leans even closer, gazing deep into her blue eyes and whispers, “I have never been more serious in my life!”
“COMMANDER!”
They both jump a bit, as they hear Lieutenant Glover calling for Commander Hicks. “Commander, we’ve lost communication with torpedo probe two. We started receiving some major seismic activity readings from the instruments a few minutes ago, and now then they just stopped sending data. We haven’t received a heartbeat signal for over two minutes now, from any of the instruments, or the torpedo probe.”
“Does that mean it’s stopped drilling?” Hicks asks, not sure he really wants to hear the answer. He makes his way from the commode up to the command deck as quickly as he can.
“Hard to say. Not necessarily. It could just be the radio link, or… the entire probe may have malfunctioned. It just went dark, so we’re not getting any data at all.”
Turk climbs up to the command deck, to join the two of them to look at the readings. Glover swipes his finger on the small display screen that he is sitting at, which instantly moves the data from his small screen, onto a much larger display screen on the wall. Data graphs show a big spike in seismic activity in that area just a few minutes ago. An alarm display is glaring out the words
'
Signal lost > 2 min
'
in bright red letters.
“Shit!” Hicks yells, striking his hand on the console. “Well, let’s hope it is just a communication glitch.”
“Yeah, Juliana and I have 100 credits riding on this,” Turk jokes, trying to lighten the mood.
Hicks just gives him a nasty glare, not thinking it was funny at all, and then booms, “well, you two better get your bio-suits on, you’re going out a little early today! Fedoseev, you and I will suit up right after and head out to ours; I don’t trust some of these damn remote sensors.”
Turk looks down to the deck below, down to where Juliana is still sitting and raises his eyebrows, as if to say so much for a leisurely breakfast and a private talk.
Chapter 10: Seismic Activity
T he rover driven by Turk flies over the lip of the groove where their torpedo probe is located; the low gravity allows it to go airborne for a few seconds. Juliana grabs Turks arm and says, “Jeez, take it easy there cowboy.” Turk just lets out a soft devilish laugh and gives her a childish look.
Juliana rolls her eyes while shaking her head and then asks, “so… do boys ever grow up?”
“Only the boring ones!” Turk retorts.
As the rover approaches the drilling site they can see that something isn't right. They should be able to see the support rig for the torpedo probe, sticking up into the air, but they can't. The area is also very shiny, much more so than it was yesterday.
Turk comments to Juliana, “what the hell… this whole area seems very shiny… and smooth. Was it like this yesterday? Is it just a difference in the angle of the Sun?”
Before Juliana has a chance to answer she simply points and screams: "PATRICK, WATCH OUT!!"
Turk was looking way up ahead, failing to notice a problem directly in front of them. What was a flat approach yesterday now had a large drop-off where apparently the icy surface has cracked and became uneven. Turk hits the brakes hard, locking up all four wheels on what is now a smooth glassy surface, like a skating rink. The rover tops out at only 15Kph, but on this smooth surface, and with the low gravity, the tires are just sliding like skis. Sensing the rover starting to spin clockwise, he releases the brakes to regain control.
“There’s no stopping her now,” Turk yells frantically into the com so Evans is prepared. “We are going over that drop off! Better to go over straight-on than flipping over sideways! Brace yourself!”
He hits the accelerator again to actually pick up some speed, and then they go airborne again. Evans gasps and grabs tightly ahold of a handle. The drop off is nearly two meters down, and even with the lower gravity the rover hits
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