BENEATH - A Novel Page 4

  "Do they pay them to act cheery?" Willard said with a grin. "I think that girl ate Happy Flakes for breakfast."

  "Corporate complexes like this tend to be imposing," Robert said, "even to the employees. It helps to a see a happy face, even if it's fake."

  "'Imposing' is an understatement," Connelly said. "And I have a long list of questions that need answers."

  Robert played with his beard. "Like why they pulled us out two days before our first full test."

  Kathy nodded. "Or the urgency behind the trip. Next day air from Antarctica isn't standard procedure."

  "Or," Willard started, "why we're being treated like royalty. They were practically shoving those muffins down our throats."

  "Fattening the goose," Robert said.

  "And I take it you've never been picked up at the airport by a limo before?" Willard said.

  Connelly shook her head, no. "Just another in a long line of questions we need answered. This better not be a waste of time."

  Ding. The doors opened and all three put on phony smiles before exiting the elevator. They turned right and headed down the hallway. The impending sense of doom grew like a tangling vine. Connelly paused at the polished oak door before knocking. "You ready?"

  Both men nodded. Connelly knocked.

  "Come on in," came Nancy's voice from the other side of the door.

  Connelly turned the handle and entered the gleaming office. Connelly squinted as she entered the massive corner office, two walls of which were windows. Nancy was standing by her boomerang shaped desk. Connelly noticed a few family photos on the desktop, but nothing else out of the ordinary. No schematics, no documents or even a laptop that might provide some hint as to why they had been summoned.

  Nancy motioned to three plush chairs that faced her desk. "Please, have a seat."

  The three silently took their seats and waited for the bomb to drop. Nancy sat across from them, in her own comfortable-looking seat. She leaned back and smiled. "Mr. Willard, I see that your sense of style has not been exaggerated to me by our mutual acquaintances," she said with a grin as she took in Willard's casual blue jeans and green fleece outfit.

  Willard turned red and looked at his clothes. He glanced at Connelly, with her business suit, which accentuated her long, firm legs. Then he looked at Robert, who'd at least made an attempt to look professional with his sweater and tweed jacket. Compared to them he looked like a college student. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut short by Nancy. "Of course, I only jest. Your other, more impressive qualities, have been made clear over the years as well. Your expedition has one of the highest safety ratings of all our expeditions and you're in one of the most inhospitable environments. Well done, Mr. Willard."

  Willard smiled, clearly pleased. "Thank you."

  Connelly shifted in her seat. Nancy turned to her and said, "I trust your flights were bearable?"

  Connelly nodded, "I slept through most of them."

  "Well, you must be wondering why we've made such a to-do about you being here?" Nancy said.

  "The question has crossed our minds," Connelly said.

  Nancy took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as though she were chewing over how to best phrase her next words. Connelly's stomach twisted with nervous tension. She was sure her funding was about to be pulled. "I trust everything is operational? With TES I mean."

  "Yes," Connelly said. "We were planning to do our first full run through in two days, but we're positive she's fully functional and ready to go. We'll prep for the test as soon as we get back."

  "That won't be necessary," Nancy said. "Kathy...may I call you Kathy? I always prefer talking to my best scientists on a first name basis."

  "Of—of course," Kathy said.

  "Kathy, how would you feel about continuing your work with TES at another location?

  Connelly raised a skeptical eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

  "For the sake of time, I'll put this bluntly," Nancy said. "TES is needed for a more pressing expedition and we'll be transporting her by the end of the week. This is well within our contract agreement and is final. But I need to know if you'll be coming along."

  "You can't do that," Connelly said defiantly.

  "Look," Nancy said, softening her voice. "I know this is hard to comprehend right now, but the fact is, I had to pull a few strings with the board to keep you on this project."

  "This is my project!" Connelly gripped her armrests.

  Nancy rocked in her chair for a moment and then said, "Not anymore."

  Willard interjected before Connelly could stand and start screaming. "Hey," he said, "I just got a natural history lesson from these two so even I know that there is no other place on Earth where there's a frozen lake buried under that much ice. So please enlighten us. Where on Earth, aside from Antarctica, is there a lake buried beneath miles of ice?"

  Nancy smiled. "There isn't."

  "I don't understand," Connelly said. "Where do you plan on using TES?"

  Nancy looked into Connelly's eyes and said, "Not on this planet."

  Robert leaned forward with his eyebrows perched high on his wrinkled forehead. "Come again?"

  Nancy's smile grew wider. "Not on this planet... As you probably know, NASA had been planning a trip to the sixth moon of Jupiter, Europa, for years. But they ran out of support from the U.S. government. The GEC picked up the tab and have been coordinating our private enterprise with NASA and the U.S. government."

  "This is unbelievable," Robert said. "Europa...but I thought they sent a probe there in 2010?"

  Nancy nodded. "The Europa Orbiter. After a preliminary scan of the moon's surface, measuring density, temperature and other common elements, the probe was destroyed."

  "You mean it crashed," Willard said.

  Nancy shook her head. "No, it was destroyed in orbit."

  Robert's forehead became even more wrinkled. "As in blown up?"

  "Yes," Nancy said. "Just before contact with the probe was lost, it recorded an extreme increase in external energy. NASA believes a massive solar storm caused an overload. The rest is history. However, the mission was not a complete failure. The probe was able to determine that there is, in fact, a vast ocean one mile beneath the ice crust on Europa."

  "I sincerely doubt that the existence of water alone is enough evidence to spur a manned mission to the center of our solar system," Robert said.

  Nancy leaned forward on her elbows, growing excited. "Last year, a geologist named Michael Peterson, discovered a meteorite in the Arctic. It's been determined that the asteroid originated from Europa. It was the size of a football yet contained biological material swirled among some unknown elements."

  Connelly, who had been lost in a sea of anger, snapped to attention, listening to every word Nancy was saying. "Biological?"

  "Dead, of course," Nancy said, "destroyed during re-entry, but let there be no doubt, there is life on Europa, and we're going to get a look at it, up close and personal. We want you three to go."

  Connelly looked stunned, but her defiance managed to take one last stab. "If we don't?" she said.

  Nancy crossed her legs and sat back in the chair. "The project will go on without you and the operation of TES will be given to someone else. Though I'd prefer you on the team; if something were to go wrong I can't think of anyone better qualified to make the repairs. Can you?"

  "You're telling me," Connelly started, "that you're sending us into space to search for life...on a moon. And if we don't go, my work, my life's work is going to go without me?"

  Nancy nodded.

  Connelly's eyes dropped to the floor and she stared at it blankly. Questions flooded her mind. "Am I correct in assuming there isn't even an atmosphere around this moon."

  "Actually," Nancy said, "There is. Albeit, very thin, but it does contain small amounts of oxygen. Kathy, I understand how you must be feeling right now, but the possibilities for discovery are beyond anything humanity has ever achieved."

  Connelly became suspic
ious and squinted her eyes. "If we already discovered alien life from this meteorite of yours, why haven't we heard about it? Why isn't it plastered on every newspaper from here to Siberia?"

  "That's because," Nancy said, "we haven't told anyone. Various space agencies have made major blunders in the past by going off half cocked and announcing to the world that they've made some major discovery, only to have it proved wrong in full view of the public. The result is a loss of credibility and of funding, governmental or otherwise. So you can see why we're treating this delicately. Failure, right now, means discovering we were wrong and that's it. But if we told the world we had discovered extraterrestrial life, and then, oops, we were wrong… Well, that would set the world's space programs back. And I'm not going to let that happen."

  Robert was nodding, "Makes sense."

  Connelly sighed and shook her head.

  "I'm sorry," Nancy said, "but I really do need an answer."

  Connelly looked Nancy in the eyes. "The simple fact that I go where TES goes, means I'm in. But, what you've told us— I never considered that TES might be used for something so foolish. So incredible. The possibility of finding life somewhere else in our solar system is...unbelievable. But I do have one condition."

  Nancy nodded, waiting patiently.

  "When we get back...when we return, I get TES back. Finding E.T. will be the discovery of a lifetime, but I'm still interested in understanding our own planet."

  "Of course," Nancy said. "We will have a second TES unit built for you while you're gone. I'm afraid once TES is deployed, she will remain on the surface of Europa forever.

  Connelly looked at Robert and Willard. "Well, boys? Feel like going to Jupiter?"

  The best Robert could manage was a slow, stunned nod. Connelly looked beyond Robert to Willard. She was surprised to see his face looking very upset.

  "I don't know, boss. It doesn't sound very safe. You on a moon. But you're crazy and likely to get hurt, and you'll need someone to save your butt. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't go, but... Are you kidding? I'm in like sin."

  Nancy had to stifle a smile that grew at seeing Willard's excitement. "Excellent," she said. "I'll inform the council that we have the rest of our crew."

  Connelly froze. "The rest of our crew?"

  "You didn't think you were going into space alone, did you?" Nancy stood. "You'll meet them soon. For now, let's get you settled."

  Connelly, Robert and Willard stood from their chairs and onto wobbly legs. They followed after Nancy, who was heading for the door. Willard slapped Robert on the back. "You know," he said, "I was wrong about you nerds. You guys do get to have fun. I might not die from boredom after all."

  CHAPTER 4 -- THE CREW

  Connelly was out of breath when she reached the fifteenth floor of the GEC training facility. She had waited ten minutes for the elevator with no luck, so she had opted for the stairs. As she approached the sixteenth floor, she began doubting her decision to climb twenty-three flights of stairs.

  A week had passed since Connelly learned she'd be joining the first manned mission to a moon beyond our own. But right now, the mission was far from her mind. With her armpits growing damp from exertion, she was being to worry that the other crew members, whom she would soon be meeting for the first time, would get a bad impression of her. Connelly was in great shape, but even a marathon runner would have had a hard time vaulting up twenty-three flights of steep stairs.

  That's what she told herself anyway.

  When Connelly rounded the stairwell and headed for the seventeenth floor, she heard panting. She slowed her pace and looked through the bars. A man was standing on the top stair of the next floor, his hands on his knees and his head lowered. From this viewpoint she could see he had well manicured, wavy black hair, and was casually dressed in tan slacks and short sleeves.

  Not a scientist, she thought.

  She continued forward, trying not to look hurried. "Hi," she said as she began to walk past the man.

  The winded man looked up and smiled. Kathy felt a twang inside her stomach as the man's face came into view. His cheeks were covered in rough stubble, which suited him, his eyes were dark brown and his smile was as white as an Antarctic white-wash.

  Definitely not a scientist.

  "You on the new GEC stairwell exercise plan too, huh?" he said.

  Connelly smiled. "Mmm, I find the stairwell paint smell invigorating."

  "I hadn't noticed anything invigorating about this stairwell," he said, then flashed a brilliant smile. "Until now."

  Ugh, must be from PR, Connelly thought.

  She began to move past him, doing her best not to return his smile.

  "Sorry," he said. "That was inappropriate."

  Connelly paused. He stood straight and extended his hand. "Michael," he said. "I'm in geology."

  Connelly inadvertently raised her eyebrows. Trying to hide her surprise, she quickly shook his hand. "Kathy. Oceanography," she said.

  "Huh," the man looked surprised.

  "What?"

  "Just didn't take you for an ologist."

  Connelly cringed. Ologist? Seriously? "Well...you don't look like a geologist either," she said, looking down at her clothes. She was dressed in jeans and a tight fitting white blouse. Not like an 'ologist'.

  He smiled. "I guess we're even then. Where you headed?"

  "Twenty-third floor."

  "Me too. Mind if I keep you company on the way?"

  Kathy wasn't sure if she should be excited or annoyed, but saying "no" in either case would seem rude. "Lead the way."

  Michael paused at the next flight of stairs. He turned to Connelly and said, "You're not married, are you?"

  Kathy stopped on the fifth stair to the top.

  Who is this guy? The Don Juan of geologists?

  "No," she said. "My line of work doesn't leave much room for romance."

  "Ouch," he said, and gave another of his infectious smiles. "Guess we'll have to schedule dinner far in advance, huh?" He continued up the stairs, more slowly now, giving Connelly a chance to keep up.

  Is he really asking me out for dinner or is this all a tricky geologist ruse? She pushed the conundrum from her mind. It didn't matter anyway. In three months she'd be standing on the surface of Europa and Michael the geologist would be millions of miles away.

  * * * * *

  Connelly scoured the door numbers as she walked through the maze of hallways, looking for room 117, where she was scheduled to meet the rest of the Europa crew. Michael the geologist was still with her, apparently unable to find his room as well.

  "You been here before?" Connelly asked.

  Michael scratched his head. "Once, but never on this floor. It's a maze."

  "Maybe it's a test," Kathy said. "Whoever is smart enough to figure out where their room is, is smart enough to be employed by the GEC."

  "Looks like we're getting pink slips tonight."

  They rounded a corner and were faced with a long hallway. The door to the right was labeled 103. The door to the left was labeled 23. Michael shook his head. "Like driving in Boston."

  "You been there?"

  "Born and raised. Well, not in Boston, south of Boston. An island off the cape. Martha's Vineyard."

  Connelly slid past Michael and checked the door numbers as they moved down the hall. "Ooh, someone grew up with a silver spoon."

  "Not everyone on the island is rich."

  "Riiight."

  "Ooh, I get it now."

  "You're from the mainland. Let me guess. The NorthShore? Salem?"

  Kathy paused and smiled. "Beverly."

  "Close enough," Michael said.

  Connelly started down the hallway again. "Well it's not where I spend my time now."

  "And where might that be?"

  "Ass end of the world. Antarctica."

  Michael laughed. "Wouldn't you know it? We're polar opposites! I spend most of my time under the skirt of the Arctic Circle. So much for dinner."

&n
bsp; Connelly raised an eyebrow as Michael took the lead again, searching the door numbers. "I never said yes."

  Michael gave her a skeptical glance.

  Connelly ignored it. "What's a geologist doing in the arctic?"

  "Looking for meteorites," Michael said.

  Connelly squinted. "Meteorites?"

  Michael stopped in front of a door. "Ahh," he said. "Here's my stop."

  Connelly looked at the door. It was number 117.

  Michael smiled. "Shall I open the door for you, Dr. Connelly?"

  There was no hiding Connelly's shocked expression.

  "Oh, I'm sorry." Michael extended his hand. "Michael Peterson. Astrogeologist. I discovered the Europa sample. I'm the geologist on the Europa mission."

  Connelly shook his hand for the second time. Sonofabitch. "You knew who I was this entire time."

  Michael Peterson nodded. "Sorry about that. I couldn't resist. Look at it this way, at least dinner is an option again." Michael opened the door. "Ladies and mission leaders first.

  Connelly walked through the open door.

  * * * * *

  "Look who's late," Willard said as Connelly entered the room.

  She gave Willard a sarcastic smile. After Michael Peterson's ruse, she was in no mood for witty banter. She looked around the room. For a multi-billion dollar corporation, they certainly hadn't put much effort into snazzing up the training facilities. The room reminded her of her third grade classroom at CoveSchool back in Beverly, minus the plants, toys and schoolbooks. There were five rows of adult sized desks, a white board at the front of the room and a large mirror at the back.

  She was tempted to wave to whoever was observing them on the other side of the mirror, but thought better of it.

  The room lacked the chalky smell of old classrooms, but more than made up for it with the odor of permanent markers and bleach.

  "Who's your friend?" Willard said as Peterson entered the room behind Connelly and shut the door.

  "Robert, Ethan, this is Michael Peterson. He's the geologist who discovered the Europa meteorite, and he's going to be our geologist on the mission."