Kestrel Deep: Eleven Hours Under Europa
by Lorvoker
Sci-Fi
Three kilometres beneath Europa's ice, Ines Varga, the only medic on the drilling rig Kestrel Deep, watches a warm, glassy film on the drill head flinch from her torch — and then find its way into the water lines. Station chief Rafe Okonjo wants it flushed into the reactor before the supply shuttle docks in eleven hours, because reporting live contamination means a two-year quarantine the rations cannot cover. Ines wants it logged as the first proof of life beyond Earth, and both of them are heading for the comms room.