Europa (Deadverse Book 1) by Richard Flunker Page A

had been selected for the base had been studied for years by many drones. Europa was an ice moon that orbited a gas giant, and was routinely torn apart by tidal forces between the giant and the dwarf. The initial plan had been to establish a base deep under the ice in the free flowing water where the tidal forces wouldn’t have done anything to the base. The logistics of creating a base that far under ice was daunting. They would have spent two years just building the base before they would even have been able to start working on the artifact and to top it off, they’d still need a base on the surface while they built the underwater one.
    But the probes had returned a few locations that had seemingly little-to-no tidal effects. The ice was smooth, and free of the countless cracks that crisscrossed the surface of Europa. While the rest of the moon ebbed and waned and cracked under the godlike pressure of Jupiter’s gravity, a few spots remained untouched.
    The icing on the cake was that that artifact had crash landed just under one of those spots. Many on Earth didn’t think that was a coincidence.
    And yet, the icequake had happened.
    Susan sat next to some of her tomato plants. They were still sealed in their own mini domes, just in case. She had her helmet off, but right next to her. They were pretty much confined to their suits for the foreseeable future. She wasn’t about to complain.
    Everyone had been working around the clock to patch up enough domes to live in. With the missing and dead, that left just her and Cary, Crysta, Joyce, Thomas and of course, the ever-driven Ben. The mission commander had chewed her out real good, but hadn’t said a word since, not to her nor anyone else. They knew what they needed to do. But midway through the day, everyone needed a break. They ate from her vegetables and then most of them fell asleep. She would do the same, but only for a few hours. She and Thomas were going to head down to the artifact site to see how it had been affected and to see if they could bring any of the drone soldiers back. They would be helpful in the repairs.
    One quick bite and the juicy tomato slid down her throat. She sat down on the frozen ground next to Cary and the two snuggled up to each other. There would be no warmth shared between them that time, but with all the losses, the idea that she was next to someone she loved was warming enough.
    She took one more look over at Ben, who was stooped over one of the only working consoles. He was sitting on a bucket and scrolling through images and video.
    “Boss, you gotta take a break, too,” she said.
    He turned around, and she was stunned by the ragged look in his eyes. She was afraid if she looked in a mirror, she might see the same. He nodded, then looked over at the sleeping Joyce, further down the tomato row. Her head was slumped back onto the row, her brown hair spilling out into the dirt. Her mouth was wide open and she was breathing heavily. Ben wanted to say something, but held it in, then turned back to Susan.
    “Have you received any emails from Earth?”
    It was an odd question. Susan thought about it for a moment. She had been so immersed in work for weeks now, she hadn’t realized nothing had come through for her in a while. She routinely sent through data from her work, and often, back on Earth, her research group responded.
    “It’s been…” Susan kept thinking, “It’s been a while. A few weeks? Maybe more.”
    Ben had already turned back to the console. The images of the disaster were replaced by his own log.
    “No one has. We’ve been so busy we didn’t notice that Earth has gone quiet.”
    “Huh?” Susan asked. She didn’t talk too much to Joyce, or Crysta for that matter.
    “NASA, Earth, mission control. Nobody has sent us any kind of message in weeks. We’re so used to being alone up here, we failed to realize that maybe,” Ben stopped and looked up at the dome roof, looking beyond it, “Maybe, we are alone up