Europa Mon Amour

Chapter 17

The creatures were very close. If I didn’t get her loose right now, we would become food. I finally decided to pull with all my might to free her. It worked, but we ended up sliding backwards and bouncing.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked me. “There’s no need for both of us to die.”

“I am not leaving you here,” I told her. “We’re either going to both live or die here together.”

I took hold of her and literally dragged her along to the shuttle. I had to struggle like the devil to get her up and into the shuttle. Once I got her in a seat, I slid into the pilot’s seat and fired the engines. I could hear the creatures trying to punch through the outer hull of our shuttle, and I believed that they could actually do it. If that happened, we would be toast.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “The ship is not in position to make a rendezvous.”

“I don’t care,” I said. “We have to get off of this hell hole.”

The shuttle blasted up off the surface and I took it into an orbit above Enceladus to wait for the main ship to return, but the problem became a bit more critical.

“I think that some of those things hitched a ride on our shuttle,” I said, pointing to a camera view of the shuttle’s bottom section.

“I hope they can’t get in here,” Marie said, grimacing.

“You’re hurt, aren’t you?” I said.

“I think my leg is broken. It hurts like hell.”

“Try an injection of pain meds,” I said. “That’ll keep it under control until I can get you back to the ship.”

“Bless you for saving me,” she said as she activated an internal injection system.

“I owed you one,” I said. I paused for a moment before telling her the truth. “I’m kidding. I would never leave you to die alone. I love you too much to do otherwise.”

She offered me a smiling grimace. “I’d kiss you, but I don’t think that’s possible in spacesuits.”

I chuckled, but it was a nervous attempt to calm myself.

“What are we going to do about the hitchhikers?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. The ship should be coming near soon. I’ll think of something.”

Actually, I wasn’t sure what I could do. It would take quite a bit of force to knock them off the shuttle and unless we do, we can’t go back to the ship. I had to think of an idea. There is no other option.

The ship soon appeared in its prescribed orbit. I began maneuvers to get the shuttle up in front of the ship near the shuttle bay. When I had the shuttle within a hundred meters, I was ready to try my crazy plan.

“COMA, we have a problem. We’ve acquired some hitchhikers on our shuttle. They’re very tenacious crustacean-like creatures that are endemic to the planet. We must get rid of them before we can move the shuttle into the bay. What would you suggest?”

“I could shoot them off using the asteroid avoidance system, Ryan, but a miss could be fatal to you.”

“I understand, but it has to be done. I will rotate the shuttle in order for you to get the best shot for each creature.”

“I am preparing the avoidance laser system, Ryan.”

“Thanks, COMA.”

“Anything for you, Ryan dear.”

Marie looked at me. “What the hell?”

“Must be the programmers idea of a joke,” I said while giving her a placating smile.

After I got the shuttle turned so that the bottom faced the ship, COMA went to work picking the creatures off one at a time. The laser beam struck like a rifle bullet, hitting the creature and knocking it into space. I waited patiently until COMA had cleared all of the creatures on the bottom before I turned the shuttle to one side so that she could knock more of them off. This procedure took more than an hour, but soon COMA had a report.

“I have knocked off all of them, Ryan, except for one that is wedged in a landing strut. You will have to do that one manually.”

“Thank you, COMA. I will prepare for an EVA.”

“How are you going to get rid of it?” Marie asked. “You don’t have a weapon.”

“That’s true, but I do have a trump card.”

“What?”

“I have a Sample Collection Container. Those SCC’s have a powerful shocking device. If I could stun it long enough to get it into the container, that would solve two problems.”

“Two problems?”

“Yes. I would eliminate the danger and get one for the military. I’m sure that what they sent us here for.”

“If I ever get back, I’ll give them a piece of my mind.”

“First, we have to get back on the ship,” I said. “Then we’ll deal with what to tell those bastards.”

I evacuated the shuttle in preparation for an EVA, but before I went out I grabbed a SCC and a restraining cable. If I screwed up and drifted away, Marie was in no condition to rescue me.

I opened the hatch and took one more look back at Marie to give her a thumb up. She did the same even though she had trouble moving. I could see that she was still suffering pain but there was nothing I could do about it until we got back into the ship.