ground rumbles sharply again and the ice platform grows ominously taller; new water is seeping out of the freshly filled-in groove. He guns it again, and it lurches a bit farther. He lets off and then guns it once again… and finally crack! - they are moving. Thump, thump, thump… they are moving but the ice frozen to the wheels is making for a bumpy ride. He follows the previous rover tracks and makes way for Eagle-2. Some of the ice starts to fly off the tires, way up into the air as he drives, making the thump-thump a little less intense; but it is still not very comfortable for his two hurting passengers.
The environmental control unit in Hicks’ suit is trying to compensate for the leak in the helmet, but it is also expending his oxygen four times as fast now. Luckily, they are only about five more minutes from Eagle-2 as Hicks probably has less than eight minutes of air left; at its current rate of expenditure.
“Fedoseev, this is Glover, do you copy?”
“Da, Fedoseev here”
“I’ve been monitoring the situation and have the air-lock chamber all set for reentry when you get here. You know it will only fit two people at a time… so you’ll have to load Hicks and Turk first, once I’ve got them then I’ll reset it for you.”
“Acknowledged,” Fedoseev responds slowly. He knew the air-lock chamber only fit two people at a time but he hadn’t really given it much thought – until now. Being stuck outside alone isn’t very appealing, but at least he’s still alive he thinks to himself.
Glover radios back again on the com, “I hope you get here soon, Eagle-2 is shaking like a son-of-a-bitch! I think we need to leave ASAP!”
“I agree with that – very much!” Fedoseev responds again, leaning forward in the rover as if that will make it go faster. “This rover going as fast as is able – yes?” he asks.
“Yes… you are maxed out already, unfortunately,” Glover responds back.
The five minutes seem to take forever and gives him plenty of time to think about being left outside, while Turk and Hicks go in first. He looks to his right and sees some more ice yielding to the power of the tremors on a distant ice mountain; sending a huge section of the ice sliding down the side and crashing at the bottom, with unbelievable force. Then he sees another and another; luckily all far enough away to not pose any immediate threat.
As Eagle-2 comes into sight he notices the first thing he saw when he set foot on Europa, the huge ice mountain that they landed near. He was in tears at its glistening beauty. Those tears of joy have now been replaced, with a pit in his stomach, as he sees plenty of ice just ready to come plummeting down to smash their only way home.
Fedoseev keeps his foot on the rover’s accelerator until the very last second and then slams on the brake, making it skid to a stop just a few meters from the ladder. Hicks has to extend his arm to the dash to keep from flying forward, Turk rolls over in the back cargo bed, still unconscious.
Hicks slowly gets out of his seat, feeling very light headed and nauseated, his ears still in excruciating pain from the fluctuating air pressure in his helmet. He was able to scrape away some ice from his visor so he could at least see a little bit. He grabs one of Eagle-2’s landing legs to steady himself, unsure if he is disoriented, or if he is still feeling the tremors. Maybe it’s both!
Doctor Fedoseev jumps into the rover’s cargo bed and picks up Turk. With the lower gravity, he is actually able to pick him up by himself, feeling kind of like a superhero. In fact, he quickly thinks back over the last 30 minutes. During that time he grabbed Turk’s feet in the nick of time, as he started to plummet down the drill hole. If it wasn’t for him, Turk would be dead as well. Without thinking (and without specific training) he hopped on the rover and figured out how to put it in reverse to save Hicks. Sure, he sort of ran him over, but no real harm done.
The environmental control unit in Hicks’ suit is trying to compensate for the leak in the helmet, but it is also expending his oxygen four times as fast now. Luckily, they are only about five more minutes from Eagle-2 as Hicks probably has less than eight minutes of air left; at its current rate of expenditure.
“Fedoseev, this is Glover, do you copy?”
“Da, Fedoseev here”
“I’ve been monitoring the situation and have the air-lock chamber all set for reentry when you get here. You know it will only fit two people at a time… so you’ll have to load Hicks and Turk first, once I’ve got them then I’ll reset it for you.”
“Acknowledged,” Fedoseev responds slowly. He knew the air-lock chamber only fit two people at a time but he hadn’t really given it much thought – until now. Being stuck outside alone isn’t very appealing, but at least he’s still alive he thinks to himself.
Glover radios back again on the com, “I hope you get here soon, Eagle-2 is shaking like a son-of-a-bitch! I think we need to leave ASAP!”
“I agree with that – very much!” Fedoseev responds again, leaning forward in the rover as if that will make it go faster. “This rover going as fast as is able – yes?” he asks.
“Yes… you are maxed out already, unfortunately,” Glover responds back.
The five minutes seem to take forever and gives him plenty of time to think about being left outside, while Turk and Hicks go in first. He looks to his right and sees some more ice yielding to the power of the tremors on a distant ice mountain; sending a huge section of the ice sliding down the side and crashing at the bottom, with unbelievable force. Then he sees another and another; luckily all far enough away to not pose any immediate threat.
As Eagle-2 comes into sight he notices the first thing he saw when he set foot on Europa, the huge ice mountain that they landed near. He was in tears at its glistening beauty. Those tears of joy have now been replaced, with a pit in his stomach, as he sees plenty of ice just ready to come plummeting down to smash their only way home.
Fedoseev keeps his foot on the rover’s accelerator until the very last second and then slams on the brake, making it skid to a stop just a few meters from the ladder. Hicks has to extend his arm to the dash to keep from flying forward, Turk rolls over in the back cargo bed, still unconscious.
Hicks slowly gets out of his seat, feeling very light headed and nauseated, his ears still in excruciating pain from the fluctuating air pressure in his helmet. He was able to scrape away some ice from his visor so he could at least see a little bit. He grabs one of Eagle-2’s landing legs to steady himself, unsure if he is disoriented, or if he is still feeling the tremors. Maybe it’s both!
Doctor Fedoseev jumps into the rover’s cargo bed and picks up Turk. With the lower gravity, he is actually able to pick him up by himself, feeling kind of like a superhero. In fact, he quickly thinks back over the last 30 minutes. During that time he grabbed Turk’s feet in the nick of time, as he started to plummet down the drill hole. If it wasn’t for him, Turk would be dead as well. Without thinking (and without specific training) he hopped on the rover and figured out how to put it in reverse to save Hicks. Sure, he sort of ran him over, but no real harm done.