In the midst of a dull roar, Michael could hardly make out the sound of chatter through their radio. He'd been losing himself at the sight ahead. The world as he knew it, all circled into one big ball of blue beauty. The sun had just only began to peak its head around the earth. Had their windows not been shaded, he'd very likely have gone blind; Although he and his team were hundreds of thousands of miles away from home, his glimpse into the future was the one thing that's kept his mind narrow. He'd been working for a greater purpose and all the proof of it was down on the ground.
Radio Interference
"Earth to Apollo come in" the radio finally focused. Neil tapped Michael on the shoulder gesturing for him to take the call. Michael snapped away from his trance-like state.
"Earth, we read you." he spoke into the transceiver
"You're coming close to the exosphere, prepare for landing." Neil slapped Buzz to attention to which Buzz jumped in his seat.
"Affirmative Earth, we'll radio back when landed." With a click the transceiver was put on standby. Neil looked to his team. He'd trained with them for years, but now was the finale to this show. They'd made it to the moon and all that was left was to take one final step.
"This is it." Michael said, amazed. His gaze fixated on the greyed rock.
Neil leaned in closer inspecting the craters that painted it. "I know research is gonna have a field day with this."
Buzz adjusted the pitch on the shuttle, correcting themselves for landing. "Let's keep our pants on boys. This is a mission, not a playground."
"Sir yes sir", Neil added unnecessarily. He was their commander, but still managed to lift the team's morale. He'd dedicated his life to researching space and all of its many mysteries; the moon was just one of his millions of questions..
Buzz knew his way around the ship better than any one else. If something was broken or in need of repair, he was the man they'd call to have it done correctly.
Michael was in charge of communications. Whatever he said went directly to Earth, their only tether back home. Such an important job was to be manned at all times. The crew had done a fine job following Neil's orders- in fact Apollo 11 would be his best crew to date, but for some odd reason he couldn't shake the feeling it was all going too easily.
It took them a full twenty minutes to land, the shuttle's legs finally gracing the surface. Neil and Buzz rushed to their gear. Michael did what he'd been assigned to and sparked the transceiver to life. "Apollo to Earth, we've landed. Armstrong and Aldrin are making contact now"
Through a cacophony of cheers their operator spoke clearly, "We hear you Apollo. Make us proud."
Michael stood from his seat watching as Neil took the very first steps on the moon. "One small step for man" as he spoke, a white powder lingered in the space around the ship. "One giant leap, for mankind." Buzz smirked, following closely behind him. Michael would not leave the shuttle, not out of fear or some voice in his head screaming otherwise, but because it was not his mission to join them, he'd been brought to translate what'd happen back to Earth and he was perfectly fine with that. He'd be a part of history afterall, that fact alone was enough for him.
He'd watch them collect rocks and conduct tests, all in the name of science. When they were finally done with that, Neil poked his head into the shuttle and grabbed their flag
"You ready, Collins?" Neil asked, Michael nodded. Neil left the shuttle walking out another 30 feet, looking back to earth in all of its entirety. There'd been no other man nor soul that could witness what the crew were about to do. Perhaps a child looking to the stars. Perhaps his wife, who'd scanned the surface every night. It didn't matter who'd seen them. What they'd done surpassed the cold shoulder countries gave one another. It was not an American achievement, but one of mankind. The stars were worlds, unending and ever growing. All it would take was one man with a dream. One man with hope, and one man on the moon.
Buzz came to his side placing a hand on the flag as well and with a nod, the two of them plunged the flag into the surface. The United States had won the race.
A hum vibrated the insides of their suits, at first they'd thought it was the shuttle's engine coming to life. Michael jumped up, double checking that it was indeed powered down. Suddenly a bright flash broke through the shaded glass. Michael covered his eyes, Buzz and Neil were still out in the open with no protection. Their faces pale white, looking to earth. The light slowly faded, Michael rushed to the transceiver.
"Apollo to Earth, do you read me!?"
static
Michael repeated again, but to no avail. Their connection had been severed. Michael slammed his hand on the arm rest of his chair. "Damnit!" He made for the shuttle door only to see both of his crewmates remaining still. Their attention focused on their home. Michael finally looked up to see that behind their wonderful planet, was a hole in space itself. It was larger than anything he'd ever seen. Easily ten times as big as the sun, spanning well beyond the stretches of the Earth. The hole had continuously folded in on itself, sucking in whatever came across its path like a vacuum. Within were stars, more than the human eye could count. They strobed their lights all throughout space like turning on a billion year old light switch. Each galaxy held within revolved as if it were a planet, only it spun rapidly. It would take years for a full revolution, but in the hole it only took a few seconds. Its unstable maw held agape stretching to accommodate Earth's width. This was no black hole, or even anything human kind could know of. An anomaly in nothingness. Starved and hunting, the beast began its feast, starting with his precious home.