A Lunar Vacation
It was a dark and a bit dingy evening. I was in my lab in the basement, busily at work drawing blueprints for a rocket invention. Meanwhile, Mom, Dad and Destiny were in the living room, deep in concentration.
Destiny, as usual, had her head buried in her detective guide books and detective stories, while Mom and Dad were wrestling with a particular problem. Mom and Dad had a four-day weekend coming in a week or two and scattered all about them are travel brochures, volumes on holiday fun and magazines about desirable destinations. But still...
Gertrude: It's a problem to decide on where to go.
And Mom was right! Earlier, we pondered over camping that day, but frankly, you can't trust the weather. Then, Dad considered the colorful prospectus of Club 18 to 45 vacations. Lively getaway vacations for the younger set, but the rest of us didn't agree to the idea. Besides, how would we fit in? How would we cope with the dancing and the volleyball?
Anyways, as Dad flicked through an international picnic guide, he decided on what is always a very present help in time of trouble.
Chester: I'll go have a nice hot cup of tea.
He always had the kettle of water at boil and soon, Dad had his tea ready and got his crackers from the cupboard. He had no problem until he opened the fridge.
Chester: Oh, no cheese! Not a bit in the house.
Now, Dad always enjoyed having cheese on his crackers while he has his tea, but this time it's true, there was not a single slice of cheese left. Dad's heart sank! But as he sipped his tea and munched on a cracker, Dad suddenly had an idea.
Chester: (thinking) That's it! We'll go somewhere where there is lots of cheese.
Dad was already searching through his guide to cheese vacations for places you would find cheese when Destiny looked up from her detective manual and noticed that I wasn't in the living room.
Destiny: (thinking) Now, where has my brother gone?
Of course, Destiny, being a detective, knew where I might be. And she was right!
Destiny: Gilbert, what are doing?
Gilbert: I'm building a spaceship, so I can fly to the moon to do some scientific researches. But I could use some help on finding test samples.
Destiny: Can I help?
Gilbert: Of course, sis!
When Destiny got back to the living room, she told Mom and Dad what I was doing.
Chester: I should go too! Everybody knows the moon's made of cheese.
Gertrude: Oh, Chester! No one could believe that.
Mom was right to point it out. But Dad was so busy thinking about cheese that he wasn't listening. But when I heard Mom talking, a thought came to my head.
Gilbert: (thinking) If the moon isn't made of cheese, then what IS it made of?
Just before my bedtime, I had finished the blueprints for my spaceship. In the blueprints, the spaceship looked like a shuttle. I designed a cozy cabin for six people. That was where I should operate the flying instruments. In the back, I designed the spaceship's thrusters and turbo boosters.
The next morning with the designs complete, I went right to work. I gathered the materials I needed, like wood, metal, glass, comfy seats, and other things I need. Over the next few days, the spaceship took shape. I sawed the wood to the right shapes, I drilled the holes, I hammered the pieces together, I soldered the metal, I worked on the electrical devices and I painted the spaceship. At last, I could stand back, look up and admired my handiwork. My spaceship was ready! When Mom and Dad's four-day weekend off came, I brought them to the launch bay, next door to my lab.
Gilbert: Behold, the Electron Space Streaker!
Destiny: Woah, it's wonderful!
Gertrude: I'll say! You must have put a lot of effort into it, Gilbert.
Gilbert: I sure did, Mom! And I made some spacesuits to go with it. They're in the spaceship!
Then, the four of us climbed aboard. I sat in the driver's seat at the controls, testing the electronic instrumentation while Mom, Dad and Destiny were checking out the creature comforts I installed in the cabin. Destiny saw I had my science equipment on board. Then, she sat at the seat next to mine.
Gilbert: Everything seems to be under control. Time to be on our way. Everyone all set?
Destiny: All set!
All the lights and instruments flashed in a most satisfactory manner, which reminded me of another vital stage in our pre-take-off routine. I contacted my computer program, Zeldox using the Space Streaker's computer.
Gilbert: Zeldox, open the launch bay doors!
Zeldox: Opening launch bay doors!
Above us, the metallic trapdoors in the clearing behind our backyard slid open. Mom sat down in her seat behind Destiny's seat.
Gertrude: Your father and I brought some things for the trip.
Destiny: That's great, Mom!
I looked through the front window and there, hanging silent and silver in the starlit sky was the moon itself, as though in welcome. But then, a thought struck Dad. He rummaged in the luggage and found his thermos of tea, Mom's gardening magazines, Destiny's detective kit, but...
Chester: (thinking) No crackers! I've forgotten my crackers!
Dad hurried out of the ship and back to the kitchen. He quickly grabbed some packages of crackers and hurried back into the ship, just in time for me to push the door close button on the control panel. Dad placed his crackers in the cargo hold and sat in his seat behind my seat. The door on the Space Streaker closed and the take-off ramp began to rise.
Gilbert: Hang on tight, everyone! This is gonna get rough!
I quickly activated the restraints and the countdown began.
Computer: 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...BLAST OFF!
The rockets and thrusters fired and the Space Streaker rocketed off to space. We were on our way to the moon! Interplanetary flight wasn't comfy at first, I'll admit, with lights flashing and buttons waggling in and out. But once the course was set, it was smooth sailing. Destiny got the playing cards out and decided to build a card house, while Mom and Dad did some reading. Well, come to think of it, what else is there to do on a flight to the moon? Mom dug out the camera and took a picture of Destiny, hard at work on her house of cards. As the minutes ticked by, various of my instruments stared to slow down.
Gilbert: Strange!
But all was explained when a piece of toast pooped out from a slot below the control panel. You see, I had a feeling Dad might be hungry on the trip. So, I had pre-setted the toast back at home.
Chester: Nicely done, son!
Dad was appreciatively flicking the last crumbs from his coat, when a blue light began to flash and signals rang out. I glanced through the window. The moon was nearly upon us! To Dad, it certainly looked cheese looking. I adjusted the angle of thrust and steadied the ship for landing. Then, touchdown! The Space Streaker landed perfectly on the moon. Unfortunately, the impact was too much for the house of cards and it collapsed under Destiny's nose. For a moment, she had a disappointed look on her face and I felt regretting about the impact, but needs are a must when you're landing a spaceship on the moon.
When the Space Streaker landed on the moon, my family and I put on our spacesuits and went outside. I can only describe the lunar landscape as... well, spiky. And that the moon was covered with any number of spikes. Some as high as a hill and others as low as an average man's ankle sock. Anyways, while Destiny and I went to find some test samples, Mom decided to take some pictures of the lunar landscape and Dad wandered off to do some searching of his own.
Destiny: Gosh, the moon floor is flat. Apart from the spikes!
Destiny had a point there!
Gilbert: I bet I can examine some of these spikes for my research.
I cut off some spikes from the lunar landscape. Meanwhile, it turns out Dad had a very similar idea. He had cut his own set of lunar spikes and he headed back to the ship. Back on board the Space Streaker, Dad had his tea ready.
Chester: This should get the taste buds going.
After his tea, Dad's thoughts turned to matters of cheese. He prepared his essentials: a plate, a knife, and a cracker. Then, he cut a piece of one of the cheesy looking lunar spikes, placed the portion on his cracker and bit it. Well, the taste had him perplexed! Perplexed is science talk for confused!
Chester: (thinking) What sort of cheese is this? Stilton? Cheddar? Camembert?
It wasn't any of those! That's when Dad had to admit it.
Chester: It's like no cheese I've ever tasted.
Meanwhile, Mom had taken lots of photos of the lunar landscape, so she went back to the ship.
At the same time, Destiny and I had gathered samples of Lunar spikes, samples of moon dust and moon rocks. We hadn't gone very far when I saw something alone among the spikes. We went to have a closer look! It looked like a coin slot machine with a door.
Destiny: What is it, Gilbert?
Gilbert: If I'm not mistaken, it looks like some sort of a moon machine.
Destiny: It doesn't seem to be moving, though. Not to mention, it looks old.
It WAS old! The moon machine was covered in dust and its paint was faded.
Gilbert: I think it was sent here for a mission and had been forgotten a long time ago.
Not one to resist an experiment, I pushed a dime into the coin slot. No response! Not even when I tested one of the handles.
Destiny: Never mind, Gilbert! Let's get back to the ship.
I reluctantly agreed! Mom and Dad would have probably wondered where we were. Little did we know was that shortly after we left, the moon machine started to move. Two robotic arms came out of the sides of its body, it scratched its head and straightened its antenna. The machine opened the door on its chest and pulled out a telescope. With it, the machine saw something on the ground. It was a skiing brochure that had dropped from Dad's pocket. The machine picked up the brochure and admired it, then started dreaming about skiing down the snowy mountains.
Meanwhile back on board the Space Streaker, I was doing some science experiments on the test subjects Destiny and I collected. At the same time, Destiny was looking at her detective book, Mom was looking at the pictures she took and Dad was still testing the cheese-like lunar spikes.
Chester: Hmm, it can't be Camembert! This is something I never tasted. It tastes like cheese, but it's like no cheese I've ever tasted.
Gertrude: But, Chester, I told you before that the moon isn't really made out of cheese.
Gilbert: Unfortunately, Mom's right, Dad! According to these tests, it's a mixture of oxygen, silicon, magnesium, iron, calcium, and aluminum mixed in with titanium, uranium, thorium, potassium, and hydrogen.
Chester: Perhaps, but it has a taste of cheese. Try it!
And Dad handed a Lunar spike piece to each of us. We took a little nibble. It was true! The spikes tasted like cheese. Just then, we heard a knock on the ship's door and the unmistakable tones of a slot machine running out of money. I put on my spacesuit, opened the door and there was the moon machine. It must have seen the Space Streaker!
Gilbert: You've been alone on the moon for a long time, haven't you?
I brought the moon machine on board, closed the door, and took off my spacesuit. I couldn't just leave an old machine all alone. I strapped the moon machine down tightly, placed another dime in the machine's slot and it came back to life.
Gilbert: Don't worry! We'll take you back to Earth and then you can be repaired.
Destiny: Does that mean-?
Gilbert: That's right, sis! Time to go home!
The moon machine seemed excited when it heard that we were going home. Mom, Dad, Destiny, and I got into our seats, activated the restraints, and activated launch. The Space Streaker's engines and rockets fired and the ship blasted off into the skies of Outer Space once again. As Dad settled down to a plate of Luna Cheese and crackers, he realized we had brought pleasure to our new moon machine friend. And as we rocketed back to Earth, we Electrons have to agree that it was the best Lunar Vacation we ever had.