New Hope: Book 1
8

Ellie opened her eyes. Her headache was stronger than anything she’d ever felt before. It was as if someone had stabbed her skull with a blunt ice pick. Through here eye socket. Repeatedly. At least ten times.

At first, Ellie didn’t know where she was. She was looking at the stars. Am I at home? she wondered, but thinking was extremely difficult. She felt foggy. The memory of what had just happened was very blurry. These stars look different, they’re more transparent... Strange... Then it suddenly all came back to her and she was enlightened - literally and metaphorically. She remembered she was on the Moon. The previous events came back to her all at once, flooding her mind like a wave on a stormy sea - the burning light, the deafening screech, the severe headache...

Ellie flinched, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. She had to calm herself and slow her pounding heart. She felt a ringing in her ears, though she wasn’t sure what it was from. Was it the antigravitational orb, or the high blood pressure and pulsating vessels in her temples? It was like she had just run a marathon, but without stopping to rest, she raced on like the envoy Pheidippides, eager to deliver an important message. She sat up after a while and looked at her watch to see how much time had passed since her terrible encounter with the strange device.

“Oh no! It’s been over 7 hours since I left the landing pod!” she realized. I must have blacked out and laid here all this time! she thought. Ellie’s face turned white when she realized... My air supply must be running out! She looked at the oxygen indicator on her other wrist. Indeed, it was coming dangerously close to the red area, which meant Ellie didn’t have a moment to lose. She had to return to the pod.

She looked again at the spot where the hovering metallic artifact was just several hours ago, though it seemed like only minutes to her. Instead, she saw an inactive spherical object lying in the regolith. It was no longer hovering or giving off any light. Ellie carefully approached the orb. When she stood right next to it, the object still seemed dead, so she took a risk again and reached toward it slowly with one hand. She touched the orb slightly, first with the tip of her finger. Nothing. Strange, thought Ellie. She touched it with her whole hand, and then her other. When nothing happened, she picked it up and carefully placed it in the rover’s glove box. “Did I imagine it all or did it actually happen?” she wondered. It was high time to get back to Julius before she started to suffocate. Ellie checked the radio once more, just to make sure that the events of the last several hours weren’t imagined. “Maybe, now that this thing is inactive, we’ll finally be able to call for help?” she muttered to herself.

Yes! Once she switched the radio on, instead of the metallic jarring sound, Ellie heard a familiar static, and then Julius calling out to her.

“Ellie, can you hear me?” he asked. The dying hope in his voice was clearly audible.

He must be feeling awful! The interferences disappeared hours ago. He must have been trying to get a hold of me all that time! thought Ellie.

“Julius!” she called out. “I can hear you! The radio was switched off. You won’t believe what I found!”

“Jesus, Ellie, you’re alive!” Julius was ecstatic. “I don’t even know how long I’ve been trying to reach you! Since the disruptions stopped!”. The horrible screeching in the speakers just died suddenly. “Where have you been all this time?!” asked the captain.

“Are you okay? Everything good? Are you hurt? Where are you?” he fired his questions without letting Ellie get a word in edgewise.

“I’m okay. I think...” she paused. “I must have blacked out for some time, so I couldn’t respond. I think I’m good now, though,” she added. “I haven’t got much oxygen left. I have to get moving to get back to you!” Ellie hesitated whether to tell the captain about her near-mystical experience.

“What do you mean you blacked out?!” asked Julius fearing for her. “That’s the definition of NOT fine! And you’re telling me everything’s okay?! You don’t black out for no reason! What happened?” he asked. Ellie was not just his subordinate and someone he was responsible for as captain of the ship. She was also his longtime friend, who he also treated like the daughter he never had.

“I’ll tell you everything when I get back. I really must get moving - I’m running low on air and there’s still several miles ahead in difficult conditions. I’m cutting it close anyway, so I need to save as much of it as possible,” she said. “Don’t worry, really, I’m feeling good. You may think I lost my mind once you hear what I have to tell you, but physically, everything seems to be A-okay,” she added, smiling.

“Alright, I won’t keep you then. I just want to tell you that since you’ve been gone, as soon as the noise died, I contacted mission control,” said Julius. “They were thrilled to learn we were somewhat in one piece, to say the least.”

“Wonderful news!” Ellie rejoiced. “Will they manage to send someone to get us before we suffocate?”

“Better, Ellie!” Julius smiled broadly. “When they saw we vanished, they started trying to determine our position and contact us. They started immediate preparations to send a rescue mission to the wreckage - and that was when they assumed we were both killed upon impact. They didn’t know why we weren’t responding and they weren’t sure anyone survived until one of the satellites showed you leaving the landing pod hours ago,” he explained. “They figured we have a communications problem but when they had proof of life, preparations of the rescue mission sped up.” “You’ll be happy to know...” the captain paused, “The rescue rocket has already been launched and they’re coming our way. It will be above us within 60 hours. Then another 12 to change orbits and landing,” said Julius. “It’s safe to say we should be back on Earth at this time next week,” said Julius cheerfully.

“That’s extraordinary! I’m so happy! I was afraid that even if we managed to contact Earth, they’d need a lot more time to prepare another mission,” said Ellie, who was clearly touched, “I was afraid any rescue would come too late...”

“Everything will be alright. Hurry back,” said Julius.

“I’m on my way, old man,” she joked and then sat behind the wheel of the rover, turned on the engine, and set the course for the landing pod, bypassing the spot where the orb hovered before. She sped off at the highest possible safe speed over the rubble and rocks.

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