Black button on the moon
Kaa space suits balloon out from the control panel around you and your aunt. You improvise a flag from the only white peice of cloth you have with you. You open the exit hatch and step out on to the surface of the moon, waving your underwear on a pole. Awkwardly, it flies off and one of the armored beings makes an impressive low gravity leap and catches it. The being gives your whitey tighties a baffled look, shakes it head and tosses them to it's followers. It steps toward you for a closer look and then seems somehow to be startled.
He waves at you in a way that indicates for you to follow, and then the whole party turns and begins moon-jogging back across the sand toward the domes. They make better time than you, using their sticks (which turn out not be spears at all) as something like a cross between ski poles, hiking sticks, and pole vaults. The leader opens a hatch in the ground and beckons you inside, down a ladder and into a medium sized stone room. After the hatch is closed again, the armored figures start taking off their helmets and you are surprised to see that they are just as human as you are underneath. They seem to be just as surprised about you!
“We assumed that you would be Kaa, arriving as you did in a Kaa ship!” says their leader “But you crash landed so badly we had to come and investigate! Who are you? Are Earth people begining to space travel again?!” he seems very excited, and you explain who you are and how you came to be here.
They take you into a series of tunnels that connect to the farming domes you saw from space, and feed you a meal of rice and curry.
“My name is Hrishi” the man says “My grandmother and father were part of the research team working on the moon before the Kaa wars. During the wars, our people lost contact with Earth, and we have all been stranded here ever since. There were several dozen of us here originally, and now we have expanded to several hundred. We have had to increase our underground living space, and to dedicate to farming all of our above ground land, but we have survived so far. However, I fear that we have reached our limits here and can grow only a little further without threatening our survival.”
“Why don’t you go back to earth?” your aunt asks.
“Unfortunately, we cannot. We have maintained considerable technical expertise since the wars, but we do not have the tools or materials necessary to create a craft capable of entering the earth’s atmosphere without burning into a tiny cinder.”
“So- how do we get home again? Back to earth? Can you show us how to pilot the ship we came in?”
“Sadly, no. Your ship was damaged considerably when you landed here. If you wish to return to Earth, I am afraid your only hope is to visit the Kaa Space station that orbits the Earth and beg the Kaa there for a lift. I do not know what they will say. Maybe they will say no. The Kaa’s motivations are unpredictable at best.”
“How would we get to the Kaa station?”
“It would be dangerous” Hrishi admits “While we cannot land on Earth, we have built several very primitive crafts. And when I say primitive, I mean…very very primitive.” Everyone else laughs at this, although you cant see whats funny.
“Or of course, you could stay with us, if you are willing to do your shares of the work, of course.”
Do you want to risk flying to the Kaa station to ask for a ride home?Click here.
Or would you rather try living on the moon for a while?
He waves at you in a way that indicates for you to follow, and then the whole party turns and begins moon-jogging back across the sand toward the domes. They make better time than you, using their sticks (which turn out not be spears at all) as something like a cross between ski poles, hiking sticks, and pole vaults. The leader opens a hatch in the ground and beckons you inside, down a ladder and into a medium sized stone room. After the hatch is closed again, the armored figures start taking off their helmets and you are surprised to see that they are just as human as you are underneath. They seem to be just as surprised about you!
“We assumed that you would be Kaa, arriving as you did in a Kaa ship!” says their leader “But you crash landed so badly we had to come and investigate! Who are you? Are Earth people begining to space travel again?!” he seems very excited, and you explain who you are and how you came to be here.
They take you into a series of tunnels that connect to the farming domes you saw from space, and feed you a meal of rice and curry.
“My name is Hrishi” the man says “My grandmother and father were part of the research team working on the moon before the Kaa wars. During the wars, our people lost contact with Earth, and we have all been stranded here ever since. There were several dozen of us here originally, and now we have expanded to several hundred. We have had to increase our underground living space, and to dedicate to farming all of our above ground land, but we have survived so far. However, I fear that we have reached our limits here and can grow only a little further without threatening our survival.”
“Why don’t you go back to earth?” your aunt asks.
“Unfortunately, we cannot. We have maintained considerable technical expertise since the wars, but we do not have the tools or materials necessary to create a craft capable of entering the earth’s atmosphere without burning into a tiny cinder.”
“So- how do we get home again? Back to earth? Can you show us how to pilot the ship we came in?”
“Sadly, no. Your ship was damaged considerably when you landed here. If you wish to return to Earth, I am afraid your only hope is to visit the Kaa Space station that orbits the Earth and beg the Kaa there for a lift. I do not know what they will say. Maybe they will say no. The Kaa’s motivations are unpredictable at best.”
“How would we get to the Kaa station?”
“It would be dangerous” Hrishi admits “While we cannot land on Earth, we have built several very primitive crafts. And when I say primitive, I mean…very very primitive.” Everyone else laughs at this, although you cant see whats funny.
“Or of course, you could stay with us, if you are willing to do your shares of the work, of course.”
Do you want to risk flying to the Kaa station to ask for a ride home?Click here.
Or would you rather try living on the moon for a while?
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