The Loss of the Moon

It all started many years ago, after contact with one of the stations on the dark side of the Moon was lost. No one could understand how all communications could so suddenly get interrupted. Nonetheless, every shipment that started from the logistics stations on the light side of the Moon to the dark side did not return, and every probe that was sent there stopped transmitting. The dark side of the Moon turned indeed into the unknown place that had intrigued astronomers since ancient times.

Then, a few months later, the scar appeared. A thin set of murky lines could be seen forming, just on the peripheral edge of the Moon. Every telescope in the world focused on it, while day after day, the cracks expanded, like dark cancer, enveloping the once familiar Earth’s satellite. Scientists from the evacuated bases on the Moon who had seen it up close described it as a set of obsidian rivers that swallowed light, a shapeless mass similar to solid smoke that branched out in all directions, chaotic, evil.

The most incredible theories were formulated: there was talk of aliens, of failed experiments, quantum strings, and creatures from another plane of existence. In the end, though, nobody could understand the true nature of the black ocean. Nations organized a series of independent missions to study it, but as soon as the probes approached the Moon, every single contact ceased, as if they had never existed.

Thus, while the brightest minds worked to solve the mystery and the most fragile either fell into a panic or devoted themselves to religion, the dark mass continued to grow and proliferate. It seemed that the deep void of space itself had chosen to engulf the Moon. After some time, the Moon became an invisible, aphotic disk that hid from view the cold, distant stars.

For a few months, there were no changes as if it had entered a stasis. Then, just when people had started to calm down, the worst began.