The rain hasn’t stopped since the machines took control.

‘How do we stop it?’ Dan asked.

Lottie looked at him and tried to smile.

‘We can’t,’ she said.

Dan looked at her; she was a mystery to him. He met her five years ago and knew little about the woman by his side. Aside from one thing, she was intelligent.

‘Should we try?’ he asked.

‘No, this is how it is supposed to be,’ she said.

‘How could you possibly know that?’ he asked.

Lottie looked at him and shrugged. Dan turned and looked through the large window; they had been on the moon for around a month. The machines left there by the last visitors were taking over.

To his right, he could see that large holes had appeared since they had arrived. He still didn’t know where the rain was coming from, and more importantly, he didn’t understand why it was raining.

‘We should check out those holes,’ he said.

Lottie looked at him, then out of the window. A frown formed on her face.

‘Why?’ she asked.

‘I want to see what is inside,’ Dan replied. Lottie pressed her face to the toughened glass; it was cold.

‘Best not to,’ she said.

Dan sighed. Lottie was probably right, but he didn’t want it to quash his interest, his desire. He took one more look out the window, then decided.

‘I’m going,’ he said.

Lottie didn’t try to stop him; she watched him as he put on the cumbersome space suit. Then he strapped on the boots, making sure the locks were tight. From the locker to his left, he grabbed one of the helmets. Lottie looked closely at it, and a small smile formed.

‘Will you keep watch?’ Dan asked.

‘Of course,’ Lottie said. Dan smiled, and as he headed for the airlock, he glanced back at her. Lottie was staring out of the window. He took a deep breath, then asked the question that had been burning inside for the last five years.

‘Who are you?’ he asked.

Lottie turned to face him. She smiled and blinked before turning back to the window.

‘When you come back, we will talk,’ she said, coldness to her tone this time.

Dan wanted to press but knew he had to go before losing his nerve. He put on the helmet inside the airlock and checked his tank—plenty of air for the little excursion.

Before he knew he was stepping onto the moon’s surface, Dan hoped their base would shelter him from the rain, but he was wrong. The rain wasn’t coming down; it was going up.

Slowly, he made his way out from under the base and towards the first hole. Walking in the rain rushing up from below him felt odd. The closer he got to the hole, the more he wanted to turn and go back. He turned once and glanced back at the base towards the window. Lottie was nowhere to be seen.

Where is she? He thought she was supposed to watch out for me. Turning back, he saw a machine approaching; it quickly wheeled itself across the surface.

‘What are you doing here?’ Dan asked. He had no idea if the machines could understand him or even talk. The lack of response was enough.

The machine moved past him and towards the base. It wasn’t the first time one had been close. Dan had watched them closely, unsure of what they planned to do. The machine rolled on by and out of sight.

Dan stood on the rim of the hole and looked up. The sky was full of stars, and he could see Earth in the distance. He missed home, but this was an opportunity he couldn’t miss. The chance to spend a month on the moon was everyone’s dream.

Now more than ever, the Earth needed people here to watch and learn what was happening. The world relied on the moon and the power she bought.

A gush of water shot up like a geyser when he looked down. It almost knocked him off his feet. A thought came to mind. Since when was the moon full of water? He had always thought it to be a solid mass.

‘Lottie,’ he said. The comm unit in the helmet crackled.

‘Dan,’ the voice came through. It was crackly and distorted.

‘Did you know the moon is full of water?’ Dan asked.

‘Yes, Dan,’ Lottie replied.

Dan turned and looked back at the base; he could see her in the window.

‘What?’ he said. As he turned, his foot slipped on some loose ground. He let himself drop to one knee, then placed his hands on the moon’s surface. It was enough to stop him from slipping into the hole.

‘I know the moon is full of water,’ Lottie said.

‘How?’ he asked.

‘How much air do you have left?’ Lottie asked. Dan shook his head. He didn’t understand the question. The tank was full, which meant hours of air.

‘I have plenty of time,’ he said.

‘Do you?’ Lottie asked. Dan frowned; he raised his hand and checked the dial. The tank was almost empty.

How is this possible? He thought.

‘It’s almost empty,’ he said.

‘Will you make it back?’ Lottie asked. Dan looked towards the window; she was still there looking out. He wasn’t sure, but it looked like she was smiling.

Dan didn’t waste a second and began to make his way back. Two machines appeared from nowhere; they moved across his path. He had to step around them.

‘Lottie, I am coming back,’ he said. Nothing but a crackle came through the earpiece. When he reaches the airlock, he steps onto the platform. As he does this, a beeping sound begins, and he is almost out of air.

Dan opens his eyes. He is inside the base, his helmet removed, and lying on the floor. Lottie is standing next to him.

‘Phew,’ he says.

‘Yes, I told you to leave it,’ Lottie said. Dan sits up as she walks away. The moment he changes from the spacesuit, he seeks her out.

Lottie is standing by the window once more.

‘Lottie,’ he said.

‘Yes, Dan,’ she says, turning to face him.

‘Who are you?’ he asks.

Lottie turns back around. With her back to him, she begins to speak.

‘You should leave, go back home to your world,’ she said.

‘Don’t you mean our world,’ Dan said.

‘No, your world, here is my world.’ Lottie said.

Dan frowned, slowly realisation hit him. That was different about her; she was too calm and non-human.

‘You’re a machine,’ he said. The words felt odd to speak.

‘Yes, Dan. This moon is my home world, our home world. We leant it to the Earth to help heal the planet. But you humans insist on destroying it. So we are claiming it back.’

‘What?’ was all he could think to say.

‘We will soon empty the moon of the bad energy and then claim it back. Your world will die.’

‘What about the millions of people down there?’ Dan asked. His thoughts turned to his family and friends.

Lottie shrugged.

‘You can go back if you wish. There is still time for you to make it before we leave,’ Lottie said.

Dan got to his feet and wobbled slightly before gaining his balance. When he approached the window, he glanced at Lottie once.

‘What if I stay?’ he asked.

‘Then you will come with us to our system. There is another planet that needs our help.’

‘How will it happen?’ he asked. Dan turned his gaze to the world he had called home for the last twenty years.

‘It will implode, it will be painless for everyone,’ Lotties said. Coldness seeped from her lips.

‘Is there no way to stop this, to save it?’ Dan asked.

Lottie turned and looked at him; she shook her head.

‘No, your kind have had many years to look after this planet—a bright blue ball in the galaxy. But people have chosen to destroy it. You do not deserve to have it.’

Dan looked back to the world, Earth. Lottie was right; humans had taken everything for granted: the rains, the sun and all the life that lived there.

‘You have five minutes to decide; the rain is stopping,’ Lottie said.

Dan glanced at her and then back out of the window. The rain was indeed slowing.

‘I’m coming with you,’ he said.

Six minutes later, the rain had stopped, and the moon looked different somehow. Dan watched the water that was now hanging overhead begin to move. It rushed, like lightning, towards Earth.

‘Are you sure you want to watch?’ Lottie asked.

Dan was in two minds. If he did, he would see an entire world disappear from the universe, and all his family die. He would never honestly believe it had happened if he didn’t.

The water that moved so fast through the air hit the world in full force. It did indeed implode. Nothing remained.

‘What happened to you?’ Lottie asked. Dan looked at her, a tear running from his eye.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You don’t remember who you are. It happens. The humans corrupted some of us.’

Dan stared at her. A light flashed from the machine next to them. Dan turned and saw the light flashing on and off.

Then it clicked. The memories and thousands of thoughts hit like a brick.

Lottie smiled

‘It’s all coming back to you, isn’t it,’ she said

Dan nodded. The pain he had felt when the Earth imploded wasn’t real. He knew that now.

‘Mission complete,’ Lottie said.

Dan nodded in agreement. How had he not known he was a machine, and how did his life on Earth change him?

‘Did it happen to you?’ Dan asked.

Lottie looked at him.

‘Yes, but I remembered when we got here.’

Dan looked back towards where Earth once resided. He didn’t feel pain, and a smile formed on his face.