by Brian Kayser
“Juliana, I can’t easily turn the rover around with the steering shot, do you think you can you walk over here?” Turk asks.
“Yes… I think so. I’ve just got to catch my balance.” She replies. She is bent over with her hands to the ice to keep from falling, but then manages to stand up and start a bounding walk towards Turk and the rover.
“Good! We’ll head North for a while and then figure out how to turn this thing around.” Turk responds back.
Just as Juliana starts to walk the 60 meters to the rover, the ground really starts to shake hard and she has to stop to keep from falling, placing her hands back down on the ice. Turk sees that she is struggling and starts to walk towards her to help. He is also finding it hard to walk with the ground shaking so much.
He starts to send a message the Eagle-2, to explain what is happening, “Eagle-2, this is Turk, do you –”
Before Turk can finish contacting the ship he loses his ability to speak, his eyes widen, and his jaw drops down. He cannot believe what he is seeing with his eyes.
Chapter 11: Rain
Turk just stares in horrid amazement, as a huge chunk of ice suddenly shoots straight up into the air, being pushed up by a geyser of water. This is followed by the steaming torpedo probe, which is shot up out of the hole like a missile. After the spinning chunk of ice reaches the top of the geyser, it starts to come down, right towards Turk.
He looks up and his eyes snap wide open as he yells, “Oh… shit!” He turns and tries to run as best as he can in his bio-suit, his boots slipping on the ice. He turns to look back and sees the flying chunk of ice ready to come down directly on top of him, so he dives head first off to the side, near the rover. The huge flying iceberg just barely misses him as it smashes down to the surface, exploding into a billion pieces of ice. The torpedo probe luckily veers in the opposite direction and lands on its side, buckling the metal housing, making it look kind-of-like a broken pencil.
The exploding chunk of ice however pummels Turk and the rover with ice shrapnel, toppling the rover over and pushing it another 5 meters in a spinning motion. As Turk lays flat on the ground, he can feel chunks of ice bashing his bio-suit for an eternity it seems. Some of the bigger chunks cause excruciating pain in his legs and his back, but his bio-suit stays intact; however he is now completely covered under a mound of ice chunks. He tries to move, even an inch, but he can’t – he is pinned to the ground. He can’t see anything except the computer display embedded in his visor. He notices it is reporting a problem with his com unit, as he no longer has his usual constant com-lock with Eagle-2. Perhaps the ice bombardment damaged the antenna, he thinks to himself.
“Eagle-2… Eagle-2… do you… copy?” he says into the com with a struggle, fighting against the weight of the ice pressing down on him. He waits a few seconds but does not get a response.
“Juliana… do you copy? Juliana… Juliana?” She is not responding either. He tries to move again but he can’t. Europa may only have 15% the gravity of Earth but the amount of ice lying on top of him is nonetheless extremely heavy.
As he is lying there helpless, sprawled out on his stomach unable to move, struggling to breath, he is startled by a very staticy broadcast.
“PATRI{sssssst} {ssssst}TRICK, {ssssst} NEED HELP!”
“Juliana, repeat…repeat! JULIANA, do you copy?” he asks frantically, but does not get a response. His heart is beating wildly now and he is breathing even heavier, wondering what trouble Juliana may be in from the geyser.
Turk is covered in ice chunks, in excruciating pain, is having trouble breathing under the heavy load of ice, and he is very disoriented. But hearing Juliana call for help makes him forget about his pain, and his mind becomes clear as a bell. He knows she needs help. He could hear the panic in her voice through the static. He is the only one that can help her, but first he needs to help himself.
He starts jerking his arms and legs with all of his might, he starts rocking back and forth, and he starts to push his way up. He fights and fights against the weight of the ice. He pushes and pushes and is finally able to get up on his hands and knees. He hears Juliana calling again on the com, but he can’t make out what she is saying as there is too much static; but he can still sense the panic in her voice, and knows that she still needs help – and fast. He yells back, “Hold on, I’m coming…” No reply.
It still feels like he has a horse sitting on his back but as he pushes up, ice chunks fill in the cavities, which actually helps as it prevents him from falling back down. As he moves his arms up, he finds he can then use the filled in cavities to push up even higher. Finally, as he pushes up again, he pops up out of the ice rubble like a mad man. Instantly, he tries to find Juliana through a visor that now has a frosty coating on the outside. He can hardly see anything. “Juliana, do you copy?” He says into the com. He never did hear a response back from his previous broadcast to her.
After a few seconds he does hear: “PAT{sssssst}, I’M SLIPPING, {sssssst} WHERE {sssssst}YOU? {sssssst} {sssssst}”
“I’m over here,” he says into the com to no avail. He can hear her, but she doesn’t seem to be able to hear him. “JULIANA, DO YOU COPY?” he screams into the com again just to be sure. She doesn’t respond.
Turk frantically tries to scrape the frost off his visor with his gloves. It doesn’t work well, but good enough; he is able to see that water is still shooting up into the air, filling the entire groove with water and creating a ‘rain fall.’ He sees the torpedo probe laying off to his right. Then he spots Juliana about 50 meters away from him in a steamy fog. He waves his hands over his head, but she doesn’t seem to see him as she is bending over with her hands on the wet ice. Water is up to her knees and she keeps trying to stand straight up, but she keeps falling back down on the slippery ice under the water, and from the rain pounding down on her.
Turk’s legs are still stuck in the ice so he starts pulling them up, he is able to move them only a few centimeters at a time. He keeps alternating pulls on his legs, until they are finally out. He slides down and off the mound of ice to make his way to Juliana. Water is gushing around Turk’s feet now as well, as he reaches the bottom of the mound. The water isn’t hot, but in the frigid atmosphere of Europa it appears to be steaming, creating the eerie fog.
Then suddenly, just as quickly as the geyser shot up through the ice, it stopped. It was as if someone had just turned off a valve. The last of the water falls down to the surface making one final splash. Turk breathes a sigh of relief, as he sees the last drops of the water stop its bombardment on Juliana. He also feels a glimmer of hope as he sees a rainbow for a brief moment; then the remaining watery mist in the air turn into snow flurries and slowly float down like feathers.
Turk hears on the com again: “{sssssst} {sssssst}atrick {sssssst}” He looks up and says, “Okay, Juliana, I’m not sure if you can hear me but hold on.”
He carefully starts to make his way to her, waving his arms again. This time she sees him and waves her arms back.
He hears her say, with less static now as he gets closer to her: “{sssst} Oh my God{ssssst}, Patrick, did {ssssst} see that? Well… there’s {ssst}ur water!” She gives a slight frightened laugh as she just stands there still trying not to slip and fall.
Turk says into his com, “Just stay where you are and I’ll come help you. The geyser stopped now, everything will be okay!” She must still not be able to hear him as she doesn’t respond.
As soon as Turk uttered those words though, he saw that things were not so great now that the geyser had stopped. About 10 meters behind Juliana, where the geyser spouted up like ole faithful, the water is starting to swirl around…
Chapter 12: Whirlpool
A whirlpool is forming behind Dr. Evans as if they are in a big sink and someone just pulled the plug. It reminds Turk of when he was a kid and would fill the bathroom sink with water, and then he would watch with delight as a lady bug he swatted into the water got sucked down the whirlpool, down the drain
. Only now, Juliana is the lady bug.
Turk starts to run towards Juliana as fast as he can in his bio-suit on the slippery ice. However, just like those nightmares where you can’t seem to run away from danger, where you feel lethargic and keep falling down; this is exactly how Turk felt. He slips and falls on the slippery ice into the water, right onto his butt – with much pain. He ignores the pain and gets up as fast as he can and keeps moving towards her trying to not slip again.
He can see Juliana with her arm stretched out but he just… can’t… quite… reach… her! She is being pulled away from him, towards the whirlpool. The ice seems to be getting slipperier, if that was even possible. He is slipping and sliding and falling on the wet ice. Juliana is only about 3 meters from him now, and about 2 meters from the ‘drain of death.’
Turk lunges for Juliana’s outstretched hand. The hand of the woman he just recently declared that he loved. Their gloved hands lock as best as they can and he tries to stop her from sliding into the hole. It’s working, now if he can just dig the cleats of his boots into the ice and hold on. They don’t need to move away, they just need to dig their cleats in and anchor themselves.
As the last of the now slushy water starts to get sucked in, the force of the whirlpool’s pull is increased for a few long seconds and they both slip and fall, as if their feet were kicked out from under them. Turk still has a hold of Juliana’s hand, but he can feel them sliding… sliding towards the hole. He tries to dig the glove of his free hand into the ice to no avail. The only thing around them is wet slippery ice.
Turks eyes widen as he sees Juliana slip down into the hole and he screams her name. He is thrust over the top of the hole but is able to use his free arm and legs to desperately hang-on and to keep from following her. He can hear the pulse of his heart in his ears, pounding like a drum. He can hear his rapid breath and he can hear her heavy breathing also through the com.
He suddenly sees part of the torpedo probe’s support rig sticking out of the ice where it apparently collapsed and then got encased in fresh ice. He frantically reaches out and grabs hold with his free hand to help secure his hold. Finally something to hang onto! He digs his cleats into the wall of the hole and is also using his head and neck to secure himself even better.
So Turk is looking down the hole, hanging onto the support rig with one hand and hanging onto Juliana with the other as she just dangles there. The cleats of his boots are firmly anchored and he is using all of his neck muscles to help hold up his body by pressing his head onto the ice surrounding the hole. He is firmly anchored but is in a very awkward position to be able to pull her up, even in the low gravity. Then he feels the grip of his hand, which is hanging onto Juliana, slip slightly as he does try to pull up. The whirlpool and the water are gone now – sucked down the drain to God only knows where. For Juliana, the only thing down there is death. He tries to pull her up again, but that only weakens their grip more.
“These damn gloves, I can’t get… a good grip, just hold on… Can you hear me?”
“Yes, I can hear you now,” she replies between heavy breaths of panic. Being this close they are able to communicate even with Turk’s damaged com unit antenna.
“Can you - grab on - with your other hand?” Turk pleads, as he feels his grip ready to give out at any moment.
Juliana reaches up and grabs hold of Turks hand with her other hand; now their combined grip feels much better. “Good, good, that’s better,” he says to her.
“I don’t know… if I can pull you up… with the way I am positioned. And my com unit… must be damaged – I can’t raise the ship,” he tells her with much strain in his voice.
“Let me try,” she says. “Eagle-2, Eagle-2, do you copy?”
“Doctor Evans, this is Hicks, I’ve been trying to contact you, we are aware of your situation and are on our way. We should be there in about five minutes. We are traveling as fast as we can!”
“Okay… acknowledged… please hurry!” she responds. She is glad they are on their way, but worried it will take them five more minutes.
“Did you hear that Patrick?” She asks.
Turk responds, “No… All I can hear is your communications”
“Commander Hicks is on his way but they are still five minutes out,” she tells him, hoping he thinks the five minutes is better news than she thinks.
“Well, shit.” He responds and then grunts with strain, which instantly answers her question. “I don’t think… I can hold this pose… for five more minutes. I don’t think I can hold-on… for even one more minute. We’ve got to try… to get you out now… we can’t wait for them.”
“Okay, I agree. And Patrick… I love you – too, by the way,” Juliana says in a half exhausted whisper; dangling like a rag doll. This gives Turk some added strength to pull up. She isn’t that heavy, especially with the low gravity; it is just that he doesn’t have ample leverage. He tightens his grip and starts to pull her up with all his might, then POP, the seal on his glove breaks and starts to slip off. Instantly it feels as if a thousand pins are poking into his wrist as the thin frigid Europa air touches his bare skin. He winces in agony as he still tries to hold on and pull up; desperately maneuvering his legs to try to get more leverage.
He pulls her up a few centimeters then tells her, “Can you grab my body? Can you get your arm around me and climb on my back to get out?”
“I’ll try…” she says and reaches for him, but the backpack on his back makes that very difficult. All she is able to do is grab some material from his suit but then her hand suddenly slips and she has to grab his hand again.
“Patrick! Oh God…” he hears Juliana shriek.
His heart is pounding even harder and it feels as if it may explode. He grunts and frantically pulls up even harder but he is losing feeling in his hand and can’t maintain the grip, then his glove slips completely off.
“PATRICK! OH MY GOD…… PATRICK!” he looks down in horror as she falls, paying no attention to the pain in his hand from the extreme cold and lack of air pressure. Everything is in slow motion as time seems to stand almost still. He can see her eyes widen and the terrifying fear on her face through her helmet as she falls. From the bio-suit com unit he can still hear her. He hears her haunting screams and gasps as she goes down, slowly out of sight. Then her final words, “Oh God, Oh my God I’m {sssssst}ing… it’s dark... I’m {ssssssst}{ssssst},” then nothing but silence. Juliana is gone.
Turk just lays there, nearly lifeless, staring down into the black hole of death.
Chapter 13: Too Little Too Late
** 10 minutes earlier **
Hicks and Fedoseev are at their drill location checking their equipment. Their drill is still working and everything looks good. Fedoseev is gathering surface samples and placing them into buckets when they both feel the ground shake slightly.
“Commander, do you feel that – yes?” Fedoseev asks as he freezes in place to try to determine if it is just him or if the ground is shaking.
Hicks responds, “Yes… I do! That’s some pretty major movement isn’t it?”
“Da, little more movement than I think good,” Fedoseev responds with concern in his voice, reaching up to twirl his mustache out of habit – but of course unable to in his bio-suit. He walks to the equipment that is measuring seismic activity, sets down his sample buckets, and starts interacting with the controls, to see what levels they are measuring.
Then they both hear over the public com, and look at each other’s concerned faces, as they hear Doctor Evans’ plea, “PATRICK, PATRICK, I NEED HELP!”
Hicks instantly yells into the com, “Turk! Turk! Do you copy? Lieutenant Commander Turkovitch do you copy!” He does not get a response.
“Doctor Evans, do you copy?” Hicks pleads.
All they hear back a minute later is, “PATRICK, I’M SLIPPING, WHERE ARE YOU?”
Hicks tries to contact them again, “Doctor Evans, Turk! Do you copy? Can either of you hear me?” No response.
<
br /> “Lt. Glover, do you copy? This is Hicks”
“I copy Commander – I’m monitoring a situation… Turkovitch and Evans seem to have a problem on their hands; I lost com-link with Turk. I’m tapping into Evans’ helmet video feed right now. Please hold a moment.”
“Holy crap! What the hell?” Glover blurts out.
“WHAT! What’s going on Erick?” screams Hicks.
“Holy crap commander, it looks like it is raining over there. And there are huge piles of ice chunks…. DAMN… the rover is trashed; it is on its side in all that ice. Let me review the recorded video from a few minutes ago.”
What seems like an eternity of 10 seconds pass when they hear Glover back on the com unit. “Holy…, crap…, a geyser of water is shooting up from Turk’s drill location, that must be the rain… obviously.”
“Are Turk and Evans okay? Are they near the geyser?” Hicks asks in a panic.
“I can’t tell yet… Oh crap! I think Turk got hit by a huge ice chunk that got launched into the air by the geyser, that’s when I lost his com-link!”
“FEDOSEEV! Get in the rover NOW, we’re heading over there. Erick… transmit their coordinates to our rover’s navigation system ASAP. For right now I’m just going to head in that general direction.”
“Will do, sending it now,” Glover responds.
As soon as Fedoseev jumps into his seat in the rover, Hicks punches the accelerator and spins it around, kicking up snow but agonizing at the slow 15Kph rate of travel that it maxes out at. The rover receives the coordinates and estimates about five minutes travel time at top speed.
The five minutes seem like an eternity as all they can do is listen to the mayhem and play-by-play from Glover.
“Commander… I see Turk from Doctor Evans’ visor camera, he just emerged out of that pile of ice… He is making his way to Evans. I still don’t have a com-link with him.”