“Sorry, my dear. I was just showing the new guy around Oceanus. Two minutes.” He winked. “I have a thing for domineering women. Hold on to your seat.”

The submersible accelerated through the dark sea toward a series of lights that had appeared in the distance. As we moved closer I could make out the hull of a second mini-sub. When we got close enough, I could see that it was piloted by Amanda Moss. Below the vessel, undulating away from the seafloor like a bright yellow serpent, was an expanse of flex tubing, as thick as a sewage pipe. One end led back to Oceanus, the other originated at a bell-shaped cap covering the superheated outflow from a hydrothermal vent. Yoni explained that high water temperatures inside the tubing had been causing buoyancy problems, forcing Omega’s submersible teams to anchor the pipeline to the bottom.

Amanda’s voice crackled over the radio again. “Yoni, I need you to grab on to the joint with your sub’s claw so I can secure the anchor’s harness into place.”

“Understood.” The Israeli extended our sub’s mechanical arm, attempting to grip one of the pipeline’s O-rings using the steel and graphite pincer. Securing the joint on the third try, he drew in the slack, allowing the robotic arm from Amanda’s sub to position a heavy harness anchored to the seafloor around the five-foot-in-diameter pipeline.

“First joint secured. Let’s work our way back toward the volcanic vent.”

“Your command, Amanda, is my wish.” Yoni winked at me again, muting the radio. “Let them think they are in charge, it is better this way.”

“Finish your thoughts about GOLEM. Do you really believe the computer selected the Omega crew based on compatibility?”

“At first I did, then I probed a bit deeper. In examining the lineage of the twelve crewmembers, their parents, and grandparents, I found the group’s genealogy spanned nearly every race and heritage in the world.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning GOLEM has assembled a crew possessing an extremely diverse and therefore healthy chromosome pool.”

“For what purpose?”

“For the purpose of creating a permanent human colony on Europa.”

I laughed. The rotund Israeli was a conspiracy theorist.

Yoni frowned. “I see installing a computer chip in your brain does not open your mind to new possibilities.”

“Let’s just say ABE’s bullshit meter is still functioning fine.”

“You created the computer’s protocol—to protect and preserve the human race. If you were selecting the best location within our solar system to establish a new human colony, where would it be? Europa has water. It has internal heat. An energy source. Pack ice for terrestrial living.” Yoni Limor stroked his goatee, his eyes widening behind his spectacle. “You think I am crazy?”

“Certifiable.”

“Maybe that is why you are here? To take the fat Israeli’s place, yes? Go for it, you have my blessing. But do you also have type-O, Rh-negative blood?”