Stowik stepped outside into the thick Titan air. He reached down and depressed a small button on his boot. Small plastic spikes lazily protruded out of his rubber soles as the air bladder in the sole inflated. Without warming, a quake hit, and the ground vibrated relentlessly beneath Stowik, causing him to kneel down to keep his balance. If these quakes keep up, we’re going to have a lot more problems then just replacing the ethane aquifer. A moment later, the quake passed and Strowik stood up hesitantly. He set off, and his feet plodded rhythmically along the old unused path as he made his way up the shallow incline, his spiked boots making soft scratching noises as they abraded the ice with each footfall. Through his facemask, his breathing was more strained than what he was accustomed to, but it felt nice to feel the soft wind on his neck where his thermal suit had poor coverage. That was something he’d missed from his days deep inside the Concrete. I’d never tell him this, but I see why Rockhead spends so much time out here. Stowik checked his thermal suit’s thermometer: -52° C. He was sweating inside his thermal suit. From the heat, or the anticipation? He looked around, his large pupils scanning the icy landscape and coming to rest on the rounded grey rocks that dotted the ground. A small lake of liquid ethane caught his eye and he took a moment to watch the slow predictable motion of the waves propagate across the surface. Hydrocarbon particles danced around his ankles, carried by the wind. It was a clear day and through the haze he could make out Jupiter directly above him, larger and brighter than any of the stars. His eyes tracked downward and he admired the massive beauty of Saturn and its rings resting along the horizon. Stowik noted the position of Saturn halfway below the horizon and turned his attention to Castle Mountain, the highest part of the crater rim surrounding Alpha India; Rockhead should be cresting the one and a half kilometer peak any second.
This world truly was beautiful, and he felt a pang of regret for missing it all these years. The first of Alpha India couldn’t even go outside because it was so cold back then, and now that it’s warm enough for humans, the terraformed climate is wasted on me. He stopped to take a rest; Stowik was unused to walking great distances outside, and he had to regulate his pace, as his facemask could only filter the scant oxygen out of Titan’s atmosphere so quickly. At least with the hoppers done, I’ll have more of a reason to venture above.
Shivering from the cold, Stowik rubbed his arms with his gloved hands to stay warm. There. A glimmer of light reflected off of the shiny plastic carapace of the hopper. Stowik’s full attention was on the hopper as it crested the peak of Castle Mountain. As the hopper came closer, Stowik could see that the green signal light was on. This is it. After half a year, he finally found something! But something was wrong. As Stowik’s eyes focused on the ever-nearing hopper, he made out large amounts of smoke trailing the vehicle. This is not good. Come on, just a little closer, Rockhead. Five more minutes, just land safely. The hopper began decelerating several tens of kilometers away, and its path became more erratic. Stowik’s chest tightened from anxiety, and his stomach felt hollow with fear. His lungs compressed thinner than the plastic sheets that lined the icy interior of Alpha India. He couldn’t breathe. The sound of hissing preventing him from focusing. The hopper began pitching and yawing a great deal, leaving a sinuous and chaotic trail of smoke in its wake. Oh, shit. This can’t be happening. What did I do wrong? I’ve checked out the hopper before and after every flight. But I did it. Not Rockhead, not anyone else. I missed something. I got careless. Oh, shit. Please don’t let it cost my brother his life. When he gets back I’m going to tear that thing apart and make it better than new. He must be scared to death right now. Oh, shit.
Stowik watched the hopper stabilize and breathed a sigh of relief. Then the hopper pitched over on its side. It began picking up speed and plunged towards the icy surface. Stowik couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Turn the damn thing right side up, damn it!” he shouted into the thick Titan air. “Up, up, up! Damn it, Rockhead! You dumbass, pull back up!” Stowik yelled a continuous stream of instruction into a medium with no one to hear. Except there was someone. Sartis had suddenly appeared at his side.
“I heard shouting, what’s going on?” panted Sartis before she saw the line of smoke torpedoing through the sky. She fell silent as she realized it was Rockhead, her tobecoupled, heading the sinuous smoke trail. Her fists tightened.
Stowik’s ears registered the crash before his brain did.
“Rockhead, no!”
Stowik deflated, and Titan’s miniscule gravity overcame his strength. His mind and body crumpled and his knees hit the firm ground. He couldn’t feel the jagged terrain or the bitter cold of the ice that bit into his skin. He could only stare at the plume of smoke that rose from the crash several kilometers away. His brain moved slower than the plastic ice beneath him.
I am one of fifty. Best the cold, Rockhead.
Stowik felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Sartis standing behind him, tears brimming on her eyes. They sought each other’s eyes for support. There was nothing to say.