The Divide

Faint rays of light beamed through the sole observation window of the landing module. The light cast shadows that danced across the compact interior before falling again to darkness. The module’s many control panels and sensors flashed a rainbow of colors while various calculations ran across rows of dimly lit screens. These numbers accounted for everything a Navigator needed to carry out a successful flight. The module even had a powerful instrument that measured, in real time, the radioactive decay of the water and rations aboard the vessel. During a mission, tins of condensed kernels manufactured in a Colony laboratory served as a Navigator’s primary source of nourishment, and water ran through an onboard recycling system.

Monic watched the shadows rise and fall with each rotation of the module. Although light from Star-1, the distant sun 756 million kilometers away, reached the module in just 40 minutes, his mission required three months of slingshot-style travel before entering the orbit of GST-10: the largest of the vapor giants. As the module’s sole occupant and Navigator for this mission, he often ran mental calculations concerning the module’s flight path and expected trajectory as it zipped through ST-Prime at 7.142 km/sec.

Monic motioned his left hand through the air, signaling a command to the computer chip implanted in his brain. Various windows appeared in his vision. Another motion of the hand opened a communications archive. He selected one, listening to it for the hundredth time since its unexpected arrival only days before:

As children in the dark, are we equally afraid in the light? 

-KS

Irregularities in the message’s radio signal suggested an off-world location, but the lack of monitors for advanced detection aboard the module rendered a definitive answer impossible. Furthermore, the sender used an esoteric computing language once common among off-world engineers. As to the identity or nature of SK, the supposed sender, the logical parts of his mind yielded nothing.

Before he could give it more thought, Monic caught a glimpse of his destination: an icy body called Europa. It was a white moon with red streaks only a quarter as large as the planet his ancestors had once known as home -- a world that only the Elder Beings in Colony IV could recall during The Great Remembrance. As an Exponent in Acquisition Phase XI, he learned that ancient astronomers from the Dead Planet discovered all planetary bodies and moons in ST-Prime. 

In this case, Europa drew its name from a great continent on the planet of the ancients. Later, an Elder Being told him the story of a young princess seduced by the strange god of an arcane religion. Peculiar as the story was, he had forgotten it until the long solitude of solitary navigation encouraged its memory to surface. By the time the module landed on Europa, he would become only the second Navigator to step foot on its frozen surface and the first to return to Colony IV. Navigator 2038-B preceded Monic by just 10 months but went offline before completing her mission. A retrieval team from Colony II spent many weeks attempting to locate her, albeit with no success.

Monic double and triple-checked the numerous fastenings that secured his climatized spacesuit. Random facets of the mission ran through his mind as he monitored the changing calculations on the screens. The same side of Europa faced the vapor giant in perpetuity because the gravitational pull from GST-10 kept the moon locked in orbit. Upon deployment to the glacial surface, he would maneuever a rover stored in the module’s bay to a massive crevass. Only 33 kilometers separated the landing site from the crevass, but its location lay on the dark side of the moon. There, according to the various BIO teams that architected his mission, he would encounter a vertical tunnel that bore directly through the entirety of the moon’s surface ice -- all 24 kilometers of it.

Beneath the ice, a subterranean ocean rich in salts, methane, and other chemicals ran a depth of nearly 100 kilometers. This ocean contained far more liquid than the Colonies could detect in all of RA-1473, the stellar neighborhood of which ST-Prime was an insignificant blip. On the ocean floor 100 kilometers down, lava from dozens of hotspots spewed molten metals and other elements into the water, providing the necessary conditions for inorganic life to flourish.

But the Colonies held little interest in the possibility of life on Europa. Previous off-world missions had discovered bacteria and other simple cells on distant, otherwise inhospitable planets and asteroids. Across ST-Prime, the Colonies cherished liquid elements above all other compounds. Colony engineers had long known how to convert methane to water via combustion, a process powered by solar energy, but finding methane off-world posed a more difficult challenge than envisioned. The vast majority of planets and moons lacked substantial ice or even the right group of frozen elements to warrant prospecting. But a specific quality distinguished Europa and made it a target of supreme importance: its abundance of liquid methane. In establishing a QIII Sub-Colony for advanced engineering on Europa, the Colonies could exploit its precious resource for centuries to come. 

Monic closed his eyes and imagined the first steps across the glacier. The moon’s icy surface was far more reflective than the red dust that dominated Colony IV’s surroundings, but he would also need to perform complex tasks under the veil of darkness. Thus, the visor in his helmet held a specially designed set of lenses that aided in navigating across environments with dynamic shifts in light. Lenses with heavy tints and polarized filters shielded eyes from blinding ice, whereas night vision gifted him sight during an endless night.

An automated voice representing the VOX communications arm of Systems Control delivered a command as the module approached Europa.

“Navigator 63-M, set shield visor to OCT-3, minus-2.”

“OCT-3, minus-2.” Monic rotated a thumb-size dial on the side of his space helmet. The passing shadows inside the cabin disappeared, blending into the pitch-black interior. Only the blinking lights and an occasional glimpse of Star-1 broke the layer of darkness before him. His vision would need nearly a minute to adjust to the change. 

“Navigator 63-M, 45 seconds to contact.”

“45 seconds to contact.” As a Stage II Exponent in missions training, he learned the importance of repeating commands to automated systems. For all the technical cleverness of the Beings, their designs and inventions were known to malfunction without warning. 

The landing module slowed by just 6% as it entered Europa’s razor-thin atmosphere. The icy surface of Europa appeared through the observation window, its brilliant sheen scarred with red-tainted fractures and quakes.

As Europa loomed closer, Monic thought back to the day he became a Navigator. The EVO Institute within Systems Control, a high order of gifted engineers and navigators, had convened to select the next generation. His experience as a Night Engineer at multiple research areas set him apart from the hundreds of Cadetes who sought the prestige and community missions closer to Star-1. Solar energy held an outsized role across the Colonies, dictating everything from colonization to interplanetary commerce. Consequently, the Colonies granted fewer resources and personnel to missions far from Star-1 -- even to the all-important moon of Europa. 

The fractured surface of the icy moon grew closer, its myriad fissures and brownish-red streaks becoming more detailed with each rotation. For an instant, he doubted whether he would see the light of Star-1 again. Crossing the divide to the dark side of Europa meant life in total darkness. He thought again of the message: As children in the dark, are we equally afraid in the light?

“Navigator 63-M, 10 seconds to contact.”

“10 seconds to contact.” Monic scanned the calculations that streamed across the array of monitors as the module jolted from entry. The cooling system within his spacesuit kicked into gear to remove sweat beading along his neck and palms. He considered landing the most nerve-wracking stage of navigation, even as the automated programs aboard controlled every manevuer. The module ceased to rotate as it locked into position for landing. A black backdrop filled the observation window; only the emptiness of infinite space returned his inquisitive gaze.

“Navigator 63-M, prepare to disembark.”

“Preparing to--”

An incoming communication cut him off. The same static and ringing sounds representing the outdated computing language sounded in his ears. Translating quickly, he understood it as another cryptic riddle:

During the longest of starless nights, 

prepare to supply your own light.

-KS

Monic had no time to process its meaning as the precise moment to disembark from the module had arrived. He activated the remote start procedure for the rover while stepping beyond an open door in the module to an intermediary chamber. Monic paused in the center, readying himself for the desolate and frozen world that waited on the other side of the second door.

The chamber vibrated as the module’s climate control pressurized the interior. He thought again of the cryptic messages and the parting words from the Elder who recounted the strange tale. His myriad sensations and thoughts heightened the adrenaline coursing through his body. A lifetime of training was about to give way to a novel experience and the complexity of an essential mission.

In an instant, he awoke to a sudden dawn of understanding: The progress of the Beings depended upon exploring the unknown; by crossing the great divide into darkness and mystery, absent of fear and armed with the torch of knowledge. During the long and starless night ahead, he would supply his own light.

A moment passed until the door revealed, at last, the towering white glaciers of Europa. Monic steadied his breath, focused on the first task before him, and placed a sterile boot on the surface of the moon.