My Europa: Part 1

My Europa

by T. M. Strait

1

What an icebreaker!  Nautilus IV had achieved its major goal, beginning to penetrate the layer of ice that covered much of Europa's surface.  Dr.  Arjun Chopra looked anxiously at the time delayed pictures coming across the huge video screen at NASA headquarters in Houston.  He and about a dozen other scientists who had been vital in planning this mission were standing, willing the Nautilus IV to break through.

It seemed ridiculous to try to telepathically control something that was 390 million miles away, and what you were seeing had actually happened roughly 43 minutes ago.  Nevertheless, it was hard to keep in check the human desire to control and influence.  They couldn't do much about what they were seeing.  They had long ago ceded control to the sophisticated robotics that were at the heart of the Nautilus IV.

"C'mon, Nautilus!  You can do it!", urged Dr. Rose Piper, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, as if to focus more intently on the screen, moving aside the curly blonde hair that had fallen in front of her face.  She was short and heavy set, with a beautiful face and porcelain features.  Arjun admired her greatly, even though he was afraid to express that admiration.  He was tall, skinny and awkward, and far too shy to have much success with the opposite gender.

"You do realize by now that it's either happened or not.  There's nothing we can do about it," chimed in Dr. Dwayne Morgan, the team computer expert, who looked more like a linebacker than a scientist.

"We carefully selected this location, Dr. Piper," said Arjun.  "Landing in a chaos region, specifically Conamara Chaos, offered the most promise for a breakthrough.  The last probe around the Europa, the '29 Galileo Expedition, showed that this is where the layer of ice is the thinnest.  Add in the observed recent eruptions of water vapor plumes, and we have a perfect place for Nautilus to determine what kind of ocean lies beneath the surface."

"Look!" cried out Rose.  "It's breaking through!"

Oh, my God!  It was happening!  The ice had cracked and the water was spewing up around Nautilus' powerful drill.  They all broke out into applause!  Rose hugged Arjun, and he couldn't help but place one hand on the back of her head, touching her wonderful blonde hair.  He drank in the odors of her strawberry peach shampoo, and it was almost more intoxicating than the Nautilus preparing to descend into Europa's ocean.

It was only an hour later that they stood in open-jawed wonder at the sights they had seen.  Somebody had to be told.  And eventually, when the whole world knew, nothing would ever be the same.