Angry Moon

Chapter 39b

     “The shuttle has completed its de-orbit burn,” said the commentator’s voice on the tablet.

     The screen that Margaret and the rest of her family was watching was completely filled with a telescope image of the shuttle. A tiny white triangle against the backdrop of the moon's hurtling clouds, which now looked even more terrifying now that there was a familiar object to put them into perspective. It looked at though the slightest eddy from those supersonic gales would throw the shuttle to destruction and then scour the wreckage to oblivion with the vast load of sharp dust it was carrying.

     The shuttle, which was travelling backwards in order to point its engines in the right direction, then began to slowly turn, bringing its nose to point forward. “Pilot Benny Svanberg is performing the yaw manoeuvre,” said the invisible commentator. No-one else in the studio was speaking, and neither was anyone in the tiny prefabricated house. All across the country, all across the world, the majority of the human race was glued to the nearest device capable of displaying a television picture. All but essential work had stopped as employees bowed to the inevitable and allowed their employees to return home to watch the coverage with their families.

     Crowds were gathered in the centres of every great city, staring up at the huge television screens that had been mounted on the tallest buildings. In many cities, the crowds were standing on sand and dried out scraps of seaweed, a reminder of why the shuttle was there and what would happen if they failed in their mission. In London, where it was late in the evening, the lights were on in buildings whose lower storeys had, very recently, been twenty metres underwater. It was a statement of optimism and defiance, but few people had any illusions about how well normal life would be able to continue if the floods returned.

     The shuttle had been shining brilliantly in the sunlight, but then it abruptly darkened as it crossed the terminator and passed into the moon's shadow. It could still be seen, though, lit now by the reflected light of the Earth. The voice coming from the tablet commented on this in his hushed,  reverential voice. “Very soon now, the shuttle will be lost from sight altogether as it rounds the curve of the moon and passes behind it. The next time we see it, it will have hopefully accomplished its mission and will be returning, triumphant, to Earth. The entire human race must now be holding its breath, willing them on, and those who still believe in God will be praying for them, begging for Him to lend His assistance. There's certainly nothing that anyone else can do for them now. The brave crew of the shuttle Pluvier are on their own, with only their own courage and resourcefulness to rely on, and whether they succeed or fail their names will certainly be remembered for as long as human life continues. Eddie Nash, Susan Kendall, Benny Svanberg and Paul Lewis...”

     “How come dad gets mentioned last?” said Richard angrily.

     “For God’s sake, Richie!” said Cathy. “Don’t start that again!”

     “And golden boy Eddie gets mentioned first, of course...”

     Richard was deflecting, of course, Margaret knew. Trying to hide his fear by getting angry at something else. She reached out and took his hand. He instinctively snatched his hand back. It had been years since he'd held his mothers hand like that, but then he reached out again and took her hand in his. A moment later his wife took his other hand, Hazel took Margaret's other hand and Len took hers until they were all linked together, all drawing strength from the people on either side of them.

     On the tablet, standing on the makeshift table in front of them, the shuttle was now pointing nose forwards, but it was also growing shorter as the moon's surface curved away from the telescope in Australia that was taking the images. They were now seeing the shuttle's back end, the large nozzles of the now useless main engines pointing back at them, flanked on either side by the hastily replumbed manoeuvring engines, the only functioning engines the spacecraft now had. The shuttle’s underside them began to glow softly as it was heated by the friction of the outer fringes of the moon's atmosphere.