by Brian Kayser
“GET UP! We need to get the hell out of here. This water is going to flood this whole area. We have about 350 meters to run to make it to Eagel-2!”
He helps Fedoseev to his feet and they start running, as best as they can in 15% gravity, wearing bio-suits. They see Eagle-2 sitting there, waiting… It is only about 70 meters from the edge of where the ravine travels, surly in the potential flood plain.
“Glover! Please tell me that the air-lock is ready to go!” Hicks pleads into the com.
“Yes sir! Ready and waiting!”
Water is just starting to slosh over the lip of the ravine, like an overflowing bathtub, when they reach Eagle-2. They climb into the air-lock and quickly close and seal the hatch. It takes about 90 seconds for the chamber to re-pressurize and for the door to the inside to open. While waiting, Hicks tells Fedoseev, “When we get inside leave your bio-suit on, just remove the air tank and your helmet; then strap yourself into your chair. I’ll get us airborne as quick as I can.”
The interior door opens and Hicks hops out first, he removes his helmet and air tank, and then in a flash shoots up the ladder to the command deck. He looks out a window to see that in fact; the whole area is now flooded, and rising. Another small tremor can be felt and a few small ice chunks, from the ice mountain they are near, go splashing into the foggy water.
“Okay guys, we’re not exactly doing this by the book and I’m skipping about half of the pre-flight check, but we need to get out of here now! Turk is strapped in I know; how long will that sedative hold?”
Glover responds, “No problem there, he should be out for a few more hours.”
“Fedoseev, are you strapped in?” Hicks asks
“Da, I ready to go. Sooner is better!”
“Eagle-2 to White-Bull-2, we are commencing with takeoff in 60 seconds”
“Copy that Eagle-2,” Lieutenant Tucker responds, “Everything looks good to me for takeoff. We’ll have to re-compute our rendezvous calculations again, but we can worry about that once you reach orbit.”
The countdown timer is at 42 seconds and then a huge seismic shock rocks Eagle-2. As they are shaking, Hicks looks out his window to see a huge wave of water rushing their way.
Then he hears Glover yell, “Oh crap! Huge chunks of ice just broke off the top of that ice mountain; there is a ton of ice rolling and sliding down the side, directly at us!”
“Screw the countdown, we’re going now… hang on!” Hicks yells as he hits a launch button that overrides the countdown. Instantly the rockets blast out hot flames to the wet surface below, but they are not moving. The landing legs are frozen to the ice underneath. Hicks’ heart jumps and he can feel it thumping, as he knows they should be airborne by now. He increases to full power and Eagle-2 starts to shake violently. He knows this isn’t safe while grounded, as the blast-back from the engines could ignite the fuel tanks; plus it is expending a large amount of precious fuel needed to get them into orbit. Suddenly, the avalanche of ice chunks reaches the bottom and starts smashing into Eagle-2. However the force of the impact breaks the landing legs free of the ice below and Eagle-2 instantly shoots up into the air, but at a skewed angled trajectory, instead of straight up.
Hicks grabs the control stick and slams it to the right, as they start to speed more and more horizontal and risk crashing back down to the surface. At full throttle, it is hard to control, but he fears if he backs it off now they may not make orbit, so he continues to fight. Loose items, that they did not have time to secure, go flying and slamming against the walls. At their current horizontal pitch, they are not gaining much altitude yet, and they are actually flying directly at the same ice mountain they almost hit on their way down to the surface.
“Eagle-2, this is Tucker, you need to pull up! You’re heading directly at the side of an ice mountain!!”
“Copy that, I see the damn thing!” Hicks retorts back, “I’m trying, I’m trying! She’s fighting like a son-of-a-bitch!”
Glover looks at the mountain on the radar. It is only 255 meters ahead and they are closing in fast. He can’t help but think of the curse, and wishes he would have listened to his fiancée and not gone on this mission. This particular ice mountain really seems to have it in for them.
Hicks makes a couple of quick adjustments, to help get them moving upwards, it is helping, but is expending even more fuel. They all brace for impact, as they approach the mountain… but nothing, they again just narrowly miss the top of the huge ice mountain. They now all breathe a sigh of relief. That should be their last obstacle, as long as they keep moving upwards.
Eagle-2 starts to slowly tilt more vertical now as they continue their wild climb. Hicks doesn’t know exactly where they are going, but he has to break free of the gravitational pull of Europa. In fact, with the fuel critically low, and their trajectory way off course, Hicks knows there is no way they can establish a stable orbit; they are going to have to simply push out into free space and drift.
Chapter 18: Good Bye Cursed Moon!
Eagle-2 pushes onward and upward, riding a magnificent trail of fire, full throttle, away from what undoubtedly must be a cursed moon. The entire crew certainly believes that Europa is the ‘Queen of Failure’ now, as their mission is yet another absolute failure, to join the long list of others. They did find water alright; but Doctor Evans gave her life in the process, Turk may lose his hand, and Doctor Fedoseev was nearly washed away to his death. They were supposed to spend two historic weeks down on the surface, but were sent packing after only three days; with their proverbial tails tucked between their legs.
Hicks plans to burn all of the main thruster fuel, to ensure they completely escape the gravitational pull Europa has on them. If they don’t get far enough away, they will simply be pulled back down, smashing to the surface. If he can get far enough out, then Jupiter’s gravity will actually grab them and start pulling them that way. That of course isn’t a desirable destination either, but it would take a few days before that would happen, buying them plenty of time for White-Bull-2 to maneuver around for a re-dock.
The main rockets putter out a few final blasts of thrust, and then go dark, leaving Eagle-2 to coast into space on an unplanned course. The sky went from a dark black, to one filled with stars and with Jupiter at their starboard side. They are still within the grips of Europa’s gravity, but the computer calculates that they have enough inertia now to break free, with the help of Jupiter’s pull.
“White-Bull-2 to Eagle-2, do you copy?” Lieutenant Tucker can be heard trying to make contact.
“Yes, Copy, this is Eagle-2, alive and well,” Hicks responds out of breath; his heart still pounding out of his chest.
“Well, I must say… that was some show you put on there,” Tucker radios back. “It’s going to take some time to figure out how to maneuver over and intercept you for re-docking. You’re moving at a pretty good clip right now, however Europa is slowing you down, and Jupiter’s pulling at you also; so a lot of variables to factor in.”
“Understood, we’re not going anywhere!” Hicks responds, then looks over at Jupiter, knowing that eventually that is where they are heading, if they are not able to rendezvous with the Command Module.
Hicks looks over at Glover, whose face is still white as a ghost, and they both let out a sigh of relief and then actually start to laugh. “Holy Crap, that wasn’t in my training!” Hicks finally exclaims.
“No kidding,” Glover spurts out between bursts of laughter, “I thought we were going down for sure! When we started to bank horizontal, towards that same damn ice mountain… Whew… I don’t know how the hell you pulled us out of that, at full throttle no less. JESUS, Whew!!” He throws out a few air punches, still feeling the adrenalin.
“I have no idea either, that mountain sure seemed to have it out for us! This bucket of bolts is not designed to fly horizontal, that’s for sure!” They both wipe tears from their eyes as their laughter tapers off. Neither of them thought their situation was funny, their laughter was
merely a release of emotion; euphoria for making it off Europa alive, and sadness for their lost shipmate and failed mission.
Hicks looks down to the level below and yells, “Fedoseev, you still with us?”
“Vell you know – I am not really sure,” he responds slowly. “Dead I tink I am – yes?”
“Well…” Hicks smiles and chuckles a bit, then thinks for a few moments, “…you may be right, I ‘tink’ we are all dead - yes,” he jokes back. Then he says, “As much as I was looking forward to this mission, right now… I just want to go home!” Both Fedoseev and Glover whole heartedly agree.
Fedoseev floats over to check on Turk, he is still knocked out from the sedative. He looks at Turk’s hand and just shakes his head, knowing it is probably going to have to come off; hoping they don’t have to do it (hoping he doesn’t have to do it) before they return to the Cygnus Space Station in orbit around Earth. He is also hoping there are no other disasters awaiting them… preventing them all from getting home.
“Eagle-2, this is White-Bull-2, do you copy?”
“Copy. This is Hicks, go ahead Tucker…”
“Commander, we’ve plotted our intercept course for our rendezvous with you, I just sent it over to your computer. You still have a little fuel available in your maneuvering thruster tanks, which will help, but the whole procedure is still going to take about three and a half hours, to ensure the safest re-dock. If all looks good to you, I will engage our thrusters and start heading your way.”
“Acknowledged. It all looks good to me. Please proceed with it… and thanks Tucker, we will see you in a few hours. Hicks out.”
“Well, I guess we have a little time to kill,” Hicks says to Glover, who now looks a little less ghostly-white. “Can you do a complete system check in the mean time? It may be a good idea. I’m going down to check on Turk.”
“No problem,” Glover responds. Then he starts gesturing commands into his computer console to run a full ship diagnostic. The most important thing for them right now is the integrity of the maneuvering thrusters, the docking clamps, and the hatch.
Hicks unbuckles his restraints and starts to float out of his seat. He grabs a cold metal handle and turns his body to head down to the lower deck; he can see Europa out a port window, then turns away as if ashamed to glance upon her. He pushes himself towards the hatch, leading down to the deck below.
“How’s our patient, doctor?” Hicks asks Fedoseev; who has a PhD in general science and not medical science, but is the closest thing they have at the moment to a ‘doctor.’
“Vell… I am afraid it does not seem good. It appears that hand is dead and may need be amputated. Not sure if vee vill have to do it or if he can vait till vee get home. Do not vant gangrene to set in – nyet!” Fedoseev says, while twirling the end of his mustache and slightly shaking his head.
Hicks looks over at Turk and shakes his head as well. He knows that Turk and Evans were ‘involved,’ so not only did he loose his EVA partner, who wasn’t just a crewmember, he lost his girlfriend. And he’s sure to blame himself for it, Hick’s has known Turk for long enough to know this to be true. Now on-top-of-that he may be losing has hand and possibly a good part of his forearm.
“Commander, Commander!!” Glover starts yelling from the command deck. “Commander!”
“What is it Glover, what the hell’s wrong?” Hicks yells back up, thinking he must have discovered something catastrophic during the diagnostic tests he was running. It certainly wouldn’t surprise him at this point. It wouldn’t surprise him in the least.
“Well… nothing is wrong, but I think we just picked up Doctor Evans’ com signal!”
“What?? Are you sure?” Hicks yells back up with obvious doubt in his voice.
“YES! I’m sure! Our computer just reestablished a weak com-link with her bio-suit’s computer. I’m actually getting a data-dump right now.”
Hicks looks at Fedoseev, who has a look of complete shock on his face, a look that Hicks is sure he himself is wearing also. “Well… holy crap!” is all Hicks can think to say at this moment.
“I’m on my way up…” Hicks’ heart is thumping once again as he makes his way back through the port door leading to the command deck.
“Do you think she is still alive?” he asks Glover as he flies to his seat and straps himself in.
“I don’t know, she could be, I guess. Theoretically she would have had enough oxygen… if somehow she survived. In fact, she would still have another 90 minutes of oxygen remaining - maybe - if she’s been alive this whole time. The Bio-suits function underwater, obviously, as we did some of our training that way.”
“Yes, yes, I know. But why are we getting her signal now? We lost it almost immediately when she went down the hole.” Hicks isn’t really expecting a response from Glover, he is more just thinking out loud; thinking about the ramifications if Dr. Evans is still alive. He rubs his head as if a headache is coming on.
Then Glover excitedly spurts out, “wait… here we go… holy crap… I’m getting live bio-readings from her bio-suit right now; it says she still has 82 minutes of oxygen and… her vital signs show… normal! She’s alive! Doctor Evans is still alive down there!”
Hicks just stares at the display, with big eyes (and with his jaw hanging down a bit) as he pulls up her bio-suit data feed and vital signs, onto his own display screen.
“Holy crap,” Glover gasps again, “I’m… I’m… I am picking up a transmission… on the audio channel of her com-link! I’ll patch it through to the main com board!”
“{sssssst} {sssssssst} {ssssssst}” Static is all they can hear.
Glover says, “All we are getting is static… but there is… something… there, I’ve got a source carrier signal.”
“Can you boost the signal!?” Hicks yells, glaring at Glover.
“Working on that now, I’m repositioning the antenna to beam directly to where her signal is originating from and will boost power to 150%” Glover responds, talking very fast.
Still, all they are getting is “{sssssssssssst} {ssssssssst} {squeal} {sssssssssssst}” Glover gestures a few other commands into his console as quickly as he can and then tries to signal back. “This is Eagle-2, this is Eagle-2, do you copy? Doctor Evans, is that you? This is Eagle-2”
“{sssssssssssst} {sssssssssssst} ye{sssssssssssst} is {sssssssssssst} Eva{sssssssssssst} {sst}ello? {sssssssssssst} Hello? {sssssssssssst}” is heard from the speakers. Everyone looks pale white with their jaws hanging down even farther than before.
Doctor Juliana Evans is not only alive, she is conscious, and she is trying to communicate with the ship.
Chapter 19: Down the Rabbit Hole
When Doctor Juliana Evans plunged down her ‘rabbit hole,’ she found herself floating in water, in complete darkness. If this was wonderland she couldn’t tell, as all she could see was the computer readouts in her visor, which told her that she had about two hours of oxygen left. Her vital signs were fairly normal (besides elevated blood pressure and heart rate) and her com-link to Eagle-2 was down. Her bio-suit was keeping her warm in the frigid water; in fact, the water was actually much warmer than it was on the surface, so there was no problem there.
When she tried to look out of her visor, all she could see was the reflection of her frightened face. She tried shutting off the computer display in her visor, to eliminate any internal light, but she still couldn’t see anything but black. If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn her eyes were shut tight. It was sort of like she was floating in space, but with no stars; she would have preferred some stars… or SOMETHING!
She reached down to one of the pouches attached to the belt of her bio-suit. She really wished she had a flashlight in there, but she knew she didn’t. However, she did know that she had a flare gun and four flares. Each bio-suit had one in the rare event that they got lost and their com-link was down. Well… she was lost, and her com-link was down, but she knew in this case, that firing a flare wasn’t going to get her
rescued; but she did hope it would illuminate her surroundings for her – if even for a few seconds. She had practiced firing a flare gun a few times in the past, during training, but never under water. She does remember one of the EVA trainers saying that they actually do fire under water; not that they would ever be in that situation. Little did he know!
She carefully removed the gun from the pouch, trying not to let it slip out of her hands. This procedure was tricky enough in the bio-suit gloves while on land, with full light; but in pitch black and in the water – it is almost impossible. She then carefully felt for one of the flare shells and pulled it out of the little elastic band that was holding it in place. As she was holding the gun in one hand, and the flare in the other, she really wished she had cocked the gun open before grabbing the flare, as it was being stubborn and not cocking open. She had wished this even harder when the gun finally did snap open, suddenly, and it immediately slipped out of her hand. She desperately (and blindly) reached out for the gun and bumped it… she reached again and felt it slipping down. She swiped her hand down and was able to trap it between her hand and her leg before it floated away. She reached down with her other hand also and pulled it up, it was securely in her grasp again. However the flare shell was now gone, it got lost in the mayhem.
She cursed herself for being stupid; she was now down to three flares, without even firing one off. With the gun now cocked and ready for the flare to be inserted, she carefully reached in the pouch and pulled out a second flare from its elastic band. She kicked her feet up and tried to float in more of a horizontal position, facing up, and worked to put the flare in the gun above her stomach. This way, if she did drop the flare, it should be easier to grab. However, she slid the flare into the chamber without a problem and cocked the gun shut. She realized she was breathing heavy and her pulse was racing; just from the anxiety of getting a stupid flare shell into a flare gun.