SUNGLASESS AND ROCKETS Part 2: The Machine

FROM BOY TO HURT MAN

Obviously, that was not going to happen. The shuttle could crack open at any time, in the middle of outer space! We had to be alert.

Ready for anything.

Curiously, the doctor insisted on whishing us a good night. With that purpose, he dimmed the intensity of the light in the front cabin and turned off the lights from the rear cabin completely.

The effect was exactly the other way around to what he had in mind; it sharpened our wits even more. Our pupils didn't take long before they were completely dilated and we discovered new cracks. Additionally, under the soft blue luminosity of the control boards stuck on the walls, the fissures looked deeper...

I have to make clear, however, that our lack of sleep couldn't be blamed only on the damages in the fuselage. The endless streak of accidents and unusual events of the task that we had recently concluded had fallen on us like a gallon of caffeine into our veins. The thing was that very few occasions in a lifetime start with your day leaving from a lovely colonial hotel to finish up on board a spaceship on its way to the moon, altogether with a risky mission assigned. Sinking into sleep was not going to be easy, but we had to try.

After an hour and a half I finally yielded. I turned my head toward my partner and to my surprise, he had managed to close his eyes.

"Darwin," I called out quietly. "Are you awake?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

Chatting for a while could help us relax. Although, there was so much to talk about that I decided to go straight to the point.

"Do you think Vanessa will wait for me?"

Darwin opened his eyes and turned toward me.

"She loves you, Gordo."

Then, he yawned.

"Then, will she wait around?"

My friend consented.

"Don't doubt it, she will, her admirers on the other hand..." he yawned again, sleepy. "They worry me."

"What do you mean?" I inquired preoccupied.

Darwin shut his eyes one more time. He didn't answer, instead his mouth opened.

"Darwin!" I insisted.

He exhaled briefly.

"Ten years is a long time Gordo," he muttered feebly. "Even for—"

"It is six years tops," I corrected instantly. "Only six."

"Oh yea, only six..."

He was falling asleep.

"Six years tops," I repeated eagerly. "What do you think? Will she wait for me?"

"In that case...I think..."

"Yes or not?" I asked him as if I were asking the oracle. "Will she wait for me or not?"

Darwin breathed out and started to snore. Holy smoke! He fell asleep and I was more awake. I shook him by the shoulder; my friend didn't even feel it.

Having nothing else to think about, I dared to look at the window through which the Earth could be seen, and I kept feeling the restlessness of a man in love. Would I ever see Vanessa again?

Darwin and I had become the doctor Masterton's right hand men. Now our fragile shoulders shared the overwhelming load of a mission on the moon, whether we wanted to or not. The moment had come where the fate of a whole civilization was placed before us.

No backing off.

Of course, that meant that the beautiful romance which had started recently between Vanessa and me was sentenced to die out of inanition... as I'd already known.

That's the way things were. Period.

After having reached such resolutions, fatal but inevitable, I found some peace. Finally I was able to shut my eyes. However, tears were shedding abundantly over my lashes.

I coughed several times trying to feign the sobs that escaped from my throat.

"Is everything all right?" I heard the doctor ask.

Damn it. I covered my face with the back of my hand and continued coughing, while my conscience swore to find Vanessa the day I was back on Earth.

"Gordo?" the doctor insisted. I sighed and rubbed my eyes hard. "Are you okay?"

I sighed again and turned my glassy glance slightly to the side, toward the flight cabin. The doctor was watching me from the pilot's seat. I cleared my throat.

"Yes...I'm all right...it was just a little coughing."

The doctor nodded understanding.

"You'll feel better, have faith."

"Faith," I repeated reluctantly.

"Believe in the invisible...it is more real than what is visible. It's proven."

The aphorism gave me some comfort, especially the understanding modulation used by that wise man.

"Thanks, doc. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome. Now wake Darwin up, it is time."

Oh God! A shiver ran through my spine and I checked the time. It'd been six hours! I closed my eyes. A minute of sleep would do.

"What are you waiting for?" the captain was impatient. "Every second counts!"