The Curse of Europa by Brian P. Kayser

Author:Brian P. Kayser [Kayser, Brian P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, cookie429, Kat, Extratorrents
ISBN: 9781480252776
Publisher: Createspace
Published: 2012-12-08T00:00:00+00:00

It takes almost nine minutes for Fedoseev to reach their drill location, as it seems the rover just isn’t moving as fast as he remembered. He quickly jumps off and loads the three buckets full of ice and surface samples into the back of the rover. He checks the status of the drill. The control panel is operational and it still has a data lock with the torpedo probe, but it has been stuck at its present depth for almost 45 minutes. There really isn’t anything he can do except mutter a Russian expletive and head back to Eagle-2. He jumps in the driver’s seat and punches down the accelerator. It starts to roll forward… but very slowly and jerky. It finally picks up some speed, but just seems to be going very slow.

He jumps a little as he hears Glover on the com say “Fedoseev, I just reset the air-lock, you are clear to board.”

“Copy that Eagle-2, but a few minutes it vill be.” He responds a little hesitantly, as he didn’t tell them what he was doing.

“A few minutes? What are you doing out there?” He hears Hicks now on the com. Hicks is up on the command deck, prepping Eagle-2 for takeoff. He pulls up Fedoseev’s video feed and is surprised to see he is driving the rover.

“Vell… vhile I vaas vaiting, figured I vould grab all samples I collected.” He says sheepishly.

“FEDOSEEV! I don’t think that was a great idea! Are you on your way back now?” Hicks grunts into the com, not very happy.

“Yes, but very slow. Right now rover is not moving too fast”

Hicks gestures a few commands into his console to bring up the rover’s component status. He sees the battery is down to a 7% charge and he has a little over half of a kilometer to go. Once he hits 5% the electric motor will cut out, the rover may not make it back.

“Well, the battery is almost dead! You will - ” Hicks was saying as another jolt of seismic energy rocks Eagle-2.

Directly in front of the rover a huge avalanche of ice and snow slides down one of the ice plumes, blocking the passage. Fedoseev stops and gazes at the pile of ice rubble, while an empty pit starts to eat away at his stomach. He realizes that Hicks was right and this was not a good idea.

Hicks announces the obvious into the com, “Well, that sucks! Hold tight.” As if Fedoseev was going anywhere.

“White-Bull-2, this is Hicks. Tucker are you still there?”

“Yes Eagle-2, this is Tucker, go ahead”

Hicks and Tucker had been conversing just a few minutes before, prepping for takeoff and rendezvous procedures.

“Mark, can you zoom in tight on the rover? Is there an alternate route Fedoseev can take, to get back here?” Hicks asks.

“I’ve got him in view now. Here, I’ll send you the video feed on channel 990.” Hicks looks at the aerial feed, while rubbing his temples.

After Tucker examines it, he gives his report;

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