To the Moon

Marco wiped the sweat off his forehead, shifting his stuffy, space suit. He felt like a marshmallow, walking around the Space Center. 

“Marco!” Captain Ed called. 

“Yes, Captain?” Marco put on his serious face. 

“I want you and Simon in the shuttle in thirty minutes.”

“Yes, Captain. Have you seen Simon at all today?”

“Actually, come to thi—“

The ear-bursting speakers echoed through the Space Center. “We need all space attendants on the main deck. This is extremely urgent. I repeat, this is extremely urgent.”

Marco’s stomach churned as he hurried through lengthy hallways. His heavy boots stomped against the floor. 

“Marco!”

Marco halted, scanning the area. “Hello?”

“Marco, over here!” Simon’s pale face peeked out from behind a door. “Hurry. In here.”

Glancing around, Marco slipped into the dark room with Simon. “What is it?”

“We’ve got a problem.”

“Yeah?” 

“Someone’s in the shuttle.”

Marco’s mouth dropped. “Our shuttle, Irwin? But, why?”

“I don’t know, but we have to get in there and stop whoever’s there.”

“Why? Won’t the—“ 

“No! You don’t understand! If we don’t get up to the moon in two days, the world will be in danger.”

“What do you mean?” Marco squinted, huffing from his suit.

Simon sighed. “No one except me knows.” He glanced around the room, making sure no one was listening. “Dr. Obra Don is trying to steal the moon crystal. I know, because I was once one of his assistants. Now I have the date of when he’s stealing every planet’s crystal.”

“And what happens if he gets all the crystals?”

“Then,” Simon began, his eyes glazed over. “He’s one step closer to making an army of his own.

Marco took a breath. “Alright, if you hadn’t been my best, life-long friend, I would’ve laughed. But I believe you. Let’s go stop Dr. Obra Don.”

Once they got outside, bangs on the glass windows from watch towers echoed.

They began to climb up the ladder up to the shuttle door, when it began to tip.

Marco’s stomach screamed and his eyes bulged. His sweaty hands were glued to the metal bars. 

“Watch out!” Called Simon, who was at least eleven feet higher up than him. 

A handful of nuts and bolts dropped beside Marco.

“Seequa! Seequa!” 

“Seequa?” Simon asked. 

A wide-eyed, green alien peeped out of the shuttle door.

“Seequa, it is you! And you brought your brother? Man, last time I saw you guys, you were only younglings.”

Marco’s wobbly, noodle legs lifted him up a few more steps until he reached the door. Heaving a sigh, Simon helped him into the shuttle. 

“Marco, I’d like to introduce you to my alien friend, Seequa, and her brother, Samm.”

“Sammmm,” Seequa corrected him.

Simon chuckled. 

“So, explain this to me,” Marco started. “Your alien friends came to help us get to the moon?”

Simon rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, not what I was expecting…. Why did you guys come?”

“Seequa ah too. Meeeson biver too,” Seequa explained.

Marco’s head wandered in what she could be saying. “What did she say?”

“She said, that—“

“Noaaaa, noaaa, noaeeea! Mazwak Mazwak! See toomy!” Samm yelled. 

Simon’s eyebrows climbed. “Oh, that’s awful! Terrible!”

Marco looked out the shuttle’s window, seeing a group of men running towards them. “Uhh, Simon, let’s get to the moon before we get fired.”

“What do you mean, Marco?” He glanced out the shuttle door. “Oh! Seequa, I promise we’ll save your village, but for now, we’ve gotta get up to the moon!” 

Marco and Simon plopped into their seats, flipping switches and pressing buttons.

“Ready for launch?” Simon asked.

Marco waited to check the weather radar. A white streak flashed around a green screen, scanning for storms. “A thunderstorm’s brewing,” he said. “And it’s bound to start raining in three minutes!”

“It doesn’t matter. We’ve got to go.” Simon pulled a lever, and the thrusters sprayed out smoke as they lifted up into the air. “Launch is a go.”

Seequa squealed, gripping Samm with her six arms. 

POP! BOOM! POP! 

The thruster flickered with fire. 

They flipped more switches. 

“There’s not enough gas in the thrusters to power us to space. We’re going to explode!”

“Seequa wassa oonie! Lon Lon!” Seequa yelled.

Simon gasped. “WHAT? Seequa! Don’t! It’ll—“ 

Everything flashed white, then all went dark. 

Marco’s eyes fluttered open. He lay on an eight-foot long bent stip of metal. He breathed in the stuffy air of his helmet.

“Simon?” 

No answer.

“Seequa?”

No answer.

“Samm?” 

Samm popped out from a large, metal garbage can. “Seequa oon seep!”

Marco shook his head. He blinked his droopy eyes. “I have no idea what you’re saying, so don’t act like I do.”

Samm smacked himself in the face, and toppled out of the garbage can. He jerked Marco up from the strip of metal he lay on.

“Man, for a little alien, you’ve got some strength!”

Samm glared at him. “Twot twot,” he grumbled.

Marco followed him outside of the metal hut, and gasped. Dozens of metal huts were lined up. Chipped wood tables held space junk.

“Samm, is this a...marketplace?”

“Sammmm,” he corrected. “Eeo! Mar...Kent...pace.”

Marco grinned at his effort of trying to say the word.

“Comadoes.” Samm held out a soda bottle lid.

“Is this your money?”

Cocking his head, Samm pointed to a table full of nuts and bolts. He then pointed to his mouth. 

“Oh…” Marco swallowed. “You want me to eat it?”

Samm pulled him over to the table. “Toon da comadoes eckenough?”

An aqua-blue alien appeared from his hut. “Toon, eeo.” He handed Samm a handful of nuts and bolts.

Samm exchanged it for two soda pop lids. “Mewa!”

“Mewaa nook!”

Marco, confused, followed Samm through the market. “So, Sammmm, what else do you guys eat?”

Samm held a finger up. “Vrano.” He then pulled a toilet paper tube from his shiny, jet-black suit. “Vrano. Yum yum!”

Marco forced a smile out. “Interesting…”

Samm handed him the toilet paper, and pointed to his mouth. “Yum yum.”

Marco bit his lip. This was definitely an interesting day.