Hundred Second Theater: Europa Paul Knierim 2022 100 seconds --- Captain - Bold and confident leader... and aquatic creature from Europa. Officer One - Competent, calm scientist... and aquatic creature from Europa. Officer Two - Competent, calm scientist... and aquatic creature from Europa. Officer Three - Panicky cynic... and aquatic creature from Europa. --- SFX: drill ship Officer One: [speaking loudly to be heard over drill] Hull temperature holding steady at two hundred degrees. Officer Two: [speaking loudly to be heard over drill] Drill still performing nominally. Captain: [proudly, speaking loudly to be heard over drill] We've now traveled higher than anyone in history! Officer Three: [alarmed, shouting] Something's happening up ahead, the ice is changing! SFX: Sploosh of surfacing SFX: music begins under Captain: [awestruck by incomprehensible sight] By the gods! What... what is it? Officer One: [excited] Everyone said the ice above the world was was infinite, but we've discovered another ocean on the far side! Captain: Not an ocean. Look how clear it is! Officer Two: [astonished] Sensors indicate *zero* water content! Officer One: That's impossible! Any empty volume naturally fills with water! Captain: [confidently, taking control of the situation] Squirt the universal greeting. SFX: squirt Officer Two: The ink just fell onto the ice. There really seems to be nothing above the ice, no medium. Captain: [thoughtfully] Yet we can see that colorful ball above, it must be immense. And the points of white light appear even more distant. Officer Three: [alarmed] Where's that bright light coming from? No bioluminescent organism could be big enough to light everything we're seeing! SFX: alarm klaxon Officer One: Radiation levels are hazardous! We have to dive back into the ice immediately! Officer Two: [alarmed] The ice has refrozen around the bottom of the ship! The drill is facing up into the void, and there's no solid or fluid to push on to flip us! Captain: We're stuck? Officer Two: I'm afraid so. Officer Three: We're as good as dead. Captain: At least we've had this glimpse of heaven, vast and imponderable. Officer Three: Or hell, the deadly void.