Actually the long awaited day is finally here. The day Alpha and I are supposed to explore the moon. Tonight, I will join Neil Armstrong and others on the list of people who have ever stepped on this natural satellite. How will I see earth from the moon? Will it be shining light to the moon as the moon does? Oh that I will be able to see it. Will a rocket crush on us while on the moon?
Since, Alpha is not home at the time as he might have joined one of the fighting clubs, I decide to try on the suit and see if I can fly. I had found a way to stop uncle from reading through my thoughts and memories. All our missions are safe now. The book that the stranger gave unto me and he took, I just found it left on one of the uncles studies. In it is where I found the method that will help me keep him away from my memories and thoughts. Though it were a strenuous task. My unle was upset with me for what I had done but it was irreversible. But this never guarantees safety as his instincts never lied.
I open the backpack and begin to admire the suit which is packed in a transparent pack. I put my hands into the backpack to take it from the bag. Suddenly, the door is flung open violently. I begin humming a tune as I try to pretend I was doing nothing. I turn slowly my stiffened neck to see who is there. It's uncle he seems confused. But I have already done a mistake. I'm sitting on the bed something that uncle never likes at all. He always says bedrooms are for the night only. During the day no one should be found on the bed. Especially sitting and idling like what I'm doing now.
"What shall we do?" My thoughts ask. I have no answer.
I have grown numb. Even the tune can't clearly come out. I lie on the bed breathing heavily. He doesn't move nor blink. His irises can be seen rushing from left to right. He holds his waist and looks up. He points his index finger at me, clicks loudly and then leaves disappointed.
"Did he see what I was doing? Hope not so. But he installed secret cameras here as Alpha told me. Oh I'm not safe. Why didn't that come into mind earlier?" I think as i pick a small book and walk out of the house to one of the trees in our compound, to seek shade from the scorching afternoon's sun.
I'm so dissolved in the story that I couldn't recognize Alpha's presence. I'm brought back to this world by his push that makes me hit my head on my knees.
"What is this? Which game is this?" I ask.
Alpha just watches me. With his look, I can realize that something is wrong. He seems to be upset with me.
"What did I do?" I ask myself.
"What have you done bro? What is always wrong with your curiosity? Why does it always come at the wrong time?" he asks angrily.
"Why I'm I not understand you? What's wrong?"
"Why did you give my father the suit? You have to toke it before the night comes, er else, your chance will vanish forever. Just like that," he says as he walks away.
I remember the words of the stranger, "Don't let curiosity take over you!" Every time I'm curious I've always landed in to problems. Including today. I have to get the suit as Alpha had ordered. He helped me during the project but now he seems not interested in aiding me. Even before I walk to the house, Uncle comes out with the backpack.
"Arthur, is this what you were hiding? When will you stop being childlike? Remember that everything you bring into this house, you have to tell me about it. I don't like children who are never transparent. Hiding things from parents is not for you good kids but for crooked kids. Ensure you keep my word.Also don't take each and every gift the magician gives you. I don't want you to get trapped into his career and damage the status of Our Origin," he says as he hands the backpack to me.
His words "Status of our Origin" echo through my mind as I try to find out where did I last spot the words. Now the more I try to remember, the more I forget. I begin to hate myself. "Maybe I had spotted them somewhere in the head," I consort myself, as I joyously walk into the house, "The tonight mission is gonna end up in a success."
*
The night is here. Just minutes before the last quarter rushes up the hills of the east, Alpha tells me it is time to go. He walks to one of the windows. I suppose this will be our door tonight. He switches off the lights as I still lie on the bed.
" Put on your suit now," he whispers.
I hurriedly put on the suit with enthusiasm, as I try hard not to make noise.I follow Alpha as we jump through the window carefully to avoid falling with a thud which will alarm our parents and also Tobby who is lying in the grass.
As soon as we are out there's no second to waste. I feel my feet leaving the ground. I'm in the air now. I can't still believe my eyes till we are observing trees from above. From a distance I can see the tall buildings of our town which have been lit with the golden yellow lights.
"So wonderful! Do you like it?" I ask.
"I'm used to it. Do you have any idea on how many times have I been in the air? Guess what! I like the view," he says as he fires up.
We start moving faster. I can't see the images clearly now. Breathing becomes harder as we improve in altitude. I think the air is tinier up here and the chill is killing. Were it not for the suit I would be frozen. But I'm still, my head is not covered. My eyeballs seem not to be moving at ease. I try to say a word but it's too late my tongue is already frozen.
I can here Alpha's faint sound. He is asking why I did not put the mask on the head. I was just curious. I wanted to see things as they are. No glasses no mask on the face. All I wanted was to feel the chill like Alpha who has no suit.
Suddenly I feel me becoming warmer. I have no difficulty in breathing. I open my eyes only to find out my head has been masked. My eyes are seeing translucent things.I can feel the heat increase. I think we are approaching the ozone. Alpha increases the speed we are traveling at marvelous speed that I can't see anything.
"If we go slow here we are going to be choked by the ions produced here. You and I will get stuck. Remember I use particles for propulsion and not fuel. We have to increase our speed to double of that of rockets or else we shall find ourselves stuck in the earth orbiting it. Just close your eyes, " he says as he continues firing up.
I don't know how it happened but I can feel some repulsion in my suit." Fueling, "my suit announces.
In minutes we are past the vast mesosphere into the ionosphere. Here the struggle begins. Due to the high ionization effects, we find a hard time moving. We roll moving from side to side. I open my eyes and see the sun that I thought had set. It's just there. I wish to see it with my own eyes and not inside the mask.
"Don't," Alpha yells breathing faster, "Your brain is going to be damaged. You aren't shelled."
I try to open my mouth to say a word but it can't. The ionization has caused the suit to malfunction. The speed that we were moving in has been checked thoroughly. I can see things clearly. But I'm in air, all I can see is the stars. I look at the constellations to find if I can see any but they've all changed.
"Next fire! We are out of the zone. The troublesome zone," he says finally relieved.
My heart wishes Kacey was here with us. If she were, she would have enjoyed the journey more. Her ability to do faster calculations would have told us how much time we have spend. And her ability to figure out future energy patterns would have helped us to predict the landing on the moon. Our success depends Alpha's calculations. But Alpha uses his rays to detect the angle that the object in space is found. If we are hit by solar wind then we will be stuck here.
We approach a satellite on the way. I thought that this thing is small but I was wrong. Now I can see it is bigger than me or even our car. The massive solar panels form a wing like structure. My curiosity tells me to At least touch it and even push it away. If I do that I might find myself moving back as it moves forward. I lift my hand to try. Alpha moves towards me and catches my hand tightly that I can't even move on inch.
"This curiosity of yours is something I hate so much. It always comes at the wrong time. Are you still a baby?" he asks annoyed.
"I'm sorry. Forgive me, I don't know what is always in me!" I plead.He freezes my suit. The hand is still raised and I can't even move my legs. I can't see anything but numbers passing through my glasses.
"Why does he always punish me?" I ask myself as I feel rotating then my legs hit something hard. My vision is restored as the suit is unfrozen. From the look of things, we are on the moon. Ready to explore this big rock which moves across our sky every night. I take my phone out to take a selfie. This is for memories of having stepped here. I want to post it but there's no internet connection.