Rise of the Carnelians (Europa)

by Jason Gehlert

“Weren’t there four team members?” Gillian asked.

  “We need to find the manifest. It would probably be in the captain’s Quarters, where he keeps his journals and notes on the mission.”

  “How do you know that?” Gillian asked again.

  “I’m a pilot. If I were the leader of such a group, I would keep all the precious data close to me at all times. Think of it as the black box of information that us pilots keep in the cockpit every time we embark on a flight.”

  “I see.” Gillian followed closely behind the commander.

  They made their way down the corridor, turning the corner and finding a new series of doors to fuel their burgeoning curiosity.

  “Was it you that saved me back in the Abagail?” Kaspar asked Ulysses.

  “Actually, Miss Shea here had the honor of saving your life,” Ulysses responded. “She was right there when you went down with your injuries.”

  “Is that true?” Kaspar turned around to Gillian.

  “Absolutely. Every word of it.”

  “I owe you my life.”

  “Ah, think nothing of it, Commander.”

  “I do. That means a great deal to me when one of my team members risks their life to save mine. That’s loyalty.”

  “Let’s just find out what happened here.” Gillian gently tugged at Kaspar’s cuffs.

  “Agreed.” His head had started to pound a little faster than before, signaling that immediate rest was needed.

  “Are you okay?” Gillian asked.

  “My head is killing me.”

  “Hang on,” Gillian said while she fished around in her pocket. She withdrew a small white packet of aspirin. “Never leave home without it.”

  Kaspar took the pills and stuffed them into his mouth. He then used a dry swallow to gulp down the medicine. “Thanks,” he said with a rugged curl of his lips.

  “Hey,” Ulysses called out to the meandering twosome. “I think I found something here.” He pointed to a door that was slightly ajar.

  “Nice work,” Kaspar grimaced through the pain as his legs slowly kicked open the door, allowing Gillian to push her way inside and take in the scene.

  “Hey guys,” she called out to Ulysses and Kaspar.

  “Yeah, what’s up?” They replied back in a broken chorus.

  “I think I found the captain of the Amity,” she responded with a dour tone.

  “What makes you think so?” They entered the dimly lit room.

  “Because he’s slumped over in his chair, face down on a ransacked desk, with a silver 9 mm firmly clutched in his left hand. And he’s covered in blood.”

  Discovery

  “What the fuck happened in here?” Ulysses asked. The entire floor was strewn with field journals, books, pens and pencils, and several spots of blood.

  The captain was dead, his head laying in a pool of his own blood atop the desk. His work was scattered about, almost as if he were in a hurry to find something important.

  Ulysses noticed the bottom right drawer was ajar, probably the holding place for the captain’s 9 mm.

  “I don’t like this,” Kaspar said. He carefully stepped over the messy floor and approached the desk.

  “Me neither. We have to find out what exactly happened here.” Gillian studied the room for clues.

  “Help me with the body,” Kaspar said, grabbing the dead body by the arm and preparing to lean it up in the chair.

  Gillian grabbed the other side of the body by the shoulder and helped Kaspar rest the body upward.

  “Well, he does look a lot like the captain.” Kaspar scanned the older man’s features. “He’s wearing the same orange and red jumper, with his name sewn on the patch, on the right chest pocket.”

  Gillian read the letters on the patch.“N. Brody.”

  Ulysses entered his own hypothesis. “He must be the captain of the Amity,”

  “He very well could be.” Gillian noted the man’s rigid-like features. “He must be well into his fifties. His graying temples, wrinkled face and jutted jaw line are very distinct.”

  Kaspar fumbled about Brody’s body, finding a circular disc buried in his right hand. “Here, help me out with this.” He motioned to Gillian for her assistance.

  “Okay.” She pried open his tight fingers as Kaspar snatched up the silver colored disc.

  “It looks like a movie disc of sorts.” Ulysses poked his head around Kaspar. “It has the word PLAY ME scrawled across the face of the disc. Eerie.”

  “Where’s the nearest computer around this place?” Kaspar asked Gillian.

  “I saw one back in the science lab.”

  “Or, you could just use this one.” Ulysses waved over Gillian and Kaspar to the other side of the room where a black and silver laptop rested on a smaller desk .

  “Boot her up.” Kaspar walked gingerly across the room and handed the disc to Ulysses. “Gillian, please bring me the gun,” he called.

  “For what?”

  “Protection. I don’t like what’s going on around here. Two dead bodies and no signs of any intruder or assailant.”

  “Okay, hold on a second.” Gillian gathered the 9 mm from Brody’s curled left hand, disgusted that she just placed her hand in the sticky residual matter. “Here, you wipe it off,” she said and handed it over to Kaspar, who swiftly checked the safety and then pushed the gun into the back of belt.

  Ulysses watched the screen warm up, then pressed the small silver eject insignia on the right side of the laptop, opening the CD tray. Kaspar handed him the mysterious disc and watched Ulysses push the tray back into the side of the computer.

  After a few short whirls from the computer’s hard drive, the folder popped up and Ulysses clicked on “view files.” Another window popped up, showing the files that were stored on the disc.

  “There’s only one,” Ulysses said while reading the screen. “VidJournal.avi.”

  Kaspar pressed down on the enter key bringing the file to life.

  The caves were dark and scary enough for Adrian to momentarily revisit his decision to spearhead this mission. Deep in his belly, he wanted this. His whole life was spent on becoming one of the few to leave a lasting legacy, in this case the colonization of Europa. To walk on the moon’s surface was an honor and would cement his legacy in the hearts and minds of everyone. But, then again, who would actually remember his tour up on the moon. Earth was in the early stages of permanent destruction and her population would soon be whittled down to nothing. Adrian would have to settle on being a hero amongst his new team members. He still didn’t like the fact that these caves were dark, creepy, and the shadows seemed to follow him everywhere he went.

  “Do you see anything yet?” he asked Philene.

  “Nope.”

  “Can we go back now?” Adrian grumbled. “I think I’ve had enough sight-seeing for one day.”

  “Oh, relax,” Philene said with a confident tone. “You brought me to do my job, correct?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, let me do it. The only way is to explore these caves and study their possible inhabitants.”

  “I always hated science class.” Adrian held fimrly on the back of Philene’s suit, carefully following her deeper into the cavern.

  “I can see small schools of fish swimming under the ice,” Angela said when she stopped to take a look.

  “I really don’t think that’s a great idea, to be stopping to stare at some fish.” Seth turned around.

  “Why?” Angela asked. “Isn’t that why we are here?”

  “The ice is thick, but with all these pre-drilled holes, who’s to say that the ice’s integrity hasn’t been compromised?”

  “You are right. Just let me take one last look,” Angela said, pleading with him.

  “This is worse than shopping with my ex-girlfriend,” Seth replied with a sigh.

  The dark shadow moved silently under the icy crust, approaching its prey’s position. The other shadow was facing the other way, its back turned to the predator. Now was the
chance for the predator to attack. It would try to knock the prey into the water and then it would be all over.

  “Man these fish are fast swimmers.” Angela knelt down to take one final look at the passing school. “Awkward looking little guys. They seemed to have antennas attached to their heads.”

  She placed her hand down on the ice and gazed directly into the gaping hole, trying to get a better look. The small waves of water swirled underneath. To her surprise another school of fish followed suit.

  “Come on, Angela!” Seth called out to her.

  “One minute!” she shouted back.

  It was almost there. As soon as this school moved, it would finally be able to attack. Opening its mouth, it displayed rows of jagged whitish bone, ready to scissor cut its way through its unsuspecting prey.

  The pack of weird looking fish stopped dead in their tracks.

  Angela looked in closer.

  Her fingers stretched out across the ice in order to solidify her balance.

  The small pack of bluish organisms suddenly leapt through the hole with a quick motion.

  Angela’s face had caught the brunt of the force, one of the organisms breaking through her helmet, and attaching itself to her face. It dragged its sharpened claws down the side of her right cheek, peeling away layers of skin. Its tail swaggered out from the broken helmet as it attempted to bury itself further into its prey’s flesh.

  “Seth!” she screamed in pain. The cold air swept in and started to freeze her skin instantly.

  The organism opened what looked like a hand, exposing several suckers, and implanted it into Angela’s flesh.

  Angela staggered backwards and landed hard on the ice, sending a series of cracks racing through the surface.

  “Angela!” Seth ran to her aid, but it was too late.

  Angela broke through the ice and into the warm water below.

  Upon hearing the thunderous splash, hundreds of the bluish organisms, ranging from one to two feet in length swarmed over the fresh kill, burrowing their way into Angela’s suit, and attaching themselves all over her body. Some used their suckers, others decided to utilize their razor sharp claws to tear apart the skin, leaving strands of skin flapping around in their murderous wake.

  Angela’s blood spilled into the cooled water, alerting the approaching shark-like creatures that had been ready to attack her before the organisms had made their move. Another vicious wave of the creatures gathered around the unsuspecting shark and began another feeding frenzy on the mighty giant.

  Watching in horror, Seth choked on his Adam’s apple, unable to speak. The frigid water splashed across the ice, leaving a red streak trailing behind. His lips trembled her name one final time.“Angela...”

  “These caves are absolutely wonderful.“ Philene continued along, shining the flashlight down the next darkened corridor. “I could spend the rest of my life exploring this moon. She offers so many nooks and crannies to study.”

  “Well, you are going to spend the rest of your life here.” Adrian gazed across the rocky cavern. He felt something brush past his feet. “Did you see that?”

  “See what?” Philene asked.

  “I felt something.”

  “We don’t have time for this, Adrian,” she continued in a brisk tone. Her eyes instantly caught the rocky wall just ahead. “Look at this.”

  “What am I looking at?” Adrian asked staring at the wall.

  “See the claw marks? They stretch all the way down the wall. It could be some sort of primitive communication.”

  “Real primitive,” Adrian scoffed. “This moon hasn’t harbored life at all.”

  “How do explain the species in the science lab? And, who’s to say at one time, life didn’t exist here on the moon. It does have frozen water and limited oxygen.”

  “So, what made the marks then?”

  “I don’t know. It could be some sort of animal or perhaps even some sort of alien form of communication.”

  “Well, I say we wrap it up and head back to the station.”

  “One more peek, please?” Philene pleaded with Adrian. He simply shrugged it off. “And then we’ll go, I promise.” Philene trekked along with a flighty Adrian in tow.

  Prey

  “Listen, I’m going to head back to the control room and check in on the rest of the team.” Gillian tugged at Kaspar’s elbow.

  “Ulysses, go with her, I’ll stay here and watch the video,” Kaspar ordered Ulysses.

  “Okay. After you are done in here, meet up with us in the control room, and we will hatch out a plan.” Ulysses bid farewell to his old friend and headed out into the corridor with Gillian.

  “Yeah,” Kaspar briefly acknowledged his friend’s farewell, for he was wrapped up in the video’s contents, as the former captain appeared on the laptop’s screen.

  “My fellow travelers, my name is captain Nigel Brody, captain of the Amity, and the leader of one of the first teams to board the Abraham Lincoln Space Station. I have made this video journal in hopes of sharing our expedition with the next team. Unfortunately, if you are watching this video then something horrible has occurred. It was my intention to share this information with you personally. However, if I am not there standing right next to you, then my team is dead, and the alien creatures have spread throughout the space station..”

  Kaspar peeked around the laptop and stared at the dead captain. “Nope, you didn’t make it.”

  “I was part of an elite team brought to Europa in hopes of colonizing the moon for human migration. President Forsythe has made it clear to me and my team that we will not return back home to Earth due to Yellowstone’s impending eruption, which will cause a nuclear winter and wipe out nearly ninety percent of Earth’s inhabitants. He has also stated that the previous team that was working here has moved onto another aspect of NASA’s ambitious plan. I haven’t heard back from the President since our arrival seven months ago.”

  The aging captain was well dressed given the circumstances. A black tight tee-shirt was evidence of the relaxed atmosphere the station provided. His arms were somewhat sculpted; he was possibly a weight-lifter during his younger decades. His graying hair at his temples and wrinkled face showed signs that age had caught up with the captain. However, his exuberance and charm did not seem to take a hit from Father Time. He was walking around his office, the same one Kaspar’s team had found him dead in. Brody stood by the bookcase and thoughtfully provided the information, until his face started to contort and shape into a glowering terrain of fright.

  “I will go over everything, from my team’s introductions, to our mission, and what has resulted from our findings. If you are still watching this, then I pray for you, as you have not yet fallen victim to what has attacked us.”

  He flexed his fingers into a tight pattern and then relaxed them before continuing the urgent recording.

  “We arrived here on Thursday, May 25, 2049 (Europa time) with the excitement comparable to your first high school crush. Our feelings were euphoric to say the least.” The captain shifted his eyes from the camera’s lens.

  “What do you think about this place?” Gillian asked Ulysses as they made their way down the corridor and back to the control room.

  “Fucking freaky, if you ask me. With the Abagail beat up, we are not going anywhere. I even doubt we have enough fire power to endure another lengthy trip.”

  “So, for now we’re stuck.” Gillian let off a shrug.

  “Aren’t the team members supposed to have working video feeds?” Ulysses asked.

  “I believe so, why?” Gillian followed Ulysses into the control room.

  “Because this one here,” Ulysses tapped the fuzzy screen “is out of commission. This feed belongs to Seth and Angela, doesn’t it?”

  “Yeah. A malfunction perhaps?”

  “I’m starting to get a bad feeling about this,” Ulysses said, scanning the room. “I can see that Philene and Adrian’s feed is working properly. They are in the caves, correct?”

/>   “Yeah.”

  “So, that leaves Seth and the other girl, Angela.” Ulysses tilted his head and looked at the last remaining screen.

  “What?” Gillian asked following Ulysses’s line of sight.

  “That camera is at ground level, like its looking at something.”

  “Is that blood?” Gillian stared at the red streak across the ice.

  “Looks like it.” Ulysses walked briskly over and tapped the button on the control board. He pressed his lips into the black microphone and addressed the team. “Seth, Angela, can you hear me?”

  “Hello?” the voice was shaky.

  “Seth?” Ulysses gripped the microphone.

  “Ulysses?” Seth panted into the receiver.

  “Yeah man, what happened?” Ulysses asked with grave concern. “We can see blood on the ice.”

  “Angela. She’s......gone.”

  “Gone?” Gillian cut in.

  “We were walking across the ice and she stopped to look at some fish through the hole, and then she was pulled under.”

  “Can you head back to the station?” Ulysses urged him.

  “Yeah,” Seth responded weakly. “Oh, shit.”

  “What?” Ulysses asked. “Do you see something?”

  Gillian tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to Seth’s screen.

  “Fuck me,” Ulysses growled. He turned and saw what Gillian was looking at.

  “Seth, you need to get out of there,” Gillian urged.

  A swarm of organisms escaped from the water and clawed their way through the holes in the ice.

  Seth froze with fear while the countless hordes of the bluish organism littered the moon’s icy surface.

  Turning off the microphone, Ulysses turned to Gillian. “Shit, there has to be hundreds of those things just waiting to attack him,” he replied. “The kid’s never gonna make it.”

  “We are too far away to help him.” Gillian added.

  “Does this place have lights on the outside?” Ulysses asked Gillian. “It has to, right? To illuminate the dark surface at night.” Ulysses racked his brain for a possible solution for Seth.

  “I’ll look for the switch.” Gillian searched the room.

  Ulysses flicked the switch to the mike. “Seth, I suggest you move slowly, I repeat, move slowly back to the station,” Ulysses told the frightened youth.