The Adrulla Monster

It was a proud moment for Astronauts Justin Cadwell and Timothy Gibson as they stood on the moon in their gleaming-white spacesuits.  Tears of joy streamed down Justin’s handsome clean-shaven face inside of his space helmet; his childhood dreams of walking on the moon had finally come to fruition.  He lifted up his left foot to observe the horizontal lines that were pressed into the powdery-soft moon dust by the sole of his white space boot, almost as if he needed further proof that he was actually on the moon.  It all seemed surreal and if he wasn’t wearing a bulky spacesuit, he would have pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. 

Timothy and Justin were sent to investigate the Adrulla Crater, a previously unexplored region of the moon.  Top scientists at NASA suspected that the crater could contain valuable elements from the Adrulla Meteor that recently crashed there.  Satellites in low-lunar orbit also seemed to indicate interesting anomalies about the crater, and the Apollo 18 Astronauts were excited to explore the geologic features of the impact site.  Mission Control was 300,000 miles away in Houston, Texas and the two spacesuited astronauts were alone on the moon, or so they thought.

Despite the fact that so many things could go wrong on the moon, Justin felt safe and protected in the isolation of space.  The aggression and unpredictability of people scared him.  Earth was a violent place in his eyes, especially with the brutality of the Vietnam War that continued to rage on as they stood on the moon.  He was glad that they didn’t drafted for the war, which was a very real and terrifying possibility.  Timothy and Justin were scientists, not warriors, and he knew that they wouldn’t have lasted a single minute in the harsh jungles of Vietnam.  It comforted him to know that nobody could hurt them in the safety of space.

“Houston, this is Apollo 19, come in- over.”  Justin said, over the over the radios that were built into their helmets so they could communicate through the vacuum of space.

“Justin, this is Mission Control, go ahead with your traffic.”

Although there was the usual eight-second signal delay between Earth and the Moon, Mission Control’s transmission was loud and clear.

“Houston, we’re heading out on foot to collect geologic samples.

“Roger that Justin, be safe gentlemen.  Mission Control out.”

Gravity on the moon is only one-sixth of what it is on Earth, causing the astronauts to float in between steps.  From a distance, they looked like little white bunnies as they moon-hopped over to the area where they would be collecting geologic samples.  Their spacesuits were made out of white nylon-fabric that produced subtle-swishing sounds when they moved around in them, and oxygen quietly hissed through the suits at 3.7 PSI- giving them a puffy “Marshmallow Man” appearance.  Despite how cumbersome they were, the suits were incredibly soft and comfortable to wear.

Out of all the hazards NASA anticipated the astronauts may face on the moon, like tears in their suits or oxygen leaks, tentacle monsters were never one of them.

“Let’s collect our samples here.” Justin advised.

“Roger that.” Timothy replied, plunging his long titanium tool into the surprisingly-spongey ground, “What the???...”

No sooner than his pointed-tool penetrated the dark-gray ground, he felt something move underneath his white spaceboots.  Timothy gasped in shock and took a step back, startling Justin.

“What’s wrong?  What happened?” Justin asked, with a surprised tone in his voice.  

Timothy took a breath before responding,  “The ground… it.. It felt spongey when I poked it and then… and then I felt something move!” 

“You probably just felt the vibration from your tool hitting a rock under your feet.”  Justin explained, laughing.

“No, this was movement.” Timothy insisted. “Here, take this and jab it into the ground.” he said, handing Justin the long titanium pole.  

Justin rolled his eyes inside his space helmet and grasped the pole with his puffy white space gloves.  He jabbed the pole into the ground and much to his horror, the ground moved under his moon boots, so much so that both astronauts stumbled backwards.

Both of the astronauts screamed in terror as the ground quaked and crumbled all around them.  Cracks and crevices spread in all directions, like the shattering of a frozen lake.

“RUN TIMOTHY!” Justin screamed, but it was too late.

Long black tentacles rapidly emerged from the cracks in the ground, all around the terrified astronauts.  Somehow the tentacles knew exactly where the spacemen were standing, almost as if they had eyes of their own, and they began reaching for Timothy and Justin who stood out vibrantly in their bright-white suits.   Dozens of the black tendrils were now surrounding the defenseless spacemen- some of them were over ten feet long and several inches in diameter!

“MAYDAY HOUSTON MAYDAY!” They screamed in horror as they desperately tried to dodge the tentacles that continued to emerge from somewhere below their feet.  Encumbered by their bulky spacesuits, Justin and Timothy couldn’t move fast enough to escape the long alien appendages.  

“Aaaaahhhhhh!” Timothy screamed as one of the black tentacles grasped firmly onto his spacesuit.  He squirmed helplessly, trying to escape the powerful grip of the tentacle as more of them began to wrap him up, pulling on him from multiple directions.  His soft white spacesuit wrinkled as the tentacles squeezed him like pythons squeezing their prey.  “SOMEBODY HELP ME!”  His heart was beating so fast that it felt like it was going to explode as tears of terror streamed down his handsome face.  

“MAYDAY HOUSTON MAYDAY!  WE’RE BEING ATTACKED!!”

Justin was also being rapidly-wrapped up by the ravenous black tentacles.  He was in the painful grasp of one of the larger ones, coiled around his torso like an anaconda.  “OH GOD SOMEBODY HELP!  SOMEBODY GET US OUT OF HERE!”  Justin helplessly kicked his feet in the air as the powerful tentacle lifted him up, spinning him around as it continued to wrap him up.  He looked like a little white mouse being constricted by a black snake and his clear helmet visor fogged up as he hyperventilated in sheer terror.  

No matter how hard the doomed spacemen struggled, the tentacles easily overpowered them.  There was no escape for the entangled astronauts and they were soon completely wrapped by the powerful black tentacles.  All they could do was squirm and scream for help, but not for long.  They were being squeezed so tight that they could barely breathe; some of their ribs began to snap under the immense pressure.  Blood spewed out of Timothy’s mouth and splattered all over the inside of his visor, but the worst was still yet to come.

The tentacles were merely part of a larger creature, living below the moon’s surface: a jet-black monster from deep space with thousands of razor-sharp teeth and a belly full of fluoroantimonic acid.  The ravenous creature was not from our galaxy and its extraterrestrial physiology made it impervious to the oxygenless-vacuum of space.  In a state of dormancy, it had been living within the Adrulla Meteor when it crashed into Earth’s moon.  Worst of all, its appetite was insatiable after hibernating under the lunar surface, awakened and angered from being poked by the oblivious astronauts.  Now the spacesuited spacemen would be its breakfast.

A large crevice opened up and Timothy was dragged below the surface first, letting out a final blood-curdling scream before being devoured by the monster’s muscular mouth.

“NO TIMOTHY NO!!!” Justin cried, watching in horror as Timothy disappeared into the ravenous mouth with thousands of jagged teeth.  It was his turn next.  “MAYDAY HOUSTON SOMEBODY HELP ME!”

“NO PLEASE NOOOOO!”  Justin desperately tried to grab onto the gray lunar ground as the black tentacles pulled him down under the surface.  The creature was too powerful and he couldn’t maintain a good grip on the rocky ground with his puffy white space gloves.  Justin was mercilessly dragged down into the crevice and was pulled into the salivating mouth.  A mere moment before being devoured, and with his last breath, Justin screamed “DON’T COME BACK TO THE MOON!”