by T.D. Green
Red Moon
The immediate area of barren landscape suddenly came to life as mild tremors began to stir the dust-coated ground. The tremors gradually grew in strength till the parched ground cracked open and from it there steadily rose a 12'x12' screen which activated the moment it became locked in position.
At the bottom left of the screen there was a recording date which read July 20th, 2057. To the bottom right of the screen was the present year of activation which read 2089.
A series of images appeared on the screen: a busy high street in daytime, a different high street at night, planes taking off from an airport runway, container ships at sea, a space station in geostationary orbit above a blue-green planet, and finally a Spaceliner in flight. The screen went blank for a long moment. Words then appeared: Brit-Am Technology and Development, UK Headquarters. Those words faded out and again the screen went blank.
The face of a ageing, silver-haired man sitting alone at a desk in an office loomed up on the screen. The man, wearing a worried expression, sat silent as he stared straight ahead. Some seconds passed before he spoke.
"I am Professor Benjamin Stoll, Head of Biotechnology here at Brit-Am's UK Headquarters in London. Or rather, I was ..." He let go a heavy sigh before going on. "I am, or should I say was, the person solely responsible for the Earth's destruction and all life forms which inhabited this world. This planet was home to many diverse life forms of both water and land, and with homo sapiens being the dominant species we used our ever-increasing intelligence to discover new ways to benefit mankind. Unfortunately, intelligence proved to be our downfall. What you see all around you is the end result of an experiment, my experiment, which went tragically wrong."
Professor Stoll was correct in his prophecy, for the Earth was indeed a dead planet now. Having no atmosphere to protect it, this world was baked by day and frozen by night. Oceans had been transformed to deserts. There was not a single trace of evidence remaining to show that any form of life once existed or thrived here, but for the screen itself.
"In a moment you'll see footage of what actually occurred that destroyed our world, an event which unfortunately, we had no way of knowing would happen. It was my theory, my experiment to terraform the Moon which led to our destruction that fateful lunar day. I alone played God ... and lost everything to eternity." As tears began to roll down Professor Stoll's cheeks, the screen slowly faded to black.
Some moments later the screen showed footage of a Brit-Am Spaceliner as it slowly descended and docked at Terminal 1. of the sprawling Brit-Am Lunar Complex.
Now the screen showed the interior of Brit-Am's Lunar Control Centre at the heart of the complex, a huge glass-domed room filled with computer work stations and operators collating data from them. Technicians entered and exited. Standing alone in front of a large main screen, was a man in his mid-thirties.
"Main screen, Control Centre Chief Mark Downey ... visual on Detonation Zone," he commanded. Instantly the Detonation Zone appeared on the main screen, a vast area of the lunar surface dotted with large boreholes to relieve the pressure of escaping gases from a subterranean explosion. "Main screen, full audio on." He fixed his gaze on the countdown showing on the bottom right of main screen - just thirty seconds to go.
Duly he continued. "For those of you asleep, now's the time to wake up, history is about to be made!" His words echoed throughout the entire complex. "Five ... four ... three ... two ..." Lunar Control Centre disappeared from view as the screen abruptly went blank.
Some seconds later the screen showed Professor Stoll again, sitting alone at his desk in his office. "The footage you have just seen was the beginning of the end for our world," he began sombrely, "for we did not know that deep below the lunar surface there was a crystal compound that would ignite instantaneously on detonation and create an ongoing chain reaction that was unstoppable." He took a moment's pause to clear his throat before continuing. "Worse still was the fact that the resulting plasma cloud which formed at the very instant of detonation was highly corrosive and ignited on immediate contact with oxygen, destroying all it came in contact with, incinerating everything in its path to no more than rust-red ash ... including the lunar surface." He fell silent for some seconds. "Spaceliner Alpha managed to escape the destruction and safely return to Earth, bringing with it some footage of that disastrous event ... which will be shown to you now." And the screen slowly faded to black.
Now the screen showed video footage taken from Spaceliner Alpha as it slowly ascended from Terminal 1. of the Brit-Am Lunar Complex. Far away to the distance a huge red-coloured plasma cloud was slowly engulfing the Lunar Complex as it crept onward, growing ever larger as it destroyed each building and each piece of lunar machinery and vehicles in turn. Huge fireballs erupted as the plasma cloud corroded each structure and ignited the oxygen within. The plasma cloud was an insatiable, unstoppable force which was growing in magnitude with every second that passed. Duly the screen faded to black.
Professor Stoll's office appeared on the screen again, with him standing in front of his desk now. "As you have just witnessed, my experiment, which I was proud to name 'Project Eden', could have benefited future generations of humans if it had been successful in the onset of terraforming the Moon, as our Earth was becoming overpopulated. Sadly this was not to be. And now shall never be. The price of my folly was the total destruction of this world, and the annihilation of all living things upon it." Clearly he's too distraught to continue and as he begins to sob uncontrollably, the screen rapidly fades to black.
Professor Stoll appears on screen once again, still stood in front of his desk in his office. He's obviously had time to compose himself and looks much calmer and in control of his emotions. "As an Anglo-American company researching and developing new technology, we were leaders in our field and were responsible for putting an end to famine with our genetically improved crops, developing vaccines that rid humanity of its most dangerous viruses, and ultimately we would have had the capability to travel amongst the stars in relative safety." He paused as he sat on the edge of the desk.
"The plasma cloud, carried by the solar wind, is on a heading for Earth. We have been tracking its journey, and estimate its arrival to our atmosphere will be less than 24-hours from now. This pre-recorded message along with other data relevant to our world and its inhabitants, is for the benefit of any intelligent life forms who may visit this planet at some point in the future. The data capsule will emerge in five seconds."
After five seconds have passed a sealed data capsule is ejected to the ground from the bottom centre of the screen's base.
Professor Stoll continues. "What you are watching right now is but one of ten strategically placed nuclear-powered, approach-activated screens. We humans believed we were not alone in the universe, alas we will never know the answer to that question." He takes a moment to consider an afterthought, then resumes. "Of course, this may be an accidental activation caused by a meteorite which impacted nearby ..." The screen faded to black for the final time.
Four space-suited humanoid beings turned to face one another and began a brief conversation amongst themselves, each gesturing in turn with their slender arms and elongated fingers. Soon their discussion came to an end as an agreement was made, whereupon one of the aliens went to pick up the data capsule, carefully examined it, appeared satisfied, then brought the capsule back to the waiting trio. Now the four alien beings made their way back to a nearby spacecraft, and went aboard, the hatch closing behind them.
The alien spacecraft's underside lit up brightly as its drive was engaged and it slowly began to ascend straight up. Abruptly the spacecraft came to a stop and hovered motionless against the starlit blackness. The bright light from the craft's underside gradually changed to a pale-blue colour. Some seconds passed by. And then with instantaneous acceleration, the alien spacecraft sped away heavenward, in the direction of a rust-red Moon.
End of stories. Hope you've enjoyed these tales. Many thanks.
