The Last Revolution (2 page)

He had assumed the ice would be littered with eons of bombardments from comets and micrometeorites. Water geysers pumped fresh snow into the atmosphere, filling in depressions and cleaning the surface. He’d assumed that any particles that did land would have sunk into the ice as these new layers were created. However, their close proximity to Jupiter’s gravity must have spared it from the heavier potential impacts.

Xander had descended several dozen meters and was over halfway to his target. The object sat at the bottom of the bowl, patiently awaiting his arrival. The flat black exterior was so… perfect. He couldn’t identify a single abnormality. It reminded him of the smooth rocks he would find on the edge of the loch’s back home. It was the most basic, yet extraordinary thing he’d ever seen. The crater started to flatten out, and he inched his way closer.

“Hey, I’m getting some weird seismic readings up here,” Nathan said over the communicator. “This whole situation makes me uncomfortable. Let’s wrap it up and come back tomorrow.”

Xander ran his glove over the surface, but then took a step back in surprise. A very subtle pattern appeared in the black material where he’d made contact. It was an intricate pattern devoid of any curves or bends. Instead, there were only straight lines. It disappeared as quickly as it arrived. He touched it again. The pattern returned, and then vanished once more. This was not some random meteorite, it was an artifact. He was not leaving it behind.

Xander pulled several lengths of rope from his harness and then wrapped it around the object as tight as he could. A tremor from deep below the crater shook his entire body. He grabbed hold of the object to stabilize himself. Please be an aftershock. Then another, more violent tremor shook the area. A jagged crack ripped across the sloped ice wall to his right. It was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain his balance.

“Pull us up now. We have to get out of here! The crust is fracturing!”

“Forget the meteorite,” Nathan hollered back. “Get out of there.”

“I’m not leaving it behind!” Xander moved to the back of the object and gave it a push. It didn’t budge. He dropped his shoulder, and pressed the cleats of his boot into the ice. “Now!”

He could hear the rover’s engine struggling in the back of Nathan’s comm. The sound of another giant fracture reverberated across the crater. The crack to his right grew. It stretched down towards the center. He bent down and put all his energy into pushing the object forward. There was a moment of final resistance and then it popped out of the small hole it had melted into the ice beneath it.

He was able to push it over the flat surface of the crater with relative ease, but as they approached the incline of the wall, his progress quickly slowed. The slack in the line tightened and now it was up to the rover to do the heavy lifting. The tremors were growing more frequent by the moment. Xander held on to the object as it was winched out. There was a deafening roar behind him. His instinct told him to ignore the sound. Focus on the task at hand.

In spite of that, he stole a quick glance over his shoulder. Just as he did a massive chasm ripped the crater in half. His blood ran cold at the sight of the exposed void.

Xander whipped around. “Pull harder! We have to get out of here.”

“Cut the rock loose. That’s an order!”

“We’re not leaving it behind. We just need a few more seconds. Pull!” Xander dug his cleats into the ice and pushed with every ounce of energy he had. The break beneath them had reached up to several spots around the crater. A chunk of ice broke off beneath him and disappeared into the abyss. They were running out of time. He gave it one last push. The artifact slid over the lip and onto solid ground.

Xander groped for something to pull himself up with. His muscles were failing and he was out of energy. The bottom of the crater was breaking apart. Nathan grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him the rest of the way up. He collapsed to the frozen crust, gasping for air.

“Let’s get this thing onto the rover and get the hell out of here.” Out of his peripheral vision he saw a fracture cut through the ice beneath him. Before he could react it gave way to the void. He was going to die. Xander reached for the object, but his hand slipped off its smooth surface. Nathan dove across the ice and snatched his hand. He landed with a thud, but managed to keep his grip.

“Grab my other hand,” Nathan yelled.

Xander clasped on to his arm as tight as he could. He put all his energy into his free hand, and swung up, making contact. Nathan screamed as he turned and pulled him up over the edge.

Xander stumbled back to his feet. “I won’t leave it!” He picked up the rope that was still wrapped around the object and dragged it with them. Nathan picked up the other end and together they were able to throw it on to the back of the rover.

They jumped in and Xander gunned the accelerator. As they sped away he could see the extent of the growing canyon. Giant pieces of ice were breaking free from both sides. They quickly gained speed, but it was tough to maneuver through the field of ice boulders. He didn’t care if they were spotted from space. Xander pushed the rover beyond the safe zone for heat expulsion; one mortal danger at a time. His hands flew over the switches as he fired the stabilizers to keep them on the ground.

A crack appeared in the ice beside the rover and then quickly stretched out several kilometers ahead. He pressed the accelerator several more times. They were already traveling at the maximum rate, but it made him feel better. In an instant the fracture changed directions and cut to the left directly in front of them. The entire piece broke free. The back of the ice chunk dropped off into the void behind them and the front end arched straight in to the air. They were watching a small mountain take shape before their eyes.

The rover lifted off the ice and started to fall away but Xander fired the vertical stabilizers. It pushed them below the surface, but planted them firmly into the descending piece. The cleats on the rover’s tires sank in and propelled them forward. He couldn’t see the horizon any longer.

Their discovery was too important. They would not fail. Xander squeezed the steering wheel just as they hit the tip. The rover sailed through space as the entire plateau of ice disappeared below them. For a few brief moments they were completely airborne as they sailed towards solid ice. A moment later they touched down and the rover shot forward once again.

Xander glanced over his shoulder. The cracks had finally stopped their advance. In the distance, pieces of ice the size of city blocks fell from the elevated crust to the icy depths. What had once been a completely smooth wasteland was now a razor-sharp canyon of ice. It stretched for dozens of kilometers in every direction and would remain that way for centuries.

The object was securely tucked into the back of the rover. It was a miracle that it hadn’t been lost. He thought back to the object and the patterns it had displayed. It didn’t remind him of any weapon he’d ever seen before. Was it possible that it was an obscure probe launched by one of the Three Nations? If so, it surely would have displayed the nation’s logo. All the major space-based research initiatives had been scaled down over the past thirty years. Could it have been a random part jettisoned from one of the space-based battlecruisers?

Nathan didn’t seem to share his curiosity. He just stared out into the distance.

“I didn’t have time to tell you back there, but thanks for saving my life.”

“Let’s hope that rock was worth it.”

Neither spoke for the remainder of the journey. Several hours later, their small collection of cylindrical huts came into view. They had never looked so good. The sun was just setting behind Jupiter and an orange glow washed over the area. An unusual sense of peace passed through him.

Nathan stepped out of the rover and onto the icy surface. He watched Xander lift the meteorite out of the back and move towards the main building. He knew Xander carried a great deal of guilt for their failed mission, but that didn’t justify what he’d put them through. It had been reckless to risk their lives for that rock. The mission was officially over. He wouldn’t allow them to get into another situation where desperation outweighed logic. It was his responsibility to make sure they returned home safely.

It would be a perilous journey, and take over a year to get back to Luna. The sooner they left the better. Nathan ducked inside the airlock, and sealed the exit behind him. His ears popped as the room pressurized to match the internal environment. He pictured Sasha sitting in the park, her beautiful blonde hair blowing in the wind. She watched their child crawl towards her. Children laughed in the distance. The smell of grilled food and sweet tea wafted through the air.

Their baby lifted one foot up, struggling to get the other off the ground. Its whole body shook with determination, but then collapsed back to the soft grass. It had been a mistake to leave them. Deep down he’d known she was pregnant when they’d left for Europa. He didn’t want to believe it. After years of preparation, he had to go. Or at least that’s what he’d felt at the time. Now he was an absentee parent, missing moments in time he’d never get back.

The overhead light turned green and the secondary door slid out of the way. An elevated walkway wrapped around three of the walls. Various rooms and hallways branched out into the rest of their makeshift camp. Their workstations sat in the center of the room. Holographic monitors, ice samples, and microscopes littered the desks. Xander lowered the black stone between the work stations. Nathan resented the object; it had nearly cost him his life and deprived his child of a father.

He cleared his throat. “We need to speak.” It would be a protracted argument to convince him that it was time to leave. Xander had spent so much energy planning this mission; it would crush him to return empty-handed. “It’s been a great mission, and we’ve learned a tremendous amount. The remaining drill rigs can be run autonomously from Luna. It’s too dangerous to remain, we need to leave.”

“I agree.” Xander scribbled on the nearest board. He lifted a ruler off one of the desks and hesitantly poked at the rock.

As long as Nathan had known his friend he’d been single-minded, willing to do anything to achieve his goals. “Wait. Did you understand what I just said?”

“Yes. We must leave as soon as possible. How long will it take us to prep for departure?”

This was going over too easily, what was he up to? “If we start now we’ll be ready by morning.”

“Good. Please begin at once. We should also turn on the antenna and scan for any signs of activity off-planet.”

“Good idea. That would give us an advanced warning without risking too much exposure. I’ll modify the broadcast signal to match the radio waves in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere.”

“Brilliant.” Xander had already filled half the board with a series of obscure calculations. “When you’ve finished with that, wipe the hard drive and scrub the compound of anything that connects it to us. When I’ve finished in here I’ll join you.”

Several hours later, Nathan pressed the Enter key on his wrist deck and watched as billions of lines of code disappeared from the holographic screen. The warning system was in place, and their digital footprint was vanishing. He was so tired. After everything that had happened, he just wanted to close his eyes and block it all out. He imagined that he was back on the moon, inside their beautiful home. The Earth was visible through the window. It hung low on the horizon. His child bounced up and down on his knee.

There was a knock at the door. As he stood to answer, the entire frame crashed inward. Security guards in riot gear stormed inside. They threw Sasha out of the way. He tried to defend himself, but one of them swung a club at his head. He barely felt the contact, but it sent him sailing back into the ground. A child was crying in the distance.

“You’re under arrest for violation of Treaty 1279!” His hands were jerked behind his back and cuffed together. Blood trickled down his forehead. One of the soldiers fought with Sasha. She slapped him. They smacked her with a club and she dropped to the floor. Her hands were cuffed, but she wasn’t moving.

“Nooooo!” was all that Nathan could get out.

“Silence,” the soldier snapped. “Anyone who helped you get off planet will face a similar fate. Criminal behavior will never be tolerated.”

“It wasn’t criminal! I just wanted to make the world a better place, to show people that life exists beyond our own planet. It was peaceful… I just wanted to make a difference.”

One of the soldiers grabbed his arm and lifted him off the ground. They pushed him towards the exit. Sasha lay motionless on the floor. The other soldiers were upending tables and emptying drawers onto the floor. He caught one last glimpse of them as he was rushed out. All he’d wanted was to leave his child with a better world than he’d been born into.

“Nathan. Nathan!” Suddenly he opened his eyes. Xander stood over him. “Are you okay?”

He sat back. He was at his station, the screen was blank. The code was gone. The frightening memory wasn’t fading as fast as usual.

“I have something I want to show you. Follow me.”

They walked back into the main room. Dozens of digital white boards covered the walls. Each one was filled with random scribbles.

“Have you been out here all night? What is this stuff?”

Xander hurried into the middle of the room. A blanket hung over the black rock, obscuring his view. “Watch this.” He whipped the cover off, and a bright green light flashed them both in the eyes.

The intensity decreased after a few seconds, but he couldn’t believe what he saw. The light emanated from
beneath
the surface of the meteorite. It appeared in multiple strange patterns. He couldn’t make out a single coherent object and no two marks looked alike.

“What is that? Are those symbols?”

“Yes, they are! Well, at least I think they are,” Xander replied. “Come over here. I’ve mapped out the entire surface and separated each piece into different categories. I tried putting them into different arrangements, but none of it makes any sense.”