SUNGLASESS AND ROCKETS Part 2: The Machine

MISSION ON THE MOON

Darwin and I looked at each other puzzled. Then we looked at the doctor.

"You heard right," the unpredictable Moses Masterton confirmed. "We'll do whatever it takes to prevent the activation of the SVM..." he sighed. "I'm afraid it has glitches."

Darwin took off his glasses.

"But, how do you know?"

"You've just told us that it hasn't been activated!" I protested.

The doctor sighed again.

"Remember, it's not just any gadget...it's a machine designed to open doors in nature that have never been opened...problems may arise by just putting together the delicate apparatus." He looked away. "And there already had, otherwise I wouldn't have received the emergency call..." He turned one more time toward the front windows. "Weird things are happening at Mama Bat...I don't doubt that the SVM is responsible."

Automatically, my eyes followed the shiny claw in the distance and I came to realize that I was looking at the visible face of the moon. Our destination was the other side, the dark side, where "odd" things were already happening.

A shiver ran down my spine.

"And which odd things are those?" I dared to ask.

The doctor made a grimace of confusion.

"I don't know exactly...Phil could only manage to send some signal patterns."

"Phil?"

"Phil Stanford, my contact at the base," the doctor clarified, and continued his explanation: "The only thing I'm sure about is that the SVM is faulty and that we must prevent it from activating before it's completely repaired." In a more optimistic tone of voice, he added: "As complex as a mechanism may be, it can always be repaired..."

I shook my head greatly disturbed.

"And who's going to fix it?"

"We are, of course."

I knew it, I thought it out annoyed. Darwin quickly wiped off his glasses and intervened.

"But, how?" he put his glasses back on after cleaning them. "Gordo and I hardly know anything about physics, let alone about SV theory —"

"I'll guide you step by step," the doctor interrupted, "you won't need to know the theory...yours will be technical work at most."

Damn it! It's not that I was allergic to work. But I knew from experience, that for the doctor, work meant exhausting labor.

Worst of all, circumstances sided with him. Since the first equipment inspection in Guatemala City, the objectives had turned less viable and time was limited. Things promised to get more complicated on the moon. And the most probable thing was that time would run out...

Almost on cue, the doctor took a new and hurried glance at his watch.

"Okay. Now you have an idea of how things are," raising his eyes to us, he confirmed urgently. "We have 68 hours left to reach the moon. It is essential that you get acquainted with the chores of space life ASAP." Then, he hunched and got in the shelf next to him. "You'll start right away; learning how to put the space suit on is fundamental..."

Darwin saw my shock. Though the doctor seemed to have ended the subject, we both remained in the dining room, waiting for more directives about the mission.

"But we're traveling in a Vampire!" my friend alleged. "They will not even let us on the base!"

That's right. I realized that that was what the restless Moses Masterton had left out.

"They will attack us!" I seconded prudently.

The doctor showed up holding a strange looking black suit and a pair of boots.

"Don't worry. When we get there, Felix will have had everything cleared up with Mama Bat."

I put my hand on my forehead, worried.

"But we stole a Bat and destroyed a silo..."

"Felix will explain that it was due to the emergency," the doctor emphasized. "And that there was no time for procedures or authorizations. Three days to explain about our course of action is more than enough. Now, get over here, we only have thirty minutes to put the suits on!"

More than four hours passed by before everyone, including the expert, Moses Masterton, had the dark space suit on.

It was no party to strip off our inadequate earthly clothes, or better said, our rags (that's what they were after the rough day's journey between the silo and the muddy jungle) in zero gravity. Especially for two rookies such as Darwin and myself.

Nevertheless, the real challenge was dressing like an astronaut. Notwithstanding the three of us helping each other, the accessories, more than fifteen per suit, repeatedly slipped off out of our hands and we had to fight the weightlessness to catch them and put them on. I believe we even completed a couple of laps around the entire rear cabin during the execution of that difficult task.

So, now, when the only thing left was to adjust the helmet, all three of us were sweating like pigs and pretty agitated.

"You close it clock-wise," the doctor explained, putting on the bright black helmet.

We followed his lead. Our speaker's voice was heard through the headphones:

"The flow of oxygen is automatic." When I heard that, I felt a pleasant breeze in the new hermetic ambient. "And never mind the sweat, the visors are anti fog," pointing to the chest level controls with his finger he continued the training. "The central computer is right here," he raised his eyes slightly. "We have ten sensors which regulate pressure and temperature automatically." He put up his index finger and pointed at his visor; I noticed his beard piled up touching the visor lightly. "The tinting of the helmet is automatic too and easily resists the direct exposure to the sun. Questions?"

I consulted Darwin. Against the light of the crystalline visor and his inseparable eyeglasses, I noticed that his eyes were also asking me.

I cleared my throat and looked at the doctor. "I think there are questions, not about the space suit though..."

For the last four hours the space suit had been the subject. And what really worried me was the mission. There were still several unclear points. Darwin turned a little bit toward the doctor and seconded my motion with a gesture.

The doctor nodded understanding.

"I know you're concerned. But we can trust Felix's diplomatic function, or else, Colonel Croft's. Also," he emphasized putting up his index finger, "we have another element siding with us: right now, the base is half deserted..."