There is a place where the days last for weeks, yet the sky is always black and full of stars. It is a lifeless desert, with high peaks, low hills and wide valleys, all covered with an even coat of fine grey dust. Its vast seas have never known water.

In the midst of this magnificent desolation, an odd structure stands almost alone. Four metal spheres are arranged in a ring, surrounded and supported by shock-absorbing struts which themselves rest on circular pads. The whole assembly is not much taller than a man. The space between the spheres is empty. A rocket motor once fit snugly there, in a reinforced cradle; the force of its departure blasted a radio antenna from its moorings, and the dish now rests in the dust several yards away. More or less in the opposite direction, a small flag with thirteen red and white bars and thirteen stars in a circle on a dark blue canton lies where it was toppled by the liftoff.

Mounted on one of the fuel tanks (which have long since boiled dry of their dregs) is a small plaque, engraved with an image of Earth's two hemispheres and words in block capitals:

HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH
FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON
JULY 1969 A.D.
THEIR COURAGE AND TRIUMPH
WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

Below that are the signatures of four men, all nearly three centuries dead. Yet the footprints of two of them are still here, all around the lander's lower stage, undisturbed by wind or water.

The lander, the dish, the flag, the plaque with its boast: nothing else remains. Around these things, the dead and dusty sea stretches away to the horizon.

Guess I'll review this then. Honestly, you confuse me. It's good writing, I just don't see what it has to do with Fallout. Or am I missing something? Also, from the style, I would assume that this is a one-shot?

Well, it's obviously in the Fallout time period.

Also, i have a tiny critique ? I may be guilty of this myself sometimes, but try not to put things in parenthesis when you write. It creates a cross narraration that draws away from the visualization.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does it have to do with the fact that since humanity destroyed itself, it will never be able to return to the moon?

Some kind of social commentary of human nature in the Fallout world?

Unless the hubologists actualy got there...

Is this leading up to a story or, is it some inspirational quote we are supposed to ponder about?

Okay, I'll try to answer some of the questions.

Yes, it's a one-shot, a vignette, meant to stand on its own. Mostly.
Sorry about the parentheticals - that's just how I write (and think). See?

The scene is meant to evoke a mood like the classic poem Ozymandias (and the last few lines are quite deliberately composed in that style) - here stands a lonely monument to a civilization that achieved great things, yet now all that's left of their glory and pride is a few cryptic artifacts and some bootprints.

There are a few bits and turns of phrase that only space geeks like me will get, like the title; and you have to know something about the real Apollo 11 landing to spot the differences. But my hope was that even those who don't might read this, and think of what Man accomplished, and what he lost.

And maybe, the next time you're out in the Wasteland after dark, look up at the Moon - still looking down on the Earth as it always has, untouched by the War, witness to all our greatness and all our folly.

You are my new best friend, you know that? I love this kind of thing, that makes people think. You have a very poetic way of expressing your ideas, too, which only provokes more thought.