Boundary 2: Threshold (43 page)

"Speaking of walking away . . . ,"
A.J. said.

"Yes. No better time, I think; we'll all have plenty of work to do, and until we get this over with, we can't really get to it. Horst?"

He took a deep breath. "Give me a minute."

"Hold on!"
Maddie's voice cut across all frequencies.
"A.J., Horst, I appreciate the quick spirit of cooperation, and that you want to
do
something after all this tension. But is getting killed your main priority?"

"Getting . . . ? Oops."

"
Oops
, indeed."

Horst almost smacked the side of his head. "Sorry, sorry. Radiation again."

"Radiation. Yes, we're at less than a thousand rem per day here at the surface of Europa, and so stepping out for a few minutes won't really hurt anyone. Except that we may be here a long time. We cannot afford
any
avoidable exposure. Jackie?"

"Give me a minute . . . All systems show good. I think we can do it."

A faint shimmer appeared near
Nebula Storm
. Horst looked at
Munin
's instruments and could detect the expansion of the magnetic field which guided gas and nanodust up and over them. Gravity and the immense magnetic pressure of Jupiter would keep the size of the dusty-plasma field severely constrained, but it would still spread kilometers across and protect both ships and the space around them from the invisible, deadly radiation. They'd have to run a cable from
Munin
to keep it running, with the
Nebula Storm
's reactor down. But Jackie said that they should be able to keep it running for long enough. Whatever radiation still got through the field should be survivable.

A few moments later, he stepped out onto the boarding ramp of
Munin
, which rested on the white-dusted ice a short distance from
Nebula Storm
. Across from him he could see two figures, side by side on the ladder extending from
Nebula Storm
's airlock. His VRD showed Jackie's smiling face and Larry Conley's easy grin next to the appropriate suit. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

Horst began, and the others joined in.

"By the authority vested in us as representatives of the European Union—"

"—of the Ares Project—"

"—of the Interplanetary Research Institute—"

Three boots extended and touched, as one, on the surface of Europa, twin dim shadows cast by mighty Jupiter and distant Sol coming together on the contact.

"—as the first human beings to set foot upon Europa, we claim all rights, privileges, and responsibilities pertaining therunto for us, our heirs, and assigns, and for the human race as set forth in the laws to which all of us are bound."

For a few moments they stood quietly, gazing up at the brown-streaked immensity of Jupiter in the star-filled sky and the distant, blazing near-point of light that was the Sun. Horst felt a chill run down his spine that had nothing to do with the cryogenic temperatures around him. Only now did he truly grasp it: he was standing on the surface of a new world, the first (along with the two others) to ever do so.

Then Madeline Fathom's voice broke into their reverie.
"Good work, and thank you, everyone. Whether anything worth discovering comes from Europa or not, this is the spirit of cooperation we want them to hear about back home."
Her face appeared in everyone's view.
"And now, let's all get to work—because we're going home, every one of us!"