When I woke up this morning, I thought I'd awaken in the afterlife. I'd say Heaven, but considering the job I've done as a mother it would likely be Hell for me. It took me a few minutes later to realize I was in an oxygen chamber back up at the medical tent at drill site two.
After regaining my strength, I pushed the button to open the tank from the inside. I felt lightheaded when I sat up, but I was alive. Now that I think about it, my jumpsuit was not on when I went to sleep the night before, so I rather not think about how that got back on me.
Shortly after I sat up Lee came running in. "So, I did it right," he exclaimed. I thought he was joking but looking back he was definitely serious.
He tried to urge me to lie down and relax when I asked what happened, but it was too late. I was already up. He gently tried to gesture for me to go back to bed, but I pushed him aside. I definitely felt weak when I stood up, but with the weak gravity of Europa trying to pull me down i was able to stand on my feet,
Just as I did, and I peered out the window I no longer needed to ask about what had happened when communications went silent. It was an ice quake and from the look of the sharp shard that was pointed straight up it had been a bad one.
My jaw must have dropped because Lee began to speak about it. "It was not even an hour after we lowered you in. It was like nothing I've ever felt. There was no way to know if you and Commander Hunt had reconnected to the cable. The last thing I wanted to do was pull it back up before you found it, especially knowing with the conditions of the ice there was no guarantee I could drop it in the same position.
I looked around the medical tent to see if anyone else was there. Before I could even ask Lee said Commander Hunt had regained consciousness earlier and was in his quarters. Then he looked down at the floor. Horvat had fallen into the ice.
With that our team was down to three members. More than half of us had already perished. Unfortunately, all of them had died without ever learning the mission had been a success. Once I was feeling better Lee and Commander Hunt allowed me to be the one to inform NASA of the great news.
I had a smile on my face in the video where I confirmed there was life on Europa, but as soon as I finished shooting the video my face sank. We had lost four lives to discover there was life on Europa. Was that price worth it?
YOU ARE READING
Europa
Science FictionIn order to embark on a mission to discover alien life on the icy moon of Jupiter Maria must leave her life on Earth behind, including her father and her seven-year-old son Diego. She thought the hardest part of the mission would be saying goodbye...
