Midnight on the Moon (4 page)

“What?” Jack turned to look at her.

She was staring through the telescope.

Jack walked over to the telescope. Annie stepped aside so he could look, too.

Jack gasped. In the distance, something was flying above the ground.

It looked like a giant man in a spacesuit.

“Who is
that?
” said Jack.

“I don't know,” said Annie. “But we'll soon find out!” She started waving.

“No!” said Jack. He grabbed her arm. “Let's go back to the base—before he gets here!”

“Why?” said Annie.

“We don't know who he is!” said Jack. “We don't know if he's friendly or mean or what.”

“But we can't go back,” said Annie. “We haven't found the fourth M thing yet. We won't be able to go home.”

“It doesn't matter. We can lock the door at the moon base until he goes away,” said Jack. “Then we can get new air tanks!”

Jack hurried to the moon buggy. “Come on!” He jumped into the driver's seat.

Annie gave a little wave to the dot in the sky. Then she climbed into the moon buggy.

The buggy took off.

“Careful!” said Annie.

They bumped over the rocks as Jack turned the buggy around. Then they zoomed toward the pass.

Jack steered around craters and rocks. More than once the buggy nearly tipped over.

“Whoa! Slow down!” said Annie.

They were almost at the mountain pass. Suddenly, a cloud of dust flew up in front of them. The ground trembled.

“Watch it!” cried Annie.

Jack couldn't see a thing.

He stepped on the brake. The buggy jerked to a stop.

The dust settled.

A giant rock had fallen into the narrow pass. It was stuck between two walls of rock. They were trapped!

Jack quickly found a picture of a giant rock in the moon book. He read aloud:

“We're lucky that meteorite didn't land on
us
,” said Jack.

“Yeah, and I guess it's too big to be the M thing,” said Annie. She had climbed out of the moon buggy and was standing by the meteorite.

It was more than twice as tall as she was.

Jack looked at the black sky. The flying thing was nowhere in sight—yet.

“We'll have to jump over it,” Annie said.

“Jump? I don't think so,” said Jack. “It's too high.”

“I'm going to try anyway,” said Annie.

“Wait. Let's think first,” said Jack.

But Annie was already backing up.

“One, two, three—go!” she shouted, and took giant, leaping steps toward the meteorite.

When Annie got close to the rock, she pushed off the ground. Then she flew through space and disappeared behind the meteorite.

“Annie!” Jack called.

There was no answer.

“Oh, brother,” Jack said. He backed up and took off toward the rock. He jumped as high as he could. Then he was flying through space.

Jack hit the ground and fell facedown into the dust.

Jack tried to stand. But his suit was too bulky. He tried to roll over. But his suit made even that impossible.

“Oh, no,” he groaned. “Not again.”

“Are you here?” asked Annie. “Did you make it?”

“Yes!” Jack was relieved to hear her voice. But he couldn't turn his head to see her. He could only hear her over the radio.

“Can you help me up?” he asked.

“Nope,” said Annie.

“Why not?”

“I fell down, too,” she said.

“Oh, brother,” Jack sighed. “Now we are
really
in trouble.”

He tried to stand again. And failed.

“Can you see anything?” he asked.

“Just the sky,” said Annie. “Wow, is it weird … ”

“I'm worried about our air tanks,” said Jack. “I feel like it's been two hours.”

“Ja-ack … ” said Annie.

“And what about that moon man?” said Jack. “Where did he go to?”

“Jack!” whispered Annie.

“What?”

“He's here,” she said. “The moon man is here.”

“
What?
”

“He's standing above me.”

Jack's heart nearly stopped.

He could hear Annie talking.

“Hi,” she said. “We come in peace.”

There was silence. Then Jack heard Annie say, “Thank you. I have to help my brother up now.”

A moment later, Annie rolled Jack onto his back.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him up.

“Thanks,” said Jack, once he was standing.

The moon man was a few feet away. His face was hidden by a metal visor.

He looked like a spaceman. A
huge
spaceman—with a giant tank on his back. It was as big as a refrigerator.

“That's a jet pack!” said Jack. “I've seen pictures of future astronauts flying with those things. It's like a mini-spaceship. Right?”

The moon man didn't answer.

“I don't think he can hear us,” said Annie. “He's not hooked up to our radio.”

“Oh, right,” said Jack. “I'll write him a message!”

“Good idea,” said Annie.

Jack pulled out his notebook and pencil. He wrote:

Jack handed the notebook and his pencil to the moon man. They looked tiny in his big hands.

The moon man looked down at the message. He looked at the tiny pencil. Then he turned the notebook over.

Jack and Annie watched as the moon man put the pencil to the paper. He was writing something very carefully.

Finally he gave the notebook back to Jack.

Jack and Annie stared at the marks.

“Stars,” said Annie. “He drew stars.”

“Maybe it's a space map,” said Jack.

“Space map?” said Annie. “Hey, Jack,
map
starts with M!”

“Oh, wow,” said Jack. “This must be the fourth M thing!”

“Let's ask him what his map means,” said Annie. She turned around.

“We'll never know now,” she said.

“Why?” Jack looked up from the map.

“That's why.” Annie pointed. The moon man was flying over the mountains.

“Thanks!” Annie cried.