A Little Known Fact About Ducks

The Gift

Twice, for no more than a second, the small thrusters fired; it was all that was need to divert the meager craft on it's new course. At over 120,000 km per hour it had taken 9 months to reach it's goal, now it was time to slow down.

Jupiter loomed ahead, a crystal clear confusion of spiralling ochers and browns, spectacular in it's chaos; but the great gas giant was not the destination. Skaði, a plain metal box with solar sails unfurled had it's mind set on another purpose, exploration of an alien world. The first landing on one of the Galilean Moons

For decades the European Space Agency planned and were now only days away from realising their dream; a landing on Europa. It hadn't been the first choice, Ganymede was the more obvious destination, but after NASA announced it's intention to land there the objective was reevaluated.

They needn't have bothered. The Americans never made it near Jupiter, not even leaving earth's atmosphere, falling to earth in a dazzling fiery ball. But by that time Europa was set in stone, calculations factored, hardware optimised, destination fixed. Now, in a little over four days Skaði would start her descent.

Silently, she slipped to her destiny.

But what the near blind vessel did not see was the pencil sized craft flying by her side, shadowing her every move, probing, examining, looking for the easiest way in without damaging the fragile machine. Finally, the chrome needle made it's decision, latching on just behind a lateral thruster, setting about it's task of penetrating Skaði's delicate shell. In minutes it had disappeared inside.

*********

 The buzzing phone jolted Cameron awake. It rattled on the bedside table until the scientist, still half asleep, snatched it from the surface.

"Hello," he said, still groggy, squinting as he turned on the light.

"Cam, it's me, Luca. You need to get to Operations," the Swede said, Cameron could hear the concern in his colleague's voice and full consciousness came instantly.

 "Is it Skaði? Is there a problem?" Fear quickening his heart.

"No, not with Skaði," he paused. "It's Europa."

"What? What do you mean Europa, what are you talking about?" Cameron demanded, as the brief relief faded, annoyance taking over .

"It's," there was another pause. "Well, it's gone."

Cameron creased his brow, running a hand roughly over his temple. Sighing, he looked over at his bedside clock.

"Luca, its 3.40 in the morning, just tell me why you've woken me and cut the crap."

"Europa is gone, Cam," Luca repeated, more forcefully this time. "It never reappeared from orbit behind Jupiter. It's over three hours late."

"That isn't possible," Cameron replied, slowly.

"Don't you think I bloody know that," this time anger tinged the voice. "I need you here, Cam. I don't know what to do."

Cam hesitated, head in confusion, struggling to cope with the impossible. "Ok, right, let me think," he eventually answered, slipping from the bed, heading for his neatly folded clothes. "Has anyone contacted you?"

"No, silence, but it's only a matter of time. America's only six hours behind, someone's bound to see it soon."

"OK, go to lock-down," Cameron ordered, gathering his thoughts. "No-one leaves. Get the rest of the team in, tell them there's a problem with Skaði, I'll call Jim at NASA and see what he knows." He hesitated, trying to calm his breath. "For the last time Luca, are you sure?"