Moon Dog

Sector 99 | Lunar Surface | October 2022

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Commander Luna Riggs, and her co-pilot, Orion, a Red Golden Retriever, were taking turns putting this theory to the test.

Stationed in the top secret territory of Sector 99, a heavily cratered region bordering the dark side of the moon, they were enjoying a much needed break from ten straight hours of testing the alien properties of lunar rocks, and lunar soil for NASA’s extra terrestrial medicinal program.

Surrounded by a trove of experimental equipment, and their fully encapsulated and pressurized rover, Ryker, Riggs was screaming and singing her favorite song at the top of her lungs, while Orion barked and howled at the stars. After two long minutes, Riggs turned their communication links back on, and spoke with a sore throat.

“Could you hear me, Orion? I was singing your favorite song, Who Let The Dogs Out!”

A soft computerized voice, with a hint of a Boston accent spoke into her ear.

“Negative, Commander. Complete silence. What about you? Could you hear me howling?”

“Negative. All I could hear was my own tone-deficient voice. I guess it’s a good thing I became an astronaut, instead of pursuing my childhood dream of becoming a singer. I don’t believe Simon would have agreed to vote me through.”

“I disagree, Commander. Simon would have definitely given you the golden buzzer.”

Riggs laughed and blushed from her best friend’s kindness and unconditional love.

“Thank you, Orion. It’s good to know I can always count on your support.”

“I am your number one fan, Commander.”

Riggs wished she could run her nails through his thick, copper fur, and give him belly rubs and butt scratches until her arms went numb, but they had an important mission to complete, which unfortunately meant that all massages had to wait.

Another voice suddenly crackled through Luna’s communication link.

“Break time is over, Commander. The next shuttle back to Earth leaves in two hours. All of your rock and soil samples need to be ready for transport, and on that ship before departure. Riggs, you have been late for your last two drop offs. A third will result in you, and Orion’s immediate removal from Sector 99, and return back to Earth. Over and out.”

General Kaipo’s stern voice rattled her bones, as the connection to her communication link clicked off, thrusting her back into the envelop of deep silence. He was the Chief of Space Operations for the U.S Space Force, and had been for the past three years. To hear that voice come through was extremely peculiar, because he was stationed at the Pentagon, and rarely communicated with active astronauts. Riggs knew the implications. This was her last chance.

Luna could see the sweltering curiosity in Orion’s face. The pair had worked closely together for the last five years, growing an impenetrable bond of love and loyalty. This connection allowed Orion to always know when Luna was in distress. Luna also knew that Orion was not privy to high level communications. His communication was linked to Luna’s, and Luna’s only. He may be a highly skilled Space Force Operator, but Commander Riggs was still his handler.

“It was just base command, Orion. Nothing to worry about,” she knew Orion could always sense her tension, so she did her best to keep her voice stoic, “but we should get back to work."

“Roger that, Commander.”

Orion turned from Riggs and set out in a path to the east, to find viable sample sites for Riggs to dig. As he paced away from her, she marveled at his suit.

Orion was outfitted with one of NASA’s newest, and most expensive, technologically advanced space suits. It had been engineered by the Survivalist Program for Advanced Canine Exploration, (S.P.A.C.E), for the remarkable dogs who had become eligible for space exploration under the command of General Kaipo. He was a career military man who was single-handedly responsible for the training of over fifty, decorated, military war dogs who achieved incredible accolades during their tours of service. Numerous studies continued to show, and prove that the heightened senses of dogs, actually made them a perfectly engineered space explorer. Miraculously, their increased sense of smell, sight and hearing, allowed them to pinpoint precise locations of concentrated alien chemicals and properties, more accurately than any machine. NASA scientists could then experiment on those samples, and study the mysteries behind the origins of space.

In his first year as Chief of Space Operations, had initiated the combined efforts of NASA, Space Force and S.P.A.C.E, the same organization where Riggs created a name for herself with her engineering skills, to come together and create a one-of-a-kind canine suit.

The suit was strategically designed to comfortably fit four legs and paws, with a highly-flexible tail extension, and two catheter systems which would allow the dog to immediately release its movements into external bags that its handler could easily remove. The helmet was engineered in a Mesocephalic shape, to fit the intermediate head length of the dog. The interior of the helmet was kept at a comfortable seventy degrees, and had a simple water infiltration system; a thin tube that was connected to a rear molar, which would allow water to flow into the side of the dog’s mouth, where it could then be easily swallowed.

The most impressive feature of the suit, were the highly-classified nodules and receptors built into the helmet’s ceiling, which connected to the dog’s skull, allowing the animal to verbally communicate its thoughts and responses to it’s handler. The nodules inside of the helmet connected to a series of sensitive brain implants that were surgically installed upon successful completion of the dog’s space training.

Commander Riggs was one of the original scientists at S.P.A.C.E, and was responsible for the suit’s birth. After many gruesome years of failure and disappointment, she had finally been the one to engineer viable brain implants and helmet receptors that could allow the dog to communicate in a series of programmed, human languages. Orion’s computerized voice had also been programmed by Riggs. It was a small gift she given to herself that would constantly allow her to be reminded her of her hometown of Boston, when staring out into the infinite vastness of space. After seven years of meticulously working closely with Orion and Kaipo, Orion had become the first dog to successfully operate the suit. Her galactic breakthrough granted her the honor, and acceptance into NASA’s astronaut program.

Commander Riggs returned to the interior of Ryker, to restored power back to the portable digging equipment she had set up beside the rover. As she engaged the generator’s power switch, heavy LED flood lights erupted around her, illuminating the cratered surface, showcasing the intricate details of the moon’s ancient history. Clusters of newly dug holes added to the web of natural craters, which gave the enormous rock an inquisitive touch of human ingenuity.

Stepping out of the rover, a broken communication struggled to come through.

“Commander, —iggs. This is Comm—der, Neil. We have confirmation of an incoming me—eor strike in sec— 99. You and Orion must vacate that se—tor immed—iately. The strike is proj—ed to hit the surface in the next ——.”

Static.

Even though the beginning of the communication was broken and hard to make out, Riggs understood enough. An incoming meteor strike was about to land in their specified sector of the moon. Unfortunately, she was unclear of how much time they had to vacate the area, and make it back to the moon base before they came under siege from the deep space bombardment.

Static rang in her ear, indicating that the connection was dead. This struck her as strange, because the only way her communication line to the moon base could have died, would be the destruction of the moon base itself. The communication links were integrated within the base’s infrastructure, which meant that if the base was destroyed, or suffered some type of catastrophic loss of power, then all communications would also be severed.

It wasn’t the smartest idea, but it was old technology. Sector 99’s base was outdated and rugged because it was one of the moon’s original bases — which had always been kept a secret from society. It also meant that any and all communication with Earth had also been severed. All transmissions came through the moon base, and if the base had been destroyed, Riggs would have no way of communicating with NASA, or the Pentagon to request help. The only open line of communication she had, was with Orion. The communication lines inside of their two suits worked on an independent system that did not require a connection of power from the moon base to operate.

Then she felt the quake.

Deep vibrations shuttered through the moon, rattling the drilling equipment with so much force that the steel drills toppled over, and all of the electronic computing systems were jostled free from their housings, and began floating away from the sheer force.

Then she saw it.

Black smoke was pluming in the direction of Sector 99’s moon base. She feared the worst, yet refused to believe it, but she was a highly educated engineer and astronaut, which meant that she could not ignore the truth. With her communication link dead, and smoke rising from the east, she knew that the moon base had either been destroyed or severely compromised. They had clearly miscalculated the location of the meteorite strike.

Orion’s voice echoed in a panicked tone throughout her helmet.

“Commander! The moon is quaking off the scales. I can hear explosions coming from the east, and I can smell smoke. I think something happened at at the base. Something bad.”

“Get back to the rover, Orion! We must return to the base to look for survivors, if there are any, and try to restore the communication links.”

“Copy that, Commander. On my way back now. Get that engine primed and running.”

“It will be ready. Now hurry, and leave behind any unsecured samples. We can come back for them later.”

Riggs began the priming sequence for Ryker’s duel, hydrogen fuel-cell, electric motors, as the interior air pressurized around her. While power began flowing though the rover, a series of highly sophisticated LED lights boomed to life, inside and outside of the rover. The lunar surface was illuminated in a brilliant white and blue hue, and the interior of the rover was enveloped in a deep sapphire hue, as six computer monitors and screens, connected to external cameras, came online.

Off in the distance, she could see Orion trudging his way back towards the rover, pulling a hefty aluminum cart, filled with lunar samples. The cart was two meters wide, and two meters long, and it was equipped with three, ten-inch thick, titanium and zinc woven tires. At his pace, she calculated that he was at least fifty yards from the rover. He needed to move faster.

Riggs was about to relay that message, when a cluster of dwarfed meteorites began impacting their dig site. The initial collisions landed just beyond their digging equipment, and caused low-scale quakes to reverberate through the lunar surface. This did not alarm her at first, because these small-sized meteorites were a common occurrence in Sector 99, and they were not falling in the direction of Orion’s path back to the rover — but the moon base had been hit, and was damaged to the extent that it had compromised communications. That did frighten her, because that meant larger, more devastating meteorites were also impacting the surface, and it was only a matter of time before they started falling on top of her and Orion.

Her fear came true when a twenty-foot-wide meteorite crashed into the center of their dig site. The industrial, and extremely expensive drills exploded upon impact, as well as ground penetrating computers, and a treasure trove of unsecured lunar samples, and sent shredded pieces of iron, metal, aluminum, and rock, cascading into space.

The crane of the drill splintered from its mechanical housing and slammed into the rover’s windshield. Luckily, the high-temperature quartz glass resisted the impact, and refused to splinter. Ryker was truly a remarkable machine.

Riggs looked to the east to get eyes on Orion, and was relieved to see him approaching Ryker’s starboard hatch. She de-pressurized the cabin, then opened the hatch door so he could enter. She allowed Orion to jump into the cabin first, then she quickly jumped out, and began loading the rover with the samples he had brought back. She knew they were in danger, but she also knew she couldn’t leave Sector 99 empty handed.

With the samples loaded, Riggs jumped back into the rover, and once again initiated the pressurization procedure. Once the cabin was pressurized, and filtering clean, breathable air, she removed her helmet, as well as Orion’s, and gave the dog a well deserved head scratch.

“Good job, Orion. You are the bravest dog in the galaxy.”

Riggs knew that without Orion’s helmet, the dog could not respond back to her, but she didn’t care. She knew that Orion could still understand her, and she could tell by his facial expressions, and satisfied moans, that he had known he’d done a good job.

“Time to go home, bud.”

Riggs strapped Orion, and herself into their seats, and began initiating their extraction. Luna gripped the two sensitive joysticks, and began rolling the bus-sized rover away from the meteorite storm, placing them on a trajectory that would lead them back to the moon base. At maximum speed, calculated that it would take them just under an hour to return to the base.

Was that enough time?

As the six, thirty-inch, independent, elastic and aluminum tires fiercely rotated in silence, Ryker swiftly maneuvered in and out of craters, over sharp-edged boulders, and shattered digging equipment, all while being bombarded with meteorite strikes.

The joysticks jerked and wrenched, as she struggled to maintain her grip on the controls. The meteorite storm had increased in size and ferocity ever since they began their retreat. Luna was wearing down the muscles in her arms trying to weave in between the massive meteorites that were now falling around them.

A building-sized meteorite suddenly rocketed into the lunar surface, about a mile out in front of them, completely destroying their path back to base. She made the split second decision to venture off course, and seek shelter inside of crater 781. It was a ten-mile wide, and five mile deep crater that slept in the shadows, just beyond the border of Sector 99 — on the dark side of the moon. It was their only chance of survival. With the added depth, they could more easily evade the falling meteorites, which would buy them enough time to weather the storm unscathed.

Luna reverted all of the available energy flowing inside of the ship, to focus on boosting the hydrogen fuel cells. Their maximum speed increased, and they sped towards crater 781, avoiding the rocky projectiles with ease.

The cliff edge entrance to the crater smiled and bared its black teeth at Luna, as the LED lights on Ryker revealed its archaic hiding place. The rover then aggressively tumbled over the steep edge, taking some of the teeth with it. Ryker was airborne for what felt like the longest minute of Luna’s life, before slamming back down hard into the lose, rocky soil of the crater.

Skidding uncontrollably, Luna’s right shoulder became dislocated while she attempted to prevent the rover from toppling over. Right before they were about to barrel into the crater’s floor, Luna gave one final tug to the left, stabilizing Ryker. The rover bottomed out, and settled to a smooth glide. She glanced over to Orion, to make sure he had not suffered any injuries. He barked three times, which was his communication signal for, all good.

Using her left arm and hand to apply the rover’s brakes, Ryker came to a screeching halt in the center of the crater. Black dust clouds consumed them, blotting out the light from the external lights, moon light, and star light — so she focused on what she could hear. The sounds of meteorite impacts had fallen silent. A quick wave of relief washed over her, and she used the moment to acquire Orion’s assistance in setting her dislocated shoulder.

She unbuckled his safety harness, and used her left hand to lift both of their helmets from their secured wall mounts. She first donned her own, then donned Orion’s, instantly activating the thought translator.

“Sorry about the bumpy ride, bud. Are you sure you didn’t suffer any injuries?”

“No apology necessary, Commander. That was actually quite exciting. No. No injuries were sustained during our evacuation. I am good to go.”

“Excellent, then you can help me re-set my shoulder. I dislocated it trying to keep the joysticks steady. Can you retrieve the arm brace kit from the medical closet?”

“On it, Commander.”

Orion leaped from his co-pilot seat, and trotted across the cockpit to the medical locker that was forged into the port side of the wall. He used his fangs to grip the handle, and yanked the door open. Inside the locker, he found what he was looking for. A leather and steel arm band, which was engineered specifically to combat dislocations. The steel band would latch around the victim’s wrist, while someone tugged on the leather bands, setting the dislocation back into place.

Luna latched the steel band around her right wrist, then motioned for Orion to grip the leather bands in his jaws.

“On the count of three, I need you to pull back on the bands as hard as you can. Do you understand?”

“I understand, Commander.”

Luna took a moment to compose herself, then began the countdown.

“1…2…3…”

On cue, Orion yanked all of his weight backwards. A sharp, snapping sound echoed through the cockpit, indicating that Luna’s shoulder had been popped back into place. The pain seared through her arm, but she remained calm, cool and collected. She knew that Orion reacted via emotions, so she needed to remain stoic, for Orion’s sake, because she needed him to also stay calm, cool and collected.

“Good work, Orion. Thank you.”

“Just doing my duty, Commander.”

Luna wanted to again give Orion all of the belly rubs in the world, but that would involve removing his suit, so she settled on removing his helmet, and gave him a wondrous ear scratch.

Their brief moment of calmness was cut short due to an enormous cluster of fiery meteorites that began impacting the floor of crater 781 with a vengeance. The moon quaked and moaned in agony from the brutal bombardment. Luna strapped Orion back into his seat, and locked in his helmet once again. This next part was going to get dicey, which meant she needed to be able to communicate with him. She sat back down into her pilot’s chair, strapped in, gripped her palms tightly around the joysticks, and shoved them forward—engaging the rover’s fuel cells.

Ryker shot forward, like a wild cat pouncing on its prey. The wheels hummed a tune of increasing speed, as they roared through the valley floor. About a mile away, Luna spotted the other side of crater 781, and its steep incline. She knew that if they were going to make it up and over, she would once again have to reroute all of the ship’s excess flowing energy to the fuel cells.

She initiated the transfer of power, and Ryker immediately responded with a heavy whine, which slammed her and Orion into the cushioned backs of their seats, as they climbed to maximum speed. Using all of her strength to keep the rover steady, and on course, the largest meteorite she had ever seen illuminated her view with hell-fire and smoke.

She marveled at the sight for too long, becoming deaf to Orion’s voice that kept reverberating inside of her helmet.

“Commander! We must change course. That meteorite is going to crash into the crater’s ridge line. We need to find another route out of here.”

“Commander?”

“Commander, can you hear me?”

“Luna!”

Her eyes were fixed, and reflected the raining rocks of fire. Her spell was finally broken when large chunks of the enormous meteorite began splintering away, which sent a wave of sonic booms through the crater.

“Commander, Riggs! We must change course, now!”

This time Luna heard Orion’s voice, and agreed.

Fighting off the grip of her shock, Luna started to scan the horizon for a viable alternate route. While she tried to study the landscape, the monstrous meteorite crashed into the lunar surface. A unique avalanche of rocks and fire began consuming their path, along with any hope of survival. Cold tears stained her reddening cheeks, at the idea that she, and Orion were both about to experience an extraordinary death.

“Commander, Riggs! Starboard side. A quarter mile out. Do you see it?”

Luna struggled to fight back the tears which were pooling, causing her vision to blur, but she remembered her astronaut training, and was able to control the flow of any further tears. Then she saw what Orion had spotted. She banked the rover hard right, and raced towards where the base of the crater met the crater's wall.

Ryker fought hard to maintain stability against the weakening crater floor. Behind them, the entire moon appeared to be collapsing in on itself. Luna felt one of the rover’s rear axles snap, which caused one of the wheels to snap free. She continued to push forward.

The cave entrance, which had to have opened during the barrage of meteorites, welcomed them with safety, and impenetrable darkness. Ryker barreled through, but not without one final love tap from the quaking moon. As they crossed over the threshold, Ryker was jostled upwards, and the high-powered roof LED lamp was shattered upon impact. Unsure of the alien terrain inside of the cave, Luna applied the emergency brakes. Coming to an aggressive stop, her eyes fixed on the screen of a rear, external camera, which showed the cave’s entrance filling with lunar boulders and fiery rocks. They were alive, but they were also trapped inside. Silence once again enveloped them.

Luna used one of the computer systems in the pilot’s dashboard to asses Ryker’s battery life, which controlled the cabin’s pressurization and oxygen flow, as well as the status of the fuel cells. If the cells were damaged, they had no means of repairing them, and they would no longer have a form of protective transportation. In Sector 99, that combination of bad luck meant certain death.

She ran a quick vehicle health report, and luckily for her an Orion, the fuel cell’s were not damaged. However, the four lithium batteries were draining fast. This was also a recipe for death. The computer finished its test, and calculated that they had enough oxygen for three hours, which was enough time for them to return to the base, where they could seek the refuge of other stationed rovers — but to do that, they needed to find a way out of the cave.

“Are you okay, Orion?”

“All good, Commander. A little soreness in my right leg, but it's nothing I can’t shake off.”

“I owe you an apology, Orion. I became fixated on that meteorite, which could have gotten us both killed. If it wasn’t for you, and your sharp eyes, I would never have spotted the cave entrance. You saved us, Orion. If we make it back to Earth, I’m pretty sure there’s a medal or two coming your way.”

“I was just doing my duty, Commander.”

Luna smiled, but Orion could tell she was fighting back tears and pain. Sensing her distress, he tried to focus her attention back on the mission. He needed his handler to be lucid.

“Do you have any idea what cave system we are in?”

“Negative. Sector 99 has had no documented cave systems since its inception in 1982. The meteorite shower must have opened it. I will run a navigational scan, and try to map out the tunnels ahead.”

Luna engaged one of the dashboard computers with a precise combination of flipped switches, pulled levers, and pressed buttons. A brilliant, green hologram map of the tunnel in front of them suddenly illuminated on the massive glass windshield. Luna and Orion watched as it grew in size and vastness. Ryker was equipped with the latest lunar-geographical, ground penetrating radar software, which allowed it to precisely map out subterranean landscapes.

“What is that?” Orion asked.

Luna looked closely and noticed the anomaly on the glowing map. The harder she looked, the less sense it made.

“It looks like water,” Luna said.

“More like a waterfall,” Orion replied, “and it’s only a half mile from our position. If we follow the bends in this tunnel, we should be able to reach the falls in a few minutes.

“How can that be possible? Water droplets, and molecules have been found all over the moon. But cascading, running water? That’s impossible. Right?

“Only one way to find out, Commander.”

Luna nodded, and pushed the joysticks forward, following the LED headlights, and mapped layout of the tunnel ahead. She decided to keep their depleting oxygen levels to herself. No need to add any extra stress to Orion. She depended on his senses, which could not be hindered by panic.

After five long minutes of tight maneuvering, they finally reached the impossible waterfall. Luna and Orion both gawked at the incredible sight. They were the first living beings from Earth to witness running water on the moon. Luna knew the proportions of this discovery, so she pressed the record button on the front external camera.

“Congratulations, Orion. Today we make history.”

“It was a team effort, Commander," Orion paused in amazement, "These colors are incredible. I have never seen anything like it.”

“Colors? There are no colors, Orion. Your eyes must be playing tricks on you.”

“Negative, Commander. My eyes are good, and they can see just fine. Look there, in the center of the mist. Do you see the arch? It's layered in vibrant patterns of twisting, and blending colors.”

“It sounds like you’re describing a rainbow. But how is that possible? All dogs are color blind and can only see inverted hues. You must be hallucinating somehow. Perhaps a lack of clean oxygen, causing your brain to short-circuit.”

“Negative, Commander. My suit has not dipped into the danger zone, my oxygen intake is good.”

“The water is ghost white, Orion, and the rainbow shimmering through the mist is a mix of inverted hues of gray, black and white.”

“Where’s your calendar, Commander. The one with the abstract paintings in each month. I will show you which colors I can see.”

Luna had no mental strength left to argue, so she did what she was asked, and handed Orion the calendar. The dog instantly started placing his paw on a wide range of reds, blues, yellows, oranges, greens and purples.

“You can see all those colors in that rainbow?”

“Yes, Commander. You can’t?”

“Negative. I don’t understand.”

She checked her own oxygen levels to make sure she wasn’t the one hallucinating. They were good, she had not been depriving her brain of any vital chemicals. So what was happening?

Another quake vibrated through the cave, causing chunks of the tunnel’s ceiling to crash to the floor, sealing off any attempt to return the way they came.

“We can’t stay here, Commander. We have to keep moving.”

“I know, Orion. But where? We cannot go backwards, and there are no other tunnels that intersect this one.”

“Then we move forward.”

“Through the falls?”

“It’s our only option, Commander.”

Large slabs of lunar rock continued to crumble around them, forcing Luna to make the decision to enter the waterfall. Heavy streams of lunar water hammered down on the windshield, and roof of the rover. A series of sharp electrical snaps echoed throughout the cabin, as all of the remaining camera screens, as well as navigational computer screens went black.

Unlike waterfalls on Earth, the depth of this one was extremely alien. Luna kept a mental note of how far the rover trekked since they entered. In her mind, she had counted to fifteen, which meant that they had advanced fifteen yards. As doubt began to invade her mind, a sliver of bright white light penetrated through the cascading waters. She looked over to her co-pilot, and noticed that his eyes were wide, but not with horror, they were wide with amazement. She focused her own eyes back on the gray waters and aimed the rover towards the sliver of light.

The brilliance enveloped the rover as it rolled through. Luna was momentarily blinded, and lost control over the joysticks. A moment later, the light faded, and Luna’s eyes gazed upon another impossibility. The new landscape stretched on for miles in all directions. Gray mountains roiled to the east, a dense, gray forest swayed in the west, a winding, gray river cut through the valley to the north, and thousands of grayish, alien creatures occupied the spaces in between, as well as the gray clouds in the gray sky.

Her emotions wrestled with each other as confusion and depression tugged her in opposite directions. They had just been transported to a new world of inverted colors through a cave in the moon. The true beauty of what she was seeing seemed to evaded her. Fear started to set in, so she did the only thing she could. She put Ryker in reverse and began to retreat.

The rear end of the rover slammed into a solid piece of stone. The waterfall had disappeared.

“Where the hell are we?” Luna said aloud.

“I don’t know, Commander, but it's beautiful.”