Analysis has been ongoing since that time, and this note is to summarize what we know so far. The following facts have been verified and are not in dispute:
► The moon disappeared visually.
► Gravitational analysis has shown that the moon is not invisible. It is no longer there.
► The moon was not destroyed. Any such action would have caused an immense amount of debris to rain down on the Earth, which did not happen. No debris of any kind was detected.
► The Earth’s orbit around the sun did not change, as the motion of the Earth around the sun does not depend on the mass of the Earth/moon system, only the sun’s mass.
► However, since there was a full moon, the Earth was very slightly shifted toward the sun. Now that has moved the Earth closer to the Sun, about 1,000 miles. This has been measured.
► A much larger expected impact is related to the conservation of angular momentum. When the moon disappeared, its angular momentum had to be transferred somewhere, either directly to the Earth or to its revolution around the sun. This would cause extensive and immediate catastrophic results, which did not occur. We can not currently explain why.
► Finally, we expect long-term impacts due to the tides no longer occurring. Tides are primarily due to the moon. Ocean tides support incredibly diverse ecosystems in the intertidal regions, which in turn support a great deal of the ocean’s biodiversity. We need to monitor the impacts to these areas.
► Significant meteor showers are annual events, happening at the same time every year. The one that preceded the disappearance has never occurred before. In addition, meteor showers do not last only three minutes as this one did. They typically run for several days, waxing and then waning in the count of shooting stars visible.
The Academy is unable to explain the events described above. We believe the laws of science have been modified in some fashion, but we are unable to definitively say what caused that shift.
We continue to look for a rational explanation, but currently, we have none.
I suppose there wasn’t anything particularly surprising in the information, but even so I pored over every word, reading it over and over.
The sun rose a little after 6:00 a.m., and I hadn’t slept. I wondered how many people were like me, so amazed that sleep seemed unimportant.
It was around that time that my thoughts turned to a different direction: Karen Anderson. I couldn’t believe it had taken me so long to think about her.
Karen was aboard the Golden Luna, which was racing towards a moon that no longer existed.
“How are you doing, Karen…?”
I thought she was probably scared. Who wouldn’t be? Surely they had instruments aboard ship that would tell them that the target of their mission no longer existed.
I did a bit of googling, and it didn’t take long to find a minor news story at the bottom of CNN.com.
The spacecraft Golden Luna, which has been gliding toward the moon for the past two days disappeared from NASA tracking at the same time the moon disappeared.
James Elson, mission spokesman at NASA said they had no idea what had happened and were checking their tracking, monitoring, and communications systems, in case the vanished ship was simply a technical glitch. Elson was not optimistic, because all monitoring equipment had a double failsafe built in. It was unlikely that all three systems experienced the same failure at the same time the moon vanished.
It is likely that the Luna has gone wherever the moon went.
“Oh my God…”
The comment left my mouth before I even thought about it. It was ironic that God did indeed seem to be the cause of the vanishings.
“Karen, where did you go?”
Was she still alive?
It felt doubtful. It didn’t feel like the ship had been transported to a safe haven. It felt like it had been destroyed, as if it had never existed in the first place.
“David?”
I jumped at the sound of my name. It was Chris Spinnie. She walked up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder.
“You look very pale. Are you okay?”
“Just a lot to take in, you know?”
She nodded and smiled. “I think it’s hit everyone in one way or another. I felt—I don’t know—maybe vindicated? Like the belief I felt deep inside me turned out to be true, and no matter how much I knew the truth, it still surprised me.”
I nodded.
“You should get some sleep,” she said.
I must have looked like shit for her to notice. I smiled back and decided she was likely right. I needed to turn off my mind. I went to my cot, pulled a blanket over my head, and quickly fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
I slept through the whole morning.
When I woke, I could hear a bird chirping. At first I thought it must be a remnant of some vague dream, but I blinked and yawned, and the bird was still chirping when I sat up.
It was a blue jay. It was perched on the cot next to me, the one that Miles Insa usually slept in. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a blue jay up close before. It seemed to be equally puzzled with me.
Erika walked in and the bird flew up to sit on her shoulder. She gave it an air kiss, as if it were a pet she’d trained for years. Nothing about Erika Sabo surprised me anymore.
“You’re awake.”
I couldn’t help but stare at her. I hadn’t seen her since she made the moon disappear. She really was the daughter of God, and I was somehow privileged enough to be part of her team.
“I was up all night.”
“I know.”
“Of course you do.”
She laughed like that was the funniest thing she’d ever heard.
Erika tilted her head toward the door. I followed her out of the sleeping area and over to the main office portion of the church. The others were all hanging out there, doing whatever they did each day to help the mission. Most of them had glum looks on their faces.
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re worried. There’s been some backlash on social media.”
“Like what?”
“Everyone has an opinion. Some of them aren’t exactly what we’d like.”
I found a desk and headed to Twitter. It was Erika’s widest channel of communication, and I surfed through some of the comments.
She’s not God. She’s the devil.
I watched the fake Erika Sabo’s supposed miracle. I’m sure it’s just a trick. She should be locked up for fraud!
That black girl is not my God.
She’s Satan! Don’t trust her!
The comments rolled up, hundreds, thousands of them, many of them incredibly racist or ignorant. She’d proven herself but so many people didn’t want to believe her.
If this was a couple hundred years ago, there would be a mob outside with pitchforks ready to lynch her. Now, the assault was virtual, but the underlying antagonism was the same.
No wonder everybody was looking so depressed. Oh, there were some positive tweets as well, heartwarming comments by people who saw the truth, but most were awful.
“You must be disappointed,” I said.
Erika shrugged. “We have work to do.”
I stood and gave her a hug, as if that would make her feel better. Actually, I think that it was really to make me feel better.
To be sure, I sat back down and checked Facebook, and then Instagram. All of Erika’s social media accounts were showing the same abuse.
The news wasn’t much better. CNN.com was covering the massive backlash, almost seeming to forget what they were reporting on a handful of hours earlier. The miracle was old news now, and they’d moved on to help string up Erika as part of the aftermath.