The camera was pointed into the abyss— the black of space. A small white crescent was visible, thinner than paper. There was a haze of red around its edge, and soon it would all be the same color. The view pans out to the yellow of a blinking button on the side of a screen.
Mission control was almost silent, the only sound being the low churning noise of computers. Massive monitors took up the entire wall: one displayed a rectangular, squashed projection of the planet, and another showed what the television stations were showing the public. According to two timestamps, the public display was about 30 minutes behind. One screen in the lower right corner, next to a blinking yellow light, was a camera pointed to the sky. To the moon.
The enormous room looked like an amphitheater for humming computers, and the scientists & engineers who operated them. The room was made for hundreds of people, but for now, only a few remained. Two of them sat together as they read printouts & sipped on cups of coffee.
A third engineer walked in from another connected room to join them— coffee in one hand, and a tiny slice of mocha-flavored cake in the other. She was a blue Ixi, her eyes & long hair a darker shade of the same blue color. She was dressed in a button-down white overcoat, blue jeans, and black boots. A pewter anvil-shaped trinket dangled from her necklace.
She stretched her arms, careful not to spill what she carried, Hooooo goodness. You all gonna relax a little? Join us in the return party?
One of the engineers chose to answer her before the other. He was a middle-aged red Kacheek, with rounded rectangular glasses, and short oily black hair combed to the side. He had a black tie, a cyan button-up shirt, and plain black slacks. He spoke in a low frayed voice, but didn’t look up from his papers as he did so: Not now. Too early for that.
Aww, come on now,
she smiled, they’re about to go behind the moon again. We won’t even have anything to do. And they haven’t said anything to us in minutes.
He adjusted his glasses then turned his head, to look up from his papers and to the far wall. His eyes darted around to look it over— the information on the screens, and the other engineers around them. He sighed, Maybe. You’re probably right. Still? Gonna have to pass on that. Can’t relax. Not yet.
She shrugged and nodded, That’s fair. I just can’t wait to see it though.
Without moving his head, his eyes looked back to her, See what?
The eclipse! Have you seen a lunar eclipse before?
He shook his head, and looked back to the screens, I uh, sure, yeah.
Not like, in a book, I mean in real life!
He glanced back at her, then to the screens again, Oh, uh… no.
There was a few seconds of silence where all three watched the screens. The blue Ixi turned to the third engineer and asked, How about you?
They were a green Ogrin, who appeared younger than both her and the other engineer. Their hair was also a darker version of their green fur, but with streaks of black that matched the stripes on their neck and tail. They had a more elaborate outfit on than the other two: black slacks with silver buttons, a white collared undershirt with bronze cufflinks, a maroon tie, and a suede vest dyed an emerald green. They wore, on top of all of this, many necklaces— several crystal pendants of different colors hung by thin metal chains.
How about what?
they said back with a smile, their voice androgynous and near-monotone.
What do you mean?
About the eclipse or the party?
Oh, the party, I mean.
Nah,
they replied and shook their head, I’m gonna have to pass.
they paused, I’ve uh… I’ve been awake for about two days now. I think if I have too much fun I'll throw up from the stress.
they chuckled and grinned.
Oh goodness. Uhh, well I guess that just leaves Arastū.
The other two glanced at each other, then down to their coffee.
She’d scanned the whole room, but hadn’t found him, Hey…
she looked back toward the Ogrin, …where the heck is Arastū?
I don’t know,
they turned to look behind themselves, at the Kacheek, and spoke in the most facetious tone professionalism would allow, …where is Arastū?
The Kacheek glared, as he looked up from his coffee, Do I look like his dad to you?
You’re his manager.
Yeah, well, I don’t control what he does with his life. He’s supposed to be here, but he isn’t here, and that’s really all there is to say on the matter.
The blue Ixi sipped her coffee and raised her eyebrows, as she realized too late that she’d brought up some sort of office conflict, and regretted it.
He promised he’d be here…. I didn’t see him at the launch either.
she turned and looked back to the wall of screens, to the moon, I didn’t think he’d miss this for the world.
The Kacheek looked towards her, I thought so too, but…
then away, hell, what do I know.
A couple terminals over, a red Gelert with with light-blonde hair stood up from his chair, which scraped across the floor. The Kacheek and the Ixi looked over to him, as the room was still & quiet enough that even the slightest movements or sounds were impossible to ignore. The Gelert wore a blue argyle vest with a cyan undershirt, grey slacks, and dark purple-stained leather shoes. He pressed on the controls to the terminal he sat at, and raised his hand to the microphone:
Florin 12, Brightvale uh, would you verify that your radar transponder is off, over?
The question hung in the air. Silence. Four seconds. Five seconds. She felt a bit of a chill, even though the room wasn’t cold. Eight seconds. She swallowed and lowered her coffee as she stared at the engineer, then at the control panel below him. Twelve seconds. Thirteen seconds.
…Uhh, it’s not, but I’ll get it off.
A faint crackle had broken the intimidating stillness. It was one of the astronauts. His voice was distorted from the great distance, but still calm.
Rog’, uh,
the engineer replied, We were seein’ some— b’lieve it or not, we were seein some funnies on the uh… lander’s radar, and that was the only theory we had… that uh, looked like it was a good one.
She exhaled, as she hadn’t realized she’d held her breath. Why was I stressed out so suddenly, over such a simple question?
She took a closer look at the screens embedded in the panel. Blobs and geometric patterns outlined themselves in the sweeping line. Was it broken? And who’s the
she thought to herself.
we
they’re talking about?
She turned to look up, towards the large picture windows above them all. The room they all were in was two stories tall, and from the back half of the room, the second story had large picture windows to see into it. Three rooms were connected to this one in that way, though she only paid attention to one, the dimly lit one to their left. It was the communications room, and it was filled with important computers and more engineers. And two others she’d never seen before.
Two neopians stood next to each other, both with white fur and long white coats. One was an old Kougra. He was tall & bony, and held himself up with a cane. He wore grey pants, and bright red shoes & gloves. He had speckled white hair, and small beige spots on the fur of his face— on the bridge of his nose, and on his cheekbones. He had a mischievous, carefree smile on his face as he drank out of a curved metal flask.
The other was a short Wocky of indeterminate age, her arms crossed in front of her. Her wavy hair was a deep, cool-toned black, that matched with the black trim and cuffs on her white coat and light beige pants. It was difficult to tell apart from her white fur, but she wore white gloves on her hands. She wore some kind of heavily frayed black & yellow scarf, and bright yellow shoes, to match with her bright yellow eyes. She had a severe, irritated expression on her face, and it was hard to tell if she was bored, or in some kind of pain.
There was a moment where the button to transmit signal was held down before the astronaut spoke, …Good theory.
She looked back down to the terminal as he spoke. She could tell by his voice that he was busy with something, up there in space, but nothing stressful. The strange patterns on the radar were most likely nothing.
she reasoned. She looked back over at the two strangers. Those two must have been the
she thought.
we
they were talking about.
The Wocky’s yellow eyes darted over to her. Her breath caught in her throat as their gaze met. She forced her eyes away, and stared at the wall of screens. They knew.
she shuddered, They knew I was looking at them.
.
Hey. Are you okay?
The red Kacheek had noticed her reaction.
Hm? Oh! Uhm. I’m fine. Who’s that…? Who’s that up there? In the communications room?
He turned, nonchalant, and looked up, Oh. Them. I dunno who they are. The people around the office’ve been callin’ ‘em the
spooks
. Got a bunch of ‘em roamin around here after the launch. These two seem like they’re the head honchos. Or somethin.
She raised an eyebrow, Spook?
Like, government person.
he clarified, They must work for somebody way higher up in the government. Maybe even Neopia Central. I think. They’ve been talking to a lot of important people, so I hear.
I… see.
They’ve been here even before the launch. Just lookin around all the time. Maybe they’re inspectors. Did they freak you out?
No… well, yes. But it was more than that. They just distracted me from the other thing. Did you feel it?
…Feel what?
That. As soon as that one over there got outta the chair and started talkin, I just…
she looked over to the Kacheek, I’m not the superstitious type, ya know, but I just got a really, really bad feeling. Like something was about to happen.
Yeeesh. Don’t say that, you’re gonna freak me out.
She looked back to the spook
. Her gaze wasn’t on her anymore. She tried to steady her breath. They looked right at me. It was too quick to just be a guess.
She tried to put it out of her mind. The camera pointed at the moon caught her eye. All while she was distracted, in conversation or with radio transmission, it had had moved. The eclipse was about to start, just as they were to go around. The moon glowed with the brilliant red of every sunrise and sunset on the entire planet, simultaneously. Then, an even more saturated red color outlined the moon in a thin ring. For a few moments, everyone watched it in silence. The smile on the Kougra faded, and the Wocky squinted at the screens.
That… th▒t can’t ▒▒ normal. Brightvale I’▒▒seeing s▒▒methin▒▒.
Static. Everyone looked back to the console.
Ther▒▒s ▒▒s▒▒▒▒▒ —
The message was garbled by noisy interference. The Gelert leaned further forward as he pressed the button to speak, Micheal? Mr. O’Cullane can you tell us what’s happening up there?
The incoming transmission did not wait for a response, — in▒▒s ▒oing on. Ev▒▒▒th▒ng▒s red. I▒▒▒▒▒▒t’s from th▒ lunar s▒▒▒▒▒▒. There’s some k▒▒▒ of r▒▒… wall ▒▒ light c▒▒▒▒▒
The room turned cold. She could feel her knees get weak. The Wocky in the upstairs room leaned in closer, and the Kougra turned around as he put the flask up to his mouth and took a big swig.
Micheal I can’t understand you, could you please slow down? Can you hear us?
W▒▒▒▒▒▒th▒▒traj▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒s▒▒oing t▒▒▒▒▒▒us through it. Brightv▒▒▒▒▒▒re yo▒▒▒eading th▒▒▒▒▒▒ightva▒▒▒
…Do you read? Micheal, do you read?
▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒
Static. There was a crackle, as the public affairs officer’s scheduled voice fell from the speakers embedded in the ceiling.
This is Florin Control. We’ve had our scheduled Loss Of Signal, now. …At the present time, we show… Florin 12 in an orbit… uh with a… h—high point of about one hundred and fifteen point nine kilometers, and a low point —or, uh pericynthion— of one hundred point seven kilometers. The spacecraft is traveling at a speed of one thousand, six hundred and thirty two meters per second. …We’ll reacquire the spacecraft… in, uh, a little over forty five minutes… on the uh, twenty ninth revolution. At one hundred and thirty one hours, three minutes, this is Florin Control, Brightvale.