The Cosmic Lie
To sell lunar apartments
Zara Bingley watched the gigantic screen in stunned silence as Muir’s Keyton Towers unveiled their latest marketing blitz during the Super Bowl halftime show. A sleek virtual recreation of the Moon’s surface filled the screen, panning across gleaming steel and glass spires.
“Experience the pinnacle of lunar luxury at Keyton Towers,” purred the sultry voice-over. “Our exclusive residences offer you million-dollar views of the Earth unlike any other.”
The camera zoomed through a window into a lavish apartment interior, with a massive curved window displaying the iconic image of the Earth rising over the lunar horizon.
“This is a disaster,” Zara muttered. “How can we possibly compete with Muir’s vision of opulent Earth-view apartments?”
Her assistant Kumi stepped into the office, having watched the streamed ad on her laptop. “Well, you’ve got to admit, it’s an audacious move that’ll grab attention.”
“Which is exactly what I didn’t want!” Zara fumed. “We are months away from releasing the marketing campaign on our lunar homes and Muir has beaten us to the punch!”
“Hang on a second…” said Kumi, staring at her laptop. And then she whistled softly. “I don’t think Muir represents us a threat anymore.”
Zara stopped and whirled to face her. “What do you mean? That stupid Super Bowl ad is going to siphon away all our potential high-net-worth clients!”
Kumi smirked. “I just found out all the lunar land registered to Muir is in the Apollo Basin area.”
“So?”
“Don’t you see? Apollo Basin is on the far side of the moon which is never visible to Earth. It’s simple physics.”
“Which means no one can see Earth from the apartments he is building on the moon! Hoping to find Earth-view apartments in Apollo Basin is like hoping to find ocean-view apartments in Omaha! It’s just not possible.”
“Precisely,” Kumi nodded. “Unless Muir has somehow invented trans-dimensional wormhole windows, those Earth-view apartments are a cosmic lie.”
Zara smiled. “It’s either a cosmic lie or Muir doesn’t have a science graduate on his team!”
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