“There ya go, son. Gus is here.”

The eyes of the small creature drooped as they took in his friend’s features. He placed its hand over the old man’s.

“They come, Gus.”

The old man’s heart froze in his chest. He knew exactly who “they” were. He closed his eyes and nodded his head. “I thought it had something to do with those bastards.”

“The Moon.”

Gus opened his eyes and saw that Matchstick was again staring off into space. “What’s that?”

“The Moon.”

Gus turned toward the man who had spoken earlier. “Get on the radio and get Director Compton out here. Tell him to hurry.”

The two men quickly left the shack and disappeared into one of the six trailers that circled the two houses.

“Now, tell me what’s so important about the Moon, and then we’ll talk about those other fellas that are coming.”

Mahjtic moved his eyes and looked at Gus once more. The shaking had stopped and in the dim glow of the Mickey Mouse night-light Gus could see Mahjtic trying to focus.

“The Moon, Gus. The Moon-”

700 MILLION YEARS AGO

The war had lasted exactly three years, two months, and twenty-one days and had ended civilization as they knew it. Never again would the voices of children at play be heard, or those of men and women expressing thoughts or feelings of love.

Now the last desperate hope of their species had dwindled to a small outpost on a moon orbiting a hostile world-a blue, volcanic planet with a shifting crust and so harsh an environment that even their enemies wouldn’t want it for millions of years. The moon orbiting this explosive and angry world had once had a larger twin, and that had been where the last hope of the people had been found. Their salvation had been an ore of amazing quality and properties. It had been mined, smelted, and turned into the magical energy needed to fight the invader.