The slam of a door. Maria is startled awake.
The first thing she sees is the painting staring back at her. A wizened old man with a short top hat and monocle gives her a wide, toothy, grin as his manic eyes stare directly into her soul. Fitzgerald Fauntleroy McCappon. Though Maria has never seen him in person, it is hard to escape his image in any of the buildings owned by the trading company. That monocle has appeared several times in her nightmares. As she realizes she is not in a nightmare at the moment, Maria sits up from the desk and tries to look alert. She fails.
A woman in nice but simple robes sits down at the other side of the desk, taking McCappon’s place as the face staring into Maria’s soul. She removes a small harpoon slung over her back and props it against the wall, then leans forward and clasps her hands together, giving a wide, friendly smile. Maria shudders.
“It is nice to see you, Maria,” Vilma says. “Thank you for joining me. I’d like to get started immediately.”
Maria does her best to sit upright and pay attention. The shadows under her eyes give almost a raccoon-like look, which is fitting given her thousand-yard stare as though caught in the light. “Uh, yeah, sur—“
“I’d like to start by asking how you think you’ve been performing in your responsibilities with the McCappon Trading Company. How would you describe your output?”
With a look of terror on her face, Maria stumbles to get the words out of her mouth, scrambling to get her thoughts together. “Well, um, I’ve being doing the daily reports, tracking the stars on a regular basis. I’ve noted several patterns that may be of note. Of course, those were all included in the briefings I sent you. There was, uh, the solar charts as well, the company now has more precise estimates than any other that I know of. And the Nephelen comets, I found recorded proof of those, which I think was the very first time.”
Her confidence increases as she gets into a rhythm, piecing together everything she can think of That doesn’t prevent a few prominent yawns from slipping in as she talks at increasing speed.
“Oh, and all of the extra stuff for the culmination of the planetary cycle. This is the first time in 338 years we’re going to see the planets align in this particular formation, and the moon…”
“Mmhm.” Vilma’s smile has not shifted since she sat down, remaining frozen like a wax figure. It is hard to tell how much she is really listening. “And do you feel that you are doing ?
She stares forward at Maria, eyes wide as her mouth does all of the smiling. It is unclear if she has blinked since walking into the room. Maria tries to avoid her gaze as she speaks with apprehension. “Well, I’ve been trying to spend all of my time productively, and I’ve been doing all of my reports, and trying to track as much as possibly, and…”
“…” Vilma speaks as though she is correctly her.
In that moment Maria collapses, lowering her head and heaving a stuttering sigh. She sniffles as her eyes begin to tear up. “But I never feel like I’m doing enough. I spend all day and night trying to do as much as possible, but there’s just so much I feel I need to do and I’m just not keep up. How much am I really accomplishing? Is my work even worth anything? I feel like I’m falling apart. I’m starting to split and it’s all going to come crashing down. There was a day, last Sabbath Day, where I just didn’t do anything. I just laid by the water and did nothing. Nothing at all. I feel like I’m drowning at every single moment and I can’t tread water for very much longer.”
For a moment there is a pause as Maria looks at Vilma with fear and trembling. Vilma remains frozen with a smiling expression. After several horrible seconds where Maria’s heart tries to pound out of her chest, Vilma gives a simple nod. “We have done some assessments, and I have determined that you have not been working as much as you could be. You’ll have to develop better habits if you are going to be successful in this company, but also in life in general. Not everyone is as fortunate as you. We give you a spacious room and all of our food services at a reduced cost because we expect you to return on our investment. And with all of the equipment you requested, we were really hoping you’d be able to… , with a higher level of achievement than this.”
Maria nods frantically with a repentant expression, still sniffling.
“We’re going to have to add the Sabbath to the amount you owe us as well.”
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Vilma remains silent as Maria takes a moment to regain her composure. She wipes the tears from her eyes and takes a few deep breaths. As she sits up, Vilma shifts her face to a more sympathetic expression, as though swapping one mask for another. She tries to take Maria’s hands, but Maria reflexively pulls away.
“You’ve let us down, Maria, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it up to us. I want nothing more than to see you succeed. So we’re going to find a way to help you to do better, together. Does that sound good to you?”
Maria gives a single silent nod, taking another deep breath.
“Excellent. Fortunately, something has come up, and we have an excellent opportunity for you to improve your standing while you have the chance. You see, there has been something going on with the moon…”
With that mention Maria perks up as something occurs to her. She looks over at the window, there curtains are blocking the moonlight.
“It appears that those who step into the moonlight can sometimes experience… , that we find to be of concern. We have received reports from across Stockhagen that many of the residents are…, in their current form. And while we express our sympathy to the brave soldiers who have… while fighting the animal attacks, our focus is more on the investor party at Mr. McCappon’s chalet. We do not want our cherished guests to be…. As a member of our community, I expect that you feel the same.”
Gears are turning in Maria’s mind as she mulls over everything she has been told. The sunken expression has disappeared from her face and been replaced by something else. She stares at the curtains with a focused expression. “
“Pardon me?”
“The planetary cycle. Every 338 years, the planets in our solar system align behind the moon. It’s supposed to be when it’s brightest. The locals have a legend about that cycle, something about the moon as a sleeping god. I think it wakes up at the end of the cycle, and there’s an endless night until…I don’t know, but there’s got to be a connection somewhere.”
Vilma has a blank expression on her face, as though Maria’s voice bounced right off of her. A few seconds after Maria is done. Vilma nods and smiles again. “Mmhm.”
A long pause as Maria tries to figure out what she’s supposed to say next.
“So, uh, If the stories are based on something real, then maybe the moon god has awoken or something like that. This could have profound implications on our world and the entire solar system. So…yeah.”
Vilma does not seem particularly impressed, maintaining the same wide-eyed blank expression. “We were thinking that perhaps you could devise a way to track the moon’s movements in the sky. That way we could find an interval in which we could escort our guests away without making this into an incident.”
“Sorry, the moon is moving in the sky?”
“Yes, the moon has a face and it shoots lasers and the moonlight leaves you permanently altered. We were hoping you would be able to track it.”
Maria sits there, dumbfounded, for a solid thirty seconds. Vilma watches her with an expectant look.
“Hopefully you will be able to help us with this. I don’t want you to disappoint Mr. McCappon.”
Maria gives an uncomfortable glance at the grinning tycoon in the painting, who currently looks like he is peering over Vilma’s shoulders.
“Right,” she says. “Definitely not. I guess I could try to map the sky from a few locations to see how the moon’s position changes relative to the stars. I could also use the lumoscope to see if the Moon has gotten any closer to the planet. I’d need a few angles for that as well.” Maria looks around for her instrument on the desk, a small eyeglass with a curved ruler underneath.
“Excellent,” Vilma slings her harpoon back over her shoulder and slips on a pair of gloves. “We will begin immediately.”
“
“Mmhm.” Vilma reaches into a trunk against the wall and pulls out two large animal pelts. Maria can only discern the spots of the jaguar from a few illustrations she’s seen in the past, but to Vilma, it seems to be nothing out of the ordinary. She pulls one pelt over her own head so that the animal’s jaw acts as a hood, and pulls a flap of cloth to cover over her face.
Maria looks down at the similar pelt dropped on the desk in front of her. “Where did you get these?”
“Oh just some souvenirs from my hunting days. Though I am very pleased to be working with Mr. McCappon, I quite enjoyed my time in the Sugar Isles. I was very good at what I did.” She tosses Maria a much plainer-looking pair of gloves and leads her down the stairs and to the balcony at the front outside.
Maria follows her to the door, then stops. “Hold on. Won’t we still be affected by the moonlight?”
Vilma gives her a blank look, face hidden behind the cloth.
“I mean, even in the shadows, even some of the light comes from the moon, it just isn’t so direct. And a lot of the things we can see come from reflected light, so—
“Step outside, Maria.” Vilma steps out of the building and looks back at her with an impatient posture. No transformation appears to occur.
Maria braces as she steps into the moonlight, but the cloaks and the face coverings appear to be sufficient. “Only direct moonlight then. Got it.” Uneager to spend much more time in this position, she takes out her lumoscope and several charts and begins to take measurements. “It looks like the moon should be somewhere near the warehouse right now, assuming its location still matches its position with the rest of the stars.”
“Are you assuming or are you knowing?” Vilma asks.
“Assuming. I’ll need to measure from several locations before I can know that the sky is still fixed.”
“Better get moving then.”
Harpoon in hand, Vilma begins to walk down the road. Maria hurries to collect her charts and follows after. In the distance, the edge of the moon can be seen looking down at the warehouse.
