The Europa Effect (The Vega Chronicles)

by A. L. Mengel

  Her mouth dropped open.

  It was Jeremiah all right. But he seemed…different.

  She brushed the feeling of uncertainty off and rushed over and gave him a hug. He was still in his big puffy suit, and held his helmet.

  Jeremiah wrapped his arms around her, and she placed her head on his shoulder. She felt the warmth of tears streaming down her cheeks. “I thought I was marooned here alone!”

  He closed his eyes, rubbed her back and comforted her as she placed her head on his shoulder. “We thought we had lost you,” he said. “We landed on the top of the plateau and you walked to the edge but lost your footing. When you fell, we had thought you died.”

  She shook her head. “I woke up with no memory of how I got here,” she said. “My mind has been playing too many tricks on me lately.”

  He opened his eyes as she stepped back and sat in one of the small folding chairs. She shook her head slowly and then looked back up into his eyes. “There are so many things about this place that seem a little…off.”

  His face shifted as he took a chair and sat across from her. “What do you mean, Abby?”

  She scoffed and cracked a smile. “Everything here,” she said. “And what is one of the strangest things…is that I found your empty suit back by a mountain. My mind is drawing a blank.”

  “Are you sure you weren’t hallucinating?”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I suppose. I have been so lost since waking up here that I couldn’t even remember what the mission was supposed to be.”

  “We were sent here to gather genetic DNA which was placed here at this facility.”

  She nodded. “Yes. I found it earlier. Do we still have to gather it before we leave?”

  He stood and shook his head.

  “No. We’ve already obtained plenty of samples. They’re already back on Vega One. But we do have to get moving, Abby. We can talk more on the ship. The others are waiting for you as well. We were celebrating up there when we received your transmission. Copernicus was minutes away from leaving the region.”

  She sighed and followed him into the receiving chamber.

  He helped her get into her space suit and pulled it up over her shoulders. As he handed her a new helmet, she paused and looked him directly in the eyes. “I just wish I could remember. Or find out what is real and what is not.”

  Jeremiah nodded and put his helmet on. She followed suit. After a few moments, the helmet interior lighting came to life. And then he spoke to her over the audio address system.

  “Nothing here matters anymore,” he said, as he turned around and pressed the panel. The door slid open to high winds and blowing red sand. He turned to face her. “We got what we came for. And we got you back. Mission complete.”

  She bit her lower lip as she followed him into the winds. She cursed her faulty memory, and still could not understand the amnesia. When she watched Jeremiah open the side door of the rescue pod, she still thought he seemed a little different. He looked like Jeremiah. He walked and talked like Jeremiah. He just seemed a little different. Had something happened to him?

  As she strapped herself into the co-captain’s chair, she looked back at the camp. The ROVER was still sitting in the same spot that she left it. Would it be destroyed by dust devils? And as the pod lifted into the Martian sky, she watched the terrain get smaller. And then she thought she saw something. Near the dark mountains. There was a glow in the center of the mountain. She looked up towards the sky. There could not be a reflection of the sun. Had she been hallucinating? Or is she hallucinating now?

  “Do you see that?”

  Jeremiah leaned over towards her window. “See what?”

  “There’s a beam of light. Back on that mountain down there.”

  He shook his head. “Probably reflection of sunlight against something. Maybe the ROVER?”

  She shook her head. “No. The ROVER is too small. I don’t know what that is.”

  She sat back in her seat.

  But she knew.

  And as the pod lifted higher into the darkness of space, and as the red planet became the sphere once again, she knew that she had discovered something down on the surface. Whatever the light source was, she felt it was coming from the surface, or the side of the mountain. She looked over at Jeremiah. He leaned back in his chair with his arms behind his head. He was clearly relaxing as the pod navigated towards the ship. She couldn’t get the image of the empty suit out of her mind. And the three mounds.

  Could they actually have been graves?

  *****

  COUNSELOR ABAGAIL LOOKED OUT the pod window at the ship and gasped. “Is it truly that huge?”

  Jeremiah looked over at her, nodded and smiled as he navigated the pod towards one of many receiving bays.

  Her mouth hung open as she looked at the vast, cosmic cylinder. It had to be miles long. And the long cylinder rotated.

  Slowly.

  “That creates gravity,” he said. “And the cylinder is so large, you don’t notice the curvature inside.”

  She looked up at the soaring ship.

  The cylinder was indeed rotating, and the windows were so small that she couldn’t see anything inside.

  “There are many observation decks,” Jeremiah offered. “But everything is contained within the hull. Giant observation windows. Especially towards the central locations of the ship. There is a Town Square, and neighborhoods with houses, trees, cars. Shops and bars. Most of the thousands who are on this ship will be there for their entire lives.”

  “So it’s like an arc.”

  Jeremiah nodded. “That’s exactly what it’s like. Full of the people who were rescued from Earth.”

  “And are there people back on Earth?”

  Jeremiah looked at her and nodded as the doors to the receiving bay swung outwards. He eased the pod closer to the chamber. “They were given a choice. Free will to stay, or to come on the ship. Some came, others stayed.”

  As the pod eased to a stop in the center of the bay, she looked over at him as he released the controls. “How do you know so much about this ship?”

  He removed his helmet and looked her in the eyes. “I just have had a blast exploring it! And I have been talking with those in white. That’s the crew. They have told me quite a bit. They look like us, walk and talk like us, but they are from a different star constellation. And they rescue those who are on dying planets. Just like they did with us.”

  “I see,” she said, following him out the door and down a set of metal steps which had been rolled up towards the side of the pod. Once she stepped out, her memory started to return. And at the base of the stairs, she gasped as she saw two familiar, loving faces.

  “Winston! Eli!” she cried out as Jeremiah stood aside and let her run down the stairs. She opened her arms and the three of them hugged each other tightly. Eli was crying, and Winston patted her back.

  “We are so happy to see you!” Winston said, leaning in close towards her ear. “You don’t know how upset Eli has been lately. Once you slipped into that ravine, we had been certain you were gone. Your suit was no longer communicating. Did Jere tell you about how we celebrated when we received your call from the Red Outpost?”

  She nodded and wiped some tears away from her cheeks. “Yes, he did. I can’t believe I am seeing you guys again! But what about my vitals? You got nothing?”

  Winston shook his head. “We received nothing, Abby. We were instructed from Vega One to complete the mission and they were working on putting together a mission to return to the surface and retrieve your body.”

  Counselor Abagail looked at Jeremiah. “I thought Copernicus was about to leave?”

  He slowly nodded. “Yes…”

  Her face shifted but then she focused back on Winston. “But then I contacted you.”

  Eli raised his eyes and looked up at her. “And then you contacted us. And I rejoiced!”

  She smiled and hugged Eli close to her chest.

  “You ha
ve always been a favorite of mine, Eli. You’re always so sweet. How did you wind up with us?”

  He smiled and wiped his eyes with his forearm. “I just fell into it. I mean, I’ve known Winston for years and years. But I remember Sector B very well.”

  “Sector B…” she said.

  Jeremiah’s footsteps clanked down the metal stairs. “Ok guys,” he said. “Let’s get back. Word is that we are going to be leaving the Martian system shortly and Copernicus and Moses want to meet with us. There is a new mission. Abby, you’ll be taken to medical for clearance and the rest of us should go ahead and report.”

  Counselor Abagail released Eli and turned around to face Jeremiah. “A new mission? What are you talking about?”

  “They will brief us after you have had a chance to rest.”

  Later, the team went to Town Square to let off some steam together. After showering and dressing in fresh clothes in each of their respective quarters, they met at the Borderline station.

  In the vast clear hull on the opposite side of the tracks, Mars was still an imposing red sphere.

  Counselor Abagail stood and leaned against the cool wall as the others chatted amongst themselves while waiting for the arrival of the tram. She looked at what appeared to be a giant crater on the side of the planet. She thought the planet looked fiery; if not angry. Why did the red planet appear so hostile?

  Jeremiah noticed her deep in thought, staring at Mars, and leaned down in front of her, lining his face directly with hers. “That’s where we were, Abby!” He turned around, eyes wide, leaning forward over the tracks, craning his neck forward.

  “Utopia planitia,” she said. “Yes, I remember.”

  Jeremiah turned around and beamed. “So you remember! Your memory is returning! Do you remember getting there yet?”

  She shook her head and joined Jeremiah at the edge of the track. “So the edge of those dark mountains that surround the Red Outpost must be the edge of that crater?”

  Winston joined them as the tram pulled forward. “Yes, that’s exactly correct,” he said.

  As the tram accelerated towards the center of the ship, Abby leaned against the glass and watched the Red Planet.

  She studied the crater.

  Looked for the shining light. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t see it.

  Had the light gone out?

  *****

  The Borderline tram pulled up towards the Town Square Station with a slight hiss. As they exited, boisterous activity filled the area. Music wafted in from a bar towards the opposite end of the soaring atrium.

  Counselor Abagail looked upwards. The atrium was lined with buildings and homes. Storefronts. There was a sky with light. Trees.

  A lake.

  It was filled with people.

  Some dined at small sidewalk cafes. Others walked dogs through the park. She turned back towards the others. Her eyes were wide. “This is…unbelievable!”

  Eli rushed forward and put his arm around her shoulders. They walked into the crowds, closer to the music – rock and roll; the drums were pounding out from a packed bar. He leaned close to her ear.

  “Many of these people – if not all of them – will never see their destination. Those in white are making them as comfortable as possible for their journey. Because the journey is all that they have left.”

  She gasped.

  “The journey will take so long, that many will have died out. Those in white – the Vegans – are making the survivors as comfortable as possible so they can enjoy the remainders of their lives. And so they reproduce.”

  She looked over towards the park. A little girl was walking a small puppy in a swath of sunlight.

  “That little girl is a perfect example. By the time the ship reaches the Lyra constellation, she will be at the end of her life.”

  She looked upwards and saw what appeared to be a replica of the sun shining down on the vast, open area. “It’s like the Earth was before the shift!”

  Eli looked at her and nodded. “That was the point. The Vegans are hopeful that they saved enough of the human population to colonize a new planet.”

  They arrived at the bar with the loud, live rock music.

  Most of the small tables which were scattered about the area were full, and there was no room at the bar. After a few minutes, Jeremiah approached one of the proprietors. The owner was one of the Vegans dressed in white. He looked over at them, and waved several other Vegans over.

  They quickly bussed a dirty table, just on the side of the square where the team had entered from. The loudest of the music was muffled by a set of swinging doors so they could still engage in a conversation.

  “So Abby, what do you remember?” Jeremiah asked as several tall, amber glasses of beer were served by a Vegan waitress at their table.

  She leaned back and exhaled. And then shook her head slowly. “Not much…she said. I remember some but have blanks.”

  He nodded. “What’s the last thing that you remember?” Winston and Eli looked at her, both taking sips of their beers.

  Counselor Abagail looked into her glass. She saw the foam hugging the side, making the same circular pattern as the mountains around the crater on Mars.

  She closed her eyes, and saw the dark ring of rocks.

  The plateau that reached around the massive red dust bowl. And then she saw the scene in her mind: the same vision, looking through the sand-covered visor, hearing the howl of the winds.

  “I woke up to my faceplate covered in sand. The winds were howling. I tried contacting each of you…but I received no answers.”

  Winston leaned forward.

  “We were probably gone by then. We had to have been. If we were still on the surface, perhaps, we might have been in range to hear you.”

  Jeremiah placed his hand on Winston’s arm. “No, no, Winston.” He looked over at Abby. “We took your suit back with us from the Red Outpost. It’s being tested now in the Research Lab. We are going to determine what happened to your communication system, Abby.”

  She shook her head.

  “What is it?” Jeremiah asked.

  She finished the last of the amber beer and placed her glass down on the table. She looked directly at Jeremiah as Winston and Eli looked on.

  “It’s the image that I can’t get out of my mind, Jeremiah. It’s the one that was the most striking. The one which I cannot understand, for the life of me.”

  “What was it?”

  “Your suit. I saw your empty suit lying at the base of the ridge.”

  He shrugged. “I’m right here. And I didn’t take my suit off. At least not down there. I wouldn’t have survived five minutes!”

  She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know, Jeremiah. I don’t know how to explain it. I’m just so exhausted. I really need some rest.”

  Jeremiah nodded and Winston and Eli rose from their chairs.

  “You might have been hallucinating,” he said. “None of us know what really happened to you down there.”

  Abby got up, pushed her chair in, and nodded. “I’m heading back to my quarters, guys. I can barely keep my eyes open. So tomorrow is our new briefing?”

  They all nodded in unison. “Yes. They have given us a new mission.”

  Abby smiled and nodded, turned and navigated the crowds back to the Borderline station. She folded her arms as she walked, and kept looking down. She saw what looked like grass. As the boisterous activity around her faded into the background, she knelt down, running her hand over the blades. She dug her fingers down and grabbed some dirt in her hand. As she reached back up, she opened her palm.

  Dirt.

  Blades of grass on a gigantic spaceship cruising through the galaxy.

  Could she be imagining this?

  *****

  A ROTATING ENVELOPE appeared on the wall panel with an audible tone.

  Counselor Abagail removed the needle from the side of her knee and placed the clear bag on the nightstand. She padded over to the panel
and touched it with her finger. The envelope expanded and revealed a message.

  TAKE TRAM TO LEVEL 27 CONFERENCE 3.5.2.2 FOR MISSION BRIEFING.

  The message flashed as she opened the side panel on the screen. A listing of photos of the others on her team cascaded down the side. She touched Jeremiah’s photo and it expanded on the screen. After a few seconds, it was replaced with him live. He was rubbing his eyes. “Yes, Abby?”

  “Did you see the message from Vega One?”

  He shook his head and she saw his eyes divert towards the left. He pursed his lips as his eyes scanned right to left. He looked like he was reading a more significant message.

  “Did you receive a different message?”

  “No, Abby. I got the same message. To report to level 27. But I did get another message. A bit on the briefing on the mission.”

  “Why would they send that to you and not to me?”

  Jeremiah shook his head. “I don’t know, Abby. So are we meeting at the Broadline?”

  Counselor Abagail sighed. “Yes, yes. Just give me a minute. I wasn’t expecting such an urgent message.”

  They signed off and the screen went black.

  She picked the IV bag up from the bedside table and finished draining her knees. When she removed the needle and placed it in a small, plastic receptacle on the bedside table, she held the bag, now full of fluid. She got up, walked across the room to a small opening on the wall which read “Deposit Fluid Here”. She hesitated for a moment before waving her hand in front of the panel, which opened with a slight hiss.

  *****

  Jeremiah stood with Winston and Eli in the corridor outside of her room. She stepped out as the door closed behind her. “I still can’t get used to those sliding hydraulic doors,” she said, as Jeremiah raised his eyebrows and approached her. “Look, we decided to stay at Town Square after you left. Be gentle with us.” She looked confused. “I thought we were meeting at the Broadline?”

  “Now that we’re all here,” he said, “Maybe we can all come into agreement on what our mission is?”