Luna's Edge drifted silently through space, orbiting just above the Moon's pockmarked surface. In the dim light of the cockpit, Alex watched the landscape scroll by below. Miles of desolate gray stretched on, but his gaze kept returning to the small dot on the screen in front of him—the coordinates that had drawn them here, the spot the agency was convinced hid the ancient machinery deep within the Moon.
"Dr. Patel," Colonel Torres said, keeping his tone steady but tense, "begin descent protocols. Let's hope that intel was worth something."
Raj nodded, typing commands into the controls. "Dropping into lower orbit now. We're moving slow and steady to minimize system strain."
The ship began its descent, inch by inch, as the cratered landscape expanded beneath them. The Moon, Alex thought, looked peaceful from a distance, like an untouched desert. But he knew better now. Somewhere down there, below the lifeless rock, was the machinery that kept the Moon in orbit. And somewhere, it had started to break down.
Minutes passed in tense silence. The ship shuddered occasionally as the onboard computers fought to keep them aligned with the entry coordinates, which grew larger and more ominous with every second.
"Mia," Colonel Torres broke the silence, "are we getting any interference?"
Her hands flew over the controls. "A lot of interference," she replied, her voice tight. "Electromagnetic fields are fluctuating all over the place. I don't know how, but something down there is disrupting our systems. We're at the edge of control, Colonel."
"Can we hold it?" he asked, though he looked ready for a negative answer.
"We're holding for now," Mia answered, though her fingers never left the console. "But any more interference, and I can't guarantee our trajectory."
The ship's lights dimmed, and a low hum pulsed through the cabin, as if the whole vessel were straining against an invisible force. Alex felt a chill as he glanced at Elena; he could see his own worry mirrored in her eyes.
"Elena, any chance it's atmospheric? Any scans?" Alex asked, grasping for an explanation.
"Nothing so far," she said quietly. "But we're dealing with unknowns, Alex. Something's here, and it's active."
Another pulse of interference rocked the ship, harder this time. The lights flickered, and alarms flashed briefly on Mia's console. Raj worked furiously to stabilize the descent as the ship bucked and twisted.
"Stay with it, Raj," Colonel Torres called, his hands steady on the armrests, bracing against the turbulent pull.
"I'm trying," Raj replied through clenched teeth. "But this is like threading a needle in a hurricane. If we don't slow down…"
The Colonel made the call. "Ease off on the thrusters. We can't risk burnout before we're even down there."
Mia nodded, and Alex felt the subtle shift in pressure as the engines scaled back. The downside was clear—it would take them longer to descend, and every second, the strain on the ship's power grew heavier.
They drifted down, the target coordinates looming closer, until suddenly, the interference hit an unbearable peak. The ship shuddered violently, throwing Alex hard against his harness. The lights sputtered and went out, leaving them in utter darkness.
"Emergency lights!" Torres barked, his voice the only thing holding them together as the ship buckled under the pressure. "Raj, do we have control?"
There was a pause, filled only by the faint, metallic groan of the hull under stress. Then, Raj's voice, barely above a whisper, broke through. "Yes, but... just barely."
The emergency lights flickered on, casting an eerie red glow across the cabin. Outside the viewport, the Moon loomed larger than ever, close enough that Alex could make out details on the rocky terrain below.
"We're within 300 meters of the target coordinates," Raj announced, his voice steadier now but still tense. "Final descent."
Colonel Torres looked around at each of them. "This is it. Brace yourselves. Raj, bring us in as close as you can."
The interference reached a crescendo as they broke through the last few meters of descent, the ship groaning and shuddering. Then, with a bone-rattling thud, Luna's Edge touched down. Silence fell, broken only by the slow whir of the engines powering down.
Alex let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. They had made it. They were alive. But as he looked out across the bleak landscape and felt the uneasy quiet that seemed to pulse through the walls of the ship, he knew that the real challenge was only beginning.
Colonel Torres unstrapped himself, his gaze hard and focused. "Alright, everyone, suit up. It's time to find that entrance."
Outside, in the thin lunar dust, something waited.