SUNGLASSES AND ROCKETS Part 1 : New Moon

THE DARK SIDE

We fell inside. Something hit us. The doctor came in.

"I'm sorry..." he gasped, shutting the door and leaning against it. "I'm sorry about the little incident..." he coughed. "Sometimes they let the dogs out before midnight..."

Darwin and I shook our heads. We couldn't even speak. We were lying down on the floor, gasping. What a fright!

We had to wait ten minutes to get our breaths back. Darwin stood up. The doctor held out a hand, and at the same time helped me to get up.

"Come to my office," he said.

I turned towards the inside of the room. I was gaping. The bathroom was really an observatory? The light was weak. I rubbed my eyes. Yes, an observatory. Even with the walls covered in tiles, the place inspired immediate respect. The silence was interrupted only by the drone of the computers and the sound of insistent typing.

The doctor went to a corner. He went up to someone who was typing without stopping at one of the many computers in the room.

"Fantastic" I heard Darwin whisper. "Look."

My friend referred to the cupola, just about nine feet around, that opened in the middle of the room. Right below lay an enormous telescope that looked like a kind of black barrel, mounted on an enormous revolving base.

"It will be an interesting evening," I mused.

"Boys," the doctor's voice could be heard.

He was talking to us from the corner. He was standing next to a mysterious individual that carried on with his work, perfectly indifferent to our presence.

"Let me introduce to you Felix Gonzales," he continued, putting a hand on the diligent man's shoulder. "Felix is probably the best high-energy physicist of our neighboring country, Mexico..."

Without saying anything, Felix turned his chair around to face us. He lifted a hand in a laconic wave. His face was absolutely expressionless.

"Call me Felix," he said.

We returned his wave, inevitably more enthusiastic. Felix Gonzales could not be more than 40 years old. He was wearing black boots, threadbare jeans, and a long-sleeved, white shirt.

"Without a doubt," Moses Masterton added, satisfied, "Dr. Gonzales is one of the best experimental physicists in the world. Besides which he has spent 1,500 hours on board the Bats."

Felix turned back to the monitor again and continued typing. The doctor looked at his watch and went towards what looked like some kind of control console. He pushed a couple of buttons.

"It's time to see the Moon..." you could hear him murmur. "Give me a few seconds..."

"What time do you have?" Darwin asked me. "I can't see very well without my glasses."

Just then I noticed that Darwin had lost his spectacles.

"Five before eleven."

Felix suddenly got up out of his seat and walked towards a coffeemaker at the other end of the room. He served himself a cup, took a sip of his coffee, and looked at us.

"Ready," he said.

Ready? I asked myself.

"What are you waiting for?" the doctor exclaimed, going towards the corner where Felix had been working. "Come closer."

We approached. There were two enormous Silicon Graphics monitors. On one was an impressive picture of the Moon; three white lines continuously went across the screen, from top to bottom. On the other monitor there were blue sinusoid signals on a black background.