The Lunar Eclipse
A Ten Candles Story
The lunar station Helios was humanity’s crowning achievement, a beacon of progress and a symbol of hope for establishing the first permanent colony on the moon. But hope turned to horror when the Eclipse came. Two days ago, the sky above the station went black. Not the slow onset of lunar night, which was still months away, but a sudden, all-encompassing darkness. Without sunlight, the station’s solar power failed, leaving life support running on dwindling battery reserves. Helios was dying. The Commander, trained for the unexpected, ordered an evacuation, but the plan quickly disintegrated as crew members began to disappear. Their voices on the static-laced intercom were the last trace of them: “Run! They're here!” Of the twenty-strong team, only four remained.
Charles, a genetically modified gorilla bred for construction work, harboured deep-seated resentment against those who created him. Penny Bright, a mechanic with a stubborn streak of optimism, tried to cling to hope despite the growing dread. Dr Luke Brick, a brilliant yet sardonic scientist, believed his intellect could find a way to save them all. And Lester, the son of a billionaire and owner of the station, was naive and out of his depth, his privilege offering no protection from the shadows. Together, they huddled in the domed observation room, the black sky pressing down on them. Their uneasy conversation was interrupted by a loud, echoing knock on the door. A second knock followed, louder and more insistent. Peering through the peephole, they saw nothing. When they cracked the door open, a shadow slipped inside, faster than they could react. Slamming the door shut, they pushed back against an invisible, crushing force that pressed against it. Moments stretched into eternity, but then the pressure vanished. The shadow was gone, leaving an unnerving silence in its wake.
Needing answers, the group made their way to the storage bay. The corridors were dim and oppressive, every flicker at the edge of their vision setting their nerves on edge. In the storage bay, they found crates of supplies but no sign of survivors. In the corner, a console blinked with an incoming message. Static gave way to the panicked voice of a missing crew member, repeating the same phrase over and over: warnings of shadows, of the inevitable doom awaiting them all.
Deciding to cover more ground, the group split up. Penny and Lester headed to the Monkey Lab, where Charles had been created, while Dr Brick and Charles went to investigate a breach in Sector 72. In the lab, chaos greeted Penny and Lester. The power outage had unlocked cages, releasing frantic lab monkeys. Desperate to regain control, they flooded the room with gas through the sprinkler system, suffocating the creatures. Charles, his genetically enhanced senses attuned to the commotion, rushed to the lab but was too late to save most of his kind. The sight of the lifeless bodies, combined with Penny and Lester’s actions, filled him with fury.
Dr Brick urged Charles to leave the others behind and focus on reaching the rocket bay. Reluctantly, Charles agreed. Together, they set out toward their only hope of escape. Meanwhile, Penny and Lester realised they needed to restore power to the base to reach the rocket. At the generator room, they managed to get the systems back online. The base flickered to life, and in the distance, the rocket bay lit up like a beacon. Seizing a moon buggy, they sped across the lunar surface, shadows creeping ever closer.
Behind them, Charles and Dr Brick commandeered another moon buggy, bringing with them one of the surviving monkeys. The uneven terrain proved deadly; Charles struck a moon rock, wrecking their vehicle. Enraged and desperate, Dr Brick took aim with a laser rifle and shot out the tyres of Penny and Lester’s buggy, sending it careening across the surface. Now both groups were forced to continue on foot, the shadows of Them closing in from every direction.
As the two groups neared the rocket facility, Dr Brick’s suit caught on jagged moon rock, tearing open. Charles acted quickly, jamming a banana into the breach to create a temporary seal. Their progress was agonisingly slow, the shadows hunting them with relentless purpose. Penny and Lester were the first to reach the rocket facility, scrambling inside to secure the controls. Not far behind, Charles and Dr Brick arrived just as the horde of shadows of Them descended. In a final, futile effort, Charles held the door shut, his immense strength buying only moments of safety. They surged through, consuming him and Dr Brick in an instant.
Inside the rocket, alarms blared as Penny and Lester sealed the door. With no time to think, they initiated the launch sequence, the rocket roaring to life and lifting off the surface. As the moon grew smaller in the viewport, they dared to hope they had escaped. But then the lights flickered. The cabin dimmed. The windows began to darken as the shadows covered them one by one. Penny and Lester’s hope turned to terror as They consumed the rocket. Their screams were lost in the void as the vessel drifted into silence. Helios Station was never recovered, the moon swallowed by the eternal Eclipse. Humanity’s first permanent colony had become its greatest cautionary tale.
