Writers are still being very coy about who built the moon in Chapter 4. Instead we have a potted history of the space race, which is interesting la, but no-one is suggesting Neil Armstrong built the moon. Maybe some mooncastles. There is a bit of a lovefest for 2001 which may give a hint at where this boon is going too. It even outlines the conspiracy theory that no-one had been to the moon, and demolishes it. The subtext is that the authors are not loonies like the moon conspiracy theorists. Nevertheless this episode is tagged with the following caveat: “We do believe conspiracies happen, because people conspire…”
So having proved that the moon exists and that we have been there Chapter 4 then gets on to Apollo 13 (they’ve probably seen the movie) and the anomalies regarding moon rock and the moon itself. Namely during the accident the jettisonned pod struck the moon, and – to quote “the moon rang like a bell”. Putting aside how anything can ring like a bell without an atmosphere, the book does inflate the importance of this sentence a touch too much. Nevertheless the point is that the moon is much lighter than it should be, leading to some exciting conclusions.
a) The Moon is hollow.
b) The moon is a giant Malteser.
The smart money is on b), because then we can definitively say that Forest Mars made the moon. Which in itself would be sort of ironic.