Bill rubbed his chin. “So sending an unmanned automated system to reprogram the laser wouldn’t work?”
“No sir. Apparently China was concerned with the countries already sending satellites to the moon. They feared their codes could leak out to one of these countries and they could send an unmanned satellite to do just that. By designing a system that requires human involvement, which from our understanding is inputting a random number flashed on a screen, they prevent this.”
“What if NASA sends up a manned mission—could we disengage it?” Bill asked Jack.
Doug sputtered. “Sir, we are years away from getting an American back to the moon.”
The president whipped his face toward the NASA man. “Damn it, Doug, that’s not what I asked.” He again looked sternly at Jack and asked, “If we send up one of our astronauts to the moon, could he disengage it?”
Jack liked the president’s train of thought; he felt this was something for SID to handle. “If we could get the right astronaut to the moon with knowledge of the laser and its operating system, it probably could be disengaged.”
There was a solid knock at the door, and Secretary Russell stormed in. He had a discouraged look on his face.
Bill resettled himself in his chair, as though bracing himself. “You don’t look like you have good news. With all the bad news I’m getting here, that’s not what I want to see,” he snapped.
“It’s not looking good,” replied the secretary. “From my sources at the UN, it sounds like no evidence was supplied that would prove the landings happened. According to my source it seems the rocks and camera shots China supplied could have been from the moon. But since they claim theirs are from Earth, it puts our rocks and photos in question. The UN also says they have a source within NASA who claims the landings were a hoax. Since there was no concrete evidence supporting the landings, the UN cannot make a ruling on this. It will probably be passed on to the International Court of Justice to come to a final judgment.”
Doug’s jaw hung open. “You have to be kidding. The UN has someone from NASA stating the landings never happened? Unbelievable!”
Right away Jack thought of Chris Riddick. Gavin recently informed him of a serious gambling problem Chris had and it might be compromising his job. Jack instructed Gavin to find out more before he brought the issue up with Doug. He needed to let the president know his suspicions, but had to do it when Doug was not around.
“That’s what I’ve been told—and it gets worse,” Steve said.
Jack and the president looked at each other, wondering how it could get worse.
Steve went on. “This NASA insider also claims we have satellites in space armed with one-half-ton warhead ballistic missiles.”
“What! What is this bullshit? Who is this guy?” yelled the president.
This was getting worse by the minute.
Steve shook his head. “I haven’t been able to find out who it is. I was told he is going to be kept a secret. Of course, China is also supporting this claim. They pointed out how we withdrew from the Antiballistic Missile Space Treaty in 2002. They claimed that was the time we started deploying these weapons in space and we’re sending them up with the Air Force’s X-37 Orbital Space Vehicle.”
“China and the UN know why we didn’t re-sign that treaty. It was pure defense. They understand our dependence on space-based capabilities, and how we have to respond to any space infrastructure threat. We have too much to lose not to be prepared for an attack against our satellites in space. It doesn’t surprise me they are referencing the X-37 project, since its purpose has been kept secret. But China’s intelligence knows it’s an unpiloted spacecraft. Unmanned, there is no way it could deploy ballistic missiles. They’re just mentioning that program because we keep its exact function a secret, which we all know is to deploy spy satellites and do reconnaissance.”
“Well, sir, it still gets worse,” added Steve, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
“Hell, what could be worse?” demanded the president, waving for Steve to go ahead.
“Pressured by China, the UN has recommended that America should be grounded from all space flights until a formal investigation takes place to determine if we do in fact have weapons in space. I think the UN went along with this knowing the Shuttle program has been shut down and we have been relying on Russia to fly into space anyway.”
“This is horseshit! We still need to maintain our satellites and test our future rockets. We’re being blindsided by China on all this crap. You know China is behind this NASA insider coming out with this false claim. They must have paid this guy off. Doug, I want you to find out who this guy is! If the UN grounds us, they will prevent us from sending up a rocket to prove China’s claim wrong. This cannot and will not happen! Not on my watch, goddamn it!”
Doug held up both hands in surrender. “Sir, I am shocked someone within NASA would ever make such a claim. I’m embarrassed for the program. It just can’t be true. I will investigate this myself and see what I can find out. But, sir, it still would only be a matter of time before another nation eventually sends men to the moon and locates the U.S. hardware. China would then be exposed to the world.”
“Doug, you and I could be dead by then,” the president snapped. “Shoot, China could become an unbelievable superpower because of all this and eventually be the only nation going to the moon. I understand what you’re saying, some time in the future the facts will come out. The point is we cannot afford to wait. We need to act now. Besides, if China can keep all nations from circling the moon with this weapon, how can we say they don’t eventually destroy our hardware left on the moon, erasing the evidence forever? We need to act now!”
The president looked at Jack. “If this is all true, do you have a man we can send up in space to take care of this, disengage the laser and take pictures of our landing sites?”
Peter flashed across Jack’s mind. “Sir, I have the perfect man for this job. He is part of SID and is a top notch astronaut, and happens to be familiar with the laser being used.”
The president turned to Doug. “What would it take to get a SID agent to the moon? I know you said we are years away, but I want you to think outside the box on how we could get a man in deep space as soon as possible. Assume the UN grounds us, what would it take to get a man to the moon?”
“A miracle!” exclaimed Doug.
“Well how can we make a miracle happen?” the president asked seriously.
Doug rubbed the side of his face, staring toward the floor for a minute. Slowly he looked up. “Sir, I just don’t know if such a mission is possible, especially not using NASA or Air Force rockets.” He started tapping his fingers on his chair’s armrest as he stared out the window. He gradually turned back to the president waggling his finger. “However, we did have a meeting on a situation similar to this a few years ago. We gathered some of our top engineers and challenged them to come up with the best and quickest way to get an astronaut to the moon. We stated in the scenario that it was a national emergency and to consider all resources and possibilities. Many ideas were suggested, using old technology, rushing current rockets to launch before they were tested and ready, all of which were dismissed as too risky or too long of a time frame. The most common and possibly best solution discussed was hitching a ride with another nation that was farther along. Of course, the only nation farther along is China. Russia was suggested too since they are not too far behind us.”