Talk to you soon!”
Moondock glides into the dark side of the moon. The moon is still visible in the bluish-purple galactic glow, but far less detailed. More stars appear in the sky than were previously even imaginable. Without atmospheric interference and light pollution, it becomes unreal how many celestial objects show up.
Then, just as Nikki thought she’d seen it all, the blue planet dawns on the horizon of the dark moon. Nikki gets a good look at her first earthrise against the dark void of endless space; an object in infinity.
“This is unreal,” she utters to herself under her breath.
Moonliner 1:14
With time to spare before Nikki’s broadcast Cedric gets off the train at the park, one of the only places he can clear his mind of things. He follows a familiar path through towering Douglas Firs, past a pond until reaching his favorite bench at the tip of Lost Lagoon.
Sitting down, he looks up at the late morning sky. Through the blue atmosphere, Cedric can see the moon. Showing just a sliver of a crescent, it is now waxing. How exciting it is for him to think that Nikki’s about to touch down on that distant sphere; the next ball over. It’s right there, yet so far away.
A very light breeze makes the trees gently sway as a black crow stands on the bike path. Squirrels, both black and gray, are all around looking for handouts. Today there’s a tiny turtle sitting on stone in the lagoon, basking in the sunlight.
Cedric kicks back on the bench with his sunglasses on. As he’s just about to doze off, he notices the little message icon is blinking in the corner of his sunglass screen. He asks Phaedra to play the message:
“Cedric it’s me,” Nikki’s voice is heard saying in her message from Moondock. “I miss you.”
Cedric sits on the bench with his shades on, listening to Nikki’s entire message. When it finishes he has a few questions for Phaedra.
“She sent the message. Were the scanners working?”
“Yes,” Phaedra replies.
“Did they pick up any unsourced signals?” he goes on to ask.
“Nothing yet,” Phaedra responds.
“Did they pick up Nikki’s transmission?” Cedric asks.
“No they didn’t,” she answers.
Baffled, Cedric stares for a while at the swaying trees. How could the receivers miss Nikki’s transmission from Moondock? It was aimed right at them. Unless, of course, the message landed at a different time. If it did, then why didn’t the receivers pick it up at some earlier point in time? Could it have landed before they were even turned on?
“Let’s leave the scanners running,” Cedric instructs Phaedra.
“Scanners in continual mode,” she responds.
Moonliner 1:15
“Prepare to detach,” the shuttle pilot’s voice says over the intercom. Nikki sits nervously buckled in her seat, looking out of her window at the spinning moon below. “Detaching in five, four, three, two, one, and we’re detached,” the pilot continues to announce. There’s a loud creaking sound as the shuttle detaches from Moondock. Otherwise, it’s silent. Nikki is once again weightless.
“Igniting both outboards,” the pilot announces over his radio. Just then, the silence stops. The deep sound of powerful engines starting up fills the craft. Nikki sinks into her seat as the shuttle picks up some forward thrust. Moondock is getting smaller by the second as the shuttle sinks toward the moon.
For Nikki, descending to the lunar surface is nothing at all like she’d imagined. Of course she’d imagined craters large and small, but is
Moondock glides into the dark side of the moon. The moon is still visible in the bluish-purple galactic glow, but far less detailed. More stars appear in the sky than were previously even imaginable. Without atmospheric interference and light pollution, it becomes unreal how many celestial objects show up.
Then, just as Nikki thought she’d seen it all, the blue planet dawns on the horizon of the dark moon. Nikki gets a good look at her first earthrise against the dark void of endless space; an object in infinity.
“This is unreal,” she utters to herself under her breath.
Moonliner 1:14
With time to spare before Nikki’s broadcast Cedric gets off the train at the park, one of the only places he can clear his mind of things. He follows a familiar path through towering Douglas Firs, past a pond until reaching his favorite bench at the tip of Lost Lagoon.
Sitting down, he looks up at the late morning sky. Through the blue atmosphere, Cedric can see the moon. Showing just a sliver of a crescent, it is now waxing. How exciting it is for him to think that Nikki’s about to touch down on that distant sphere; the next ball over. It’s right there, yet so far away.
A very light breeze makes the trees gently sway as a black crow stands on the bike path. Squirrels, both black and gray, are all around looking for handouts. Today there’s a tiny turtle sitting on stone in the lagoon, basking in the sunlight.
Cedric kicks back on the bench with his sunglasses on. As he’s just about to doze off, he notices the little message icon is blinking in the corner of his sunglass screen. He asks Phaedra to play the message:
“Cedric it’s me,” Nikki’s voice is heard saying in her message from Moondock. “I miss you.”
Cedric sits on the bench with his shades on, listening to Nikki’s entire message. When it finishes he has a few questions for Phaedra.
“She sent the message. Were the scanners working?”
“Yes,” Phaedra replies.
“Did they pick up any unsourced signals?” he goes on to ask.
“Nothing yet,” Phaedra responds.
“Did they pick up Nikki’s transmission?” Cedric asks.
“No they didn’t,” she answers.
Baffled, Cedric stares for a while at the swaying trees. How could the receivers miss Nikki’s transmission from Moondock? It was aimed right at them. Unless, of course, the message landed at a different time. If it did, then why didn’t the receivers pick it up at some earlier point in time? Could it have landed before they were even turned on?
“Let’s leave the scanners running,” Cedric instructs Phaedra.
“Scanners in continual mode,” she responds.
Moonliner 1:15
“Prepare to detach,” the shuttle pilot’s voice says over the intercom. Nikki sits nervously buckled in her seat, looking out of her window at the spinning moon below. “Detaching in five, four, three, two, one, and we’re detached,” the pilot continues to announce. There’s a loud creaking sound as the shuttle detaches from Moondock. Otherwise, it’s silent. Nikki is once again weightless.
“Igniting both outboards,” the pilot announces over his radio. Just then, the silence stops. The deep sound of powerful engines starting up fills the craft. Nikki sinks into her seat as the shuttle picks up some forward thrust. Moondock is getting smaller by the second as the shuttle sinks toward the moon.
For Nikki, descending to the lunar surface is nothing at all like she’d imagined. Of course she’d imagined craters large and small, but is
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