SUNGLASESS AND ROCKETS Part 2: The Machine

THE RUINS

The pilot finished dodging the huge pieces of junk.

"In that case," he replied, "a crack is a good idea."

The spaceship tipped to one side in order to go into a spin.

"Here we go!"

The surface was approaching at a terrible speed: we were on our way toward a thin crack.

In the twinkling of an eye we were traveling into the middle of the crack. The craggy walls turned iridescent under the reflector lights. The space was so narrow that the spaceship bumped against the rocks that bulged from the walls.

Suddenly we were in the interior of the huge natural vault and the spacecraft made another fantastic maneuver, it pivoted 180 degrees over a vertical plane and then it accelerated towards the end.

"No!" the doctor said. "Make a turn, there are no constructions here!"

Lucas made a tight loop and we flew upside down.

"Is it this way?" he asked.

The front view turned again and we recovered the initial perspective.

"Yes," the doctor hesitated, "go on".

Huge rocks were floating in our way. The pilot proved his abilities by dodging them without decreasing the speed of the spacecraft, not even a moment...You could say that he was passing the test pilot exam—and with honors.

Meanwhile, my dazzled eyes were trying to follow the vertiginous course of the floating rocks, or better said, crystals sparkling under the light of our reflectors. In a second they appeared in the horizon to disappear in the following second. Up, down and on both sides of the spaceship...

Suddenly the view was clear.

"Through the tunnel!" the doctor exclaimed.

The light from the Pterodactyl illuminated the huge and circular cavity of the rock.

An instant later we were flying inside the big tunnel...

"Where did he get the money to build all of this?" the pilot asked, marveled.

Lucas obviously was talking about Voodoo. And the obvious answer was from non-scrupulous people of Lucas' nature.

It was useless to refresh his memory. There was no time for that any way.

"We have contacted the Major," the doctor said in a hurry. "Let's listen." I was aware that the radio was still on. A murmur of noise came over the speaker. "It is in Q-Morse code..." the doctor explained

"Yes, yes..." the pilot said.

We waited.

"Ten Bats are taking over the critical points", the doctor informed.

"Critical points?" the pilot murmured.

"If the moon goes out of orbit, we will have to guide it with..."

The copilot interrupted the conversation to pay attention to the sound.

The view from the windows proved that we were out of the tunnel and another gigantic cavern was opening in front of us.

Excluding the doctor, the impressed eyes of the passengers focused on the horizon.

The strong lights of the spaceship illuminated some constructions at a distance.

"Bingo!" Lucas said.

The doctor barely turned to see it.

"Good."

The spaceship accelerated at a terrible speed. The construction went from a small size to a huge size in seconds.

"Stop!" the doctor ordered.

We felt some tickling in the belly, and the spaceship stopped a 300 feet from the construction. It seemed like an oval bunker on an irregular territory.

"They are ruins," Darwin observed.

I sharpened my view. The territory wasn't such, they were damaged constructions. Darwin was right.

"What the hell happened here?" the pilot murmured.

Several pieces of rock passed by the strong beams soaring like balloons.

"The first quakes," my friend replied confidently.

The doctor moved away from the intercom. "Bilsby has been contacted; he and his people are coming". He turned to the back row and in a cold tone added, "it's time."