Chapter 8-Ghosts of Europa

Europa's surface was a jagged sheet of ice, the kind of cold that went beyond freezing — a cold that could rip the very warmth from your bones in seconds. The shuttle rocketed through the frozen atmosphere, its thrusters humming as it descended toward the abandoned Europa Base, a place once bustling with research, now reduced to a silent tomb.

Nash gazed out the small viewport, her breath fogging up the glass as she peered down at the sprawling complex below. It had been years since the last transmission from the station, and not a single living soul had been seen in or around the area since.

"Ready yourself, people," Nash said, turning from the viewport to face her team. "We don't know what we're walking into."

Her team consisted of hardened soldiers, exo-suit technicians, and a few scientists who were just as eager as she was to uncover what lay beneath the ice. They had no choice but to go in. The signal they had been tracking, the same one that had destroyed Titan, was emanating from deep within Europa. The signal was too strong to ignore, and Nash was certain that they would find something there — something that would make everything they'd experienced seem like a prelude to the real horror.

The shuttle's hatch opened, and the cold immediately hit them like a thousand needles. It was as if the ice itself was alive, waiting for them. Nash quickly adjusted her helmet and checked her suit's systems.

"Move out," she ordered, and her team exited the shuttle one by one, descending into the eerie, frozen wasteland.

The Base Entrance

The entrance to the Europa Base was buried beneath layers of thick ice, but the team's high-powered lasers made quick work of it, slicing through the frozen fortress with ease. The hatch opened with a loud groan, and the team stepped into the darkened interior.

The base was as silent as a graveyard. The air smelled stale, and the lights flickered weakly, casting long, jittery shadows across the walls. It was strange to see the base like this — dead. This was supposed to have been a state-of-the-art research facility, one of the brightest stars in humanity's expansion into the outer solar system. Now, it was a tomb.

"Look at this," one of the scientists, Dr. Elias Moreau, murmured, his voice filled with awe and fear. "The entire place... it's been frozen in time."

Nash moved to the central control panel, her fingers gliding over the dormant keys. She tapped a few commands, and the console flickered to life. A few moments later, a log popped up, showing the last recorded transmission: a voice, garbled with static, repeating one sentence over and over.

"It's coming."

Nash's breath caught in her throat.

"That's not possible," she muttered. "The signal was still active, even after the station was abandoned. How could this be?"

The voice continued, but now it was clearer. A person — a scientist, by the sound of it — desperately trying to warn whoever might be listening. "It's here. It's inside the ice. It... it's more than we thought. Get out! Get—"

The recording cut off.

"We need to find the source. Now," Nash ordered, her voice steely. They had only a few hours before the station's power systems began to degrade completely, and the signal was growing louder. It felt like something was reaching out, beckoning them deeper into the base.

The Ice Chambers

They found the first body in the observation chamber.

It was an older man, his face frozen in a grotesque grin, as if he had died mid-laugh. His suit had been ripped open, his insides — or what was left of them — were slathered across the floor like someone had carved them out. No signs of a weapon, no obvious wounds, just... mutilation.

"This... this wasn't an accident," one of the soldiers, Sergeant Molina, said, her voice tight with fear. "These people were torn apart."

"Keep moving," Nash commanded. Her own heart raced. She'd seen things on Titan, but this — this felt wrong in a way she couldn't explain. The air in the chamber felt charged, electric, as if the ice itself was alive. Every step she took seemed to echo louder than the last.

They moved through the base, their footfalls soft but steady. Every door they opened, every hall they turned into, it was the same — no life, no sign of the crew. Only bodies. And they were all the same — smiling, twisted in unnatural ways.

As they ventured deeper, they found more of the same: broken bodies, twisted into grotesque positions, their flesh seemingly rearranged as though someone or something had been playing with them.

Dr. Moreau stopped in his tracks when he saw something else — a pattern. The bodies weren't just positioned randomly. They were arranged — in geometric shapes, aligned with the star maps on the walls.

"It's a message," Moreau said, his voice filled with dread. "But from who? Or what?"

The Signal's Source

The source of the signal was buried beneath Europa's surface — far deeper than they had expected. The temperature inside the base was plummeting as they descended into the lower levels, which had been sealed off for years. Their suits showed negative temperatures and flashing warnings, but they pressed on, following the signal's trail.

Then, they found it.

A massive chamber — hollowed out, artificial. It looked nothing like anything humans had built. The walls were smooth, organic, pulsating with faint light. The air smelled of ozone and something sweet, sickly.

And in the center, on an altar-like structure, lay an enormous crystalline object. It was translucent, glowing faintly with a light that seemed to breathe.

The signal came from it.

"It's... alive," Nash whispered. She reached out for it, but just before her fingers touched the surface, the room shook, as if the object had noticed them. The hum deepened, a low, vibrating growl that made the floor tremble beneath their boots.

Suddenly, from the walls — thousands of tiny glowing tendrils shot out, covering the walls, the floors, the ceiling. They were alive. Moving. Watching.

"Get away from it!" Molina screamed.

But Nash couldn't move. She felt it — the pull. The signal. It was calling to her, too, now. Not just through her suit's comms, but inside her, deep within her mind.

A voice echoed in her head. "Welcome, human. You were always meant to hear."

Before she could react, the first tendril lashed out, wrapping around Molina's neck, pulling him into the glowing crystal. He screamed, but it was cut short as the crystal pulsed once, then went silent.

Nash's heart slammed against her ribcage. "No... no, no!"

She turned to her team, but they were already beginning to show signs of the same transformation she had felt on Titan. Their eyes glazed over, their bodies growing stiff. The signal was reaching them — changing them, like it had changed Voss.

And just before the lights went out completely, Nash saw the shape of something else.

A figure.

Voss.