SUNGLASESS AND ROCKETS Part 2: The Machine

UFOs

"What?"

Darwin pointed at the stars.

"Look."

Intrigued, I looked attentively.

"Do you see those lights?" he asked.

I half closed my eyes, but the only lights I could see was the myriad of stars in space!

"Which lights?"

"Over there," my friend insisted, tapping the window with his index finger. "In the middle."

I focused to my greatest capacity. Yes. There appeared some dots that were different from the rest. They shone differently...

"I see them..."

"They're UFOs," Darwin assured categorically. "They must be UFOs."

When you travel in space, you never know, that is true. The point here, I must say, is that my friend and I were very much inclined to believe in flying saucers.

"They're UFOs," I seconded. "UFOs is all they could be..."

Suddenly, the doctor's voice was heard and the close encounter of the first kind was over.

"Take your seats now!"

I remembered the verifications list.

"We have only 10 verifications left!" I jumped.

"Forget it!"

We took our helmets and pushed ourselves forward. The picture had changed noticeably. Everything looked closer. You could even make out clearly the irregular surroundings of the huge craters...

"We will start to go around the moon in three minutes," the doctor indicated to us. "The base—"

"We saw something back there," Darwin interrupted as he was settling into the seat next to the co-pilot.

The doctor ignored the remark and pointed the front panel.

"We'll land on the—"

"Doctor," my friend insisted. "We just saw some UFOs behind the ship..."

By this time, I was almost done adjusting the seat belt on the third seat in the row of four.

"They're following us," I finished accommodating myself.

The doctor exhaled and restricted himself to the round radar screen.

"There's nothing," he discarded it and changed the subject. "Since we're flying to the other face, we should—"

This time he came to halt. He fixed his eyes on an orange button that insistently blinked.

"They're making contact..." he whispered in disconcert.

Our eyes focused on the small light. Holding his breath, the doctor decided to press the intercom switch.

"Mariachi here." That was Felix's voice! "Ice cream man, do you read me? Ice cream man?"

Yes. That was the doctor's code name; colonel Croft had called him by that name in the jungle. Darwin and I waited excited for the answer. However, Ice cream man remained calm and did not answer immediately; he looked forward. The lunar curvature kept getting closer...

"We're starting the final stage," he announced to his crew and without further delay went back to the intercom. "Tequila or rum?" he asked.

Noise.

"Tequila or rum?" the captain asked again.

"Cold milk," was the clear reply.

"It's Felix," the doctor informed excited.

"It we—a—vam—"

Mariachi's words were left unfinished by a static purr.

"I need verification of course," the doctor inquired. "Go to code ttp."

More noise.

"Felix is verifying our landing path," the doctor informed. "Just on time."

About time! There was only one but: communication was not that good. A loud electronic sound came from the speaker.

"And how will he communicate?" I inquired. "The signal has weakened."

The doctor looked pleased at the extensive lunar panorama, which unfolded before our eyes.

"The signal will improve in a matter of seconds. The solar wind softens on the other side of the Earth...it will pass."

"Is Felix transmitting from Earth?" Darwin asked.

"Still waiting," Ice cream man transmitted and then he said to my friend: "yup, Felix is transmitting from a base in the Caribbean..."

"Then, who are on those ships that are following us?"

"Nobody," the doctor whispered paying attention to one of the many screens. "No. There are no spacecrafts...it must be ice or something like that..." He quickly pressed the intercom button one more time; the noise was gone. In the cabin we were all ears. A cracking sound initiated the transmission:

"You're being followed by fifteen Vampires."