SUNGLASESS AND ROCKETS Part 2: The Machine

SPACE IS NOT SO BIG

But out of the fear of not being able to open them ever again, I swore to myself that I would close them just for a moment.

Then, I fell unconscious.

When I woke up, I was feeling a terrible anguish, like when you sleep more than you should, during school days. Without hesitation, I drew my wrist close to the visor to check the date.

I didn't measure my strength and crashed my arm clumsily against the helmet. I took a deep breath to calm down and slowly put my wrist in front of the visor.

There was no watch. I had lost it...

I took another breath and took a glance at the monitor of the mechanical arm. Though the image was blurry, I could see the spherical shape at the end of the arm. That soothed me somehow: we still had the SVM.

I looked forward.

The scenery had not changed. Thousands of stars kept shining placidly on an immense black background... and there was no trace of the moon.

The magnificent view did not relieve me, it distressed me. I had the awkward felling that we were lost...

Lost in space!

I forced myself not to get carried away by my fears, the doctor wouldn't approve of it. By the way, thinking about him squeezed my heart and I was on the verge of bursting out in tears. That attitude was not a doctor's favorite either, so I repressed the feeling.

At that moment I realized how much I had learned from him. And if any of his teachings should be applied at that moment, strength and responsibility were the right candidates.

I couldn't stay there and cry my eyes out...while the important thing was to make contact with the moon as soon as possible. We had in our hands the powerful machine that could bring it back to its original state. Even more, Earth would not be the same if the moon wasn't taken back to its orbit.

We had to act immediately, the doctor would agree to that.

The first thing would be waking up my companions.

With renewed energy I turned to Lucas. His helmet was totally misted over...

"Lucas!" I called worried.

He didn't answer. His arms and legs were stretched out to the front, motionless. I freed myself from the seatbelt and moved closer.

"Lucas!" I insisted and patted his helmet. "Lucas!"

In the middle of the mist, I noticed that his face was soaked in sweat. I took off his helmet. His face was completely pale!

I didn't know how to give him first aid, so I opted for a couple of smacks.

He started to cough. He was mumbling something. I loosened my helmet to hear him.

"Do you know anything about surgery?" he asked.

"Come again?" I was confused.

Lucas' hand moved to his left pectoral.

"Some shrapnel hit me..."

Shoot!

"Do you happen to have a first aid kit?"

The pilot nodded and pointed at a small cabinet on the ceiling. I spotted it and took out a roll of gauze and many pill bottles.

"Where are we?" it was heard all of a sudden.

It was Darwin's voice! I had almost forgotten. I turned at once. Darwin had loosened his helmet, he was rubbing his eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeap...it just itches..."

I turned to the pilot. He was pushing the buttons on the panel.

"I'll feel better with a couple of aspirins..."

I opened the only bottle of white pills and gave him a bunch. Lucas took them and swallowed them high and dry.

I noticed a shocking blood stain on his chest...

I gulped down.

"I don't know much about surgery," I offered. "But I can try to operate..."

As soon as I had finished the sentence I regretted it.

"Thanks, but better leave it for later."

I sighed relieved. The pilot had his attention fixed on the blurry screens.

"The important thing now is to find out what happened to the base..." He began pressing keys. "We just have to contact the moon."

A high pitched bell was heard. Lucas put his hand on his chest and repressed a gesture of pain. "Let's try other channels." He pushed other buttons: more tones of the screeching bell. "I think we have a short circuit in the radio," he concluded.

He raised his eyes and corrected himself: "Or perhaps there is a signal...although it must be very weak..."

"Is it because of the solar storm?" I ventured.

"I don't think so," he whispered while exploring the starry panorama. "The storm was almost over when we entered enclave LHC... we had probably moved too far from the moon..."

"Why don't you try communicating with Earth?" Darwin interrupted. "It is back there..."