breakfast bar and tosses the wrapper into the trash receptacle.
“Well, maybe. I guess I don’t see much difference,” she says back.
“Let me ask you this… do you want to find a simple macrobiotic organism, or intelligent life?” Turk asks.
“Well, jeez, there’s quite a range there. I guess I would love to find intelligent life down there – but honestly, I don’t think we will. Not here anyhow. Maybe someplace else in the cosmos. My Professor Scott and I would talk about that for hours; him quizzing me, pushing me for my opinions, kind of like what you are doing now.” She says with a playfully annoyed look on her face.
“Ah, so, it isn’t just me that finds you are holding back your true feelings sometimes!” Turk says with a look of discovery on his face.
“Ha-ha, well… I guess not,” she responds, giving up on arguing any further. Just then, they feel the ship shake a little bit and hear some loose items rattling. It is very subdued, but they can definitely detect some movement.
“Well then, there’s your shaking ground again, huh?” Turk says, as he sees Juliana’s eyes widen and look around.
“Yes, I guess so. Here…” She slides some wrappers and water cups to the side, and gestures some commands into a display screen, that is built into the table where they have been eating.
“Glover compiled the data, from the seismometer for the past 24 hours, take a look at this,” she says, pointing to some data she pulled up on the display. “There is basically constant seismic activity going on, but at low enough levels, where we usually can’t feel it. However, there are spikes from time-to-time, and some of these correspond to when I felt them. What we just felt, was probably one of these spikes.”
“So… then, is this bad… or normal?” Turk questions slowly, no longer feeling the ship shaking.
“Well, the surface probably rises up and down by a few tens of meters every day due to tides, and that is causing the seismic activity. It is normal and it is actually what’s keeping Europa warm inside, from the friction. I ran some simulations on the computer, to see if there could potentially ever be bigger quakes that may cause cracks. Basically it alleged that it is possible, but very unlikely. Actually, Thera Macula has already ruptured, so it is unlikely to happen again here.”
Turk responds, “Well, that’s good news I suppose. Plus, what are the odds of something like that happening at the exact time we are here?”
“Jeez, pretty low I imagine, but hey, don’t discount the curse! ” Juliana responds, emphasizing the word curse, saying it with a spooky inflection.
“Oh yeah, that’s true!” he responds with a smile. “Just don’t say that too loud, you don’t want to freak out Glover!” They both laugh softly and look around to make sure Lt. Glover isn’t within ear shot.
“Yes, true, I think he is really freaked out about all of that mumbo jumbo,” Evans responds and then pauses. Her facial expression changes to a cute inquisitive smirk and then she moves onto a yet another subject, a subject she has been waiting for a long time to get back onto.
“So… the other night,” she leans closer to Turk and is now talking in a low whisper. “Were you being serious? Because you’ve got me a little freaked out right now.”
He squints his eyes, as if thinking for a second, and then he gets a look on his face that says he just realized what she was talking about. He responds, “Oh… Yes, I was serious! Absolutely! That was an awesome doughnut! -- Ouch!!”
Juliana kicks his leg, “NOT THAT! Jeeeeez!” she says in a loud whisper. “Come on now, you know what I’m talking about!” She locks her eyes to his and gives him an expression that says, ‘if you make another joke I’m going to kick you where it really hurts.’
“Oh… that…” he wispers with a big smile. He grabs her ice cold hands in his and squeezes. His hands are warm and they feel good around hers. He
“Well, maybe. I guess I don’t see much difference,” she says back.
“Let me ask you this… do you want to find a simple macrobiotic organism, or intelligent life?” Turk asks.
“Well, jeez, there’s quite a range there. I guess I would love to find intelligent life down there – but honestly, I don’t think we will. Not here anyhow. Maybe someplace else in the cosmos. My Professor Scott and I would talk about that for hours; him quizzing me, pushing me for my opinions, kind of like what you are doing now.” She says with a playfully annoyed look on her face.
“Ah, so, it isn’t just me that finds you are holding back your true feelings sometimes!” Turk says with a look of discovery on his face.
“Ha-ha, well… I guess not,” she responds, giving up on arguing any further. Just then, they feel the ship shake a little bit and hear some loose items rattling. It is very subdued, but they can definitely detect some movement.
“Well then, there’s your shaking ground again, huh?” Turk says, as he sees Juliana’s eyes widen and look around.
“Yes, I guess so. Here…” She slides some wrappers and water cups to the side, and gestures some commands into a display screen, that is built into the table where they have been eating.
“Glover compiled the data, from the seismometer for the past 24 hours, take a look at this,” she says, pointing to some data she pulled up on the display. “There is basically constant seismic activity going on, but at low enough levels, where we usually can’t feel it. However, there are spikes from time-to-time, and some of these correspond to when I felt them. What we just felt, was probably one of these spikes.”
“So… then, is this bad… or normal?” Turk questions slowly, no longer feeling the ship shaking.
“Well, the surface probably rises up and down by a few tens of meters every day due to tides, and that is causing the seismic activity. It is normal and it is actually what’s keeping Europa warm inside, from the friction. I ran some simulations on the computer, to see if there could potentially ever be bigger quakes that may cause cracks. Basically it alleged that it is possible, but very unlikely. Actually, Thera Macula has already ruptured, so it is unlikely to happen again here.”
Turk responds, “Well, that’s good news I suppose. Plus, what are the odds of something like that happening at the exact time we are here?”
“Jeez, pretty low I imagine, but hey, don’t discount the curse! ” Juliana responds, emphasizing the word curse, saying it with a spooky inflection.
“Oh yeah, that’s true!” he responds with a smile. “Just don’t say that too loud, you don’t want to freak out Glover!” They both laugh softly and look around to make sure Lt. Glover isn’t within ear shot.
“Yes, true, I think he is really freaked out about all of that mumbo jumbo,” Evans responds and then pauses. Her facial expression changes to a cute inquisitive smirk and then she moves onto a yet another subject, a subject she has been waiting for a long time to get back onto.
“So… the other night,” she leans closer to Turk and is now talking in a low whisper. “Were you being serious? Because you’ve got me a little freaked out right now.”
He squints his eyes, as if thinking for a second, and then he gets a look on his face that says he just realized what she was talking about. He responds, “Oh… Yes, I was serious! Absolutely! That was an awesome doughnut! -- Ouch!!”
Juliana kicks his leg, “NOT THAT! Jeeeeez!” she says in a loud whisper. “Come on now, you know what I’m talking about!” She locks her eyes to his and gives him an expression that says, ‘if you make another joke I’m going to kick you where it really hurts.’
“Oh… that…” he wispers with a big smile. He grabs her ice cold hands in his and squeezes. His hands are warm and they feel good around hers. He
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