Free The Curse of Europa by Brian Kayser

the hole, hanging onto the support rig with one hand and hanging onto Juliana with the other as she just dangles there. The cleats of his boots are firmly anchored and he is using all of his neck muscles to help hold up his body by pressing his head onto the ice surrounding the hole. He is firmly anchored but is in a very awkward position to be able to pull her up, even in the low gravity. Then he feels the grip of his hand, which is hanging onto Juliana, slip slightly as he does try to pull up. The whirlpool and the water are gone now – sucked down the drain to God only knows where. For Juliana, the only thing down there is death. He tries to pull her up again, but that only weakens their grip more.
“These damn gloves, I can’t get… a good grip, just hold on… Can you hear me?”
“Yes, I can hear you now,” she replies between heavy breaths of panic. Being this close they are able to communicate even with Turk’s damaged com unit antenna.
“Can you - grab on - with your other hand?” Turk pleads, as he feels his grip ready to give out at any moment.
Juliana reaches up and grabs hold of Turks hand with her other hand; now their combined grip feels much better. “Good, good, that’s better,” he says to her.
“I don’t know… if I can pull you up… with the way I am positioned. And my com unit… must be damaged – I can’t raise the ship,” he tells her with much strain in his voice.
“Let me try,” she says. “Eagle-2, Eagle-2, do you copy?”
“Doctor Evans, this is Hicks, I’ve been trying to contact you, we are aware of your situation and are on our way. We should be there in about five minutes. We are traveling as fast as we can!”
“Okay… acknowledged… please hurry!” she responds. She is glad they are on their way, but worried it will take them five more minutes.
“Did you hear that Patrick?” She asks.
Turk responds, “No… All I can hear is your communications”
“Commander Hicks is on his way but they are still five minutes out,” she tells him, hoping he thinks the five minutes is better news than she thinks.
“Well, shit.” He responds and then grunts with strain, which instantly answers her question. “I don’t think… I can hold this pose… for five more minutes. I don’t think I can hold-on… for even one more minute. We’ve got to try… to get you out now… we can’t wait for them.”
“Okay, I agree. And Patrick… I love you – too, by the way,” Juliana says in a half exhausted whisper; dangling like a rag doll. This gives Turk some added strength to pull up. She isn’t that heavy, especially with the low gravity; it is just that he doesn’t have ample leverage. He tightens his grip and starts to pull her up with all his might, then POP , the seal on his glove breaks and starts to slip off. Instantly it feels as if a thousand pins are poking into his wrist as the thin frigid Europa air touches his bare skin. He winces in agony as he still tries to hold on and pull up; desperately maneuvering his legs to try to get more leverage.
He pulls her up a few centimeters then tells her, “Can you grab my body? Can you get your arm around me and climb on my back to get out?”
“I’ll try…” she says and reaches for him, but the backpack on his back makes that very difficult. All she is able to do is grab some material from his suit but then her hand suddenly slips and she has to grab his hand again.
“Patrick! Oh God…” he hears Juliana shriek.
His heart is pounding even harder and it feels as if it may explode. He grunts and frantically pulls up even harder but he is losing feeling in his hand and can’t maintain the grip, then his glove slips completely off.
“PATRICK! OH MY GOD…… PATRICK!” he looks down in horror as she falls, paying no attention to the pain in his hand from the extreme cold and lack of air pressure. Everything is in slow motion as time seems to stand almost still. He can see her eyes widen and the terrifying fear on her