The Curse of Europa (13 page)

As the rover speeds down the slope, Fedoseev hits the brakes in a panic. The tires lockup, but the rover doesn’t seem to slow down much. All of the sample buckets bounce up and down in the back, toppling over and spilling their contents. With the tires locked up the rover starts to spin sideways, so he releases the brake, which helps with the control, but it instantly picks up speed. He can see the bottom! It isn’t very flat however… more of a ‘V’ shape, as it instantly inclines back up. If he heads straight towards the bottom, he will crash for sure, so he banks the rover to the left; the buckets and samples all slam to the right side of the rear cargo bed. He reaches the bottom and then banks up the other side of the ravine, like a race car on an inclined turn. The buckets and samples now slam into the left side of the cargo bed. He hits the accelerator to take advantage of his momentum as the rover rocks back and forth, like a boat, on the alternating banks at the bottom.

He keeps his foot pegged on the accelerator, but the rover gradually loses speed, until it seems it is barely crawling along. It is really having trouble in the bumpy ruts at the bottom of the ravine. He has no idea where he is, or how much farther it is to the landing site. Just as he was ready to radio Hicks, he feels the rover start to shake and then sees some small ice chunks slide down the sides of the ravine. Then looking ahead about 90 meters, it appears that the banks of the ravine seem to be separating – moving away from each other. He squints his eyes to see better in the bright sun. There is a brilliant glow of dancing sunlight up ahead, flickering violently as if warning him to stop. The flickering sunlight is heading directly towards him.

Chapter 17:
Glistening Lion

F
or Doctor Fedoseev, it was like a never ending nightmare, as he suddenly realized the dazzling sunlight dancing up ahead of him was rushing water. Only now, it does seemed like the nightmare is about to come to a quick end; but not very pleasantly. It was as if someone opened a floodgate, releasing thousands - no - millions or maybe billions of liters of water. It all seems to be in slow motion for him now, as he desperately turns the rover sharply up the ravine’s bank on his right, but to no avail. It doesn’t have enough battery power to climb even three meters before it peters to a stop, with a red battery indicator flashing on a control panel. He desperately fumbles with the seat harness for a few seconds, to unfasten it, and then climbs across the passenger seat and leaps off the rover onto the steep bank, sinking the cleats of his boots into the icy surface.

He looks to his left and sees the rushing water, which strangely, resembles a huge glistening lion, charging towards him. The splashes of water off the banks look like giant legs and paws, running at full tilt, and in the center, a huge head suddenly appears and then explodes, only to reappear over and over again. Fedoseev digs his gloved fingers into the ice and grabs onto any extruding piece of ice he can find, while digging his cleats in as best as he can, to avoid slipping back down. He is only about two meters from the top now, but the rushing water is nearly upon him.

“Eagle-2, this Fedoseev!” he desperately yells into the com, while frantically trying to climb to the top. “Vater rushing through ravine!”

He grabs a large ice chuck, sticking out near the top of the bank; it has a decent indentation, which may be an adequate handle and then he holds on for dear life. The roaring water envelops the rover below him, never to be seen again except for a single tire, which shoots up out of the water. Two of the sample buckets make a few quick appearances as they are violently swept away.

He hears Hicks on the com, “Fedoseev, I copy, where are you?” But he can’t respond as a huge wave of water splashes over him, sweeping his feet out from under him; but he holds tight. He manages to dig his cleats in again, just when another wave washes over him with tremendous force. Suddenly, his hand slips off of his ice handle and he is pulled into the water. He simply closes his eyes and lets his body go limp, trying to put himself at peace, waiting for the end.

Abruptly, his eyes snap open as he stops moving with a jerk and the water starts rapidly rushing past him. He
was
facing upward, flowing feet-first down the stream, but now suddenly he flips over as something has a hold of him and he slams into the side of the bank. He looks up and sees a taunt rope extending up out of the water; it is wrapped around him, under his arms.

“Well holy shit! Ha Ha Ha,” Hicks laughs into the com, “I can’t believe I just lassoed your ass! I’ve never lassoed anything in my life! You’re one lucky son-of-a-bitch Fedoseev!! Just hang tight and I’ll try to pull you up and out.” Hicks had come out, figuring Fedoseev would need help climbing up out of the ravine, as their aerial pictures revealed it to be pretty steep. He just figured he’d throw down the rope and help him climb up, he never in his wildest dreams figure he’d be lassoing him out of white water rapids.

Hicks digs in his cleats and pulls back on the rope, playing tug-o-war with Fedoseev and the rushing water. In the low gravity, Fedoseev probably only weighs about 16 kilos with his bio-suit on, but his full mass is still the same and it is putting up a good fight, along with the force of the rushing stream of water. However after a minute or two of just holding-on, the fast current of the water starts to subside. Hicks starts to pull back, and back, as Fedoseev is slowly pulled up the bank of the ravine and finally over the lip to the top.

Fedoseev is just lying on his back, looking up at the black sky of Europa; in disbelief of what just happened and wondering… by what grace of God allowed him to be snatched from deaths grip. Now he sees Hicks looking down on him.

“Fedoseev! Are you okay? What’s the integrity of your bio-suit?” Hicks asks.

Still a bit in a daze, he looks at all the indicators in his visor and sees that all the functions of his bio-suit are in full working order.

“Everyting looks good – yes!” Then he says “spasibo… spasibo!” which means thank-you.

“No problem!” Hicks responds, but then thinks more about it, “well, actually… it really is a problem, I’m not sure what the
hell
you were thinking. You almost got yourself killed!”

Hicks eyes widen as he sees a thick fog rolling up and out of the ravine. He walks over to the edge and looks down. The steamy water isn’t rushing so fast anymore… but it is still rising, and fairly quickly. It is only about 2 meters from the top of the ravine.

“GET UP! We need to get the hell out of here. This water is going to flood this whole area. We have about 350 meters to run to make it to Eagel-2!”

He helps Fedoseev to his feet and they start running, as best as they can in 15% gravity, wearing bio-suits. They see Eagle-2 sitting there, waiting… It is only about 70 meters from the edge of where the ravine travels, surly in the potential flood plain.

“Glover! Please tell me that the air-lock is ready to go!” Hicks pleads into the com.

“Yes sir! Ready and waiting!”

Water is just starting to slosh over the lip of the ravine, like an overflowing bathtub, when they reach Eagle-2. They climb into the air-lock and quickly close and seal the hatch. It takes about 90 seconds for the chamber to re-pressurize and for the door to the inside to open. While waiting, Hicks tells Fedoseev, “When we get inside leave your bio-suit on, just remove the air tank and your helmet; then strap yourself into your chair. I’ll get us airborne as quick as I can.”

The interior door opens and Hicks hops out first, he removes his helmet and air tank, and then in a flash shoots up the ladder to the command deck. He looks out a window to see that in fact; the whole area is now flooded, and rising. Another small tremor can be felt and a few small ice chunks, from the ice mountain they are near, go splashing into the foggy water.

“Okay guys, we’re not exactly doing this by the book and I’m skipping about half of the pre-flight check, but we need to get out of here now! Turk is strapped in I know; how long will that sedative hold?”

Glover responds, “No problem there, he should be out for a few more hours.”

“Fedoseev, are you strapped in?” Hicks asks

“Da, I ready to go. Sooner is better!”

“Eagle-2 to White-Bull-2, we are commencing with takeoff in 60 seconds”

“Copy that Eagle-2,” Lieutenant Tucker responds, “Everything looks good to me for takeoff. We’ll have to re-compute our rendezvous calculations again, but we can worry about that once you reach orbit.”

The countdown timer is at 42 seconds and then a huge seismic shock rocks Eagle-2. As they are shaking, Hicks looks out his window to see a huge wave of water rushing their way.

Then he hears Glover yell, “Oh crap! Huge chunks of ice just broke off the top of that ice mountain; there is a ton of ice rolling and sliding down the side, directly at us!”

“Screw the countdown, we’re going now… hang on!” Hicks yells as he hits a launch button that overrides the countdown. Instantly the rockets blast out hot flames to the wet surface below, but they are not moving. The landing legs are frozen to the ice underneath. Hicks’ heart jumps and he can feel it thumping, as he knows they should be airborne by now. He increases to full power and Eagle-2 starts to shake violently. He knows this isn’t safe while grounded, as the blast-back from the engines could ignite the fuel tanks; plus it is expending a large amount of precious fuel needed to get them into orbit. Suddenly, the avalanche of ice chunks reaches the bottom and starts smashing into Eagle-2. However the force of the impact breaks the landing legs free of the ice below and Eagle-2 instantly shoots up into the air, but at a skewed angled trajectory, instead of straight up.

Hicks grabs the control stick and slams it to the right, as they start to speed more and more horizontal and risk crashing back down to the surface. At full throttle, it is hard to control, but he fears if he backs it off now they may not make orbit, so he continues to fight. Loose items, that they did not have time to secure, go flying and slamming against the walls. At their current horizontal pitch, they are not gaining much altitude yet, and they are actually flying directly at the same ice mountain they almost hit on their way down to the surface.

“Eagle-2, this is Tucker, you need to pull up! You’re heading directly at the side of an ice mountain!!”

“Copy that, I see the damn thing!” Hicks retorts back, “I’m trying, I’m trying! She’s fighting like a son-of-a-bitch!”

Glover looks at the mountain on the radar. It is only 255 meters ahead and they are closing in fast. He can’t help but think of the
curse,
and wishes he would have listened to his fiancée and not gone on this mission. This particular ice mountain really seems to have it in for them.

Hicks makes a couple of quick adjustments, to help get them moving upwards, it is helping, but is expending even more fuel. They all brace for impact, as they approach the mountain… but nothing, they again just narrowly miss the top of the huge ice mountain. They now all breathe a sigh of relief. That should be their last obstacle, as long as they keep moving upwards.

Eagle-2 starts to slowly tilt more vertical now as they continue their wild climb. Hicks doesn’t know exactly where they are going, but he has to break free of the gravitational pull of Europa. In fact, with the fuel critically low, and their trajectory way off course, Hicks knows there is no way they can establish a stable orbit; they are going to have to simply push out into free space and drift.

Chapter 18:
Good Bye Cursed Moon!

E
agle-2 pushes onward and upward, riding a magnificent trail of fire, full throttle, away from what undoubtedly
must
be a cursed moon. The entire crew certainly believes that Europa
is
the ‘Queen of Failure’ now, as their mission is yet another absolute failure, to join the long list of others. They did find water alright; but Doctor Evans gave her life in the process, Turk may lose his hand, and Doctor Fedoseev was nearly washed away to his death. They were supposed to spend two historic weeks down on the surface, but were sent packing after only three days; with their proverbial tails tucked between their legs.