Read Online The Curse of Europa by Brian Kayser - Free Book Online
Authors: Brian Kayser
Tags: Science-Fiction
Ads: Link
some of the ice mountains that are surrounding them; they all look just the same as they did the day before. Then suddenly his eyes widen and he grabs for the roll bar of the rover as he feels woozy and starts to lose his balance. His hand misses, then thud, he finds himself flat on his face on the icy surface. Had it not been for the low gravity he may have been hurt badly, but besides some pain in his knees and neck, he is fine. His helmet seems to be okay and there are no alarms from his bio-suit sensors.
“Jeez, Patrick, did you feel that?” he hears Juliana on the com.
He sits up and can feel the ground shaking, rumbling actually. He realized he didn’t fall because he was woozy, he fell due to more seismic activity.
He responds to Juliana through the com, “Yeah, believe me, I felt that. And I’ve got a bad feeling about all of this; I think we need to get out of here right now! ” Turk pulls himself back up to a standing position then looks over to find Juliana. He sees her trying to stand-up, holding her arms out to her side to balance herself as the ground shakes.
“Juliana, I can’t easily turn the rover around with the steering shot, do you think you can you walk over here?” Turk asks.
“Yes… I think so. I’ve just got to catch my balance.” She replies. She is bent over with her hands to the ice to keep from falling, but then manages to stand up and start a bounding walk towards Turk and the rover.
“Good! We’ll head North for a while and then figure out how to turn this thing around.” Turk responds back.
Just as Juliana starts to walk the 60 meters to the rover, the ground really starts to shake hard and she has to stop to keep from falling, placing her hands back down on the ice. Turk sees that she is struggling and starts to walk towards her to help. He is also finding it hard to walk with the ground shaking so much.
He starts to send a message the Eagle-2, to explain what is happening, “Eagle-2, this is Turk, do you –”
Before Turk can finish contacting the ship he loses his ability to speak, his eyes widen, and his jaw drops down. He cannot believe what he is seeing with his eyes.
Chapter 11: Rain
T urk just stares in horrid amazement, as a huge chunk of ice suddenly shoots straight up into the air, being pushed up by a geyser of water. This is followed by the steaming torpedo probe, which is shot up out of the hole like a missile. After the spinning chunk of ice reaches the top of the geyser, it starts to come down, right towards Turk.
He looks up and his eyes snap wide open as he yells, “Oh… shit!” He turns and tries to run as best as he can in his bio- suit, his boots slipping on the ice. He turns to look back and sees the flying chunk of ice ready to come down directly on top of him, so he dives head first off to the side, near the rover. The huge flying iceberg just barely misses him as it smashes down to the surface, exploding into a billion pieces of ice. The torpedo probe luckily veers in the opposite direction and lands on its side, buckling the metal housing, making it look kind-of-like a broken pencil.
The exploding chunk of ice however pummels Turk and the rover with ice shrapnel, toppling the rover over and pushing it another 5 meters in a spinning motion. As Turk lays flat on the ground, he can feel chunks of ice bashing his bio- suit for an eternity it seems. Some of the bigger chunks cause excruciating pain in his legs and his back, but his bio- suit stays intact; however he is now completely covered under a mound of ice chunks. He tries to move, even an inch, but he can’t – he is pinned to the ground. He can’t see anything except the computer display embedded in his visor. He notices it is reporting a problem with his com unit, as he no longer has his usual constant com-lock with Eagle-2. Perhaps the ice bombardment damaged the antenna, he thinks to himself.
“Eagle-2… Eagle-2… do you… copy?” he says into the com with a struggle, fighting
“Jeez, Patrick, did you feel that?” he hears Juliana on the com.
He sits up and can feel the ground shaking, rumbling actually. He realized he didn’t fall because he was woozy, he fell due to more seismic activity.
He responds to Juliana through the com, “Yeah, believe me, I felt that. And I’ve got a bad feeling about all of this; I think we need to get out of here right now! ” Turk pulls himself back up to a standing position then looks over to find Juliana. He sees her trying to stand-up, holding her arms out to her side to balance herself as the ground shakes.
“Juliana, I can’t easily turn the rover around with the steering shot, do you think you can you walk over here?” Turk asks.
“Yes… I think so. I’ve just got to catch my balance.” She replies. She is bent over with her hands to the ice to keep from falling, but then manages to stand up and start a bounding walk towards Turk and the rover.
“Good! We’ll head North for a while and then figure out how to turn this thing around.” Turk responds back.
Just as Juliana starts to walk the 60 meters to the rover, the ground really starts to shake hard and she has to stop to keep from falling, placing her hands back down on the ice. Turk sees that she is struggling and starts to walk towards her to help. He is also finding it hard to walk with the ground shaking so much.
He starts to send a message the Eagle-2, to explain what is happening, “Eagle-2, this is Turk, do you –”
Before Turk can finish contacting the ship he loses his ability to speak, his eyes widen, and his jaw drops down. He cannot believe what he is seeing with his eyes.
Chapter 11: Rain
T urk just stares in horrid amazement, as a huge chunk of ice suddenly shoots straight up into the air, being pushed up by a geyser of water. This is followed by the steaming torpedo probe, which is shot up out of the hole like a missile. After the spinning chunk of ice reaches the top of the geyser, it starts to come down, right towards Turk.
He looks up and his eyes snap wide open as he yells, “Oh… shit!” He turns and tries to run as best as he can in his bio- suit, his boots slipping on the ice. He turns to look back and sees the flying chunk of ice ready to come down directly on top of him, so he dives head first off to the side, near the rover. The huge flying iceberg just barely misses him as it smashes down to the surface, exploding into a billion pieces of ice. The torpedo probe luckily veers in the opposite direction and lands on its side, buckling the metal housing, making it look kind-of-like a broken pencil.
The exploding chunk of ice however pummels Turk and the rover with ice shrapnel, toppling the rover over and pushing it another 5 meters in a spinning motion. As Turk lays flat on the ground, he can feel chunks of ice bashing his bio- suit for an eternity it seems. Some of the bigger chunks cause excruciating pain in his legs and his back, but his bio- suit stays intact; however he is now completely covered under a mound of ice chunks. He tries to move, even an inch, but he can’t – he is pinned to the ground. He can’t see anything except the computer display embedded in his visor. He notices it is reporting a problem with his com unit, as he no longer has his usual constant com-lock with Eagle-2. Perhaps the ice bombardment damaged the antenna, he thinks to himself.
“Eagle-2… Eagle-2… do you… copy?” he says into the com with a struggle, fighting
Similar Books
