Rise of the Carnelians (Europa)

by Jason Gehlert

  Moments later, Ulysses and Adrian returned with a chamber that resembled a coffin. The stainless steel piece of equipment had a glass cover, with small holes perforated into the top for breathing.

  “Is that safe?” Seth asked.

  “Completely,” Adrian responded while he and Ulysses carefully placed the chamber next to Kaspar’s immobile body. “It was built by the best team of doctors in the country.”

  “He has some significant injuries to his upper torso, head, and several abrasions on his skin,” Seth reported to Adrian and the crew.

  “Well then, let’s get him into the chamber.”

  Adrian opened the glass partition. “This chamber will keep Kaspar secure and safe, until we get him to the station’s medical facilities.” He gently laid the commander’s head on the white pillow, while Ulysses and Seth finished securing his lower body into a comfortable position.

  “Okay, it will take four people to carry him,” Adrian said. “Two people on each side of the chamber. Just place your hands on the steel handles and lift.”

  “I’ll help.” Gillian scurried over and grabbed a handle.

  “We’ll get the other side.” Seth and Ulysses walked around and secured their handles.

  “I will help Gillian.” Philene walked up behind Gillian and grabbed her own set of handles.

  “Let’s go.” Adrian led the team down the corridor and into the Abagail’s docking bay.

  Adrian pressed his finger against the button to raise the doors, revealing the space station straight ahead.

  “Set him down,” Adrian said entering the space station.

  Seth stared at the the comprehensive map on the wall to his immediate right.

  “How do you know where you are?” Seth asked.

  “I designed the space station. I know where everything is,” Adrian said with one of his quality smirks.

  “I figured as much.” Gillian rolled her eyes. She worked out the cramps in her arms from the heavy march.

  “The medical lab is right down the hallway, first door on the left.” Adrian turned to face the group. “We’ll be fine. Commander Kaspar will be fine, let’s just all focus on that.” Adrian confidence was beginning to wane. He hadn’t planned for this sort of wrench in the machine.

  “Agreed.” The team members mumbled their responses.

  “Wasn’t there supposed to be another team here?” Ulysses asked while he stared down the barren corridor. He could see streaks of blood on the walls, in the shape of a human hand print.

  “Whose blood is that?” Philene asked focusing in on what Ulysses had just looked at.

  “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for everything. Once we find the other team, they can clue us in.” Adrian huffed. He begrudgingly hobbled down the corridor and approached the medical lab.

  To Adrian’s surprise, the door was unhinged, swinging gently from its last remaining screw.

  “It looks like someone, or something hit the door with a blinding force of speed.” Gillian looked at the door. “I don’t like this one bit.”

  “It would take a great force to pry this door from its hinges like this,” Ulysses said while surveying the damage. “Especially a metal door like this one.”

  Inside the medical lab, several of the glass cabinets were shattered, with medicine bottles and vials sprawled out across the floor.

  “Watch your step,” Adrian cautioned the team. “It’s a bit messy in here.”

  The foursome set Kaspar down safely.

  “Here,” Adrian said running his fingers over the wall. He pressed a button that released a bed from inside the wall. “Place the commander on the bed.”

  After a few short moments of wheezing and struggling, the foursome successfully placed the him on the white bed.

  Gillian looked into Kaspar’s quiet, closed eyes, wondering if he was going to be okay. He had a stream of blood coming from his left ear, and his forehead had a large gash across the front.

  “Now what?” Philene asked Adrian.

  “We calm down, and assess our situation.” Adrian brought a sense of calmness to the room. “We will break off into separate groups.”

  “Groups?” Seth asked.

  “You and Angela will work together. Philene and I will work together, and Gillian and Ulysses you stay here with the commander.”

  “I should stay here,” Seth replied. “I am the doctor.”

  “And, I am the one that’s funding this fucking trip,” Adrian growled. “We need to mount our teams to explore the moon down below. I’m sure these two are perfectly capable of watching a comatose man until we get back.” Adrian’s demeanor shifted again, as the situation began to intensify.

  “I don’t agree.” Seth bit his lip.

  “I don’t care if you agree or not. I’ve made my decision.” Adrian gripped his arm brace and slammed it down on the floor, cracking the tiles. “I will supply you and Gillian with a set of radio’s. That way you can communicate whenever you want to check in on your precious patient. Fair enough?”

  “I guess. And who goes where when we land on the moon?” Seth asked.

  “I will debrief everyone in five minutes,” Gillian added. “I have specific data that will help each of you in your expeditions.” She headed back to the ship to retrieve her folders.

  “Ulysses, you make sure everything runs smooth up here, engineering wise.” Adrian turned around and looked at him. “Also, once we settle, take a peek at the Abagail and see how badly she’s hurt.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Ulysses responded.

  Gillian poked her head into the room and waved the folders. “Okay, just give me a few moments of your time and we’ll be all set to go.”

  History Lesson

  “Europa remains one of the most attractive moons in our galaxy,” Gillian said to the group. “The moon is named after Europa who was the daughter of Agenor, the king of the Phoenician city of Tyre, which is now modern day Lebanon.”

  “Can we please move this history lesson along?” Adrian paced around the medical lab impatiently.

  “Europa is tidally locked to Jupiter which benefits our cause.” Gillian flipped through her notes.

  “How so?” Ulysses asked.

  “Europa has one hemisphere constantly facing Jupiter, and in addition is being gravitationally pulled apart by not only Jupiter but the other satellites. This has caused tidal flexing.”

  Growing weary of the trip and the delicate situation of Kaspar’s condition, Adrian’s tone became sharp. “And this flexing helps us how?” Adrian asked.

  “The constant tug of war has given Europa the ability to maintain a consistent source of heat and energy. This has allowed her subsurface ocean to stay liquefied and powering her subsurface geological processes.”

  “Interesting. What can we expect down on the surface?” Seth asked.

  “Well, to my understanding, the previous team was to drill holes into the icy surface and deposit a ‘Melt Probe’, known as a cryobot. According to NASA, this nuclear powered probe would melt through the ice until it hits the ocean floor. Once the cryobot reaches the water, it would automatically deploy an underwater vehicle, otherwise known as a hydrobot.” Gillian cleared her throat.

  “Interesting idea. Would it work?” Seth asked.

  “The idea was to have the hydrobot gather key information from the ocean floor and send it back to Earth and our space station here above Europa.”

  “Now, there’s one cookie jar I wish I had my sticky finger’s in.” Adrian snapped his fingers in romantic glee.

  “Anyway,” continued Gillian, “both of these underwater robots would undergo a form of extreme sterilization to prevent it from detecting Earth organisms. They would instead focus on the native life and prevent contamination of the subsurface ocean. Presidents Faulkner and Forsythe were able to finally launch this ambitious project with this previous team. I’m hoping they were able to find some awesome results,” Gillian said as she shuffled her folders and came across another
key packet of information.

  “So, some strange creatures could be lurking down in that ocean?” Philene asked with keen interest.

  “You never know.” Gillian licked her finger and moved a piece of paper to the side. “Now, the exterior teams that will be searching the surface must prepare for some cold weather.”

  “How cold?” Seth wanted to know.

  “Well, although the water underneath the surface is very warm, the actual temperature on the craggy mountainous surface of Europa is somewhere between -163 degrees Celsius and -223 degrees.”

  “Brrr.” Philene playfully shivered in response.

  “I know the plan was to use the water and ice from Europa, and then electrolyze it into breathable oxygen to create an atmosphere inside the space station for humans to exist. After awhile, I’m sure the discovery of fish and plant life beneath the surface would lead us to gather food and plants and utilize them to survive.”

  “I heard the water could be salt water,” Philene added.

  “That’s correct. We also believe that Europa has a ‘thick ice’ model. Plainly it means that the ocean has never interacted with the surface. Water will escape and then freeze immediately, cracking the surface over and over again. They predict that the outer crust of ice is approximately ten to thirty kilometers thick, or five to twenty miles. This leads to their inference that the liquid ocean underneath the ice shell could be as deep as sixty or sixty-five miles.”

  “Wow, you know your shit,” Philene said.

  “I studied under the great Ellen Michaels,” Gillian replied, fondly remembering her tenure under the famed geologist several years earlier.

  “And who was she?” Seth asked.

  “Only the premier leading geologist in the world.” Gillian waved her hand around the space station. “President Faulkner worked up a deal where she would become the first woman to arrive on Europa, and just like that,” Gillian said with a sharp snap of her fingers, “she became part of the team that was sent here before us. I am giddy to think she might have some of her journals around here, not to mention I might actually get to meet her one more time.”

  “President Forsythe had said they lost all transmission with the previous team,”said Adrian, “and that was one of the core reasons to assemble yet another team, was to find out what happened and lend a hand in expediting the colonization of Europa.”

  “Well, I hope they are okay. I’d really like one more chance to learn from Ellen,” Gillian replied. “She was the one who concluded that, based on the Galileo orbiter’s mission data, Europa has a weak magnetic field which varies periodically as she passes through Jupiter’s massive magnetic field. This could lead indicate that Europa harbors a salt-water subsurface ocean and possible life.”

  “This isn’t SoapNet,” Adrian said with a smirk referring the defunct all day soap opera channel.. “We are here for one reason and one reason only. To colonize Europa. We’re not here to attend some high school reunion.”

  “Do you have to be a dick all the time?” Ulysses asked Adrian with a stern look.

  “I’m a businessman. I have no time to reassess my career, or get all giddy over finding one of my teachers. You leave all emotions at the door and run the mission like a business. You get better results that way.”

  “At what cost? Losing friends and colleagues?” Ulysses reprimanded the arrogant billionaire.

  “I don’t have time for this. We have an expedition to run and time is a factor. We will have plenty of time later for all of this chit-chat. Europa awaits our reconnaissance mission.” Adrian gripped his brace and buried it again into the tiled floor, causing another sequence of cracks to meander in new directions.

  Gillian was pleased to finally see someone else shared her sentiments about the cocky Adrian Blakely.

  She turned her attention back to the rest of the team. “Now, Seth and Angela, the surface has a craggy terrain, as I just mentioned. In Europa’s Conamara Chaos region, there are smooth dark spots and pits, and some are jumbled and have a rough texture, so be careful. Take extra precautions as these domes are thought to have been formed by the warm ice rushing up to the surface, much like our own magma chambers back on Earth. This chaos region earns its name from the many small fragments of crust embedded in a hummock type dark material, much like icebergs sitting in the open sea.” Gillian took a deep breath.

  Angela nodded. “We will be careful.”

  “Maybe we can harness these volcanic water eruptions and gather heat to power our colony,” Adrian surmised.

  “Anything’s possible.” Gillian looked around the room. “Any questions?”

  “Will our suits protect us against the environment?” Angela asked.

  “Remember the global warming movie with the late Dennis Quaid?” Gillian asked the group.

  “Yeah,” Ulysses responded. “That was the movie I watched on the flight over to New York.”

  “Well, when that super center passed over New York and anything caught outside would immediately freeze, this surface is exactly like the movie. Stay in your suits, avoid any rips and you should be fine.” Gillian smiled.

  “Everyone got that?” Adrian asked.

  “Stay close to your partner,” Gillian added. “I will stay up here with Ulysses and the commander. I’ll keep a watchful eye on your progress down on the surface. We will stay in close contact throughout this entire mission. If you find anything, anything at all let me know as quickly as possible. I’m sure the previous team has made some sort of dent down on the moon’s surface. I’ll pour over the logs while I keep Kaspar company.”

  “Understood,” Seth replied. “The commander’s stabilized for now. I’ve done all I can for him. Rest is his best ally.”

  “Understood,” Angela said with a nod.

  “Will do,” Philene answered back.

  “Yeah, you got it.” Adrian hobbled his way over to the broken door. “Down the hallway and to your immediate right are our lockers. Grab a suit and gear up, we leave in one hour,” Adrian ordered the crew. Without another word, he left the medical lab.

  “You heard him. Suit up and good luck,” Gillian said, offering her own rally cry. “We have a civilization to save.”

  Departure

  The team approached the lockers to gather their cargo and gear.

  “So what if we run into alien monsters down there?” Seth prodded Adrian.

  “The artillery room is down the hall. It’s the fourth door on the right. Feel free to pack heat. Assuming you can even fire a weapon.” Adrian chortled.

  “Fuck you,” Seth cursed him back. “My father took me on plenty of hunting trips. What about you? Have you ever fired a weapon before?”

  “Trust me, Dr. Padgett, there’s plenty of secrets about me that you wish you had the privilege of knowing. So watch your back, ace.” Adrian slammed his locker shut, stuffed his suit underneath his good arm, and walked tenuously back to the medical lab, brushing past him.

  Seth fiddled with his locker, until finally it swung open, sending the gear sprawling all over the floor. “Oh shit.” He looked down and started to gather up the suit.

  Philene had no problem with her locker.

  Gillian thought she’d try one just to make certain the equipment was intact, but was having trouble getting it to open.

  “Damn it, it’s jammed.” Gillian yanked on the silver latch. She peered through the slits on the top of the locker door. All she could see was darkness.

  Inside the locker, it jostled around, anxious for freedom. It felt someone drawing nearer. All this waiting would pay off. It coiled its hand tightly like a rubber band ball, ready to attack. Its eyes watched the woman on the other side, through the slits in the door. Her red hair was very attractive. Its body was immobile from the venomous poison that was injected into their body. Unable to speak or move, it remained in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the stuffed locker, caught in between the suit, boots, and space helmet.

  Come on, open the door. Set me free. />
  Gillian felt something was not right. She released the silver latch and looked over at the next locker. “Hey, Adrian! Do all of these have the same shit in them?”

  His incoherent response from the down the hall was good enough for her. She moved on, picking the next locker in line.

  No! No! You must unlock the door! Set me free! Fuck, you have no idea. I will die in here!

  Their thoughts would go unanswered. Gillian successfully opened the next locker and gathered her gear. She briskly walked away, heading towards the others.

  The woman managed to move her foot and kick the door firmly. But, it was too little too late.

  Come back. Gillian, come back.

  Her throat began to close, choking off her last chance for survival. One more vocalized lurch remained caught inside her dry mouth.

  Gillian, please leave Europa. You are not safe here.

  “Well, are we ready?” Adrian finished his preparations.

  “Check.” Philene nodded as she walked over with her helmet tucked underneath her arms, and stood next to Adrian.

  Seth and Angela had also finished their own dress rehearsal.

  “Okay. I rummaged through some materials left lying around in the galley.” Gillian surveyed the groups. “I have two sets of straws in my hand. One length is for the team pairings, the other length is for which part of Europa you will be exploring.”

  Adrian reached over and snapped up one of the straws. He was followed by Philene, Angela and then Seth.

  “Okay, open your hands,” Gillian instructed the team.

  Adrian uncurled his left hand, revealing the tallest of the straws.

  Seth and Philene followed, both had different sized straws.

  Angela was the last one to participate. Her straw revealed that Seth was going to be her partner. Philene and Adrian would be the second set of pairings.

  “Now, pick your destination.” Gillian held the remaining straws in her hand, with the tops of the straws peeking out over her fingers.

  Philene reached over and plucked out one of the straws.

  Seth and then Angela followed.

  Adrian stretched over and tugged at the final straw.