Lunar Nocturne

A pair of red orbs glowed in the swirling mist, orbiting one another while spinning round a greater circle. Their clockwork motion grew in speed until the orbs seemed to blur, passing through an expanding blue green mist. Then, in a flash, there was a single orb, a blue green sphere slowly rotating as wisps of white formed here and there in whorls and spirals. In moments, it formed from the ethos to become a physical world that Mona recognized. Although the continents were ill-formed and out of kilter, it was Earth.

“When was the last time you were here?” A voice shattered the silence, startling her as it came through the tinny speakers in her life-support suit.

She turned and saw a reflection in the mirrored surface of another's pressure suit helmet, assuming it was hers. The nameplate above the visor said, Jason 'Jay' Wolfe. 

“It's been a while, I guess,” Joan said.

“Regardless of the era, it's still our most beautiful world."

"It's not quite as I remember it.”

“Picky, picky. It's pristine, though quite uninhabitable for us.”

“What happens in three or so billion years when humans discover our strange footprints on the moon?”

“By then, they'll already know all about us.” He laughed. "Anyway, there's still enough geological activity and impacts ahead for the evidence of us to be concealed."

Joan glanced upward and over her shoulder, looking toward the sun. It was far too intense for her to bear more than a scant glimpse even through the heavily-tinted, reflective visor of her helmet. Still, in the cold of the lifeless shadow of a boulder, the knowledge that it was there warmed her. “We should finish what we came to do and get back.”

“Yeah, well, most of the reason we're here was to find the chamber.”

“We've done that. Can we go then?”

“Where's your sense of adventure?"

"I'll have to catch up with my last yesterday to find it."

"There's the other part of the mission,” he announced as he removed a small digital tablet from his pocket and handed it to her. "The undocumented part."

"The what?" She received it and began to read. "Who gave you this?"

"Spike briefed me."

“Where'd he get it?"

"He said it came from above his pay grade, and above the pay grade of the guy who gave it to him."

"Did he read this?"

"I don't know. I assume he didn't. The cover screen is classified 'NTK'."

"What's so important about it that no one can know?"

"Don't know, hon. C'mon. It's over that way, I think.” Then he produced a map on his range finder and studied it against the immediate rock formations and topography. 

“Okay, over that way a little bit. That's where they sighted it.”

“You honestly believe there's an active threshold here? I mean, wouldn’t the navigation system on the platform detect it?” Joan asked.

“Not if it's in stealth mode.”

“Then how do we know where to find it?”

“The tablet has the key to de-cloak it.” Jay started out in the direction that he had determined to be the proper course.

“That’s crazy!”

“No, it's not,” he said over the intercom without looking back.

“What does it mean if we find it?”

“That Harper was right!”

“Harper was crazy.” Then thinking of the absurdity of talking about someone before he was even born, she laughed. “Rather he will be crazy after he is born and matures into the insufferable asshole we all know and hate.”

“Then, blame Hunter instead. You can take your pick at this point. We are here to correct all of that, anyway.”

“Hunter believed that the origins of humans was on Anter’x. How's that congruous with Harper's theory that life on Anter’x began on Earth?”

“The Pelindur, of course. Reportedly, they once inhabited the cloaked area we're looking for. And maybe some of the other places we've already found.”

“Yeah, so? The Pelindur are very ancient. They could have explored this portion of the Galaxy in Earth’s primordial times.”

“Previously, all evidence was that the Pelindur were not in this solar system until after the emergence of mankind.”

“If what this document says is true, they were here long before that. I mean, there's hardly even any life down there!”

"Up and down are relative, by the way."

"You know what I mean," she complained as she followed. He had a point though, as she was looking up at the Earth.

With minor variations and drift of the continents it would look much the same in a few billion years. In fact, when there was no life left on the Earth it would look much the same from this distance, the eternally beautiful, mostly blue marble as someone would refer to it in the age of manned space explorations in the mid-Twentieth Century. In truth, the proximity to the time and the place of the disaster would define the true nature of the emergency.

Not looking where she was going, she stumbled and fell down the slope toward the jagged rocks, tearing the fabric of her suit. Gases vented into wispy near vacuum of the primal lunar atmosphere. Her partner slid down the side of the gorge, quickly opening an emergency kit, slapping patches over the holes in her suit.

Jay gave a cursory check to the surface but sought the confirmation of her internal instruments that the leaks were contained. Then he asked, “How's head-up display of resources?”

“Water and air are still nominal,” she reported.

“You have to pay attention. It's dangerous here.”

She nodded. “I could have died. Thank you.”

“That’s why you're never alone. Consider that another one of your nine lives.”

Joan smiled. He referred to her as 'Cat', not only because it was her nickname but because she usually landed on her feet, both literally and figuratively. The metaphor flattered her. She loved cats, not so much the domesticated variety as their cousins, the great majestic, independent rulers of the wild world. Perhaps in a resurrected world, they would rule again with the honor, dignity and respect they deserved.

He reached out his gloved hand and as she grasped it. He pulled her to her feet and together they ascended the slope to the ridge, rejoining the trail they were blazing.

Once they returned to the path, each of them checked their resources again. “Do you want to go on or summon the recovery pod?”

“We've come here for a purpose,” she responded.

He nodded and, although she couldn’t see it behind the tinted glass of his helmet, he smiled. He was proud of her for the commitment to a mission, even one that he barely understood and, quite honestly, did not agree with. This was dangerous exploration. What if the threshold was engaged?

They continued along the ridge toward what he hoped would be the discovery of true, undeniable evidence. Not the circumstantial evidence of the chamber and the apparent artifacts. He hoped the Pelindur would still be occupying the observation outpost at the threshold. After all, it was in this time period that they were supposed to have been residence, was it not?

Jay checked the sensors for the magnetic disturbance that was in keeping with the anomalous energy signature. He keyed in the cipher and projected an electromagnetic field around them. Immediately, the targeting sensor picked up the presence of motion ahead, a few meters away. The signal was very strong. Even at their deliberately careful pace, they would arrive within minutes.

They passed through a field of boulders that towered over them. The rocks were taller again by half than either of them. In the thinness of atmosphere, they seemed larger for their imposing proximity. That some lesser rocks were perched precariously atop the boulders left the sense of impending doom hanging above them as they ventured into the valley they formed. Both of them were grateful that across the lunar landscape there was no wind to disturb rock formations that had lasted for some unfathomable duration of years.

The beacon they were receiving grew in intensity as they approached. It seemed so out of place that she paused at the first indication. He pressed on but was offering the sensors forward with outstretched arms to sample the readings. “They're already off the scale!” he pronounced, enthusiastically.

“Be careful. It may be guarded.”

“Guarded against what?”

“Us?”

“How could they ever expect us?”

“I don’t know. Just...be careful, please.”

“I’m fine. There's no danger.”

With his very next step he penetrated a protective envelope and disappeared. She screamed out to him, but there was no response, no hum of the transmitter nor any static on any wavelength. “Jason!” she called out.

There was absolute silence. How was she ever going to get home? He had the main up-link. All she had was the redundant bridge, and that was useless without his signal. The observers would have to know that Jason was gone to even begin looking for her. Besides, both of them were so far away from their entry point. She initiated an emergency beacon in hopes that someone was remotely monitoring their progress from Titan. With some marginal confidence in the failsafe support systems, she neared the point where Jason disappeared. Within her suit, the hairs on her arms stood on end. What was this place?

With one more step, she entered the envelope, feeling an amazing surge of energy that cascaded through her body like adrenaline. In an instant, she saw everything, all of it. She understood as much of it as was humanly possible. The effort drained her strength as she collapsed onto a soft textured surface that formed beneath her to cushion her naked body's fall as she lapsed into slumber.

Sudden alarm at the sensation of a breeze awakened her. As she sat up, she observed the bustle of the intricate, highly advanced civilization below. For the Pelindur, the ritual of another day had begun.

Joan looked around for any sign of Jason, then turning toward the sensation of tapping at her shoulder she saw them. A flash blinded her as her limbs went numb. 

Details of what she had to do and why were confused. Her immediate past was as foggy as the essence of a half recalled dream. She took deep breaths releasing them slowly to calm her as she saw a tranquil, artificial pool of water inviting her. She sat down beside it and took several more deep breaths before leaning over and liberally splashing cold water onto her face. She remembered it, all of it, as she stared into her reflected eyes in the pool. It left her feeling very strange, but for the first time she could remember, her life connected from beginning to end and it made sense.

She completed the cycle. She stood as she set the small screen aside and the lunar nocturne dimmed with the engagement of the energy saving mode of the display. "Nice place to visit, but who'd want to live there?"

"We all will, eventually," Jason said as he entered the room. "Or perhaps we never will. Kind of depends on the probabilities and outcomes, right?"

"And I always hated statistics."

"Yeah, me too."

"How long have we been back?"

"A few hours. We both slept for a while. I guess we both needed it."

"What's next?"

"I don't know. They haven't said. As always it's up to them."

"I'm tired of being a pawn. I don't think I was born for this."

"What else do you think is more important?"

"I don't know, Jay, maybe being myself and not having any obligations to anyone else."

"Good luck finding that life. This is as close to utopia as we'll ever know."