SUNGLASESS AND ROCKETS Part 2: The Machine

POST FACTS AND EVENTS

The moon got out of its orbit in the summer of 1999.

Although I couldn't exactly tell how long the moon was derailed, I'd dare to say that it was put back to its original orbit. The solar eclipse on that August 11th confirmed it; it was seen in Europe, Southeast Asia and the northeastern coast of North America, and just as established by the laws of celestial mechanics, it happened with chronometrical precision.

Nothing weird was detected.

But what happened to Earth, when the moon was out of orbit? Was there any effect? What did the observatories report?

A few days later after coming home, Darwin and I did some investigation regarding that matter.

We didn't find much.

A couple of articles about effects on Earth came out in the Weather Review, pgs. 123-134, and in the Meteorology Letters, pgs. 1183-1191, vol. 23. They both analyzed an uncommon phenomenon: Gigantic waves were produced simultaneously within the Artic and Antarctic polar circles between August 9th and 10th, 1999.

Many hypotheses were discussed in order to explain the groundswell, unusually big in that part of the world. Of course, the research authors came up with the conclusion that none of the proposed hypotheses could fully explain the phenomenon...

Sure, they didn't consider our natural satellite going out of orbit.

As for the moon, we only found a brief note in the Journal of Space Sciences which described a meteor shower that had struck the dark side of the moon on August 10th.

That was all.

If any observatory had identified anything else about the moon during those days... chances are they didn't publish it. Or is it really possible that nothing could be seen from Earth?

It was clear that we were not going to tell anyone of what had happened on the moon. It was too sensational. Too "X-files".

In any event, who was going to believe such a tale from two high school graduates!

And whatever happened to the machine kept by Mama Bat? Did Doctor Masterton finally repair the SVM* or did he choose to destroy it?

Out of all our questions, we would only be able to clarify those two after years.

On a mid-October night of 2006, curiously, in the middle of a conference about future bases on the moon* at George Washington University, Darwin started to receive weird messages on his computer.

"Look," he said surprised.

The messages were opening. Several series of numbers appeared; the messages had no sender.

"It can't be..." I whispered.

At the time being we were post-graduate students and Darwin knew a lot of codes. He started without thinking it twice.

"It's the doctor," he murmured, typing fast, "it can only be him."

The number series disappeared.

"Bingo."

The following sentence came together on the screen:

"Can you get a rocket for tomorrow?"

We looked at each other stunned. My friend coughed and feigningly inclined the screen of his lap-top. He typed using codes right away. Before he could answer the message, a new one opened, which Darwin decoded immediately.

"It's me. Moses Masterton. For goodness sake! What takes you so long to answer back?"

It's him, I confirmed excited, and to prevent I took a glance around. All the assistants were looking at the fancy diagram projected on the auditorium screen.

I looked at the lap-top again and read: I have the SVM. I'm in trouble.

"We haven't heard from Felix," Darwin responded. "Neither of the Bats...and we haven't been in touch with Lucas since 2004...What's your plan to go to the moon?"

As Darwin sent the message, he squinted at me.

"He needs us," he said it like an apology.

But I backed him up at once.

"We won't fail him. If it's a must, we'll go."

Darwin nodded excited. We both had a very affectionate memory of the doctor. He had been an extraordinary teacher.

Besides, he was the uncle of my bride to be...

Therefore, we both waited anxiously for the answer, determined to go back to the moon.

One more time, Moses Masterton disconcerted us. This is what he wrote:

"I'm approaching Earth."

I take the liberty to remind the reader that the other SVM, the most powerful one, was literally confiscated by an extraterrestrial spaceship, believe it or not.

Since early 2004, NASA has officially been announcing the construction of a still future lunar base.