VICTOR SABAH

This is a delightful story with a fascinating history. Elaine and Larry Elbert spent two years in Ghana where they taught school for the American Peace Corps. There is a chronic shortage of books in Hohoe Secondary School and they appealed to the members of the Science Fiction Writers of America for copies of any kind of fiction for their classes. The response was enthusiastic and, quite understandably, most of the books that were sent were SF. So there, in that distant, developing country, the students learned their P’s and Q‘s from the most advanced technological fiction instead of Ladybird Books. The results were interesting, to say the least, and it can be reported that everyone enjoyed the experience. Just how much so can be seen from this brief story written by one of the Elbert students as a class exercise.

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During that long period of anguish, there was a need of exploring the moon, in search of food. Whilst reading the papers one morning, I came across an advertisement from the Ghana Scientists’ Association appealing to students who had passed their G.C.E. and obtained Certificate to register and undergo some special training towards the exploration of the moon.

I registered myself immediately and as I was good at physics, as clearly shown from the grade one I got, I was seriously considered. I arrived at the Kumasi University of Science and Technology the following week to see twenty-nine others who were already in residence. Then I began to notice something; all the other people were as young as myself.

To make sure of our knowledge in science we were given another examination mostly based on Physics. I did well enough to get grade one which the others could not get. This magnificent performance had aided me to win the admiration of all the professors. But ten of our number were dropped because of their poor performance. I was allowed to do everything I could on the compound, but I did not value such a privilege. I kept on studying.

One afternoon, after lunch, we were all gathered into one room for an interview. As we were taken by surprise, fifteen out of twenty people failed. Now it remained five of us. We often went to lectures day and night. As I went to bed I always imagined my near future especially my going to the moon and its significance to my beloved country.

After many hardships and difficult training, I was selected at last as the head or commander of the three member space exploration association. I, Job Sazona, was the commander in chief and assisted by El-Latigo and the third member was Armwick, the driver. The ship was ready awaiting us on the fifteenth of December 1974. Before we arrived at the “Spy B” airport in our well organised space-suits, there had been many people from all over the world waiting anxiously to see the take-off. Now, there came great silence to dominate the port. We were seated near the ship as the managing director read out the program to the crowd. After the reading the crowd clapped and waved their hands. By now I was in a sad mood when I was more certain about death rather than life.

I saw my sad father waving to me reluctantly. I was a little encouraged by the smiling face of my lover. From amongst the crowd I saw my dismal mother wishing me a safe journey. “If fortune fails, good bye” said my mother. I was totally moved by these words to a point of great discouragement. I lifted up my feet to climb the thirty foot high spaceship. On the third step I could see people struggling in all anxiety to see the spacemen. In the next five minutes we were already in position to take off. BOOM! It took off.

The ship took off at a very terrific speed of three hundred miles per hour. This was not great enough to carry us through within one day, so I increased the speed to a top one of three thousand miles per hour.

The cold atmospheric winds could overcome the heat which had been pumped into the ship. At an altitude of about twenty thousand miles we felt like we were freezing. Before then, at a lower altitude of about four thousand miles, I took out my camera to take the pictures of some stars and comets.

At the same time that I was taking the photographs, I saw a big human head, without body, with a long beard moving at the same speed as the ship. It tried to talk to me but I could not understand him. In view of this unfamiliar thing I lost all inclination to continue the journey, but as there was no possibility of returning, I had to keep on. I had tried to take its photograph but it did not appear on the film.

This frightening thing did not even disappear when Latigo got short of oxygen. As a trained spaceman, I did all I could to share mine with him. Two minutes later, the battery got disconnected with the engine which nearly damaged us. This was immediately repaired. The managers did their best to give us direction about how to go about our difficulties.

It was now time for meals. Each of us took ten food tablets and five water tablets. On relaxing, we all fell asleep and slept for six hours each. When we woke up we washed our faces. The water used in the washing was just flowing in the air.

After ten hours of constant velocity we got to the moon and were in orbit round it in search for a landing site. At last we landed at a convenient place.

After our successful landing at a convenient place on the moon, we waited in the spaceship about fifteen minutes to see whether anything would happen. The fifteen minutes passed with nothing happening. According to the law of space exploration the commander has to do everything first, so I, the commander, came out of the ship first. After stepping on the ground, I stood still in search of any unfamiliar happening happening. Five minutes of no havoc passed. I tried to walk but no thought came to my mind to go for my other friends.

Now my friends were with me on the real surface of the moon. Apart from life, the moon is like the earth. Mountains, plains, rivers, seas and valleys are found on it. But the atmospheric conditions differ. The moon has a barren atmosphere which contributes to the amenity of its climate. From where we landed there leads a straight path to the west the asperity of which is subtle. Just in front of us lay a vast plain which we named “Sazona Plain”, after Sazona, the captain. At the end of this plain is a mountain which we named after Latigo. In the middle of the plain is a sea which we called “The Sea of Armwick”. The plain, the mountain and the sea are regarded as one region called “The Salata Region”.

Now I began to walk about with my colleagues, first towards the mountain. On the opposite side of the mountain, there is a very deep and steep valley at the bottom of which is an only tree which never grows. A hundred yards east of the valley lies a conic mountain, about thirty thousand feet high. Just behind the mountain, I fell into a whirlwind which never moves from place to place and never stops blowing. In the midst of the whirlwind I situated the flag of my nation and around it were situated some other flags.

On returning to the spaceship we collected many different kinds of rocks. When we were about twenty yards away from the ship, we heard the alarm of the clock. Now it was time for communications. I ran into the ship, got everything set and began to talk. I talked about all that we saw and about our landing.

After communications I went to have some swimming in “The Sea of Armwick”, leaving my friends behind. I got inside the water and in the next moment I found myself at the extreme bottom of the sea. In reality, the sea is a very deep one and has very steep sides. What a task was it for me to get back to its surface. I began slowly from the bottom of the sea and in an hour’s time, after tiring struggles, I was once again on the surface of the water. On this occasion I remembered the words of my mother and thanked God very much for a save.

I was now hungry, so I went straight to join my companions who were already eating. Before two hours of entertainment we rested for thirty minutes. During this time of entertainment, we heard music for sometime and used the rest of the time for conversation and story telling.

On the moon the earth appeared like a midnight star. We saw no trees, building and roads. Just behind us we heard a noise. The mountains stood up on tiny feet and on top of them was coming out smoke. “Volcano in action to run”, said Latigo. We were all afraid and were in position to depart, lest we die on an unfamiliar ground.

To eschew painful death, there was a sudden departure from there and we were one hour ahead of time. But then, nothing pleased me more that the escape from that catastrophe. However, it disappeared from my mind. I now thought of how we would be welcomed by the eager crowd.

We splashed in the Pacific Ocean, two hundred miles from the “Spy B” port. We were immediately carried to the port by a helicopter. One can imagine the sort of pride which entered me as my name spread over the whole world.