Flashmaster (Short Horror and SciFi)

The Bride of Europa

Seli Dryden stood at the large, round window and swirled her drink in its glass as she gazed out. Most of Under Town was visible from here. Long corridors and round modules were bolted to the underside of the 40 kilometer thick ice that covered the whole of Europa in a crazy maze of lighted windows and shadowy lattices. She got some sense of scale from the long corridor that took off to her left. Although the whole thing looked like a child's construction set, she could see that the corridor was, in fact, a broad, six-lane highway buzzing with electric cars and trucks.

She wasn't very interested in the city. The real objects of her affection were drifting in the water right outside the glass. They were attracted to the light and could be found outside any window in any of the cities that dotted the underside of the ice on Jupiter's gray green moon. The drifting creatures looked a little like jellyfish from earth, but high pressure in the surrounding water had forced them into more efficient forms, smooth and rounded rather than open and feathery.

She named the translucent species as they drifted by, Griffen's Cube, a blue square with glowing dots at its center; a Marble Bat, a foot long, winged creature with long tendrils trailing from the edges of its wings. She could even see the row of luminescent dots from a Scribbler Eel lurking further out in the dark hoping to catch a Cube or Flutterer for dinner no doubt.

"We don't understand the change, of course." Professor Dannal continued where he'd dropped off when Seli had gone to the window. "Some people are saying they're malicious attacks but we've never known The Europan to create anything dangerous to humans."

Seli sighed and sat down in a red upholstered chair in front of the window, her wrinkled, splotched fingers grasping the rim of the glass. The Europan; it had been nearly a century ago. Could it be that long? She had been a young exobiologist exploring the deep oceans of Europa when she had stumbled across it, or a node of it. A single mind ruling the planet, designing life forms to match the conditions of the different water layers, making sure a steady stream of biomass tumbled to the ocean floor to feed its thousands of miles of nerve and brain.

"Such a beautiful thing." She said out loud. "Can you imagine Professor Dannal, a single mind for the entire world; a single, ordered plan for every life form. The carnivores we see lurking in the dark are calculated, designed to cull exactly as many of the bio-synthesizers as The Europan needs to feed. It's wonderful." Being back on Europa was bringing back so many memories.

"Yes," Dannal agreed, "but you must understand Professor Dryden, The Europan can't or won't communicate with us. You are the only human it's ever opened up to. What we know of its desires and motives, we know only from your report ninety-six years ago."

Ninety-six years? Yes, it was that long. While regenitix kept her body and mind as hale as she had been at fifty, she couldn't help feeling a bit tired and stretched. "Help me understand." She said. "What is this change in Europan behavior that has everyone concerned?"

Dannal came and sat across from her. He was white haired like her but younger, with a smooth round face. They were both reflected in the window with the drifting creatures deceptively close on the other side. "The first thing you need to understand is that it's the defense forces that have gotten concerned. There's a man named Captain Tyth. He's a bit of a war monger I'm afraid. He's the one that's really pushing this thing."

"But what's the change?"

"There have been some," he paused to consider his words, "well they may have been attacks, and there were new species' involved. Tyth is concerned that The Europan may be breeding new creatures in preparation for attacks against us."

"But what were the attacks?"

Dannal shifted, clearly uneasy. "Well, it's not a lot to go on, but a diver was attacked a few weeks ago by what looked like a water centurion, only once it got it tentacles around her, it started delivering electric shocks. She wasn't hurt but the creature did manage to short out her suit. She had to be emergency evac'd."