The nightmare that once had been Gerald Carr
shuffled forward, its gloved hands reaching out. Commander Gordon backed away
from the animated corpse. He had seen Carr die with his own eyes, exposed to
the cold and vacuum of space, beside him in the Lander. He could retreat no
further as he felt the Lunar Rover against the back of his legs, his hand
reached back to steady himself and found the handle of the spade in the tool
compartment, he gripped it tightly. He swung it, hitting the dead astronaut in
the side, tearing the fabric of the suit that barely contained the vacuum
swollen flesh. The creature staggered and Gordon swung the spade again, in an
upward motion this time, catching the rim of its open helmet, knocking the monstrosity
backward in the low lunar gravity.
The force of the blow had an equal reaction on
Gordon, forcing him backward he fell into the Rover. Instinctively, not waiting
to swing his legs inside, he grabbed the joystick and pushed it forward. The rover
trundled away gathering speed, pushing up clouds of dust that hung in the airless
void before falling slowly back to the moon’s surface. Gordon didn’t look back,
eager to put some distance between him and whatever had possessed Carr.
He pulled backward on the stick and the Rover slowed
to a halt. Assessing the situation he checked battery power on the rover, it
would be touch and go if it could get him back to the Lander, but looking at
his oxygen gauge his recent exertions had used much of the precious gas up. He
was a good distance away from the Lander which was hidden amid the hills and
mounds of the southern part of the Copernicus Crater, beyond the ancient
crashed craft. Fearfully he looked up then and looked at the northern edge
across the smooth expanse. He felt terribly exposed to whatever had tried to
destroy the Eagle as it had landed.
Under the rim of the crater were the structures, like
buildings, he had seen, the dwellings of
humanities' jailers. He could see clouds of dust beginning to curl from the
surface in front of them. There are no winds
on the moon. Whatever resided there was coming! He quickly sat in the Rover
and strapped himself in. He threw the joystick forward and it picked up speed, as
he swung it in an arc and headed south as fast as he could.
He turned the Rover camera to look behind, he needed
to record and log as much data as he could. He felt his heart hammering and his
breathing sounded laboured. He forced himself to breathe slow and steady; he
had to conserve what oxygen he had. The aches, both in his body and stomach,
reminded him how tired and hungry he was. He hadn’t eaten or drunk fluids for
hours now; adrenaline alone had been keeping him going.
The site of the wrecked craft lay to the east of him
and he turned the joystick to edge towards the area of hills, estimating where
the Eagle was and avoiding the unnecessary use of battery power climbing and
weaving among the valleys and mounds ,that had been the feature of his journey
northward. With 30% battery remaining he
pushed the joystick left and headed into the undulating moonscape that concealed
the lander. He looked left towards the north, the clouds of dust was halfway
across the plain. His oxygen gauge showed he was down to 10%, soon he would
begin recycling the CO2. He climbed a slope and in the distance he saw the
glint of the amber foil that clad the descent section of the LSM. He felt a
surge of hope as he strove to concentrate on navigating his way through the hills
and valleys, but he felt so tired.
He
had lost 2 hours in the crashed craft looking into the data crystal; he
remembered the dream-like journey it took him on, from Earth’s orbit to Mars.
Mars… and yet that ancient Mars was different, not a red desert, but green and
blue with cities and pyramids. There was something else he recalled, from the
edges of his mind, something on the Martian moon Phobus. It was a monolith and
written upon it in hieroglyphs and symbols were star maps, a myriad web of
wormholes linking the system of Sol with the stars beyond. That was it, the
secret, the key to interstellar travel; the knowledge lost when humanity was
bombarded back to the Stone Age long ago.
He felt a violent jolt and he opened his eyes. He had
fallen into unconsciousness and crashed the Rover into a boulder. He unstrapped
himself, he felt so tired. He yearned for cool air, if he opened his helmet just a little to... He blinked and looked
at his oxygen gauge, it was in the red. He felt dizzy and nauseous. Up ahead
was the Lander, there were two of them. He blinked again dispelling the blurred
image. He realised he was experiencing CO2 poisoning. With one last effort, he
fell out of the Rover, grabbing the onboard camera and stumbled towards the
amber coloured oasis. The space between him and the Lander yawned wide, he
willed himself onward as his head throbbed in pain.
Reached out his hand felt the smooth metal of the
steps and he hauled himself up, his hand found the latch, through the blurred
blindness and waves of nausea. Pushing it open he fell in and pushed it shut
behind him. His weakening hand found the oxygen tap and turned it. A hissing
sound began to build as the vacuum was filled. Unclasping the helmet he lay on
the floor as he drank in the life giving oxygen. He gave a prayer of thanks but
on the periphery of his hearing he heard the tapping of tiny objects peppering
the hull of the lander. With an effort he hauled himself up to look through the
viewport and with a shiver of fear realised the dust cloud was now wreathing
all around. Emerging from the dust cloud, the husk of Carr dragged itself
toward the steps.
To be continued
Good stuff Rob......
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