Diamond Moon

by B K Gallagher

  Mara stared intently at him, still angry. “Some people are about more than money, you know.”

  Hanson lowered his arm to his side, and he licked his lips, as if her words had left a bad taste in his mouth. He raised his eyebrows slightly, surprised that someone would turn down his gift. Then he turned and left without saying anything more.

  Mara’s brow furrowed as she watched him walk away. She stayed until he had turned the corner and was out of her sight. Then she turned from the drill chamber in disgust and let herself out of the airlock.

  As she walked on the icy path toward the Hab, she couldn’t help thinking how she was thoroughly repulsed by these men. She couldn’t stand the thought that to complete her mission, the thing she wanted more than anything, she would be forced to tolerate them any longer. She wished she could perform her duties without them, exile them to the far reaches of the icy plains, and work their machinery without them. But she was hopelessly reliant on them to perform their work for her, and the resentment and anger she felt toward them festered within her until she knew she wouldn’t sleep for yet another night.

  Sol 9; Mission time - 01:04

  Mara burst through the airlock at the Hab. She wanted in her bunk room. She decided to send a message to the orbiter. She knew there was someone who would understand what she was dealing with.

  She hit the button on her communication monitor, and Luis came up nearly immediately.

  “Mara,” he said. “Good to hear from you.”

  She nodded into the monitor without saying anything.

  “You ok?” he asked.

  Mara didn’t know where to begin. She was overwhelmed with her emotions, enough so that she couldn’t or didn’t want to speak about it.

  “What is it?” Luis asked again.

  Mara tried to formulate her story. “I went to the Zephyr tonight,” she said.

  She immediately saw the concern on Luis’ face. He leaned into the monitor, listening intently.

  Mara wasn’t sure she wanted to tell the entire story. “Those miners are jerks,” she said to him as he nodded at her. “They don’t listen to me. They don’t follow our instructions. They aren’t even trying to fix the crane,” Mara said.

  She was satisfied to see that Luis was becoming angry as he listened to her.

  “I told you if you have any trouble with them, I would deal with it for you,” Luis said. “What exactly is the problem,” he asked her.

  “They won’t fix the crane,” Mara said. “We need to get EUNICE under the ice, and they won’t even try to fix it.” She felt herself getting even more angry.

  “I told you those guys are a bunch of parasites,” he said to her. “Why did you even go over there? It’s so late…”

  “I was checking on the sub.”

  Luis appeared dissatisfied with her answer. “I hate that you even have to go over there,” he told her. He shook his head. “I’ve known men like them. I know what they are like. You shouldn’t have to be there alone.” He paused for just a second. “I wish I could be there with you.”

  Mara sighed.

  Luis looked at her, sympathizing with her. “I just want to help. Look… I want to explain myself earlier,” he said. “Our conversation about the rapid departure… the return capsule.”

  “No need to explain, you were very clear. You’re ready to bail on the mission if things get hairy down here. Point taken,” she said.

  “That’s not it,” Luis responded. “I… I didn’t mean it when I said the capsule would launch without you,” he told her. “I just don’t want us to be in that position, you know, to have to make that decision… to launch without you. I want you to be safe is all.”

  Mara took a deep breath. “I told you, I am capable of taking responsibility for myself. If I get over-extended then that’s my call. That’s part of the reality on a mission like this. I’m the one that lives or dies with the consequences.” She averted her eyes from the monitor, angry and frustrated.

  “I get it, Mara,” Luis said. There was an awkward silence with neither of them speaking. “Look, I care about you. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I feel like… I feel like we are getting off on a bad step together here.”

  “We haven’t taken any steps together,” Mara said frankly. She paused for a second as Luis remained silent on the screen. She lowered her head… “Maybe I should have been more clear about things. It’s a long mission… It was just the one time. Okay?” she said. “You know that I’m not really in the right frame of mind for anything right now.”

  Luis’s face stiffened, and she saw his teeth clench together.

  “Then when are you going to be, Mara? It’s been almost three years,” he said. “You need to move on…” He hesitated after saying it, knowing he was treading upon a sore topic. “I think spending time with a nice guy, the right guy, might help you,” he said. “You need to give this a chance.”

  Luis appeared to have a lot more to say, but he remained silent, restraining himself. He hung his head for a few brief seconds and then lifted it towards the monitor. “Get some sleep,” he said, then he signed off without another word.

  Mara took a deep breath and exhaled, relieved to have him off her monitor. She turned to her picture and looked at it for a minute. She ran her fingers along the edges of the frame. She picked it up and then set it back down at a slightly different angle, facing her pillow. Her heart weighed her down upon the mattress. She wouldn’t sleep for yet another night.

  Sol 9; Mission time - 01:15

  Hanson walked into the drill chamber after his run-in with Mara, and he looked over the crane and drill mechanisms. He was tired, and it had been a long evening, but he’d made a killing on his bet. He should have felt good about it, but he realized he didn’t. And he wasn’t ready to turn in, despite the late hour.

  There was something that had bothered him. He sighed as he sat near the tools that were sitting on the floor around the machinery. He thought about what Mara had just said to him. Then he thought about the way Johan had treated her. The submersible that lay silent beneath them was still unaccounted for. The images he had seen on the monitors of the sub as it descended into the darkness flashed in his mind. He remembered that Mara had just told him that she had trained for six months in Antarctica just for this moment.

  He looked around the drill chamber at the mess the latest quake had made as he sat near the broken crane. The frame was bent. Some of the motors were misaligned and needed resetting. It was going to be a lot of work, but once the frame was hammered back into shape and the motors reset, he saw that it could easily be operational again.

  He wasn’t sure he wanted to put the time into the repair. He could claim the machines unsalvageable. Perhaps that would end the miner’s responsibility for the mission, and then they could simply leave. They could leave this cold moon that had nothing for them to mine and no money to make, and they could move on to a profitable asteroid. Get back to mining valuable ore. Maybe Johan would live up to his promise and take him to the mining colony to pick up his own rig. Maybe he would become a captain.

  As he looked over the crane, he realized it would take all night to accomplish a repair. Johan would not want him wasting time on something that could be done in route to another destination — a profitable destination. He wouldn’t want him doing something that would keep them here any longer than they needed to be. He remembered what Johan had told him; finish the mission and become a captain. He had made that clear to him.

  But the nagging feeling persisted. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He knew he was about to make another foolish decision like he had in his past. He approached the crane and the drill mechanisms. “How much longer could this cost us, anyway,” he reasoned to himself.

  He grabbed some tools, and Murphy walked into the drill

  chamber.

  “You’re not gettin
g ready to fix that crane, are you?” he heard

  him ask.

  Hanson didn’t answer, hoping to remain quiet about his intentions. He stood and looked over the twisted hulk of metal.

  “I’ll help ya if you want,” Murphy said. “But Johan won’t be too happy ’bout it,” he said. His head was going back and forth as if he knew it would get them in trouble. “Especially not after that scene,” he laughed. He looked up at Hanson with a smile and then he grabbed some of the heavy tools lying beside the machinery. He approached Hanson with them in his hand, aware that they were about to get started.

  “Let’s just get it fixed,” Hanson said. “And do it quietly…”

  Murphy held his head sideways as if he was cricking his neck, knowing he was getting himself into trouble, and then he took several steps towards the machinery. A wide and awkward smile grew across his face. “I hope she’s worth it,” he teased Hanson.

  “She won me a lot of gold tonight,” Hanson responded.

  “Sure,” Murphy laughed. “But that ain’t why you’re fixing the crane,” he replied, and a twisted smile revealed his more devious thoughts.

  Hanson shook his head, denying the accusation. He took a deep breath, crawled under the machinery, and went to work.

  CHAPTER 6

  Sol 9; Mission time - 07:38

  Reese couldn’t wait to give Mara the good news. She was in the mess hall sipping her sugary coffee and reading the latest reports. Her earbuds were in, and her head was bobbing to crushing soundwaves that were keeping her awake. She finally saw Mara struggling to make it into the room, still tired from her bad night.

  “Another bad night,” Mara said as she came down the hall. “How’s everything looking?” she asked as she rubbed her eyes. She grabbed a protein bar from the pantry like normal. “Any news from EUNICE?”

  Reese pulled the earbuds from her ears. “Well, I’m still running tests, I hate to say, but contact with EUNICE has been restored and the mining crew is ready; we’re all good,” she said.

  Mara’s expression was immediate. “Contact has been restored?” she asked.

  “Yes. And Hanson has the sub at the end of the drill cavity,” Reese continued. “We should be ready very soon.”

  “How?” Mara asked. “Did they fix the crane? Those jerks told me they wouldn’t fix it.”

  Before Reese could answer Mara was already walking to the airlock. She began to put on her bio-suit. “Help me get this on!” Mara commanded.

  Reese jumped to help. Her coffee and breakfast were left behind on the table.

  “Are you upset that they got the sub down there without us? You know Julian is supposed to come over with us today,” Reese stated, hoping to slow Mara down.

  “Those miners are a bunch of hacks,” Mara told her. “They’re messing with our mission. Who knows what they could have done. We need to go check on EUNICE!”

  “Mara, I’m getting a signal from the sub. I think she’s okay. If anyone should be mad it should be me.”

  Mara sent her a disgruntled look as she fit her helmet over her head. “You don’t know these guys,” she replied.

  Dr. Aman heard the commotion and came from down the corridor, yelling at Mara.

  “I’m sorry about breakfast, Dr. Aman. I’m going over right now!” she yelled.

  “What is it?” he asked as he approached. He spoke to Mara in a soft voice, attempting to reason with her. “All I am going to say is that we talked about this,” he said as he pressed the buttons to the airlock doors.

  Reese followed Mara to the Zephyr, walking much faster than usual. Hanson greeted them at the airlock once more and let them in.

  “Good morning isn’t it?” he said as they entered.

  “Is it?” Mara asked sternly.

  “I thought you’d be happy,” he said.

  Mara brushed by him on her way to the console. She began to inspect the monitors and the diagnostics. Reese followed, attempting to stay out of the fray.

  “Mara, we’re at the end of the drill cavity”, Hanson told her. “And…”

  “I thought Johan wasn’t going to fix the crane? Did you take the sub down yourself? If there is anything wrong…” she said, unable to think of a suitable threat.

  “The sub is fine. I watched it very closely. The ice down there is perfectly cut. Hard as granite, remember? The drill perfectly cut the shaft and EUNICE slipped right through,” he explained.

  “We established contact with the sub last night for you. We managed to drop it tens of meters a minute,” he said. “And… we got recordings of the entire thing. Anything unusual and you can check the video to see what happened, it’s all there.”

  “You ran our equipment and the cameras without me?” she asked.

  “It’s not that hard to figure out,” he said.

  Mara looked over the diagnostics frantically, unable to take Hanson at his word. She looked over the reports and continued to look for something wrong. She was certain that the sub had been sabotaged or tampered with.

  Then she turned back to Hanson. “You are not to be touching our equipment while we are not in here. Do you understand?” she asked.

  Hanson nodded. “I didn’t do anything to your sub. We’re right at the water. I waited there for you,” he resumed.

  Mara turned to Reese her for a second opinion. She had checked all the readings, and everything was operational. She signaled with a head nod, and only then Mara seemed to relax.

  “Has there been anything at the opening of the cavity? Any life-forms, signs of anything unusual?” she asked. Her voice was starting to calm down, but she had closed her eyes, worried that he’d seen something that she wouldn’t get a chance to witness herself. The thought sickened her.

  “No, it’s completely quiet, and dark too,” he said. “We stopped the sub and waited at the opening for you. Been there for about an hour.”

  Mara checked the feed at the monitors. Everything looked good. Reese saw signs of relief flash across Mara’s face as she realized they were going to be testing out the submersible’s range and maneuverability soon. Her mood had begun to change. She took her seat at the console and continued checking the monitors and diagnostics. She verified they were up and running, and the sub ready.

  Reese sat down next to Mara, and began looking over the console. She seconded the diagnostic check.

  Mara turned to Hanson. “It looks like you didn’t screw anything up too bad,” she said, as if it were an acceptable apology.

  Hanson returned a smile, grateful her comment wasn’t worse. “Happy to help,” he said.

  Mara stopped for a moment. Then she turned to Reese. “When are we taking her out?” she asked.

  “We can’t yet,” Reese replied.

  “You said everything’s good.”

  “It is, but I’m still running prep,” she reminded her. “And we were supposed to wait for Julian. He needs to be with us when we go under. You rushed over so fast that we left him behind.”

  “Go get him,” Mara said. “We’re going under right now.”

  Sol 9; Mission time - 10:53

  Julian went through the sightseeing tour on the way to the Zephyr just as Reese had. As he looked up into the heavens, he could see that fiery Io, the volcanic moon of Jupiter, was no longer in view and currently behind Jupiter, but the full disc of the giant sphere was lit by a timid sun from behind them. Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon, was near her parent planet in the sky, on the far side, presenting herself as a thin crescent along with her planet. The moons of Jupiter were ever-changing, and the system was constantly shifting overhead, never looking the same twice.

  Once Julian had caught up to Mara and Reese at the airlock, they were ready to buzz through. “Hadn’t seen that before, sorry,” he said.

  “No bother,” Mara told him. “Take it in while you can.”


  The three scientists walked through the airlock and amongst the miners. The tension was palpable. These men no longer wished to be here. It was clear the scientists would have to work around their negative attitude.

  Mara and Reese took their places at the control console and Julian stood behind them. Reese ran yet another diagnostic, taking a few extra minutes. The miners that had watched them come aboard dispersed to their positions.

  They waited for the diagnostic results. It would either be a momentous moment in science, or heartbreaking. The scientists were tense with anticipation.

  Then Reese received the results. “Stats are up. We’re good!” she called out. “All systems up and running and accounted for,” she said.

  She grinned, relieved at the status check. “That’s my baby,” she said.

  It would only be a few more minutes to wait. After two years in space, including the recent adversity, they were finally about to begin their true mission.

  The submersible they would launch under the ice was mostly Reese’s to manage. The final design had been the culmination of several research departments, scientists, leading biologists, among other entities. Several grants and donations had been made to build it, but ultimately, it was Reese’s to pilot, and she had earned the right during the mission training, even giving up years on Earth working in Antarctica and the Mariana Trench just to pilot the sub here.

  The submersible was long and slender; a tube about fourteen feet in length and almost two feet in diameter. It was painted standard safety orange on the odd chance it became lost and recovery was an option. The letters E-U-N-I-C-E had been painted on its sides. It had collapsible fins that would spring from the body once through the drill tube. Several propellers would also spring into place and help maneuver the vessel. Its primary source of propulsion was a large propeller located directly aft.

  Attached at the nose and several points along the body were several cameras. Each was a high-definition technical wonder, capable of zooming in to minuscule detail on the smallest of objects. With computerized real-time stability control, the sub could hold itself in place and study a specimen no matter what currents were at work to destabilize it.