Moonsland (EN)

James (XIX)

  After almost a hundred and fifty kilometers of driving, I hold Emily's hand to help her out of the car, while a driver gets in to take it to the private parking lot. We look around and see some luxurious cars pulling up at the entrance. Adults from their thirties to older people in their seventies. The choice of clothes is mostly classic or modern formal, depending on the age of the person in question, but no one, including me, has thought of combining the clothes with the outing like Emily did. A simple idea, but one that nobody thought of.
  As we start up the stairs, Emily puts her wallet on her shoulder, with a plain black star and crystals around it, the same color as the star, but in a brighter shade. Beautiful. The wallet and her.
- I feel like I don't belong here. I'm different from everyone here. - He whispers in my ear.
- Then let's be different together. - I whisper in her ear too, touching my hand to hers, which I end up intertwining with her help.
  Right at the entrance, you can see three paths to take. On the right is the free entrance hall, on the left is the hall where you pay for the normal ticket and in front is the V.I.P. entrance, which you can only enter by paying a lot of money, as it only opens when an unusual phenomenon happens, which is apparently going to happen today, which is why there are so many wealthy people here. What I do know is that I paid a small fortune to get these tickets and, for the journey alone, it was worth it.
- James? - Call me Emily.
- "Yes?" I reply, still with thoughts of the trip in my head.
- So which way do we go?
- We have access to all of them, but I think it's better to start with the worst and leave the best for last. - I propose.
- Really, James? - he asks me, looking a little upset.
- What? - I ask, smiling.
- Are you really going to tell me that you paid for the most expensive ticket I had and you're not going to tell me how much I had to pay you?
- I brought you here! You won't pay anything. - I say, thickening my voice to show that I'm serious.
- I'm going to stay here until you tell me. - she tells me, separating our hands and pouting with her arms crossed.
- Are you serious? - I say, laughing heartily.
- I am. - she replies, still pouting.
  I look around and see the Guide and an elderly couple staring at us, so I turn to Emily and whisper:
- Go along with me.
- What? - ask me.
- Come on, love. We'll deal with it later. - I say, and I see that she immediately looks at me with a surprised face. I give her my arm, which she gently takes and I say in a theatrical tone to the Guide and the couple looking on:
- I wanted her to pay her way out. We can't be gentlemen these days.
- He paid for dinner before we came here, I think that's fair. - he says, lining it up on the paper.
- Can we start our journey into the universe? - asks the Guide, looking bored.
  When we started walking to the room open to everyone, we could hear the gentleman of the couple agreeing with me and the lady saying that Emily was right to want to share. We looked at each other and started laughing. Now I realize how good acting is and I don't even have to try that hard.
- You weren't offended by me treating you like that, were you? - I ask, just to be sure.
- Of course not! - he reassures me, gripping my arm a little tighter.
  The Guide, as we had already realized, is not the best professional and goes through the images, displayed on large screens, faster than the disintegration of a small asteroid in our atmosphere, so Emily and I decided to be a bit rebellious and get away from the group and watch things taking our time.
- What if they catch us? - Emily asks.
- If they catch us, they will. The worst that can happen is that they send us back to the Guide in a bad mood. - We laugh.
- Or you pay under the table. - he says seriously. - Just kidding! - We laugh again, covering each other's mouths so we don't make too much noise.
  The room, in general, is simply decorated and the screens only show images taken of the planets in the solar system, the sun and the best-known natural satellites and information about each one, which is even available on websites. What really catches the eye are the larger, brighter screens, which advertise the content of the paid rooms. Really, if you don't pay, you don't see anything.
  We then turned back, went through the entrance and were barred by the security guard at the entrance to the normal ticket hall. I show Emily the tickets we have, being careful not to show her the price, and she gives me a shoulder to lean on, making an angry face, even though she's cuter than usual. The security guard lets us in and we both say in amazement, in chorus:
- Wow! - The difference between the rooms is striking. This room has technology on the floor that shows the universe in real time through satellite images. You can see different telescopes scattered around the room, which we can use to observe the stars, and the ceiling has small lights that come on, temporarily and alternately, in small groups. All these details reflect the work that has been put in to give us a superior experience and a greater sense of how the universe is so vastly dazzling. I put on my headphones and look through one of the telescopes. I can see the beautiful grayish hues of Jupiter and am startled when I hear a strange noise like a muffled whistle.
- It's from Jupiter's atmosphere. - a gentleman tells me.
- How interesting! - I exclaimed, a little embarrassed by my fright.
- If you have any questions, just ask, I'm at your service.
- Thank you, I will. - Unlike the gentleman in the other room, this one has a much more pleasant attitude.
- I doubt there's a stranger sound than that. - I say to Emily, who is coming out of the Saturn telescope.
- I have my doubts, the Saturn one is strange. I can't even describe it to you.
  We change places and I hear the sound representing Saturn and it feels like I'm in a cave with a huge draught of air. The space manages to be interesting, but also very strange.
  Entering the V.I.P. room, we pass through a corridor that looks like the entrance to a movie theater and, in the room itself, we see several chairs around a center where a man stands, like an auditorium in the shape of a half-moon.
  We all sat in random chairs, us in the penultimate row, furthest from the center, on the right-hand side.
  For the first few long minutes, you talked about the history of the planetarium and threw in a few philosophical questions in between. As it was getting boring, Emily and I kept answering each other, discussing our points of view on the subjects, until he started showing different constellations.
- Betting? - ask me.
- What? - I ask, confused.
- We bet something and whoever gets the name of the constellations wrong first pays.
- You know I'm good at that, don't you?
- That's what we're going to see. - says. - If you lose, you have to participate in the theater.
- Very well. But if you lose, you won't speak in the theater anymore.
- It's a deal! - he says, shaking my hand.
You move on to another constellation and we say at the same time:
- Cassiopeia! - We laughed.
- It's a constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. Its name is Cassiopeia.
He moves on to another and again, at the same time, we say:
- Pegasus!
- That's not funny! - says Emily, pouting.
- I'll do anything to win. - I say, shrugging my shoulders.
- It is a constellation in the northern celestial hemisphere. Its name is Pegasus.
In the third constellation we respond at the same time:
- Chamaeleon. - she says.
- Cetus. - I say.
- Clearly, I'm right. - states.
- Only in your dreams. I don't know where you look like a chameleon. - opposite.
When the man starts talking, we move in front of the chairs, because none of us wants to lose.
- It's a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere...
- YES! - shouts Emily. Everyone stares at her for a second. - I apologize. - she says, sitting down again. Cetus is on the celestial equator and we both know it. I've lost.
- Continuing... the constellation is called Chamaeleon. - you confirm.
- Well played. I was sure I was right and I wasn't. - I say.
- My certainty was better. You should know better than to bet against me unless you want to lose. - he boasts.
- Shhh! - says a man behind us.
- Silence is at Mass! - replies Emily, turning away. We laugh.
- It looks like I'm going to be in a play. - I say, trying to sound very sad.
- I didn't want to. - he says ironically, smiling.

  As we left the room, we each received a small picture as a gift. In the center is the image of the sky that we could see when we entered the planetarium and below it is the phrase "Our moment", the phrase I chose when I bought the tickets, and below it are the coordinates of the planetarium and today's date. The board is all black and the letters and border are white, which is beautiful and matches the sky and the stars. From the look on Emily's face, she loved the present. I imagined how it would look, but even if I tried, I would never have thought it was so beautiful.