At some point it seemed like I could hear, in the distance, Gordo, wake up. A resist, resist, escaped me as a response. I opened my eyes. Oh my God! It was Vanessa. Her face was right in front of mine. She had knelt down at my side.
"Did you say something?" she said, giving a hint of a smile.
"Uh..." I cleared my throat, "Yes...what time is it?"
"Your watch says that it's..." she took my wrist and looked at my watch, "ten-ten."
She stood up.
"We've arrived. We're in Livingston, Izabal."
Then she went straight to the door.
I got up. My shirt unstuck itself from the back of the seat. I was soaking in seat. You could even feel the heat making its way from the coast. Through the window I could see Colonel Croft and the doctor chatting in front of the entrance to a tropical-looking hotel. Felix, underneath the shade of a palm tree, was giving instructions to some bell-boys carrying our luggage. Darwin was still yawning at the other end of the row. He lazily stretched his arms out.
"The last day!" he exclaimed. "Tomorrow we'll be free!"
Vanessa, who had started going down the steps of the bus, stopped in her tracks.
"Free?" she asked, disconcerted.
"Of course," Darwin replied, getting up from his seat. "Today our contract with the doctor ends..."
Vanessa frowned.
"Contract?"
"Yeah..." I responded, feigning indifference. "Like I told you, your uncle took us on as his assistants a couple of months ago when he met us at the school..."
Which wasn't exactly true. However, telling her that version of the story turned out to be more convenient than telling the truth: in reality, we were there because I had asked for the doctor's I.K.Y. lenses, in a desperate attempt to win the love of the enchanting woman with whom we spoke at that heralded moment.
"Ah! Now I remember..." Vanessa added. "Of course..."
"And we have to go back to Washington, D.C. as soon as possible," I emphasized. We have final exams on August 11th."
"And you?" Darwin asked the cute girl. "Have you worked with the doctor before?"
"A couple of times..."
She immediately turned away and got off the bus without another word. What a mysterious woman! We followed her.
"Psst!" Darwin whispered. "How are you doing? Did she say something to you yet?""Nothing! The most contact I had with her was when she woke me up..."
"You're doing well, tiger. You're doing very well."
Although it was true that Darwin wasn't exactly an expert when it came to women, his words were said with such conviction that I believed him. The fact that she woke me up probably had some romantic significance. Maybe...
An intense humidity wrapped itself around us as we got out of the vehicle. I felt dizzy. The sun's rays pricked our skin. The doctor, his niece, and Colonel Croft were talking in the shade of one of the palm trees. We approached them.
"Tell Harrison I said hi!" Colonel Croft was saying, as he stretched his hand out towards the doctor.
"I won't forget to do that," the bearded scientist responded.
Then the Colonel said goodbye and headed towards the bus.
"As you both already know," the doctor greeted us, "the plan is simple: we should get to the silo as soon as possible and then later you return to the hotel."
"And how do we get to the silo?" Darwin asked.
"Croft has a vehicle ready," the doctor replied as he looked at his watch. "It shouldn't take more than an hour to get here."
That was certainly a relief.
"How far away are the mines?" my friend wanted to know.
"They're an hour away," Vanessa said, putting her hair up into a ponytail.
What gracious movements! Concentrate on the mission, I immediately scolded myself. I must admit that it was really hard for me to take my eyes off her. I had to say something to participate.
"And what about the legs...of the time?" I wanted to know.
What had I said!
"The window of time," the doctor corrected distractedly, "will be at 7:47 p.m."
"Will Nicolson deactivate the satellite?" Darwin inquired.
Arg! I don't think that anybody noticed my revealing slip-up; at least the doctor didn't, who was so single-mindedly absorbed in the idea of the space journey, that he calmly continued the conversation and replied to my comrade:
"That's impossible right now, there's a lot of solar activity."
"Which means..."
"That the window of time is very narrow," he completed. "We only have one chance."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"We should open the gateway just a few moments before take-off."
The doctor looked at his watch again.
"Good," he murmured. "Everything's clear. Let's check the equipment one last time."
We walked quickly towards the hotel entrance. It was the Hotel Tucán Dugú, according to a carved tree trunk in front of the elegant façade.
They received us very warmly at the reception. They didn't even bat an eyelid at the disheveled way Darwin and I were dressed. Maybe they took us for famous musicians.
"Boys," the doctor was saying as he handed us the room keys, "if everything goes as planned, you'll be going back to the hotel at 9 p.m."
"Uncle," her niece replied, "everything will turn out okay."
I allow myself to remember that Vanessa had not visited the silo in Antigua Guatemala.
"I don't doubt it. You two," the doctor continued, pointing to me and Darwin, "will be back in Washington, D.C. tomorrow, and you," he turned to his niece, "will go back to Guatemala City tomorrow."
If everything turned out according to the doctor's predictions, when we got back to the hotel I would have enough time to conquer my beloved; of course, that's if she hadn't declared her love for me by then. Would I have such luck?
The doctor went on to explain certain details of our mission, when someone called him.
"Moses," you could hear.
We turned around. Felix appeared in the hallway.
"The vehicle's arrived."
"Excellent!" the doctor exclaimed. "Let's check the systems!"
"I already took care of it," Felix replied. "Everything's ready."
The doctor smiled in satisfaction.
"It's a great advantage to rely on Felix's help. I'm glad he's coming with me on my journey to..." he pointed upwards with his index finger and walked to meet his faithful companion.
YOU ARE READING
SUNGLASSES AND ROCKETS Part 1 : New Moon
Science FictionGordo -a shy high school boy- tries to make a beautiful exchange student, Vanessa, fall in love with him; however, he ends up in the middle of a dangerous adventure to save humankind from a threat coming from the dark side of the Moon.