The journey back was both boring and interesting. Marie’s leg healed well enough that I was able to instruct COMA to increase the G-force to 0.75. We eventually settled into a routine again, much like on the journey back from Europa.
Marie seemed happy that we had survived and she was especially grateful that I had not abandoned her on Enceledus to be eaten alive. She rewarded me by strutting around minus some of her clothing, which was no big deal because we were married.
“I like you outfit, Mrs. Taylor,” I told her, smiling profusely.
“I am pleased that you like it, Mr. Taylor. I am very happy about the fact that you didn’t leave me to be eaten by those nasty creatures.”
“I would never have done that,” I told her. “You and I are forever linked together.”
She smiled and it made me smile.
That’s the way it went. We were happy lovebirds, but not everything made us happy. On a boring 384th day of our journey back, COMA had some bad news.
“I am not able to establish contact with the main engine gimbal activator, Ryan.”
Marie’s right eyebrow shot up. “What’s a gimbal?”
“COMA is referring to the mechanism that makes the engines point in different directions, basically to steer the ship.”
“What are we going to do?”
“COMA, point the rear facing camera at the activator assembly.”
The image on the main screen rotated swiftly until it stabilized.
“Focus on the activator at maximum zoon, COMA.”
The camera image magnified.
“There’s the problem,” I said, pointing at the screen. “It looks as if a small meteor or other object knocked the main cable connection to the activator assembly. The fastener looks as if it has been destroyed.”
“Why didn’t the collision avoidance system stop that?” Marie asked.
“We’re traveling at over seven hundred thousand miles per hour. The collision avoidance system is just barely able to keep up with all the shit floating around out there at that speed.”
“COMA, do we have a replacement connector in inventory?”
“No, Ryan.”
“Shit!”
Marie looked at me with wide eye panic.
“We have to find a way to make the connection,” I told her. “Without that connection, the engines won’t work and we’ll sail past Earth to God knows where at full speed.”
“What are we going to do now?”
I tapped a finger to my lips for several seconds before coming up with an idea. “COMA, display the parts inventory for the Shuttle bay charging system.”
The engineering drawings displayed with a long part’s list. I looked the list over and then touched the screen at a particular item. The item’s engineering drawing and picture expanded.
“Look at that!” I said, smiling. “COMA, would part SE-123-4956 substitute for the Gimbal Activator connector?”
“Yes, Ryan.”
I turned to her. “Are you up for an EVA?”
She gave me a determined look. “I am up for anything you want to do, Ryan.”
I stood up. “Our first task is to go to the shuttle bay and remove that connector. We don’t need it there anymore.”
We made our way to the shuttle bay through a hub wheel tunnel from the crew compartment. We had to squeeze between the back of the submersible and the shuttle wall in order to get at the connector. Marie held a lamp while I unscrewed a bolt that held the connector to the submersible charging system. That took time in zero gravity. Once freed from the connecting point, I worked to unscrew three bolts that held the connector to the cable coming from the power system.
I held it up triumphantly. “We must not loose this. It’s our only hope of getting back.”
Marie gave it a concerned look.
We made our way back to the crew compartment and then began the tedious job of getting into EVA suits. We climbed up to the hub wheel tunnel that led back to the storage unit. Once there, we strapped on MMU packs, manned maneuvering units, and prepared to go out of the ship.
I snapped a cable from my utility belt to hers.
“What’s that for?” she asked.
“That’s to make sure that we never part, my dear.”
I saw her smile inside her helmet.
I opened a hatch to the exterior of the ship. We floated up and out into space. We turned around using the MMU jets to start our slow journey to the back of the ship where the main engines were located. The ship was over a thousand meters long and looked like a plumber’s nightmare, with tanks, pipes and cables going every which way.
I avoided telling her that what we were doing was extremely dangerous. If we were hit by even a tiny speck we would be annihilated.
Once at the location of the damage, we slowed down using the MMU jets and settled into a position near the connector point, which was a large bolt sticking out of a box. While Marie held tools and the new connector, I worked to remove the damaged connector from the cable. The connector had been cut in half by the collision of a spec of material no bigger than millimeter, attesting to the violence of any collision at the speed we were traveling.
I handed the broken pieces to Marie.
“Why are you giving these to me?” she asked.
“We can’t leave anything out here to become a missile.”
She placed the two broken pieces in a bag on her utility belt and then handed me the new connector. I immediately stuck it on the bolt that stuck out of the gimbal activation box and screwed a nut onto it to secure it. I then inserted the end of the cable into the connector shaft and began tightening the bolts that held it in place.
“COMA, please test the connection to the gimbal activator.” I said a brief prayer that I had been successful.
“I am receiving a positive signal now, Ryan.”
“Thank you, COMA. We’re coming back in now.”
“Yes, Ryan.”
Marie and I used our MMU jets to head back to the storage compartment. We looked up at the magnificent view of space from our position. The Milky Way galaxy was s swath of stars and glowing gas across our view and the sun, although dimmer than normal at this distance, still dominated the solar system.
We got back into the storage compartment, removed our MMU units and made our way back to the crew compartment through the tunnel that ran through the hub of the wheel. We got out of our EVA suits and settled down for a well-deserved dinner.
“That went much better than I had imagined,” I said. “We work well together, Mrs. Taylor.”
“Yes we do, Mr. Taylor. I think we need a reward for our good work together.”
“I agree, Mrs. Taylor,” I said with a teasing grin.
She returned that gesture with interest.
YOU ARE READING
Europa Mon Amour
Science FictionRyan Taylor is a seventeen year old on a mission to Europa, a moon of Jupiter that supposedly has an ocean under its ice crust. He is teamed with a girl his age that has a mysterious past. Their mission is boring at the start but when they penetrate...
