Prologue: The Landing

Half the sky shouldn't be Jupiter, but it is. Your ship, the Asterion, is hurtling towards the wrong side of the ice moon Europa. The side most awash in Jupiter's radioactive magnetosphere. Your screen is lit up with ridges that criss-cross like veins over the moon. The ice glimmers, streaked with rust-colored fields of irradiated salt. It's the smoothest large object in the solar system. Europa: your new home, your last home.

Everyone in the command center is strapped in. The g-force presses you back in your chair. You're the leader of this expedition and everyone is looking to you to guide them through. You've got three related problems: due to a thrust malfunction, you're coming in too fast; because you're coming in too fast, you're going to land on the wrong side of the moon; and worst of all, the ship is designed to bury in where it lands, creating the start of the settlement under the ice. Wherever you land will be permanent. It's up to you now.