SUNGLASESS AND ROCKETS Part 2: The Machine

MOON'S DESTINY

Oh Lord!

"Get out of here," Voodoo insisted. "Nothing can be done..."

"Professor Masterton," Lucas broke in. "My radar has just detected two Vampires...there must be another entrance...there are three of them," he added and corrected himself again. "No, there are more than three, there are...there are... "

The doctor was scrutinizing the box with his eyes.

"Doctor!" the pilot called again. "A whole fleet of enemy spaceships are on their way!"

"Leave immediately!" my boss commanded.

"I'm not leaving until you get out! Just turn the machine off!"

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Darwin was getting up.

"I knew more would come," Voodoo whispered. "And—"

"How do I deactivate the bomb?" the doctor interrupted him.

"I'm sorry," Voodoo gasped. "All what's happening is my fault."

While staring at the terrible chronometer, Doctor Masterton took out some pliers from the case.

"Which one is the detonative? Voodoo?"

"The SVM will blow up before more Vampires come...I better not let them have it ...it's too powerful..."

"We can't destroy it until the moon gets back its mass!" the doctor got exasperated. "The SVM at the base doesn't have the required power!" He looked at me and ordered: "Hold this!"

I clasped my hands to the chronometer as the doctor stuck in a screw driver.

"A ship has just entered the building!" Lucas exclaimed from the Pterodactyl. "And it's not one of ours!"

"They're here," Darwin announced at once. "They just showed up... and they're heading for us."

I looked at the doctor. He assented and delicately turned the screw driver.

"Did you manage to deactivate the bomb?" I asked with my hopes high.

"No."

He left the screw driver inserted in the box and then we both got up. I gazed up. We were covered by red dots...several men armed to the teeth were descending. They were surrounding us.

"Stay close to the SVM," the doctor ordered. "Come on."

"I'm sorry Moses," Voodoo whispered and exhaled. "I'm sorry..."

Shoot!

"Do not detonate the bomb," the doctor pleaded. "Not yet."

The mercenaries were cordoning off...aiming at us as if they were about to execute us...

"Do not move away from the SVM," the doctor insisted. "Do not move apart."

"Professor!" Lucas exclaimed. "Bilsby has just made contact! He's entering the cave!"

"Good," the doctor said.

Although, down below, things were bad. One of the men lifted his weapon in a fast move and pointed at the doctor.

"Doctor!" both Darwin and I exclaimed.

The man tumbled down.

Something pushed him backwards. The other weapons fired their ammunitions to a corner. One of the bodies from the edge was shooting!

The mercenaries were not happy by just shooting to the corner; they started to clean up the entire periphery.

Meanwhile, the intensity of the light behind us increased. Simultaneously, the walls were shinier...

The whole environment was bathed by a strong greenish light.

"What's going on?" I asked in confusion.

"Fasten your feet with some cable," the doctor said.

I began moving my feet, fearing the worst.

"Lucas," our boss continued, "stick your ship between the rocks. Hurry!"

"I'm flyin—"

"Lucas!" the doctor exclaimed. "The reaction is about to begi—"

The vault was filled by twitching green rays. A brutal force hurled me in a straight line to the front. The mercenaries passed by me rapidly, like missiles. For a moment, I thought the same would happen to me, but the cable caught my ankle and I started to swirl in an enormous circumference. Terrified, I saw myself drawing away from the sparkling wall in front of me.

Suddenly, I felt a bump on my back and I realized that I was stuck on the opposite wall. I was surrounded by sparks as a terrible oppressive force was sinking me into the wall.

The awful sensation reminded me of the lift off in the wicked of all rockets. The skin of my face tugged to the back...I couldn't feel my extremities and my vision began to blur...

I didn't close my eyes.

I was afraid if I did, I would never see Vanessa again. I was struggling hard not to lose consciousness.

I was lucky. The smashing force disappeared all of a sudden.

I came around a few moments later.

"Gordo?" I heard through the headphones.

I recognized the doctor's voice. That made me happy. Moses Masterton had survived.

"I'm okay!" I managed to say, heaving.

Actually, I wanted to say that I was alive since I still couldn't move my legs...

"Where are you?" Darwin called.

Oh, what a relief. My best friend was alive too.

"I'm at the wall," I answered motivated. "At the wall..."

I put more strength in my muscles. My legs were starting to respond. I allowed myself to look around: the light of the walls had recovered the soft glare that they had at the beginning.

A couple of lights fell onto my visor. Although my vision was still blurry I recognized Darwin. He was floating in front of me.

"Gordo," he said shakily. "The moon has gone out of orbit."