Still in shock, Peter thanked Dmitri for giving him this valuable information. He also knew his friend would do what he could to influence his country to side with and support the United States.
Later that night at his hotel, Peter began to put the pieces together. He figured China had landed on the back side of the moon, gathered rocks, took photos and deployed the laser weapon which used the MK laser. Knowing how the laser worked, Peter concluded it probably fired on satellites within range, unless it was disengaged, which could only happen by China since they were the only country sending men to the moon. Peter called Gavin, and without naming his source informed him of this incredible news.
Exhausted, Peter had done all he could for the evening and was ready for bed. After getting in, he put his head on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling, recapping all the information passed on to him. But even with the magnitude of all he had learned, his last thoughts before falling asleep were of Anya and those sexy black boots.
9
UN FINDINGS
Jack walked into the Oval Office at 9:00 a.m. sharp to discuss new critical information learned pertaining to the China saga. Doug was already sitting in the center chair across from Bill’s desk in discussion with the president. They seemed to be concluding when Jack approached a chair next to Doug, who welcomed him.
“Would you like a cup of coffee, Jack, before we get started?” asked the president.
Jack took his seat. “No thank you, sir.”
The president took a sip of his coffee. “I elected to have both Doug and Steve join us. However Steve is going to be a little late. He’s working on getting the latest from the UN on where they were on their findings. He will join us shortly, so let’s get started.” Bill looked at Jack. “So what’s this urgent news?”
Jack straightened in his chair, knowing his news would surprise the president. “Sir, we received intelligence that China could have landed on the moon during their last mission.”
“What? You have to be joking—where did we learn this?” Bill said as he jolted upright in his chair, his tone increasing in volume.
“Sir, I can’t divulge the source, but this information was passed on to one of our most trusted and reliable field agents.”
“If this is true, then they’ll have similar rocks and pictures as ours.” The president slammed his fist on his desk. “Oh my God, that means they’ll have enough proof to put the landings in question.” His face turning red, he turned to Doug. “Does NASA know anything about this development? Didn’t we monitor their flight?”
“Sir, this is the first I’ve heard of this,” said Doug. “Though we assumed China was farther along than they’ve been saying, we still felt they were at least a year away from landing. This is a complete surprise to me. Regarding their flight, yes we did monitor it, and we saw no indication a landing ever took place.”
“How could we tell if they landed when we do not have a telescope strong enough to see our hardware on the moon?” charged the president, voice tight with sarcasm.
Doug began to squirm in his seat. “One of the ways we monitor flights is by radar, and if they were to attempt to land we would pick up two spacecrafts as they came around the moon. We never picked up anything out of the ordinary during their mission. We only observed a single ship orbiting.”
Jack spoke up. “How about if they landed on the back side of the moon and their lunar orbiter separated from their command module on the back side out of radar contact. Is that possible? Could they land in half an orbit?”
Doug shook his head, denying the possibility. “That would be pretty amazing if their first ever landing was on the back side of the moon. They would be completely out of radio contact, a very risky maneuver, especially with no experience. We considered landing on the back side on our last manned moon mission, but even with our experience we still ruled it out, feeling the odds of success were not very good. Regarding landing in half an orbit, with today’s rockets and technology I feel they could do it. However, they would need to allow distance for a launch and reconnecting with their command module before coming around, which would need to be a direct rendezvous. This all could be doable, but it would be very tricky and require a ton of fuel. They would need a special booster to accommodate such a maneuver.” Doug paused for a moment, scratching his chin. “If this is true, and they actually did land, I cannot understand why they wouldn’t tell the world about this great achievement! They would be the second country to ever land on the moon!”
“Maybe they want to be the first,” charged Bill.
A long pause filled the room as they all considered this mind-boggling possibility.
Bill went on. “If they were able to convince the world the U.S. never landed, then subsequently go back and land, the world would hail the Chinese taikonauts as the first men to walk on the moon. All history books would need to be rewritten. China would prove to the world they are the leading nation in space and technology and in the process, humiliate the United States. They would be put forth as the superpower of the world, which is what all this is about—being the superpower of the world. If this happens, the face of the world could change forever.” The president leaned back in his chair, propping his head back and looking at the ceiling for a few seconds, then flung his whole body forward, slamming both fists on his desk. “Damn! I knew China was up to something. This is now starting to make sense. That’s why they said they had similar rocks and pictures—because they do!”
“Sir, it would only be a matter of time before the U.S. or any other country travels to the moon and verifies our hardware,” Doug said. “Remember Japan and India have already successfully sent probes, and both countries are hoping to land within the next decade.”
“Doug, you just lost the LRO that was supposed to take pictures and end this mess. It’s my understanding you still don’t know what happened, and from Jack it sounds like China has a weapon of some sort up there.” The president turned to Jack. “What about the laser weapon you told me about? Do we still believe it was deployed on China’s last mission?”
“Yes, sir, and we now feel China probably deployed it on the surface… if they did in fact land on the back side of the moon.”
“You’re kidding me. They put that weapon on the back side of the moon, firing at satellites out of Earth’s view? That would definitely explain why our orbiter came around in pieces—because they destroyed it,” said the president as he swiveled his chair and looked out the window.
“Yes, sir,” Jack said as he looked at the side of the president’s head, “and by them doing it on the back side, we were unable to monitor the LRO up to the point of destruction, thus unable to prove what happened. They obviously calculated all this out. So the only evidence we have that we landed on the moon is what we have here on Earth.”
The president swiveled his chair back around and sighed. “And we are learning that evidence might not be good enough. What about Chinese satellites? Will it fire at those?”
Jack nodded. “Yes, sir, if it is an unmanned satellite. One of our SID agents worked undercover with the laser company we think supplied China with the technology they are using. It’s my understanding the laser is designed to shoot at any satellite that comes into range, regardless of what country it’s from. However, the laser can be disengaged. This is done by a disarming code inputted into the laser’s computer, which can only happen on the back side when receiving transmission. Unfortunately this must be done manually. So as long as China continues to send up manned missions, they can disarm the laser, do their mission, and then re-arm it before returning to Earth.”