SUNGLASSES AND ROCKETS Part 1 : New Moon

COUNTDOWN

Doctor Masterton's approval caught me by surprise. I looked at Darwin, upset.

We ran over to the doctor and tried to stop him.

"Doctor!" my friend exclaimed, "I don't think that we..."

"Here," he replied, handing over a space suit to him. "The window of time has begun already! Let's go!"

He hurried towards the exit. We ran with him, alarmed, not knowing what to do.

"Gordo!" the doctor said before he reached the door, "there are more suits in Room C, look for yours and catch up with us in the capsule."

They had only prepared two suits. Evidently, Darwin would use Felix's.

"But doctor," I protested, "it's just that I..."

"Catch up to us in the capsule!"

Darwin looked at me, full of fear, and walked quickly beside the doctor. It wasn't long before they disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Without any kind of preparation, without the slightest idea about how to fly a rocket, without any more equipment save guts and a bravery until then hardly suspected, Darwin and I would surely go to the Moon. We would accompany Moses Masterton on a mission that even he himself feared.

God! I couldn't believe it! What had I done?! Maybe I'd gone mad? But the decision was made. No going back. Or maybe...? No. That would be like deceiving the doctor. I couldn't let him down. Now more than ever I had to show courage and determination.

I felt my legs go weak, as if they were made of rubber. Icy-cold shivers ran down my spine. I had become paralyzed!

"Gordo," I heard, all of a sudden.

Vanessa was coming towards me. The doctor's beautiful niece. My beloved! Would I ever see her again? The thought made my heart feel like the life was being squeezed out of it. Sadness overcame me.

"Be careful!" she entreated me.

She hugged me, I hugged her back.

"I want you to know something," she said. "If I didn't give you my email or telephone number, it wasn't because I wasn't interested..." she took a deep breath as she fluttered those unforgettable green eyes. "On the contrary..."

"Well then?"

She sighed.

"I was scared..."

"Scared?" I mumbled incredulously. "Scared of what?"

Scared! I was scared of getting on board an abandoned nuclear rocket!

"Scared that..." she went quiet and sighed. "Gordo, we'd hardly see each other! You and I live in different countries!"

"But we live on the same planet!" I replied, and added disconsolately, "though not for much longer, I'm afraid..."

If only she knew how much I loved her! Standing there in front of her, I had already started to miss her.

She looked in my eyes and hugged me again, with an enthusiasm I had never known before. My emotions were running out of control. I felt her heart beating at the same rhythm as mine and I got a lump in my throat. My gaze accidentally fell on my wristwatch. Seven minutes until lift-off!

I squeezed her tightly in my arms.

"I have to go," I said, my voice breaking, "but don't tell me goodbye."

Vanessa nodded her head slightly and kissed my cheek.

I put my hands on her lovely face...and...and kissed her forehead.

"See you soon," she murmured, looking away.

One more word and the tears would start falling.

I left.