medical personnel. “Eyes closed! No talking. The fluid will cover and submerge you completely. When it does, breathe in.”

  Her back was numb.

  And then her arms and legs. As the fluid built up in the pod, she gradually numbed, until she was stabilized and unable to move. She opened her eyes, peered down and saw the fluid level creep up her neck, towards her chin. She instinctively closed her mouth tight, drawing her lips together tight, as the fluid level covered her nostrils.

  Her eyes darted from right…to left…and back.

  “Eyes closed!”

  But she did not listen.

  And the room blurred as the fluid covered her completely. There was a deep rumble as the lid lowered over her, slowly, methodically; and as she recognized Copernicus standing over her pod, she saw a snippet of his white hair as the gap between the lid and the base grew smaller…until it was closed.

  *****

  And then she opened her eyes.

  As she looked downwards, she could see the pods. Four rectangular hibernation chambers. Each pod was connected with a network of wires and tubing towards a series of screens. Each screen had a photo and their last name. And as she moved closer to the pod that said “Abagail”, she saw herself…but was that really her?

  It was a person.

  A life contained inside a closed pod; which did look like a coffin. She floated down towards the lid; the long viewing windows – glass rectangles that spanned the length of the chamber, from head to foot, were partially covered with ice crystals. And she saw the ice inside.

  But the dark silhouette contained a life.

  A person.

  A life.

  Had it really been her?

  She floated upwards and towards the left. She could see the silhouettes in the other three pods.

  Were they floating also?

  She saw the room, up from afar, and there were no medical personnel. She could hear beeps and monitors, but the ship was otherwise silent.

  She glided across the chamber towards the corridor. The doors did not slide open, but she floated through them effortlessly, into a stark and silent corridor. The hum of the engines was still there; but all activity had ceased.

  She glided down towards a soaring atrium and clear side hull painting a star scape; tiny white sphere on a dark, black pallet.

  And then she saw a plume, a soaring tail, crystal white outbursts; and the gigantic rock. Just on the edge of the hull. A complete blackout of the star scape; could she do it? Could she travel through the hull like she had through the doors to the hibernation chamber?

  She floated forward.

  And a bright flash.

  And she was floating in a sea of tiny, white stars.

  The little spheres reached outwards through eternity, and as she turned around, she saw the imposing giant floating rock; its long, white gaseous tail trailing outwards like a tentacle.

  You are called on to be a leader.

  The voice spoke to her, but she was alone.

  She closed her eyes but continued to see.

  She saw she was floating through the stars. They were tiny, pinpoint spheres, in all directions, surrounding her like a blanket of tiny lights against a dark palette; and as she levitated, she saw she was alone. And she could still remember. She no longer saw the icy fluid overtake her like a layer of clear, liquid plastic. It was Moses who had clearly been standing over her, watching her through the shimmery fluid as she felt a fuzziness move through her veins; a numbness overtake her mind. It hadn’t been Copernicus watching her, had it? But now, she was floating, free, surrounded by her celestial orchestra. Had she fallen asleep? Was she now in hibernation? Was this a dream? Or was she dead?

  She saw something in the distance.

  A beacon of light.

  And she immediately felt love, and hope. Something that overtook her being as the light drew nearer; but still, it appeared so far away, that it might have been in the outer reaches of the solar system.

  But where was she?

  She looked downwards but saw nothing; no physical body. She turned and faced behind her and saw, in the great, vast distance, the light of the sun. But the cosmic radiation did not harm her. And she imagined that Earth, the old and familiar home, as it once was, had been there; a small, spherical shadow in the foreground of the glowing light. Yes, she had been there. Her home for most of her life. The mother she had for most of her days when she had felt the sand between her toes; when she had listened to the dull roar of the surf, the pleasant, calming, soothing sound. She could still feel the winds on her face.

  But that was the past.

  And there, as she floated through the cosmos, there was no wind. In the cosmos there were no sounds; just merely silence. It painted a similar kind of beauty; the Earth was a mere cosmic bit of the vast masterpiece; the cosmos was colorful and creative; expansive and principled. It only spoke the truth through its impenetrable silence. But was it alive? Were the brilliant gas explosions heard…if no one were there to hear them? Were the planets and the star systems actually teeming with life? Had the molten rivers of Venus once been filled with water? Or were the desolate barren rocks of Mars…simply rocks?

  She knew the Earth was that small, dark sphere in the foreground.

  The sun shined brightly behind it. And she knew she was too far away to travel to it.

  Was she?

  The power is within.

  She raised her head and looked behind her. There was a star, near to her, but at a distance which she could not determine. It was not like any of the other stars in the vast, infinite blackness.

  This star was indeed different.

  It was unique and bright; brighter than the countless other stars which surrounded it. But that particular star had soaring outbursts emanating from a white, hot sphere.

  Trust yourself, Abby. And all will fall into place.

  The giant asteroid blocked her view of the ship.

  But ahead she saw her vision of the star; so bright, so warm, so vivid. She tried to open her mouth but nothing would come out.

  The star moved closer and her voice cracked.

  “Am I…dead…?”

  She looked at the star. Muted colors swirled in the center of the pulsating whites and yellows, and she waited for an answer.

  You are who you choose to be.

  “Is there a portal underneath the ice of Europa?”

  The star did not answer.

  And she turned once again and the ship was s
till near. The long, rotating cylinder ahead of her. The star was far, off in the distance. And behind her, a round, dark, black star, surrounded by fingers of light. Had she traveled to the celestial landscape of destiny?

  But she knew where she was destined for.

  And through her mind, when she saw so many snippets of her life of what it once had been, they seemed so distant.

  So unfamiliar.

  For the cosmos, to her, felt like home.

  The painted pastels; soaring gases, distant stars. And her journey, for which it was defined.

  The Ice Moon.

  3

  MISSION: ICE MOON

  *****

  HER EYES OPENED as the light filtered into the chamber. The ice had melted, the liquid had heated, and she was warm. The lid then opened with the slight hiss of hydraulics. Had they arrived in the Jovian system? As the fluid drained, she slowly sat up. She reached out and grabbed the edges of the pod.

  There was an alarm sounding.

  The doors slid open.

  She recognized Moses as he stormed into the room. “Get up, each of you!” He looked over at the medical staff who had been assisting each of the team members from their pods. “Reacclimatize them right away! We need them immediately!”

  Counselor Abagail grabbed the sides of the pod and drew her knees up to her chest. Her eyes widened. “Moses…”

  He shook his head as he was about to turn back to the corridor. “Reacclimatize, get dressed and join us on the bridge right away. We’ve been adrift. And have sustained damage. We must get back on course. Go! Now!”

  He turned and ran down the corridor as the doors slid closed. Counselor Abagail looked over towards the other team members and saw Jeremiah sitting in his pod with his face buried in his hands.

  “Jere!” she called. “You ok?”

  He waved an arm. “Yeah…yeah…just a bit of a hyper sleep hang over.”

  She shook her head, and saw Winston and Eli with similar effects. She turned her attention to the scurrying medical personnel. One woman was examining her screen when Counselor Abagail called out. The woman turned to face her with an expressionless look.

  “Have we been awakened early? How long have we been in stasis?”

  The woman turned and touched the screen behind her pod several times, and then turned back to face Counselor Abagail.

  “Forty-seven equivalent Earth years.”

  She took a breath and held it. Her eyes widened.

  She looked over at Jeremiah.

  “Jere!”

  He was hoisting himself out of his pod, his back turned.

  She found her voice and was louder, more insistent. “Jere!”

  As he spilled on the floor, he grabbed the edge of his pod and held himself up. He opened his eyes and looked over at her.

  Counselor Abagail slapped the sides of her pod. “We’ve been under for almost fifty years!”

  She looked over at Winston and Eli. “Winston!”

  Winston’s mouth dropped open. “We’ve been under for almost fifty years!?”

  Jeremiah nodded. “I heard. We’re getting dressed and heading to meet Moses at the bridge.”

  *****

  They met in the corridor in crisp, stark white uniforms as the alarm sounded above. It was a short, harsh tone, sounding every few seconds, repeatedly. The Vegans were rushing through the corridors in haphazard directions. Counselor Abagail turned to the medical staff. The same woman who had checked her vitals smiled and nodded to her. “The bridge is forward.” She gestured behind where Counselor Abagail was standing, down a stretch of corridor.

  “Do you know what happened?” Eli asked.

  She nodded.

  “We were knocked off course by an asteroid shower and have been drifting out of the galaxy.”

  Counselor Abagail let out a gasp.

  The image of the asteroid flashed through her mind. Had she been dreaming? Predicting a future? Or witnessing what was happening? She turned to the crew member. “Weren’t crew members monitoring this? I thought Moses and Copernicus talked about a rolling stasis? Was the ship left unmonitored?”

  She shook her head. “That is all I know, I’m sorry.”

  Counselor Abagail nodded and looked at the team. “Winston, you’ve been to the bridge before, right?”

  He nodded.

  “Okay then, take the lead. Get us there. We’ll follow you. We have to talk to Copernicus and find out what happened.”

  *****

  The corridors heading to the bridge were wide and teeming with activity.

  A bay of several steel sliding doors opened and revealed a network of terminals with Vegans in white staffing them. To the left was a large, circular command station. Copernicus was standing in the center, looking outwards, unaware of their presence. Counselor Abagail looked to the right. There was a soaring view of the star scape, and a black circle in the distance.

  And then she thought of her dream.

  She gasped.

  “Copernicus!”

  He looked over and rushed down to them. He waved his arm as Moses looked up from an exterior station and joined them.

  Before Counselor Abagail could speak, Winston took a deep breath and released it. He leaned forward, looking directly at Copernicus. “What happened?”

  Copernicus was watching out through the windows intently. “Take a look at Gensys 1,” he said.

  They looked outwards and saw a swirling ring of light surrounding a sphere of complete blackness. Copernicus continued.

  “We’d studied this in the past. She’s got us in her grip…”

  “A black hole?” Counselor Abagail stepped closer to the windows. “How is that even possible?”

  He shook his head. “I’ll explain later.” He pointed to the black sphere. “You see that? We’re in its gravitational pull. I’ve tried back thrusters. Everything. It’s sucking us in.”

  Winston walked towards the windows. “It’s a black hole. We’re not being sucked in. We’re falling.” He turned to face the others, his hands on his hips. “Copernicus! Have your crew move hard port at max power. Stay on the edge. How did we get to this point?” He raised his eyebrows and looked at Copernicus and Moses.

  The alarm continued its urgency above.

  Counselor Abagail looked at Copernicus and then over at Moses with wide eyes. “What is the plan?”

  Winston cleared his throat. “We can move around it,” he said. “We must go at an angle. It will take all the ship’s power. But it can be done.”

  Counselor Abagail looked up at Winston. “Are you sure?”

  As Winston spoke, and explained the theory behind supermassive black holes, she looked out into space. Her mouth dropped open.

  There it was.

  A ring of light, pulling light into it, soaring inwards to pure blackness. Gaseous light, reaching out towards the ship.

  The bridge shook and she held onto a beam. She turned around as the others slowly got to their feet. Winston charged the circular command station.

  “If we remain on direct course we will be vaporized!” he said, leaning over the station. Jeremiah and Copernicus joined Winston.

  Jeremiah leaned close to Copernicus. “If we remain on the edge, like Winston says, where will this put us?”

  Copernicus turned to the crew lining the back wall. “We must find the worm hole we entered through! Send coordinates!”

  The ship rumbled and shook again as Counselor Abagail steadied herself. After the turbulence subsided, she joined the others at the command station.

  A graphic superimposed itself over the viewing area and all eyes were trained on it. On the edge of the black sphere the gridlines curved inwards.

  “There’s a wormhole over there!” Moses exclaimed.

  Copernicus stood behind a high captain’s chair as the ship rumbled. “Set coordinates and arrival estimate. And get us out of this pull!” he said. The alarm sounded and the lights flashed.

  Winston remained standing and held on
to the command station. “It’s not pulling us we are falling! We can steer around this!” He looked back at Copernicus with wide eyes. “Can you get us through the wormhole?”

  Copernicus nodded. “We’ve already been through it. We have to return. The key is to find it…”

  Counselor Abagail nodded. “Go through the worm hole. That’s our only course back.”

  Copernicus issued his command: “Map it. Where will the worm hole take us?”

  The graphic zoomed as the crew members sitting at the command station swiveled around in their chairs. All were watching them as the lead crew member analyzed the incoming data. “The worm hole should bring us back to the Milky Way – if it’s still open and in the same place. This one appears to be moving. According to saved data, Vega One veered off course just beyond the Jovian system after being assaulted by a field of giant asteroids. The communication system was damaged and severe damage was sustained in the central areas of the ship. The ship was placed on course with the worm hole and entered right through it.”

  Moses raised his head and looked up at the others. “Town Square is destroyed. The ship sealed itself immediately after impact.”

  Counselor Abagail looked over at Moses. “What about the people? The survivors?”

  Moses looked at her and shook his head.

  Jeremiah slammed his palms on the console. “How could this have happened?! What happened to monitoring and rolling stasis?!”

  “We did have a rolling stasis of the crew, as planned,” Copernicus said. “Something happened that we cannot currently explain! It seems we were all either sleeping or unconscious. But we have been adrift in this uncharted galaxy for forty seven years! And I have no means to explain it other than the passage of time in this galaxy is far different than the Milky Way. All I can do is go on the data from Vega One to attempt to find the worm hole and get us back to the Jovian system.”

  Jeremiah shook his head and crossed his arms as the Vega One shook violently. They all fell to the floor as Eli hit his head on the edge of the console. Winston crawled over to Eli and shouted in his ear. “Eli! You okay?!”