The rocket was rather small and looked like it only held one person. It looked like your typical cartoon rocket, like what a child would draw and a mother would stick on the fridge. It was white, tall, and skinny, and it was larger in the center, but it was very fluid and streamlined. There was a small porthole in the side, a long needle-like antenna on the top, and three thin, red feet that swept out from the sides into little points on the ground.
As close to the rocket as he dared, Richard looked it over. He couldn’t find any seams where parts were held together or where a door would be. If there was a door, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to open it. It hadn’t been here before. Was it safe? Was there something inside?
He could feel an argument coming on inside his head again, so he quickly stopped asking questions. This looked like his only ticket off the moon, so he began looking for a way to get inside.
He tentatively reached out and put his hand on the smooth, sleek surface. It wasn’t cold, like he expected. He put his other hand on, and began to move them across the surface, looking for some sort of opening device. One of his hands slid into a small depression, and he heard a hissing noise above him.
Stepping back, he saw two pieces of metal sliding back to reveal a narrow doorway, and a very complicated-looking ladder emerged from below it and began to unfold and descend towards him. It slowed as it reached the ground and touched down gently.
Richard was amazed, a feeling he was getting rather used to. He eyed the doorway warily, as if a strange, tentacled alien was going to waddle out at any moment. He shook his head to clear out the images of the nightmare he had the night before.
He took a deep breath. He resolutely put his hands on the rungs and placed a foot on the lowest rung. This is it, he thought. This is my only chance. I’ve got to do it, and do it right!
He pulled himself up and began climbing the ladder. Since it was a small rocket, it wasn’t very far up, but it seemed to him that it took forever to reach the top. When he got there, he hesitated before stepping inside, but quickly made himself duck through.
Once he was inside, the door sealed shut. He whipped around and put his hands on it as if he could force it open again. He couldn’t even find a crack where the two metal pieces met, so he turned back around and familiarized himself with the cockpit. It was small, but not cramped, and full of blinking meters, buttons, and levers. It wasn’t dark, although he couldn’t tell where the light was coming from. There was a single red light blinking slowly on what looked like the main console. Richard moved over to it and looked at it closely. It was next to an empty keyhole.
Richard took a breath and took out the key he had found in his cabin. It was about the right size, so he put it in the slot and turned it.
The rocket whirred to life. Lights turned on all over the cockpit, and the whole ship was humming.
Richard looked around in amazement. There were so many lights, controls, screens, indicators, that he simply didn’t know what to do. He focused his attention on the console where he found the keyhole. There was a large screen with the words “SET COURSE.” near the top and a picture of a galaxy. He wondered why the words were in English. Maybe they were actually in some alien language and there was some translation technology in place that enabled him to understand them. He shook his head. There were just too many mysteries here, and he couldn’t understand a single one of them.
He couldn’t find any buttons near the screen so he touched it, and a box flickered around the tail end of one of the arms of the galaxy. The screen zoomed in on the area and displayed several galaxies with labels pointing at each of them. There were so many that the words were really small in order to fit them all on the screen. Richard squinted his eyes to read them and found one that read “SOL.” He touched the system that it indicated and the screen zoomed in again, this time focusing on his chosen solar system. There were nine planets orbiting the sun, several of them with moons, and there was a small arrow pointing at one moon in particular, orbiting a small, blue-and-white planet.
That’s earth! Richard thought, and his heart leapt. He quickly touched the planet, and, refocusing again, the screen displayed a message that said: “PROCEED TO THIS DESTINATION? YES/NO.”
He caught his breath as he pressed “YES” and the rocket began to shake. Images of Madeline flitted across his thoughts. He took a breath.
“THAT’S why I need to go home,” he said aloud.
