It all started... Perhaps in 1958, when the Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kozyrev received spectrograms of "eruptions" in the moon crater Alfons.
Perhaps in 1965, when the crater Alphonse firmly lunged into the Ranger-9 probe.
Perhaps in 1966, when the automatic Moon-10 station entered orbit around the Moon, which measured the magnetic field of the Moon at different heights.
Perhaps in 1969, when the astronauts of the Apollo-12 expedition landed on the Moon, they had a very clear, specific, but classified task.
Perhaps in 1971, when the Soviet orbital station was a heavy interplanetary ship flying to Mars.
Or in 1975, when the first international expedition went to the Moon.
Or in 1994, when another American astronaut drove into the moon's soil a column with a sign "WELCOME BASE TO BASE KAWAVIY", and Russian engineers presented a gas-phase nuclear reactor-motor, called "Sakharov's engine".
Possibly.
But... It really all started much earlier.
The experiment has passed the next stage.
Those who put it up had nothing to do with people. But they were made of flesh and blood and felt fear, delight, and loneliness when they looked into the depths of space. As soon as possible, they rushed to the stars. They found life in a variety of forms and watched the evolution in thousands of worlds. They knew how easy it was to extinguish weak sparks of the mind in the night of space.
Having found nothing more valuable than a reasonable life in the Galaxy, they began to cultivate it. They became star farmers: they had to sow a lot, and sometimes - and weed.
The year 2001.
The administrator climbed up to the top and looked at the audience and said:
- Ladies and gentlemen, it is unnecessary to remind you that today is a big day. We are delighted to have Dr. Floyd here. We all know his name, and many of us know him personally. He has just arrived from Earth on a special flight, and before our report begins, he would like to say a few words. Please, Dr. Floyd.
Floyd climbed up the hill to the welcoming claps of the crowd, smiling at them and starting:
- Thank you. I wanted to say this... The President asked me to tell you that he highly appreciates your wonderful work, which we hope the whole world will soon be able to appreciate. I understand very well, he continued with restraint, that some of you, maybe even the majority, want the veil of secrecy surrounding everything that is happening here to be removed as soon as possible. You wouldn't be scientists if you thought otherwise.
He caught Dr. Michaels' gaze, he was a bit frowned upon, which made the long scar on his right cheek more noticeable - apparently a trace of some kind of spaceflight incident. Floyd knew very well that this geophysicist was vigorously protesting against any classification, which he called an idiotic game of hide-and-seek.
- But I'd like to remind you, - Floyd continued, - that we have a very special case before us now. We need to make sure that all the facts we have are accurate. If we make a mistake this time, we may not get another chance. Therefore, I ask you to be patient a little bit longer. The President asks you to do the same. That is all I wanted to say. Now I am ready to listen to your report.
He went to his chair.
- Thank you, Dr. Floyd, - the administrator said and nodded, though carelessly, to the scientific director of the base.
Dr. Michaels went up to the top. The lights went out and a picture of the moon flashed on the screen. In the center of the disk dazzling white ring of a huge crater, from which the rays of unusual shape diverged in all directions. It was as if someone had dropped a sack of flour from a large height and it was scattered in all directions.
- Here's the Tycho crater, - said Michaels, pointing to the crater in the middle of the disc. - In this photograph, taken strictly vertically. You can see more clearly than the telescope from Earth, where it's almost at the edge of the disk. And from this point, from a height of one and a half thousand kilometers, you can see that the Tycho crater dominates the entire hemisphere.
He gave Floyd time to get used to the unfamiliar view of the familiar object and then continued:
- During the past year, satellites have been taking magnetic images of the area from a low altitude, trying to determine the exact coordinates of the object. We finished work only last month, and here is their result.
Another image broke out on the screen. It resembled a map of the Earth's relief but showed not the excess above sea level, but the intensity of the magnetic field. For the most part, the lines were seldom and almost in parallel, but around one point they suddenly came together closely, forming a series of concentric circles.
Even the unsophisticated eye could see that in this zone the magnetic field of the Moon underwent some absolutely extraordinary changes. On the edge of the map there was an inscription:
THE FIRST LUNAR MAGNETIC ANOMALY