The Moon and The Capsule

The moon was snoring peacefully. The shrill sound of what seemed to be a thousand alarm clocks rang at once. Ring – Ring – Ring!

“What happened?” asked the moon sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

“Oh! It’s morning! Time to open the capsule!”

The moon took out the capsule from his belly.

What a beautiful capsule! It was shining golden and was covered in embroidery and designs at every bit of it, made of the sunlight itself which was essential for the sun’s life too. The moon would go to the sun in the morning and waited for the sun to fill the capsule with sunlight. Then, he would go back to the Earth [he couldn’t afford to be a minute to be away from the earth if a meteor would hit it] and put it safely into his belly. Then, as night neared, he would take out the beautiful capsule, and pour the sunlight over himself, which would help the people on earth see. No wonder the sun liked it so much! The moon went to the sun, got the capsule filled with sunlight and then went back to the earth. He yawned loudly and put the capsule back into his belly.

Poor moon. Having worked hard yesterday, he was exhausted.

His duty was to glow to give light to the people of earth to help them direct the way through the night and stand guard for Earth, to protect the Earth from meteors.

The capsule was filled with sunlight so the moon could pour it over him. The meteors and asteroids, and mainly planets, made it difficult for the moon to get sunlight. So, the Moon had requested the sun to give him the Capsule. The sun had trusted the moon, as his friend. 

The moon also received a lot of blessings from the people of Earth for his light and his obedience towards his duty of protecting the Earth.

It was another normal day. The roosters gave a mighty “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”, and the sun shined. The alarms, set by the moon, which he put on his big friend, and blue star whose name was Nali, rang off.

“Is it morning already?!” said the moon sleepily. He groaned, rubbed his eyes, not believing how fast the time flew by. Grumbling audibly, he brushed his teeth and stopped the alarm clocks from ringing more.

Soon, taking the capsule out of the belly, he travelled towards the sun, for him to fill the capsule with sunlight, making sure to keep a good distance from the sun, so that he wouldn’t get burnt. Poor moon. The sunlight almost blinded his eyes. He shut them tight until he heard a voice:

“There you go, moon. I filled the capsule for you.” called the sun to the moon.

“Thanks, sun” replied the moon, taking the capsule and going back to Earth.

He closed the lid, but alas, forgot to tuck it under his belly, since he was so sleepy!

A dwarf planet with a close resemblance to the moon named Nainathan saw this with glee. Nainathan was very jealous of the moon since the moon always gets compliments, but he never does. He is regarded as nothing. Oh, what he would not give to be the moon. Taking this as an opportunity, he did something terrible, which landed the moon in trouble, and I’ll tell you what it was.

***

Dawn found the moon searching frantically for the capsule.

“Oh, no!” he moaned “Where is the capsule?”

“I’m sure I had it with me. What will I do when I go to the sun to ask to fill the capsule? Maybe I can avoid going to the sun. But no, he’ll get suspicious, and probably try to search for me. Then he’ll say “Hey, moon! Where’s the capsule? I’m ready to fill it! And do remember, after you pour the sunlight at night, give me back the capsule, for it is essential for my life. I can’t survive for three days without it. I fill it now, you put in your belly, and in the night, after you’ve put the sunlight on yourself to provide light for the people of the earth, bring it back to me! So now, where is it?”, and then I’ll say “Ah!”, Then, I’ll think, “Oh no! I don’t have it!”  I’M DOOMED! DOOMED, I TELL YA!”

He regarded about hiding but dismissed it. The sun would search for him, him being his friend, and also, for he would need the capsule to survive. Sometimes, in the sun’s rage or desperation, he did silly things, like going out of his place. The moon didn’t want the people of Earth to suffer due to Sun’s absence, even for a few minutes. So, he couldn’t hide. He couldn’t avoid going to the sun.

Well, in that case, there was only one thing to do.

 “YOU LOST MY CAPSULE?!” thundered the sun at the poor moon “I TRUSTED YOU, AS TO GIVING YOU MY CAPSULE, AND YOU, YOU LOST IT?!!”

“I-I-I a-am r-really s-sorry.” stammered the moon, his voice very small, his confidence deflating out of him as the sun continued bellowing at him.

“I AM GOING TO PUNISH YOU!” roared the sun

“P-punish?”

“YES, YOU HEARD ME RIGHT, MOON. I HAVE TRUSTED YOU, AND YOU HAVE BETRAYED ME. AM I WRONG TO CONSIDER YOU AS A FRIEND?? YOU ARE TRUST-BREAKING AND CARELESS! I NEED THE CAPSULE TO SURVIVE! SO, I AM GONNA PUNISH YOU!” The sun yelled his last sentence very loudly. The sun was shivering with rage and anger, while the moon was shivering with fear. “YOU THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE EVERY TIME COS I AM YOUR FRIEND?! WELL, IN THAT CASE, YOU THOUGHT WRONG! NOW AS I WAS SAYING, YOUR PUNISHMENT. I WILL BURN YOU, TILL YOUR ASHES REMAIN!”

The moon was horrified. This stupid capsule had gotten him in such, such, such a disgraceful death. Why was it so precious? Then suddenly, the moon remembered. There was a lot of sunlight, which is extremely, extremely precious to the sun, and it was also important for the sun to live. If he didn’t have the capsule for three days in a row, he would die. The moon decided to tell the sun that he forgot to tuck it safely and thus lost it, but he didn’t have the courage when the sun was in such a rage.

But he had to tell something which will lessen this situation.

“Oh, mighty sun.” said the moon “Please don’t burn me. After all, I am your friend and have always supported you. And now you wish to burn me??!”

“Fine, I grant you a day’s time. However, if you fail to retrieve the capsule in the allotted time, well then, you shall meet the fate of what I proposed.” said the sun regarding this matter.

Nainathan was delighted when he heard the news. He had requested permission from Earth, to be the new guard and he succeeded. Even better, Moon would soon be burnt. There would be no way to escape from the sun’s wrath and fury. Once the moon was gone, he could be the guard and earn the praises for himself forever.

Poor moon. He was in a state of despair and helplessness. He spent most of the day searching for it in vain. Meanwhile, as to Nainathan’s plan, well, he was following it. He had carefully sketched it out. He had decided to stand guard for the earth instead of the moon, to earn the praises himself. Well, people were not blessing him nor praising him, maybe because he was not glowing. So Nainathan applied the capsule’s content upon himself; the sunlight, to glow. What a foolish thing to do!!!

The moon was very weary and tired by the time he reached. He asked all the stars, planets, searched in every place he could think of, yet, all in vain. He was astonished that Nainathan was guarding the Earth; he was now the new guard, in the absence of the moon. He was even more astonished at the sight of Nainathan glowing.

“How is that possible?” thought the moon. “Isn’t he a dwarf planet? Then how is he glowing? There can be only one explanation, he must have taken the capsule and poured the sunlight over himself so he can glow.”. Nainathan was known widely for his reputation of doing almost anything for praise. “He must have done this, so he could earn praises himself. How evil of him!!! I can’t believe somebody would do something that is going to burn someone just to earn praises. What a meanie!!!”

The moon soon devised a plan.

He approached Nainathan.

“Oh, Moon!” said Nainathan “What brings you here?”

Nainathan totally forgot that Moon could understand what he did since he was glowing because his attention was used on the praises.

“Well, you see, as you know the Sun is going to burn me. So, before I die, or burn, I was thinking why not celebrate you becoming the new guard by playing a competition? Think about it. You certainly proved yourself capable of outstanding me by doing a better job of guarding the Earth. So, you will be able to win this competition. You’ll also get more praises.” said the moon, speaking according to his plan.

“Why not I compete?” thought Nainathan.

“I’ll get more praises, and what’s the worst what could happen?”

“Okay, it’s on!” said Nainathan aloud. “But what’s the challenge, I mean competition about?”

“Whoever gets the more-dearest item of the sun, wins. The other will examine the item, just in case it’s fake.” said the moon speaking rapidly.

“Got it,” said Nainathan.

“Also, we only have 5 minutes to get the item. Okay, now, on the count of 3, we must start. One, two, three, and GO”

***

Nainathan considered the matter of using the capsule. He decided that he would use it. Moon would anyway get burnt, and he would receive more praises, he thought.

Moon, not wanting to make the sun think as though he had betrayed his trust again, requested Nali, his friend, to give a small piece of himself. Nali agreed to do so, for he was big and strong, and couldn’t even feel it, even if a piece of himself had been broken away. Nali was as hot as the sun himself. Nali gave the piece of himself in a heatproof box to the moon.

The Moon and Nainathan soon met each other in exactly 5 minutes. Nainathan holding the capsule and The Moon holding the small piece of Nali in the heatproof box.

“Well, so what have you got there, Moon? Whatever it is, mine is way better. See, I have gotten this capsule, right from under the Sun’s nose. Am I not great?” said Nainathan, boasting.

“I have gotten a piece of the sun myself!” the Moon boasted. “Right from under his nose, too. I’m sure you wouldn’t be able to do that. Don’t you know that a piece of himself is way more important than a stupid old capsule?”

“Really? A piece of the sun is more precious than this capsule? Ha Ha” said Nainathan laughing sarcastically “A very lame joke indeed…”

“And now we examine the others' items,” said the moon loudly, interrupting Nainathan.

Moon took the capsule and pretended to be examining it. He hovered a few minutes near Nainathan, which annoyed him. Moon quickly took the Sunlight which was on Nainathan and kept it in the Capsule.

“Nainathan, you can’t examine the piece of the sun, in the box,” said Moon exasperatedly.

“But-but, it must be so hot!” protested Nainathan

“Yeah, but rules are rules. Either you examine it, or you don’t and drop out of the competition.”

“Fine, fine, okay I’ll examine it not through the box!” said Nainathan hastily.

He took out the piece of Nali from the heat-proof box, and immediately squealed in pain.

“Ooh! Ooh!” he cried in alarm “It burnt me! Ow!”

Moon took his chance. While Nainathan was busy trying not to get burnt while examining the piece, the moon ran away.

“HEY, WHY ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY?” Nainathan yelled after the Moon “COME BACK, YOU THIEF! YOU GOTTA DECIDE THE WINNER. I STOLE… GOT IT WITH MY HARD WORK. AND YOU…YOU…RUNNING AWAY…”

His voice trailed as he chased the moon, out of breath.

‘59, 58, 57,56.” ticked the watch of Moon’s. He wouldn’t make it in time. The sun was a great keeper of time. He wouldn’t spare anyone from being late, even for a second. Then he spotted his friend, Kein, who was very, very fast, probably the fastest star in the entire universe. He asked Kein a favour.

“Would you please give me a ride to the sun, as fast as you can? If you don’t, I’ll get burnt, for a reason. No time to explain.”

 “Sure,” said Kein, surprised.

They zoomed off, at top speed. The breeze was so good!!! 

20, 19, 18,17….

He had made it.

“Oh, there are you moon. I SEE YOU HAVEN’T GOTTEN MY CAPSULE. WELL, SAY BYE-BYE TO YOUR LIFE. YOU’VE LOST MY CAPSULE WHICH WILL MAKE ME LOSE MY LIFE, SO I’LL HAVE THE PLEASURE OF MAKING YOU LOSE YOUR LIFE! NOW, I SHALL BURN YOU! HEE-HEE-HEE! I MEAN, MU-HA-HA-HA!”

“Wait, I have gotten your capsule, oh mighty Sun,” said the moon holding out his hand to reveal the capsule.

“How?” asked the sun, both surprised and pleased.

Moon narrated the whole incident to the sun.

After the incident, the sun apologized.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you. How could I think of burning you? You are my best friend forever. It was crazy of me to think to burn you. Please forgive me.”

“Apology accepted!” said Moon, grinning.

“Well, I will make sure not to spare Nainathan!” said the sun, getting ready to go after Nainathan.

“He’ll come by himself, sun. You don’t need to go after him.” said the moon hastily.

“How do you know? And, why?” asked the Sun, puzzled.

Then suddenly he spotted Nainathan, burning for revenge.

“Ah!” said the sun, pleased.

“SO, YOU!” stormed the sun at Nainathan.

“EXPLAIN YOURSELF. FIRST, YOU TAKE THE CAPSULE FROM THE MOON, WHICH ALMOST MADE ME BURN MY FRIEND. BURN MY FRIEND!!! AND ALL THIS FOR PRAISES, EH? EXPLAIN YOURSELF!!”

“I’m really sorry” muttered Nainathan, in a barely audible voice.

“WELL, NOW I’M GOING TO BURN YOU!” shouted the Sun.

“Please don’t!” muttered Nainathan.

“NO EXCUSES” roared the sun and began to burn him.

The Moon watched in glee as Nainathan got burnt.

Well, as for the Moon, you’ll never see him without the capsule tucked safely under his belly!