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Deep in space, a small asteroid hurtles past many bright, glittering stars. Then it zooms through the Milky Way, passing Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. But as it approaches Earth, something enormous stands in the way - the moon. The small asteroid hits the moon's surface, drilling it's way deep into the moon's core. It finally stops deep in the moon's ground, leaving a long, narrow tunnel.
Meanwhile, on Earth, the year 2013 has just begun. In Florida, at NASA Space Station, three astronauts walk through an empty hallway. There are doors on both sides of the hallway, leading to other rooms and halls. One of the men is Jeff. He is about 29 years old. He has hair the color of the sparkling sands on the Florida beach. He has sky blue eyes, and is about 5 foot, 10 inches tall. Next to him is Steve. He has mud brown hair that comes down past his eyes. He has dark blue eyes, like the color of the sparkling, endless Atlantic Ocean. He is about 32 years old, and is married and has one son. He is 5 feet, 11 inches tall. Next to him is James. He, too, has brown hair, but his eyes are chocolate brown. He has just turned 30, and is 5 feet 11 inches tall.
Then, from one of the doors, bursts a man called Craig. He wears a white lab coat and dark blue pants. "Guys, I've been looking all over for you!" he says.
"Geez, what's wrong? It looks as if you've seen a ghost or somethin'!" says Jeff.
"Very nice, Jeff," says Craig.
"All right, what's the deal?" asks Steve.
"Something big has come up! One of our satellites spotted a hole maybe twenty or thirty feet long on the moon. We think maybe an asteroid or meteor may have hit it. But NASA wants to send out an expedition to examine the hole," Craig says.
"Sounds great! We're just going to jump into a hole that no one knows what's at the end of it, dodge falling rocks, and take lots of pictures and bring back lots of nice samples," Jeff says sarcastically.
"It's not as bad as it seems," Craig says.
"It sounds like fun. Count me in," James says.
"Me, too," says Steve.
"Me, three. When do we leave?" asks Jeff.
"You guys are scheduled in about a year. But training begins next week. Be at the simulation room at 5:30 A.M. Don't be late! See ya' guys then. Bye," Craig says as he leaves back into the room.
Days pass as the astronauts practice day by day for their mission. They need to master skills from taking off to going down the hole. So finally the training is done and the astronauts have only a week to say good-bye to their friends and family. Their ship, Falcon III is now ready for take off.
The week passes quickly, and the men have said their good-byes and are now putting on their spacesuits. As the men leave to board the craft, cameras flash, almost blinding them. But when they are finally inside the shuttle, the cameras die down, and people start running to avoid the fire and heat from the shuttle.
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, BLAST OFF!!" comes a voice from the loud speaker. The shuttle begins to lift in the air, and rises from the fire and smoke. "We have lift-off!" shouts the voice from the loud speaker. Everyone cheers as they watch the enormous rocket disappear into the blue sky.
Steve looks at the other astronauts. His heart beats nervously, for he is the leader, and he is responsible for his men. Jeff is anxious because he has never set foot on the moon. James is very excited, because he knows how walking on the moon feels, and he loves it!
Finally, the ship is in space. Steve turns off the major rockets as they float towards the moon.
"Well, that was fun," says Jeff.
"Don't worry Jeff. We're going to be seeing a lot more excitement soon. But now we can take it easy for a while," Steve says.
"Hey, guys, come and take a look at this!" shouts James. He points out of the window at Earth which floats beautifully in space. Everyone gasps at the amazing sight.
Days pass as the ship floats closer and closer to the moon. "Well, guys, we should be orbiting the moon at 0600 hours," says Steve.
"Man, time sure takes its sweet time in space, doesn't it!" asks Jeff.
"Yeah, I know how you feel. It seems as if we've been in here for months," James says.
Now the Falcon III is slowly orbiting the moon. "Houston, this is Steve from Falcon III. We're in position to land on the moon's at 30.582 degrees west on the bright side of the moon." says Steve over the radio.
"Copy that, Falcon III. You are go for landing procedures when ready," Houston replies.
"Are you guys ready?" Steve asks James and Jeff.
"Ready!" answers :Jeff.
"Same here," says James.
"Houston, we're starting landing procedures," Steve says.
Now the rocket comes closer and closer to the moon's surface. "We're going too fast!" James shouts. "Let's give it some more afterburn!"
The shuttle slows down as it heads towards a clearing on the moon. THUD!
"All right! We have a perfect landing!" shouts Steve.
"Nice work. Get ready to get out there and find a big old hole," Houston says.
The three men quickly and nervously slip into their heavy space suits. Steve picks up a big video camera which looks more like a big box with lenses on it's side. James picks up a camera, which looks similar but is a bit smaller.
"Got everything?" asks Steve.
"Yep," answer the two men.
"O.K. Let's move out," Steve says.
The doors open and the men are amazed by the beautiful sight of the moon - craters big and small are everywhere. The moons glows with a silver sheen.
"We're outside," says Steve.
"Good. Now head northeast for about one mile. There, you'll see the hole." Houston says.
"Follow me," Steve says.
The men follow Steve as he heads northeast. They move quickly because due to the low gravity, they can take long leaps. In no time, they're there.
Steve looks down the dark tunnel.
"Houston, the tunnel looks like it's about 20 feet. Jeff, get the flashlight," says Steve.
"Huh? Flashlight? Am I supposed to have a flashlight?" asks Jeff.
"Yes, from the pack," says James.
"Oh, yeah, the pack! I totally forgot about it ! Um, uh, guys.... I think I left it on the shuttle!" Jeff admits sheepishly.
"Well, then, go back and get it, you dope! I guess we'll have to wait for you. Houston, we'll be delayed a few minutes," says Steve.
Jeff hops back at a fast pace and finally after about three minutes he returns. On his back is a big light blue pack, like the color of his eyes. "Here's your crazy pack," he says.
"Good boy," James says.
"Now where was I? Oh, yeah, the flashlight. Jeff, get the flashlight," Steve says.
"One flashlight coming right up," Jeff says as he digs through the pack. He pulls out another strange gadget, which is like the recorder except it has a handle on top.
"Here you go," says Jeff.
"Thanks," Steve says. Steve carefully turns it on and a very bright light shines through it's lenses. Steve examines the hole and sees the bottom. "Yup, definitely an asteroid," Steve says to Houston. "We're going down."
Steve pulls out from the pack a long rope, which he ties around his waist and throws the other end to James. James immediately knows what's going to happen. James is going to hold onto the rope while Steve goes down the hole.
James was right. Steve begins to rappel down the hole. At first the rope seems to be light, but the longer James waits, the heavier it gets. All of the sudden, James begins to lose his balance, and Jeff quickly comes to help. But James also loses his balance and the three men tumble down the hole. Steve lands first, and starts to cuss and swear. But suddenly, James and Jeff land right on top of him. Everyone gets up, and Steve yells at James, "Now look! Because you have such lousy balance, we're all stuck down here!"
"Oh, yeah, well maybe if you went on a diet and weighed a little bit less I would have been able to bring you down safely," James says. "I thought things weighed less on the moon. But nooooo, you still take the cake!"
Jeff begins to laugh at them. He sits down on a small rock, but all of the sudden, the rock sinks down into the ground. The top of the hole closes, and the bottom of the asteroid vanishes, sending the three men down as if they are on a slide. They land with a thud on hard ground. As they look around themselves, they see that they are surrounded by buildings in the shapes of domes, pyramids, cubes, and other shapes. They look up and see a big crater with lights around it. Everyone is speechless as they look around.
Finally Jeff asks in a frantic tone, "Where in the universe are we!"
"I'll tell you one thing, we're not on the moon's surface," James says.
"No kidding! It looks as if we're under the moon!" says Steve. "I'll try and radio Earth. Houston, this is Falcon III. Do you copy?" All they hear is static.
Jeff quickly grabs the instrument and starts to scream, "Houston, May Day! May Day! We're stuck somewhere! Help us, please! Do you hear me?" Still the only response they hear is static. Jeff throws the telecom and the ground and stomps on it in anger. James tries to calm Jeff down while Steve walks towards the tallest building. The building is long and narrow. On top of it is a large window that goes all around, and a big satellite. As he enters, James and Jeff follow. Inside there is a spiral staircase that goes up to the top.
At the top, they find lots of switches, buttons, and dials. Everything seems to be on and working fine. Steve was about to push a few buttons, but was stopped by Jeff.
"I don't think pushing all these buttons would help. We don't know what they do. Something might go wrong!" says Jeff.
"You're right! Let's get out of here!" Steve says.
When they got out, James picks a place to go. He picks a place next to the tower, which was very long. It has windows surrounding it but the curtains were drawn, so they can't see in. The door opened with a loud SCREECH ! What they see shocks them all. They all stand speechless as they stare at a human ...
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