On a small butte, not far from the area where the astronauts are training, an old Navajo shepherd and his son have squatted on the lookout side to observe the strange goings-on below. It reminds them of ants tending aphids, these few silvery bugs with a multitude of other creatures scurrying between them, carrying this and that. They recognize vehicles of some kind, but they are huge, ungainly contraptions guaranteed to sink into the sand forever, should they venture into the real desert.

After a while, the activity below stops and the silver things disappear in the grotesque vehicles. A few of the attending workers appear to have spotted the two Navajos and approach them.

The Navajo elder did not speak English, but his son did and acted as interpreter. They soon learned that the workers are people from a faraway place called hoostin. They work for what sounds like an Apache spirit named Naza. They are going to the Moon, they say. At first both Navajos believe this to be a spiritual expression, but after further dialog, they are given to understand that it will be an actual, long journey. Not by horse or foot, but in other shiny vehicles that shoot into the sky.

Never having been to the Moon himself, the old Navajo became very excited. He asked if he could send a message to the moon with the travelers. The people from NASA were instantly aware of the media potential for such a message, so they hurriedly assembled some of the recording equipment they were using for the astronauts. With camera and voice recorder trained on the old man, he spoke animatedly in his native tongue. When the recording was finished, the NASA people asked if his son would provide a translation. He would not.

Later, NASA media personnel found a few people who spoke Navajo on the nearby reservation and asked them to translate. After hearing the tape, every one of them chuckled and refused to translate.

Now in the normal course of things, the media people from NASA should have been suspicious about what the old man had said. But it was not their native tongue, and they could find no one to translate, so they thought – the image and voice of the old man is so charming, nobody will care if they don’t understand. Besides, the deadline for material was fast approaching, and they needed many hours to fill requests for colorful media. So they printed a thousand copies of the tape, and it was sent nearly everywhere in a package of well wishes from around the world.

As events are inclined to unravel, a radio station in Tuba City, Arizona viewed the tape only a day before the launch of the Apollo mission. An old Navajo man, who had worked for the station for nearly twenty years, suddenly broke into gales of laughter. He had to sit down before they asked him what the old Navajo shepherd had said. He chuckled more quietly this time, and told them the translation:

“Watch out for these people. Do not be fooled by their smooth words and silvery bodies; they come to steal your land.”