The Curse of Europa Read Online Free PDF

pressure inside of them. The visors of these helmets are also transparent computer screens that they can interact with, to control their bio-suit computers. All input and control of the computer is done entirely by optical eye tracking sensors. All they have to do is move their eyes to control the pointer, to select various options such as: checking their oxygen level, turning on and off their communication (com) unit, accessing informational databases, or to simply play their favorite music.
Once they have their suits completely assembled and all connections fastened, they enter the air-lock chamber. Once the air pressure is equalized to the extremely thin atmosphere of the moon, Hicks unlatches the hatch and opens it. A telescopic ladder extends down from the hatch automatically, until it reaches the surface below.
Hicks starts his historic climb down the ladder, which is a little tricky in his tight fitting bio-suit and large boots. He doesn’t want to slip or fall as he knows there is a camera recording his every move. The surface of Europa is extremely bright as well, making it hard to look down, until his eyes can adjust to the intensity.
He starts an audio broadcast, “This is Hicks, starting descent down to the surface. Lt. Glover, what is the mission elapsed time?”
“Mission elapsed time is 293 hours and 24 minutes.” Glover responds on the com.
Hicks continues “What a beautiful sight… we are surrounded by nearby mountainous ridges and deep gorges. It looks like it does right after an ice storm. It is very bright out here and my eyes are still adjusting to it.”
Hicks is at the bottom rung of the ladder and he pauses for a second, in a panic, as he can’t remember exactly what his line was that he was going to say when he planted his foot on the surface. Then he thinks he remembers and steps down, planting a footprint in the icy snow-dust.
“That’s another small step for a man, but it’s an even larger leap for mankind,” Hicks mutters out. He still isn’t sure if that’s exactly what he was going to say… but close enough. GSO wanted it similar to what Neil Armstrong said, as this is the first landing on a moon other than Earths’. Europa and Earth’s moon are very similar in size and have roughly the same gravity, about 15% that of Earth. Once Hicks is all the way out, he enjoys a few bounding leaps as he explores the nearby surroundings.
Fedoseev follows soon thereafter and tears up as he takes his first few steps and feasts his eyes on the stunning alien terrain at ground level. He sees the magnificently large ice mountain they landed near. His father had climbed quite a few mountains in his day and he figured he’d love to climb this one; glimmering in the glow of the Sun and of Jupiter. There are huge icy plumes shooting out of the side of the mountain; some of the massive chunks of ice seemingly suspended in mid-air.
The two men pull out some monitoring equipment from the LM and place them around the ship, and then they start their walk to payload pods 1 and 2.
     
Inside Eagle-2, Turk and Evans have put on their bio-suits; all but the helmets. Turk asks Evans, who looks a little paler than normal, “So are you nervous about this also?”
“Oh yes…” she says very fast, “nervous, scared, excided, giddy, anxious; pretty much any adjective you can think of and I’m it!”
“Well in 5 minutes, we’ll be out there, and I think the only adjective that will probably fit will be awestruck . You’ll be fine,” Turk says with a big smile, putting his forehead against hers looking deeply into her eyes. “Ready?”
“Ready sir!” she says a bit sarcastically.
He kisses her forehead, smiles, taps her once on the nose and says, “Then let’s go! Get that helmet on.”
They get their helmets on and enter the pressure chamber which then depressurizes to match the almost nonexistent atmosphere of Europa. Turk unlatches the hatch and opens it, seeing the telescopic ladder reaching down to