What
alien creatures lurk under the ice crust of Europa?
Dr. Nikki Bell’s plan to discover intelligent
life in the oceans of Europa hits a rocky start when her spaceship crashes on
the icy surface. Seconds before she blacks out, she spies a man’s face in the
water beneath the ice. When she wakes on the submarine Station, nobody believes
her story. Convinced the mysterious stranger saved her life, Nikki searches for
him while she explores the ocean and its alien inhabitants.
Kiron Arqin Ramis chose exile as a Watcher on a
remote outpost to redeem his family’s honor. He never expected to find an
attractive Earther woman close to death. He violates the prime policy by
rescuing her. Despite suffering the penalty, he strives to warn her about his
hostile leaders.
Nikki’s second meeting with Kiron triggers a
chain of disasters in Europa’s perilous oceans. Can they overcome deadly
aquatic predators and their people’s antagonism to forge a new alliance?
Chapter One
Solar Spirit shuddered, slamming Nikki onto the
steel floor of the passage.
Alarms wailed. Lights flashed red warnings.
Biting back a scream, Nikki scrambled onto her
feet. She glanced right and left along the corridor. A second jolt tipped the
floor into an awkward angle. Her boots lifted from the tilted floor and she
spun slowly in midair. Styx! The ship’s artificial gravity had failed. What
next? No life support? She groaned inwardly.
Her arms flailing for a grip, Nikki struggled
to catch hold of the handrail. Her emergency training kicked in. Primed by
drills every third day of the voyage, she knew what to do. She dived for the
nearest oxygen canister. Working one handed while grasping the rail, she
fastened the mask around her mouth and nose. Her mind cleared, clicking into
logical mode. The spaceship was damaged, possibly hit by a stray asteroid on
the outer fringes of the belt. What blasted bad timing. Solar Spirit had begun
decelerating and she had expected to reach Europa in less than two days.
Heavy partitions clanged shut, separating the
damaged sections of the ship. The nearer set slammed closed, and a second,
fainter clunk, sounded in the opposite direction. Her section was isolated from
the rest of the ship.
The ship’s layout fixed in her mind, she kicked
off, traveling diagonally from wall to wall to propel herself through the empty
corridor to the nearest life craft.
The overhead lights flickered and faded to
black, leaving only the line of red arrows marking the direction of the exit.
The corridor bucked. She banged against the wall and stumbled onto her knees,
cringing at the creak of overstrained metal.
The siren’s whine cut to silence.
What the styx did that mean? She had to get
out. Nikki struggled upright and flipped on her headlamp. The bay with the
lifepod was a few steps ahead. Its door was shut and no one was visible in the
annex.
Nikki staggered to the rack of spacesuits on
the wall by the airlock. She selected the correct size and clambered into the
bulky spacesuit, balancing against the juddering of the ship. Pulling an
emergency kit from the shelf, she entered the inner airlock and fumbled at the
door handle of the lifepod. She flung the door open, climbed into the cabin and
dropped into the pilot’s seat. Panting with relief, she looked around. Where
was everybody? The lifepod was sized for six people. She must be the first to
reach its safety. Surely Alita and Karl would arrive soon. She had left them in
the gym only minutes before the alarm sounded.
Uncertain of her best course of action, Nikki
waited in the lifepod. She didn’t want to leave anybody behind. Involuntarily,
she touched her chest where her data stick hung on a chain under her overalls.
She always carried a copy of all the files and software for her research in a
pendant shaped like a spiral shell. Once she reached Europa Station, she would
be ready to set up her lab.
The incessant blare of the alarms revved up her
stress level until the wait seemed interminable. At last, she heard voices
outside and a scrape at the door. It swung open and Roy stumbled into the
cabin, his right arm hanging limply at his side. Alita and Petris followed,
already in their suits and carrying helmets. Petris toted an extra spacesuit
over his shoulder.
“This section is sealed off,” Petris said,
between pants of breath. “The hull must be breached in three or five.”
Tears poured down Alita’s pale cheeks. “I don’t
know what happened to Karl,” she moaned. “He’s behind the barrier. When we left
the gym, he went to section five to fetch a snack from the food dispenser.”
“Did you see anyone else?” Nikki asked.
A groan from Roy, and negative shakes of the
head from the other two confirmed her suspicions. They were the only ones to
reach this lifepod.
Clamping down her fears, Nikki took charge. She
pointed at Alita. “Get Roy a pain killer and find a bandage for his arm. He’ll
need help with his suit.”
“What about Karl? Can’t we wait?” Alita
whispered.
She silenced Alita’s faint objections. “Karl is
probably in a lifepod in the next section. We’ll meet him on Europa.” Once they
launched from the ship, their target was obvious. They were close to their
destination and the lifepod had enough fuel to reach Europa.
“Does anyone know what happened to the ferry?”
Petris asked.
Flipping on the intercom to the bridge of the
Solar Spirit, Nikki said, “Let’s find out.”
The raucous tones of the emergency system rang
out, “Warning! Hull breached in sections five and six. Air pressure low,
entering danger zone. Damage reported from sections seven and nine. Evacuate
breached sections.”
Nikki punched the code for the bridge, and then
engineering, without receiving any response. She decided, “We’ll wait five
minutes, and then we’re shooting into space.”
Behind her, Alita was helping Roy into his
suit, while Petris checked the supply cabinets.
“Helmets on,” Nikki ordered, “and don’t forget
to switch on your mikes.”
His helmet clicked into place, and Petris
grinned at her through the faceplate. His voice filtered through her ear plugs,
“All secure, Captain Bell.”
Counting the minutes under her breath, Nikki
interrupted the repeating alarm call, “I’m lifting off in two minutes.”
Scanning the faces of her companions, she made a swift decision. “Petris,
you’re navigator. Plot a course to Europa Station.”
Sliding into the seat next to Nikki, Petris bent
over the control pad and tapped in the codes. “You got it.”
Nikki continued, “Alita, look after Roy. Help
him buckle up in the rear seat.” Checking that her crew members were seated
with harnesses fastened, she hit the starter.
The lifepod hatch opened in the hull, revealing
the storm bands of Jupiter. The size of a tennis ball, the gas giant’s red and
yellow stripes gleamed against the black of space. Ejecting on auto, the
lifepod eased out of the hatch and steered away from the bulk of the large space
ferry.
Petris whistled. “Look at the size of that
frikking hole.”
“I can’t look!” Alita squealed, clapping her
hands over her faceplate.
A jagged tear ran along the side of the Solar
Spirit, and Nikki wondered if anyone had survived in the ruptured sections. The
passengers’ cabins were in section six and the crew slept in nine. Anyone
asleep in their hammock would have little chance to escape. She nibbled her
lower lip, knowing she had no way to help. “What
on Earth smashed into the Spirit?”
“Something big and fast,” Petris muttered. “An
asteroid or stray moonlet.”
Nikki swung round and frowned at her navigator.
“How in styx did the sensors miss an a object of that size?”
Petris groaned, “There’s a blind spot. Sensor
on the blink in the stern. We planned to fix it while the ferry was in orbit
round Europa. Stupid mistake, though I shouldn’t say it. Captain made the call
to delay repairs.”
“Understandable. Space walking’s risky,” Nikki
said, aiming to soothe him. Emotional outbursts would heighten their stress and
might lead to further dangerous errors. Alita was already close to hysterical
with worry about Karl.
“We should have fixed it.” Punching the console
with his fist, Petris snapped, “Styx! We’ll be blacklisted by Flux Space. It’s
their first serious loss since they started a regular service to the outer
planets.”
“How long is that?” Nikki asked.
Petris shrugged. “Five years, if you don’t
count the seven years of construction runs.”
“I’d call that a success, going so long without
a major accident.”
Taking manual control, Nikki steered the small
craft around the vast hull of the ferry. The bulbous cargo section was intact,
but the crack in the hull extended into engineering. She shook her head, and
tried the intercom to individuals. When she had almost given up, a ping came
from the bridge and she opened the channel.
“Hello, lifepod eight, who’s there?” the voice
stuttered.
“Chief Scientist Bell with Techs Farren,
Steinhelm and Wong. What’s the damage?”
“First Officer Cummings at the helm. We’ve
several problems. Captain’s injured. Chief engineer noticed a glitch in the
deflector field just before the ferry was hit. The drive shut down. We’re on
emergency life support. Gabby’s checking the generator. Sections one, two and four
are habitable.” His breath caught in an audible groan. “By frikking bad luck,
we’ve lost our third shift crew. They were sleeping in their cabins when the
section lost air. The rest of the crew is searching for survivors.”
“What’re your orders for us? Roy…Tech Wong has
a broken arm.”
“Head for Europa Station. They have medics.
Ours will be busy. Steer well clear of the Spirit. We’ll be deploying the solar
wings to power life support.”
“What will you do?”
“Round up the survivors and count our losses.
Passengers can ship out in the lifepods. The ferry can limp along with a small crew.
We have to save the cargo. Europa Station is low on supplies. We’ve sent them a
message.” He groaned. “Our best estimate is their shuttle will take thirty
hours to arrive here.”
“Okay. Good luck!” Shutting off the com, Nikki
turned to her companions. “You heard Cummings. We’re flying to Europa.”
As they angled toward the yellow and
orange ball of Jupiter, another lifepod
emerged from the opposite side of the ship and sped in the same direction.
Frowning at the controls, Petris said, “The
course is set. We’ll arrive at the moon in twenty-eight hours and eleven
minutes.”
“Time to relax and enjoy a delicious protein
bar,” Nikki joked.
“I’ve got the channel open to Europa Station.
Do you want to speak to them?”
Leaning over to grab the mike, Nikki called,
“Hello Europa Station. This is lifepod eight departing from the ferry, Solar
Spirit. Do you hear me?”
“Hello, lifepod eight. Com Officer Patel
speaking. We heard the emergency SOS from the transport ferry. What’s your
status?”
Nikki named the personnel on board, and added,
“Tech Wong needs medical help for a broken arm. I’m requesting permission to
land at Europa Station.”
“We’re on alert for three lifepods. The Station
is on the moon’s side facing away from Jupiter. Aim for the black and white
circle around our hatch. It’s marked in flashing green lights after dark. We’ll
open the hatch when you’re overhead. Land on the platform and we’ll lower you
through the tunnel to the Upper Station. Keep an eye out for turbulence.
Jupiter’s in an active phase.” The submarine station had been constructed under
the ice crust in the relative warmth of the ocean.
“Okay,” Nikki said.
After they had traveled for about an hour, a
third lifepod appeared in the rear viewer. Presumably another set of passengers
bound for Europa.
During the tedious voyage to their destination,
Nikki had plenty of time to agonize over her losses. Without news of the other
passengers, she wondered who had survived the collision. After two years on
board, she knew them all, some better than she wished. The senior scientists,
two astronomers, Cleo and Ahmed, the geophysicist, Bernard, and their
assistants, all eager to study Jupiter and its moons at close quarters. She
chewed her lower lip. Alita, Roy and Petris were safe for the present, but the
fate of the Sci Techs, Prya and Karl, was in question.
Greta and Denton were replacements for the
techs rotating out of Europa Station. Penny and Jeremy, her ten-year-old son,
were joining her husband on the Station. Then, there was Greggor Falconer, the
reclusive agent for Flux Space Ventures, who spent most of his time buried in
engineering. Three Belters had joined the ferry when the Solar Spirit docked at
Ceres. Stig, a lanky young man from a mining family, and Clem, his very
pregnant wife, were traveling to the Medical Center on Europa Station. Europa
and Mars had the only full-scale hospital facilities outside of Earth. Howie, a
disgruntled prospector with a lame leg, was on his way back to the colony on
Mars. Had they survived the collision? Surely, some of them must have escaped
in the two other lifepods.
Alita’s whiny voice interrupted her thoughts,
“What about the others? Do you think they’re alive?”
“You heard Cummings,” Nikki said. “And we’ve
seen two lifepods leave the ferry. We’ll learn more after we reach Europa.” She
refused to speculate when her assistant was already distraught over Karl’s
absence.
“The Station will be on alert to receive
casualties,” Petris remarked. “It may be frikking messy for several days. Can’t
imagine their Med facility is designed to serve more than a couple of
patients.”
“Blasted catastrophe!” Switching to a less
sinister topic, Nikki grumbled, “I wanted a peaceful life studying the alien
organisms in the oceans. Now, we don’t know when we’ll be able to dive and we
might have lost the frikking lab equipment.”
“Don’t you even care about people?” Alita
wailed. “Is nothing more important than your research?”
Roy spoke up, “Calm down, Alita. Can’t you see
that Nikki’s only trying to distract us?”
“She doesn’t have a missing partner,” Alita
sniffed.
“I care,” Nikki muttered though clenched teeth.
The accusation rankled, although she realized her friend had unconsciously
delivered a crueler barb than she intended. Alita had never met Simon. After
three years, Nikki believed she had worked through her grief, although she had deliberately
shunned intimate liaisons on the voyage. The close quarters of the ferry made
it impossible to go through a flirtation and subsequent breakup in any privacy.
She said, “I’m sure we can rely the ferry crew
to rescue our friends. Even if they abandon the Solar Spirit, we can retrieve
our stuff later.” Her small cabin held a few precious souvenirs of her life on
Earth, her father’s medals from the war her mother’s wedding ring, and the
engagement ring from poor Simon. She had kept the ring as a bittersweet memento
of three months of bliss with her fiancé. In the years since his death, she had
crushed her grief under the burden of her work and grown fascinated by the
mysterious inhabitants of Europa’s oceans. Besides her personal possessions,
she might have lost the instruments and research supplies for her
investigations of the Europan lifeforms. And, possibly an assistant for her
research if Denton had been trapped in the damaged sections.
Nikki had promised to keep her mentor, Astrid
Andersen, informed, but she was reluctant to call until they arrived at Europa
Station. Astrid could do nothing from her office on distant Earth. In any case,
as Chief of Xenobiology on Mars, Dr. Andersen would be among the first to learn
of the disaster on the Solar Spirit. Once they were safe, Nikki vowed to send
her a report on the accident and describe the conditions at the station.
As they approached, Jupiter expanded into a
giant striped sphere, dominating the sky like a festival balloon. Nikki stared
in fascination at Jupiter’s swirling storms. Giant vortices spun within the
bright bands, eerily beautiful and deadly. The lifepod veered towards the moon
of Europa, faintly visible as a tiny disk in front of a stormy yellow band. The
radiation sensors shot into the danger zone, and she hoped the shielding was
sufficient protection for the flight to the buried station.
Soon they zoomed over the pale landscape of the
moon, crisscrossed with ruddy lines. The zebra-striped circle of their target
appeared in the distance, conspicuous against the glistening surface ice.
Pointing a gloved finger at the target, Petris
quipped, “Welcome to our new home.” He adjusted their flight path, angling
lower until Jupiter vanished below the curved horizon.
“We’re not there yet.” Alita shook her head,
her face scrunched in worry.
“It won’t be much longer,” Nikki said. “Call
the Station, Petris. Tell them we’re in visual range and ask for landing
instructions.”
“Will do.” Petris keyed in the frequency.
A high-pitched whine pierced the air. Their
small craft juddered and the drive stuttered to a stop. Spinning out of
control, they plummeted toward the ice.
“What is it?” Alita cried, gripping the arms of
her seat.
“Turbulence,” Nikki said, recalling the Com
Tech’s warning. She leaned toward the monitors, watching their altitude
decrease, while Petris wrestled with the manual controls.
“It’s not working,” he shouted. “Feels like the
tiller’s jammed. Styx!” He hammered on the lever.
A white peak loomed closer.
“Prepare to eject!” Nikki yelled over the
screech of the overloaded engines. Wearing their full suits, they could survive
on the surface for several hours, long enough for a rescue shuttle to arrive
from the Station.
They whirled past a huge pillar of ice. Eerie
yellow lights played across the glistening vertical surface. Inside the cabin,
Alita unfastened the straps holding Roy in his seat. Taking Roy’s good arm, she
tugged him into the airlock and jumped out. Their suits shot down. Seconds
later, two parachutes ballooned. Their descent would be visible from the
Station.
“I’ve got it!” Petris thumped on the panel and
held up his thumb.
Too late! Glancing out the viewer, Nikki saw a
solid wall of ice. She screamed and hit the ejection switch.
Impact!
White exploded in all directions. Wind whistled
and she blacked out.