Elle opened her eyes and groaned. She felt woozy, and her head felt strangely light.

  She was lying on her back looking at the stars. Just for a moment she thought she was a little kid again. It was a late night in the dog days of summer and she was in the backyard with her grandfather searching the sky for constellations: The Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, Lyra, The Swan, The Dragon, The Frog…..

  Wait, what? That wasn’t a constellation, was it?

  Elle tried to focus. It wasn't a constellation, it was a floating blob. Elle blinked several times. The small floating object eclipsing her view was a concerned-looking frog.

  The ground, with its soft fluffy patches of grass and clover, seemed less and less comfortable. In fact, it was downright hard, more like pieces of cold shells digging into her back. She shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position while her mind tried to understand what she was seeing.

  “Why are you lying down? Are you doing the sleeps?” Moonie asked.

  The pleasant memories of star-gazing faded away quickly, replaced by the strangeness of the last few hours. Elle groaned groggily and shook her head.

  “Good—there is no time for sleeps. Follow me,” Moonie said. “The meeting begins soon.”

  His voice sounded strange to Elle, and her head felt fuzzy, like she was a mile underwater, “Hhhnugggh?……What just happened? Is it night already?” she asked. As she blinked her eyes, Moonie floated fuzzily in and out of focus. Maybe she had a concussion, she though muzzily.

  “We are at the Roving Station, and the Council meeting begins soon,” he said, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

  “You know, most of that sentence didn’t make sense, Moonie,” Elle said, rubbing her head and sitting up, glancing around. She froze, shocked into silence. The school football field was nowhere to be seen.

  “Moonie---what’s happening? Where are we?” Elle asked, shakily getting to her feet. She tried to make sense of her surroundings, but it was a sight that few have ever seen without a hard whack to the back of the head or a handful of colorful mushrooms.

  They were in a space roughly the same size as a football field, but rather than an open field of grass, it was an enormous translucent room. The floor, tiled with iridescent stone, gold, and glass forming an intricate mosaic, was illuminated with a dim, source-less glow. But Elle wasn’t looking at the floor. She was looking up, in a trance.

  The ceiling was breathtaking. At least a mile high, the giant transparent dome revealed an endless inky sky scattered with an array of the brightest stars Elle had ever seen. She felt like she was in a giant snow globe, but with stars, rather than snow, sprinkling from above. Elle’s gaze was drawn to the wall of glass directly in front of her and the unopposed view of the horizon, a grey, pock-marked surface of an endless desert. She took in the twilight landscape, craters, peaks and valleys in the distance, and the endless, perpetually gray horizon that rushed up to meet the black void of the sky.

  Elle tried to run to the edge of the room to get a better view of the landscape, but she didn’t get one step before she nearly fell over. She caught herself and took another small, tentative step. Her leg moved slowly through the air; she had little….no, she had virtually no control of the limb. She tried her other leg, and panicked when it happened again, “Something’s wrong with my legs, Moonie! I think I’m having a stroke!”

  “Excellent,” said Moonie, clearly not listening, “Come, we will be late,” he turned about began floating towards a glass archway at the end of the giant room.

  “Wait!” Elle cried, “What’s going on? Why can’t I walk? Where are we? Are we dead for real this time?” she shouted at his retreating form. She tried to follow him, but only made it a few feet. It felt like she was jumping though the shallow end at the local pool.

  “Negative. We are on Luna,” Moonie said, floating onward.

  “Where?" Elle asked, trying to speed up, but still lagging behind Moonie like a semi-deflated balloon. “Why are you deserting me when I’m having a medical emergency, here?”

  “You are not having an emergency. Probably,” Moonie said, quietly and unconvincingly.

  “But… wait up… I’ve never heard of ‘Luna’, where is it?”

  “You have never heard of Luna?” Moonie said, finally stopping abruptly, and turning around with an incredulous mauve color. “Perhaps you have slept through too many educational sessions at school….”

  “What are you talking about? Is this about math again?” Elle demanded.

  “No, it’s about you not knowing Luna, the moon of your earth,” he said. “Where we are located.”

  Dead silence.

  Elle bobbed in front of him. “Ok, that’s really funny,” she said, sarcastically.

  “I am not attempting to be humorous,” Moonie said, looking anxious. “We are on Luna.”

  “You’re talking about the moon,” Elle said, flatly.

  “We are talking about the moon. Correct,” Moonie said anxiety growing, “Are you having trouble understanding me? Maybe you are having a medical emergency…let me see your tongue….”

  “You mean the moon-moon.” Elle said, interrupting him, a slightly shriller tone edging into her voice.

  “The moon-moon? Ahhh, is that how you call it? Yes- we are on your ‘moon-moon’,” Moonie said, calming down, not noticing the signs of mental collapse happening on Elle’s face.

  “YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT THE MOON?” Elle’s voice broke as she suddenly shouted.

  Looking concerned, Moonie flashed a surprisingly bright red, “Why are you yelling?”

  “Because you’re being ridiculous,” Elle said, waving her arms which felt like they were about to fly off. “We were just on the football field at school, and now we’re in this weird building, and you’re trying to tell me it’s the moon,” she finished.

  “Yes. You have never been?” Moonie asked.

  “Uh—NO!—only a few people in the world have ever been to the moon!” Elle said.

  Moonie chirped, “I think not,” he said, gesturing towards the end of the room.

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  Elle ripped her gaze away from Moonie and finally noticed that there were people walking, floating and bobbing through the grand room. On closer inspection, however, the people had only a vague resemblance to people. Some had too many arms, or legs. Most were aliens, Elle realized. She sank to the beautifully tiled ground, very slowly, her head spinning.

  “What is this place?” She breathed, dumbfounded.

  “The Roving Station. It was built on your moon several centuries ago by the Founders of the Republic,” Moonie said, “But this is just the entrance. Come and see the rest of the station,” he said, enthusiastically, gesturing towards the end of the room towards an archway where the aliens were converging.

  “But…but…but… how is this possible? Wouldn’t someone notice a space station on the moon? I mean, I would think it would be hard to keep that a secret,” Elle said, barely able to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

  “This is a Roving Station. It is in geosynchronous orbit, which means that it is always moving, always behind the moon. You cannot see it from Earth. It is undetectable by all normal telescopes,” Moonie explained.

  “OK, that’s pretty genius,” Elle conceded. “But wouldn’t like….NASA know about it? I’m pretty sure those guys would figure that out. They’re pretty smart.”

  “Yes, some humans do know about it, of course. But it is not in their interest to let others know.”

  “Let me get this straight. You’re telling me we are literally on the moon?” Elle said, slowly. “In a station that was built centuries ago by some mysterious “Founders of the Republic,” and NASA and the government have been keeping it a secret from us for years….?”

  “Yes, now we should move with the faster speed. We have a meeting.” Moonie said.

  “But how? How did we get here?” Elle asked Moonie’s retreating form, but got no answer.

  Elle stared at the sky, trying to take in everything Moonie had just said. “This has got to be some sort of messed-up dream,” she concluded. “Ok, fine, let’s go. Don’t want to be late for the secret meeting and keep the aliens waiting for….Wait—where’s Ms. Schmidt? Wasn’t she just here?” Elle said, stopping abruptly halfway through her sarcastic rant, looking around. “I swear I was just holding her hand….”

  “Come-all will be explained,” he said briskly.

  “Hold up! I can’t move as quickly as you!” Elle said, trying to walk again, and slowly hopping. After a few moments of slow motion jumping, she couldn’t help but grin. “This is actually really cool,” she said. “One large step for women…..one large leap for womankind….” she said, laughing.

  “Once we are through security, the gravity is restored to near-earth levels,” he said, pointing a toe pad towards an entrance near the edge of the room.

  “Oh,” Elle said, slightly disappointed that she wouldn’t be moon-walking much longer. Just when she had the hang of it…..

  They slowly made their way over to the edge of the giant room and approached an ornate archway. As she bounced slowly and gracefully through the archway, Elle stumbled as gravity instantly returned—Elle felt like she had gained 50 lbs all at once, and she had to resist the urge to lay down.

  Once Elle recalibrated her weight and balance, she noticed a line forming near the entrance to a long, wide tunnel made of mosaic tiles.

  Moonie chirped a clipped two-note sound. “What?” Elle asked, alarmed, noticing Moonie’s annoyance, as they joined the end of the line of people-creatures. “What are we waiting for?” she whispered.

  “Security,” Moonie said, a note of irritation tinging his usually bright demeanor. Security?! Elle thought, mildly panicking.

  As they shuffled closer, Elle’s melt-down was momentarily distracted by a huge iridescent creature near the front of the line. It looked like a distant relative to the dung-beetle, except that it was well over six feet tall with protruding eye stalks on the side of its head. It was wearing a ridiculously small hat, with an even smaller laser attached to a large belt. On its chest (thorax?) it had a badge with some writing that Elle assumed was alien for “Security.” Even with its distorted facial features, Elle could tell that it had a distinctively disgruntled expression. Maybe all giant alien dung beetles looked this way, or maybe it was because it was the fate of security guards everywhere in the universe to be pissed-off by their jobs.

  “I…uh…forgot my passport at home, Moonie,” Elle whispered urgently, watching the line getting shorter in front of the giant creature.

  “Not important—your passport is not useful here. Also, we do not want anyone to know where you are from,” Moonie said, bluntly. “Humans are… technically not welcome here.”

  “Technically not welcome?! Oh great. What do you mean?” Elle hissed. “Wait--it’s our moon! We should be like royalty here or something,” Elle whispered.

  “It is no problem,” Moonie said, looking around, nonchalantly. Elle knew that look; he was scoping out the area.

  “You know, coming from you, that isn’t very comforting,” Elle said. “Last time you said that, someone started shooting at us.”

  “It is just a weapons check. Lasers are confiscated here. If anyone enters the Station with a weapon, it is removed and impounded," he explained patiently. “Now we are getting close. It will be no problem. You are with me,” he said. “Try not to look too human,” he added, as Elle tried to comprehend everything he just said.

  “’Try not to look too human’?” Elle wondered aloud. They moved several paces forward. Moonie said, “Yes. If they ask you, tell them you’re here on business, you are not human, and you have no lasers,” he added.

  “Well, that last part is true, at least,” Elle grumbled.

  “And do not talk with your mouth, if you can avoid it,” Moonie said.

  "What should I talk with? My ears?" Elle muttered to herself.

  Now they were only a few feet away from the giant alien. Elle wasn’t so sure that there would be “no problem,” no matter how confident Moonie was. Moonie was always confident. She had no idea how to go about not looking too human. Should she stand up straighter? And ---now that she thought about it---how was she supposed to tell anyone that she wasn’t human if she wasn’t allowed to talk?

  She watched Moonie glide forward as he held out a toe. The creature scanned it with a small black stick. A small “beep” sounded, and a green light blinked on the stick. The creature stood aside, letting Moonie float through.

  As Elle approached the alien guard, it held out a feeler and asked unenthusiastically, “Blert?”

  Elle smiled and patted her pockets theatrically. “Whoops! Must have forgotten my ID in my other pants!” she said, and then mentally cursed herself for talking with her mouth.

  “Blert?” it asked again, somewhat more impatiently. It gestured towards her arm.

  Elle looked confused, and stood awkwardly, wishing that Moonie would come back.

  The thing made a movement with its eye stalks—Elle had the unmistakable feeling that it was rolling its eyes at her. “Blert! Blert!” It said, pointing emphatically now.

  Elle held up her hand as Moonie had done, which appeared to satisfy the creature; it ran the black stick over it. A loud buzzing noise emitted from the stick and a red light flashed.

  “I’m not human,” Elle said quickly, “and I’m here on business,” she added desperately. What else was she supposed to say? “And I don’t have any lasers,” she said, searching for Moonie in the crowd. Too late, she remembered she wasn’t supposed to be talking. Dang it!

  “I didn’t say anything,” she finished lamely. “You didn’t hear me say anything. That was all telepathy,” she said, trying to look confident.

  The creature sighed and rescanned her. She cringed as the stick buzzed loudly again, red light flashing. She started sweating, terrified of what would happen next, but the creature just unenthusiastically pointed a feeler towards a smaller line of creatures lining up in front of something that looked like a large scanning device. Elle meekly shuffled over and stood in line, happy she wasn’t being torn in half by a giant dung beetle.

  When she finally reached the front of the new line, something hairy and about three-feet-tall skittered to a stop in front of her. To Elle’s consternation, the thing patted her legs and stopped when it got to her feet. It inspected her heavy black boots, and chittered, gesturing towards them. Elle kicked off the boots. It inspected her mismatched and hole-ridden socks and chittered again, gesturing. Elle sighed and peeled off her socks, hoping the little creature didn’t have a sense of smell. The thing inspected her toes, and chittered, gesturing. “Um, I can’t take those off,” Elle explained. It chittered and pointed again emphatically. “No, I can’t,” Elle said, shaking her head for effect “They’re attached to me.” It reached out and pulled on her toes. Elle giggled, and the thing retreated, slightly startled. “Sorry. That’s not going to work,” she said. The creature examined her feet for a while longer, as if trying to decide what to do, then it shuffled into a little booth nearby, and reemerged with a long, thin stick with a swab at the end. Before Elle could ask what it was for, the creature stuck it up her right nostril, swabbed, and then shuffled away with it back to the booth.

  “Ahhhgghh, what was that?!” Elle complained, covering her nose, feeling the need to sneeze. “You really need to warn people before you shove things up their nose!” The creature returned, and appeared satisfied. It waved her towards the large scanner.

  Elle walked through, and the scanner buzzed loudly. Elle cringed at the noise and another small furry creature stopped her and gestured at her backpack. Elle instinctively covered her nose, ready for another swabbing, but realized that it just wanted to look in her bag. She started sweating again, thinking about Moonie’s ship tucked away in her bag. Was it considered contraband? What it they arrested her? What would alien prison be like? Probably lots of swabbing….

  The fuzzy creature dug through her bag and lifted out Moonie’s ship. “That’s not mine,” Elle said quickly, “I’m holding it for a friend...” she babbled, wildly trying to invent an excuse, “I’ve never seen that before in my life, officer, I swear….” Elle said, the excuse unconvincing, but also unnecessarily as it turned out; the creature set it down without a second glance and kept digging in her bag. It pulled out a crumpled brown paper lunch bag containing Elle’s half-eaten PB&J sandwich. The creature turned, and Elle could have sworn it was glaring at her.

  “What?” she asked, genuinely confused. It continued to glare. “Oh, that?” Elle asked. “That’s just my lunch. I can’t take that in?” Elle asked, bewildered. The creature haughtily turned and carefully placed the lunch bag into a container with lasers, knives and other impounded paraphernalia.

  “Ok, it wasn’t that bad,” she mumbled to herself, as she was gestured through the scanner again with her backpack repacked with Moonie’s ship. Happily, she passed through without any further problems.

  Once on the other side, she met Moonie, who had reappeared, impatiently bouncing in mid-air. “What was the delay? Did they ask you if you are human?” Moonie quizzed her.

  “No, no, no,” Elle said. “Actually, I don’t know. Maybe. That depends on what “blert” means,” she said, somewhat irritably. “You didn’t tell me there would be swabbing!” She rubbed her nose again. “Where did you go? I couldn’t see you anywhere,” she asked accusingly as she sat down and put on her holey socks.

  “I was waiting for you. You took a very long time.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s not my fault. They scanned my hand, but the little stick-thing buzzed, and I had to go to another line, then they tried to take my feet off, and then they shoved a stick up my nose, and then I think they impounded my lunch!” Elle said, realizing that she was starting to rant. “How come you got through without swabbing? What have you got in your toe, anyway?”

  “It is my identification microchip,” he said. “You should get one.”

  “Ok, yeah, I’ll remember that for next time I get stopped and searched by aliens…” Elle mumbled sarcastically, slipping on her boots.

  As they reached the outside the checkpoint, Elle froze. A vast city, miles and miles across, stretched before her. Tunnels, lit by flowing white lights, coursed around the city like a complicated network of neurons and crisscrossed like the spokes of a giant wheel in the center of the city. The buildings around her looked old, however, constructed from stone, something that looked like marble and old grey-brown bricks. There were huge columns and arches covering cobblestone roadways. It reminded Elle of a picture of ancient Rome, except for the tunnels with their flashing bullets of lights. In the center of the city, a dome of white stone rose above the other building with sharp spire pointing towards heaven with a bright white glow that seemed to light the whole city. The building was exquisitely beautiful, shining like a psychedelic diamond.

  The sky above the city was covered by an enormous clear dome, like the one in the entryway, only much larger, revealing an endless array of stars speckled amongst a velvet black. Beyond the city was a sea of grey rock, stretching towards the horizon. Taking in the sight, Elle –finally-- was at a loss for words.