A spooky tale for October is now up at Noble Cobra Magazine for your reading pleasure.

The failure of the Delphi Mission, the first experiment in establishing a permanent base on the Moon, has, of course, been the cause of much speculation. The rumours that have flown regarding the event have ranged from reasonable to wild, though as you will see, none are as strange as the truth.

As for why I am revealing this now, against orders, I can only say that I would not have done so if I did not feel it a matter of justice. The failure was not, as is now being said, due to any incompetence or negligence on the part of the engineers, mission control, or astronauts. The base was built with exemplary care, rigorously tested, and all the men taking part in the mission were highly-trained and competent professionals.

The full truth of what happened is unknown to us. But for the veracity of what I am to tell, I appeal to the logs and blackbox recordings recovered from the base, which are now in the hands of the Space Agency.

I will not give a full summary of the Delphi Mission; nothing of that endeavour that has not already been made public record has, so far as I know, any bearing on the case save for the events I will relate. As is well known, the base was built exactly as planned in the Ocean of Storms, and its five-man crew established for the intended three-month expedition.

On June 26, 2055, Delphi Base entered its first Lunar night. Two days later, astronaut Joseph Sullivan was on watch when, at 03:27, Eastern time, there came a knock at the door.

Read the rest here