SUNGLASESS AND ROCKETS Part 2: The Machine

ANYBODY OUT THERE?

I turned around, ready to undertake the voyage, when I felt a nudge on my right. I half turned. Darwin gave me a sign, it was clear that he was looking for a private chat. My friend pointed to the left: "There," I read his lips.

I turned in that direction. Showing up between two peaks, my eyes met a gigantic sphere, flashy blue and absolutely motionless in the sky. Earth, I thought enrapt. I come from there.

Suddenly, I came to realize that I was in another world and a feeling unequaled filled me up; I was no longer an American citizen, I'd become a citizen of the world...of the solar system!

This reflection, far from touching me, distressed me. From now on I would live on the moon...

"We must hurry to find the Moon Buggy!" I heard all of a sudden.

It was the doctor's voice. Before taking my eyes off of the sublime sight, I promised myself for the thousandth time, that I'd be back and find Vanessa.

"What are you waiting for!" our impatient boss insisted. I looked away from the marvelous blue sphere and searched for the doctor. He was ahead by a block, sort of speaking! "Every second counts!"

True, we had to find the lunar vehicle as soon as possible. Preceded by my partner we began the march.

After more than two hours of a monotonous walk, we hadn't found anything.

Or even worse, we might have passed nearby and we didn't notice it. Everything was so dark...

As for me, I was hardly searching; rather, I was still running away. Since we had started walking, it had still shaken a couple of times...I feared that the gigantic rocks from the cave-in would reach us at any moment and smash us like vermin of that rough territory.

Fortunately, we were getting out of the craggy and landslide zone and moving into a region that resembled a desert. Even so, it was not possible to get rid of imminent danger complex.

It was certain.

We were getting into a zone that offered no nooks in which to run and hide. We were totally exposed to the ambush of anything: meteors, Vampires, and, why not? Extraterrestrials.

This new fear, the only groundless one, finished opening up my imagination, pretty vivid as it was. I had seen "Fire in the Sky"* and the last thing I wanted was to end up on an experiment table for some ruthless little green men armed with sharp scalpels.

The awkward feeling of being watched by alien's eyes took hold of me...

Except for the lights in our helmets, which only lit a small stretch of our path, nothing could be seen in our surroundings. Anything could be wandering around. It could even draw near us without making itself noticeable...I thought I should warn the doctor about this new danger. But I stopped first and took a good look around; the beams were lost in the irregular horizon of the desolated region.

Nothing moved. Unsatisfied, I got some courage and with a leap, I turned around.

One more time, I explored the zone. The lights were fading out in the already far thick walls...

Something moved. Perhaps a rock coming loose from the cliff? No. Its movement was horizontal...it had shifted very fast.

I wasn't sure. I lied in wait until Darwin's voice made me jump as high as a flea.

"Look!" he yelled.

I turned at once. I had stayed behind. Some 90 feet away I noticed the doctor, I recognized him by his particular gait. My friend showed up a few degrees left. He was pointing at a huge hill.

"There!" he exclaimed. "They're traces from a vehicle!

I released my tension heaving a sigh.

"The Moon Buggy must be on the other side!" the doctor seconded excitedly. "Let's go up!"

I speeded up at once, not without telling them about the strange sight.

"Hey!" I called out. "Something moved back there!"

"It must have been a rock," the doctor replied without stopping. "A cave-in..."

"It didn't look like a rock..." I objected.

The doctor was starting to climb up the hill.

"Do you mean a spaceship or something like that?"

I quickened my pace, better said, my leaps.

"Something like that."

The shivers in my spine warned me that danger was around. Suddenly, Darwin, who was starting to climb up the hill too, came to halt.

"Was it something like a Bat?

My two hiking partners, finally turned around, and with their lights, swept around from left to right behind me.

"It must have been a rock," the doctor determined.

Darwin went up tentatively, seeking a better visual angle.

"What if it was a Vampire?"

The doctor turned around and reinitiated his march.

"I don't think so; this zone does not have easy access. Let's go."

"What if it was an extraterrestrial?" I dared to ask.

"Yes," Darwin seconded me. "I'd heard that in one of the Apollo missions—"

"Forget about it," the doctor interrupted, accelerating his pace. "Everything that is here comes from there."

He stretched out his arm energetically and pointed at the Earth, to the right. Darwin was happy with the explanation and again, began to walk. And I, still far, broke into a run heading to the hill...I didn't want to be left behind, by myself.

"What's your opinion about Drake's equation**? I insisted between puffs.

"It is valid," the doctor replied, non-stopping. "But, there are no aliens here."

The ground began to shine...I saw my shadow...

"What in the world?" the doctor whispered.

I dared to raise my eyes: three shiny triangular platforms could be seen on top of the mountain...

*A movie based on supposedly real facts: in the mountains of the northeast of Arizona, in 1975, a woodcutter was abducted by a flying saucer. After several days, the kidnapped man appeared; he showed many physical and psychological damages. His story was horrifying...

**Equation from physicist Francis Drake. Said equation estimates a number of 10,000 civilizations technologically mature in our galaxy. This is, one civilization per 20 million of stars.