The Curse of Europa (Published on Amazon)

Chapter 1: The New Mission

Friday July 21, 2056

From the port window of the White-Bull-2 science vessel’s command deck, Lieutenant Commander Patrick Turkovitch is awing at the sight of the fifth planet from the Sun as it is growing larger and larger. He of course knows that Jupiter is the largest planet within the solar system but that knowledge had not prepared him for such a breathtaking sight. Jupiter is two and a half times as massive as all the other planets of the solar system combined, and to say it is huge is an understatement.

The ship is close enough now to observe the motion of the volatile atmospheric bands and the circulation of the great red spot with the naked eye. There are colorful wavy cloud patterns and a lot of white oval storms all over the great gas giant. The moons of Jupiter are also becoming visible as they make their approach. He can see Callisto and Ganymede in their distant orbits around the planet.

Turkovitch leans his head closer to the window, as if those extra few millimeters will help him see his next target closer, and he squints.

“I see it, I see it!” he shouts. He whips his head around to the seven other crew members and says it again, “I see it… I see Europa,” as if he were an early pioneer yelling “land-ho!”

“Great! Then we haven’t wasted a trip coming out here,” he hears the deep booming voice of the mission commander declare.

That hint of mockery brings him down a bit from his euphoria and he composes himself. After all, he has been to and walked on Mars; seeing a moon shouldn’t get him that worked up – although he remembers being pretty excited about his Mars approach as well. Plus it has been two years since that mission and he hasn’t been beyond the Earth’s moon again until now. That silly curse is the furthest thing from his mind; it is just a running joke based on a very long run of bad luck. He knows this mission will be different – how much bad luck can the Global Space Organization have anyhow? The GSO has actually had generally great success. All the Mars missions went flawlessly.

Lieutenant Commander Turkovitch is young to be second in command of a mission like this. He is actually the youngest member on board, two years younger than the junior officer, Lieutenant Mark Tucker. Turkovitch is a boyishly handsome man with gelled jet black hair that he combs back and over. He is sporting sideburns down to his earlobes and usually goes with the unshaven look (a full beard would hide his cleft chin.) While he is almost 30 he is still a boy at heart, sometimes a goofball, sometimes oblivious, normally a daredevil, but always charming. He tries to find humor in all situations even though that doesn’t always work so well as an astronaut. But he is also extremely smart, has a memory like an elephant, is very physically fit, and is quick on his feet; which does work out very well for an astronaut.

Turkovitch wipes the condensation off the port window caused by his breath as he continues to gaze at Jupiter and Europa. Europa is slightly smaller than Earth’s Moon and is primarily made of silicate rock with a surface composed of ice. It has a weak atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. Certainly not enough oxygen to breathe however, so a protective suit is needed at all times to provide the adequate oxygen/nitrogen mix, body pressure, and protection from the massive amount of radiation that Jupiter bombards Europa with.

“Jeez,Patrick… Let me see!”

Turkovitch jumped a bit as he is startled out of his gazing trance by the voice of Doctor Juliana Evans, PhD. Thirty Four year old Doctor Evans is a mission specialist – a scientist. He turns to look at the slender handsome woman walking his way, with her red hair that is just long enough to slightly rest on her shoulders. A few freckles are scattered on her high cheeks but she tries to conceal them with makeup. He can’t understand why she tries to conceal them as he rather likes the freckles. The Lieutenant Commander slides over to let her get a glimpse.