Moon Eyes

Moon Eyes

Mark gathered his equipment excitedly into.his leather bag, while his partner,  Andrea, grabbed the laptops, the telescope and other equipment and loaded the van.

Both Mark and Andrea were grad students who had apparently stumbled upon something significant during their tracking duties at the observatory.  Unfortunately, when they reported the data to their supervisor, their conclusions were dismissed and they were reassigned to another project.  Mark was ready to let it go, but Andrea was far more headstrong and enlisted his help

The TV was still on and and the news anchor was still talking with picture of the sun in the background and a countdown was showing below it.

"We are now 7 hours away from this once in a lifetime, remarkable, celestial event and people are already gathering outside to watch with the special glasses.  Some have been having parties for this event.  Joining me from the Sears tower, is our correspondent, Amy Kieffer.  Amy, how is it going over there?'

The blonde girl flashed a wide grin for the camera and waved her hand behind her.  "We are doing great over here, Tom, Thanx!  As you can see behind me,  there is live rave music, there is dancing here on the roof and below is the dancing continues in the streets!  All of this is in anticipation of what's being called the ‘Moon Eyes’ event happening tonight in the sky!".

The news anchor came back and brought in an astronomer from Berkeley to explain to the public what was happening.   The professor explained that the eclipse would happen in approximately 7 hours or less and during the event, we would also see not just one but two comets that were passing close to the Earth and that the trajectories of the comets would make it appear as if they were coming from opposite directions from each other.  It was predicted that at the height of the event,.the moon would look like it has eyes.

Mark finally turned off the TV and then headed to the van with Andrea who was waiting for him.

They backed out of the driveway and headed down the road.  Andrea nervously watched the screen of her laptop while trying to ignore the motion of the van and tree line whizzing by her.

Mark tried to make conversation with her while driving down the dirt road to meet with other stargazers 

"What's the latest?"

"So far, no change in trajectories" she replied staring intently on the screen.

"Hmmmm... Okay... maybe....", Mark trailed off.

"Yeah we can hope, " she countered. "But, I know what I saw when I read those charts.  You saw them."

Mark sighed..."yeah I saw them and I agree.  There's just no way this is natural, not even by a long shot.". He shook his head and switched on the radio.

The two of them continued in silence while the radio continued to blare out the latest regarding the "Moon Eyes" phenomenon. 

“We now go to our correspondent Phil on the street reporting on the activity there. Phil, how's it going?’

‘Thank you Tom. We're here with a group of people who have a different take on Moon Eyes.  This group here calls.themselves The Astrologers Consortium and they have a lot to say about it.  I'm speaking with Lisa Nielson from the group right now.  Lisa, what can you tell us?.”

Lisa spoke up with a crackling voice.  “Well, as you know, an eclipse usually signifies a time of great change for everyone. When it happens, many things are revealed.that were previously hidden.  Depending upon the sign you were born in, it could mean that your business life would change, your health could change or your relationships could change.

Now the “eyes” is give this a more intense meaning.  It's more like a warning, or an alert, gives us a since.of urgency to our actions.”

“So”, Phil responded. “Whatever changes are coming,.the eyes are saying that it's time to change right now and we’d better be ready?”

“Yes, that's exactly right.  The stars and the planets all speak to us and the Moon Eyes, is clearly a sign that we need to be paying more attention”

“Very good, Ms.  Nielson. Thank you for speaking with us today”

“Thank you,” she replied.

Some hours later,  Andrea spoke up.  "Mark, the trajectories changed!"

"Uh oh"

A few minutes later,  the news anchor reported again on the issue

"This just in!  The two comets that were set to pass over the moon and form "Moon eyes" have changed their trajectories.  We have called in our astronomy correspondent in Berkeley again for  further information.  Doctor, what can you tell us?"

The professor leaned into his webcam and coughed a bit. 

"The comets' trajectories changing is nothing that's new.  As an object in space gets closer to a planetary body, it gets caught by the gravity of that body and since the comets are coming in between the Earth and the moon, they are being pulled by both bodies.causing a slight change in the pathways they take.” 

“So, you're saying that this is completely natural and nothing to be too concerned about “

The professor coughed again..”Well, I am saying that the change is caused by gravity interaction rather than by some artificial design.  I wouldn't say that it's not concerning in other ways.”

Andrea snorted in derision while the radio kept the interview going. "No, no no,.you dopes!  Don't you know?  Didn't you see the data?". She groaned.

"Andrea,  you know how it is. They say 'dont cause a panic'

"Yeah but you can't put your head in the sand or cover up something of this magnitude with a bag of kitty litter!  You know that these two comets did not change trajectories through some gravimetric interaction. Not like that and certainly not over a period of 4 or 5 years.   These "comets" had to be piloted or controlled in some way and  that change proves it"

The truck came to a stop in a local park where many people were gathered for the event with telescopes and laptops.

Mark and Andrea gathered their gear and found a spot for themselves.  They were greeted by the other skywatchers who were just as excited as those on the Sears tower.

Andrea held her tongue and continued her set up process, aligning the telescope to meet with the moon's position.

It was only 30 minutes before the eclipse and the moon eyes would appear.  Mark and Andrea and everyone else on the hill kept a close watch on the sky.

While this was happening, a news anchor reported that the two comets were changing trajectories again.  As soon as Andrea heard this , she muttered "hah! I knew it!". She was ready.  Her laptop was set to record everything as it happened.

Soon, the moon came into full view as it passed directly in between the sun and the Earth.   The stargazers on the hill all.held their collective breaths while the news anchor continued to provide commentary.

“The comets are approaching a point where they will be directly in front of the moon in ,just moments everyone!  Standby as keep monitoring…. 5….. 4……”

The crowd made a sharp inhale…

“3 …… 2……. wait…what happened?

“I knew it!”

Just at the last moment, the two comments disappeared from the screen…

“Where did they go?  What happened?”.

Suddenly there was a blinding flashlight of light in the sky and then the earth rocked and shook as the moon itself exploded sending debris everywhere and a cloud of dust that envelopes the entire planet.

There were no words spoken by the news anchor,  the revelers on the Sears tower or Mark and Andrea. To their credit,  Mark and Andrea were correct.  Sadly, their fate was sealed as was the rest of humanity.