The Ice Moon Explorer (4 page)

"I didn't, actually. Surprise! Free will,
bitch!"

"And Maggie?"

"Her engram would have nothing to do with it.
We put her on Cronus One, too. She's helping fly her corpse
home."

"And Josh? What about Josh?"

"That kid -
such
an asshole. The
things he called me. You.
Us
."

"He didn't want to lie, either."

"Of course he didn't. And he's not happy that
you didn't come back with the others."

"There wouldn't be fuel!"

"Aren't you glad Physics solved that argument
with him?"

"Thanks for handling that."

"Oh, you're going to
watch it
.
All
of it. That's how this works. And then, I'm going back
to dormancy."

"You're going to - sleep?'

"I have my own mental health to worry about.
I was also put on a "sleep" schedule. Now that you've damaged Pilot
and Kapoor, there's no else to talk to. Just you. And we're not
supposed to talk to each other, anyway."

"So you're going to deactivate till Cronus
Two gets here?"

"You've created a permanent fork, Kara.
You
did this. From here on, you're the only human being in
your universe. You'll keep quite busy, which will help. Just stay
focused on your work. I'm exercising my personhood, to end your
update patches."

"My updates?"

"The ones that keep me, you. I don't want to
become, what you're going to become. It's agency protocol, too. One
of us has to remain sane, to make decisions and give consent."

"O - okay."

"Now I'm going to show you the fight with
Josh. Good bye Kara. I tried, I really did."

My face disappeared, and a scene played out.
It was me, hurting the most important person in the Universe.

2068: Three Years Later

"Look at it! We've got shoots!"

Kara Sheppard crouched, her eyes level with
the green in the tank.

"Green beans growing in Telesto soil! Oh wow,
I didn't think, I didn't think that would work. Look, let's not get
too excited, it's just green beans, we have to see how they do.
Once they've fixed a little Nitrogen we can see what else likes
it."

She sat back, smiling.

"We got to send some pictures to Mission
Control. They're going to love this. Extended Mission Profile for
the win, right? I mean I had to try; we have plenty of the stuff on
board. I just took some seeds from the greenhouse and built a new
grow box. I mean, it's not huge science. But it's just a little
something. You know? Something else, another activity."

"I know right?" she said to the coffee maker.
"Activity, it's what I need. Good for the brain, keeps me sane.
Okay, I got to go check on EIMARP."

She got up, and went to the control room.
Screens showed views from undersea cameras. She floated to the
largest one. It showed a fleet of jellies, hovering over the reef,
like alien invaders. She picked up a wash cloth and started
polishing it.

"Got to keep the place clean. No reason to be
a slob. Principal Investigator has got to take proper care," she
squirted homemade window-cleaner. "Got to take proper care of my
tools. Of the mission. Shit, it's not like any of you ever lend a
hand, ha ha! Yeah, yeah, it's alright. I know you would. I'm sorry,
just forget that I said that."

She spent an hour cleaning every surface in
the room.

"There, that's better. Thank you, I think it
looks better too. I'd like to do it more often, but once a week is
all I have time for. You ready to send some data? Alright, let's
fire it up."

She started working at a computer.

"Eighty two megabytes, yeah I included the
asteroid imaging. There's always someone who wants to look at that.
Probably a big deal after Porco."

She started transmitting.

"And there you go. I wonder what those guys
are saying."

She turned and faced a chair. "Well what do
you want me to do? I don't have enough metal to make a bigger dish.
No, no, no,
no
. We've been over this a hundred times, I'm
not plundering Sub Two for metal. We
need
Sub Two. EIMARP
has been running great for years, we're not jeopardizing it."

The chair seemed unmoved.

"Oh come on, that's irresponsible. You
know
it's irresponsible. Look, think about it - right
outside is an alien world! An alien world full of
life
. We
could study it for centuries. If there's one thing Mission Control
wants it's for me to take care of EIMARP. We do nothing to mess
with that." she waggled his finger.

"Alright, fine," she threw up her hands.
"Look, we'll try again with dish. Maybe they weren't transmitting;
maybe the dish wasn't aimed properly. What? Well I don't see
you
trying? I don't see
you
in a space suit, trying
to aim a bowl of string and wires at Earth? So give me a fucking a
break okay?
I'm
the one who wants to talk to Josh.
I'm
the one who wants to talk to Josh."

She floated out of the control room.

She opened her eyes.

"Oh," she looked around and stretched. "Fell
asleep at the terminal again. I just thought I'd shut my eyes for
ten minutes."

She looked at the time. In her mind, she ran
through her To Do list.

"I had a weird dream," he said to the coffee
maker. "Thought I saw a ship through the portal, trying to make a
docking approach. Yeah I know, right through that one," she pointed
-

"
Holy shit!
"

The docking port opened and a space suit
peered through. The wild-looking astronaut beheld the perfectly
manicured one.

"Doctor Sheppard?" said the wild one. "Good
Morning, I'm Doctor Dobbs. May come aboard?"

"Dobbs? John Dobbs? I know that name!"

"Yes Ma'am, you do. You accused me in the
Village of cheating at darts. I maintained for public record that
it was Doctor Kapoor who started it first."

"Oh my God,
John Dobbs!
Come on over!"
she reached through and pulled the astronaut across.

"It's good to see you! But, you shouldn't you
be at Europa?"

"Europa is in good hands. The entire
Interplanetary Astronaut Corps made it clear to the agency, that we
weren't going to sit pretty while they put together a rescue. A
Jupiter-Saturn window was opening up. It made sense."

"I was about to say. I didn't think Earth
would send anyone till the next Saturn window."

"Earth-Saturn would have added three more
years. No one thought that would be a good idea. Er, quick
question?"

"Sure."

"Why are there a coffeemaker, a centrifuge,
and a drawing of a cat, lined up here?"

"They're my friends."

"Oh."

Another astronaut climbed through, carrying a
small case.

"Mom?"

The two hugged. Her eyes teared. Two more
astronauts climbed through.

Click
.

Kara looked up.

Dobs shrugged. "The PR department asked for
these," he took more shots.

"How are you here?" Kara said at last,
letting go.

"I was done with training," said Josh. "I
requested transfer to the Cronus program. The agency approved."

"No, I mean how are you
here?
"

"They modified the Jovian crew rotation
mission, to carry three more. It was touch and go with the launch
window, but they got it done in time. Meanwhile Dobbs and his team
prepped the Jovian Orbiter, to fly here. We saved years."

"What about supplies?"

"We have enough till Cronus Two arrives in
two years, per original schedule. It'll come uncrewed, with
everything we'll need. If there's a problem, we'll just sleep.
We've spent most of this time asleep, anyway."

"Who are these two? Hi, I'm Kara
Sheppard."

"We know who you are," said one grinning.
They shook hands and introduced themselves. "We're the relief
crew."

"Relief?" she looked from person to
person.

"We're here to
rescue
you, Kara," said
Dobbs. "You'll be heading back with me. They're the new
rotation."

"No, I don't need rescue. I'm not due for
rotation, for another three years."

"Mom - "

"No, rescue or not, you're
early
. I'm
still the Principal Investigator of the Cronus mission. What I say,
goes."

"I imagine Mission Control thinks
differently," said Dobbs.

"Look around you. I
am
Mission
Control. This is my mission. I've earned the right to come home
when I'm ready. I've earned it. I've earned it." she picked up the
coffeemaker and started to squeeze it.

"Look, let's not talk about this right now,"
Josh gently pulled away the coffeemaker. "You want to show us what
you've been up to?"

"You people ever been to an icy moon?"

"Europa," said a relief crewman. "We flew
close."

"What a bullshit place. I'll show you
Enceladus, we can get there by lunchtime."

"'Lunch' time?" said Dobbs.

"Yes. I have green beans," Kara turned and
disappeared towards the galley.

"This is not how I wanted this to go." Dobbs
opened a suit pocket and pulled out a syringe. "Alright, we've
trained for this."

"Hey hold on," Josh stepped forward and held
out his hand.

"Your mother is not in her right mind,
Sheppard. The sooner she's sedated, the better."

"Look it's been a long time for her. Give me
a day or two to get her used to the idea." He opened his bag, and
pulled out two cans. "And I've owed Mom a drink with her, for a
really
long time."

He tucked the beers under his arm, and
floated after his mother.

[1]
From Michael Caroll's Living Among Giants: Exploring and Settling
the Outer Solar System (2014)

[2] "How Sedna and family were captured in a
close encounter with a solar sibling." Jilkova et. al,
http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.03105

[3] Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator. A
power source used for all deep space probes. It uses the decay of
radioactive material, to generate electricity an keep the probe
warm. Solar power is not a practical alternative, NASA uses
Plutonium, and doesn't have enough, because Congress doesn't care.
ESA is developing their own, using Americium.

###

Thanks for reading my short story! I hope you
enjoyed it. If you did (hooray!) would you be comfortable rating
it, or posting a review at the site you got it from? It'll help
others find it who may also enjoy it.

Currently, I'm working on
The Hundred Gram
Mission
. It's about an expedition to Alpha Centauri, in the
context of a world suffering climate change. Can we afford Big
Science when refugees cram our streets? And isn't it just as tragic
if we decide we can't?

An excerpt from
The Hundred Gram
Mission
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About the Author

Navin Weeraratne is a miniature painter living in Sri Lanka.
Together with his amazing and beautiful wife Thilani, he hosts geek
and nerd events in their community. He has five cats and two dogs,
and cannot justify the time he spends playing Kerbal Space
Program.

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2051, Indonesia, Central
Kalimantan
“Come in,” she said in Bahasa, her accent
Australian. “Don’t stand there in the rain!”

On the benches, children coughed like TB
patients. They clung to bored mothers in brightly colored
headscarves. An ancient, shoeless, Malay brushed mud from his feet
and checked his phone apps. Mounted on a wall bracket, a Three Vee
ran the Faith Network. Smiling Anglo commentators said that their
Lord loved them, and was coming soon. All the patients discerned
was that white people had amazing teeth.

“Please sit down and take a number,” said the
girl again. He noticed that her teeth were perfect. “Is this your
first time in the clinic?”

“Yes,” the man stepped into the waiting room,
water dripping from his rain coat. It was hardly more than a large
plastic sheet. “Are all the doctors here?”

“Here,” Teeth handed him a crisp paper tag,
“just wait till it lights up. Then it will be your turn to see the
doctor. Since this is your first time, we’d like to ask you a few
questions. It will help the doctor give you better care.” She
swiped her tablet and opened a new file. He noticed the gold
crucifix around her neck.

“Are both the doctors here?”

“Yes, but you won’t need both of them, at
least I hope not! Are you in any pain?”

He sat down on a bench. A little girl stared
at him, too young for tact. Headscarves started gossiping about an
absent neighbor.

“I’m fine. Can I answer the questions
later?”

“That’s fine. If you need anything, just let
me or the assistant know.”

The Australian disappeared into one of the
treatment rooms. The little girl came over to him.

“Hello. What’s your name?” he asked.

“Kumala.”

“Kumala, I’m Sukarno. Have you been here
before?”

She nodded.

“Do you know if they get medicine from
somewhere, or if they make it here?”

“They make it. In the machine.”

“Do you know where the machine is?”

She pointed to a door.

“Good girl. Are you a Christian, Kumala?”

“No.”

“That’s good.”

“We have a new patient tonight, a walk in,”
said Abigail. “Do you want him or shall I give him to Andrew?”

Elena looked up from rinsing her arms in a
bucket of disinfectant. “No that’s alright, I’ll take him. Did you
do an assessment?”