Europa Mon Amour

Chapter 13

Two months after our return and we were ready to take the big step. Both Marie and I were attired in our best dress uniforms. There would be no classic wedding dress because weddings had never occurred on Hero-1 and there wasn’t enough time to import one from Earth. Besides, it would have cost more than the dress to send it up here.

The space station’s chaplain, Mr. Dinkle, married us. Adam Dinkle looked a lot like an itinerate preacher from the nineteenth century. He wore glasses, something that most people had abandoned a long time ago, and he preferred wearing a suit, not an ecclesiastical robe.

Not all that many people attended. Dr. Kensington, of course, and Marie’s father were there along with some media people. We were eighteen when we married, and that made us special. Most people wait until much later in life to marry, if they even bother getting married in the first place. In a society that values achievement, most people are too busy pursuing a career at eighteen. Marie had already obtained a PhD and a career as a professor before being drafted into the Astronaut service. I was fortunate to get accepted at an early age because it accelerated my education and the possibility of an important assignment. Both of these choices on our part paid off.

At the end of our vows, we kissed and received applause. People on Earth would soon see our wedding and wonder what we two Wunderkinds were really like or how long we would stay hitched. Most marriages fail in the first five years. Some end sooner. Most people sign nuptial agreements to avoid financial woes after a split.

We didn’t get much time for a honeymoon, not withstanding that we were not allowed to leave the space station. We immediately started training for the Enceladus mission after a short reception. NASA was making major changes to the submersible, adding a much more powerful auger to the front in order to penetrate a thicker ice layer and adding larger batteries.

Another welcomed feature was a voice for COMA. No more typing commands; we could simply speak with COMA as if it were a real person. COMA’s AI was improved to make it more sociable; although, it would not be like a real human. Its word repertoire was limited and it did not understand human emotion yet, but we welcomed this change. Having someone else to converse with would ease the boredom of a long voyage.

The launch window had been moved up. We were ready to go in six months because NASA had determined that it would take less travel time, and time equated to weight on a spacecraft. A longer mission meant that we would have to take more food and oxygen along, and that meant more weight, which consumed more fuel, all valuable commodities on a deep space mission.

Once suited up, Marie and I transferred to Delta-1A, the updated ship, and settled into the command seats.

“I can’t believe that we’re doing this again,” Marie said.

“We’re gluttons for punishment,” I said with a sly smile.

“Launch sequence has commenced,” COMA announced. “Launch in twelve point two minutes.”

We waited in silence and heard COMA make the countdown.

“Five, four, three, two, one, Ignition.”

The engines roared to life and we felt the vibrations and heard the noises as the ship slowly moved out of Earth orbit. Both of us had been on Hero-1 the entire time since the last mission. Earth was just something we could only look at and admire as our ship slowly accelerated away.

Goodbye Earth!

After about an hour of acceleration, the engines shut down and we were on our way. The first thing we did was get out of our space suits and get into more comfortable clothes, consisting of tees, shorts and flip-flops.

We returned to the command section to make sure everything was working properly.

“Everything is running smoothly, Ryan,” COMA said. “All systems are within normal parameters.”

“COMA has a sexy female voice, I see,” Marie said with an ornery grin.

“That wasn’t my idea,” I said with a mock frown.

Marie laughed.

“Display the parameters, COMA,” I said.

The larger main screen displayed all sorts of numbers and status levels.

“I’m surprised that they sent us out again,” Marie said. “We’re still very young to be going out on an important mission.”

“I’m surprised that they didn’t send a larger compliment to do more exploration on Europa,” I said. “We only scratched the surface of what’s there.”

“Even less is known about Enceladus,” Marie said. “We know it has an ocean under an ice layer like Europa and that it shoots out plumes of water from fissures, but Enceladus is relatively small in size and it’s a long way off from the sun so the source of heating is questionable. Surely, it gets some gravitational effects from Saturn and there are probably radioactive materials in the core, but no one knows for sure what’s going on there.

“This mission has to be costing a bundle,” I said. “Why would they spend so much to find out if there’s life there?”

“That’s a good question,” she said. She smiled. “I have a question for you.”

I stared at her, trying to discern the punch line. “What?”

“Why did you marry me?”

I continued to stare at her for a moment before replying. “Because I love you.”

She smiled. “Good answer.”

That made me smile.

She put her arms around me and we kissed. I hugged her and gave her a more enthusiastic kiss. Now that we were married and had months of solitude together, there was no immediate urgency for fun and games.

We put on running shoes and began running around the crew compartment wheel. Soon, I was about a meter or two ahead of her, but she put on a burst of energy and got up close to me. After an hour of running, I began to tire and she caught up, and I conceded.

“You are getting too soft, Ryan Taylor,” she said in a teasing fashion.

“And, you are getting too hard, Marie Taylor,” I said, smirking.

She did a mock pout. “No, you are supposed to get hard.”

I broke out laughing and she joined me.