Moondust was no ally to the criminal. Clinging to his suit and buggy, it was a physical record of transgression. The fine regolith would expose his unauthorised trip onto the surface immediately. Worse still, with the powder kicked up behind him in two long arcs falling strangely slowly, his exact path was obvious. He’d probably already been spotted. To Ty Jackson it didn’t matter, he was finally having fun on what was supposed to be a vacation.
The colour-drained plains stretched out in every direction to the horizon. Hills and craters swept past as the buggy jostled and swerved. Speeding across the dunes, the freedom was electrifying. Everything up here was so slow, like wading through waist-deep water. It was liberating to be moving with such speed, there was almost an illusion of wind in his hair. He had spent a week in a hole in the ground they called an apartment. Wandering colour coded corridors, sharing transport with Lunars, living in slow motion. There were sights and landmarks to see of course, but he’d done all that within the first few hours. Rows of cloned buildings, modern art and weak alcohol, there was only so much of The Moon to see from the safe side of an airlock.
All the while a gorgeous, brand new high-speed buggy sat in his personal garage. State of the Art in all aspects it rivalled military tech. Stored at the docks, she awaited her maiden voyage. This test of patience had beaten him, and with the right bribe on the gates, he was through the airlock and in vacuum.
He was out here with purpose, his (again bribed) ‘friend’ at the University of Luna’s seismology department had sent him the perfect data. Seemingly the Universe was making up for his week of boredom by throwing a small meteorite into the ground only six kilometres from the city. With this pace, he had a 20-minute lead on anyone sent after it. Glancing at a readout on the Buggy’s screen the coordinates he was sent were only 340 metres away now. He eagerly pressed down the throttle.
Rattling beside him in the passenger seat was a basic portable material analyser. Once he had the rock, he’d run it through the machine. If it was relatively worthless, he would toss it back onto the ground. But if there were some precious atoms hiding in it, someone at the University would have to explain the missing sample.
It was late morning; just like it was yesterday; The Sun and Earth were close in the sky, with only a thin crescent of the latter visible. Ty could only see Ocean, presumably the Pacific. Whilst it was his first time on The Moon (or Luna as they insisted), he had seen Earth from orbit before. He and his parents had been among the first to visit the civilian orbital stations. Crowds would flock to the viewing galleries to gawp and point. Giggling and grinning as they stared at a glorified map. They’d be there for hours, finally leave, then return the next day to do the exact same thing – with the exact same view. Ty struggled to rationalise why he should be thrilled to be so massively separated from everything good in his life. The supposed sense of wonder was as flaccid now as it was then. The blue marble glimmered in the heavens, Ty focussed on the readout.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The distance fell to double digits, and then he saw it. The buggy bounced and jolted as he brought it to a halt. Completely unfamiliar with manoeuvring in the environment, he over-shot considerably. Giddy, he jumped down from his seat and awkwardly waddled to the crater. Walking had been somewhat easy back in the city, once he got his head around the Grip. Out here, hopping and side-stepping his way to his trophy, he was getting what he came all this way for: the true, classic lunar experience. He plodded up to the sizable impact crater, rays of debris spread out from the dent like a paint splatter. In the centre, a black irregular rock slightly smaller than his fist. The clock ticking in the back of his mind started ticking louder.
His suit was too restrictive to allow him to just bend down. He fought against the thick padding, spending seconds doing nothing. Frustrated, he fell to his knees and snatched the meteorite before gracelessly rising to his feet. He instinctively went to pat away the dust covering his knees and elbows before the urgency and thought of his vanishing lead returned to him. Hurrying back to the buggy he anxiously scanned the horizon, there was nothing but ashy dunes.
He placed the rock into the analyser and pressed a button. He wasn’t exactly versed in the equipment, but it seemed to be doing what he wanted. A stream of numbers, words and acronyms he didn’t understand began to pour over the machine’s small screen. Turning his head as much as the suit would allow for a final sanity check, he was satisfied he was alone. His eyes fixed onto the machine’s readout…
The buggy was sophisticated. Unbeknownst to Ty several cameras had been recording every angle of his expedition since he powered the vehicle on. One camera was focussed on him now, brow furrowed, concentrating hard on the makeup of his prize. Mounted onto the passenger seat it faced Ty head-on as he studied the machine. Behind him, the empty Lunar expanse. It was just that for half a minute, then the camera noticed something else, a disturbance on the horizon. The ink-black of the void seemed to periodically pierce the grey of the lunar scene. The protrusion growing with each cycle. This continued, Ty’s expression didn’t change. As the glitch progressed, more and more grey pixels switched to black then back to grey. Soon a revelation became obvious, something was getting closer.
It gained shape. Some kind of figure. Becoming visible against the dunes and then disappearing again into the dark. It grew further, its form sharpening until it became recognisable.
It was a person.
The silhouette of a person. No large circular head from a space helmet, no thick padding from an environment suit. It was the shadow of a naked human being. Its approach didn’t slow, launching itself back upwards with its legs every time it landed. It, no, she, was seconds away now. Her arms gracefully rising and falling at her sides as she propelled herself onwards. She had no colour or depth – a void in the shape of a woman. Ty was clueless, as still as he had been for the last few minutes. He never saw it coming. As she arrived – planting her foot one last time. Elegantly flipping herself upside down. One leg neatly tucked under her, the other pointing towards the stars. As she seized Ty around the neck and wrenched him out of frame.
He reappeared in another camera’s view, flailing. Blood and oxygen spurting from his throat. He tumbled across the ground, kicking up dust in futile desperation. He bounced twice, before his lifeless body rolled through the regolith, and came to a stop.