17

You consult the Iza-model therapy bot. Iza's avatar appears on the desk surface before you.

You explain to the artificial intelligence that you've only just arrived and you're already considering asking Earth for help.

"Being able to ask for help when needed is a sign of secure attachment," Iza informs you.

There's no one more detached from Earth right now than the citizens of Europa City.

I should send it to the team back on Earth…

I should deal with this in house…

According to Iza, the emotionally mature thing would be asking for help.

Next

You decide to take Iza's advice. Eventually, you push down on the send button, sending Earth your findings so far, and hoping they'll come up with some analysis that will shed some light on the tampering.

With Jupiter in the way of signals, there will be a long delay while the planets line up for a clear transmission. There are other pressing matters to attend to while you await a response.

Next

Later, up at the bridge, some of the representatives are crowded round. The gravity is much like it was back on Luna, which has an advantage when it comes to seating arrangements. To make use of limited space on the ship, some of the assembled are perched on special ridges along the wall. Virginia Rein is pacing, while Kosmo and Sungura Kikwete lean over a tablet table, moving images of colony plans around.

"We're in a deep hole on the wrong side of the moon, our Talos satellite isn't doing jack," says Virginia, stopping her pacing. "We're going to have to hook up relay beacons if we want proper communication with Earth."

Kosmo raises the volume on his vocoder as he addresses the room. "It will be more efficient if we collect the vehicles from the Laelaps supply drop first," says Kosmo. "Once we have those manned rovers, we can use them to do whatever else we want on the surface."

You know that eventually you'll do both, but there's only one ground rover with a limited capacity and it'll take months for it to drive over to the other side of the moon and back. Even the satellite beacons will need to be placed thousands of miles away.

Get the beacon set up first so we can send larger data files more quickly back to Earth.

Pick up the vehicles first. If we're clever, we might be able to program it to send one of the new rovers out to set up the beacons for the Talos satellite.

Open up the choice to democratic control.

Next

"Makes sense to me," says Kosmo. "We'll make it happen."

It'll take at least three months for the rover to be set up and directed across the jagged Europan landscape. The moon is criss-crossed with lineae, deep canyons between parallel ridges. It is pocked with shards of ice melted and refrozen into chaotic terrain. Even sticking as much to the plains as possible, it'll be a slow journey for the unmanned rover.

Next

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***