For a moment, Sara McClintock found it easy to forget they were over fifty kilometers from the Ant Farm's relative safety. The crew worked along the southern edge of Belus Linea, a ragged network of silicate deposits that sluiced through Europa's icy surface with the apparent randomness of an errant river. Jupiter's massive presence dominated the eastern sky and cast a purple-orange sheen across the floe. The horizon's razor edge cut through the pitch-black of deep space.
Across the ice, Lin Wi knelt to place a small package. August McGrath, another geologist, stood beside her, his white envirosuit now tinted Jupiter orange.
"Placing the charge," Lin said over the radio, her Oriental accent clipping the words.
"Copy," a voice from Mission Command came from across the ice floe. "Receiver is active."
The package housed a thin dart that, once driven into the ice, would activate a strain gauge, sonar system, and temperature sensor. A transmitter in the dart's tail would pass the data across Europa to scientists waiting at the Ant Farm. Sara carried another of the instruments and walked with Kris Callahan. Fifty meters to their left, Vernon Caray and Mustav Gapato were preparing another package. Combined, the three sensors would analyze the crust's thickness and let scientists develop mining techniques for future missions.
"Go ahead," Lin said as she stepped away from the device.
August hit the plunger.
The charge fired, and the ground shook. The vibration rumbled through Sara's boots, and a silvery plume of ice rose through thin atmosphere with a shape like exhalation from a humpback whale's blowhole.
Then all hell broke loose.
Europa's surface erupted. Silver-orange arms of frost rose up like cresting waves, and the surface swirled with scintillating shades of blue. Lin's scream was cut ominously short. Other sounds were too jumbled for Sara to decipher.
The ground crumbled under Sara's feet. She fell, dropping the instrumentation package and hitting the ice ruggedly before sliding out of control on all fours along a downward slope. A vivid blue streak undulated through the ice with a motion that distinctly reminded Sara of a sea snake, circling her and pulsing wildly as she slid.
When the shaking stopped, Sara found herself in dark shadow at the bottom of a depression formed like a giant cereal bowl. Its rounded sides of silicate-impregnated ice loomed overhead, bringing a sudden spike of claustrophobic fear. She checked her suit for damage. No rips or cracks marred the exterior, and the electronics seemed functional.
"Hello?" she said, clicking the radio.
The hollow sound of Sara's breathing echoed damply through her suit.
"Hello?" she said again.
)
