Europan Holiday

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Dead air surrounded Nick. That’s what the cameras were recording. Nothing but the swirling blizzard of dark snow enveloping him. There wasn’t a spark of light out there in the gloom, and yet the lights of the space cabin had been visible only moments ago. His interior helmet cameras were no doubt getting great shots of him gaping dumbly at the blinding mass of dark snow.

“Visibility remains at zero. I don’t see any lights. No sign of the space cabin.”

He fought back a laugh that would no doubt sound hysterical if it came out. How could he have lost his way right outside the space cabin? It wasn’t gone, he just couldn’t see it.

His right hand still clutched the strap for the toolkit that was his marker. He shuffled around, carefully with the wind trying to knock him over, and tried to unwrap his glove from the strap. It wouldn’t give. He couldn’t see it, not with the exterior lights off, but it seemed as if the snow and the cold had frozen the strap to his glove.

“My glove has frozen to the toolkit strap. I’m switching back on my lights.” He reached up with his left and pushed the switches with one blunt glove finger.

His shoulder and helmet LEDs cast a bluish glow into the thick blowing snow. It didn’t improve visibility, but it made him feel better. Looking down at his glove, he could see the accumulated snow and the strap wrapped and frozen to the suit.

“I fell backward into the snow. Before that, I was on course for the space cabin, so I’m going to continue in that direction. If it seems like I’ve gone too far, then I will reassess.”

It was a gamble, but he didn’t see that he had any other choice. He pulled the toolkit up out of the snow and tucked it beneath his arm as he waded into the snow. Snow shoved back against his thighs as he pushed through the drifting mounds. Much more of this and the whole space cabin might be buried. The blowing snow could have built up over the lights and the window, sealing in the light. It couldn’t be that far, just ahead a short distance, if his memory of the dark shape in the snow and the lights could be trusted.

He neared the edge of getting worried that he had set out in the wrong direction when a dark shadow appeared in the blowing snow ahead. The flakes swirled and curved away from the sides of the shadow. Nick waded as fast as possible through the snow and soon saw the corner end of the space cabin cutting through the snow like a ship through the ocean.

“I have visibility on the habitat,” Nick said, grinning happily. “Right where it should be.”

He shoved and waded through the storm until he reached the curved side and patted it happily. “Here we are. Home sweet home.”

Nick worked his way along the wall closer to the airlock door and checked the tether ring. It was undamaged. He reached down to the spool on his belt. The carbineer on the tether was intact. So how had it possibly come undone? He looked up above the airlock door.

The red marker light above was dark. Without power?

Only dim emergency light inside the airlock lit the porthole. The whole space cabin was without power again, right after he had fixed the problem. He couldn’t be that surprised. Given the rate the snow was coming down and being blown up and around by the storm, the vents were most likely clogged again.

“I only see emergency lights,” he said. “Could be that the power generator shut down again. With this much snow blowing it will probably be impossible to keep the vents clear. I will have to restore power systems once the storm passes.”

Feeling better now that he had found the space cabin he paused and smiled for the cameras. “That was hairy. It shows how quickly things can turn wrong when we get comfortable. The key is remaining calm and focused on each step necessary to solve the problem.”

He shuffled through the drifting snow until his boots hit the buried ramp leading to the airlock. The drifts had covered it in a tall dune that ran halfway up the door. He walked up the ramp, kicking his way through the snow. As he disturbed it, the wind picked it back up and blew it around him.

Lifting the panel over the airlock lever, Nick pulled it over to the right and released the weights. In fits and starts, the airlock door slid open. Mounded snow poured into the airlock. Battery-powered emergency illumination cast a dim light into the small space. Wind howled in the opening, throwing the snow up into a whirlwind inside.

“Entering airlock.” He shuffled into the airlock, dragging and bumping the toolkit along with him. “Closing outer airlock.”

He had less room to move in the airlock, but he managed to reach the door lever with his left hand and began the process of ratcheting the door closed. Inch-by-inch, it cut off the howling blizzard. The snow in the airlock drifted aimlessly in the beams from his light, and slowly began to settle as the door closed and sealed him in.

“There we are. Safe inside. I will be reliant on battery power until the storm passes, but that’s okay. I want to get out of this suit and warmed up.”

It was only now that he realized how cold he was feeling. His teeth chattered together. He brushed snow from the readout on his right forearm. Battery power was at 50%, and the systems had responded by reducing the internal suit temperature to a minimal setting to keep him from freezing.

He described what he was seeing on the readout and explained. “I designed that feature deliberately, to extend the life of the batteries and operational time in crucial situations. It’s not comfortable, but it would have kept me alive longer if it took more time to get back.”

Nick unfastened the catches on his right glove, figuring it was as easier to pull his hand out than try and free the glove from the toolkit strap just yet.

Nick continued addressing viewers. “That’s just the sort of unexpected event we have to expect on Europa. Maybe not the wind or the snow exactly, but the odds of finding yourself in a potentially dangerous situation are high.”

He managed to free his hand from the outer glove. He still wore the skin-tight inner glove and kept it on while working on the rest of the suit. Having a free hand to undo the rest of the suit made progress easier. His outer glove dangled from the toolkit strap while he worked to unfasten the catches on the left, grateful that the inner glove protected his skin from the chilling cold metal. Without the inner glove, his fingers could freeze to the catches.

“I’m glad that I’ve got this protection.” He wiggled his gloved fingers, then pulled off the left outer glove. “The exterior of the suit gets exposed to extreme temperatures. In space, it would have to deal with high temperatures when in direct sunlight, and temperatures so cold in shadow that it makes this like a walk in the hottest desert by comparison. I’ll continue this inside where I’ll switch to interior cameras.”

Nick turned in the narrow space to the closed inner airlock and pulled the release over so that the door slid open.

He heard a very feminine gasp and something moved in the dim emergency lighting. He stepped back, surprised, catching the edges of the door frame with his hands. He caught a glimpse of something green that darted up the ladder to the sleeping and observation loft.

Someone was inside the space cabin!