The Short Ascension of Europa

Chapter 4 To The Stars
 

Star Gazing
 
 

As had happened previously on Europa, all development, once Hippocampus Europa Sapiens had reached a certain ‘comfort level’, more or less stopped. This was besides that fact that vast amounts of information was available thanks to the computer data left behind millions of years ago by their Hippocampus cousins from Earth.

There were, though, good reasons for this.  Even if the Europans had the plans how to build the various machines that seemed well & truly marvellous, debate within the Europan communities more or less questioned the value of building such machines which served no purpose for the here & now. This was further complicated by the fact that various nations had arisen on Europa &, although warfare was unthinkable, local issues took the led in the political games.

And that was another major influence in the scheme of things. Democracy had taken an early root in Europan society from the very beginning. But as society became larger, more & more complicated, & furthermore sophisticated, inevitably different regions wanted different things. In the end these regions established their own formal governments where previously only an informal political structure existed on the entire water moon.

By doing so, however, only one region actually housed the ancient computer from Earth. Although this nation did not block access to the computer from others, it did make free access limited. All of a sudden governments form had to be filled out. Plus access was furthermore limited to ensure everyone had equal access. Naturally the locals got more access to the computer than the "foreigners", but instead of the scientists working together, as they had in the past, now dozens of different teams were all doing the same thing. In doing so, nothing got done.

Having said all that, possibly the more important aspect, that has often been overlooked by many, is the technological level of the local Europans. Previous discoveries (or rediscoveries might be a better term) from the ancient computer required a low tech level compared to the latter ones. The high mark came with electricity & various machines that used this power supply. But even this technology had pushed the Europans to the limit. Requiring technology that more or less required waterproofing, the said electricity & the machines that used it, was essentially the high mark of the Europans.

Thus when plans for aircraft, basic space craft, not too mention faster than light speed spaceships, were discovered within the ancient computer, there was no way that the present Europan civilisation could build such items. Not only was the technology not available to construct these vessels in the first place, but the metals & composite materials used in the construction were unknown. Then there was the power systems: these too were beyond anything that the Europans had. In fact the nuclear & thermonuclear power plants required for the advanced spaceships appeared downright dangerous.

So in order to advance to the next level, vast amounts of money, time & resources would be required. Then there was the obvious problem, that even if this was done, there was no certainty that these items would actually work. The development of electricity systems was a case in point, & although they finally got the technology to work, much money, time & resources were used up in the process.  Hence in regards to these new ventures, as stated earlier, more important & practical needs required attention, & thus most Europans believed this advanced technology was a waist of all three important items.

Still some scientists persevered in the name of knowledge & science. Although the budget permitted to these personnel was extremely limited, they nonetheless had a huge advantage. Unlike most of civilisations, they already had the plans & the necessary data to construct the aircraft, local range spacecraft & the faster-than-light space ships. But the scientists knew, from the technology involved, that the spacecraft & space ships were at this time thoroughly impossible to build. Aircraft, though, were another matter altogether.

There was also a practical consideration given for the support for aircraft manufacturing. Even though governments still ignored the idea, several trading & transport companies were finally convinced that the aircraft offered a great advantage in transportation. Speeds, unimaginable in current methods, were available to atmospheric methods of transport: in other words flying. Not only did it include goods & produce, but Europans too could fly around the moon for business & pleasure. And all this could be done in hours instead of days.

Yet, although all this appeared promising, as said new technologies & their construction, power systems & building materials, had to be invented in order to build the plans. Of course, at first the Europans were not successful, but true to their nature, they continued to try. Eventually, after much experience of failing, they eventually succeeded. In fact the first examples were rather impressive. When one considers the first attempts of Homo Sapiens, these ones by the Europans there literally daylight in front. Of course Homo Sapiens had to do everything from scratch: they did not have an ancient super computer filled with detailed plans to work from.

Air travel did not, however, revolutionise Europan society as several of the scientists had argued. It did, though, radically speed up the transportation times as predicted. Furthermore, many Europans started to travel outside of the local regions. Previously only a handful would do such travelling, but this had now changed. There were several ramifications from this, mostly good, the most important of which was an awakening of the "travel bug" as it was called.

Thus it did not take long, as passengers looked out of the windows in the water filled aircraft, to begin to look up & into the sky. Europans had always been a curious specie, in fact this was one of their strengths, & now that they had seen the stars, Jupiter, & the red Sun that gave them light & above all life, many began to wonder what was really out there. Soon the reluctance of governments to get involved with the "crazy space programs of the scientists" was reduced as the population began to rethink its position on such issues.

Eventually a number of governments reached a decision to commence with a dedicated space program. But unlike the aircraft programs, these space agencies would be well coordinated & would in effect be one & the same. Instead of working against each other, the different teams would actually be working together. Furthermore the scientists from the aircraft programs were often the same ones brought into the space agencies & the valuable lessons learnt during the development of aircraft were well & truly applied in the development of the first local range space craft.
 

 
The First Touch Of Space
 
 

Just like the first steps with aircraft, the space program proved at first to be difficult, even with the technological information from their Earth cousins. Nonetheless, the Europans decided to go with simple probes at first, instead of the more advanced designs from the computer which the Hippocampus Sapiens had left for them. In many respects this was just as well as the advanced designs were based upon nuclear powered engines. The Europans thought such technology, at this point in time, was far too dangerous for early space missions.

To their credit, the Europans designed & developed simple chemical engines based upon oxygen & hydrogen. Both gases they had in abundance, considering the enormous amount of water which covered Europa. As a result, they had a continuous supply of rocket fuel. Another great bonus for Europa was its gravitational pull. Unlike Earth, the gravity on Europa was greatly inferior. Indeed, at one point in Europa’s existence, it was thought that, due to the moon’s low gravity, once the ice layer melted all of the water on Europa would escape into space. Intervention stopped this from happening, but it also meant that the escape velocity for any rocket was nevertheless low.

Yet, even though Europa’s space program had advantages, it also had its drawbacks. The main one being that Europans lived in a liquid environment.  Not only would they have to build above water installations, in other words platforms floating on the watery surface of Europa, but they would have to launch their missiles from these platforms as well. But, more importantly, Europans would have to work above their environment in the atmosphere. Such things were not easy, in fact it turned out to be much easier building the platforms than physically working on them once the platforms were floated, from their submerged construction yards, to the surface.

Of course there is always an answer to be found to such problems & the Europans found one. Discovering very quickly that, even in an environmental suit designed to permit an Europan to breath whilst out of the water, this was far from enough for physical work. So the Europan scientists had to develop exoskeleton suits before they could even think of working on, let alone launch, a missile. The first of such suits turned out to be more of a hindrance than anything,  but after several experimental models, exoskeleton suits proved to be manageable.

Thus thanks to such innovation & invention, albeit it took some ten years, the Europans soon began test launching missiles. None of the early models proved to be worthwhile as all would crash or explode in flames. But slowly & surly, the Europans refined their designs &, after a period of five more years, they had their first success with a missile.

Nevertheless, these were just missiles. At this point, little had been done in regards to satellites & the like. And at this point in Europan history, electronics was far from being the leading science as against other areas of scientific endeavour. Once more, though, their Earth cousins would come to the fore for the Europans. Consulting the Hippocampus Sapiens computer, the Europans decided to take the more simpler designs for satellites & build them, as against starting the technology anew from the simple knowledge currently around Europa. Although some adjusting of the original designs was required, soon a satellite was ready for launch.

The launch of the first Europan satellite was rather tame as these things go, although it was far from tame for the Europans. After some sixteens years of hard work, their first satellite flew into orbit around Europa. As it settled into orbit, it simply beeped to the moon below. Ground controllers (for wont of a better phrase) could follow the satellite’s movement in the skies above whilst confirming that everything was working. The next year, though, thanks to the success of Satellite One, a second satellite joined it in orbit. Carrying far more sophisticated equipment, including a camera, the Europans saw for the first time their moon & the galaxy around them. It was an awesome sight.

Thanks to Satellite Two, & those that followed, the Europan space program sped up enormously.  Not only as a "manned" program commenced with much vigour, but an advanced probe/satellite explorer program gained significant support as well. This latter program would be by far the more successful of the two programs, especially at first, as there was little requirement for important technological development. Rather, all it required were slightly more powerful rockets along with further development of the technological abilities of the satellites.

The "manned" program, however, was shackled with burdens from day one. Not only were there the requirements for an Europan to survive out of its natural environment, but one would also have to survive the rigours of space. Contrary to popular opinion, the non-gravity space environment was determined to be even harder for liquid based life forms than for atmosphere breathing ones. And even though the Europans had access to the super computer, turning such knowledge & technology into practical purposes on Europa were two completely different things.

Nonetheless, as the "manned" program bogged down with problem after problem, the probe/satellite program began to have success after success. Several probes were launched towards Jupiter. Numerous others were likewise launched towards Europa’s neighbouring moons. Discoveries were abound everywhere, but no life was discovered on any these voyages.

Still, as the rockets became more & more powerful, & the probes more advanced, other locations were targeted for adventure. The first of such long distance missions ventured towards the red giant which was their sun. In doing so, exploration of the Asteroid Belt took place. Likewise, a burnt & barren Mars was also explored. But all that was found was, even though exciting, nothing overly new at first, although observation of the sun would be telling later on. Immediately, though, things would change as Saturn, with its magnificent rings, beaconed the Europans next call.
 

Contact!
 

The first missions to Saturn were only aimed at the great gas giant itself. No interest was shown in Saturn’s moons. Instead, probes either stood off collecting data, whether it be in the form of pictures or radar/sonar signals, or dove into the planet itself in an attempt to see what it was made of. Alas the return data, although interesting, more or less told the same story as Jupiter. In other words, there was nothing new. Having said that, exploration of the rings of Saturn caused much interest as, even though Jupiter had rings too, they were nothing in comparison to those of Saturn. As a result, several more missions were sent merely to explore the rings of Saturn.

Saturn’s moons, whilst all this activity was taking place, were completely ignored. In their place, new missions were sent out to explore both Neptune & Uranus. Again, great discoveries were made at both planets, further indicating the technological achievements made thus far in Europa’s history. But, alas, nothing overly exciting was discovered. There was no signs of life let alone an environment similar to Europa’s where life could one day begin. After all the early exciting energy of the space program, the enthusiasm for the future began to slide.

That was, however, until a space telescope was launched into orbit around Europa. Unlike previously, this telescope had an unrestricted view of the heavens. Immediately it began to discover interesting sights which had been overlooked previously. Although nothing new was learnt about Jupiter & Europa’s neighbouring moons, the moons of Saturn gave a different story. Although ignored at the time, due to the fact that other objects caught the eye of the space program administrators, one of Saturn’s moons was indeed completely different from anything else they had seen. Having a red coloured atmosphere, unlike anything else discovered so far, it was clearly something new & enticing to explore.

Within a year, a satellite blasted off from Europa for this mysterious moon orbiting Saturn. It would take about six months for it to arrive, but when it did the discoveries made were unbelievable. Not only was there clearly an atmosphere, but there was every chance that life may dwell on the red moon as it was wrongly called. More Europan probes soon arrived, some which even landed on the moon’s surface. Excitingly, it was soon confirmed that life exist on Titan, even though the probes did not survive on the surface for long. Alas the local Titans were not all that happy to see something alien land on their world.
 

To  War!
 

The immediate reaction of the Europans was to send more probes. Meanwhile, those satellites already orbiting Titan began to study the moon carefully. Not long afterwards, weak low powered radio signals were picked up from across the surface. Soon thereafter, pictures taken at extreme zoom settings began to show signs of an advanced civilisation. The scientists back on Europa found all of this completely fascinating & wanted to make contact with the Titans. Although in hindsight it was a massive mistake, it seemed no one, at the time, in government circles thought that some caution should be shown in such an endeavour.

Contact, though, between two different alien societies, meant communication. And, as it seemed, considering that the Titans were stuck on their moon, it meant that the Europans would have to initiate it, regardless of the fact that the Titans may not be interested in such an event. Nonetheless, linguists throughout Europa began pouring over the radio messages which had been recorded by their probes. Although it took a while, the Europans began to understand the Titan language. A clear message of friendship & peace could thus be sent.

The probe given this task of hope, called Friendship One,  was probably the most advanced robotic probe ever designed & built by the Europans.  Containing every piece of scanning equipment  imaginable, it was also programmed to talk to the Titans in their own language. Six months after being launched, it landed not far from one of the large Titan cities. Recording everything which took place after it had landed, it hardly got finished its message of peace before being viciously attacked by an army unit of Titans. All this was seen back on Europa. The scientists, now for the first time, began to fear the worst. And so they should have.

Although it may have seemed, that these attempts of the Europans to explore Titan took no more time than a year, in fact it took six. And whilst the Europans were doing nothing more than acting out their curiosity with Titan, the reverse was true for the Titans. Fearing that they were under alien attack, they spent their considerable war abilities & industrial base on developing weapons to defend themselves. It did not take long, thus, for the Titians to discover numerous satellites orbiting their world. Seeing these as a military threat, the Titans then concentrated on developing missiles that could reach these unwanted foreign lingerers.

By the time Friendship One arrived, the Titans needed no further evidence that they were about to be invaded by alien forces. What scared them furthermore was the fact that the robot could speak their language. This was far too much. So whilst the Europan scientists debated about what to do next, the Titans launched a missile attack upon the Europan satellites orbiting the red moon. This, needless to say, caught the Europans completely by surprise. What was, though, far more worrying, was the fact that the Europans could no longer see what the Titans were doing. And that was exactly what the Titans wanted.
 
 

This creative work is the property of David Mark Atwell.
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