Artificial Eclipse
Ducks swim lazily unaffected by the coming astral phenomenon. The sky is clear and blue, the clouds purposefully dispersed to give a clear view of the sun and moon.
“Don’t bother putting on your eclipse glass. We’re all going to die soon anyways.” The man wearing blue robes said. He was skinny and had a slightly hunched back. His robe had an eclipse embroidery patch sewn on the chest and both sleeves. He was looking at me expectedly, waiting for some retort.
I ignored him and kept the glasses in my hand firmly. His outfit matched the description in the folder but I need to be sure he’s not just some random nutter before I make my move.
He stares at me. We’re the only two here at the park, me sitting on a bench and him standing next to it. It’s annoying having to work right now but at least the view of the river is gorgeous. With all the money and effort I put into that project I deserve a good view of the eclipse. All the sacrifices. The lives. That idiot is still staring at me.
I turn to him. “What makes you think we’re all going to die? Have we ever died because of an eclipse before?” I wanted to ask gently but my voice is harsh.
He smiles revealing crooked yellow and grey teeth. “It’s not the eclipse that’s going to kill us. My goodman. It’s…the thing causing the eclipse.”
“The moon? You can’t be serious.”
“Oh I’m more than just a serious stranger. And we both know that’s not our real moon. Our planet was created with the original moon in mind. It blocked alien objects, harmful sun rays, and helped regulate the ocean. God’s gift to mankind.” He looks both ways making sure no one is eavesdropping. “This new one on the other hand.” He scoffs. “You really need me to spell it out for you.”
The man looks at me expecting a nod of approval or some fucking pat on the back.
I push. “What do you mean? You can’t leave me on a cliffhanger like that. What’s wrong with it?” I KNOW what’s wrong with it. He shouldn’t know…but he does.
He raises an eyebrow. Then after a moment he squints his eyes. Finally he sighs and begins his spiel. “Well the obvious first, let’s talk about how the old moon was destroyed. You think after millions of years of surviving the moon would just be vaporized but a large asteroid. No, that was done by humans. Did you hear that?”
I shake my head and he continues.
“That thing up there is an amalgamation of big brother cameras, high quality ones that can spy on anyone anywhere.” He lowers his voice. “It can probably hear us right now.” He raises his voice to a normal level again. “It is also armed with a subtle type of weaponry. Weather controlling weapons that can secretly drop catastrophes. Oh, a country is raising tariffs, let’s just drop a tsunami or a hurricane on them. Now if that wasn’t enough it’s also a nuclear warhead launcher. No one is going to suspect the moon is armed with city killers.” I stare at him intently as my gloved hand slides into my coat pocket. Everything he’s said is true just like HQ said. The moon is halfway covering the sun.
“Finally when shit does hit the fan, it’s a fallout bunker for the ultra rich and politically connected.”
I whistle. “That’s a lot of conspiracies to consider all at once. I might be willing to believe one or two, but I feel like you’re grasping at any straw possible right now. Are you pulling my leg?”
“Well, if you’ve seen what I’ve seen you would believe me.” He says matter-of-factly
“What have you seen?”
He starts to answer but the world goes dark. We look at the full eclipse. A pure black sphere in the sky. The man is too distracted to see me pull out my pistol. By the time the sun is in view again, his dead body is lying alone at the park.
