Fly Me to the Moon River (The Groovy Space Race)

The Myth of the Eclipse

"Hey, Kaibara!" Kaito cried excitedly, struggling to peek over the tall, library windowsill. "What causes eclipses?!"

"Ooooh, good question!" Michiru nodded approvingly at her young charge. The boy had taken to calling her by her last name just because it started with the same three letters as his name. Before answering his question, Michiru turned to address all the other young ones gathered at the local library for the story-time hour. "How many of you know what an eclipse is? How many types are there?"

"Two!" Kaito piped up before anyone else could even raise a hand. "Solar and lunar, sun and moon! The first is when the moon gets in between of the sun and the Earth, so that's why it gets dark and we see the moon in front of the sun like a giant disc! Then a lunar eclipse is when the Earth is directly in front of the sun, so the moon looks reddish, cuz of the light in Earth's atmos- atmus- ats..."

"Atmosphere?" Saki asked politely, also smiling down at the enthusiastic, young, astronaut-to-be. Kaito's head bobbed frantically.

"But I wanna know... how? Why?" What caused the moon to sometimes "step in front of" the sun?" Kaito asked.

"Well, gather 'round, dear children! And let Mentor Michiru tell you the tale!" said Michiru proudly, chest puffed out.

ooo

The Sun hung dazzling bright, suspended in the pitch-black abyss of outer space. The Moon called out to her one fine day.

"Let us see who between us is superior!" She tossed back her head with a confident laugh, puffing out her chest. "Let's race! Let's battle!"

At first, the Sun ignored her. Bemused, she said nothing. Ah, youth!

The Moon was not as old as the Sun, so she was a more spontaneous, fierier. The irony was not lost upon the dazzling white star that illuminated her.

But the Moon was insistent. The way she saw herself, she represented power, action. It was true that she was not the Sun, that the light she "emitted" was not her own, rather, it was just the Sun's reflected, but that didn't mean she did nothing. The Moon controlled the tides, was visited and utilized by humans, was a technological miracle! And maybe she had just enough gumption to challenge the stoic Sun.

"An eclipse! Let us determine an eclipse!" the Moon continued. Despite herself, the Sun paused, and turned to listen to the other celestial body.

A competition...? Her inner red fire began to burn and glow, enticed by the allure of the silvery white Moon.

"I will try to bring about a Solar Eclipse, to stand in front of you, before all of humanity!" The Moon threw open her arms, bragging, confident. One of her eyes flashed yellow-white in a crescent shape while the other remained as black as the dark side of the Moon.

"And if I win..." the Sun whispered, "there will be a Lunar Eclipse, and I will chase you around to the other side of the Earth!" Sensing that the Sun was close to caving, the Moon cackled triumphantly as she prepared to race her silver-white chariot through the star-studded black sky.

The two, celestial bodies danced and dueled, each one dying to determine which of the duo was dominant. The Sun sang sweetly, high and clear. Her color fire danced across the sky—red, orange, and yellow, but green and blue too—electronic and alien music buzzing through space.

Hello! She seemed to sing. What are you? I reach out to you! Long to connect and make contact with you...! A ghostly white arm, a solar flare, stretched out across the cosmos, a gloved, white hand reaching for the Earth and Moon.

I am the One Star! The Moon was not technically a star, but she was the brightest, whitest object in the sky at night, when the Sun seceded the heavenly dominion to her. The Moon, though, was confident to the point of arrogance, and wished to make an appearance during the day as well.