A Space Oddessey 2061 Book 3 Chapter 9: Mount Zeus PART I : THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN

A Space Oddessey 2061 Book 3 Chapter 9: Mount Zeus PART I : THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN

The survey satellite Europa VI had been in orbit for almost fifteen years, and had far exceeded its design life; whether it should be replaced was a subject of considerable debate in the small Ganymede scientific establishment. It carried the usual collection of data-gathering instruments, as well as a now virtually useless imaging system. Though still in perfect working order, all that this normally showed of Europa was an unbroken cloudscape. The overworked science team on Ganymede scanned the recordings in 'Quick Look' mode once a week, then squirted the raw data back to Earth. On the whole, they would be rather relieved when Europa VI expired and its torrent of uninteresting gigabytes finally dried up. Now, for the first time in years, it had produced something exciting. 'Orbit 71934,' said the Deputy Chief Astronomer, who had called van der Berg as soon as the latest data-dump had been evaluated. 'Coming in from the nightside - heading straight for Mount Zeus. You won&#…