What Lurks Below

What Lurks Below


Sweating inside my suit, my panic taxed my respirator. Luckily, I was surveying away from the rover when it happened. Nick and Emilia…they were pulled under, taken to the bottom by who knows what.

So I ran until I almost passed out, finally stopping to catch my breath behind a berm of fractured ice, for all the good it would do. Radio communication was cutting in and out, making the phew-hiss, phew-hiss of my overworked environmental systems the only consistent sound inside my helmet. We’d only just arrived on Europa and this was supposed to be a triumph for mankind. 2042: the year we set foot on the first of Jupiter’s countless moons. There wasn’t supposed to be anything alive here. We were wrong.

“..an you here m…” my radio cackled. “Dan? Somebod…” It was Tess, back in the lander. The comm-relay was on our rover, the explorer now pulled through the ice. We definitely weren’t prepared, especially for monstrous tentacles to break through and pull us in. Nick and Emilia were still inside. “…one talk to m…” I could tell she was frantic.

My breathing slowed as I strained to calm my nerves. Our crew had no illusions about this being a safe trip. We were explorers after all and nothing about space was easy. Of course, we knew about the miles of water under Europa’s ice but even a microbe was a longshot and we definitely never expected a leviathan. I adjusted my comms and boosted the settings.

“Anyone! Can you hear me?” Tess screamed clearly into the mic.

“I’m here Tess!” I finally replied.

“Thank God! Emilia? Nick?”

“They’re gone.”

“What? What the hell do you mean they’re gone?”

“It was something…” I didn’t know how to explain it. “Something came up from below the ice. It was big. I…” I was still so shaken.

“My God.” Silence. “Your vitals are in the red. You’re in shock. Are you okay?”

“Far as I can tell.”

“Oh man,” she remarked.

“What?”

“I’m still picking up bio-signs from their suits. They’re still alive.”

“Damn. So what now?” She didn’t reply. “Tess?”

“I’m thinking.” More silence. “There’s nothing we can do. We have no idea what’s down there and aren’t prepped for drilling yet. This was just supposed to be a quick survey run.”

“We have to do something!”

“You’re the field commander,” she reminded me. “I’m open to suggestions.”

“Our suits are designed for 24 hours exposed, right? Start prepping the drill. Maybe a submersible…” The ice suddenly trembled. “What the hell was that?”

“The sheet is shifting. Get back here while you still can.”

“What about Nick and Emilia?”

“You’re no good to them dead.”

“Roger that. It’ll be a hike. I’m two miles out without a ride. On my way.” Then the ice shuddered again. My cleats dug in but really didn’t help my stability. Suddenly all at once the surface jolted and tossed me into the sky. Below me, something massive moved beneath the ice. “Shit!”

Then all at once, it disappeared. I reached the peak of my ascent and began to fall in the low gravity when the monster rushed the ice in a fury and the surface exploded. A hulking beast with broad segmented jaws opened wide, revealing a slimy toothless maw before collapsing lifelessly onto the surface. The crushed rover tumbled free and the thing never moved again.

I hit the ice and really didn’t know what to do next. Speechless by the whole spectacle, only the fizzling of my radio brought me back. Then I remembered I’d adjusted the band, so I worked the controls again. “Dan, you still there?” It was Nick. Far in the distance, the hatch exploded and two figures dragged themselves from the broken explorer.

“I’ll be damned. Are you two okay?” I headed immediately over to the wreckage, closer than I would have like to the beast.

“Yeah. But I think we both pissed ourselves,” he answered.

“Emilia?”

“I’m here.” She exhaled heavily while slumped onto her knees, probably thanking God to still be alive.

I reached them quickly enough. “You two are the luckiest sonsabitches I ever met! So, what happened?”

“Not sure,” Nick answered. “I guess we upset its stomach.”

“Who cares? Let’s just get the hell out of here,” Emilia pleaded.

“You hearin’ this Tess? Mission’s on hold. Tell NASA, we’ve got one hell of a biologic for them.”

“Leave it. Get your asses back here. We’re blasting off this ice cube.”