Moon & Remains

Written 55-H13 [2024-02-14], Edited 55-H13 [2024-02-14]

Image credit: Twitter Twemoji

Part 1: Moon

The astronauts drove their buggy across the lunar surface. There were neither trees, nor rivers, nor buildings to impede them. They had to steer around some craters, but other than that Levi Smith’s gloved hands remained almost stationary on the steering wheel. Nonetheless he never released his grip - that would be a breach of protocol.

“Are we there yet? Over,” asked Terrence Baker through the intercom.

“Not yet. Over,” said Levi.

The buggy crossed the Moon’s day-light boundary, and darkness descended upon the astronauts. Terrence turned on the headlights. The lunar surface was already mapped but the light was welcome all the same.

The duo drove for hours. There was no sound of motors spinning or of rubber hitting rock. But the astronauts could feel vibrations through their suits. And after hundreds of minutes of darkness, they saw it. Something reflective in the distance.

“Destination spotted. Over,” said Levi, keeping his hands on the wheel and his eye on the road. But suddenly his helmet shattered.

“What the-” Levi said as he breathed his last. As he turned his dying body, he briefly glimpsed the pistol in Terrence’s hand.

Part 2: Remains

Terrence stopped the buggy to swap seats with the remains of his former coworker. It was a good thing both Terrence and Levi were securely strapped to the vehicle. If Levi’s body had fallen out of the buggy, it would have been a nuisance to find, and there might not be enough organic molecules left for the Master.

Terrence started the buggy again and continued driving to the reflective surface. It looked like a silvery meteor, but in reality it was made of alloys much rarer than silver. Terrence pointed a camera at the extraterrestrial object, but as usual the meteor eluded automatic detection. The camera glitched out, popping up error messages in Korean and turning itself off after about two seconds.

Terrence continued driving forward until the meteor dominated his field of view. It was so massive, it made aircraft carriers look like paper boats. Terrence looked up and could barely see the top of the thing. If he looked closely, he could tell where the stars ended and pure blackness began, and knew that was the top of the structure.

Suddenly Terrence saw darkness within the darkness, and stars move among stars. A rupture in space-time, forcing photons to change trajectories in ways unknown to human physics.

“Is it time, my Master?” asked Terrence.

“Not… yet… over… not…yet…over,” said an intercom message with Levi’s voice. Then the intercom was full of crying and laughter.

Notes

Part 2 was written in 15 minutes during a Joy of Writing session.