SUNGLASSES AND ROCKETS Part 1 : New Moon

TO THE RESCUE

The doctor got up with a jump and rushed over to the console where his pokerfaced colleague was working. In one spontaneous movement, Darwin and I moved closer.

"We need ideas," the doctor muttered, aware of our presence. "Think!"

Felix was flicking on some switches at the same time that the lights in the room dimmed slightly. The doctor crossed his arms and wrinkled his forehead.

"We'll have to get the electricity from outside. We need ten amps."

"Ten amps to activate the rocket turbines?" Darwin asked in surprise. "I know that the combustion in the tanks is due to the hypergolic* combustible and..."

"Remember that the Bats aren't ordinary rockets," the doctor interrupted him.

"We'll divide the current into..."

That's all I managed to hear of the discussion. Slowly but surely, I had distanced myself from the console. Fascinated, I approached the gigantic tinted window. The lights had dimmed so much that now you could see through it perfectly.

The view was stunning. In the distance, beyond the enormous steel platforms, loomed the impressive black rocket head. Hundreds of reflectors, arranged in a hexagonal pattern on the roof, lit up the colossal vault. I could clearly make out the upper part of the reddish-colored tower, which was joined to the rocket by way of a narrow bridge. The exit hatch in the ceiling of the vast space complex appeared just above the rocket, somewhere from 60 to 90 feet above the Bat's nose cone.

My survey of the area was abruptly interrupted by an exclamation from the doctor that resonated throughout the room:

"Let's get going!"

I swung around at once. Felix was getting out of his seat again and started to run for the door. Darwin and the doctor were making towards some computers at a panel where Vanessa could be found. Shoot! Now what? Alarmed, I quickly hurried over to the extensive control panel and went up to my companions.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, perplexed. "What's going on?"

"We've got a plan already!" Darwin responded, showing me a sheet of paper with some scribbles on it.

"Plan?"

"Darwin and I will check on the condition of the Bat's cabin," the doctor specified, without taking his eyes off the codes that were coming up on the screen. "Sequence?" he asked.

"Thirty-eight percent," his niece automatically replied.

"Thirty-eight percent," the doctor confirmed. "You'll see," he continued, "We'll get the electricity from the environment outside. There are electrically charged clouds out there at a height of at least 990 feet; that is, the difference in electrical power between the clouds and the ground at the top of this mountain is that of 10 kilovolts. Understand?"

It was no time to fake intelligence. Actually, I was having a hard time comprehending. So I decided to tell the truth.

"I'm afraid that..."

"Excellent," the doctor interrupted me.

"But..."

"Good," he interrupted me again. "With a fifteen caliber wire thrown upwards from the surface of the silo, that is, from the uppermost part of the mountain, towards the nearest clouds, we'll manage to create a discharge of ten amps. That's the current needed to open the hatch and at the same time activate the motors..."

"We only get one chance!" Darwin intervened.

"We open the hatch and we have to take off immediately!" the scientist and future rocket passenger added.

"Are you saying that we'll use the discharged electricity to open the hatch and at the same time activate the motors?" I asked.

"That's right. The whole thing shouldn't last more than eight minutes and thirty-two seconds, which is precisely the period of time during which the Navstar satellites are incapable of detecting us...one second more or one second less...will make us NORAD's business and...do you understand?"

"Then," I ventured, troubled, "there won't be a second opportunity?"

"No," the doctor emphatically announced, "The flight window to get to the Moon in the agreed-upon place closes right at 7:53 p.m., which coincides with the only minutes during the night when we would be undetected by the satellite constellation." He finished pushing some buttons and added, "Darwin, let's go to the Bat."

They both went off rapidly in the direction of a shelf that was to one side of the door. It was time to lend a helping hand to Moses Masterton, my mentor. Without hesitation, I pulled up a chair and sat down at the side of his pretty niece.

I'd look after her while her uncle inspected the rocket.

"Doctor!" I called before they abandoned the room." And how will you get to the top of the mountain?"

According to what I had seen, there had been a distance of several feet between the rocket and the exit hatch. There was no way of climbing up to the roof.

"I suppose Felix will use a ladder," he responded distractedly, at the same time as he handed Darwin some tools. "He'll get out through one of the slots in the hatch..."

I should have known. A task as tricky as that could only be carried out by someone as sure of himself as Felix.

"Are you ready?" he continued.

"Ready?" I inquired from my seat.

"Perfect."

The next thing I knew, he made straight for the door, accompanied by Darwin. They were both carrying tools. Just before leaving, my friend stopped and turned around.

"Good luck," he said.

Good luck? The doctor leaned back through the door.

"Catch up with Felix in the vault."

"But..." I heard myself whisper.

"Be careful, Gordo," he advised. "It will be dangerous climbing up to the hatch!"

Without saying another word, they both disappeared.

Oh no! I would be going with Felix! My feet froze in place and my legs went limp. My heart suddenly raced with accelerating palpitations. I stayed immobile for a few moments. Petrified. A prisoner of panic.

"I'll...I'll...I'll be right back," I stammered.

My beloved turned towards me.

"Don't delay..." she asked.

By the tone of her voice, I could tell that the sentence was more than an announcement, it was a request, a plea. Her face was full of anguish, terror. Without words, she was begging me to remain at her side. To not leave. To never abandon her!

Gordo!, it seemed like I could hear in the background. Someone shook my shoulder. I snapped out of it.

"Hurry up!" Vanessa exclaimed.

*When the propellant and the oxidizing agent are combined, they ignite spontaneously.