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    Angel of Europa
    Angel of Europa
    Angel of Europa
    Ebook91 pages1 hour

    Angel of Europa

    By Allen Steele

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    About this ebook

    In Jupiter’s orbit, a mysterious death propels an astronaut into the investigation of a lifetime
    Partway into a years-long journey, an interstellar research expedition takes up orbit around Jupiter and begins to explore the gas giant’s moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and—most importantly—the ice ball known as Europa. For centuries, scientists have wondered what strange alien life forms may lurk beneath the frozen surface of Jupiter’s most mysterious moon. And tragically, the men and women aboard this ship are about to find out.
    Two scientists go down to the surface of Europa in a small craft piloted by the beautiful, fiery Evangeline Chatelain. After an accident on the surface, only she returns. Her crewmembers suspect her of murder, but Evangeline tells a wild tale of an attack by a terrifying space monster. The astronaut charged with investigating the incident must decide—is she a crazed killer? Or has she just made the greatest scientific discovery in history?  
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateSep 3, 2013
    ISBN9781480439979
    Angel of Europa
    Author

    Allen Steele

    Before becoming a science fiction writer, Allen Steele was a journalist for newspapers and magazines in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Missouri, and his home state of Tennessee. But science fiction was his first love, so he eventually ditched journalism and began producing that which had made him decide to become a writer in the first place. Since then, Steele has published eighteen novels and nearly one hundred short stories. His work has received numerous accolades, including three Hugo Awards, and has been translated worldwide, mainly into languages he can’t read. He serves on the board of advisors for the Space Frontier Foundation and is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He also belongs to Sigma, a group of science fiction writers who frequently serve as unpaid consultants on matters regarding technology and security. Allen Steele is a lifelong space buff, and this interest has not only influenced his writing, it has taken him to some interesting places. He has witnessed numerous space shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center and has flown NASA’s shuttle cockpit simulator at the Johnson Space Center. In 2001, he testified before the US House of Representatives in hearings regarding the future of space exploration. He would like very much to go into orbit, and hopes that one day he’ll be able to afford to do so. Steele lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, Linda, and a continual procession of adopted dogs. He collects vintage science fiction books and magazines, spacecraft model kits, and dreams. 

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    • 5/5
      Allen Steele is a fantastic storyteller.

      I suppose I shouldn't really stop right there. This novelette is a very neatly plotted mystery that takes place in orbit around, and on the surface of, Europa. The International Jupiter Expedition has arrived at Jupiter already having suffered one casualty: their arbitrator, Otto Danzig, was nearly killed in an unexplained airlock accident, and has been in medical hibernation since they crossed Mars orbit. Now, though, the expedition has a worse problem: The bathyscaphe lowered into the Europan ocean has suffered an accident, the two scientists aboard have both been killed. Only the pilot, Evangeline Chatelain, survived and returned to the ship. She reports that a huge undersea creature rammed the bathyscaphe and breached the hull of the observation cabin, forcing her to jettison it in order to escape alive herself.

      The problem is that no one believes her.

      Captain Diaz orders Danzig awakened, even though he is not yet fully healed, because the expedition needs its arbitrator to conduct an impartial investigation and resolve the question of what happened in the bathyscaphe. Still weak, not completely recovered and moreover just emerged from months of hibernation, Danzig quickly discovers that he'll need to go down to the Europa surface, and take Chatelain with him, Does the giant sea creature exist, and why has no one else seen any sign of it? What about the complicated relationship between Chatelain and the two scientists--both of whom were her ex-lovers?

      Then Danzig makes the decision that makes everyone--including him--fear for his safety. He's going into the ocean in the remaining bathyscaphe--with Chatelain as his pilot.

      This is very nicely done, with tight plotting and characters nicely developed in the small space of this novelette.

      Highly recommended.

      I received this book from a friend.
    • 4/5
      The premise: ganked from publisher's website: In the early years of the 22nd century, an international space expedition is exploring the moons of Jupiter. Tragedy strikes when a bathyscaphe lowered into the global ocean beneath Europa’s frozen surface is lost, costing the lives of two scientists. The lone survivor: the bathyscaphe’s pilot, a woman whose haunting beauty and sexual hunger led both men to have affairs with her.She claims that her craft was attacked by an enormous creature prowling the frigid waters beneath the ice. Other expedition members doubt her story. They believe the creature doesn’t exist, and that she’s lying in order to hide the fact that she deliberately killed her former lovers.It’s up to another crewman—the survivor of a freak accident aboard the expedition ship -- to determine the truth. Is this murder…or one of the greatest discoveries of all time?My Rating: Worth Reading, with ReservationsReservation: a wee bit pricey, especially if you're not familiar with the author's work. I think for fans of Steele, it's an enjoyable read. It's certainly not something I'd start with if you've never read his work at all, but then again, why would you order a special limited edition of a book of an author you've never read? I wouldn't pay Subterranean's prices for a newbie! But as a collector of Steele's work, this is a nice little edition to my library, and it's an enjoyable tale. It treads the line of predictability and backs away from it nicely, and it's got me hankering to get back to reading some of Steele's longer works again.Spoilers, yay or nay?: Considering that the above premise tells you pretty much everything you need to know about the story, save for the ending, I won't spoil you any further. After all, it's a short book. The full review is at my blog, which is linked below, if you're interested. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)REVIEW: Allen Steele's ANGEL OF EUROPAHappy Reading!

    Book preview

    Angel of Europa - Allen Steele

    I

    THE TRANSITION FROM life to death to life again was almost instantaneous.

    First there was the decompression alarm, a loud and repetitive gong like a brass cymbal being struck again and again. Then a gust of wind, almost as if he was on a beach and feeling an ocean breeze coming in over the seawall. Then the breeze became a gale, and he turned away from the hardsuit he’d been inspecting just in time to see the outer airlock hatch open, a tiger-striped portal to an airless and star-flecked darkness.

    Danzig grabbed the door rung of the open suit locker and yelled for help even though he knew there was no one on the other side of the closed inner hatch; he’d been alone on Hub Deck 2 when he entered the airlock. The roar of escaping air drowned out his voice, and his ears propped painfully when he yelled again. His feet tore loose from the deck; when he looked down at them, he saw that one of his sneakers had been ripped from his left foot.

    He was cold, colder than he’d ever been before, and although he clutched the door rung as hard as he could, his hands were becoming numb. He tried to take a deep breath, but couldn’t fill his lungs. Blood spurted from his nostrils as a viscous red stream that was caught by the escaping air and sucked toward the open hatch. Pressure pounded against his temples and the sockets of his eyes; the very pores of his skin felt as if they’re on fire. His fingers loosened from the rung, and then he was lying in an infirmary bed, gazing up at Dr. Philips.

    Hello, Otto. In keeping with expedition protocol, she spoke to him in English rather than his native German. Her voice was quiet, her eyes searching. How are we feeling?

    Somewhere above his head was the staccato beep of the bed’s sensors, registering his cardiac rhythm and respiration. The bed sheets were cool and crisp, the pillow soft against the back of his head. His body was utterly weak, his muscles drained of all energy. It was all he could do just to keep his eyes open.

    Like … hell. His throat was a dry tunnel behind a parched mouth. Water.

    Dr. Phillips — he’d always had trouble thinking of her as Martha, her first name — favored him with worried smile. You shouldn’t be dehydrated, she said, glancing up at the IV drip bag suspended above the left side of his bed; its narrow plastic tube carried a glucose solution to the stent inserted in the crook of his left elbow. I’ll get you something to drink in a moment. She looked down at him again. Do you know where you are?

    Here, he managed to croak.

    Think you can be a little more exact?

    "Ship … Zeus … Explorer."

    Yes. Very good. A satisfied nod. And your name is …?

    Otto … Danzig. Irritation accompanied thirst. Water … please.

    Of course. Phillips strolled over to a water dispenser, filled a paper cup, inserted a straw. Returning to the bed, she pushed a button on its right side. The bed purred softly as it raised halfway to a sitting position. Just a little, she said, bending the straw and fitting it between his lips. Don’t gulp or you’ll get sick.

    The water was as lukewarm and flat as only the recycled urine of twenty men and women can be; just then, though, it was as sweet as wine. Ignoring the warning, Danzig sipped greedily at the straw, savoring the water as it rolled down the desert cave of his mouth and throat. He wanted to take the cup away from her, but his hands only twitched a little when he tried to raise them.

    That’s enough, Phillips said, even though he’d barely slaked his thirst, and gently pulled the straw from his mouth before he was through. Now … do you remember what happened?

    I was … I was … in … the airlock. Outer door … opened and … He struggled to remember, but the only image that came back to him were his feet, one of his sneakers missing, dangling a couple of meters from the open hatch. That’s all.

    Shock. Don’t worry, it’ll come back to you. Philips took the cup over to a recycling tube and poured the remaining water into it. You’re fortunate to be alive, she continued as she crumpled the cup and shoved it into a disposal chute. They managed to shut the hatch before you were blown outside, but you were dead when they pulled you out of there.

    Danzig stared at her. Dead?

    Uh-huh. Philips turned to a nearby counter, started to do something Danzig couldn’t see. Severe pulmonary barotrauma, coupled with acute ischemia. You’re just lucky you didn’t have an embolism … I’m not sure I could’ve saved you then. Otherwise, everything that could happen to someone who’s been in a blowout, happened to you.

    How did … how did …?

    They got you out of there in time. Once I managed to resuscitate you, I put you on life support, pumped you full of medical nanos, and programmed them to repair your organs and blood vessels. Then I stuck you in the emergency hibernation tank to heal.

    Philips turned away from the counter. She held a syringe gun, its barrel half-filled with a milky fluid. Now that we don’t need them anymore, it’s time to kill the little demons. She placed the gun’s tip against the side of his neck and squeezed the trigger. Danzig felt a wasp sting. There. That should do it.

    Danzig knew that he should be grateful to the doctor for saving his life, but he could barely stay awake. "Danke, he whispered, then remembered expedition protocol. Thanks, he added, using English instead. Another question occurred to him. How … long?"

    About six and a half months. Philips reached up to the monitor and tapped a finger against its screen.

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