After the Meteor incident, Cid Highwind had decided to try and become the first man on the moon, which in many ways, was bigger than his original dream to go into space. And so, during the next 5 or so years, he constructed a rocket, which (while similar in design to the last one), had a landing craft attached, which he had planned to use to land on the moon, and then blast off and return safely back to the ship before re-entering earth's atmosphere.
The publicity was staggering. While Cid's first launch had mostly gone un-noticed, this time around, people flocked to the launch site in their thousands. Even the old Avalanche gang, consisting of Cloud, Marlene, Yuffie and Nanaki had shown up to wish him luck.
The landing was the most televised attempt in all history, however, something went wrong...
Begin Recording
Dateline: 16:21 5th Dominiquer, A.S. 4
Lander status: All systems nominal
Cid: Hello. Testing 1...2...3...Right, MC, ready to begin final decent.
MC: Roger Cid. The chick is ready to separate from the nest.
Shera: Confirmed
Cid: Right, starting down now...
t-minus 2 minutes to landing
MC: Cid...you're off centre by 0.9 degrees, fire the retro rockets.
Cid: Roger MC.
MC: Latitude stable. You're looking good.
Cid: Cloud, you there?
Cloud: We're all here
Marlene: Is he really going to land on the moon?
Yuffie: Hey old man! How you doing up there?
Cid: I'm doing great knowing that I'm far away from you...
MC: You're at 100 feet, looking good.
Cid: Wait a sec...is something moving down there?
MC: 50 feet. Burn!
Cid: Firing rocket.
MC: 30 feet...20...10...5...3....2...1...Touchdown! (Control erupts with cheers).
Cid: Right, let's have a look around. All readouts on the suit are green. Guess it's ok to go outside...oh shit...engine 4 is damaged...so is engine 3...now engine 2...oh god, something outside is tearing at the engines...
MC: Cid, what's going on up there!
Cid: I'm aborting the mission. I'm lifting off static interferes with the transmission Engine 1 is gone...clunk something is trying to force it's way in...clunk...come on lady luck, don't let me down now...
Recording ends
After the landing, it was assumed by everyone that Cid was dead. A robotic probe was sent to the moon shortly after, but soon after it landed, all contact was lost.
In Cid's will, he was particularly stingy with his property, and he seemed to leave everything to Shera. However, he did leave one thing in Avalanche's name, the Highwind II...
"So he just left it to you, just like that!" She was still trying to take in the grandness of the whole thing. Gazing around the cockpit, she took note of as many control consoles as she could see. "Are you seriously going to fly this thing!"
"No, but you are."
"What...are you mad?!"
"It's actually quite straightforward," she said, beckoning her to join he at the helm. "This station controls the Highwind's flight. The lever at the far left controls the altitude, the one on the right is the throttle. The yoke in the centre controls the airships yaw..." He went on to explain how to land, what to pull in case of and emergency and also how to send radio messages.
"But why do I have to fly it?"
"In my current state, one heart attack, or even one massive headache and we'll end up crashing into the sea. Which reminds me..." he reached underneath the console, and pulled out a first aid kit. Opening it, he took out some aspirin, which he pocketed, and pulled out a de-fibrillator. "If the worst does come to the worse, use this." He made some minor adjustments to it. "Adjust the voltage here..."
"And what am I supposed to do with it!"
"Just do what they always do on hospital programmes. And throw in a bit of the 'Please don't dies' for good measure."
How can he be making sick jokes at a time like this? "OK, so we're going to Cosmo Canyon, right."
"Right," Cloud winced, and he fumbled with the aspirin bottle.
"Well, which way do I go?"
He swallowed a couple of capsules. "Use a map!"
The publicity was staggering. While Cid's first launch had mostly gone un-noticed, this time around, people flocked to the launch site in their thousands. Even the old Avalanche gang, consisting of Cloud, Marlene, Yuffie and Nanaki had shown up to wish him luck.
The landing was the most televised attempt in all history, however, something went wrong...
Begin Recording
Dateline: 16:21 5th Dominiquer, A.S. 4
Lander status: All systems nominal
Cid: Hello. Testing 1...2...3...Right, MC, ready to begin final decent.
MC: Roger Cid. The chick is ready to separate from the nest.
Shera: Confirmed
Cid: Right, starting down now...
t-minus 2 minutes to landing
MC: Cid...you're off centre by 0.9 degrees, fire the retro rockets.
Cid: Roger MC.
MC: Latitude stable. You're looking good.
Cid: Cloud, you there?
Cloud: We're all here
Marlene: Is he really going to land on the moon?
Yuffie: Hey old man! How you doing up there?
Cid: I'm doing great knowing that I'm far away from you...
MC: You're at 100 feet, looking good.
Cid: Wait a sec...is something moving down there?
MC: 50 feet. Burn!
Cid: Firing rocket.
MC: 30 feet...20...10...5...3....2...1...Touchdown! (Control erupts with cheers).
Cid: Right, let's have a look around. All readouts on the suit are green. Guess it's ok to go outside...oh shit...engine 4 is damaged...so is engine 3...now engine 2...oh god, something outside is tearing at the engines...
MC: Cid, what's going on up there!
Cid: I'm aborting the mission. I'm lifting off static interferes with the transmission Engine 1 is gone...clunk something is trying to force it's way in...clunk...come on lady luck, don't let me down now...
Recording ends
After the landing, it was assumed by everyone that Cid was dead. A robotic probe was sent to the moon shortly after, but soon after it landed, all contact was lost.
In Cid's will, he was particularly stingy with his property, and he seemed to leave everything to Shera. However, he did leave one thing in Avalanche's name, the Highwind II...
"So he just left it to you, just like that!" She was still trying to take in the grandness of the whole thing. Gazing around the cockpit, she took note of as many control consoles as she could see. "Are you seriously going to fly this thing!"
"No, but you are."
"What...are you mad?!"
"It's actually quite straightforward," she said, beckoning her to join he at the helm. "This station controls the Highwind's flight. The lever at the far left controls the altitude, the one on the right is the throttle. The yoke in the centre controls the airships yaw..." He went on to explain how to land, what to pull in case of and emergency and also how to send radio messages.
"But why do I have to fly it?"
"In my current state, one heart attack, or even one massive headache and we'll end up crashing into the sea. Which reminds me..." he reached underneath the console, and pulled out a first aid kit. Opening it, he took out some aspirin, which he pocketed, and pulled out a de-fibrillator. "If the worst does come to the worse, use this." He made some minor adjustments to it. "Adjust the voltage here..."
"And what am I supposed to do with it!"
"Just do what they always do on hospital programmes. And throw in a bit of the 'Please don't dies' for good measure."
How can he be making sick jokes at a time like this? "OK, so we're going to Cosmo Canyon, right."
"Right," Cloud winced, and he fumbled with the aspirin bottle.
"Well, which way do I go?"
He swallowed a couple of capsules. "Use a map!"