Rumors - Snippet from EUROPA for #WeWriWa Thrilling #SciFiRom

Welcome to another Sunday with Weekend Writing Warriors . Meet writers in various genres and read 8-10 sentence snippets of their stories.
I’m posting snippets from my latest novel set on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. The book released last Tuesday.
Tag line: Daredevil scientist and scarred alien in perilous alliance
BlurbDr. Nikki Bell’s plan to discover intelligent life in the oceans of Europa hits a rocky start when her spaceship crashes on the icy surface. Seconds before she blacks out, she spies a man’s face in the water beneath the ice. When she wakes on the submarine Station, nobody believes her story. Convinced the mysterious stranger saved her life, Nikki searches for him while she explores the ocean and its alien inhabitants.  Kiron Arqin Ramis chose exile as a Watcher on a remote outpost to redeem his family’s honor. He never expected to find an attractive Earther woman close to death. He violates the prime policy by rescuing her. Despite suffering the penalty, he strives to warn her about his hostile leaders. Nikki’s unexpected meeting with Kiron triggers a chain of disasters in Europa’s perilous oceans. Can the daredevil scientist and scarred Watcher forge a new alliance despite their people’s antagonism?             Book 1 in a new SciFi series, Taxyon Space.
After Nikki’s lifepod crashed on Europa, she tumbled into a hole in the ice and saw a stranger’s face in the water below. She woke in Galileo Station where the physician insisted Nikki must have imagined the man. You can read my last snippet here: https://auroraspringer.blogspot.com/2017/11/its-impossible-snippet-from-europa-for.html
I’ve skipped a few chapters to give you another teaser. Nikki has descended to Bathos, a separate part of Galileo Station constructed on the seabed. She plans to live on Bathos while she explores the native life in the ocean. Tech Albright, aka Big Al, is giving her a tour. I’ve edited the excerpt to fit. Please excuse any abuse of punctuation.
Since Tech Albright seemed to be a fount of knowledge about the station and its history, Nikki ventured to say, “After my lifepod crashed, I fell into a hole in the ice and saw a man’s face in the water, but nobody on Topside believed me. Dr. Foster suggested I had an hallucination.” The beefy man frowned and shook his head, “They’re scared.” His words pricked her interest, “Scared of what?” “Rumors; gossip about what happened to Sally Merrigold, your predecessor.” Tensing in anticipation, she halted and stared at Al, “What rumors? I never met Dr. Merrigold, but I expected to be working with her.” He hesitated, “Don’t get me wrong, I keep an open mind about what’s out there. One time, maybe six or seven weeks ago, Sally claimed the sub’s monitors had picked up an object shooting across the edge of their range; something shaped like a hunch-backed man. Don’t know if she mentioned it to anyone else.”

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