Moonfin

by L. L. Mintie

  “And not freeze to death?” added Lizzy crisply. “There isn’t any atmosphere on Charon.”

  Mr. Pavlini shook his little bald head and exhaled dramatically, which in turn made his third eye bounce even more insanely.“I do not know how you got to this Waystation without proper debriefing! They are letting just anybody vacation these days!” he grumbled deeply.

  “Put simply, each code comes with the Condensed-Oxygen-Nitrogen-Chip, a ‘CON-ch’ for short. It keeps your body systems all in check, with adjustments to a wide range of environmental conditions, including, but not limited to, cryonic ice volcanoes, poisonous gases, and even ultraviolet protection from all starlight exposure. But you should stay away from nebulas—the nurseries are highly protected zones these days.”

  “C-c-conch?” stammered Lizzy, surprised to hear that word again. She knew he wasn’t talking about the conch shell, but it was odd, considering the names were similar, and she had used one to breathe underwater.

  “Yes, an optional feature—obviously the Sightseers don’t need to use one, but it makes for a more comfortable trip, overall, in these forms.”

  He took both hands and patted his round belly.

  Lizzy couldn’t take any more of his blithering nonsense and exploded. “What forms? I have no idea what you’re talking about! I’m a scientist and sorry, but people cannot travel to other moons! It’s not physically possible and—”

  But before either she or Jeff could object further, Kai accepted his offer, and Mr. Pavlini whizzed off to collect their travel supplies.

  Lizzy turned on Kai. “You know that’s a bunch of crock! This is all just a money-making scheme!” she said hotly.

  “And a good one,” snorted Jeff, very impressed.

  “You’re probably right, but look at these people going in and out of these walls! What’s the worst that could happen? And it’s free, after all!” said Kai, who danced around with such excitement, it was like her toes were on fire.

  “We don’t make it back though this Brane thing alive,” said Jeff glumly. “That’s what could happen.”

  “Don’t be a kill-joy, Jeff!”

  “Don’t be such a thrill-seeker!” retorted Lizzy, even though, deep down, she was a little curious as well.

  Mr. Pavlini returned a few minutes later with the CON-chips and snapped one to each of their ears; and a small rectangular silver box, on which he busily punched various colorful buttons. The box flashed with a series of green bulbs across the top.

  “Now, listen carefully. Normally you would each have your own polyoscillationdulceter box to bring your molecules into harmonics with the Brane, but since this is a freebie, you will need to come back through the Brane port within the allotted thirty minutes,” he said sternly.

  Jeff was sweating.

  “And if we don’t.”

  “The Brane will close and you will be stuck. Forever. Only harmonized molecules can travel back and forth. Your time begins now. Charon will light up green as it passes along the Constelluliary wall, and your CON-ch will alert you when it will open up again on the other side. Good luck and good sightseeing.” He shook his shiny head and plodded off muttering something about the new ones being such a nuisance.

  Just as Mr. Pavlini said, the moon Charon lit up green and glided across the ceiling and down to floor level, near to where they stood. Lizzy, Jeff, and Kai followed it slowly for several yards, staring intensely at its bumps and craters, wondering if this would be an adventure of a lifetime, or the last time any of them would ever see earth.

  Lizzy could see something fluttering beneath the wall like a massive flower, its petals waving and overlapping, rotating and transversing. “It’s beautiful,” she breathed.

  They took the plunge and stepped one by one into its green glow; it was like walking into a gigantic fleshy rose petal suspended in a clear ball of water. In the blink of an eye, for it was as simple as that—shutting their lids and opening them again—they found themselves standing in an ice valley. Gazing at the vast sparkling landscape, they stood frozen from awe—not from cold, thanks to the CON-ch—taking in all the sights and gentle sounds.

  Gasps poured out of them with each new sight, and it was many long minutes before anyone could move or speak.

  In the distance massive craters shot straight up into a twinkling arctic sky and continuous rows of jagged peaks formed half-circles and nautilus shapes that flowed in and out of one another so evenly, it was hard to tell where one range began and another ended. Oval and pillared skylights of black starry pockets spattered the ice walls, presenting an incredible vista of cathedral-like spires.

  Bits of rock swirled through glaciers from behind and below, and peering closely, they could see that the ice “grew” in sinewy stretches of fiber all across the walls and outcroppings, shooting up and up. Jeff, Kai, and Lizzy were also surprised to realize that underneath the ice were the outlines of buildings, eternally frozen in place.

  Spinning to gaze the whole valley, they could see hundreds of flowing cryo-geysers—at least they guessed as much from what they learned from astronomy in school. And people—very large people—who gathered around little vents, laughing, seeming to be having a splendid time, like a big party on the deck of a cruise ship.

  One group of people rolled flaming bowling balls into geysers, each of which popped back out and exploded magnificently. And then someone would measure the distance the pieces traveled—it looked like whoever blasted theirs the farthest won the game. Others sipped tropical drinks with little umbrellas in them, lounging on rafts suspended over a steaming pool-sized geyser, which burst out gases at intervals, bobbling them up and down along with it.

  Jeff let out a terrific, “Whoa!” and Kai spouted, “It’s a winter amusement park!” all at once, and were very keen to try their luck with the geyser-bowling.

  “Pinch me! I can hardly believe this is happening,” squealed Lizzy. “Charon has no atmosphere, and yet here we are standing right on it … still alive!”

  Kai tapped the CON-ch attached to her ear. “We have less than thirty minutes—better get a move-on.”

  “Uh-oh, do you not see what I don’t see?” moaned Jeff.

  Lizzy and Kai followed his gaze to the wall where they had just come through and noticed it didn’t look anything like the Constelluliary wall port—no star clusters or planets swirling across it.

  “Okay, let’s not panic,” said Lizzy. “There must be a way to get back! Otherwise, all of these people would be stuck here.” She fought to stay calm, genuinely wanting to be brave this time. It was a dream for a scientist to even think of travel to the outer limits of the solar system.

  “Look—there’s a couple of, er … giants ahead,” she said, turning toward them.

  “Lizzy—noooo! They’re giants!” squeaked Kai, but Lizzy had already run off. Jeff and Kai followed reluctantly behind, spitting out complaints as they went.

  They reached the edge of a small volcano where two very tall men—at least fifteen feet in height by Lizzy’s estimation—sat in rickety wooden chairs, hunched over a bubbling geyser. They had overly elongated heads, which seemed chiseled from solid stone, and reminded Lizzy of those rock-head statues she read about on Easter Island. Buckets and tackle boxes littered the ground near their enormous hairy feet. They were holding fast to long fishing poles, checking their lines as fisherman were wont to do, completely ignoring the presence of the three children, who listened carefully to their conversation. They spoke in quiet mumblings, very slowly, with deep, earthy voices that clacked as their lips touched, how a boulder might sound if it were blessed with speech.

  “Boy! I sure am glad they opened up this moon for ice fishing. I’ll tell ya, Bernie, I was going plum crazy with nuthin’ to do after they closed Triton to the Sightseers.”

  Bernie gruffed forcefully.

  “Me too! Wonder why they shut that whole operation down—that was the best hatchery around this system!”

  “I heard Triton’s on lockdown. Af
ter the disappearances, it’s no wonder no one wants to go back there.”

  “Do ya know where they took the poor buggers? I hear it’s to that place—Catastraptos, they call it. Don’t ever want to get hauled off to that place. It’d be the end of me, fer sure. Check yer line, Joe, I think you might have got one.”

  Joe leaned in and plucked a nylon thread, sending a twang off the ice-walls.

  “Eherrm,” Jeff cleared his throat loudly, his fear of giants overcome only by his dread of being stuck on Charon forever. “We were wondering if—”

  “Hush up, boy!” snapped Bernie. “You’ll scare ’em away with yer loud talk.”

  Jeff jumped five feet backward and looked furtively around. “Scare what? I don’t see anything.”

  “Why, the Muddies, of course!” he jawed slowly, nodding his rather large head toward the small volcano. Lizzy’s mouth fell open and a sudden shocked look took over her face.

  “Ohhhh, they do exist. I knew it!” she said breathlessly, boldly scooting up to the edge of the gas-filled vent. She had always known about the wondrous creatures that lived in the cryo-geysers since she was a little girl. “See there,” she whispered and pointed into the opening. “They’re the bright orange slivers you see deep down.”

  Kai slid up next to her and peered into the bubbling geyser, catching sight of a swarm of shimmery crystal-like fish darting along the bottom.

  Jeff was getting fidgety as the time ticked away. He wanted to know one thing: how they were going to get off that rock and back home? He inched a bit closer to the two giants, as much as he dared, and said, “We were wondering if you could tell us where the constellations are? You know, the Brane to travel through,” he croaked, wondering if these giants liked to eat more than just strange fish.

  Bernie and Joe both dipped their heads and narrowed their brutish giant-eyes at him. Jeff shivered.

  “Out here the outgoing Brane is through the central port. You came all the way out here without knowing that?” said Joe, pulling up on his fishing pole. “That’s hiiiilarious!” He laughed convulsively, catching himself mid-guffaw.

  “Joe!” snapped Bernie. “That’s the third time in an hour ya’ve scared away the Muddies with all yer noisy raucous. We’re gonna get kicked off of this moon if yer not careful!”

  “Sorry, so sorry,” he said quickly and bent his head low, chin touching his feet.

  Kai added quickly, “We were in a rush to get here.”

  “I guess so, if ya don’t even know how to get back through the Brane,” Bernie said with a snigger.

  “So where is this central port? We’re sort of pressed for time.”

  “You are, are you?” grimaced Bernie darkly. Joe stuck an elbow in his side and gave him a you-don’t-want-to-end-up-in-that-Catastraptos-place look.

  “Uh—yeah—over there,” Bernie grumbled. He pointed toward the geyser-swimming pool area. “Your code brings up the Waystation and ya jump right in. Lots of fun, that one. One minute you think yer going to burn clean through to the bone, and the next ya’ve arrived at yer port-o-call.”

  He turned to help Joe pull out a fat fish. It had long whiskers and a forked tail, similar to a catfish on earth, but with a flat face, smooth as a dinner plate, and glassy, like one of those plastic toys you see at the arcade.

  “Well, looky here! We’re gonna eat like kings tonight!” Joe ground his huge lips together. “Only, we’ll have to travel off this frozen rock to cook it; maybe head to Venus for a cookout.”

  While Jeff and Kai worked out the details of the Brane port, Lizzy stepped over to the ice walls to look more closely at the frozen city underneath. She couldn’t resist the urge to run her hand over the pillars and stone doors not far from the surface. It was like that city carved out of rock she read about once. A place called Petra, but encased in ice.

  But, oh! Is that a person caught in the ice too?

  She used her sleeve to wipe the powder from the ice wall where a man, a giant like the others, was staring outward, wide-eyed and grimacing. His head appeared scarred, scorched hairless, with corkscrew horns for ears and a beak-like nose. His robes were red, and he was holding a long wooden staff, which was thin in the middle and thick at each end. Lizzy pressed her face to the ice and looked upward. As she strained to make out his features, his eyes suddenly ignited into two fireballs trapped in a frozen, pallid head. She stumbled backward to the ground.

  “Liz! Are you okay?” cried Kai, rushing over to help her up.

  “Um, yes, just startled.” She got back to her feet shakily. “D-do you see that man in the ice there?”

  “The ugly, bald guy? Yeah, must be another one of these giants. I see the buildings too. I didn’t see them at first, but I can see them clearly now—they’re all over the place.”

  “I wonder what it is … or was,” she said, bewildered.

  They had only five minutes left on their timer, and the CON-ch was alerting them with messages in bright yellow across their eyes, like a television ticker tape only they could see.

  “It’s time to go,” said Jeff. “I’m seeing the warning signal.”

  But Lizzy couldn’t leave without asking the two fishermen about the city. “Excuse me, sirs,” she said, leaning in, “we have to leave soon, and I was wondering …” They both kept their heads down and ignored her completely, waving hands her way as if she were an annoying mosquito to swat away. Lizzy pressed closer. “Can you tell me what all these buildings are for?” she persisted, not budging an inch.

  Bernie finally looked up and followed her pointing finger toward the ice walls, an expression of surprise on his enormous face. “I’ll be. They’ve been here s’long, I hardly ever notice them anymore.” Scowling, he turned his back to her again and continued to work on his fish gutting, which smelled so bad it made their eyes water.

  “But who built them?”

  “It’s time for you to go now, missy,” said Joe menacingly, glancing at Bernie. He leaned over and muttered something in his ear, and Lizzy caught the words, “not from around here.” Bernie refused to turn around, and Joe’s eyes turned steely-cold. For a moment Lizzy thought she saw something flash across his skin—a symbol vividly appeared, then vanished.

  “Everyone knows about the old stories and how the Sightseers came to be,” clacked Joe angrily. “This is the old city of the Ferryman, and that’s all I’m going to say about it, so you three shoo off!”

  Then Joe did a peculiar thing, and their faces went white as he did so. Snapping off his giant-sized thumbnail, as one would pull the tab from a soda can, he flicked it directly into a small dormant geyser next to the three stunned children. A sharp pop! went off, and a swarm of spindly beetles rushed out the top and down the side toward their feet!

  This sent Lizzy, Jeff, and Kai scampering across the ice and over to the Brane port. The warning message flashed across their eyes again, turning from yellow to blaring red. Standing before the geyser as methane and nitrogen vapor steadily spewed out, planet Earth glistened in the midst of the gases. And although their trip to Charon was short, they were glad to see its lovely blue form floating before them. Lizzy cast one last look back. It was very unlikely she would ever visit Pluto’s moon again, and so she etched the scenery into her memory.

  One by one they jumped into the light. Time and space folded them back to the stellar rotunda they had left only thirty minutes before. They stepped into the Constelluliary blinking, gaping, and laughing together.

  At this moment Jeff did something that would have caused a fuss had Lizzy and Kai seen it, but it was done very slight-of-hand all because Jeff wanted a souvenir from his adventure in Frog Mountain. He reached up and quickly pulled his CON-ch clip off his ear and gutted it, slipping the circuitry in his pocket and re-clipping the casing back onto his ear. What he planned to do with his burglary he wasn’t sure, but thought it worth a good study in any case.

  Then a stunned look came over him …

  “That was amazing—just like in my comic books!”
he said, face ruddy from the sudden change in temperature. He grabbed his head in a mind-blowing revelation. “I’m telling you, comic books are for real … the true history of mankind. The Brane proves it.”

  Kai and Lizzy laughed some more, until they realized he was serious.

  “But did you see how that giant pulled his nail from his thumb—”

  “Ahem.”

  They found themselves under the fluttery gaze and flaring nostrils of Mr. Pavlini, who was nimbly turning knobs and flipping switches along the polyoscillationdulceter box, his ping-pong eye bouncing wildly.

  “And how was your trip?” He brusquely unclipped the CON-chs from their ears. “We have the Crinkle Club if you’re interested. You get bonus points after visiting all the hot spots in the Milky Way.” He explained in detail the fine points of this travel plan … blackout dates … vouchers and restrictions … and finally finished with, “And that leaves a total of thirty-two additional hours of ring-boarding around Saturn. Sounds fabulous, huh?”

  Kai thought so!

  All three of Mr. Pavlini’s eyes froze eerily in place as he waited for their answer.

  “M-m-maybe some other time. We have important matters at the Waystation before traveling on,” Jeff said in his best business manner. He could smell a pitch a mile away and knew how to deal with pushy salesmen.

  Pavlini puffed and twitched all over.

  “If you change your mind, you know where my office is. For you, I will extend a special limited time offer: two destinations for the price of one—if you get back to me within one week.”

  Lizzy eyed the flashing green box he had been cradling in the palm of his hand. “Mr. Pavlini, one more thing, please. Do we need one of those poly-box-things you’re holding for the free gates?”

  “No, no,” he said, snapping his fingers crossly, “for short distances it’s not necessary. Just don’t hiccup or sneeze or anything sudden like that—might get stuck in the wall.”

  “You could have mentioned that before!” exclaimed Jeff.