Last Days On The Moon

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Screams were what John heard on August 15th, 1977. John and the handful of those cleared to be present in mission control. It was the final mission to the moon, and when it was over, only a handful of people would ever know what went on that fateful day. An even smaller number of people would be aware of the truth about what John and his crew suffered or why John was the only one to make his way home.

Commander John Davidson, Major Steven Lockhart, and Captain William Brand launched into space on a Soyuz Rocket. Their departure was from an undisclosed Island in the middle of the Pacific. It was the first joint space mission by Russia and the United States and would be the last until they began working together on the international space station. The director of NASA, The Joint Chiefs, a handful of the flight crew, a small complement of staff at Mission Control, and President Jimmy Carter were the only ones in the loop.

At 75 hours into the mission, Commander Davidson and his crew began preparations for their moon landing. They were going to touch down in the Apollo Basin. The Apollo Basin was where the last Apollo mission landed. It was the location of the Apollo 18 mission before NASA lost contact.

"Alright, boys, get your game faces on. We're about to touch down," announced Commander Davidson. "Three, two, one."

The landing was smooth enough that the crew felt only a slight jolt as the Apollo capsule touched the surface. They all expected to feel something as the craft was a redesigned version of Apollo 17 and carried fifty percent more fuel. The crew practiced in the simulator using calculations for additional weight when they landed. NASA warned that the actual landing would be rougher.

"Shit, we made it down without crashing," sighed Major Lockhart.

"Houston, we're all alive and well and have touched down inside the Apollo Basin," Commander Davidson reported to mission control.

The three astronauts could see the other lander in the Apollo Basin. As Captain Brand kept a watchful eye on things, Commander Davidson tried radioing the team. Major Lockhart began unpacking the first of its' kind cargo aboard a lunar lander, semi-automatic rifle systems developed for the space program.

"Are we sure these things will even work out here?" asked the Major.

"We tested them in the sims," replied Captain Brand. "The suppression systems help control the recoil, and the discharge had little effect in zero gravity."

"I still wouldn't go out for a stroll without the EVAPS and weight boots," the Commander commented.

The Extra Vehicular Assisstted Packs were brand new. They were upgrades with twice the thrust capacity, twice the fuel, and far more precision controls than before. While wearing one, a pilot could fly around space at thirty to fifty feet above the lunar surface if needed and perform basic evasive maneuvers.

"Gentlemen," the Commander called for his teammates' attention. "It's been one hour since we landed. We're within a visual range of 18. All our hails have gone unanswered, and there's been no sign of movement."

The three men sat in a circle, looking at one another. The team knew there would be a moment when they would have to make the final decision of whether to put their boots on the ground or not. That moment was now. Commander Davidson knew the minute they left Earth what his decision would be once they made it to the moon. Now, he needed to hear from his men.

"Major?"

"When else might I get to step foot on the moon? I'm in," replied Major Lockhart.

Commander Davidson turned to one of his oldest and most trusted friends. He had flown with William "Billy" Brand for 20 years.

"Don't even ask. After all these years, you know my answer," Captain Brand announced.

"Sorry, partner. After hearing the mission tapes from 18, I had to be sure," explained the Commander. "Pass them out, Steve."

Major Lockhart passed each man a weapon. Once they were sure they knew how to operate the newer model M-4, they opened up the hatch for the first time and climbed down. Each one of them had something in common. Today, they were stepping on grounds they could only imagine as children. They were on the moon.

"Com check," Commander Davidson said over their helmet radios.

"Clear!" an excited Steve yelled.

Billy Brand stood looking at the Earth in the distance. Captain Brands' attention to the mission was distracted. As the wide-eyed Captain stood in awe of where they were, he felt Commander Davidson pull on his space suit. Captain Brand turned to his superior, admitting his attention had wavered.

"Sorry, boss. Loud and clear," Brand finally answered.

The Major adjusted a monitor attached to his left arm. He looked to his left and motioned to the rest of the team. The last broadcast by the members of 18 came from coordinates programmed into the sonar compass attached to his sleeve.

"This way, it's two-hundred meters ahead."

The three started toward the coordinates given by NASA. Steve focused on navigating them toward the coordinates while the Commander and Billy reminisced about an old combat mission before their NASA days. The three men approached in a triangle formation, closing the distance quickly.

"It's just ahead," Steve told them, carefully watching the digital display.

At 150 meters, the three of them stopped in their tracks. In front of them stood a ridgeline that stretched several miles in either direction. The stunning revelation before them was an opening in the ridgeline. Each man was as stunned as the next as they stood there staring at the opening, an opening surrounded by faint blue lights.

"Tell me I'm not the only one seeing this," said the Major.

"Steve, if you're seeing the impossible, you're not alone," replied Commander Davidson.

A trembling Captain Brand asked, "What do we do?"

It was what they were there for, to investigate the area where the mission 18s crew disappeared. As Commander Davidson moved forward, Major Lockhart and Captain Brand followed suit. The closer they got to the opening, the more each man's heart raced. In all the years of space exploration and satellite imaging on the moon, this was the first time human eyes found the opening they were approaching.

"Um, boss, where did the lights come from?"

"I don't know, kid."

Major Lockhart cleared his throat before entertaining what he was thinking. While John's answer was honest, they weren't put there by the Apollo missions. The three were getting closer to the opening with each footstep. As they got within 30 feet of the cave, they were surrounded by darkness as the sun's light disappeared across the ridgeline.

"Lights on," ordered Commander Davidson. "I'll take point. Kid, you take the rear."

John Davidson entered the mysterious opening with the Major behind him and Captain Brand following at the rear. The tactical light attached to his modified M-4 lit up the tunnel they walked into and alerted John and his team of its' size. John started the log recorder system in his suit, verbally recording everything he could see.

"We are now entering the Apollo Basin cave system. The cave opening, framed in metal, is surrounded by a pale blue system of lights identifying its location. The tunnel entrance is precise, too precise to be a natural phenomenon. There are 90-degree angles, and the bottom of the tunnel is smooth."

"Are you going to do that to the end?" asked Major Lockhart.

John looked over his shoulder, "Yes."

The Major just nodded and gave the thumbs-up sign. It was protocol for NASA missions and would serve as a record for future missions if they made it home. Hearing him was distracting. Even Major Lockhart knew that this was an epic discovery. The tunnel system was too precise to have been done by hand. There was power, somewhere, giving them some additional lighting.

They traveled into the moon, below its surface, nearly 1000 feet past the opening. At 1,000 feet into the passage, John held his fist in the air, signaling to stop. There was a shadow in the distance. He aimed the light on his rifle toward the ground, realizing he was looking at the flight suit of a NASA astronaut. The white spacesuit was covered in blood-red splatters.

"Forwards," he told his team.

"We're nearly 1,100 feet into the moon. There's something on the floor of the tunnel. It's consistent with a NASA flight suit. We're approaching the suit now," he spoke into the recorder. "Kid, come up here and investigate."

John and Steve split apart as Captain Brand came up behind them and knelt down to examine the suit. He shined a light on the spacesuit and the helmet, seeing a hole in the protective shielding. Poking around, he recognized the name tag from the astronauts' suit.

"Um...boss. It was Jim Harper," Brand told the Commander.

John turned and looked down at what was Lt. Commander Jim Harper. Harper was a friend. The two were competitors during his first year at NASA. They were neck in neck for the commanders' chair on the first of the secret Apollo missions. Harper beat him out for the 18th mission.

"Shit, I was at his house the week before he reported for final prep. It was the week before they launched."

"I'm sorry about your friend," sighed Major Lockhart. "Maybe we should keep moving. These suits only have 12 hours of oxygen, even with the modified capacities."

"Right," said John. "Come on, kid. Let's keep going."

"After finding the remains of Lt. Commander Harper, my team is proceeding inside the moon to look for further evidence of what happened to mission 18. If Jim Harper made it here, then the rest of his team may have been with him. For the record, Jim Harper's helmet appears to have suffered from a violent incursion, origin unknown."

They steered their way into the next section of the tunnels, only to find it looked like the last. As they walked along the cavern walls, Captain Brand at the rear, Commander Davidson, and Major Lockhard began questioning how far they should go.

"We're at 75% O2 capacity, John. Don't you think we should consider turning back?"

"We'll turn back at 55%. So far, we haven't found any clue as to what happened here. Don't you want to know?"

"I get it," answered Major Lockhart. "I would want answers too. What about the kid? What about your family? We owe it to ourselves to make it off this rock. We owe it to the kid not to push this hard enough we get ourselves killed," explained Lockhart.

John knew he was right. Billy wasn't cleared for what the Major and he was; he didn't know the full scope of why they sent the investigative mission to the moon. There was plenty of additional O2 in the lander. If they did run low, they could harvest supplies from the 18 capsule. There was no reason to push past 55%.

"30 minutes more, and we're out of here," John announced. "Agreed?"

Stephen Lockhart wasn't one to mix words. This was the right call to make. They could get their butts back aboard the lander and plan their next move. If they needed more time, they could radio NASA and get back to the orbiter.

"Hell yes," answered Stephen.

"Billy, how about you?"

Commander Davidson and Major Lockhart stopped in their tracks when they didn't hear Captain Brand's response.

"Um...John. He's gone," announced the Major after turning to his rear.

John turned and looked behind them at the desolate passageway. There was nothing behind them but the emptiness of the tunnel they worked their way through. Their third man was gone.

"Where the fuck did he go?"

Major Lockhart pulled on the line connecting him to Captain Brand. Their buddy line was coming along far too fast, even in limited gravity. Stephen started to panic. He hadn't known William Brand long, but he lived by the belief that if you wore the same uniform, you were family.

Suddenly, an ominous shrieking sound filled the cavern pathway. Major Lockhard could feel the buddy line being pulled away from him. He struggled not to get tangled up in the line as he reached for the Commander's help.

John dove to catch Stephen Lockhart's hand as the shrieking sound of a thousand creatures filled their eardrums. They were being pulled, faster and faster, towards something ominous, something horrific.

"Cut the line!" yelled John.

"I'm trying!" screamed Stephen as he struggled to get his tool out of his belt.

As the shrieking in the tunnels grew to a pitch that made John's ears bleed, he locked eyes with Stephen and screamed, "Cut the line, cut the line, cut the line!"

Deep beneath the surface of the Apollo Basin, Captain William "Billy" Brand opened his eyes to a brilliant, bright light shining down on him. His breathing was labored, and he was cold, colder than he'd ever been. Billy looked side to side, finding his hands restrained to a steely table. There were straps across his elbows, his knees, and his ankles. He could barely move.

Billy called out for help, his cries echoing into the open cavern and tunnels beneath the moon's surface. He struggled to get free but didn't have the strength to pull free of his bindings.

"Help me!" he shrieked into the darkness beyond the bright light.

A weird, creepy sound in the distance alerted Billy. He wasn't alone. He looked around, the bright light blinding him. Billy couldn't see anything beyond the light. It was all darkness.

He stuttered, "Who...who's...who's there?"

When the light dimmed and he could see who was in the room with him, Billy shrieked, screaming inaudibly for help, as the four distorted images above him looked down with their cold, black eyes.