Space in its infinite scope befuddles the human mind. As a boy lying on the grass in the backyard, gazing at the twinkling vastness before me, I would for some reason tremble with anxiety. It wasn’t fear in the truest sense of the word but it was fear to some degree surrounded emotionally by a sense of being, I don’t know why…maybe the feeling of being just a grain of sand on a beach, in a desert??
As my eyes swept across the sky, they encountered the Moon… the Moon brought infinity back into perspective, and my anxiety diminished. The Moon was stability embracing mankind in its lunar glow, all is right with the world. The tides ebbed and flowed, currents caressed the shores…yes the Moon would change progressively during each month. It would be beyond our sight for a time, but the sliver I called a “Fingernail Moon” would once again start the lunar rebirth.
It seems like ages ago when the television “talking heads” started saying there were rumors of something amiss in space. Most people immediately assumed it would be another meteorite “near miss” of about a million miles. It was also noted without explanation that diplomatic traffic at the Whitehouse had increased. At first, at the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense levels, then came heads of State, even the President increased his foreign travel schedule. There were vague explanations of the reasoning behind these visits but nothing of consequence. Congress was curiously quiet and political rhetoric crept along at an all-time low.
During one of the late-night talk shows, some marginally obscure actor asked if anyone else noticed that the Moon appeared larger and was curious if this was an expected planetary event. The host’s eyes glazed over and he brought the conversation back to Paris Hilton’s new flurry of beaver shots after several years of absence.
Sitting on my deck watching the evening unfold into night as a full Moon hung in the sky. The Moon did appear larger or at least it seemed that way. That youthful quiver of anxiety crept up my spine briefly unnerving me.
“That’s absurd! If there was any change the government would certainly make it known,” I muttered to myself. Yet, I was transfixed by the enormity of the Moon and its incandescent glow lighting the night with an uncanny brightness. Maybe I should talk to someone in the Science Department at the university where I periodically addressed classes in the business school. I made a mental note to do that the next day.
In the morning, I equivocated about bothering a professor at the university primarily because of the off chance of looking like a complete idiot. After all, it was likely some easily explained astronomical phenomenon which occurs every thousand years or so. Nonetheless, I gritted my teeth, head down, and made my way to the school’s planetarium searching for answers to my questions.
Dr. Elias Brand is one of the foremost researchers of planetary evolution working closely with NASA and other agencies on a global basis. He also had a brief television stint on the local PBS station and appeared very personable. I found him packing his briefcase in his office. He turned to greet me by saying,
“I don’t have much time at the moment I am off to NASA for a few weeks then to Colorado for a short research residency at their telescope in the mountains. What is it I can do for you?”
“I know this is going to sound off the wall…I’ll get right to it. Is there anything to my concerns about the Moon?”
He hesitated, turned, and said very slowly, ”What exactly are you concerned about?”
“From my point of view… at least what I think am seeing… the Moon seems to be getting bigger and brighter. I have noticed that the media is also reporting the concerns of others and even the most uninterested of people seemed to feel there is an unusual amount of government activity. I was just wondering…”
Dr. Brand eased down in his chair behind his desk. ”Please, sit down. This will take a minute.”
Rubbing his forehead, he looked up at me sighing he said, “I have been working with a global team of scientists for the last month and a half. We have been watching the gradual deterioration of the Moon’s elliptical orbit around the earth. At first, it was slightly noticeable then as it became more and more influenced by the Earth’s gravitational pull the orbit’s cycle decreased at a more rapid rate. I probably shouldn’t tell you this but thus far we haven’t a clue as to how we can stop the inevitable collision of the Moon and Earth.”
We sat staring at one another, I stunned into silence, Dr, Brand slouched in resignation.
He lifted his head and with a sigh said, “The President and every head of State worldwide will be addressing their respective nations worldwide at the same time in the next few days. They will be explaining the nature of the crisis and their plans.”
I muttered something incoherently about what could be done. The answer was shocking…
”Nothing. The end is upon us.”
I returned to my house sitting on the patio looking over the forested cemetery in the distance as tears of both frustration and gloom ran down my cheeks. I suppose all of us have asked ourselves or have been asked the question of what would you do if you knew you only had a few days to live? It was no longer a question it was a fact. What would I do? How much time remains?
I suspect that once this is revealed to the public there will be chaos, rioting, panic. Money, possessions virtually everything will be worthless. How will order be maintained, could it be maintained? Those responsible for upholding the structure of society would be subject to the same helplessness as every other human. Would they simply give up? Shouldn’t they? There was no resolution…it was going to happen.
How did I want to spend my last days? Would I choose to face the end alone or should I call someone to join me? That was answered when I noticed Amanda, a friend from the neighborhood, walking up the hill to my house. We had developed a relationship of sorts over the last few months that hadn’t reached the sexual level as yet but showed some promise. Amanda was the news anchor for a local television station and coupled with her amazing physical attributes she had an incisive intellect complimented by a unique sense of humor…everything you would want in a friend.
As she sat next to me on the outdoor couch she looked up into my eyes with what could only be described as the look of someone who had been given the worst news possible…she had. She said,
“You know, don’t you? I am not sure how I will deal with it but I know I can’t do it by myself. Do you mind if I stay with you until the end?”
Words escaped me as I moved close to her wrapping my arms tightly around her shoulders and then kissing the top of her head. Both of us trembling, not because of sexual tension but from a need for human contact, something, someone to stop the sense of drifting aimlessly.
She looked into my eyes and asked, ”Are you afraid? I am.”
“Yes. Very.”
There was a sense of urgency amongst the torrent of emotions surrounding each of us but it was an undefined urgency simply an unrelenting need to do something. There, of course, was nothing that could be done. It would happen. No miraculous rockets to be fired at the Moon to bring it back into orbit, no survival solution to hide in a deep cave somewhere until was over…nothing.
She turned to me and asked,” Do you have any contraceptives?…. I am not on the pill.”
I leaned back and looked into her eyes and burst into laughter. Realizing what she just said she blushed as she broke into a fit of giggles. The tension eased as she curled into me and I held her even closer.
We went inside turning the television on to see if there were any updates. There was only one station on an emergency channel of sorts. Apparently, the situation had worsened. The President would come on shortly. I walked outside for a moment and stared at the sky…a pale Moon filled a huge segment of the sky. For so long I had seen a distant, small Moon that now was overwhelming in its sheer presence.
Returning to the television, Amanda said, “He’s coming on in a minute.” We sat like two blackbirds on a wire waiting for the storm transfixed with the glow of the screen that babbled redundant idiocy. It stopped without warning and showed the President sitting in the Oval Office staring out with an expression attempting to be reassuring but visibly fighting off an apparent bleakness. He looked, cleared his throat, and began….
“My fellow Americans I will be as direct as I possibly can. The news I am afraid is as bad as you can possibly imagine. We are faced with complete extinction in a matter of hours. We once thought it would be days but the degradation of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is happening far quicker than we initially thought. I have met with all the major countries of the world attempting to bring together our finest scientific minds to come up with a solution. There is none. In the time we have left, I suggest you spend it with your loved ones. There is nothing to be gained by panic or rioting. All material things are rendered irrelevant. The things that have always been the most important are all we have left, our loved ones. With that, I leave you to these final cherished moments with those you love and know my prayers are with you to the end.”
The news person came back and advised that a skeleton crew would stay on until the end. The remaining staff either had no immediate family or their family was too far away to be together. Curiously they were hearing that everything was quiet, no riots. The streets were empty as if the cities were vacant. There were photos of the Moon from around the world now a mammoth, threatening entity consuming a huge portion of the sky.
Amanda stood, pulling me to my feet and leading me to my bedroom. She slowly removed my clothes, kissing and caressing each portion of skin exposed then stood back assessing my naked body. I unbuttoned her blouse letting it drop to the floor as her beautiful, full bust was revealed encased in a turquoise-colored bra. I struggled with the clasp in the front which she snapped open with two fingers releasing her jiggling breasts tipped with light brown (actually pinkish) nipples. I was momentarily distracted from the task at hand by the need to suck each nipple feeling its corrugated firmness between my lips flicking each with my tongue.
While dedicated to nursing her breasts my hands pulled her elastic-waisted skirt to her ankles. I stepped back to see her softly curved body naked but for the tiniest pair of turquoise-colored panties. She was more beautiful in every way than I could have imagined. Using her thumbs she pulled off the panties and let them drop to the floor. We embraced feeling that wonderful moment when naked bodies first press against one another…that undefinable warmth, and softness matched by a sensuality that is the precursor of arousal.
She lay back on the bed revealing her trimmed nexus, labia slightly open and moist. I kneeled between her legs running my finger through the soft down above her sex as she twisted and rolled her hips. My hand covered her as my middle finger slid between her folds to find the now very wet center. Her knees raised, cocked open as I moved my mouth onto the dripping abyss. The taste was indeed like nectar as it coated my probing tongue. I licked upwards to her clitoris now a hard nub inviting my lips to suck and my tongue to caress its sensitive tip.
Out of nowhere, she clamped her thighs around my head bucking violently as the rambling orgasm gripped her body one explosion after another. Her head was thrown back as she uttered obscenities in a language only known to her. The sheets balled in the grip of each hand as she worked her way through the various spasms of pleasure. I was finally released from her thighs gasping for air and twisting my neck to check if anything was broken…I was bruised but fine.
The windows of the bedroom were open. They were twelve-foot French windows revealing a broad vista from the hill upon which my house was perched overlooking the forested old cemetery. The Moon…was upon us. Amanda straddled me in what is called “reverse cowgirl” so we could both see out the window. She reached below taking my hard penis in her hand rubbing its head bead between her labia to lubricate it then slowly easing down upon it until it was deep in her core her walls tightly surrounding it. She shivered slightly, whether from my entry or the sight of the Moon, I didn’t know.
Slowly she began moving up and down on my cock grinding her hips at the bottom of each downward stroke.
She reached back caressing my cheek with her hand saying, “I will love you forever and ever.”
“I will love you forever and ever,” I muttered.
Everything went dark. The end came.
