Europa Contagion

by Nicholas Thorp

  “The blue one is the Nomad, and the green one is right on top of the Nomad? Someone’s got to be with the Nomad,” Bailey said. Now she had a trace of hope in her voice. “That’s within walking distance, too.”

  Just then the screen went black and all the lights turned off. Whatever power had been available was now gone.

  “Now what’s the plan?” Bailey asked.

  Dimitri answered, “We stay here for a few more hours while we wait for the Seeker to be in position for us to safely get to it. Let’s replace our scrubbers with new ones. When we’re ready, we’ll leave and gather everyone up. No one gets left behind.”

  “A few hours? What if someone is alive in the Nomad?” Bailey asked. “I marked the position of the Nomad on our maps. We can go and check that area out right now.”

  “It’s too dangerous outside,” he responded. “You know that. Even with the POWER modifications, we can’t stay out there unless we’re in Jupiter’s magnetotail. We need to wait, anyway, for the Seeker to be in position. We’ll have some time to search and still get back to the Lander before running out of air in our suits.”

  “Fine. We better not find someone dead out in the Nomad,” Bailey replied. “I saw two location markers just outside the perimeter where we came in. We need to check that area out as well.”

  With that, they sat in the dark in silence. Several hours passed and neither said a word. Finally, an alarm beeped on Dimitri’s wristband.

  “That’s the timer. It’ll be safe to go outside very soon,” Dimitri said. “We should hear from Li pretty soon, too.”

  With Europa moving into Jupiter’s magnetotail, it would be their second, and last, time to safely walk around on the surface with the limited air supply in their EMUs.

  As they manually released the pressure in the room, they each grabbed the remains of their friends and brought them to the room they had entered on the lower level.

  Nearing the only door they had found closed, Bailey’s light reflected oddly off the metal surface below the circular viewport and, at first, she thought she saw random scratches in the surface, perhaps an effect of the explosion. Bailey looked closer and saw that they weren’t random scratches, they were words, crudely etched into the metal door:

  Alive. Nomad. Caves.

  Bailey took in the meaning and quickly showed the message to Dimitri.

  “Okay, great! Finally, some good news,” Dimitri said. “Nice work, Bailey! Let’s get going.”

  They both put on their POWER modifications and made their way through the Habitat and up the ladder toward the outside. They quickly stepped away from the Habitat. The surface looked the same as they had last seen it: dark and icy with debris littered about.

  Dimitri, and Bailey set off toward the caves in the direction they had designated as ‘North.’ Bailey was in front now and was the first to find the body. It was a few hundred feet away from the door they had found on the ground. The helmetless orange EMU simply laid there, face down on the icy surface. Turning the spacesuit over, Bailey tried to bring her hands to her face in surprise, but her helmet blocked her hands from actually reaching her mouth. It was Kato. His face was a literal bloody mess and looked like something out of a horror movie.

  “Jesus,” Dimitri said. “What the hell happened down here?”

  Bailey spoke, “I don’t know. I’m beginning to think this wasn’t just an explosion. We’ll bring him with us to the Lander. It’s on the way to the Nomad’s location. Wait, I think I see something over there!”

  Bailey began to head in the direction she was pointing until she came across another orange EMU.

  “It’s Navya,” Bailey said as she looked over the suit. The other arrived and also looked down upon another dead crew member.

  Without saying a word they they brought the bodies with them and placed them in the Lander. In Earth gravity, the two might not have been able to move all the bodies but with Europa’s gravity only about 1/10th of Earth’s, the task was manageable.

  Next, Dimitri and Bailey began to search for the Nomad. The search area wasn’t too far away and, as Bailey had said, it was within walking distance. According to the topographical map, the location the radar dish had picked up was a cave system nearby. It was well known to the crew members, as it was one of the few distinguishing features near the Habitat.

  “We’ve got about an hour before we need to leave,” Dimitri said as they hopped toward the caves. “Otherwise there will be too much radiation and we’d have to wait for the Seeker to be in position again. I don’t think we have enough air left for that.”

  Time was a factor and they’d have to be quick. The last reading had told them the general location, but it hadn’t revealed an exact spot since the precise layout and makeup of the cave system had never been plotted. Once they got to the caves, the search began.

  Bailey and Dimitri violated normal ‘buddy system’ protocols and split up, each checking ice-cave after ice-cave. After twenty minutes of searching, Dimitri’s wristband lit up with an incoming message.

  “I found it!” Bailey said. “Come to my location.”

  Dimitri made his way to Bailey and saw what they had been searching for. The Nomad had been backed into a large cave and sat near the entrance. It looked to be in perfect condition.

  “I’ll look inside,” Bailey said as she walked up to the entrance.

  “Wait a second,” Dimitri said. He walked over to the side of the Nomad and plugged in his suit to a panel. “There’s still power, but it’s been set to power-saving mode. That requires an override code. It must have been set manually by someone. According to the readings, there is still air in there.”

  “It must be Alice,” Bailey said. “Everyone else is accounted for.”

  Entering the vehicle, they found Alice laying on the medical table in a pile of sleeping bags. She was hooked up to several IVs and appeared to be sleeping. Dimitri sat next to her and gently tried to wake her, but found that she was not responsive.

  “Alice, are you okay?” he asked while gently touching her. There was no response.

  “Look at this,” Bailey said as she pointed to several syringes and bottles nearby.

  Li’s voice came into their ears. “Okay, the Seeker is coming back in range. You guys hear me? Are you ready to go? What’s going on down there?” Li had been out of touch for quite a while and was, understandably, curious.

  “We found the Nomad with Alice in it. Everyone else is dead. I need your medical knowledge,” Bailey said, picking up a bottle. As part of his education to be a psychiatrist, Li had studied pharmacology a great deal so he could prescribe medications as necessary.

  “Alice is out cold on the med table with tubes in her arms and other places. We can’t wake her up. And, speaking of cold, it’s cold as hell in the Nomad. I see propofol and something called TPN going into Alice. What the hell is this stuff for?” she asked.

  “TPN is an IV nutrient. Propofol is what you’d use to put someone in a medically-induced coma. I bet she catheterized herself and connected the solid waste removal system, too.”

  Dimitri and Alice looked at each other, barely believing they had found someone alive, even in a comatose state.

  “We need to wake her up,” Li said. “Start reducing the propofol in her system.”

  Dimitri took over for Bailey, following Li’s instructions.

  Bailey sat in the pilot’s chair and looked at the computer.

  “There’s still fuel here,” she said. “I’ll start it up and drive us back to the Lander while you work on Alice. We don’t have much time.”

  She started the Nomad while Dimitri worked on Alice according to Li’s remote instructions.

  “Li, how is she?” Bailey asked.

  “Physically, I think she’s fine, believe it or not,” Li answered. “Dimitri plugged me into her vitals and they are all stable.”

  “How long has she been like this?” Dimitri asked.

  “The logs say twenty-two days,” Bailey answe
red. “Is that even possible?”

  Li said, “I suppose it’s possible if she set everything up just right. She wouldn’t need to worry about bedsores because of the low gravity. The computers would handle administering the drugs automatically.”

  “Will she wake up?” Bailey asked.

  “It’s hard to know for sure,” Li answered. “It’ll be a while before she starts to regain consciousness. If she wakes up.”

  Dimitri’s wristband began to beep as his timer went off.

  “We need to get back soon,” Dimitri said. “Let’s get Alice ready to take back with us.”

  By the time they made it back to the Lander, Dimitri had taken Alice off all her drugs and had put her in her spacesuit. They carefully moved Alice from the Nomad to the Lander. Again, the low gravity made the task far easier than it would have been on Earth.

  Dimitri put Alice in her normal seat and strapped her in. The remains of the others were stored in the cargo hold of the Lander.

  Dimitri’s wristband began to beep once again.

  “It’s time,” was all Dimitri said. He and Bailey had been going through the checklists for take-off. With everything looking good, the Lander’s engines ignited and it shot up into the sky. Just like on Ganymede, the Lander performed its maneuvers precisely and put itself on a near-intercept course with the Seeker. Then it performed another burn putting it on a direct intercept course. Once the Lander was close enough to the Seeker, Bailey brought the Lander in and docked.

  With the crew reunited at the Seeker and in zero-g, Li unbuckled Alice and took her with him. He passed through several hatches and into the main hall that ran throughout the Seeker. Finally, Li took a turn which brought him and Alice to the medical room. He hooked her up to an exam bed and placed a device around her head to monitor her vitals. Then he gave Alice a complete checkup. When he was done, he left her in the room and joined the others on the main deck. Bailey and Dimitri had been preparing the Seeker for its return journey.

  “How is she doing?” Bailey asked as Li floated in the room.

  “Physically, she is fine, but she hasn’t woken up yet,” Li answered.

  “Is that normal? How long does it take before someone wakes up from something like that?” Bailey asked.

  Li answered, “It’s hard to know for sure, but I would have expected her to at least start coming out of it by now. Honestly, I’m not optimistic about her waking up. All we can do is wait and see.” Li floated over to a console and began to help the others.

  With no logs or data from the Habitat, no one truly knew what had transpired on Europa. No one except for Alice.

  One chore was to make sure everything was stored away and tied down. Dimitri and Li went back to the Lander and moved the remains of Kato, Felix, Sonya, and Navya onboard the Seeker. It took Li a while to overcome the shock of seeing the remains of his crewmates.

  Bailey put the sample container from Europa in storage in the lab onboard the Seeker and was in the process of moving Alice’s EMU and wristband when she bumped the power button on Alice’s wristband. The small screen lit up and an icon was flashing in the corner. It was the picture of a recorder. She placed Alice’s wristband on her own wrist and opened the menu. She navigated to the recording app and opened it. There were several new recordings. She hit play.

  “I’ve decided to make a record of what happened, in my own words,” Alice’s voice came through loud and clear on the wristband. Bailey continued to listen. “It’s not like I’ve got anything else to do but sit here and think. Now there’s plenty of time. Funny how only a little while ago I was hoping for as much time as possible. Now there’s too much time. Bailey, Dimitri, Li, if you do find this, then you’ll get to know my last thoughts.

  “I suppose this whole thing started when Kato and I were in the Nomad when an earthquake hit. We barely got out alive and made our way back,” Alice stopped and chuckled, then continued. “At the time it seemed like the worst thing that had happened to me. Compared to now, it seems like nothing.

  “What we didn’t know was that that earthquake had stirred up something deep under the ice in the water, which we wouldn’t learn about until later,” Her voice trailed off for a moment before she continued.

  “When we got back, Navya took a look at us. She told us a story, too. You guys know how good her stories are… or were, I guess. This one was about how she put someone in a diving accident in an induced coma.”

  The message suddenly stopped. Then it picked back up again.

  “I was going to tell the entire story of what happened, but the longer I wait, the worse my chances are going to be. Eventually, I’ll run out of air or water before you get here.

  “So I’ve decided to do something very dangerous, especially since I’m not a doctor. I’m going to put myself in a medically-induced coma. I’m lowering the temperature in the Nomad to be near freezing and I’m saturating it with pure oxygen. It’s basically a hyperbaric chamber. If this works, I might be able to survive long enough for you guys to find me. I hope to God you do.

  “Okay, I’ve got everything ready here. It’s my last recording. Goodbye, and, hopefully, I’ll see you guys the next time I open my eyes.”

  The recording ended.

  ----------

  The optimum time to leave Jupiter, according to their revised option Number Three, had finally arrived. The Seeker performed a short burn. The elliptical orbit became even more elliptical until it was finally on a ‘slingshot’ trajectory around Jupiter. The huge mass of Jupiter was put to good use as it transferred its gravitational energy to the Seeker. This would be the last burn the Seeker would make until they would enter an orbit around Mars and plan the final leg of their journey back to Earth’s Moon. They were finally going home.

  Epilogue

  Her eyes opened and closed slowly. It was incredibly bright and she had difficulty adjusting to the light. Her head felt groggy and dizzy as she looked around the room. She tried moving her arms, but they felt heavy and unresponsive. For several minutes she waited, trying to figure out what was going on.

  Finally, her eyes focused and all she could see was a horizontal black bar across her vision. Where was she and what was she looking at? For a moment she wondered if she was floating in space onboard the Seeker. Then she realized that she was being pushed down into her bed. That meant there was gravity.

  She moved her head to the side too quickly and was met with more dizziness. She closed her eyes and laid there for several more minutes. The next time she opened her eyes, she was able to focus much faster. The black bar was still there, blocking most of her vision. She pulled her arms up and felt something around her head. Grabbing the object, she pulled it down. Finally, she could see the room clearly. The room was bright white and was somewhat roomy. There were no windows and there were medical machines all around her. She laid in a comfortable bed. This couldn’t have been Europa. The medbay on Europa was a disaster. This couldn’t be the Seeker either, as it was too spacious.

  Looking down, she inspected what had been attached to her head. It was shaped like a hula hoop. It was the same machine Navya had used on Kato when she was doing brain surgery on him. It was responsible for measuring all of her vitals.

  The longer she sat in bed, the better she felt. Slowly the grogginess and dizziness went away. Twisting her arms, she looked at them to see several IVs attached. Even though she was feeling better, she still felt exhausted. Small irritations soon made themselves apparent. Her lips were parched, no matter how much she licked them with her tongue. She felt extremely thirsty. Her eyes felt crusty and she felt the need to shift around in her bed.

  “H...Hello?” The word was incredibly quiet. She was barely able to speak as though she hadn’t spoken in ages and was trying to figure out how to move her mouth the right way to get the words out.

  No one answered.

  There was a control pad attached to her bed. She pushed a button and the bed responded by moving to an upright position. She looked at
the control pad again and pushed the “Call Nurse” button.

  As she waited, she looked around once again and saw a metal bottle of water on a counter nearby. She reached over to grab it, but it was just out of her reach and she ended up knocking it over. It fell down, but not nearly as quickly as she thought it would. It landed on the floor barely making a sound and rolled closer to her bed. Bending over the side of the bed, she picked it up and realized that she had to be on Earth’s Moon. It was the only place that had low gravity and specialized medical equipment like this. With her fingers wrapped around the bottle-cap, she tried to unscrew the lid. It didn’t move. She put more energy into it and finally managed to get the cap off. Her hands were weak. Just how long had she been asleep that she barely had the strength to open a bottle of water?

  The water she drank felt amazing as it ran down her throat. She felt better. Finally, her energy was returning.

  It had been at least ten minutes since she pressed the “Call Nurse” button and no one had shown up. Listening more carefully, she found that the only sounds she heard were the ones in her room. She didn’t hear anyone outside in the hallways. Five more minutes passed and still, no one showed up. Deciding not to sit any longer, she swiveled and let her feet dangle off the side of the bed. Being very careful, she took the blanket off and put weight on her legs as she stood. Her bare feet touched the floor and suddenly she regretted it; the floor was very cold to the touch. Using the bed as support she managed to get halfway up then she used the IV stand next to her to pull herself up the rest of the way.

  Thank God for the low gravity, she thought to herself.

  Now standing up straight, she saw that the IV bags were completely empty. Without providing any fluids to her they were useless, so Alice took the tubes that were inserted in her arm and carefully disconnected them.

  She looked down at herself and noticed that she was wearing a white hospital gown. She felt oddly vulnerable wearing the gown and wanted to get back into her normal jumpsuit, but that had to wait. Using the IV stand as a crutch she went over to the door and looked out the small window to look in the hall. There was still no activity. She put her hand on the door and pushed the button that would open the door but nothing happened. Looking down at the button she saw it was red. Each time she pushed the button it flashed red at her. The door was locked.