The dark side of Europa

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. It is day 2,191 on board the Nova, our mission is to reach Europa. Europa is one of Jupiter's moons. Due to its abundant liquid water, energy and the right chemical elements it is one of the best places in the solar system to seek present day life beyond our Earth. According to leading scientists Earth will be uninhabitable in 30 years. We are the second mission to go out in hopes of finding a viable option for habitation. We have set our sights on Europa as a possible option, but it does not come without caveats. Everyone knows that the surface of Europa is protected from the radiation emitted by Jupiter but there is still some radioactive activity on its surface, however underneath its crust is a living ocean. All of us are cautiously optimistic moving forward with the mission. I am the lead biochemist in charge of testing soil samples from Europa hoping to find organisms that will provide a better picture of Europa's atmosphere. There is a team of 5 of us working together to understand Europa's atmosphere, soil, and chemical compositions. Our work will determine if Europa works as our new home. This journey is being led by Captain Ryne, a former army general. There is a strong military presence on the Nova, which makes this feel more like a military operation than a discovery one.

Today, day 2,191 we are approaching Europa. We all gather in the main communications deck where we are looking at the 75-inch screen that is broadcasting everything as it's happening, everything is quiet, we are witnessing history in the making and the gravity of that thought fills the room. Europa is in our sight now, seeing her takes my breath away. She is a beautiful, blue sphere that we have been waiting to meet for the last six years. We are all holding our breath as we see the Turtle Rover being used by the extraction team deploy. Touchdown. It starts moving on the rocky surface to the spot that had been marked earlier by the extraction team. It starts drilling, and we can hear the chatter of the team handling the Turtle Rover. Time feels like it is standing still.

"We are in, we have broken through the surface," says one of the team members.

We cheer as the rover begins to collect samples of rock and liquid efficiently. The rover is done and is now making its way back to the Nova. The team safely brings the Turtle Rover back onto the ship and begins protocols to sterilize it. We have to wait for the radioactive activity to reach 100 microR/hr. which are safe levels to be around. I am excited to get started on testing. This is the most important thing I have done in my life and if this work proves successful, we will go down in history as being the group that changed the world. We are all under immense pressure, but we are being motivated by something bigger than ourselves-the future of our species.

"We have the latest reading on radioactive levels" Captain Ryne's commanding voice comes on over the intercom breaking me from my thoughts.

"We are good to go, Doctors make your way to the lab Alpha team will bring you samples."

We all move towards the lab. Our lab is equipped with all the latest technology, a contamination room, beds, showers as if we are expected to call this home for a while. Many of us will call this home, especially the workaholics. I count myself as one, I have a reason- it's growing inside of me. No one on the ship knows this. This caught me off guard as I had been told various times that I would never get pregnant. Telling a woman that she cannot do what her body is programmed to do is the most hurtful thing, it's alienating and depressing. My last relationship ended because he wanted what I could not give him yet; here I was pregnant with a colleague's child traveling in space and working on an assignment that had so many things at stake.

I walk into the lab where Mozart's Piano Concerto 21 is playing, it's our favorite piece to listen to while working. Everyone is quietly sitting at their stations dressed in hazmat suits for protection. I go to put mine on and am met by my assistant Riley.

"Dr. Michael's, I just started cataloging some samples," he says as I make my way to our workstation.

"How many samples do we have?" I ask him as I get my Olympus microscope set up.

"We have 60 dry ones, and we have 40 liquid ones, I just started on the dry one's boss."

"Thanks Riley," I say as I grab for the first set of samples. I start with sample 001.A I grab it with a pair of medical tweezers, mix it with distilled water and put it under the microscope. There is nothing in the sample to indicate life. This is not a good start. I keep grabbing samples, nothing, I let out a frustrated breath.

"Take it easy Einstein," I hear my colleague Mark's voice coming from behind. He is a virologist, looking for viruses and bacteria existent on Europa. He has a habit of calling me that because I graduated first of my class and was the first team lead Doctor on these discovery missions.

"Easy for you to say," I tell him, smiling at him. "The clock is not ticking as fast for you as it is for me." Which is the truth, soil is the most important element because it will be what we can use to grow things on Europa and if there is nothing in the soil that indicates we can then this mission will be a failure.

"Julia, you look tired, maybe you should take a break," Mark says, his blue eyes looking at me with concern. I love looking in his eyes, I feel an overwhelming sense of home when I do.

"I am fine Mark, thanks for your concern." I grab some more samples.

"Okay, I get it important work" he says while emphasizing this in air quotes." If you need me, I'll be over there, working on important work too" he says pointing over at his workspace. I ignore him as he walks off. We finished work for the night, so far none of the samples we tested are proving viable which is disappointing. We are making our way to the nearest space station where we will stock up on fuel and supplies and start our trip home. Hopefully somewhere along the trip I will find something that is promising, something to give us all hope. I wake up drenched in sweat from the same nightmare I have been having for the past two weeks. I am running down a long hallway being chased by something I cannot see, it's hungry and dangerous. I need to get to the end of the hall so that I can open the door that is there. I almost make it to the door when I feel scratches on my back that tear it open, and I can feel blood running down my back. The pain is so excruciating that I gasp for air. I am sitting up in my bed feeling my back fully expecting to find the scratches and blood, but they aren't there. This is the first time that the pain I feel in my nightmare transfers over into reality. We are exhausted past the breaking point; it seems that Europa might not contain life after all. I don't understand it- it had all the elements required for life, we had studied it for years and this is why we had determined it to be a prime location. Is it dormant? Did we go at the wrong time? I have to find something and having this nightmare is not helping my mental state. I am getting careless which is something I cannot afford. On top of this my pregnancy is starting to affect me. I am getting moodier, hungrier, tired perhaps that is why I am having these nightmares. I am in the lab. I am the first one here today, we have made it to the space station. Finally, a change of scenery, hopefully it will be just what I need to get inspired.

We dock, I want to leave the lab, but something tells me that I should stay. Riley walks in. "Good morning boss," he says to me while putting on his hazmat suit. "Good morning, Riley." "Boss, I have a good feeling about today," he says confidently. "That makes one of us," I raise my voice at him. "I don't care about feelings, I need facts, I need data, and so far, all I have is zero...nothing...not a damn thing." He looks at me quietly damn these pregnancy hormones. "Jesus Riley, I am sorry, I am just stressed out." "I understand," he says as he makes his way to our workstation. He logs onto his computer and starts typing. Mark walks in.

"Good morning, my two favorite scientists!" Neither one of us answer him. "Nothing...okay... that bad already?" "Don't want to talk about it Mark," I tell him frustrated looking at the newest sample." Riley", I say trying to hide the excitement in voice "Come look at this!" Swimming in the distilled water is a single celled organism. He moves towards me and looks at the sample. "Dr. Michael's this is amazing! There is activity... there's activity!" He says as he is rubbing the back of his head in disbelief. I smile and nod. Finally! It feels like the first step in the right direction. "Mark, come look at this!" I say to him now the excitement is all over my voice. He looks at the sample. "It's amazing just look at it, it's alive, it's beautiful!" Mark says as he looks away at the sample to look at me letting his last line sink in. I start to blush. "Yes, Dr. Roberts it is," I try to convey a level of professionalism because Riley is in the room."

Riley grabs the sample from me so that he can put it into our database and put it away in our temperature regulated specimen cabinet. The first sample to go in with promise. He is so excited that as he rounds the corner, he bumps into a desk dropping the sample. "No!" I yell as I get the spill kit to contain the spill. Mark takes it from me and puts it over the spill. "Boss, I am sorry!" Riley says ashamed. "Riley, we had it, tell me we have more from where this came from!" "Yes, we do" he points over to where more of the sample is located. That is when I see the tear in his hazmat suit- shit. I look at Mark, and he looks at me immediately, understanding the severity of the situation. "Oh man," Riley says, fear fills his voice as he sees the tear. Mark starts moving Riley quickly into the containment room. I follow behind them. Riley is in the room as I push the button for decontamination to start." Dr. Michael's I am so sorry," he says in a panicked voice." Don't be, it's fine we have more of that sample." The sterilizing mist is done, and Riley is standing in the room looking like a scared little boy.

" Dr. Michael's," I hear Captain Ryne's voice at the camera by our lab door. "What is going on? We got reports of an alarm going off in the lab."" Riley, stay here." I tell him as I walk to the door and open it. Captain Ryne storms in." We are fine," I try to reassure Ryne, stopping him from going any further since he is not dressed appropriately." Is there something wrong with the samples?" He asks as he scans the room." No, they are fine. Riley just had an accident." Ryne's eyes narrow as he sees Riley in our contamination room and Mark standing on the outside." What happened?" He asks me." Riley, bumped into the corner of the desk that is by the containment case and cut open his hazmat suit. I just finished decontaminating him." Riley waives meekly at Ryne. Ryne stays quiet. I can see his thoughts in his eyes." Well, that's a damn shame Doctor, you know what this means." "I do,"' Riley, Mark, and I will have to stay in this room for 48 hours of observation." Damn it, Julia! We cannot make any more mistakes; we cannot jeopardize this mission!" This is the first time Ryne has called me by my first name, it feels weird hearing him say it with such casualty- I don't like it. "I understand, Captain, I assure you there will be no more mistakes." He looks at me like he is not very convinced. He nods silently and walks out of the lab.

"Well, that went well," Mark says sarcastically. I look at him sternly. This is a mess but at least I have a living sample. I go to get more of it and start working on it. Mark goes to his station to analyze this same sample for bacteria or viruses that might look like ones that we have on Earth. Time flies and before we know it, it's close to midnight. Riley is asleep in the contamination room. I want to keep going. The excitement of today has fueled me but I have to stop and get rest. I go to one of the beds that is in our lab and pass out.

I am running again down the hall- the same nightmare, I get to the door, something scratches at my back and blood starts running down, I can feel its warmth, I am in immense pain I fall to the ground, and I look up and see what is attacking me. It's Mark, but he doesn't look like Mark. He looks beastly, his blue eyes are red, and his suit is all torn. His skin is a sort of gray green color and the veins on his body are black. His eyes are void of anything other than the intent to kill me. He moves in to attack me and I wake up yelling." Julia," Mark is next to me." Wake up, you are having a nightmare." He says to me soothingly like a parent does to a child who is having bad dreams. He will make a good father. I open my eyes. "Mark," I say to him, grabbing him, inspecting him to make sure that he does not have any markings from my dream." Hey, yeah, it's me," he says softly, grabbing my face." I am here, you are alright. You are alright." I look at his blue eyes and breathe a sigh of relief- he's human. He's about to ask me what my dream was about when we start hearing an alarm going off from the contamination room.

We both get up fast and see that Riley is on the floor of the room convulsing. Mark and I get into our hazmat suits and enter the room. Riley's eyes are rolled up to the back of his head, and he is thrashing uncontrollably. Mark puts him on his back. Riley had taken off his hazmat suit and that is when I saw that not only had he torn his hazmat suit, but he had also torn through his sleeve. "Mark, look" I point at Riley's sleeve. Mark looks at it, and he rolls it up and finds there is a small scratch on Riley's arm. It's red like it's infected. "Mark, we've got to give him something, I think he has a fever." "Yeah, let me get something to sterilize his wound." Mark walks out and I kneel next to Riley. "Riley, you are going to be okay," I tell him trying to calm him down, I am worried about him because he's been like a little brother to me, and I feel protective of him. Mark comes back with alcohol, iodine, and a bandage. He begins cleaning the wound. "Julia, we should give him something for the fever." I nod in agreement. By this time Riley has stopped convulsing and is now resting peacefully on the ground.

"Julia, help me put him up on the bed." Mark tells me as he grabs Riley by the upper torso, and I grab his legs. He lays limp. Mark goes back out to the lab and brings two syringes one with liquid and one without. "What are you doing?" I ask him "I am going to give him some penicillin and draw his blood." "I get the penicillin but why are you drawing his blood?" "So that I can see what is causing the infection, and because this is my specialty, I might have a better way of helping him." He says to me while drawing the iron red blood from Riley's arm. He finishes with his extraction and gives Riley the penicillin. We get out of the room. There is an uneasy feeling in my stomach, and it isn't the baby, this is something instinctual, there is something very wrong. Meanwhile, in the containment room Riley's wound is now getting worse and the beginnings of black blood are slowly starting to creep up his arm like menacing vines.