Author's note

This chapter features a guest appearance by Nadia & Jean from Nadia the secret of blue water. Which is owned by NHK, Toho, and Korad.

Enjoy

Chapter 2

The next morning, the world fair opened to the public. And thousands of people from across the globe came to see all the groundbreaking inventions that would make their grand debut there. Without a doubt, the invention on everyone's mind and lips was Appare's space gun. Jules Verne himself showed up to see his literary work brought to life and personally congratulated Appare on his success. He told him he was very proud that his book was able to inspire someone to take such a massive step in the field of science and exploration. Appare tried to act humble, but he was ecstatic that the man who wrote his favorite book liked what he made. Another important person who was impressed with Appare's work was then vice president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. He had read all about the young inventor's daring exploits during the wild race, and was very eager to meet him, as well as see his latest creation. He enthusiastically gave Appare a firm hearty handshake; told him how much he enjoyed the feel of the steam powered car that he had bought from BNW, and how he was greatly anticipating the space gun launch later that night. "I hope to hear about everything you find there directly from your own mouth" he said in his usual gung-ho demeanor. Appare liked the mustachioed American and agreed to share his discoveries with him. However, it wasn't all fun conversations with interesting people. Three times an hour, the poor man had to explain how it worked, and why they wouldn't see it in action until nightfall to crowd after crowd of awestruck patrons. It was the one thing he hadn't counted on when he built the space gun; finally around noon he gave Al a page of lines and snuck away while his more outgoing friend addressed the audience.

Meanwhile, Jing and Joshua were strolling about enjoying the fair's festivities. They did get a few ugly scowls of disapproval from some very snobby bigots, but they didn't faze the couple; most people were so wrapped up in having fun that they didn't even notice them. When they returned to the tent Al was nowhere to be seen; he had gone to fetch some food for Sophia, leaving Kosame to guard the space gun from potential saboteurs. Hototo was near by taking a nap in preparation for the long journey ahead. There wasn't the usual crowd, just a young man talking with Appare (assumingly about the space gun). He stood a little taller than Appare himself, with a slim frame and sandy brown hair, his glasses were round and little too big for his caucasian face. Standing at a respectful distance from their conversation, was a young woman and a little boy they figured was her son. She was equally slim, and her skin was as dark as Joshua's; her hair however was straight, and purple, and came down to her shoulders. Like Jing, her midriff was bare since her white button up shirt was tightly knotted at the bottom. Her red skirt came to down to her knees and she wore golden hoop earrings. The boy (who looked like a mixture of the two strangers), was the first to notice Jing and Joshua and tugged on his mother's arm to get her attention. She turned and smiled, having recognized Jing from newspaper coverage of the wild race, and introduced herself as Nadia. "And this is my son Nemo" she said gently bringing him forward, who then offered a shy hello. "Is that your father over there talking with my friend?" asked Jing, kneeling down to the boy's eye level. "Yes" he replied cheerfully; "my papa is a huge fan of monsieur Sorano's work, so when he heard about him unveiling his latest invention here in France, he had to see it for himself." "That's Jean for you" said Nadia shaking her head with her hands on her hips, "always trying to balance his love for Nemo & me with his love for inventions." "He loves us more Mama, I know he does," said Nemo; "I do too honey" Nadia replied lightly squeezing the boy's cheeks who giggled a little in response. Indeed, Jean kept looking back at his wife & son during his conversation with Appare, who trusted the young Frenchman was listening even if he wasn't looking at him. "Between you and me, Nadia and I have already been to outer space" Jean said looking up at the space gun, "but all things considered it was not a pleasant experience, and we didn't go anywhere near the moon as far as I know." This gave Appare pause; "when did you go to space and how?" he asked with surprise. "That's a very long story" said Jean sheepishly "perhaps Nadia and I could tell you about it when you return. You know to be fully honest I envy you Appare; not only are you going where no one has gone before, but you're doing so in a vessel of your own design. My friend Hanson and I could never have built something this magnifique even if we had five years to do it." Appare still wasn't used to people praising his work, even though it was nice to hear. So he told Jean that he was selling himself short and could easily make something just as impressive if he tried. "Perhaps you and I can work on something together someday" he said. "I'd love to!" Jean replied, and the two shook hands to cement the agreement.

As the sun sank lower in the western sky of France, the people started to pull away from everything else the fair had to offer and drew towards the space gun. Around six o'clock Al's employees began taking down the tent that concealed it, so that come nightfall it would be in the open air, and Appare would have a clear shot at the full moon. By eight o'clock, everyone had gathered around the space gun, trembling with excitement and anticipation. Appare was equally excited but also a very nervous; despite all his calculations and safety tests the odds of the whole thing ending in disaster were high, and it wasn't just his life on the line but the lives of everyone he loved, all of whom had families to return to. He and the others were in the back, changing into their spacesuits while the crowd waited in near silence. Sophia stood next to Miaka in the front row; she understood that while she was used to her husband going off on potentially dangerous adventures, Miaka was not. So she held her hand and whispered a prayer that everything would go according to plan. Recca was hanging off his mother's hip while his sister was perched upon Joshua's shoulders (she had never seen a person of color before and took an instant liking to him). Hototo's mother stood on Miaka's left, still very worried about her son. Recca could sense her anxiety and asked his mother to put him down so that he could hold her hand; it was just what she needed, and she smiled at the boy for being so compassionate. Finally Appare and his crew stepped out from behind the space gun and into view of the crowd, fully dressed in their spacesuits; the whiteness of which made them pop out against the darkness of the night. Everyone cheered, but a few of the children in the crowd laughed including Recca, Kaoru, and Nemo, who thought the portly spacesuits made them look like marshmallow men. Once again, Al explained to the audience that the cannon used carbonated water to launch the ship (much like popping a cork off a bottle of champagne). Once the ship was airborne, the internal combustion engine would kick in and take them the rest of the way. Meanwhile, Appare did one last maintenance inspection and inventory check. The ship within the space gun contained oxygen tanks, backup fuel, food, and water enough for eight days: as well as some weapons, a toolbox, spare parts, a telescope, a first aid kit, and five cameras with plenty of film. Al had finished his speech just before Appare signaled that everything was ready, and without delay the courageous adventurers filed into the hatch door at the base of the space gun. "So, where's the ship?" Kosame asked. They were standing in a narrow corridor with a round platform at the end of it. "The ship is above us" Appare responded; "that platform there is an elevator that will lift us up directly into it" he said pointing down the corridor. Before they reached the top of the shaft, Appare mentioned that he had asked Sophia to help him design the interior of the ship, to ensure that it would be as comfortable as possible. And upon their initial examination, the cockpit did indeed look very inviting and cozy. It was very well lit, with five cushioned chairs bolted to the floor. Appare went straight for the seat closest to the dashboard and the rest followed suit. The night sky was crystal clear, so Appare had no trouble lining up the space gun with moon (for it wasn't exactly where he thought it would be in the sky at that hour). Everyone outside held their breath as the space gun shifted its direction and angle to the sound of massive cogs and gears clicking against each other. As soon as Appare had the full moon dead centered in his viewfinder, he turned to his crew and said, "strap yourselves in and hold on tight, because Here We Go!" He then pulled down the large lever on his right, and less than a second later all four of them jerked back in their seats as the ship took off with a speed none of them had felt before. Kosame screamed in terror, but Appare just grinned like he was mad and shouted "Yahoo!" The crowd outside jumped back with surprise when space gun went off, sounding as loud as thunder. Joshua suspected the firing of the gun would be loud, so he advised Kaoru to plug her ears in advance while he did the same. She could easily follow the bullet shaped capsule as it rose higher and higher against the darkness; until it was a tiny black speck on the moon's silvery face. "Goodbye daddy!" She shouted as if her father could hear her, "he'll be back little sister" said Joshua reassuringly. "I know" she replied as if she already believed it, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to reassure him.

The ship grew hot as it struggled to escape Earth's atmosphere. Appare and his crew could feel their organs crash into each other as the ship rattled mercilessly. Thankfully it stopped once they were clear of the atmosphere, but there was no time to breathe a sigh of relief, for they had come up on the moon much faster than Appare had originally anticipated. At the speed they were going, they all would've died on impact if he didn't take immediate action. So he gripped the controls and jerked them backwards as hard as he could to stir the ship upward. It felt like the mussels in his arms were being ripped apart, sweat was dripping from every part of his body, and his nose had begun to bleed, but Appare kept on shifting all of his weight against his chair to keep the ship from crashing. As he had hoped for it worked, instead of smashing its nose against the broadside of the moon, the ship started to rise toward the top. In a way, the ship went into low orbit (only 10 miles above the moon's surface); going from north to south instead of east to west. While this was happening Appare was able to slow down the ship and bring it closer to the ground. Jing, Al, and Hototo had an excellent view of the moon below from the windows on each side of the ship; Kosame however refused to open his eyes until they were back on solid ground. After vertically orbiting the moon 5 times, Appare had gotten the ship low enough that he felt comfortable setting it down. Granted the landing was still bumpy, but it could've been a lot worse if not for his quick thinking. When the ship finally came to a complete stop Appare said in his usual dry manner, "well, that took less time than I theorized." He then took out a notebook to write down that the journey from Earth to the moon only took approximately 5 minutes. "So" said Appare turning back to face his friends; "who wants to go first?" "I do!" Said Hototo, still reeling from the adrenaline rush of the launch; without hesitation he unbuckled himself, leapt from his chair, and made straight for the door (while Kosame made straight for the bathroom to vomit). However Jing caught Hototo by the arm before he could open the door. "This is Appare's expedition" she said, "it's only fair that he be the first to set foot on the moon." Hototo agreed, so long as he could set foot on the moon before Al to fulfil a promise he made to his mother. Al was fine with the arraignment, and as soon as Kosame had finished in the bathroom, the explorers each grabbed an oxygen tank and a camera and lined up at the door: with Appare going first, then Hototo, then Jing, then Al, and finally Kosame bringing up the rear (still physically drained from barfing). Taking a deep breath, Appare turned the valve wheel and opened the door.

The landscape was far more impressive in person than it was from the view of a small circular window. While it was flat and barren with numerous craters of varying sizes as far as the eye could see, there was still an air of tranquility and even beauty in its loneliness. The first thing Appare noticed as he stepped out on to the moon's gray sand was how many stars he could see overhead (more stars than you could see from Earth); the sight was so beautiful that it brought a tear to his eye. An idea suddenly came to him, and he led the group to the back of the ship to see if the planet they'd left behind was still visible. Needless to say, it was very strange for everyone to see their home world from such a position; they could easily make out the bright blue oceans, the green of the continents, and the white clouds that thinly veiled them. "It's beautiful" Jing said staring at the large floating sphere. "You know I really hate to admit this, but Christopher Columbus was right, the earth really is round" said Hototo. "I've often wondered if that was the case" Kosame replied, "now that I can see it for myself, I know without a doubt it is." Suddenly Al pointed and told everyone to look up; just beyond the earth was a star not much bigger than the others, but far brighter. "That must be the sun" Jing exclaimed in amazement. "It looks so small from out here, but still beautiful." Al responded. This whole time Appare remained completely silent; he was absorbing and processing everything he was seeing. While he was a little disappointed that there were no signs of life anywhere to be seen, this was still a monumental leap forward for humanity; space was truly the final frontier, and he and his friends were blazing the trail. "Well" he said, clapping his hands together as if he regained his senses, "let's get some pictures so we'll have irrefutable proof that we were here." And indeed, they took many pictures with their five cameras; each taking turns posing in the frame. They took pictures of the landscape, the earth, the sun, the stars, and a group shot in front of the ship. A little while after this, Appare was looking for other planets through the telescope while the others were gathering moon rocks nearby, when Kosame bounced over to talk to him. The sensation of weightlessness was indeed a novel one for everybody, and while the others embraced it with varying levels of amazement and enthusiasm, Kosame found it made getting around more cumbersome than he would've liked. "Don't tell me you're planning on going to Mars next" he said in a joking manner even though he was deadly serious. "Nah, I'm an inventor not an explorer; space is too vast for one person to catalog in a single lifetime, and there's still plenty of work to do on earth. Which I'm rather fond of believe it or not." Kosame couldn't help but laugh at that last part; most of the time he honestly felt like Appare was completely indifferent to his surroundings so long as he was able to tinker without interference. So hearing that he not only liked Earth, but was also aware that he may not buy that was a genuine surprise to him. "Anyway, I think we've collected enough evidence to remove any shred of doubt that we made it to the moon. What do you say we head back home and surprise everyone by coming back the same hour we left, instead of a week later?" "I'm all for that idea" said Kosame, but before he could take a single step towards the ship, he noticed something that made him gasp.

"Appare, do you see what I see?" he said in a whispered panic, taking his friend and turning him to his left. About 20 feet away from where they were standing was a small crater, and sitting just behind the rim of it was a tiny blue head with black nappy hair. Its silver-colored eyes blinked occasionally to indicate that the child like creature was indeed alive. For at least a minute or two, Appare and Kosame starred at the blue creature, neither one of them daring to make a single sound or any sudden movements. Shortly afterwards the little blue face was joined by another, and another, and another; each had its own unique features the same way human faces do, and all of them starred at the two young men like they were something they'd never seen before (because they were). Appare was awestruck, there were actual living people on the moon, granted they didn't look like he'd imagined they would, but this was still an astounding revaluation. Then more heads started popping up, larger heads, belonging to adults. And soon not just heads but whole bodies were coming up out of the crater and walking towards them. Aside from their blue skin and possessing either gold, silver, or bronze irises, the aliens looked more or less like humans. The first few adults to step out didn't seem hostile, and they didn't possess any weapons that they could see, but Kosame and Appare were still a little uneasy, especially Kosame who remembered that he had left his sword on the ship. More and more of them were coming up to meet them, and not just out of that crater either. Before long, blue people seemed to be rising from every crater they could see, and many of them were dressed in armor and carried long metallic spears! "Make for the ship!" Kosame cried and the men started hopping back the way they came as fast as their legs could carry them. Jing, Al, and Hototo were just a few feet ahead of them, and already in full flight. Appare was a little relived that the blue people didn't seem able to keep up with him and his friends (almost like they were as tightly bound to the moon's gravity as humans are to earth's), but he knew that if they kept on coming it would only be a matter of time before their numbers cut them off from the ship, which was still 200 yards away. As they were running Kosame admitted that while he initially disliked the low gravity, he was now grateful that it gave them an edge against these aliens. Safety was within their reach, but when they came upon the ship, they saw that Appare's fears had come true. There was a line of aliens standing in front of the ship; observing it like an exhibit in a museum. Only two of them were armed, and there were a lot of children among them, but the crew realized with horror that there was no getting to the ship now. The crowd in front of the ship suddenly turned to face our heroes as the other aliens closed in on them from all sides. As the armed soldiers among them forced their way to the front of the crowd, Appare was certain that he and his friends were doomed. "I'm really sorry I dragged you guys into this" he said, his voice full of shame and regret. "It's alright Appare, you couldn't have known there'd be people living here" Jing said placing her hand on his shoulder. "Besides you'll think of some way out of this, you always do," said Al. Those words restored his confidence, and immediately he started working on a plan in his head, as the crowd of aliens drew in closer and closer.