Moonliner: No Stone Unturned (17 page)

              “Yes,” Lennox answers; “sure.” 

They walk slowly back to Cedric’s building, talking about how green the summer is, enjoying their walk.  A mother skunk, followed by two her babies, waddles out of the end of a culvert that extends beneath the street.  It disappears into some bushes beside a Skytrain pillar.  The cool air is revitalizing the neighborhood from its heat exhaustion.

As they reach the building, Lennox decides not to go back inside, but instead to head home to make his dinner.

              “You have to send another message,” Lennox tells Cedric; “you know that don’t you?  The ball’s in your court on this one.”

              “I know,” Cedric answers; “I will,” he adds.  “I’ll beam it to you before you reach the moon.  Remember, all you have to do is simply hit repeat once when you get it, but make sure you do so on Moondock; it needs to be routed through their transmitter.  It’s time-delayed and ready,” he tells Lennox as he’s opening the door to his building.

              “Easy enough,” Lennox answers.  He gives Cedric a little wave to bid him a good night, then walks away.

Cedric sits alone in his apartment, again staring at the coin.  He sets it down and smiles.  At least it’s something to occupy his time and his mind.  Nikki would have enjoyed this.  He sees this as her last gift to him; a mindless little goose chase.  Thinking to himself, he shakes his head in disbelief.  If only he could tell her about the coin, show it to her, and get her take on it. 

A cool breeze blows in from the balcony. 

Moonliner
3:09

Lennox looks out of the window of his spacecraft as it orbits the moon.  As usual, he has the privilege of traveling onboard an executive shuttle, thus bypassing Earthport.  Executives dock on the lower ring of Moondock, typically the only place Lennox visits having little need for the more commercial main ring.  The lower ring is reserved for government officials, business travellers, and VIPs.

Moondock is comprised of five tori, unlike Earthport which is comprised of only three.

“Approaching Moondock,” an onboard announcement says.  “Prepare to dock in precisely ten minutes.”

Regardless how many times Lennox has visited the moon, each trip feels like the first.  There’s always a new angle, a different crater or some new perspective.  This trip is no exception.  His craft glides above the vast Orientale Basin.  He knows this from the digital readout built into his window, a feature common on executives. 

Shadows accentuate distant crater walls.  Lennox sees a flash from the surface of the moon.  It’s hard to tell if it’s a light, or simply light bouncing off silicon and aluminum oxides on the moon’s surface.  Then for the first time, Lennox sees a glow on the horizon.  It almost looks like an aurora and is accompanied by rays of light illuminating upward from behind it.  It’s a jaw dropping sight.

Subtle bursts of engine thrusts are heard as the craft makes minor orbital adjustments to ensure it is perfectly aligned for docking.  The sounds are normal but can take you by surprise after long periods of silent space travel.  They still make Lennox uneasy, as does docking in general.

A little digital blip sounds from Lennox’s pocket.  He pulls his blue-beam device out and takes a close look at its screen. 

              “Incoming message from Cedric,” It reads.

              “Just in time,” Lennox says to himself under his breath.

              “1 message received with attachment,” the device flashes a few times before fading away.

Lennox looks back out of his window.

Moonliner
3:10

Cedric sits back in his apartment, looking at his blue-beam, which reads, “message sent.”

              “Well that’s it,” Cedric says to himself; “that’s all I can do.”  He pours himself a drink and sits on his sofa. 

“Can I get some news?” he asks Phaedra.   

“Watch the
Oval Report
with Ryad Nighbar, Sunday nights at 9 PM Eastern on the Quasar Network – your choice for news and entertainment.

“Many residents are returning to their homes in and around Sacramento, where prolonged heavy storms caused a levee to rupture last week.  Flood water levels have fallen drastically over the past 48 hours, but thousands of homes were damaged,” a woman reports over the airwaves; “residents in eighty-three percent of the flooded areas have been given approval to return to their homes, but a ban remains on the use of water until further notice.  Dr. Olin J Whittington, head of Civil Engineering at California State University, Sacramento argues in today’s New York Times that rising sea levels have increased the stress on the levees, and that this is only the beginning.

“Can love be measured?  Researchers at Harvard University not only argue that it can, but through the analysis of neuron activity in brain impulses are creating a way to do so.  Their system, which they’ve termed the
quantification code
, effectively measures quantified variations in brain activity within individual subjects and can accurately discern for which person the subject harbors stronger feelings.”

The news continues but the clock on the wall has stopped.  Cedric knows better, however; he knows time itself has stopped.  Time is motion.  Hence, to stop motion is to stop time.  The clock signifies this and he somehow knows it. 

As he sits quietly on the sofa, a fog crawls into the room, enshrouding the floor; he can’t even see his own feet.  There’s a chill in the air and the room now feels dank.

Suddenly, images of scientific diagrams start appearing on the wall, drawing Cedric’s full attention.  He sees the moon, satellites, grid lines, waves, and flashing lasers all within the rapidly refreshing sequence of images.  It makes sense to him somehow, but only momentarily in flashes of brilliance.  

The images on the wall shift to the park, Lost Lagoon, and the bench on which Cedric and Nikki would frequently sit.  It’s a still image, but not sitting still.  It’s changing between seasons; time is lapsing.  Over and over again, the image rolls rapidly through the seasons before it abruptly fades into the wall, leaving Cedric staring.

He imagines the stone and it appears, projected onto the wall.  He’s astounded by this ability and decides to further test it.  He imagines a tranquil sunset, and there it is.  Personal images begin showing on the wall in rapid succession.  Cedric sits back, stares at the wall, and smiles widely.  For the first time ever he seems to be controlling the scenario; running the projector in the theater of his mind.  Positive images continue to flash in front of him.  He’s in a state of pure euphoria, or bliss.

“Wait,” he thinks, “If I can orchestrate my own reality…”

He ever so slowly turns his head to the right, to the other end of his sofa.  Sure enough, Nikki sits there smiling.  She turns her head to look at him, but again says nothing.  She just smiles while silently gazing into his eyes.  Cedric looks deeply into her eyes as well, and at her pretty face.

              “It’s really you,” he says softly.  She smiles. 

Cedric closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, knowing to control the moment.  He has to keep a clear mind if he wants a little more time with her.  Sensing that his zone has weakened, he opens his eyes again and looks back at Nikki.  She’s so beautiful, so relaxed.  He takes another deep breath, then extends his hand to her.  She reaches out to touch it.  Their hands meet across the sofa.  Cedric knows now that he’s deeper into the moment than ever, sitting next to Nikki, holding her hand.  He can even feel her baby soft fingers between his dry knuckles, but only for a moment.

From far away, Cedric can hear music; it’s that DP song everyone’s been playing all summer.  It gets louder.  Cedric looks at Nikki and they both smile, listening to DP and holding hands.

Nikki stands, still holding Cedric’s hand, then moves toward him.  She stands in front of him for a moment, then gently sits on his lap face to face with him, straddling him.  Just as her lips are about to touch his, a radio announcement is heard.

“That was the latest from Domesticated Primate off their 3rd release –
hieroglyphic.
Coming up we’ll play some DogBone for you within the hour, so hang tight

“Flybox will be at the Pleasure Dome on Friday August 30
th
and Saturday the 31
st
.  If you’re into them you might wanna get on your beam.  We’ve got a pair of tickets for the Friday show for caller 9 at DOT-5 Slide 34T.  C’mon, what’ve you got to lose?”

Eyes wide open, Cedric is now awake.  The radio continues to play but fades to background as he makes a vain attempt to get back to sleep, back into his dream.  He quickly realizes he can’t, so he grips a sofa pillow and throws it down on the floor. 

He gets up, walks to the window and takes a long look outside.

Moonliner
3:11

Lennox sits in a conference room on Moondock, bored stiff.  His meeting with the Lunar Council is already four hours in and they haven’t even come close to all of the topics on their checklist to discuss.  Among them, Nikki’s crash and measures to prevent further recurrences, which Lennox still hasn’t mentioned to Cedric but plans to when the moment is right.

The morning has been filled with a lot of idle blathering from various council members surrounding docking privileges and berthing fees for private craft.  Being there only to listen on behalf of the council to ensure that their actions are compliant with UN standards and international law, Lennox has no political or voting power with the body, but is well respected among them nevertheless.  His advice, legal or otherwise, is taken quite seriously among council members.