Artemis II

Artemis II, April 3rd, 2026

The crew of the Artemis II has blasted off from Earth, and are on their way to the moon.

Commander Reid Wiseman: Well, boys and girl, we are on our way to the moon in Artemis II.

Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from Canada: What happened to Artemis I?

Commander Wiseman: That’s classified.

Mission Specialist Christina Koch: We don’t talk about it at NASA.

Hansen: Well, I’d kinda like to know since we’re on Artemis II.

Pilot Victor Glover: What I wanna know is, why name a spaceship after Artemis Gordon in The Wild West TV show? I love that old show.

Koch: I had a crush on Artemis Gordon as a kid.

Hansen: it’s flying around the dark side of the moon that scares me. We won’t be able to see anything.

Wiseman: The dark side of the moon is in sunshine half the time.

Glover: You’re kidding.

Wiseman gives his pilot a look.

Hansen: What a great album though.
Koch: I loved that Pink Floyd album as a kid.

The Artemis II nears the moon and begins its transit of the dark side.

Hansen: We are getting an emergency beacon from the moon’s surface.

Koch: It’s from the Artemis I.

Wiseman: We are going to land on the moon, and see what that signal means.

Glover: So that’s why I did all those practice moon landings in Houston.

Wiseman: Get us down safely, Glover.

The Artemis II lands safely on the dark side of the moon. The crew disembarks to find where the emergency signal is coming from. They see the wreckage of the Artemis I.

Hansen: It looks like the ship was hit by a rocket.

Wiseman: No. Those are acid burns around the hull breach.

Koch: Where would acid come from on the moon?

Glover: What are those things on the ceiling? They look like seed pods of some type.

Hansen: Haven’t you seen the movie? I don’t think we should hang around here.

Koch: I loved the Alien movies as a kid.

The seed pods open and… we all know how this story turns out. Not good.

The dark side of the moon has its dark side.
TJM