SUNGLASSES AND ROCKETS Part 1 : New Moon

INCOGNITO

It was hard for me to accept such a fantastic story as the truth. However, it had been Dr. Masterton himself that had told us about the existence of the Moonbase.

After a silence, Darwin put his glasses back on and raised his hand again.

"Doctor," he said. "I assume that Russian-American collaboration continued on the Moon?"

"In a fashion."

"Just like on the International Space Station?" he compared.

The doctor frowned and spun his yo-yo.

"Not exactly. On the space station, collaboration is between governments. However, on the Moonbase, independence from government agencies, even NASA, was gradually achieved. Since 1984, scientists from all around the world have been recruited by another agency..."

The doctor stopped himself, catching up the yo-yo. He glanced at his watch.

"Gentlemen," he announced with a big smile of satisfaction, "you now belong to the exclusive group of people on Earth and in space that know of the existence of Mama Bat."

It was at that moment that I realized the magnitude of the risk that went along with knowing such information. Why was the doctor so casual about revealing such compromising secrets to us? Why was he talking about the secret Moonbase with two teenagers?

I did not give myself time to answer, nor to calm myself down. Everything seemed so surreal that, instead of listening to my instincts, I concentrated on the story I had just heard which, I have to admit, seemed extremely interesting.

After passing a few minutes in silence, Darwin looked at me. Then he looked at the doctor and cleared his throat.

"Doctor, you have no idea how much we appreciate your knowledge and the trust that you've shown with us," he said gratefully. "And we're very sorry about what happened with the hole in your laboratory and the damage caused to the I.K.Y."

I think I knew what my comrade was trying to do. I made a gesture of regret by raising my hand to my head and looking at the floor as I said:

"We are so deeply sorry about the hole..." I sighed and went on, "Oh! It was all my fault."

It's not easy to be a teenager! Never mind being a teenager in love! The doctor would understand. I had surely moved him.

"You don't have to say you're sorry!" he laughed. "We're all friends, right?"

I exchanged a look with Darwin. Everything was getting back to normal. We were two lucky guys.

"Of course!" we both exclaimed in unison. "Friends!"

"Don't worry about the documents; I know you'll keep it secret. As for the I.K.Y., forget it," he said, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. "Think of it as...as a favor."

Darwin slowly got up from the desk and gave me a nod. I understood. I got up. It was time to say goodbye and go back to school. After all was said and done, the part about today's exams was no lie.

"Thank you very much, Dr. Masterton," Darwin said, extending his hand enthusiastically. "You're a great friend, and if there's anything we can do for you..."

"You're an extraordinary person," I added amiably, in turn. "If there were anything we could do for you, it would be a..." I paused and gushed: "It would be an honor!"

I have to admit that there was nothing all that great that we could do for the doctor that would have made up for the damage we had done. The most we could do was help him out by photocopying books or bringing him newspapers.

"Of course there is something you can do for me," the doctor affirmed as he politely offered his hand.

I did not dare ask what it was; I kept quiet.

"I have to return to the Moon in a month."

My forehead wrinkled.

"Don't worry! I only need you to come with me to the bat base." He shrugged. "Your only work will be to carry some backpacks of equipment and read a couple of manuals. You'll leave me at the base and I'll leave for the Moon. Later you'll return to DC." He put his hands in his pockets. "It won't take more than three days..."

Darwin adjusted his glasses.

"But we don't have any special knowledge...what's more, we don't have any idea about..."

"That's why I need you," the doctor interrupted. "A couple of high school students won't arouse the slightest suspicion, it'll look like a simple school trip."

"Suspicion?" I repeated worriedly.

"We're going incognito," the doctor clarified. "We're really heading for an abandoned silo."

My friend and I exchanged another confused look.

"An abandoned silo?" asked Darwin. "Wouldn't it be easier to go to one that's working?"

Darwin was right. Why an abandoned silo? Why undercover?

"You can only visit the Moonbase once..."

Things were getting complicated, but I held my tongue.

"Gordo, take that look of distress off your face," the doctor urged. "By saying we can only visit Mama Bat once, I mean that the selection of scientists takes years; that's without taking into account all the bureaucracy and the training," the doctor started to walk in the direction of the exit. We immediately followed him. "And I don't have much time left," he finished.

"I understand..." I said, confused.

"Where are we going?" Darwin asked. "Which state is the silo in?"

The doctor slowed down his walk.

"We're not going to any state. NORAD will prevent me from leaving from the United States; it will have to be an abandoned silo outside of the country."

Darwin looked at me excitedly.

"Outside the country..." he whispered.

"And Doctor...why do you want to go back?" I dared to ask.

The doctor stopped just in front of an enormous bookshelf stacked with tins.

"It is my duty."

Then he began walking out again.

"And what kind of experiments are they doing on the Moonbase?" I asked out of interest, as I reached him.

Moses Masterton stopped a few steps away from the small tunnel that served as an entrance. He turned towards us. He looked at us intently and put his hands on his hips.

"Type C experiments," he answered.

I did not understand.

"Like the ones that they're going to do on the future international space station?" Darwin ventured.

"No, those would be type P.D., in the Public Domain."

"And what are type C?" I wanted to know.

"Classified."

That did not mean much, although it sounded dangerous...

"According to what you put on the blackboard," my friend remembered, "the Moonbase experiments will change the course of Western civilization."

The doctor sighed.

"That's what worries me."